Lesson 3

Here we read the complete sentence,
Bismillâhir-Rahmânir-Rahîm,
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful.
It stands in the beginning of each Surah except the 9th.
 
  • Just as the Alif makes the a long (see Lesson 1), the Ya makes the i long.
  • The Ha in this lesson is pronounced deeper in the throat than the Ha in Lesson 1.
  • Some letters are strong, that is, they assimilate the Lâm of al: not al-Salâm but as-Salâm; not al-Rahmân but ar-Rahmân etc.
  • You can easily recognize strong letters in the beginning of the word because they carry a doubling sign while the Lâm of al does not have a sign at all.
Ar-Rahmân, the Beneficent, and
ar-Rahîm, the Merciful,
are among the Names of Allah most frequently mentioned in the Qur'an. From this lesson on, more Names of Allah will be introduced.

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