Chapter On The Meanings of the Names of Allah and their Derivatives
Al-Kāfi|Volume 1|Book 3|Chapter 16
1ـ عِدَّةٌ مِنْ أَصْحَابِنَا عَنْ أَحْمَدَ بْنِ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ خَالِدٍ عَنِ الْقَاسِمِ بْنِ يَحْيَى عَنْ جَدِّهِ الْحَسَنِ بْنِ رَاشِدٍ عَنْ عَبْدِ الله بْنِ سِنَانٍ قَالَ سَأَلْتُ أَبَا عَبْدِ الله (عَلَيْهِ السَّلام) عَنْ تَفْسِيرِ بِسْمِ الله الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيمِ قَالَ الْبَاءُ بَهَاءُ الله وَالسِّينُ سَنَاءُ الله وَالْمِيمُ مَجْدُ الله وَرَوَى بَعْضُهُمْ الْمِيمُ مُلْكُ الله وَالله إِلَهُ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ الرَّحْمَنُ بِجَمِيعِ خَلْقِهِ وَالرَّحِيمُ بِالْمُؤْمِنِينَ خَاصَّةً.
1. A group of our people has narrated from Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Khalid from al-Qasim ibn Yahya from his grandfather al-Hassan ibn Rashid from ‘Abdallah ibn Sinan who has said the following: “I asked Abu ‘Abdillah عليه السلام about the interpretation of ‘In the Name of Allah, the All-Merciful, the Especially Merciful.’ (Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim) He (the Imam عليه السلام) replied, “B is Baha ’Ullah (the beauty of Allah); and S is Sana ’Ullah (the radiance of Allah); and M is Majdullah (the grandeur of Allah), or according to some other narrators, M is Mulkullah (the kingdom of Allah); and Allah means the god of all things. (He is) al-Rahman (merciful) to all of His creatures, and (He is) Al-Rahim (merciful) to the believers in particular.”
- Mirʾāt al-ʿUqūl fī Sharḥ Akhbār Āl al-Rasūl (2/37)
- Ṣaḥīḥ al-Kāfī