May 21, 202310 min read

Alhumdulillah (the best supplication)

Nothing can be sweeter than the moments when I feel helpless, not because the worldly affairs, but a sweet agitation, how can I praise my lord? The moments of wondering and trying to bring my feeling into words, an attempt and a sweet struggle to find words that match the glory of my lord, Allahﷻ. SubhanAllah.

That’s the moment I truly felt when the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said; “Ya Allah, I cannot praise you fully, as you have praised yourself”.

Hazrat Aisha(RA) reported: One night in bed, I missed the Messengerﷺ of Allah, so I looked for him and my hand touched his feet while he was in prostration. They were raised and the Prophet was saying, “O Allah, I seek refuge in Your pleasure from Your anger and in Your forgiveness from Your punishment, and I seek refuge in You from You. I cannot fully praise You, for You are as You have praised Yourself.”

[Sahih Muslim 486]

SubhanAllah!

Alhumdulillah - The best supplication

An-Nasa'i also recorded this Hadith. Furthermore, Abu `Isa At-Tirmidhi, An-Nasa'i and Ibn Majah recorded that Musa bin Ibrahim bin Kathir related that Talhah bin Khirash said that Jabir bin `Abdullah said that the Messenger of Allah said,

«أَفْضَلُ الذِّكْرِ لَا إِلهَ إِلَّا اللهُ، وَأَفْضَلُ الدُّعَاءِ الْحَمْدُدِلله»

The best Dhikr (remembering Allah) is La ilaha illallah and the best dua (supplication) is Alhumdulillah.

The more we know Allah, the more intimate our connection and conversation with Allah is. To understand the highest praise or supplication (Alhamdulillah), here is the breakdown of this supplication.

Dearest Praise to Allah

Ibn Majah recorded that Ibn `Umar said that the Messenger of Allah said,

إِنَّ عَبْدًا مِنْ عِبَادِ اللهِ قَالَ:يَا رَبِّ لَكَ الْحَمْدُ كَمَا يَنْبَغِي لِجَلَالِ وَجْهِكَ وَعَظِيمِ سُلْطَانِكَ. فَعَضَلَتْ بِالْمَلَكَيْنِ فَلَمْ يَدْرِيَا كَيْفَ يَكْتُبَانِهَا فَصَعِدَا إِلَى اللهِ فَقَالَا: يَا رَبَّنَا إِنَّ عَبْدًا قَدْ قَالَ مَقَالَةً لَا نَدْرِي كَيْفَ نَكْتُبُهَا، قَالَ اللهُ، وَهُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِمَا قَالَ عَبْدُهُ: مَاذَا قَالَ عَبْدِي؟ قَالَا: يَا رَبِّ إِنَّهُ قَالَ: لَكَ الْحَمْدُ يَا رَبِّ كَمَا يَنْبَغِي لِجَلَالِ وَجْهِكَ وَعَظِيمِ سُلْطَانِكَ. فَقَالَ اللهُ لَهُمَا: اكْتُبَاهَا كَمَا قَالَ عَبْدِي، حَتَّى يَلْقَانِي فَأَجْزِيهِ بِهَا.

A servant of Allah once said, `O Allah! Yours is the Hamd that is suitable for the grace of Your Face and the greatness of Your Supreme Authority.' The two angels were confused as to how to write these words. They ascended to Allah and said, `O our Lord! A servant has just uttered a statement and we are unsure how to record it for him.' Allah said while having more knowledge of what His servant has said, 'What did My servant say' They said, `He said, `O Allah! Yours is the Hamd that is suitable for the grace of Your Face and the greatness of Your Supreme Authority.' Allah said to them, `Write it as My servant has said it, until he meets Me and then I shall reward him for it.

Praising Allah is the dearest act of a believer to Allah, for not being praised, but for submission and etiquette. Allah does not need us to praise Him. Every creation of Allah subhana wa ta’ala is in praise of Allah since its existence. The angels, jins, insects, birds, plants, everything from the depths of the sea to the highest heaven.

Alhumdulillah.

Allah is in no need of our praise, by praising Himself in perfection, He tells us of our needs and dependency on Him. He shows us the right path, He gives us the way for salvation, for sanity to live through this life and its hardships and challenges.

Meaning of Alhumdulillah

اَلۡحَمۡدُ لِلّٰهِ

All praise and thanks are for Allah

Hamd is more specific than Shukar.

