The First Word | The Most Powerful Name in the World | #nature #shorts #islam #firstword #bismillah
Channel: RisaleNow
Date: 2023-01-12

THE SHORT WORDS
In the name of Allāh, the Merciful, the Compassionate, 
From Him alone do we seek help. All praise and thanks be to Allāh, the Lord of the worlds, Blessings and peace be upon our Master Muḥammad, and upon his family, and all of his companions.

O brother! You have asked me for advice, so listen with me, to some truths contained in eight short allegories. 

As you are a soldier, they have been put into the form of military stories. I really do see my own lower self (nafs) as being more in need of good advice than that of anyone else, and accordingly, I once recounted to my own lower self, in some detail, eight ‘words’ that I had garnered from eight verses of the Qur'ān. I am now going to recount a concise version of this in layman’s terms. Whoever wishes may listen along with my lower self. 

The First Word

[Bismillāh] بِسْــــــــــــــــــمِ اللّٰهِ 'In the name of Allāh' is the beginning of all goodness - thus, at the beginning, we too begin to [explain] it. 

Oh my own lower self! Know that this blessed utterance is the symbol of Islam. It is also the invocation of every single thing in existence, expressed through the languages of the states of those things. 

 بِسْــــــــــــــــــمِ اللّٰهِ 'In the name of Allāh' has an immense power that is never exhausted, and a grace that will never pass away. 

If you wish to understand this, then direct your attention to this short allegory. Listen! Any man travelling through the deserts of the Arab Bedouin must affiliate himself, seeking protection, with the chieftain of a tribe, both in order to ensure that all of his needs are fulfilled, and so that he is saved from the mischief of bandits. Otherwise, he would have to face his endless enemies and needs, distressed because wretchedly alone. 

On such a journey two men set out to the desert, one of them a humble man, the other deeply conceited. The humble man immediately affiliated himself with a chieftain - but the conceited man refused to do so. The affiliated man roamed freely. He was in perfect security, wheresoever he should choose to go. If he encountered a bandit, he would say, ‘I am journeying in the name of the chieftain so-and-so’, at which the thug would turn away, unable to touch him. Due to the grace of that name, he would find honour, whichever tent he might enter. The conceited man, on the other hand, endured unspeakable tribulations throughout his whole journey. Constantly trembling, and constantly having to plead for himself, he ended up wretched and degraded. 

Oh conceited lower self! You are that traveller, and this world is that desert. There is no limit to your powerlessness and poverty,  and no end to your enemies and your needs! This being so, affiliate yourself with the Endless Owner and the Beginningless Ruler of this desert, so that you can be free from having to beg from created beings, and free from fear of every event.Yes, this phrase is such a blessed treasure that through it, your limitless powerlessness and poverty bind you to endless power and mercy; and thus do powerlessness and poverty become truly valid intercessors for you at the door of the Almighty, the Compassionate. Yes, the one who acts, saying this phrase, is like someone who enters military service, and thereby acts in the name of the state. He fears no one, for he speaks in the name of the state and of the law. He accomplishes everything - and he can withstand anything. At the beginning, we said that all existing beings say بسم الله 'In the Name of Allāh' through the language of the states of those things. Is that so?

Yes - if you were to see a single individual come along and forcibly drive out every inhabitant of a city to a particular place, and then compel them to work there, you would be in no doubt whatsoever that such a man could not possibly be acting in his own name or through his own power alone. Rather, one would be forced to conclude that such a person must be a soldier, acting in the name of the state, and relying on the power of the ruler. It is in a similar way that all existent beings act, in the name of Allāh. The very minutest, particle-like seeds and stones bear gigantic trees above their heads, and hold up mountainous burdens! Thus do all trees say, بسم الله 'In the name of Allāh!' and fill their hands with fruits from the treasury of mercy. They present these fruits to us, just as a street vendor displays his goods! Every garden says, بسم الله 'In the name of Allāh' and becomes one of the cauldrons of the kitchen of Divine Power in which diverse types of delectable foods are together cooked in abundance. 

(...) To read more: https://risalahonline.com/the-short-words/the-first-word#3d