START WITH 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.
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