Basmala
The Basmala or Basmalah (Arabic: بَسْمَلَة, romanized: basmalah; also known as Tasmiya by its opening words Bi-'sm-illāh; بِسْمِ ٱللهِ, "In the name of God") is an Islamic phrase meaning “In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful” (Arabic: بِسْمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيْمِ, bi-smi llāhi r-raḥmāni r-raḥīmi). It is one of the most important phrases in Islam and is frequently recited by Muslims before performing daily activities and religious practices, including prayer, and at the start of verses (āyah) or chapters (surahs) of the Qur'an.
In the Quran, it is recited before each chapter (surah), except for the ninth chapter At-Tawbah. Scholarly debates regarding its inclusion in the Qur'anic text reached consensus with the 1924 Cairo Edition, where it was included as the first verse (āyah) of Al-Fatiha and remained an unnumbered line preceding each of the 112 other chapters.
Historically, the Islamic Basmala appears to be related to earlier variants of the phrase appearing in Arabian inscriptions dating back to the 5th and 6th centuries.
The Basmala is used in constitutions of over half of the countries where Islam is the state religion or more than half of the population follows Islam, usually the first phrase in the preamble, including those of Afghanistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brunei, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Maldives, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and the United Arab Emirates.