بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Ibn Qudāmah al-Maqdisī said:
“Ibn al-Mubārak said:
من ترك { بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ } فقد ترك مئة آية و ثلاث عشرة آية من القرآن
Whoever leaves out {Bismillāhi Ar-Rahmān Ar-Rahīm} has left out one hundred and thirteen verses of the Qur’ān.
Likewise Imām Shāfi’ī said: {Bismillāhi Ar-Rahmān Ar-Rahīm} is a verse from every sūrah in accordance to the hadīth of Umm Salamah*.
Likewise Abū Hurayrah narrated:
قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم : إذا قرأتم { الحمدُ} فاقرؤوا {بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم} ، إنها أُمُّ القرآن وأمُّ الكتاب والسَّبع المثانى، و{بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم} أحدُ آياتها
The messenger of Allāh (ﷺ) said: When you recite -Al-Hamd (Al-Fātihah)- then recite {Bismillāhi Ar-Rahmān Ar-Rahīm}. It is the mother of the Qur’ān, the Mother of the Book, and the Seven Oft-Repeated, and {Bismillāhi Ar-Rahmān Ar-Rahīm} is one of its verses. (Sunan Al-Dāraqutnī 1190. Declared Sahīh by Al-Albānī in Sahīh al-Jāmi 729).”
(Al-Mughnī 1/537)
*Hadīth of Umm Salamah :
[أَنَّهَا ذَكَرَتْ – أَوْ كَلِمَةً غَيْرَهَا – قِرَاءَةَ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم { بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ * الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ * الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ * مَلِكِ يَوْمِ الدِّينِ } يَقْطَعُ قِرَاءَتَهُ آيَةً آيَةً]
Umm Salamah narrated the mention of the recitation of the Messenger of Allāh (ﷺ) : “{Bismillāhi Ar-Rahmān Ar-Rahīm, Al-hamdulillāhi Rabb al-‘Ālamīn, Ar-Rahmān Ar-Rahīm, Māliki yawm id-dīn}.” He recited each verse separately, verse by verse. (Abū Dawūd 4001. Declared Sahīh by Al-Albānī. Also see Sunan Al-Dāraqutnī 1175)
مَن صَلَّى صَلاةً لم يَقرَأْ فيها بأُمِّ القُرآنِ، فهي خِداجٌ غيرُ تَمامٍ… قال اللهُ عزَّ وجلَّ: إنِّي قَسَمتُ الصَّلاةَ بيْني وبيْنَ عبدي نِصفَينِ؛ فنِصفُها له، يقولُ عَبْدي إذا افتتَحَ الصَّلاةَ: {بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ} [الفاتحة: 1]، فيَذكُرُني عَبْدي، ثم يقولُ: {الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ} [الفاتحة: 2]، فأقولُ: حمِدَني عَبْدي، ثم يقولُ: {الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ} [الفاتحة: 3]، فأقولُ: أثْنى علَيَّ عْبَدي، ثم يقولُ: {مَالِكِ يَوْمِ الدِّينِ} [الفاتحة: 4]، فأقولُ: مجَّدَني عَبْدي، ثم يقولُ: {إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ} [الفاتحة: 5]، فهذه الآيةُ بيْني وبيْنَ عَبْدي نِصفَينِ، وآخِرُ السُّورةِ لعَبْدي، ولعَبْدي ما سَألَ.
Abū Hurayrah narrated:
The messenger of Allāh (ﷺ) said: Whoever prays a prayer in which he does not recite the Mother of the Qur’ān, then it is insufficient, incomplete…Allāh said: I have divided the prayer between me and my servant into two halves; Half of it is for him. When he begins the prayer, my servant says: {Bismillāhi Ar-Rahmān Ar-Rahīm} [Al-Fātihah: 1], and my servant remembers Me, then he says: {Al-hamdulillāhi Rabb al-‘Ālamīn} [Al-Fātihah: 2], so I say: My servant has praised me, then He says: {Ar-Rahmān Ar-Rahīm} [Al-Fātihah: 3],So I say: My servant has extolled me, then he says: {Māliki yawm id-dīn} [Al-Fātihah: 4], so I say: My servant has glorified me, then he says: {Iyyāka na’budū wa iyyāka nasta’īn} [Al-Fātihah: 5], so this verse is half between Me and My servant. And the last part of the Sūrah is for My servant and my servant will receive that which he has asked for. (Sunan Al-Dāraqutnī 1189. Declared Sahīh by Shu’ayb al-Arnāūt)
عَنِ ابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ، قَالَ كَانَ النَّبِيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم لاَ يَعْرِفُ فَصْلَ السُّورَةِ حَتَّى تُنَزَّلَ عَلَيْهِ { بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ } . وَهَذَا لَفْظُ ابْنِ السَّرْحِ .
Ibn Abbās said: The prophet (ﷺ) did not know the end of a sūrah until the words {Bismillāhi Ar-Rahmān Ar-Rahīm} was revealed to him. (Abū Dawūd 788. Declared Sahīh by Al-Albānī)
أن سعيد بن جبير أخبرهُ أن المؤمنين في عهد رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم كانوا لا يعلمون انقضاء السورة حتى ينزل بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم، فإذا نزل بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم علموا أن قد اقضت السورة، ونزلت الأخرى.
Sa’īd ibn Jubayr narrated: the believers during the time of the Messenger of Allāh (ﷺ) did not know that the Sūrah had ended until {Bismillāhi Ar-Rahmān Ar-Rahīm} was revealed. When {Bismillāhi Ar-Rahmān Ar-Rahīm} was revealed, they knew that the Sūrah had ended and the other had begun. (Musannaf of Abdul-Razzāq 2699)
Ibn Abdul-Barr said: This serves as evidence for those who say that Bismillāhi Ar-Rahmān Ar-Rahīm is a verse in every Sūrah. (At-Tamhīd 13/42)
Ibn Kathīr said: Those who said that it is a verse from each Sūrah except sūrah al-Barā’ah (al-Tawbah): Ibn ‘Ābbās, Ibn ‘Umar, Ibn Zubayr, Abū Hurayrah, ‘Alī. And from the tābi’īn: ‘Atā, Tawūs, Sa’ īd ibn Jubayr, Makhūl, Zuhrī. Likewise Abdullāh ibn al-Mubārak, Shafi’ī, in one saying of Imām Ahmad, Ishāq ibn Rahawayh, Abū ‘Ubayd al-Qāsim ibn Salām.
Ahmad Shākir said regarding the above statement of Ibn Kathīr:
This is the correct view, supported by strong evidence from both the Qur’ān and the Sunnah. Among the strongest of these evidences is that all the original collections of the Qur’ān, which were written by ‘Uthmān ibn ‘Affān and approved by all the Companions, contained the basmalah at the beginning of each Sūrah, except for Sūrah al-Tawbah.
When the Companions compiled the Qur’ān, they left out anything that was not part of it—they did not write the names of the sūrahs, the verse counts, or the word “Amīn.”
They strictly prevented anyone from adding anything not part of the Qur’ān, out of their strong desire to preserve Allāh’s Book and their concern that later generations might confuse non-Qur’ānic text with the Qur’ān itself.
Thus, is it conceivable, after all this, that they would have added 113 instances of the basmalah beyond what was revealed to the Messenger of Allāh? Doesn’t this provide definitive evidence – through practical mass transmission, supported by consistent written transmission – that the basmalah is indeed a verse of the Qur’ān in every place which it was written.
We have detailed this discussion at length in our commentary on Al-Tirmidhī (2/16-25).
(Umdatul-Tafsīr of Ibn Kathīr by Ahmad Shākir 1/56-57)
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