basmala

basmala

English

Alternative forms

• Basmala
• basmalah
• Basmalah

Etymology

From Arabic بسملة‎ (basmalah)

Noun

basmala (countable and uncountable, plural basmalas)

1. (Islam, countable) The prepositional phrase 'بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم‎ (bismi llāhi r-raḥmāni r-raḥīm, “In the name of Allah, the merciful, the compassionate”)'.
   • 2009, Juan Eduardo Campo, Encyclopedia of Islam, Infobase Publishing (→ISBN), page 94:

     The basmala, also known as the tasmiya, is an Arabic word for the phrase bi- smillah ir-rahman ir-rahim, “In the name of God most compassionate, most merciful.” This is the first verse of the Quran; it begins all of its chapters but one (Q9)...

   • 2006, Oliver Leaman, The Qur'an: An Encyclopedia, Taylor & Francis (→ISBN), page 116:

     But only Kufa and Mecca counted the basmala in al-Fatiha as verse 1, whereas the readers of Basra, Damascus and Medina did not count the basmala as a separate verse but achieved the number of seven verses by subdividing other...

2. (Islam, uncountable) The act of uttering Bismillah.