reported: "The Prophet said, “When any of you wants to eat, he should mention the Name of God in the beginning (Bismillah). If he forgets to do it in the beginning, he should say Bismillah awwalahu wa akhirahu (I begin with the Name of God at the beginning and at the end)". — From At-Tirmidhi and Abu Dawud Umaiyyah bin Makshi reported: "The Prophet was sitting while a man was eating food. That man did not mention the Name of God till only a morsel of food was left. When he raised it to his mouth, he said, Bismillah awwalahu wa akhirahu. The Prophet smiled at this and said, "Satan had been eating with him but when he mentioned the Name of God, Satan vomited all that was in his stomach". — From Abu Dawud and Al-Nasa'i Wahshi bin Harb reported: "Some of the Sahaba of the Prophet said, 'We eat but are not satisfied.' He said, 'Perhaps you eat separately.' The Sahaba replied in the affirmative. He then said, 'Eat together and mention the Name of God over your food. It will be blessed for you.' — From Abu Dawood A tradition ascribed to Muhammad states: All that is contained in the revealed books is to be found in the Qur’an and all that is contained in the Qur’an is summed up in the surat al-fatihah ("The opening one") while this is in its turn contained in the formula Bismillahi-r-Rahmani-r-Rahim ("In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful"). A tradition ascribed to Imam Ali states: The basmalah is in essence contained in the first letter, Ba, and this again in its diacritical point, which thus symbolizes principal Unity. Tafsir In a commentary on the Basmala in his Tafsir al-Tabari, al-Tabari writes: “The Messenger of Allah (the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said that Jesus was handed by his mother Mary over to a school in order that he might be taught. [The teacher] said to him: ‘Write “Bism (In the name of)”.’ And Jesus said to him: ‘What is “Bism”?’ The teacher said: ‘I do not know.’ Jesus said: ‘The “Ba” is Baha’u'llah (the glory of Allah), the “Sin” is His Sana’ (radiance), and the “Mim” is His Mamlakah (sovereignty).” Numerology Gematria According to the standard Abjadi system of numerology, the total value of the letters of the Islamic Basmala, i.e. the phrase — is