Educating Children with "Basmallah"

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By Imaamul Muslimin Shaykh Yakhsyallah Mansur

Educating children is a parent’s obligation. Good and bad children really depend on how the child receives education from their parents.

Islam teaches to educate children with love, like Allah’s loving nature towards Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala His servants. One of the verses that contains the nature of Allah which can be a basis for educating children is the sentence basmallah.

Word of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala:

بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ (الفاتحة [١]: ١)

Meaning: “In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.” (Q.S. Al-Fatihah [1]: 1)

What is meant by “Basmalah” is the saying of Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim.

Ibn Kathir explained that the scholars started reading the Kitabullah with the basmalah and the scholars agreed that the basmalah was part of a verse from surah An-Naml [27], 30:

إِنَّهُۥ مِن سُلَيْمَـٰنَ وَإِنَّهُۥ بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَـٰن ِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ (النمل [٢٧]: ٣٠)

Meaning: “Indeed (the letter) is from Solomon and indeed (its contents): “In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.”

Then the scholars disagreed about this basmalah in several ways:

Is basmalah a separate verse at the beginning of each surah?. Is basmalah only written at the beginning of each surah?. Is basmalah a part of one verse at the beginning of each surah?. Is basmalah the beginning of surah Al-Fatihah and not another surah. Is it? Basmalah was written to separate one surah from another while it itself is not a verse.

Each of the opinions above has followers both among Salaf scholars (who lived from the first century of the Hijrah to the fifth century) and Khalaf scholars (who lived after the fifth century of the Hijrah until now) with their respective arguments.

Next, Ibn Kathir quoted the hadiths about the virtues of basmalah, both authentic, hasan and dhaif. Among those narrated by Al-Hafiz Ibnu Mardawaih from Abu Said said, “The Messenger of Allah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, ‘Indeed, Isa bin Maryam Alaihis Salam was handed over by his mother to Kuttab to be taught to write.

Then his teacher said, ‘Write.’ Isa said, ‘What should I write?’ His teacher answered, ‘Bismillah’. Isa asked him, ‘What is the meaning of bismillah?’ His teacher answered, ‘I do not know.’ considered god, Ar-Rahman means the Most Merciful in this world and the hereafter and Ar-Rahim means the Most Merciful in the hereafter.”

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This hadith was also narrated by Ibn Jarir, then he said, “This hadith is very gharib (strange). “Perhaps it is authentic to other than the Messenger of Allah, Shallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, and perhaps this hadith is an Israiliyat hadith, not from a Marfu’ hadith.”

The letter “ba” in basmalah

Basmalah is the first verse of surah Al-Fatihah which consists of 19 letters and begins with the letter “ba”. Sayid Bakari Al-Makki bin Sayid Muhammad Syatha Ad-Dimyati in his book Kifayatul Atqiya’ wa Minhajul Ashfiya, explains why basmalah starts with the letter “ba” and not other letters. He said:

وَقَالُوْا اَوْدَعَ اللهُ جَمِيْعَ الْعُلُوْمِ ف above ُ الْعَوَالِمِ بِيْ

“Shufi scholars say, ‘Allah entrusts all his knowledge to the letter ba, namely because of My power (bî) everything that already exists came into being, because of My power also came into being something that will exist, and the existence of the universe is due to My power. ”

This statement is the meaning of the words of the scholars, “I do not see anything unless there is Allah. So that the scholars understand that whatever they see there is under Allah’s supervision.”

Sayid Bakari Al-Makki added that ba’ is the letter of the lips (syafawi). Reciting it causes the mouth to open. The beginning of a human’s mouth is opened when he gives testimony that Allah is his God as He says:

وَإِذْ أَخَذَ رَبُّكَ مِنۢ بَنِىٓ ءَادَمَ مِن ظُهُورِهِمْ ذُرِّيَّتَهُمْ وَأَشْهَدَهُمْ عَلَىٰٓ أَنفُسِهِمْ أَلَسْتُ بِرَبِّكُمْ ۖ قَالُوا۟ بَلَىٰ ۛ شَهِدْنَآ ۛ أَن تَقُولُوا۟ يَوْمَ ٱلْقِيَـٰمَةِ إِنَّا كُنَّا عَنْ هَـٰذَا غَـٰفِلِينَ (الأعراف [٧]: ١٧٢)

Meaning: “And (remember) when your Lord brought out from the root of Adam their descendants and Allah took testimony against their spirits (saying), “Am I not your Lord?” They answered, “بَلَىٰ (Yes, You are our Lord), we bear witness.” (We do this) so that on the Day of Resurrection you will not say, “Indeed, at that time we were heedless of this (the oneness of God),” (Q.S. Al-A’raf [7]: 172)

The next explanation is that the letter ba’ in the basmalah pronunciation is always read as kasrah. In Arabic it is called jar which only occurs in isim (noun). According to M. Khalilur Rahman, isim in the literal sense is a high degree, while a high degree can be obtained by being humble (الجر).