﷽ Saying ‘Bismillah’ بِسْمِ اللهِ Ibn Abbas (radiAllahu anhu) said, concerning ‘Bismillah’, Allah evolved it for you, and never had He evolved it unto any community before you. The Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said that it is one of the names of Allah the distance between it and Allah’s greatest name, is but like the distance between the black and white of the eye seen from a close angle. [Hakim & Dhahabi in The Book of Excellence of the Qur’an 1/552]