Question Summary:
The reality of the Du’a prior to eating

Question Detail:

I would like to know if it is proven by any nusus to read bismillahi wa ala barakatillah before eating as I heard that only Bismillah wa barakatillah or bismillah  alone is manqool before eating. When one mention that this something forged, one is replied that this is what has been transmitted to us since 14 centuries. The kufaar would say : قَالُوا بَلْ وَجَدْنَا آَبَاءَنَا كَذَلِكَ يَفْعَلُونَ (Shuara 26:74) Jazakumullah khaira Wassalam This is what I found: وإنما الموجود في المستدرك : من حديث ابن عباس رضي الله عنهما ...أتوا بيت أبي أيوب فلما أكلوا و شعبوا قال النبي صلى الله عليه و سلم : خبز و لحم و تمر و بسر و رطب إذا أصبتم مثل هذا فضربتم بأيدكم فكلوا بسم الله و بركة الله هذا حديث صحيح الإسناد و لم يخرجاه تعليق الذهبي قي التلخيص : صحيح . 4/107 و 7163 من إخراج الوادعي Imam Ṭabrāni (d. 360) has quoted a narration in his Awsat (Hadith number 2247), and Ṣaghir (Hadith number 185), a portion of which is as follows:فقولوا بسم الله وبركة الله  This narration is also mentioned by Ḥākim (d. 405) in his Mustadrak from Ibn Abbas, (Hadith number 7084), as well as Baihaqi (d. 458) in Shu'ab al-Imān. (Hadith Number: 4284). Haithami (d. 807) mentions in Majmu'z Zawāid:   رواه الطبراني في الصغير والأوسط وفيه عبد الله بن كيسان المروزي وقد وثقه ابن  حبان وضعفه غيره وبقية رجاله رجال الصحيح. (Dar al-Fikr, Beirut. 10:318)

Answer :

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
As-salāmu ‘alaykum wa-rahmatullāhi wa-barakātuh.
The wordings بسم الله وبركة الله appear in various books of Ahādīth.  The wordings بسم الله وعلى بركة الله are found in Du’ā books of the latter day scholars such as “Silāh al-Mu’min” by Allāmah Ibn al-Imām Rahimahullāh (745 A.H.) and “al-Hisn al-Hasīn” by Allāmah al-Jazarī Rahimahullah (833 A.H). 
Allāmah Ibn al-Imām quotes the Du’ā in “Silāh al-Mu’min”, and references it to the Mustadrak of Imām Hākim Rahimahullāh.  However, only the words بسم الله وبركة الله are found in the Mustadrak of Imām Hākim Rahimahullāh contrary to the way mentioned in “Silāh al-Mu’min”.
Thereafter, various other scholars started to quote the wordings mentioned in “Silāh al-Mu’min” without checking the actual wordings in the Mustadrak of Imām Hākim Rahimahullāh.  Therefore, the correct wordings of the Du’ā are بسم الله وبركة الله.
 And Allah Ta’āla Knows Best
Mawlana Abdul Azīm bin Abdur Rahman,
Student Darul Iftaa
U.S.A.
Checked and Approved by,
Mufti Ebrahim Desai.