Basmala

Use and significance

According to Lane, ar-raḥmān has the more intensive meaning, taken to include as objects of "sympathy" both the believer and the unbeliever, and may therefore be rendered as "the Compassionate"; ar-raḥīm, on the other hand, is taken to include as objects the believer in particular, may be rendered as "the Merciful" (considered as expressive of a constant attribute).

In the Qur'an, the Basmala, is usually numbered as the first verse of the first sura, but, according to the view adopted by Al-Tabari, it precedes the first verse. Apart from the ninth sura ("At-Tawba"), Al-Qurtubi reported that the correct view is that the Basmala ignored at the beginning of At-Tawba because Gabriel did not refer to the Basmala in this surah. Another view says that the Islamic prophet Muhammad died before giving a clarification if At-Tawba is part of Quran 8 (al-ʾanfāl) or not. It occurs at the beginning of each subsequent sura of the Qur'an and is usually not numbered as a verse except at its first appearance at the start of the first sura. The Basmala occurs as part of a sura's text in verse 30 of the 27th sura ("An-Naml"), where it prefaces a letter from Sulayman to Bilqis, the Queen of Sheba.

The Basmala is used extensively in everyday Muslim life, said as the opening of each action in order to receive blessing from God. Reciting the Basmala is a necessary requirement in the preparation of halal food.

In the Indian subcontinent, a Bismillah ceremony is held for a child's initiation into Islam.

The three definite nouns of the Basmala—Allah, ar-Rahman and ar-Rahim—correspond to the first three of the traditional 99 names of God in Islam. Both ar-Rahman and ar-Rahim are from the same triliteral root R-Ḥ-M, "to feel sympathy, or pity".

Around 1980, IRIB used it before starting their newscasts.

Hadith

There are several hadiths encouraging Muslims to recite it before eating and drinking. For example:

Jabir reported: I heard Messenger of Allah (saw) saying, "If a person mentions the Name of Allah upon entering his house or eating, Satan says, addressing his followers: 'You will find nowhere to spend the night and no dinner.' But if he enters without mentioning the Name of Allah, Satan says (to his followers); 'You have found (a place) to spend the night in,' and if he does not mention the Name of Allah at the time of eating, Satan says: 'You have found (a place) to spend the night in as well as food.'"

— From Al Bukhari and Muslim

Aisha reported: "The Prophet said, "When any of you wants to eat, he should mention the Name of God in the beginning (Bismillah). If he forgets to do it in the beginning, he should say Bismillah awwalahu wa akhirahu (I begin with the Name of God at the beginning and at the end)".

— From At-Tirmidhi and Abu Dawud

Umaiyyah bin Makshi reported: "The Prophet was sitting while a man was eating food. That man did not mention the Name of God till only a morsel of food was left. When he raised it to his mouth, he said, Bismillah awwalahu wa akhirahu. The Prophet smiled at this and said, "Satan had been eating with him but when he mentioned the Name of God, Satan vomited all that was in his stomach".

— From Abu Dawud and Al-Nasa'i

Wahshi bin Harb reported: "Some of the Sahaba of the Prophet said, 'We eat but are not satisfied.' He said, 'Perhaps you eat separately.' The Sahaba replied in the affirmative. He then said, 'Eat together and mention the Name of God over your food. It will be blessed for you.'

— From Abu Dawood

A tradition ascribed to Muhammad states:

All that is contained in the revealed books is to be found in the Qur’an and all that is contained in the Qur’an is summed up in the surat al-fatihah ("The opening one") while this is in its turn contained in the formula Bismillahi-r-Rahmani-r-Rahim ("In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful").

A tradition ascribed to Imam Ali states:

The basmalah is in essence contained in the first letter, Ba, and this again in its diacritical point, which thus symbolizes principal Unity.

Tafsir

In a commentary on the Basmala in his Tafsir al-Tabari, al-Tabari writes:

"The Messenger of Allah (the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said that Jesus was handed by his mother Mary over to a school in order that he might be taught. [The teacher] said to him: 'Write "Bism (In the name of)".' And Jesus said to him: 'What is "Bism"?' The teacher said: 'I do not know.' Jesus said: 'The "Ba" is Baha’u'llah (the glory of Allah), the "Sin" is His Sana’ (radiance), and the "Mim" is His Mamlakah (sovereignty)."

Numerology

Gematria

According to the standard Abjadi system of numerology, the total value of the letters of the Islamic Basmala, i.e. the phrase — is 786. This number has therefore acquired a significance in folk Islam and Near Eastern folk magic and also appears in many instances of pop-culture, such as its appearance in the 2006 song '786 All is War' by the band Fun-Da-Mental. A recommendation of reciting the basmala 786 times in sequence is recorded in Al-Buni. Sündermann (2006) reports that a contemporary "spiritual healer" from Syria recommends the recitation of the basmala 786 times over a cup of water, which is then to be ingested as medicine. 786 as a number, however, does not appear in Quran or Hadith.

It has also become common to abbreviate the phrase by typing "786", especially in online communication, and especially among South Asian Muslims. License plates, phone numbers, and serial numbers on currency containing 786 have garnered a particularly high price in South Asia and Dubai. Businesses in Myanmar have displayed 786 to indicate that they are owned by Muslims.

The 19 Arabic letters of the Basmala's tetrad of words (Bism has 3, Allah has 4, al-Rahman has 6, al-Rahim has 6) also align with the numerical culture of the Báb's revelation, whose Badíʿ calendar outlined in the Kitábu'l-Asmáʼ serves as the numerical basis of the Baháʼí calendar consisting of 19 divisions of 19 days each, which can be thematically grouped in alignment with the 3:4:6:6 tetrad pattern.

Unicode

In Unicode, the Basmala is encoded as one ligature at code point U+FDFD ﷽ in the Arabic Presentation Forms-A block.