The same procedure is also used to create the term Hawqala. The method of coining a quadriliteral name from the consonants of multiple words in a phrase is also used to create the name ''Hamdala' for Alhamdulillah, instead of the traditional name of Tahmid. This quadriliteral root was used to derive the noun basmala and its related verb forms, meaning 'to recite the basmala'. were used to create a new quadriliteral root: b-s-m-l ( ب-س-م-ل). The word basmala was derived from a slightly unusual procedure, in which the first four pronounced consonants of the phrase bismi-llāhi. Other common phrases in Islam were also given their own names based on verb form 2 verbal nouns, including Tasbih. The traditional name for the phrase in Classical Arabic was Tasmiyah. In Arabic calligraphy, the Basmala is the most prevalent motif, even more so than the Shahadah. The Islamic Basmala appears to be related to earlier variants of the phrase appearing in Arabian inscriptions from the 5th and 6th centuries.

Muslim disagreement over whether to include the Basmala within the Quranic text, reached consensus following the 1924 Cairo Edition, which included it as the first verse ( āyah) of Quran chapter 1 but otherwise included it as an unnumbered line of text preceding the other relevant 112 chapters. It is the phrase recited before each chapter ( surah) of the Qur'an – except for the ninth. It is used in over half of the constitutions of countries where Islam is the official religion or more than half of the population follows Islam, usually the first phrase in the preamble, including those of Afghanistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brunei, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Maldives, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates.

It is one of the most important phrases in Islam and is used by Muslims mostly before starting 'good deeds' (for instance, during daily prayer) as well as beginning of most daily actions. The Bismala ( Arabic: بَسْمَلَة, basmalah also known by its incipit Bi-smi llāh بِسْمِ ٱللَّٰهِ, 'In the name of Allah'), or Tasmiyyah (Arabic: تَسْمِيَّة), is the titular name of the Islamic phrase 'In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful' (Arabic: بِسْمِ ٱللَّٰهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ, bi-smi llāhi r-raḥmāni r-raḥīm i). Bismala calligraphy A calligraphic rendition of the Bismillah Mughal-era calligraphy The basmala as written on the Birmingham mus'haf manuscript, the oldest surviving copy of the Qur'an. For other uses, see Bismillah and In the name of Allah (disambiguation).

Bismillah in arabic calligraphy font