Significance of Basmala

Is the basmala a verse and why is it written at the start of every chapter?

It is considered proper Islamic manners to begin to read or to do any action with the name of the Supreme Creator. This can be seen in the following verses: Read in and with the Name of your Lord, Who has created, created human from a clot clinging (to the wall of the womb).
Read, and your Lord is the All-Munificent, Who has taught (human) by the pen, taught human what he did not know. (Alaq 96:1-5)
These are the verses which most people think are the earliest revealed verses. This is in keeping with the basic Islamic principle that is emphasized in the verse, “He is the First and the Last, the All-Outward and the All-Inward. He has full knowledge of everything” (Hadid 57:3). God is the Unique One to Whom every creature owes its existence and from Whom the beginning of everything originated. Every beginning, every action and every operation is achieved only with His Name. Due to this, God willed the basmala (the expression of Bismi’llahir-Rahmani’r-Rahim, meaning “In the Name of God, the All-Merciful, the All-Compassionate”) to be the key to the 113 chapters, as well as an independent verse within another chapter.
There are many narrations that emphasize the importance of the basmala. Some of them are as follows: Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “I have been revealed such a verse that has been revealed to no one but Prophet Solomon, the son of David and myself. This is ‘ Bismi’llahir-Rahmani’r-Rahim.’”

As reported the Prophet said, “Any action that is not started with Bismi’llahir-Rahmani’r-Rahim has no divine gift in it, it will not last long and it is without foundation. ”

In another narration, the Prophet said: “Satan would certainly regard any meal that is not started with Bismi’llah as his own.”
The fact that the basmala is repeated at the beginning of every chapter and in various hadiths indicates the importance of this phrase. It is regarded as a summary of the Qur’an. God has revealed universal realities through various Prophets since humankind first came to the earth. These realities are also included in the Qur’an, which is the last Divine Book. The Qur’an is summarized in Sura al-Fatiha, while the chapter is summarized in the phrase Bismi’llah. Hence, the basmala can be regarded to be a spiritual connection between all Prophets and Books. There is some debate about whether the basmala is an independent verse in every chapter or whether it is a single Qur’anic verse that is repeated at the beginning of every chapter. Here we will briefly examine the discussions and arguments of the different opinions: According to Shafi’i and Hanbali Schools, the basmala is an independent verse in Sura al-Fatiha and in all other chapters. According to the Maliki School “the basmala is neither a verse of Sura al-Fatiha nor of the other chapters.’’

According to the Hanafi School, the basmala is considered to be a verse of the Qur’an. However, the fact that it is written at the beginning of every chapter does not necessarily mean that it is an independent verse in every chapter. So, the basmala is, as a verse, a part of the Qur’an and it was revealed for the purpose of separating the chapters. According to the Hanafis, there are various narrations that indicate that the basmala was not recited along with Sura al-Fatiha in the prayers; this indicates that it is not a verse of Sura al-Fatiha. As a matter of fact, the Companions said: “We did not know before when a sura would end until the basmala was recited.’’ This is considered to indicate that the basmala was not an independent verse in every sura, but rather was recited to separate the suras. The basmala, whether it is used for purposes of separating chapters or for making a chapter blessed or to seek God’s help to thoroughly understand the contents of a chapter, is something like a spiritual
lifeline that has been extended to humanity for their salvation. It would be useful to give a summary of all these discussions and narrations: The basmala is an independent verse in Sura Naml, but it is not a verse in other chapters, nor was it revealed only to separate the chapters. Thus, the differences in opinion are not related to the essence of the issue, but rather to its details. That is, none of those who voice an opinion have any doubts that the basmala is a verse.
Their only hesitation is about whether this is a verse in every sura. Additionally, there is no question that the basmala was written at the beginning of every chapter during the lifetime of Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, and that this was done on his order; it has been the same ever since. There is much rational and narrative evidence that the basmala is a part of the Qur’an:

a. The Companions were in agreement about the Qur’an from its beginning until its end. There is not even one narration from the Companions that suggests any doubts about the Qur’an we use today. The basmala is part of the Qur’an and they had no hesitation or doubt about its existence at the beginning of every sura; therefore it is obvious that the basmala is a part of the Qur’an.
b. The Companions were able to recognize the beginning and end of the sura s after the Revelation by the basmala. Before the basmala was revealed, the Muslims did not know where a chapter ended. They were only able to understand where a chapter ended after the revelation of the basmala. Ibn Abbas said: “We used to learn the Holy Qur’an when God’s Messenger was alive and only after the revelation of the basmala could we understand that a sura had ended.” All the above narrations indicate that the basmala at the beginning of the chapter is a verse.
c. The following narration from Ibn Abbas also confirms that the basmala is a verse: “Whoever refrains from beginning to read the Qur’an with the basmala leaves out a verse from God’s Book. ”
d. The fact that the basmala is not included only at the beginning of Sura Bara’a and that it is written at the beginning of all other chapters indicates that the basmala is a verse.
e. If we review the history of the Qur’an, we can see that there were various reactions to undertakings, such as the naming of the chapters, carrying out of punctuation and ta’shir (division of the Qur’an into sections, each of which contains 10 verses for purposes of recitation). But there is no argument about the basmala. If there had been any, we certainly would have heard of it. Thus, the basmala is a part of the Qur’an and God’s Messenger expressed this. Meticulous care and dedication has been employed to prevent any non-Qur’anic elements from being inserted into the Qur’an from the earliest times; this was so much so that when Umar heard that a man had been writing some explanatory notes in the margins of the sura s, called this man and had him severely punished. The same reaction can be observed not only with Umar, but also with all other Companions. Ibn Mas’ud, for instance, said: “Protect the Qur’an from everything.” He even once saw some non-Qur’anic writing on the copy of a person’s Qur’an (probably a commentary pertaining to that verse); he took the copy, erased the writing and said: “Do not add anything to the Qur’an.”

Thus, all these and similar narrations indicate that the copies of the Qur’an which were compiled and gathered by Uthman, the third caliph, were copies of the Book that had been revealed to Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. If the basmala at the start of every sura had not been per the Prophet’s instructions, or if it had not been part of the Qur’an, then the Companions would have raised serious objections, as they had in other matters and the basmala would not have been included. In addition, in such matters as the ta’shir and the writing of chapter names and verse numbers, permission was given during the time of the tabi’in (the second generation of Muslims) and later generations. However, they never used the argument of Uthman’s approach to the basmala to support their views, although they justified their opinions in many different ways. This shows that the basmala found at the beginning of all chapters was there because Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, had so instructed, and no one saw any objections or problems with it appearing there.

In Sura Naml the basmala, which we have briefly examined and dealt with here, is an independent verse. The basmala is put at the beginning of every sura. We cannot understand the Divine reason for this. However, essentially there is no difference between the basmala being mentioned because it was revealed by God for each and every chapter or it being only revealed once, and the Prophet was told to recite and mention it at the beginning of every sura. Such differences in opinion on the basmala do not focus on its essence, but rather they are related as to whether or not it was a verse that was repeatedly revealed for every chapter. Obviously, none of the Companions had the least hesitation or suspicion about why the basmala was placed at the beginning of every chapter during the lifetime of the Prophet.

 

Akgul, Muhittin (2009). The Quran in 99 Questions (Abdullah Erdemli Trans.). New Jersey: Tughra Books. (Originally published in Turkish as Kur’an İklimine Seyahat)