Opening gates: فتح with أبواب / باب
فَتَحْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ أَبْوَٰبَ
fataḥnā ʿalayhim abwāba — We opened upon them the gates of
Across these verses the pairing of فتح with أبواب or باب marks a decisive, unblocked access — to provision, to punishment, or to the sky — and reading the occurrences side by side shows the same grammatical frame doing opposite work: gates opened "upon" people variously as abundance, chastisement, or a passage from the sky (15:14).
The verb فتح (root ف ت ح) is joined to باب/أبواب (root ب و ب) in all seven verses given. In three of them the verb is first-person plural perfect with the preposition على: (6:44) "We opened upon them the gates of every thing", (15:14) "if We opened for them a gate from the sky", (23:77) "when We open upon them a gate of intense chastisement". In (54:11) the same first-person plural perfect appears without على: "We opened the gates of the sky with a torrent-pouring water". In the remaining three the verb is third-feminine-singular perfect passive: (39:71) "its gates are opened" of Hell, (39:73) "its gates have been opened" of the Garden, and (78:19) "the sky will be opened, so it will become gateways". Two verses form a close structural pair: (6:44) and (23:77) both use the frame حتى إذا ... فإذا/إذا هم مبلسون — gates opened, then the people are "utterly despondent". In (6:44) what is opened is "the gates of every thing", given until people "rejoiced in what they had been given" before sudden seizure; in (23:77) the gate itself is "of intense chastisement". The same verb-and-noun pair thus spans giving and punishing, sky and afterlife, active and passive voice, while in each case the opened gate removes a blockage — between people and what lies beyond them in (6:44), (15:14), (23:77), (39:71) and (39:73), and within the sky itself in (54:11) and (78:19).
Where it occurs
- 6:44 Gates of every thing opened upon people who forgot the reminder, leading to their sudden seizure and despondency.
- 15:14 A hypothetical gate from the sky opened for them, through which they would keep ascending.
- 23:77 A gate of intense chastisement opened upon them, leaving them despondent.
- 39:71 The gates of Hell are opened as its arrivals come to it in groups.
- 39:73 The gates of the Garden have been opened as its arrivals come to it in groups.
- 54:11 The gates of the sky opened with pouring water.
- 78:19 The sky is opened and becomes gateways.
All Qur'anic expressions