اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ
Allah, the Most Merciful, the Ever-Merciful.
Allah is the proper divine name. Al-Raḥmān and al-Raḥīm both convey mercy. Although closely related, their meanings have distinct emphases: scholars commonly discuss breadth of mercy in the former and its special application or continuing expression in the latter. These are interpretive nuances, not permission to imagine divine mercy as an ordinary human emotion.
Invoking Allah's name together with mercy reminds a person that the undertaking begins with dependence upon Allah, rather than a claim of complete self-sufficiency.