'In the Name of Allah'

Blessings of Reciting 'Bismillah'

['Bismillah' is a short prayer for blessing, and for getting God's help and protection before starting any act]

In one of my previous post Beginning the Quraan, I talked about why it is important to begin the Quraan by saying Ta'awuz ("I seek Allah's refuge against Satan, the rejected"), the next etiquiette is to say 'In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful', and then we begin reading the Quraan.

This is to be said not just to begin reading the Quraan, but before doing anything except a bad or evil task.

When starting a work by Allah's (The God) name, He puts blessings in that, it could be in the sense that the output is increased, or it is done in a better way and also it reminds us that because we started by saying God's name, we must not cheat in it etc. or we must not do it in such a way to harm others or ourselves, or in anyway that can be evil.

Again it really hits the poor satan, not only he cannot take part in what we are doing, but also there is something else that the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said. The following incident is taken from Tafsir Ibn Katheer .

Imam Ahmad recorded in his Musnad, that a person who was riding behind the Prophet said, "The Prophet's animal tripped, so I said, `Cursed Shaytan.' The Prophet said,

'Do not say, 'Cursed Shaytan,' for if you say these words, Satan becomes arrogant and says, 'With my strength I made him fall.' When you say, 'Bismillah,' Satan will become as small as a fly.'

This is how it looks in Arabic.

Pronounced: Bismillah-hir Rahman-nir Raheem

Means: In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful