The Basmalah p1

 This doubt was raised by some Christians

.
Is the Basmala a verse from the Quran?
And why is it not considered one of the surahs?
Is it a verse from Al-Fatihah and why was it counted among it and not others
? Why did he not start with it at the beginning of Bara’ah (repentance)?

The answer that I have tried hard to provide is that
I have collected some of the hadiths that are authentic about the Basmalah
and that are useful in the subject.


Abu Dawud narrated in his Sunan and Al-Albani authenticated it on the authority of Umm Salamah

(that she mentioned or a word other than it, the recitation of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, “In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Master of the Day of Judgment.” He interrupts his recitation verse by verse. Abu Dawud said: I heard Ahmad say: The old recitation is Master of the Day of Judgment.)

And (Qat Hq) narrated on the authority of Abu Hurayrah and Al-Albani authenticated it in Sahih Al-Jami’

(When you recite “Al-Hamdulillah,” then recite “In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful .” It is the Mother of the Qur’an, the Mother of the Book, and the Seven Oft-Repeated Verses, and “ In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful ” is one of its verses .)



Abu Dawud narrated in his Sunan and Al-Albani authenticated it
: “The hadith of Umm Salamah that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, recited in the prayer “In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful, ” and counted it as a verse.


Al-Nasa’i narrated in his Sunan and Al-Albani authenticated it on the authority of Anas bin Malik, who said : “The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace,

led us in prayer and we did not hear him recite ‘In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.’ Abu Bakr and ‘Umar led us in prayer and we did not hear them recite it.”

Al-Tirmidhi narrated in his Sunan and Al-Albani authenticated it on the authority of Anas, who said

: “The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, Abu Bakr, ‘Umar, and ‘Uthman would begin the recitation with ‘Al-Hamdulillah, Rabb al-‘Alamin.’” Abu ‘Eisa said: This is a good and authentic hadith, and the scholars among the Companions of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, the Tabi’un, and those who came after them acted upon it. They would begin the recitation with ‘Al-Hamdulillah, Rabb al-‘Alamin.’ Al-Shafi’i said: “The meaning of this hadith is that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, Abu Bakr, ‘Umar, and ‘Uthman would begin the recitation with ‘Al-Hamdulillah, Rabb al-‘Alamin.’ This means that they would begin by reciting the Opening of the Book before the Surah, and it does not mean that they would not recite ‘In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.’ Al-Shafi’i believed that one should begin with ‘In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,’ and that one should recite it aloud when reciting aloud.”

Al-Albani authenticated it in al-Silsilah al-Sahihah, the hadith:
“When you recite…” {Praise be to Allah} So recite { In the name of Allah

, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful} It is the Mother of the Qur’an and the Mother of the Book and the Seven Oft-Repeated Verses and {In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful} is one of them. Al-Albani said in (The Book of the Description of the Prophet’s Prayer)
“Then recite: (In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful) and do not recite it aloud (and this is what Al-Albani went with).”

And he said in the Book of Summary of the Description of the Prophet’s Prayer

“Then recite Surat (Al-Fatihah) in its entirety - and the Basmalah is part of it and it is a pillar without which the prayer is not valid, so the non-Arabs must memorize it.”

Al-Albani authenticated in Mishkat Al-Masabih a hadith narrated by Ahmad, Al-Tirmidhi and Abu Dawud on the authority of Ibn Abbas who said:
(I said to Uthman bin Affan: What made you choose Al-Anfal, which is from the Mathani, and Bara’ah, which is from the Mi’in, and you combined them and did not write between them a line saying “In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful” and you put them in the seven long ones? What made you do that? Uthman said: The Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, was one of those who would come upon him in time and the surahs with numbers would be revealed to him. When something was revealed to him, he would call one of those who used to write and say: Place these verses in the surah in which such and such is mentioned. When a verse was revealed to him, he would say: Place this verse in the surah in which such and such is mentioned. Al-Anfal was among the first to be revealed in Medina, and Bara’ah was among the last of the Qur’an, and its story was similar to its story, so I thought that it was from it. Then the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, passed away without explaining to us that it was from it. For that reason, I combined them and did not write between them a line saying “ In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful” and I put it in the seven long ones.)

Abu Dawud narrated in his Sunan and Al-Albani authenticated it in Sahih Al-Jami’ on the authority of Ibn Abbas (He did not know the end of the surah until { In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful }
was revealed to him . )




And Abu Dawud narrated in his Sunan and Al-Albani authenticated it on the authority of Ibn Abbas
, “The Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, did not know the end of the Surah until Bismillah Al-Rahman Al-Raheem was revealed to him . This is the wording of Ibn Al-Sarh.”



1 From these hadiths we know that the Basmalah is a verse from Al-Fatihah (the seven oft-repeated verses), and this is agreed upon

. 2 And that the Basmalah is a verse independent of the Surahs that come before it, and was revealed to separate the Surahs except for Al-Fatihah.
3 And that the Basmalah is not a verse from Surat At-Tawbah. This is considered a revelation from the Prophet, because the Qur’an was presented to the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him
peace, 3 every year in Ramadan, and in the year in which he died, may God bless him and grant him
peace, it was presented to him twice. So his silence about clarifying that the Basmalah is from At-Tawbah is a confirmation from him that it is not from this Surah
. 4 And the statement of the Companions to Uthman, may God be pleased with him, is to be interpreted as an inquiry and not a denial, unless they opposed him until he recanted his statement.
5 Just as the Messenger said, “Adhere to my Sunnah and the Sunnah of the rightly-guided Caliphs who come after me. Bite on it with your molars.

This is what I know. ”

narrated by Ahmad, Al-Tirmidhi and Abu Dawud on the authority of Ibn Abbas who said:
(I said to Uthman bin Affan: What made you choose Al-Anfal, which is from the Mathani, and Bara’ah, which is from the Mi’in, and you combined them and did not write between them a line saying “In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful” and you put them in the seven long ones? What made you do that? Uthman said: The Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, was one of those upon whom time would come and surahs of many numbers would be revealed. When something was revealed to him, he would call one of those who used to write and say: Place these verses in the surah in which such and such is mentioned. When a verse was revealed to him, he would say: Place this verse in the surah in which such and such is mentioned. Al-Anfal was among the first to be revealed in Madinah, and Bara’ah was among the last of the Qur’an, and its story was similar to its story, so I thought that it was from it, but the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, passed away without explaining to us that it was from it. For that reason, I combined them and did not write between them a line saying “In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful” and I put it in the seven long ones.)
In the Ahl Al-Hadith Forum, the honorable member Abu Salmi responded Moroccan
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Book: Musnad of Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal
Author: Ahmad ibn Hanbal Abu Abdullah al-Shaibani
Hadiths supplemented with the rulings of Shu’ayb al-Arna’ut
Publisher: Cordoba Foundation - Cairo

On the authority of Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, I said to Uthman bin Affan, what made you resort to Al-Anfal, which is from the Mathani, and to Bara’ah, which is from the Mi’in, and you paired them together and did not write between them a line, “In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,” and you put it among the seven long ones. What made you do that? Uthman, may Allah be pleased with him, said. On his authority, that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, would have a time when a number of surahs would be revealed to him. Whenever something was revealed to him, he would call one of those who would write it down for him and say, “Put this in the surah in which such and such is mentioned.” And verses would be revealed to him and he would say, “Put these verses in the surah in which such and such is mentioned.” And the verse would be revealed to him, and he would say, “Put this verse in the surah in which such and such is mentioned.” Al-Anfal was among the first to be revealed in Madinah, and Bara’ah was among the last of the Qur’an, so its story was similar to its story. Then the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, died, and he did not explain to us that it was from it, and I thought that it was from it, so I linked them together and did not… Write a line between them: In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Ibn Jaafar said: I put it in the seven long ones.

Shu'ayb al-Arna'ut's comment: Its chain of transmission is weak and its text is objectionable. Ahmad Shakir was quoted - after speaking about Yazid ibn Hurmuz - as saying: A hadith like this should not be accepted from him, as he is the only one who narrates it, and it casts doubt on the knowledge of the chapters of the Qur'an that are established by definitive mutawatir, reading, hearing, and writing in the copies of the Qur'an. It casts doubt on the establishment of the Basmalah at the beginning of the chapters, as if Uthman was confirming it based on his opinion and denying it based on his opinion, and God forbid that he would do that. So it is not upon us if we say that it is a hadith that has no basis, in application of the correct rules about which there is no disagreement among the Imams of hadith.

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Book: Sahih and Da’if Sunan Al-Tirmidhi
Author: Muhammad Nasir Al-Din Al-Albani

3086 Muhammad ibn Bashar narrated to us, Yahya ibn Saeed, Muhammad ibn Ja’far, Ibn Abi Uday, and Sahl ibn Yusuf narrated to us, they said: Auf ibn Abi Jamila narrated to us, Yazid al-Farsi narrated to us, Ibn Abbas narrated to us, he said: I said to Uthman ibn Affan, what made you choose al-Anfal, which is from al-Mathani, and Bara’ah, which is from al-Mi’in, and you combined them and did not write between them a line, “In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,” and you placed them in the seven long ones, what made you do that? Uthman said: The Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, was one of those upon whom time would come, and surahs of many numbers would be revealed to him, so whenever something was revealed to him, he would call one of those who used to write and say: Place these verses in the surah in which such and such is mentioned, and whenever a verse was revealed to him, he would say: Place this verse in the surah in which such and such is mentioned. Al-Anfal was among the first of what was revealed in Madinah, and Bara’ah was among the last of the Qur’an, and its story was similar to its story, so I thought that it was from it, then the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, passed away without explaining to us that it was from it, so for that reason I combined them and did not write between them a line, “In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,” so I placed it in the seven long ones. Abu Isa said: This is it. A good and authentic hadith that we do not know except from the hadith of Awf on the authority of Yazid al-Farsi on the authority of Ibn Abbas. Yazid al-Farsi is one of the followers. He narrated more than one hadith on the authority of Ibn Abbas. It is said that he is Yazid ibn Hurmuz. Yazid al-Raqashi is Yazid ibn Aban al-Raqashi, and he is one of the followers. He did not meet Ibn Abbas. Rather, he narrated on the authority of Anas ibn Malik, and both of them were from the people of Basra. Yazid al-Farsi is older than Yazid al-Raqashi.

Al-Albani’s investigation: Weak, weak Abu Dawood (140) // We have it under number (168/786)

 the conclusion is that the failure to mention the Basmalah at the beginning of Surat At-Tawbah (Bara’ah) is a command from the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace. We may not know the wisdom behind that, so we leave the matter to God.

 Basmalah is an independent verse, not from Al-Fatihah, nor from any other verse except Surah An-Naml, which is part of the surah.
It is an independent verse that was revealed to indicate the beginning of the surah, except Surah Bara’ah.
- The Messenger, may God bless him and grant him peace, used to begin the surahs of the Qur’an with it, and he, may God bless him and grant him peace, would begin with it when reciting Al-Fatihah in prayer, so he would recite it aloud sometimes, silently sometimes, and leave it out sometimes, in accordance with the revelation.
- As for the numbering in Al-Fatihah and the rest of the Qur’an, it is according to the opinion of some scholars.
The scholars differ according to their ijtihad and knowledge of the state of the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, when reciting Al-Fatihah. Sheikh Al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah said: “
The correct view is that the Basmalah is a verse from the Book of Allah, as the Companions wrote it in the Mushaf, as they only wrote the Qur’an in it, and they stripped it of what was not from it, such as the fifths, the tenths, and the names of the surahs. However, despite that, it cannot be said that it is from the surah that comes after it, just as it is not from the surah that comes before it. Rather, it is, as it was written, a verse that Allah revealed at the beginning of every surah, and this is more just.”