In the Name of Allah and none but Allah

Q:  In one of your lectures you have said, "If we talk about 'Bism-e-llah' - in the name of Allah - until the end of Time, we still shall not exhaust its meaning."  Is it possible to make a reference to the meaning of this phrase?    

A:  Meanings are many and one in the same time. 

Q:  Could you please put it more simply.

A:  I gave your answer but you did not hear it.  He is many and countless yet He is one.  Bism-e-llah refers to the fact that you should undertake everything in His name, for Him, in the same direction as His [will] and for His love.  Move and live in the name of Allah and not in your name or in the name of your spouse and child, money and possessions, fame and show off, neither in the name of people but in the name of Allah, not in the name of fear or reward but in the name of Allah, not in the name of this nor in the name of that but in the name of Allah...This is just one reference to "Bism-e-llah."

Why the Koranic chapters begin with "in the name of 'Allah' " and not in the name of Rabb - the Lord, Hagh - the Truth, and Noor - the Light? 

A:  This is of God's mysteries...However "Allah" has its own singularities that other names may lack them.  For instance, each name of the holy names has almost a definite meaning - the Compassionate, the Merciful, the Near One, the Nourisher and so on.  But Allah's meaning is not known to man.  In other words, an unknowable being is hidden in the term of "Allah"- an unimaginable being beyond every thought and image and above every description and interpretation.

Therefore, when you say, "Bism-e-llah," is somehow as if you are saying: in the name of He who I do not know and am not able to know, for Hi is unknowable and inapprehensible; in the name of He that no thought and no deduction can capture His truth and He is beyond every thought; in the name of He who is beyond every attribute... Thus by saying "Bism-e-llah" you are, in fact, referring to the principle of oneness - the authentic and true oneness.  That is to say [by saying] the first word you have also said the last one - provided you would really say it.  By perfectly and correctly uttering "Bism-e-llah," you would have simultaneously taken the first and the last steps...

When one truly utters "Bism-e-llah," one's mind and inner dimension of one's being should quiet down and become silent.  Since you are pointing to an unknowable and completely unknown being there should remain no word, imagination, thought and deduction in your mind for you have understood that every thought concerning Him is but illusion.  Therefore, you become silent from within.  This inner stillness and silence provide, on one hand, favorable conditions for the Divine Spirit to suggest meanings and, on the other hand, a propitious environment for the Divine Light to flow.  You stop taking to yourself; you therefore hear your heart's whispering and this shall facilitate the grasp of the meanings of the following verses. 

This is only one aspect...

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