The Beautiful Explanation And The Power Of Bismillah | Nouman Ali Khan

When I speak about Allah I shared an ayah with you that is part of an ayah or belonging to Surah-Al-Baqarah, where Allah says you should remember Allah the way he taught you the way you didn't know yourself, Allah (r) has taught us ways to remember him and really remembering Allah is the foundation of our relationship with Allah Allah (r) is in the unseen to us And the bind the rope that connects us to Allah is remembering him And now remembering Allah can vary from one person to another I can remember Allah my own way You

can remember Allah your own way But Allah of mentions in this Ayah that calls on all of us to remember him the way he taught us to remember him and that way that we could never have known ourselves (Arabic) You had no possibility of knowing how to remember Allah on your own Part of that is the way he describes himself You know Muslims non-Muslims anybody who believes in God has some image or some idea of what God is or who God is Ask anybody who believes in God They'll say yeah God is good God loves

God's wise etc etc they have some concept of some descriptions of God in their mind but Allah (r) goes far beyond that describing himself in ways that we could never have imagined ourselves That's what it means when he says (Arabic) In ways you could not have ever known yourselves Human beings can have some concept of Allah some concept of a god but they can't go beyond their own imagination or their own limited thoughts or whatever Allah has put inside the fitra some knowledge of Allah is there some level of light is there but the complete

light can only come from Allah (r) And that is the revelation that he gave to his final messengers (x) So my intention is to actually first and foremost as I as I was trying to prepare for this series you know I as I dive into the subject there's so much to explore and so much to learn Then I have to take a step back and ask myself what is my intention for you? My job as someone who's learning and then my job as someone who's trying to share and teach my job for you is to

be able to at the end of this month take away something about Allah that you can keep with you in your heart And if you and I can accomplish that then we've accomplished some level of success And so as a result of that I want to start with something that everybody's familiar with Some people here are much more knowledgeable than I am and I know that as a fact and as some people here have memorized the entire Quran and you know you know experts in the Arabic language and other people here barely know how to

read the Fatiha There are other people here that maybe have been Muslim for two days So there are people at all kinds of levels here and I have to consider that someone listening and somebody trying to benefit me belong to any one of those levels and they need to be able to walk away with something regardless of what they know So I want to start with one matter and that is what I'm hoping to share with you isn't And if you can look at me isn't far up here It's actually not knowledge that I wish

to share with you I'm hoping to develop something for here for myself and for all of you in the way Allah told us to remember Because when Allah talked about remembering him he says (Arabic) in it there's a powerful reminder in the Quran There's a powerful reminder for anyone who has a heart So first of all he said remember Allah the way you couldn't have known And then he says remembrance is actually something that is done by people who have hearts So we're trying to benefit our hearts as we engage in this in this exploration

So what I'm going to talk to you about the next couple of days Today and actually skipping after the day after just about (Arabic) something everybody knows I would think or if you don't know it will be easy for you to learn Inshallahu ta’ala This phrase that Allah (r) gave us that is at the opening of every surah Just some things about that phrase You know if you notice the writing in the script of the original Mushaf and the early masahif the ( ب ) used to be written long The ( ب ) is a

flat letter like this but the opening ( ب ) in the masahif like Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz even argued and instructed the others you know in the early generations to write the ba a long when you write Bismillah Why? Because this was out of glorifying and magnifying the magnificent letter ( ب ) with which the Quran begins This was out of their you know appreciation of the power of this letter Now what did they understand about the ( ب ) that we don't know? We just say بِسْمِ ٱللَّٰهِ and we keep moving along But somehow

the Sahaba and the early generations were mesmerized were overwhelmed by the power of just that letter ( ب ) When we say بِسْمِ ٱللَّٰهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ you know that ( ب ) occurs before that too when we say أعوذ بالله من الشيطان الرجيم Is ( ب ) there also and that's also a بالله But there's a difference between (Arabic) And (Arabic) between (Arabic) And (Arabic) does not begin with the ( ب ) it begins with the fi’il أعوذ which if you don't know that's okay That'll come at a later time But this phrase that we

refer to that we open the Surah of the Quran with and do so much else with Everything else you do That's a good thing You start with بِسْمِ ٱللَّٰهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Why is this ( ب ) so important? The Basari you know scholars used to call it (Arabic) The (Arabic) used to call it you know (Arabic) What that means in simple English ia as follows It means whatever you're doing when you say this word when you call on this ( ب ) And بِسْمِ ٱللَّٰهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ whatever you're doing is attached to this phrase like

