بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ
[Shakir 1:1] In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful.
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 1:1]
BISMILLAHIR-RAHMANIR-RAHIM, as the first verse, is the part and parcel of al Fatihah.
Aqa Mahdi Puya says:
The Holy Prophet said:
LA SALATA ILLA BIFATIHATUL KITAB WA BISMILLAHIR RAHMANIR RAHIM MIN AYATIHA
There is no prayer (salat) without al Fatihah, and bismillahir rahmanir rahim is one of its verses. The Ahl ul Bayt (the thoroughly purified members of the family of the Holy Prophet), and the scholars, who follow their teachings, time and again, had verified this saying of the Holy Prophet. So according to Muhammad and ali Muhammad bismillahir rahmanir rahim is a verse by itself, which, if not recited as a part of al Fatihah, the prayer is rendered null and void. It is not only the component of al Fatihah but also of every surah except al Bara-at.
In the light of the clear decisions and evidences of the practical acts of the Holy Prophet and his Ahl ul Bayt, the arguments of the dissenting scholars carry no weight. According to the Holy Prophet and his divinely chosen Ahl ul Bayt bismillahir rahmanir rahim is the first of the seven verses of al Fatihah. And when Muhammad and ali Muhammad have said so, there remains no doubt whatsoever. Any opinion contrary to the verdict of Muhammad and ali Muhammad is pure conjecture.
Abu Hanifa, founder of the Hanafi school, gave permission to his followers to recite bismillahir rahmanir rahim quietly, with al Fatihah, in prayers, because the Holy Prophet used to recite al Fatihah with bismillahir rahmanir rahim in his prayers, yet in his (Abu Hanifa's) opinion it was not a part of the surah. (Tafsir Kabir - Abdul Hayy) There are some scholars who admit that al Fatihah consists of seven verses but to insist on their misconceived notion that bismillahir rahmanir rahim is not included in it they split the last verse into two separate verses, although the meaning and the construction of the verse does not justify it.
According to the Holy Prophet any deed begun without reciting bismillah goes bad and lacks effectiveness. As al salat is known as the best deed (khayrul amal) and al Fatihah is the inaugurator of the book it is logical that bismillahir rahmanir rahim is the first verse of al Fatihah.
Once a man offered prayers in presence of the Holy Prophet without saying bismillahir rahmanir rahim in his recitation of al Fatihah. The Holy Prophet told him:
You have rendered your prayer null and void by omitting bismillah from Fatihah. Do you not know that bismillah is the part of al Fatihah? (Durrul Manthur by Suyuti)
On one occasion, Mu-awiyah, while leading a prayer in Madina, recited al Fatihah without bismillah. At the end the participating pray-ers, made a hue and cry. To pacify the protestations he prayed the same prayer again and recited al Fatihah with bismillah. This event bears out the fact that those who saw and heard the Holy Prophet, prior to the influx of alterations, knew that if in any prayer al Fatihah is recited without bismillah, it is rendered null and void. (Fakhruddin Razi and Kanzul Ummal)
Bismillahir rahmanir rahim, in addition to al Fatihah, is also the part of al Naml:
Verily, it is from Sulayman; and it is 'In the name of Allah, the beneficent, the merciful'. This is the beginning of the letter prophet Sulayman wrote to the queen of Shiba.
Whatever be the point of view of the dissenting scholars, it has been decisively established that the Holy Prophet always recited bismillahir rahmanir rahim as the part of al Fatihah, therefore, we all should follow him.
BISMILLAH
To start any good deed with "(I begin) in the name of Allah, the beneficent, the merciful" means a supplication unto Allah for successful completion of the work. It also means that the supplicant undertakes the job in the name of and on behalf of Allah to serve the good in the work as well as achieve his own legitimate purpose. In other words he dedicates his life to Allah and employs his self-interest-oriented activity in the service of overall goodness. He admits his helplessness and relies on the truth that ability to make any work fruitful is exclusively with Allah, and with no one else. By invoking Allah in the name of His beneficence and mercy he prays for His aid to achieve success in his undertaking. It is quite logical to believe that the divine beneficence and mercy would bless such a faithful. It does.
It is a fact that nothing exists or takes effect outside the course of Allah's will. The will of Allah governs the scope of every activity but does not determine the desires and methods of any created being. Anything that happens or exists without seeking Allah's pleasure, is covered by the will of Allah, but is not blessed with His grace. Should an individual begin any work without saying bismillah, it may be completed but without earning the divine pleasure. The desires and actions of an individual shall be blessed only when he surrenders them to Allah's pleasure. The Holy Prophet has made it known that anything done without invoking the divine grace by reciting bismillah is not approved by Allah.
As said earlier anyone can begin any work, without invoking Allah with bismillah, and it will be executed, if the divine will allows it. However, in this event, it does not earn the divine pleasure, but on the contrary is liable to be punished according to the degree of evil involved, the intention of the individual, the nature and the effect of the work. Even if it is not evil in its nature, disciplinary action can be taken because the individual has relied upon his ability and will which is as bad as setting oneself against the almighty Lord.
The very act of any one starting his work in the name of Allah whom he remembers as beneficent and merciful, eloquently speaks of the individual's obedience to the supreme being, who in return would automatically be reciprocal to the devotee's expectation in seeking His pleasure and mercy. In starting a work in the name of Allah, the reciter demonstrates the undernoted aspects of fundamental importance:
1. Acknowledgement of the supreme being as his Lord master.
2. Confession of his own helplessness.
3. Belief in Allah as the ever-living and all-knowing - almighty.
4. Reliance on the supreme being, seeking His pleasure and mercy, and invoking Him with His mercy-invoking attributes.
5. Conviction at heart and confidence that if called, the beneficent and the merciful Allah will certainly not deny him His mercy.
