بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ
In the name of Allah[1], the Compassionate, the Merciful.[2]
[1] The word is incapable of translation. It is not a common noun meaning a 'god' or even 'God.' It is proper noun par excellence. No plural can be formed from it, and it is according to the best authorities without derivation. The word connotes all the attribution of perfection and beauty in their infinitude, and denotes none but the One and Unique God, the Absolute, Supreme, Perfect, Tender, Mighty, gracious, Benign and Compassionate. The English word 'God,' which is the 'common Teutonic word for a personal object of religious worship ... applied to all superhuman beings of heathen mythologies who exercise power over nature and man.' (EBr. X. p.460) and which primarily meant only 'what is invoked' and 'what is worshiped by sacrifice.' (SOED. I. 808) can hardly be even an approximate substitute.
[2] Contrast with this unreservedly monotheistic introductory formula of Islam the glaringly polytheistic introductory formula of Christianity: -'In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.'
[2] Contrast with this unreservedly monotheistic introductory formula of Islam the glaringly polytheistic introductory formula of Christianity: -'In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.'