they become one thing they're not They cannot be separated anymore This is there's (Arabic) between what you do and what this ( ب ) does It's fuzing the two things together So and inshallah as I in these few minutes I’ll explain What does it mean that what I do for example I'm eating I'm eating simple task And before I start eating I say بِسْمِ ٱللَّٰهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Now what the early scholars are arguing is that my eating has been combined with Allah’s name calling on Allah’s name It can't be separated from that anymore So now

we learned something important There are things we do that are not attached to the Allah's name and there are other things we do that are attached to Allah's name There's a difference between them now because sometimes you forget to say what بِسْمِ ٱللَّٰهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ If we forget to say it then the Allah's name is not attached to our act And if we do say it that Allah's name is attached to our act what difference does it make if you attach Allah's name or you don't attach Allah’s name you still eat a burger you still

eat you still drink orange juice It still tasted the same Nothing changed except Allah’s says (T) (Arabic) When you call on Allah’s Name and attach Allah’s name to any act then that act becomes full of something called Barakah And barakah In Arabic isn't just blessing Barakah actually means something that becomes stable something that stays in its place like (Arabic) was used for when a camel sits in the in the sand and won't move and it sort of sinks into the sand that's (Arabic) That's actually where the word comes from And it also means increased meaning

the same orange juice But because Allah’s name is attached to it you will get more nutrition from it more benefit from it Your mind will open up things will come out of this drink Benefits will come from this drink in the scene world and in the unseen world Benefits for your body benefits for your heart that you could not have experienced if you didn't say (Arabic) that attachment changes everything So now we're learning that our tasks are actually in a sense incomplete withoutبِسْمِ ٱللَّٰهِ That's just a little bit about the ( ب ) and by

the way ( ب ) is also called by the (Arabic) Scholars They called it (Arabic) which means the ( ب ) of a means like a tool Meaning you know how you say I use the key to open the door right? I use the key I use a hammer to put the nail in the wall I'm using بِسْمِ ٱللَّٰهِ to get this done That's actually what that means that I need this phrase and without it whatever I need to get done will not get done I do not believe it will yield the intended results If

the (Arabic) isn't there If this phrase بِسْمِ ٱللَّٰهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ isn't there Now let's talk a little bit about the word (Arabic) Bismillah The word (Arabic) Though there's lots of arguments about that And this is not the time to discuss complex Arabic but it's argued that it comes from (Arabic) or someone or (Arabic) meaning height or elevation and that the wall moves over What that means simply is you know when you call somebody by their name you've elevated them and you're supposed to give people honorable names When we call on Allah and before we say

Allah’s name we say the word (Arabic) we say Bismillah We're actually acknowledging that Allah's names are high that they are lofty that they are of grand status that we have to have respect and regard and appreciation for these magnificent names of Allah And they're just saying those names Just saying them is an honor for us Just as we get to say that you know and then after that we say the word Allah Bismillah By the way the people that came before us who were given the book before us like Bani Israel many of them actually

went the opposite direction They would actually even argue in their religious tradition Allah's name should not be said It's too sacred to be said Don't Don't call on Allah’s name He shall not be named And they would have code names for God and not use Allah’s actual name Some of their scholars even considered it blasphemy to call on God by his name And Allah begins his Quran and he tells us call on his name call on and use his name and attach everything you do with his name Because without that name it will be incomplete

And that's Bismillah And since I was giving you the example of eating you think about this when you and I are eating we thank Allah for being the provider We thank Allah for sustaining us We think of Allah's primarily We think of Allah's attribute as the Raziq the one who provides That's one of Allah’s names But we don't say Bismir-Raziq We don’t say in the name of the provider I need the name of the provider to eat We say in the name of who? Allah You say in the name of Allah You know when a

doctor is trying to treat a patient and as they're treating before they treat the patient they don't say you know for Allah You know bismis-shafi like in the name of the healer because Allah heals And he's not going to call or Bismillah You know Muhyi in the name of the one who gives life the patient is you know in intensive care and Allah is the only one who can preserve their life So you call on Allah A the one who gives life or the one who is the living Al-hayy al-qayyum but we don't say that

