#553: Why do we begin Wudhū with Bismillah not Bismillahi Ar-Rahmāni Ar-Rahīm?

QUESTION

“Assalāmu Alaikum. Good evening. May Allāh reward you & your loved ones for all the good you do. Please, I have a question please. Why is it when we want to start something, like eating or ablution etc, we are supposed to say Bismillah, and not Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim? What is the difference? Jazākallāhu Khairan”

ANSWER

Wa alaykum Salām Warahmatullāh Wabarakātuh.

Āmīn to your Du’ā and may Allāh grant us beneficial Ilm.

It has been authentically reported from the Rasūl – salallāhu alayhi wasallam – the importance of the Basmalah before the Wudhū.

But contrary to what was purported in your question, some of the ‘Ulamā considered it better to say Bismillahi Ar-Rahmāni Ar-Rahīm and not simply Bismillah

Imām Ad-Dardīr Al-Mālikī – rahimahullāh – said in his Sharh on the Mukhtasar of Khalīl:

“The Tasmiyyah: that he should say the Bismillah at the beginning. And in adding Ar-Rahmāni Ar-Rahīm is two Verdicts”

An-Nawawī – rahimahullāh – said in Al-Majmū’:

“And know that the most complete of the Tasmiyyah is to say Bismillahi Ar-Rahmāni Ar-Rahīm. If he says only Bismillah, then the merit of its saying is earned. This is agreed upon without differences. This was mentioned by Al-Māwardī in his two books Al-Hāwī and Al-‘Iqnā’. And by Imām Al-Haramayn and Ibn As-Sabbāgh. And Ash-Shaykh Nasr in his book Al-Intikhāb. And Al-Ghazālī in Al-Wajīz. It was also mentioned by Al-Mutawallī, Ar-Rūyānī, Ar-Rāfi’ī and others. And Allāh knows best.”

And generally, the Shāfi’īs and many of the Mālikī Imāms held that to say the Bismillah with the inclusion of ‘Ar-Rahmani Ar-Rahīm’ was better for both the Wudhū and the onset of Eating/Drinking.

Though there is no mention of this addition in the Hadīth, there is also no negation to this addition.

This is the point emphasized by An-Nawawī in the Majmū’ as we referred.

And because it is not mentioned in the Hadīth other than beginning with the Name of Allāh, the Hanbalis and some of the Muhaqqiqun held that it was wrong to add Ar-Rahmāni Ar-Rahīm

In this matter is a choice for the doer but it is better to restrict oneself to Bismillah as a way of going out of the difference of opinion with the ‘Ulamā in this regard.

Bārakallāhu fīkum
Jazākumullāhu Khayran.

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