The words of bismillah i.e., in the name of Allah, have wide and discernible implications. The words may mean not only 'in the name of' but also:
1. For the sake of
2. To the service of
These and many other implications will serve the supplicant when he sincerely turns to Allah for obtaining His mercy and blessings.
One of the many unique features and distinguishing factors about the originality of Islam is bismillah which was never before used by or known to any of the other corrupted or falsified creeds of the world. Rodwell, wrongly informed, states that bismillah, in its Quranic form, was taught to the Quraysh for the first time by the poet Umayya (of Tayf). This claim of Rodwell is contradicted by unimpeachable evidence of historic authenticity that the term was totally unknown to the Quraysh to such an extent that they even resented the use of it (see verse 60 of al Furqan). Besides, even till as late as in the 6th year of Hijra, the Quraysh did not allow the term bismillah, as used in the Quran, to be used in the treaty drawn between the Muslims and the Makkans at Hudaybiyah. At the use of the term bismillahir rahmanir rahim Suhayl bin Amru, the delegate of the Quraysh, objected that he did not know what it meant. Ultimately the term used was bis-mika-allahumma which was then current among the Quraysh. There is no evidence in the usage of the people of other creeds to show that this term was borrowed by the Holy Prophet. Moreover, Islam does not claim to be a new religion preached for the first time to mankind. Islam's claim is that the truth was revealed to mankind, one and all, in various stages, in many languages; the difference is in the presentation of the truth in its fullness, in all its details.
We never sent a messenger save with the language of his people. (IBRAHIM: 4)
ALLAH
Aqa Mahdi Puya says:
There is no fitting equivalent, in the English or any other language, to convey and express the essential essence of the word ALLAH. In the earlier times the idea of a "supreme being" was conveyed to man by the prophets of Allah, but due to the general low level of knowledge, a single word, containing the all-embracing sense and significance of the supreme, universal and absolute being, was not made known.
"Father" may imply creativeness but, in no way, refers to compassion, beneficence and mercy. The word father implies that the father of the universe had a father and a mother who gave birth to him, because it does not indicate that the father of the heaven and the earth had no father or mother to bring him into being. It also fails to establish his uncreated self-existing eternity, unless explanatory words are added. The word Allah is a compound of the definite article al and the noun ilah, meaning "that God". The literal meaning of ilah is "puzzling" if waliha is the source, and "referred to" if it is derived from aliha; in either sense, it can be used for the supreme being unto whom man must surrender.
Known to every one, there is only one universal ultimate whom all human beings devotedly worship; and upon whom they depend and rely. He is undefinable, beyond the reach of human intelligence, unknowable to knowledge, unimaginable, yet recognised by one and all.
Imam Jafar bin Muhammad al Sadiq pointed to the spirit and vision of the word Allah to an atheist, in the course of a discussion. He said:
"When you are in a ship, sailing in the middle of an ocean, and a wind-storm comes on from every side, and there is no conceivable means of rescue, yet, in this hopeless situation, you make efforts, in hope of deliverance; this ultimate faith is Allah, referred to by Allah in verse 22 of Yunus."
Aqa Mahdi Puya says:
The word Allah points to that which is already in the consciousness, but cannot be arrested by comprehension, or conceived mentally. It is universal, because it is connected with the whole as well as with the part. Whether the word Allah is a proper noun or a common noun, because of the article al, is a solvable controversy. The common noun ilah, appropriating definite sense with the definite article al, referring to that which is universally known and recognised by every conscious being, unconfinable to form or concept, never to be two or more save one, becomes a proper noun.
So it is concised in the word Allah, giving it the unique unity of the sense of a proper noun. It must be noted that as the absolute can never be perceived by consciousness, so it cannot be defined by any name. One can refer to Him by personal pronouns, of which "He" (huwa) is the most suitable. The word Allah stands for the absolute self, the greatest name (ism azam), the one perfect total of all good and excellence with no defect.
In contemporary commentaries it is speculated that the word Allah might have been derived from the Hebrew uluhim. Allahumma is closer to uluhim than Allah, because the infidels, very intimate associates of the Jews, were more familiar with Allahumma than Allah, which was a new development. At any event what has been said earlier is further substantiated by the argument put forward to indicate the etymological development of the word.
In the process of evolution, the intellect of man began to make adjustments in the man-god relationship. He had been bowing in adoration to the powerful, useful, harmful, or unintelligible manifestations of nature which, step by step, developed into worship of imaginary deities. As the pantheon of man-made gods grew, man, in desperation, began to seek a supreme being, over the heads of the mini-gods, serving the chief to administer the destiny of man, in one way or other. So gradually man started to seek a supreme being with all comprehensive authority. The word Allah, more suitable than the other words, became popular among the people.
The two possible words ilah is derived from, are alaha and walah meaning astonishment and wonder. The word Allah is formed by adding the definite article al to alah, which means the one who is beyond the reach of conception, or even imagination, and out of the range of knowledge.
The quest for knowledge about Allah comes to a close when the seeker in astonishment confesses that with all his sincere efforts supported by intellect and insight he cannot know Him.
Imam Muhammad bin Ali al Baqir said:
Observe and examine the creation of Allah, do not pry into the being of Allah because no one knows what He is except He.
Imam Ali ibn abi Talib said:
He! O He whom none knows what He is, nor how He is, nor where He is, nor in what respect He is, but He. (Al Mashlul)
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