RAMADAN: The Meaning Of HAMD (ALHAMDULILLAH)

ALHAMDULILLAH

("All Praises and thanks are due to Allah.

The meaning of HAMD is praise and extolling. It also carries the meaning of rida, or pleasure and is the opposite of dhamm, or blame. Its meaning is more general and inclusive than that of shukr, or giving thanks, because it encompasses this as well as giving the meaning of praise. Similarly by the grace of Allah and not by the servants own merit.

Both opinions are correct in their own place: hamd is more general with respect to when it is done and shukr is more general with respect to how it is done.

There are a number of Hadith that show us the great virtue of expressing hamd:

Muslim reports from Anas ibn Malik that the Prophet (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) said:

"Indeed Allah is Pleased at His servant when he eats some food and praises Him for it or when he drinks a drink and praises Him for it."

"This is because the servant does not attain [the station] of praising and thanking Allah except by His tawfiq. Therefore the greater excellence [of his praising Allah as compared to the initial blessing that Allah bestowed upon him] is by virtue of his being blessed with the [ability to] praise Allah and extol him.

Al-Hakim At-Tirmidhi reports in Nawadir al-Usul from Anas bin Malik that the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) said:

"If the entire world along with its contents were to be in the hand of a man from my nation and then he were to say alhamdulillah, then alhamdulillah would be better than (what his hand contained)."

Al-Qurtubi commented upon this by saying:

"In our view the meaning is that he has been given the world, then after this he has been given this statement and utters it. Therefore this statement is better than the world because the world is soon to perish whereas the statement will endure for it is from those righteous deeds that remain. Allah said:

Ibn Majah reports from Ibn 'Umar that the Messenger of Allah said:

"A servant from amongst the servants of Allah said. 'O my Lord! To You belongs all praise and thanks as is required due to the magnificence of Your Face and greatness of Your Authority.' This confused the two [recording] Angels and they did not know how to record it. So they ascended to the heaven and said, 'O our Lord! Your servant has said a statement and we do not know how to record it.' Allah, the Mighty and Magnificent asked, despite the fact that He already knows what His servant said, 'What did my servant say?' They reply, 'O Lord! He said: O my Lord! To You belongs all praise and thanks as is required due to the magnificence of Your Face and greatness of Your Authority.' Allah then said to them, 'Record it for my servant as he said it, then when He meets Me, I will reward him for it.' " {qluetip title=[40]}Sunan Ibn Majah (no. 3801). Al-Albani ruled it to be da'if as in Da'if Ibn Majah (no. 829).

Al-Hakim At-Tirmidhi reports in Nawadir al-Usul from Anas bin Malik that the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) said:

"If the entire world along with its contents were to be in the hand of a man from my nation and then he were to say alhamdulillah, then alhamdulillah would be better than (what his hand contained).

Ahmad reports from Aswad ibn Sari' who said:

"I asked the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam), 'Should I not recite to you words of praise that I praised my Lord, the Blessed and Exalted, with?' He replied, 'Of course! Indeed your Lord loves praise.'

the verse the word HAMD has been preceded by the definite article, the reason for this is to include all the different manners of praise and specify them to Him, and it is an extolling with which Allah has praised Himself and ordered His servants to praise Him with. This meaning is further expressed in the hadith in which the Prophet (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) said:

"O Allah! To You belongs all praise and thanks in its entirety, to you belongs the dominion in its entirety, in Your hand is all goodness in its entirety and to You returns the affair in its entirety."

Ibn Abi Ad-Dunya from the hadith of Anas. Al-Bayhaqi from the hadith of Sa'ad ibn Abi Waqqas and Abu Sa'id al-Khudri

Therefore by saying alhamdulillah, the servant is praising and thanking Allah Alone due to His greatness, unity, perfection, His Beautiful Names and Attributes and His innumerable favours and blessings that none can encompass save He. It is indeed an amazing statement that encompasses something that volumes would be unable to express and created intellects unable to enumerate! All praise belongs to Allah!

RABBIL AALAMIN( Lord of all living and non living)

Ghazali Muhammed...