I just wanted to find out that the Surah Al-Tawbah doesn’t have Bismillah Ar-Rahman Ar-Rahim in the beginning of it. There are various current theories about why they don’t have. First of all, I’d like to know what your reasoning on that is. Secondly, was there any controversy about this in the time of the Prophet? I mean, they must have also noticed that this Surah doesn’t have Bismillah Ar-Rahman Ar-Rahim. Did they discuss it or something like that? Is there any hadith about it? We have no record of any such controversy or any raising of eyebrows or raising of questions either.
To my knowledge, there was no such thing. But where is our specialist here on hadith? Obviously, this is what I mean. We don’t categorically deny that such a thing does not exist. But to the best of our knowledge, we never came across anything. Did you come across any such hadith? Never? Why are they quiet about it? There is definitely… That is because they must have understood. Or they wouldn’t have remained quiet. Well, you haven’t asked about the reasons. No, no, no. I never said that. I never said that. The fact is that some people believe that Bismillah has been omitted because Bismillah mentions two attributes of God which are so tender attributes.
Most forgiving, most benevolent, oft forgiving and so on and so forth, oft repeating His mercy. So these things, Rahman and Rahim, stand at the top of the list of those attributes which can be declared as tender attributes. So because here the subject matter is Tauba, and here the Holy Quran denounces the attitude of certain people with such firmness, they think it is not appropriate for Bismillah to be mentioned here because the subject is such as speaks of harshness. But I don’t approve of this explanation myself. I mean, I am not convinced personally.
Because in other verses of the Holy Quran where the mention of hell is made so much, where the wrath of Allah is dwelt upon in such detail, Bismillah, Rahman, Rahim stands out. I mean, it is attached to the, it is the first verse of every Satsura. And also, Rahman and Rahim do not stand in contradiction with other attributes of God. Wrath also is a child of Rahmaniyat. In fact, Rahmaniyat is the mother attribute of all other attributes. Rahimiyat also is derived from Rahmaniyat. But they coupled together stand for every attribute of God, in gist, in essence.
So with this in view, this meaning having understood, we understand why Bismillah is repeated with every Surah. This is repeated because it is the shortest and the most comprehensive introduction of Allah, the revealer of every Surah. So the other explanation I think is more acceptable, in a way. Of that also we have some objections. That explanation is that Surah Taubah is not an independent Surah in reality. And many scholars have written this. It is a part of the previous Surah. Yes, Surah Anfal. They believe that it is a part of Surah Anfal. And because it was a part, but it had a subsection of its own.
So they treat Surah Anfal as divided into two sections. One, that of Surah Anfal under the same title and the second subsection under the title of Taubah. Because it is a continuation, though a separate section of the same Surah, so Bismillah is not to be repeated. That is their explanation of one group of scholars. But there again we have some other small hesitation. Because this Surah has been treated as a separate chapter right from the beginning. Hazrat Usman was a companion of the Holy Prophet and so scholarly himself. Such a big lover of the Holy Qur’an. He also treated it as a separate chapter.
This is most of the Qur’an which we have inherited. And so it is not wholly satisfying this. Again we find one thing else in the Holy Qur’an which can be related to this issue. We see Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim as full repeated in one Surah of the Holy Qur’an, which is Surah Nahl I suppose. Surah Nahl. So one begins to think that where this Bismillah was omitted to complete the number of 114, for each verse it is placed there. Only once it is repeated in full, though not in this Surah but in other Surahs.
So in view of this… Then Surah was before Hijrah, that was after Hijrah. Pardon? I think this was revealed before Hijrah. Which Surah? At-Tawbah. And that Namah was revealed after Hijrah. Yes. So what? There would be a lot of difference, I mean the time. No, no. The point I am making is this. Why Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim is mentioned twice in one Surah while in no other Surah it is mentioned twice? Only in one Surah we see it is not mentioned at all. So as if to complement that lapse, not lapse but that omission or intentional omission I should say, it is repeated.
So there seems to be some way connection between the two. So I think further research is required in this regard. MD scholars should pay more attention and find out some very satisfying reason. It would connect the whole attitude. Could it be that this is addressed not to the believers? Pardon? Could it be that Al-Tawbah is not addressed to the believers? It starts off by not addressing itself to the believers. Maybe God doesn’t want to show this. You ponder over this further. When I say research I don’t mean while standing here you start making research.
