The Power Of Basmallah.

A friend once told me a little tale about a certain way one man altered his habit of smoking just by saying Bismillahirrahmanirrahim (For those of you who do not know, the common translation is "In the name of God, most Gracious, most Compassionate") each time he takes the first puff.

I am not one who is talented in recalling every single conversation I have with my friends. But this sort of content really makes you ponder and cogitate every once in a while. Trying to deduce this thought isn't a task to be treated lightly. I wish to know how is it that doing something that brings danger to your health, with the intention of it being for Allah, can obliterate that habit entirely. SubhanAllah, the miracles our Lord bestows on us... But I just find it sort of odd, I mean, doing a bad habit, in the name of Allah. How does that make sense? How does that affect us really? How does it provide change?

Deriving from my imagination at the moment of hearing that story, that person might have felt odd and uncomfortable doing something that is considered not permissible in the teachings of our Deen (if I'm not mistaken, since it is something that brings danger to your health) for Allah. The confusion probably had him afflicted, thus causing him to stop. But knowing that the Ayah itself has ethereal depth to its definition, this situation should be ingested otherwise.

Taken from a website, ( source: http://wahiduddin.net/words/bismillah.htm ) the meaning of Bismillahirrahmanirrahim is more thorough and detailed than its common definition, which is how we are able to understand the power of its usage. If I wish to reflect upon myself, I am a rather capricious soul whose utterance of the Ayah in complete sincerity is something of rare conduct. I guess I say it a lot, and I may say it without realizing I did, but when it comes to absorbing it's divine purpose and nature...that is where I fail shamefully. In direct quotation of that webpage "The central idea(of uttering "Bismillah") here is that whatever we do, every step that we take, every breath that we breathe, is done for, because of, and through the essence of, the One who has created us." If only I could realize this, every  time I speak of the Ayah...my thoughts and the way I run my life, would've taken a different and better route. 

So much beauty, so much that we are able to understand more of our Lord by the names of Rahman and Rahim if we scrutinize it and give it more thought. But like so many other things, the implementation of saying the Ayah is taken for granted. I may only speak of this to myself since I do not have the knowledge of the level of appreciation given from everyone else to this Ayah. But for those of you who feels some sort of relation to my predicament, let's try to implement the meaning of the Ayah better. Avert the habit of merely saying it for the sake of saying it. And reflect upon its meaning (for more details, just read the webpage of the link provided above) every time we attempt something. And if that something we wish to conduct could destroy us in terms of health or spirit, try asking yourself, is this something that I wish to do to prove myself to my Lord? My creator?

Let us try. May Allah bestow upon us his light on everything we do. Amin...