Surah AlFatihah

For every prayer we start by saying:   "Bismillah hir-rahman nir-raheem"        means In the name of Allah, the most gracious and the most merciful.
"Praise is only for Allah, Lord of the Universe.
The most kind, the most merciful.
Master of the Day of judgement.
You alone we worship and to you alone we pray for help.
Show us the straight way, the way of those whom you have blessed.
Who have not deserved your anger, nor gone astray."

Reciting Sura Fatihah is so important that Prophet Mohammad (SAW) said that no prayer was acceptable without the recitation of Fatihah.

Ubadah bin Samit (R.A.) reported Allah's Messenger (SAW) as saying: "There is no prayer acceptable without reciting Surah Fatihah."  (Bukhari Muslim, Ahmad, Abu Dawud, Tirmizi, Nisai, Ibn Majah).

Abu Hurairah (R.A.) reported that the Messenger of Allah (SAW) was saying that anyone who prayed any kind of prayer and did not read in that Ummul Quran, and in one version Fatihah-tul-kitab, his prayer will be deficient, and not complete. (Bukhari, Musli, Ahmad).

Abu Hurairah (R.A.) reported Allah's Messenger (SAW) as saying: "No prayer will benefit a person who did not read in that, Surah Al-Fatihah." (Ibn Khuzaimah, Ibn Hibban, Ahmad).