THE BARAKAAT OF SAYING BISMILLAH

أعوذ بالله من الشيطان الرجيم بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم A muslim too wakes up in the morning and a non-muslim too wakes up in the morning, wakes up from sleep but the morning of a Muslim is not the same like that of a non-muslim. The dawn of the muslim goes like how the Prophet, SallAllahu Alayhi Wa Sallam, taught him. He recites kalimah as taught by the Prophet, SallAllahu Alayhi Wa Sallam, he offers salah, does hajj according to the teaching of the Prophet, SallAllahu Alayhi Wa Sallam. He says “Alhamulillaahilladhee ahyaana ba’ada maa amaatana wa ilaihin nushoor” when he wakes up, he then fulfills his needs, performs wudhu, and he performs tahajjud if he woke up before subah saadiq (dawn) or he performs fajr if he wakes up after subah saadiq. Our beloved Prophet, SallAllahu Alayhi Wa Sallam, prayed to Allah SWT to put blessings in the subah for his ummah. Our beloved Prophet, SallAllahu Alayhi Wa Sallam, asked us to recite Bismillah before commencing any work, be it related to deen or dunya for a work that is commenced without reciting Bismillah is incomplete. We would have seen when we visit some old women they will welcome us by saying, “Welcome, Bismillah”. In fact, the work will not just be incomplete but some work won’t be right without reciting Bismillah. For example, if we slaughter a sheep without reciting Bismillah, it would be haram to eat and it is as much haram as that of consuming alcohol or eating a dog or a cat. Such is the importance of saying Bismillah.
There is a powerful lesson in saying Bismillah while slaughtering the animal. The animal we slaughter has life be it the cow or the sheep or chicken and so do we. If someone slaughters us for enjoyment, that would be a zulm (oppression). Every living being be it the animal or the man wants to live. If you want to save yourself from difficulties, so is the every living being that wants to save itself from difficulties. You don’t like anyone to slaughter you with a knife and so is every living being. But when you recite Bismillahi Allahu Akbar when slaughtering that any living being dislikes, you in fact are proclaiming one reality saying that, “I am the creation of Allah SWT and so is this animal and Allah SWT is the creator of all. He SWT has the sole right to decide who becomes beneficial for whom. It is Allah SWT who created this animal for my benefit and it is by His command alone that I am benefiting from this animal.” We have the right to derive enjoyment from the animal and Allah SWT has permitted it so but He SWT created us mainly for His worship. So we also proclaim that we have the right to take benefit from the creations of Allah SWT only when we worship Him or else we don’t have any right to seek pleasure or benefit from His creations. Our purpose is to worship Allah SWT by taking benefits from these animals.
“And I (Allâh) created not the jinn and mankind except that they should worship Me (Alone).” Al-Quran: 51:56 The animals are ready to die in obeying the command of Allah SWT for the benefit of men for whom it was created but it is just we who are not ready to worship Allah for which we are created. We can cut the throat properly making the blood flow and even the lab tests can confirm this but in spite of all this if we do not proclaim the reality, “Bismillahi Allahu Akbar”, this won’t be halal for us, it will remain impure. Such is the importance of Bismillah in some instances. We do the wudhu saying Bismillah and without saying “Bismillah”, if we wash our hands, face etc with water, we might get clean but not pure. It is only in Islam, we have cleanliness and purity. We can see in other people cleanliness but not purity for purity is unique to the people of Islam. Our beloved Prophet SAW said any work commenced without saying “Bismillah” will be imperfect and remain adulterated. Our intelligence might not reach the understanding of the Prophet’s SAW words for his SAW words go beyond our intelligence and commence from there. So we should never judge his words with our intelligence. Our beloved Prophet SAW said when one does wudhu saying Bismillah and washes his hands, then the sins committed by his hands are washed away and so is the face, ears, foot and so on. Finally when he finishes his wudhu, he is cleansed of all minor sins and his heart is filled with noor and full of blessings.