Word Alhumdulillah is for a reason. Hamd is only done when the being you are praising is worthy of it. Unlike other praises and thanks that can be true or false, and in relation to the benefit attached to it. Hamd is irrespective of any relevance.

Shukar(thanks) is done in return when someone favors us. It is bound to the quality and quantity of thanks and praise, varying depending on the person we are praising, and the favor we have been given, but Allah is above all that. So is the praise. It can be true or false, depending on material factors like;

What do we need from someone?
How much compassion and regard we have for the one who is favoring us.
How much we value the favor we have been given.
How much appreciating we are of someone or something.
Who they are to us, and what relation we have with them.

Allah is beyond all these material matters and favors!

Allah Subhana wa ta’ala is constant, the only highest authority deserving of the highest, true, and constant praise, and thanks, whether something in this world exists or not, whether we have an eye to see Allah’s glory or not. Whether He favors us or not, He is still deserving of praise and thanks. Whether we are deserving of receiving favors from Allah or not, He still is deserving of thanks and praise.

Why all praise is for ALLAH?

There are uncountable, and incomprehensible reasons for ALLAH being worthy of all the true praise and thanks.

Allah is independently worthy of all the praise

Allah is the only one who is independently worthy of praise, unlike every other thing that exists in this world. For instance, if someone is praising you, they are not praising you except for the blessing Allah has given you. Someone praises your achievements; your achievements are from Allah. Someone praises you for your house or car, those are the blessings from Allah. Independently no human being is worthy of praise, except Allah. SubhanAllah.

Every other creation, and especially us, there is nothing truly ours, even if we own it. Everything we have is dependent on Allah in an absolutely obvious way. The appearance we have, the money we have, the knowledge we have, everything.

And when we lose contact with Allah we forget this very thing, which starts the problem. the element of gratitude is taken away from us. Exceeding, we become consumed in ourselves forgetting if it wasn't for Allah, there is nothing.

Yet, Allah’s deserving of all the thanks and praise beyond material circumstances, beyond our comprehension of Him, ourselves, and even the meaning of these words.

Allah's blessings on us

To start with counting the blessings He continuously showers upon us, despite us going against Him openly, can never ever be compensated with any praise or thanks we pay Him.

Amongst all the creations Allah has created, He has given us the best forms and shapes, Alhamdulillah.

“Indeed, We have created man in the best of stature”. [Quran 95:4]

The renowned Muslim scholar Ibn Taymiyyah, May Allaah have mercy upon him, said in Dar’ Ta‘aarudh al-‘Aql wan-Naql:

It is unacceptable that man's disposition and formation be the result of a “nature” that lacks intelligence and will, as mankind was made with far more order and wisdom than those seen in the construction of homes and the production of spectacular crowns worn by kings.

He also said:

It is known that the transformation of semen into a human or a beast is a greater wonder than silver transforming into a ring, or wood into a bed or a door, or yarn into a woven garment.

Allah has raised the rank of mankind over His other creations for the wisdom and mind He has given to us. Alhumdulillah.

When your Lord said to the angels, “I am forming a man out of clay, so when I have completed him and infused life into him with My Spirit, then fall down before him in prostration.” All of the angels then prostrated—all together—but not Iblees. He was arrogant and was of the disbelievers. He said, “O Iblees! What prevented you from prostrating for what I have created with My Hands? Are you arrogant or are you of the haughty?” [Quran: 71-75]

Then Allah has not just created and left us, He provides provision, and nourishment to us for the whole of our life. All that we have today is from Allah, not because we deserve it, but because Allah is kind and capable of it. The earth and the means in it are limitless as for human capacity.

Indeed We have honored the children of Adam; We carried them through land and sea; We provided them of the good things; We favored them with preference over many of whom We created. [Quran 17:70]

Hamd is for the perfection of Allah, not how is He being praised

Hamd is for the perfection of ALLAH, it cannot be measured for who we are, but for who ALLAH is, the most exalted and glorified. His knowledge and wisdom are greater than any knowledge. His mercy is greater than any mercy, His attributes are unique and greater than anything that can ever exist, which makes Him sole worthy of all the praise.

We can never praise and thank Allahﷻ the way He deserves, in complete perfection. Our praiseﷻ to Allah can never reach the pinnacle. The time given to us is limited, the words given to us are limited, and our whole lifespan is not enough to praise our lord.

Our worth from the praise of Allah

Allah’s glory, His blessing on us, His magnificence, His wisdom, and His mercy makes Him worthy of all the praise, eliminating the human element. This is what our value is, nothing. But, our lord has raised our value and honor with His praise and remembrance.

