ALHAMDULILLAH – THE PERFECT PRAISE
Meaning
- al, the definite article, "the".
- ḥamdu, literally meaning "praise", "commendation".
- li-llāh(i), prepositin + noun Allāh. Li- is a dative preposition.
The word Allāh (Arabic: ٱلله) means "The God", and it is a contraction of the definite article al- and the word ʾilāh (Arabic: إِلَـٰه,
"god, deity"). Like in English, the article is used here to single out
the noun as being the only one of its kind, "the God" (the one and only)
or "God". Therefore, Allāh is the Arabic word for "God". ʾilāh is the Arabic cognate of the ancient semitic name for God, ei.
The phrase is first found in the second verse of the first sura of the Qur'an (Al-Fatiha). So frequently do Muslims and Arabic-speaking Jews and Christians invoke this phrase that the quadriliteral verb hamdala (Arabic: حَـمْـدَلَ), "to say al-ḥamdu li-llāh" was coined, and the derived noun ḥamdalah (Arabic: حَـمْـدَلَـة) is used as a name for this phrase.
Translation
English translations of alhamdulillah include:
- "all praise is due to God alone"
- "all the praises and thanks be to Allah" "praise be to Allah"
- "all praise is due to Allah"
- “All perfect praises belong to the Almighty alone.”
As
Muslims, the phrase “Alhamdulillah” اَلحَمْدُلِلهis an integral part of
our deen; we are taught to say it from both the Qur’an and Sunnah and
most of us have this phrase in our everyday vocabulary, not to mention
we read it every day in Suratul Faatihah. ‘Alhamdulillah’ is an
amazingly deep word, which would take pages upon pages to explain
properly in English (which has been done by the scholars) but the
explanation that follows is very brief so that we can convey the core of
what this phrase really contains.
Linguistically,
Hamd is from ha-meem-daal ( حمدor حمد) and hamd to mention the good
attribute of a person, such an attribute that is the at the level of
perfection. Hamd is based on mahabbah (love) and ta’dheem (honor). Hamd
is not a ‘fake’ praise, meaning it is not done to please the person or
without significance, rather Hamd is always true.
Hamd
implies admiration, love and magnifying the praise of the mahmood (one
who is praised). Hamd can only be done for a living being who has an
intellect. Hamd is a sincere and true praise, a praise that the mahmood
(one who is praised) deserves. The one doing hamd is doing submission to
the one being praised out of humility. Hamd also includes sincere
gratitude and mentioning the kamaal (best) traits of someone.
When
we say ‘alhamdulillah’, it implies exclusivity and entirety, meaning
that praise is entirely and only for Allah. How do we know this? The
‘al’ (ال) before ‘hamd’ is called “istighraaq” in Arabic, and when “al”
comes before this phrase its means that the entire praise, all kinds of
praise and at all times, is due to Allah. The “li” ( لِin lillah,
meaning, for Allah) implies limitation which is known as “ikhtisaas” in
Arabic and it means that Allah is the only One who deserves the hamd.
Now
with this concrete definition in mind, what does ‘Alhamdulillah’ really
mean? A more suitable definition would be: The perfect, most beautiful
praise is only for Allah. We say ‘alhamdulillah’ out of love, honor,
with humility, complete submission and sincere gratitude to Allah azza
wa jal. In the Qur’an we learn that ‘alhamdulillah’ will be the last
call of the believers in Jannah, Allah tells us:
وَآخِرُدَعْوَاهُمْأَنِالْحَمْدُلِلَّهِرَبِّالْعَالَمِينَ
“and the last of their call will be Alhamdulillah, Rabb of all that exists!” (Surah Yunus, verse 10)
‘Alhamdulillah’ appears 38 times in the Qur’an
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