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Reciting the Basmalah at the beginning of Soorat Baraa’ah (al-Tawbah); there is hardly any dispute among the scholars that doing this is makrooh (disliked).

Saalih said concerning some issues that he narrated from his father Ahmad (may Allaah have mercy on him): “I asked him about Soorat al-Anfaal and Soorat al-Tawbah, whether it is permissible for a man to separate them by saying Bismillaah il-Rahmaan il-Raheem. My father said: ‘With regard to the Qur’aan, reference should be made to what the companions of the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) were agreed on; nothing should be added to or taken away from that.’”

4 – Reciting it partway through Soorat al-Baraa’ah (al-Tawbah). The Qur’aan readers differed concerning that, as was narrated by Ibn Hajar al-Haythami in al-Fataawa al-Fiqhiyyah (1/52), and he said: “Among the leading Qur’aan readers, al-Sakhaawi said that there is no dispute that it is Sunnah to start with the Basmalah when one starts reading partway through this soorah [al-Tawbah], as he differentiated between starting at the beginning and starting in the middle, but his explanation was facile and was refuted by al-Ja’bari from among the Qur’aan readers. This is more likely (i.e., the view that it is makrooh is more likely to be correct), because the reason why the Basmalah should not be recited at the beginning (of al-Tawbah) is that it came with the sword (i.e., the command to fight the kuffaar) and it exposes the hypocrites and their foul deeds in a manner that is not unlike any other soorah, and this theme is repeated throughout Soorat al-Tawbah. Therefore it is not prescribed to recite the Basmalah even if one starts reciting partway through this soorah, just as it is not prescribed at the beginning, for the reasons we have established.”

See al-Adaab al-Shar’iyyah by Ibn Muflih, 2/325; al-Mawsoo’ah al-Fiqhiyyah, 13/253; al-Fataawa al-Fiqhiyyah al-Kubra, 1/52


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That's the reason there. And Bismillahi Arahman Araheem means, in the name of God, most beneficent, most merciful.

An example is when we slaughter an animal, cow, sheep, chicken, etc. We don't say Bismillahi Arahman Araheem, because this isn't an act of mercy. When slaughtering an animal we just say Bismillah wa Allahu Akbar.

I disagree with your first statement. If you read surah taubah, there are verses where Allah says he is "oft forgiving, most merciful". In fact, Im lead to think that this surah is a continuation of surah 8 (al-anfal), hence the missing bismillah.

Peace

I'm reading the commentary on a Qur'an program and it says:

"This is the only sura of the Qur'an to which Bismillah is not prefixed. Though the commentators have given different reasons for this, the correct one that which has been given by Imam Razi: namely, this is because the holy Prophet s.a.w himself did not dictate it at the beginning of the sura. Therefore the companions did not prefix it and their successors followed them. This is a further proof of the fact that utmost care has been taken to keep the Qur'an intact so that it should remain in its complete and original form"

It means that the prophet s.a.w didn't say bismillah at the beginning of the surah, and that's the way it's remained. It's proof that the Sahaba didn't add anything when putting the Qur'an together into book form, even if they thought they saw a mistake, every surah has bismillah...you'd think they would think the surah was meant to have one aswell and put bismillah at the beginning, but they left it exactly as the prophet s.a.w recited it..not adding even a letter.

Every surah doesn't have a basmalah nor was that a mistake. Jibreel decended with those ayat along with the wrath of Allah on the disbelievers and hypocrites, so there is no 'Most Gracious Most Merciful' when reciting this chapter.