We say what Bismillah we just call on the word Allah Why? Because the word Allah unique to all the other names of Allah The word Allah includes every description of Allah in one word It includes Allah's love It includes Allah’s power It includes Allah's wisdom It includes Allah’s planning It includes Allah’s healing It includes Allah’s anger It includes Allah’s knowledge All of the names of Allah that you can think of and you and I Our minds are not that sharp We can't think of all of the Allah’s names Even the ones we know don't come

to mind Even they don't come to mind And yet Allah has given us a mercy that when we start something we don't know which name of Allah we're going to need I don't know if I need Allah to be my healer because I may have a sickness I don't even know I have it I may have a problem coming ahead of me I don't even know It's coming ahead I don't even know if this task is going to lead me into trouble And I will need Allah to be my protector Maybe Allah I need Allah

to be my wali Maybe Allah I need Allah to be Al-Hakeem Maybe I need Allah’s knowledge for now I need Allah to be Al-Aleem I don't know which name of Allah I need and so Allah knows better than we do When we call on Allah by His name Allah then Allah has covered all of the names we can't even think of We don't even know what we need Allah says (Arabic) Allah knows the nature of the chest You know what that means? He knows what I'm thinking And he knows my subconscious and the things I

don't even know that I need He knows those too And I called on all of them just by using the word Allah just by using the word Allah When I say Bismillah I told you I'll need two sessions to do this because I wanted to dedicate an entire session just to just ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ why that addition? Because you know for short we just say Bismillah bismillah and we will get started But Allah (r) encouraged us to say what? بِسْمِ ٱللَّٰهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ So of all of his names he added those two and there's so many

of the names and descriptions of Allah But he added those two in particular in this phrase and that's important for us to study and understand But before we do that I want to take a little bit of time talking to you about just some things about this phrase some more things about this phrase from a grammatical point of view And even though I know you know most of you don't know the Arabic language And that's okay I'm going to try to make this as simple as I can in English so that it's easy to understand

And I'll throw in Some technical terms here and there but I'll simplify them I promise If I say using this key I start my car A simple example I'll repeat it using this key I start my car and I change the sentence and I say I start my car using this key It's the same idea isn't it? One time I said using this key I start my car and the other time I said I start my car using this key There's a difference a little bit of a difference And normally you don't start with using

this key You start with one I start my car using this key You start with what you're doing and then you mention what you're using You understand But if we think about (Arabic) does our act come first or does What we're using Allah’s name Does that come first? Allah’s name comes first You know what? When you are heading to work the only thing on your mind is I got to get to work I got to get in the car when you're getting late The only thing is I got to finish this plate when the kids

are getting late for school Hurry up Finish your breakfast We got to go The bus is coming There's the task in front of you is all you're thinking about And Allah changes that for us And he says before you think of this task before you think of what's right in front of you using Allah’s name first meaning give due to Allah the Creator first give him do first and then think about your task your task and my task And whatever we're preoccupied with becomes secondary Allah becomes primary because if Allah wasn't there if Allah (r)

love and his mercy and his guidance and his power wasn't there nothing we have to do in front of us would actually get done It's a conscious awareness of our dependance on Allah (r) you know for grammar students this is something remarkable The first time I learned this I was overwhelmed They say (Arabic) They teach you about (Arabic) you know this is (Arabic) So for example بِسْمِ ٱللَّٰهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ(Arabic) But it's actually (Arabic) But it's actually بِسْمِ ٱللَّٰهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ when you move Bismillah in the beginning like in English when I say in using this

key I just start the car Why don't you want to use the strange order like that? You know what I've done? I'm actually saying this key and only this key I There's no other way I could have done it And it's as if As if when we say (Arabic) it's a (Arabic) Suggesting It's a taqdeem Suggesting we could never have gotten anything done in our faith Nothing good would have come of it had it not been on us Calling on Allah blessed his name (Arabic) A remarkable acknowledgment from a believer that everything Everything depends on

us just calling on his name The last thing Because I won't dedicate A session to the word ‘ILAH’ I'll share it with you now in the phrase لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا ٱللَّٰهُ Some of our scholars believed that the word Allah comes from the word ‘ILAH’ like they're they're connected to each other But there are other scholars that make very good argument that the word ‘ILAH’ is separate and the word Allah is separate They're two separate things Meaning the word Allah is the original name of (Allah) It's (Arabic) It doesn't go back to anything It's the original

name of Allah and All of the scriptures from before regardless of language That is the original name of Allah You can't even find a definition or a translation for it But then what about the word ‘ILAH’? What about the word ‘ILAH’? When we say لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا ٱللَّٰهُ and your English translation said there's no God except Allah or there's no one worthy of worship except Allah You've heard these translations before I just wanted to give you an appreciation of what you and I are saying Not just in Bismillah but also in لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا ٱللَّٰهُ

