فتح
fatḥ
The act of opening or granting, as in fataha, and the victory or breakthrough that is granted; the plural is al-futūḥāt.
What it means
Fatḥ is the noun of fataha: the opening that God grants and the victory or breakthrough that results. Surah 48 is called al-Fatḥ, and its first verse reads: “We have granted you a clear victory” (48:1). Surah 110 opens: “When the help of God and the victory (al-fatḥ) come” (110:1). The word is thus linked to the greatest events of the Prophet’s life.
Muslim writers have often used fatḥ for the peaceful entry of the Prophet into Mecca in the eighth year after the hijra, where the term implies the opening of a city and of hearts to the faith. Its plural, al-futūḥāt, names the successive victories of the early community. Faruqi asks that the Arabic term be kept, because “conquest” shows only the material side. It also conveys that the result belongs to God, who grants it.
Often misunderstood as
Translated “conquest”, which reads as military seizure; the Arabic term stresses an opening granted by God.
Term and Arabic as listed in Ismail al Faruqi, Toward Islamic English (International Institute of Islamic Thought, 1995), p. 42, listed as FATḤ. The definition is restated here.