One interpretation of the word ALLAH(Allah’s primary name) is:

Laha, yalihu, means to be raised up. The one who believes in Allah will be honored in this and the next word. The one who believes in Allah he has raised himself in this world.

The amount of our praise does not take anything away from Allah. The quality of our praise to Allah does not make Him any less. He is ALLAH and will be the highest. However, we can surely raise our values and standard by praising Him.

We are nothing without ALLAH. SubhanAllah. Our whole existence to what we have is from Allah, and it is not hard to realize, yet it is for many of us. Realization in itself is nothing if it is not accepted.

AL(alif, laam) before the word Hamd

The use of the word al(alif, laam) removes the qualification of quality and quantity. Without the word al(alif-laam) before, the translation of only the word “hamd” will be some praise to Allah. With Al(alif-laam), the translation becomes, every true praise is for Allah. All of it.

Alif - laam is for “ALL kinds of praise and all kind of thanks”.

For what we praise all, how and how much is dependent on how much we know Allah - not that He is how we know Him.

When we say AlhumduliAllah, Allah is worthy of all praise and thanks(worship), in context to the meaning of the name Allah, we are naturally implying all His other names to this one primary name, Allah. He is all-powerful because if He weren’t powerful He would not be worthy of worship. He wouldn't be worthy of ultimate praise and thanks, worship if He weren’t all-hearing, all-seeing, all-merciful, ever omniscient.

With Alhumdulillah, we praise and thanks Allah for being Al-Rahman, Al-Jabbar, Al-Malik, Al-Ghafor.

Allah says: Wa Lillahil Asmaaul Husna; To Allah, all the Beautiful Names belong. [Quran A'raf 7: 180]

We need to understand that it is we who need Allah for everything. From this breath that is halfway in and halfway out is also from Allah - and we don't even know if we will be able to complete this one breath. SubhanAllah.

No matter who you are, no matter what your opinion is, if you cannot even control your own breath, it says it all. If a heart skips one beat, the whole body collapse, and yet we are so lost in everything, but praising our lord, being obedient to Him, seeking forgiveness, and calling upon Him.

My hands are even not capable of writing what I am writing at the moment. I cannot comprehend what good I have even done that Allah has allowed me to write His praise. Allah hu Akbar.

Humbleness, gratitude, submission, and surrender, what is there that my body does not drown in with every word of praise and remembrance of Allah subhana wa ta'la? It is His mercy, His will, and His kindness.

Isn’t it enough to attribute all the true praise to the only true God Allah for only He manifests His praise on our tongues? SubhanAllah. If Allah does not will, we are not even capable of remembering or praising Him. SubhanAllah. This in itself emanates our praise to ALLAH for His ultimate love, and His mercy beyond boundaries.

Alif - laam is for “consistency and eternity”.

Al(alif-laam) before Hamd also implicates the element of eternity and consistency. Just as Allah’s existence is eternal; He was there before anything came into existence, and He will be there after the end of it all, the word Al(alif-laam) encompasses timeless praise. Unlike humans, we do not or should not only praise Allah when we are blessed but also when calamity hits.

Praise and thanks to Allah are infinite and are not specific to a certain time, thing, or favor. Hamd is free of quality; our ability of how we praise Allah and quantity; how much and when we praise Allah. Every other praise than the praise of Allah is conditional and time-constrained.

If I will not write a few words for His praise, He’d lose nothing. His perfection will still be perfect till the end of time and after that - it’s me, it’s us who’d be nothing without Him. We need Him, all the time. So, doesn't it feel unfair to call upon Him and praise Him only when we need Him.

And yet, still, despite our ignorance of Him, and running to Him when we need Him, how perfect and loving, and merciful Allah is, He welcomes us, helps us, guides us, gives us what we ask of Him. SubhanAllah.

Surely, all praise and thanks are for Allah.

Lillah:

Li before Allah, adds exclusive ownership. It adds the element of exclusivity to only and only Allah. There is no exclusion, there is no exception, there is no doubt and no question when it comes to the praise and thanks that is for Allah.

No person can help us if it is not from Allah. Nothing in the world can benefit us if it is not for Allah. Nothing can give us anything or take away anything from us if Allah does not will it.

What's your will be yours, no one can take that away from you. What Allah has not willed for you, keep circling around the whole world, and turn upside down, no power can give that to you.

SubhanAllah, this one praise teaches us so much that is so heavy yet so light to take in.