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This is an AI generated transcript from our first session. You can watch the video on Instagram or Tiktok, or listen to it on Spotify.
Assalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.
As we embark on this new year 2024, I'd like to take this opportunity to welcome all of you on this journey, the "Be Quranic" project. I'd also like to take this opportunity to wish all of you a happy new year. May this new year be a productive year filled with barakah. The aim at "Be Quranic" is that we want to end the year with more Quran and we have applied more of the wisdom and lessons from the Quran into our daily lives from where we are today on the 1st of January.
Take simple steps, small improvements every single day. Sayyidatuna Aisha once asked by Rasulullah what is the deed that is most beloved to Allah? Rasulullah said, what is consistent even if there are a few. So every day we take a short portion of an ayah from the Quran and we extract one lesson and we apply that one lesson into our daily lives. If we can do this, it means by the end of the year, we would have extracted 366 lessons from the Quran and applied to our lives. Why 366? Because 2024 is a leap year.
Now let's get started. The first ayah in the Quran from the first surah, it's short that most of us have memorised it. This says BismillahirRahmanirRahim and it is commonly translated as in the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful.
We're going to just look at the first half of this ayah. Bismillah. From a linguistic persepctive, Bismillah is not a complete sentence. Now we'll have to dial back a little bit, learn a few vocabulary to facilitate the process. Aya doesn't translate into a verse or a sentence. Aya literally translates as a sign. A sentence in Arabic is jumlah, that is a sentence or a verse. So when we talk about an aya of the Quran, it doesn't necessarily mean that it is a complete sentence from a grammatical point of view. It means it is a sign that Allah wants us to ponder and reflect upon. When Allah stops at Bismillahirrahmanirrahim, it is not a complete sentence. It is not a jumlah mufidah in Arabic, but it contains significant lessons for us to pause and ponder and reflect upon the deep meaning of that aya.
What is Bismillah? It means in the name of Allah. Now It doesn't really make much sense because it's only half of a sentence.
Now imagine a hypothetical situation. 250 years ago Captain Cook landed in Australia standing on the shores of Australia. In front of him is an audience. Some of them Aboriginal Australians and some of them the European settlers. And he announced, "In the name of the King!" His audience would be wondering "in the name of the king?" What is that? Complete your sentence!
This is what Bismillah is. In the name of God. Where is the completion of the sentence? Even iff we to take the whole ayah "in the name of God the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful" still it is not making sense.
To fully comprehend this we have to look into the structure of the Arabic language. Yes, I know I've promised you short, simple, relatable lessons. But trust me this is easy and once we've gone through this you'll see the point that I'm trying to make. Bismillah consists of three components, three words. ب which means 'with' and then اسم 'name' and Allah. Bismillah in the name of Allah. But ب in the Arabic language can carry multiple meanings. One of the meaning of ب here is ب of beginning. If you apply ب of beginning, it means "I begin in the name of Allah".
And then you also have ب of asking for help. That means when you apply ب of asking for help into Bismillah, it means in the name of Allah I am asking for Allah's help.
So applying this would mean, "I begin in the the Name of Allah." And this is the beauty of Bismillah. We are encouraged to recite it before doing anything of any significance. Rasulullah said, if you are to do something that has significance to you but you don't start it with Bismillah, you will be cut off from God's blessing. Because when you start with Bismillah, you start, I begin in the Name of Allah. So Bismillah is intentionally left hanging because we fill in the blanks. We fill it in, we complete the sentence with our actions. So when we are reading the Quran Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem, I begin in the Name of Allah and I read the Quran. I begin in the Name of Allah and I eat. I begin in the Name of Allah and start my work. I begin in the Name of Allah and I start my run, my jog, my workout, my anything that we do, we start in the Name of Allah.
This is to set our mindset right that we begin in the Name of Allah and this develops consciousness of Allah in everything that we do. It develops Taqwa, it develops consciousness of God. And imagine if you start something by saying Bismillah, is it even logical or possible for us to do something haram immediately after that, for us to do something bad immediately after that. You say Bismillah and then you start gossiping about your neighbours, about your colleagues, it doesn't make sense because you've already invoked the Name of Allah, Bismillah. It sets our actions straight, set it right. It is the intention in everything that we do, we do for the sake of Allah.
So that is your quest today, to start everything that we do consciously in the Name of Allah. That when we start with Bismillah, before we start scrolling Facebook or Instagram or TikTok, we start with Bismillah. That consciousness of Allah in everything we do will shape our actions.
Alright, now the second part, seeking of help. We also ask for Allah's help in everything that we do. We want Allah to help us in everything that we do. So there is more barakah in everything that we do. Everything that we do becomes successful and turns out to be what's best for us in this world and hereafter.
So remember whenever we say Bismillah, we are setting the framework, our mindset, we're doing it for Allah and we are also asking for Allah to bless us in the end of all, in the efforts that we're doing. That's your mission today. Bismillah, start everything with Bismillah.
Don't forget to join us on our telegram channel for a bit more discussion about Bismillah and also to sign up to our Substack page for you to get your free journal starting today. Daily journal with the Quran. The journaling today with will be Bismillah in the name of Allah.
So, with that in mind, let's start your year. Let's start your day. Bismillah.