Bismillah as Prayer
I am sharing with you my Reflections from Ramadan 2025 when I completed a series of short videos, released daily on my YouTube channel. These blogs have been created from my video notes and I will be sharing a blog daily as we get ready for Ramadan 2026.
Assalamu alaykum
I hope you are enjoying this pondering at the pond and finding it rejuvenating. Writing notes for this series and pouring over the Quran has certainly given me new energy and I feel that after many busy years when Ramadan flew by, I am actually experiencing a more immersive Ramadan. If you are liking this series, please do subscribe and share. I am trying to read the Qur’an as if it matters to our day to day.
Today I am going to talk to you about the history of Bismillah - in the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful – as praxis and prayer.
Bismillah is something we say countless times a day and it is so much a part of our routine and parlance that we hardly notice its depth of meaning. The Bismillah has reached us from both the Qur’an and the Sunnah (when I use the word Sunnah, I don’t mean Hadith; rather I mean the normative praxis of Prophet Muhammad - peace be upon him - that has reached us as Deen. It is incumbent upon us to say Bismillah when we start eating. We are taught the Bismillah at a young age and encouraged to say this sentence when we are about to start a task.
The Bismillah is found at the start of 113 of the 114 chapters of the Qur’an, with the exception of Surah Al-Tauba, the chapter about Allah’s turning away and lifting His Mercy from the enemies of Islam at the time of the Prophet’s mission. This is why we don’t supplicate to Allah’s Compassion and Mercy when we start reciting that chapter. (here are important reasons why this Surah is an exception and require a separate detailed discussion).
Maulana Amin Ahsan Islahi (d.1997), one of the greatest mufassireen of our times, whose work I admire very much and refer to often, has provided a thought-provoking explanation of the Bismillah that I will share with you today. Maulana Islahi’s groundbreaking work approaches the Qur’an as a coherent text and his theory of coherence is one of the best we have available so far.
In volume 1 of his tafsir, Tadabbur-i-Quran, pages 45 to 49, he categorises the Bismillah as an ayat and a supplication or dua. I must admit that I had never really considered it to be a dua, but when I read his reflections on this, I found them compelling.
Maulana Islahi notes that the main theme of this verse – in the name of Allah – is found in ancient religious discourses. In Surah Hud, as Prophet Noah exhorts the believers to step onto the Ark, he addresses his people by saying:
So he said: "Embark ye on the Ark, In the name of Allah (bismillāhi), whether it move or be at rest! For my Lord is, be sure, Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful!" (Surah Hud Chapter 11, verse 41; tr. Yusuf Ali)
Prophet Suleiman wrote to the Queen of Sheba in the name of Allah.
"It is from Solomon, and is (as follows): 'In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful:” (Surah An-Naml chapter 27, verse 30).
Maulana Islahi then explains why the Bismillah is a supplication or dua. We say these words at the start of a task, when making a decision and when we sit down to eat. We say these words when our adult child goes out the door on the first day of his new job. We say these words when we are feeling nervous at the start of the exam. According to Maulana Islahi, this turning to Allah has been shrouded in the garment of beautiful words.
Firstly, the prayer acknowledges that the task / act / decision is not standing in rebellion to Allah. It is an act that would gather Allah’s blessings. Secondly, this prayer invokes the two great attributes of Allah – Rahman and Raheem. Thus, we acknowledge and remind ourselves that if we end up making a mistake, we hope that Allah the Most Merciful will forgive our error. It is no wonder then that Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said that if a task is started without the Bismillah, it will not gather Allah’s blessing.
In a beautifully articulated point that highlights the thematic coherence of the Qur’an, Maulana Islahi notes that when we start reading the Qur’an with the Bismillah, we connect ourselves to the first revelation from Allah to our noble Prophet:
Proclaim! (or read!) in the name of thy Lord and Cherisher, Who created- (Surah Al-Alaq, Q96:1)
Maulana Islahi then delves into the subtly different connotations of the words Rahman and Raheem. He critiques the more popular view that Raheem is simply a more emphatic version of the word Rahman. Rahman uses the noun form fu-‘laan. These nouns have a connotation of excitement, passion and restlessness. The word Raheem uses the noun form fa-‘eel. This form contains connotations of constancy, steadiness and stability. Therefore, Allah’s attribute of Rahman refers to the energetic nature of His mercy. We can think of this as an inexhaustible energy and capacity for compassion. Whereas Raheem refers to the constant, steady nature of His compassion and mercy, a type of compassion that will last forever, in perpetuity.
Here is our key reflection for today.
When you say Bismillah, think of it not as a mere sentence but as a supplication to Allah, whose compassion and mercy are inexhaustible and perpetual.
(Note: Translations of Quranic verses are by Yusuf Ali unless stated otherwise).
