The basmala has historical precedents in pre-Islamic usage. Al-Zamakhsharī (d. 538/1144) long ago noted the ancient Arabs' use of the formula "in the name of [the deities] al-Lāt [or] al-ʿUzzā" (1:29). Toufic Fahd (42), citing the Taʾrīkh of al-Ṭabarī (d. 310/923) and the Kitāb al-Aghānī of Abū l-Faraj al-Iṣfahānī (d. 356/967), describes bi-smika llāhumma ("in your name, O God") as an epistolary formula used by "the ancient Arabs" to begin any written document. Theodor Nöldeke points out