" in the name of allah, the beneficent, the merciful."
* * * *
explanation
:
is the phrase `bism-il-lah'
a part of each sura ?
almost all islamic scholars
unanimously hold the opinion that
/ bism-il-lah-ir-rahman-ir-rahim/
is, as was stated before, a part of sura
al-fatihah and, also, of the
other suras of the qur'an (except sura
at-taubah, no. 9). in essence,
the inclusion of /bism-il-lah/ at the
beginning of all suras of the
holy qur'an, except the above mentioned
one,is a vital piece of evidence
bearing witness to this very fact, and the
belief is so firm that no change
has been made in the qur'an and
nothing has been added to it
since it was revealed to the prophet of
islam (p.b.u.h.).
mu`awiyat-ibn-`ammar, one of
the companions of imam sadiq
(a.s.), said that he had asked
the imam whether he should say
/bism-il-lah-ir-rahman-ir-rahim
/ at the beginning of sura al-fatihah
when he stood for prayer, and
he (a.s.) replied: " yes ". he had
questioned him (a.s.), again,
as to if he should recite /bism-il-lah/ when
sura al-fatihah ended and before
reciting the next sura. then, imam
sadiq (a.s.), again, answered:
" yes ". 9
dar qutni, a muslim learned
researcher, according to a sound
document, narrates from amir-ul-mu'mineen
ali (a.s.) that someone
asked him (a.s.):" what is as-sab`-al-mathani
(seven verses)?" " it is
sura al-hamd ",he (a.s.) answered.
the man said: " sura al-hamd
consists of six verses ". he
(a.s.) replied: " `bism-illah-ir-rahman-ir-rahim
' is also
one verse. " 10
moreover, muslims have always
preserved the practice of reciting
/ bism-il-lah-ir-rahman-ir-rahim
/ at the beginning of every sura ( except
sura 9 ) when reciting the holy
qur'an, and it has been proven, on
numerous accounts, that the
holy prophet (p.b.u.h.) used to recite it, too.
it has been said that amir-ul-mu'mineen
ali (a.s.) was asked to
say whether / bism-il-lah-ir-rahman-ir-rahim
/ was a part of sura
al-fatihah. he (a.s.) answered:
" yes, the messenger of allah used to
recite it and considered it
one verse (of the verses) of the sura, and he said
that ` fatihat-ul-kitab (the
opening) is the same as ` sab`-al-mathani '
(seven verses) " 11
* * * *
allah, the most inclusive
name of god
the term / ism / in the phrase
/ bism-il-lah /, as men of letters in
arabic literature say, is originally
derived from / sumuww / with the
meaning of `height, elevation'.
the reason why any `noun' is called by
an ` appellation ' is that after
choosing to call a `noun' by the particular
given `name' (ism), the hidden
meaning of the expression appears, and
the sense of the `name' is elevated,
therefore forsaking meaninglessness.
in the phrase / bism-il-lah
/, the word allah is the most complete
and comprehensive name among
the lord's many names. this is
because each of allah's names,
which are found in the holy qur'an, as
well as in other islamic sources,
truly reflects one particular aspect of
allah's attributes. in other
words, the only name that refers to all of
his attributes of glory and
beauty, is allah. that is why other names
are often used as modifiers
for the word `allah'. for example, " allah
is oft-forgiving, most merciful",(sura
al-baqarah, no. 2,verse226),
refers to allah's forgiveness;
" ...allah heareth and knoweth all
things ", (no. 2, verse 227)
shows his being well-acquainted with what
is audible and what comes to
pass, respectively; " and allah sees well all
that you do", (sura al-hujurat,
no. 49, verse 18) states that he has
information on every thing that
is done by anyone; " surely allah is he
who gives (all) sustenance,
the lord of power, steadfast (for ever) ", (sura
ath-thariyat, no. 51, verse
58) points to his giving sustenance to
all creatures and, at the same
time, discloses that he is powerful and
firm in his actions.