Very briefly just on the word ‘ILAH’ And I'll conclude for the day Inshallahu ta'ala, the first thing I want you to know Is ‘Alaha’ in Arabic also means to worship And so ‘ILAH’ actually means there's no possibility of anyone to be worshiped except Allah That's a good translation that's a fair translation But But ‘Aliha’ also in Arabic means (Arabic) or (Arabic) What that means is when someone is desperate and they don't know who to turn to Like if for example you know if there's a knock on the door or there's somebody trying to break a

window and you immediately who do you who do you call first? Do you call the authorities? Do you bring the alarm that first alarm that you do in a time of desperation that's actually (Arabic) In other words when we are at our most desperate moments when we think that we are completely alone and nobody can help us there is no one to turn to except Allah There's no possibility of anyone that we can ever turn to except Allah and that's captured inside the words لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا ٱللَّٰهُ he says (Arabic) to be obsessed with someone

to be in need of someone to feel like you cannot do without them? They call this in psychology a dependency I can't you know someone feels I can't be alone I need to have someone with me That's actually Allah When someone has Allah with them they're never alone (Arabic) My rab is with me He'll guide me A person who feels that the loneliness can be the scariest Loneliness can be the most painful experience and Allah takes that away from us loneliness away from us Because he says doesn't matter if the people leave you doesn't matter

if your family leaves you Doesn't matter if your friends leave you Doesn't matter if society abandons you But when you have لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا ٱللَّٰهُ you'll never be alone You have Allah to turn to and so finally I share with you something so beautiful about the word ‘ILAH’ I was in Texas many years ago that a missionary I was speaking to I happened to meet him on a flight He came to me and told me our God is love but your God he's not love Because you know Jesus is love And I said where did

you learn that our God is not love? You don't have You have Allah and you have ‘ILAH’ but you don't have love you know And I said okay well I could show him you know (Arabic) Quran says Allah is extremely loving He says that But even in the word ‘ILAH’ what people don't know The Arabs are really a remarkable people The ancient Arabs used to have 14 different words for love How many did I say? 14 different words for love Like if they it's like 14 different kinds of virus Which one is he infected with?

You know And so for each one of them they had a description So they would have (Arabic) And then towards the end they have two more (Arabic) The last one number 14 is when love kills you Number 14 is the kind of love that you just im just dead Okay? The love that kills And you don't wish that on anyone but the one before that Is actually called (Arabic) and (Arabic) is a kind of love They describe it (Arabic) They say when the one you love isn't there you can't be happy That love that when

they're there you're happy And when they're not there you can't be happy And the word for that in Arabic is walah And walah is argued by many grammarians as the origin of the word ‘ILAH’ from (Arabic) actually becomes (Arabic) the ‘wa’ became ‘Alif’ and became ‘ILAH’ In other words there is no genuine love and there's no real happiness in life that a human being can find with Allah absent from their heart Happiness cannot exist Joy cannot exist Love cannot exist without Allah in The heart that's part of the meaning of لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا ٱللَّٰهُ And

that's the Allah we're calling on when we say بِسْمِ ٱللَّٰهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ how often we we think of Allah is the one who punishes and the one who's going to get you It mean we teach kids that It's so scary We teach our children things like don't eat that cookie Allah is going to be very angry and I can guarantee you if that child died Allah will not be angry and not ask him about a cookie I can guarantee you You're angry Allah isn't angry with the child not over any cookies they're Masoom (Arabic) they're

not going to be questioned about what they do But we teach people early on Even Muslims teach Muslims early on that Allah is angry or Allah will punish or Allah is watching and you better watch out and you better fear Allah Yes fearing Allah is part of the equation But where does Quran begin with This Quran Begin with scaring us about Allah or making us love the one who gave us this life making us fall in love with him and making us feel like we will always be alone without him There are people that are

literally afraid to turn to Allah because they're too scared to remember him Our fear should be overrun by our love for him and our desperation for him And I pray that you and I find that love that genuine love for Allah (r) that one We call on the Allah name and we say بِسْمِ ٱللَّٰهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ that we recognize how much Allah is giving us out of his love how much he's taking care of us how many of his names are being utilized by us and we don't even know We don't even know May Allah

(r) make us a people who say بِسْمِ ٱللَّٰهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ with their tongues And they also say with their hearts (Arabic)