A story about Mercy and Bismillahi Rahmāni Rahīm

The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, said:

َ َّ َ ْ ُ ُ َ َ ُ ُ ْ ُ َ َ ْ َ
‫ما ِمن أح ٍد يد ِخله عمله الجنة‬
No one will enter Jannah by their actions alone.
‫َ َ َ َ َْ َ َ َ ُ َ ه‬
‫اَّلل‬
ِ ‫ف ِقيل وال أنت يا رسول‬
Some asked, “Not even you O Messenger of Allah?”

َ ْ َ ِ َ َ َّ َ َ َ ْ َ َّ َ َ َ َ َ َ
" ‫قال " وال أنا ِإال أن يتغمد ِ ين ر ّ ين ِبرحم ٍة‬
The Prophet  replied, “Not even I, unless Allah covers me in His mercy.”

Do you know many gatekeepers of Jahannam there are? Allah gives us the answer in
the Quran, Surah al-Muddathir, verse 30,

‫َعلَْي َها تِ ْس َعةَ َع َشَر‬

Over it are nineteen.

Let’s summarise what we have learn thus far:

1. No one enters Jannah with their good deeds alone.

2. People will only enter Jannah through Allah’s mercy.
3. So we need to do good deeds and depend on Allah’s mercy.
4. There are 19 gatekeepers around Jahannam
Do you know how many letters there are when writing out Bismillahi Rahmāni Rahīm in
Arabic? Let’s read the full verse three times.

‫اّللِ الَر ْْحَ ِن الَرِحي ِم‬

َ ‫بِ ْس ِم‬
Now let us break it up and count the letters

ِ‫س ِم ا ل َل ِه ا ل َر حْ َم ِن ا ل رَ ِح ي م‬
ْ
ِ
‫ب‬
6 6 4 3

Now it’s your turn to write out each letter below

19 18 17 16 15 14 1315 12 11 10 9 8 7654 321

Now write down the entire verse in the block below

The pious scholars have said that these 19 letters in the Bismillah contains two special
qualities.

The first special quality

Whenever we read the Bismillah then these 19 letters will protect us from the 19
gatekeepers of Jahannam.
 The second special quality
To understand the second special quality we need to look at how many hours there
are in on day. Do you know how many hours there are in one day?
The Answer is

Remember your answer

Now take your answer and minus it from the 19 letters in the Bismillah
The answer is

Each letter of the Bismillah protects us for each hour of the day.
The remaining hours are five.
Allah gave us the gift of 5 salahs every day.
These 5 salahs protect us for the remaining 5 hours.
So read Bismillahi Rahmāni Rahīm everyday as much as you can and try your best to
do your 5 salahs and Allah will protect you for 24 hours every day.