and, finally, sura al-hashr,
no. 59, verses 23,24 reveals some
other attributes of allah. the
terms ` creator ' and ` evolver ' are
suggestive of his creativeness
and inventiveness, and ` bestower of
forms ' indicates his giving
shapes: " allah is he, than whom there is no
other god;öthe sovereign,
the holy one, the source of peace (and
perfection), the guardian of
faith, the preserver of safety, the exalted in
might, the irresistible, the
supreme (in creating all creatures)... ." " he is
allah, the creator, the evolver,
the bestower of forms, to him belong the
most beautiful names... ."
another piece of evidence which
is a clear indication that this
name, allah, is all-inclusive
is that the acceptance of faith, in islam, is
possible only by reciting the
sentence: / la ilaha illalah / " there is no
god, but allah "; and each of
the other phrases such as: ` all-knowing '
or `creator ', or ` bestower
of sustenance ', and the like, alone, is not
sufficient enough to proclaim
as evidence of monotheism in islam.
and, that is why in religions
other than islam, the god of muslims is
referred to as ` allah ', because
it is only muslims who use ` allah ' to
refer to what they do worship.
* * * *
allah's general and specific
mercy:
the words `ar-rahman' (the beneficent)
and `ar-rahim'
(the merciful) are adjectives,
both derived from `ar-rahmah' (mercy).
the former word, the beneficent,
as it is popularly recognized among
some commentators, refers to
the general mercy of allah which is
bestowed upon all creatures,
among them are the believers and the
disbelievers, good-doers and
evildoers. and, as we can see, the divine
bounties of life are distributed
everywhere and all human beings enjoy
the endless merits therein.
this is their sustenance. they draw it out of
the abundant blessings encompassing
the whole world of existence.
the word `ar-rahim' (the merciful)
refers to that specific
mercy that is endowed upon the
believing, obedient servants alone.
the believers, because of their
true belief, good actions, and faithful
active obedience, deserve this
special, exclusive mercy, of which the
disbelievers are deprived.
the particular fact ratifying
this topic is that the word
rahman is always used in the
qur'an with the meaning of an infinite
form of mercy, which is a sign
of its generality, while the word rahim is
sometimes used with the meaning
of a finite form, which is a sign of its
specificity such as: "... and
he is full of mercy to the believers ", (sura
al-ahzab, no. 33, verse 43).
and it is sometimes used in an infinite
form such as in sura al-fatihah.
a narration from imam sadiq
(a.s.) says: " allah is the god of all
things and is beneficent to
all his creatures, and he is merciful, especially
to the believers." 12
therefore, at the moment that
we initiate any action, when we
begin with the name of allah,
we must seek his mercy, general and
specific mercy, both.
it is interesting to note that
this power, which has a broad concept
much the same as gravitational
pull, and has the ability to draw hearts
closer together, is the very
attribute of mercy. this attribute of mercy
is the very means by which men
can attain a close relationship with the
creator, also.
that is why true believers,
when reciting the holy verse
/bism-il-lah-ir-rahman-ir-rahim/,
at the beginning of their affairs, detach
their hearts from everything
else and rely only upon allah, and seek
help only from him, because
he is the only one whose mercy is
`all-encompassing' and no creature
is deprived of it.
another fact that can also be
understood from / bism-il-lah / is
that allah's acts are based
on mercy, and, punishment has an
exceptional aspect which will
not be fulfilled unless there are some
exact, clear reasons for it.
when we recite the supplication
entitled, ` jaushan
kabir ', section 20 thus : " o' lord, whose mercy surpasses his wrath... "
the above point becomes clear.
human beings should attach importance
to mercy and affection
and behave accordingly in their
daily lives and use violence and
harshness only for those times
when it is clearly warranted.
we conclude this discussion
with a tradition, rich in meaning, from
the holy prophet (p.b.u.h.),
who, when commenting on the many
different kinds of his all-encompassing
mercy, said : " verily, there are
one hundred mercies belonging
to allah, from which, he has sent down to
the earth only one and distributed
that one among his creatures. all the
mercy and affection they have,
issue from it. he, the merciful, withheld the
other 99 for himself to show
mercy upon his servants on the day of
resurrection ". 13
* * * *