The past nations will cry out...

The past nations will cry out, ‘Why do their minute good deeds exceed their mountain of bad deeds?’ The prophets of those nations will answer, ‘Because their speech has begun with three of Allah’s names: Allah, the All-beneficent ( rahman ), and the All-merciful ( rahim ).

Connotations of Bismillahi Great Arab grammarians believe that the Arabic word ‘ ism (name)’ is derived from ‘ sumuw ’ meaning greatness. The All-Compassionate connected the preposition ‘ bi (in)’ to ‘ ism (name)’ in this phrase to connote that by reciting the phrase, the supplicant wants to beseech Allah. The supplicant should be aware that calling Allah is not sufficient; rather the soul should be purified through seeking forgiveness from the Almighty.

In fact calling Allah without purity of mind and sincerity of intention is considered disrespectful. The Almighty is in the highest and the most holy position, while man is in the lowest place and cannot promote his position, except by making a strong connection with Allah. That’s why the Merciful has set ‘ bismillahi (in the Name of Allah)’ as the mediator between Himself and the human being.

An attentive mystic has stated that the Arabic letter ‘ ba' ’ (B) connotes the beginning of mystical treading onto the path to Allah, and from ‘ ba' ’ to ‘ sin ’ (S) which connotes the secret of knowing Allah, there is an endless desert of ignorance. Hiding of ‘ alif ’ (A) in this vast desert[^7] implies that if the seeker does not dissolve his egotism in the light of Allah’s Unity, he will not reach ‘ mim ’ (M) which connotes the ultimate intention.

Some believe that ‘ ba' ’ (B) implies Allah’s Beneficence to all the people and especially to the ordinary people; ‘ sin ’ (S) implies the secret of His kindness to the noble, and ‘ mim ’ (M) is indicator of His Mercy to the most special nobles.