Detailed Exegesis

Ḥamd (Praise): Praise, which is the opposite of criticism and censure, means expressing admiration for perfect attributes and beautiful volitional actions(145), regardless of whether the effects of that perfection benefit others or not. If the effects do reach others, it does not matter if the recipient is the one giving praise or someone else, nor does it matter if the action comes from a rational being or a non-rational one.

The praise of God, the Glorified, is also in response to His Beautiful Names of Beauty or Majesty, whether these names are perfections whose effect reaches others, such as being the Creator and the Sustainer, or does not reach others, such as being free from matter and quiddity. And whether in terms of His creative words: “All praise is due to God, who created the heavens and the earth,” or in terms of His legislative words: “All praise is due to God, who sent down the Book to His servant.”

Although the words ḥamd, madḥ, thanāʾ and shukr are close in meaning, they are not synonymous and have subtle differences from each other. Just as in the Persian language, the word sipās, which is equivalent to shukr, has a subtle difference from the word sitāyish, which is equivalent to ḥamd, although they are considered synonymous.

The Difference between Ḥamd (Praise) and Madḥ (Acclaim)

In everyday language, praise (ḥamd) and acclaim (madḥ) appear virtually synonymous with one another, just as the two opposite terms, vilification (qadḥ) and ridicule (_hijā_ʾ), appear likewise similar in meaning.(146) However, if we are to be precise, these two terms, which have two different roots, have two different meanings, and therefore, they are not the same in terms of usage and application. Ḥamd is only used for someone who possesses perfection and has intellect and thought, while madḥ (speech indicating the greatness of the praised one›s state), which is the opposite of censure (dhamm), is also used for non-rational beings. For example, regarding a beautiful and valuable gem, one can say it is praiseworthy (mamdūḥ), but one cannot say it is praised (maḥmūd): “It is said, ‘I acclaimed (madaḥtu) the pearl for its purity,’ but it is not said, ‘I praised (ḥamadtuhu) it for its purity.’”(147)

Another difference between ḥamd and madḥ is that ḥamd is only used for voluntary actions, while madḥ is also used for matters beyond one’s control. For example, a person’s tall stature and beautiful face, although involuntary, are acclaimed (mamdūḥ), but not praised (maḥmūd), unlike their spending and learning, which are both mamdūḥ and maḥmūd. Therefore, every ḥamd is madḥ, but it is not the case that every madḥ is ḥamd.(148)

Some have said: Inherent in the concept of ḥamd is the conveyance of the effect of the perfection of the one praised to others, and in technical terms, ḥamd is not only for virtues, but also for favors, unlike madḥ which is more general in this regard.(149) This statement is incomplete, because in the Noble Qurʾān and some supplications, God, the Glorified, is praised for perfections whose effects do not reach others, such as: being the First, the Last, being free from matter, etc.

“All praise is due to God, who has not taken a son and has had no partner in [His] dominion and has no [need of a] protector out of weakness.” (17:111)

“All praise is due to God, the First without any beginning before Him, and the Last without any end after Him, Whom the sights of the onlookers fall short of seeing, and the imaginations of the describers are incapable of describing.”(150)

It is well known that being without beginning in being the First, and being without end in being the Last, being free from matter, not having a child, protector, partner and the like are not among the perfections whose effects reach others.

Some have also said: Ḥamd is only used in praising what is true,(151) while madḥ is also used in false praises, such as “Throw dust in the faces of those who praise.”(152) This difference is also incomplete, because ḥamd has also been used for false praise, such as:

“And they love to be praised for what they have not done.” (3:188)

“And I was afflicted with the praise of the one who gave to me.”(153)

“And you seek in your speech to the worker under your command that he attribute praise to you instead of his Lord...”(154)

The Difference Between Ḥamd (praise) and Shukr (thanksgiving)

Shukr, which is the opposite of ingratitude (kufrān), means expressing gratitude for an action whose effect reaches others, and the recipient of the effect is also the same grateful person (shākir). In other words, shukr is gratitude for a blessing that reaches the grateful person from the bestower of blessings (mun__ʿ__im), not for perfections whose effects do not reach others or reach someone other than the grateful person. Therefore, in shukr, both the arrival of the effect to others and the unity of the bestower and the grateful person play a role, while neither of these two conditions are considered in ḥamd. For this reason, shukr is more specific than ḥamd in two aspects, and every shukr is ḥamd, but it is not the case that every ḥamd is shukr.

What has been said about the difference between ḥamd and shukr are the characteristics that linguists have mentioned to differentiate between these two words. However, considering the Qurʾānic usages of the word shukr, it should be said that the arrival of the effect of blessings and perfection to others is not essential to shukr; otherwise, applying shukr to God, the Glorious, would be metaphorical.

That explanation of this is that being thankful is sometimes attributed to some of the names of God, and what is meant by that is the effect of the divine names on each other. In this case, the condition of the effect reaching others can play a role in the essence of gratitude. However, if being thankful is attributed to the sacred essence of God, who is absolutely perfect and absolutely self-sufficient, the effect reaching others has no role in the essence of gratitude. This is because the essence of God the Glorified not only does not need others and is not affected by them, but He also does not need Himself and is not affected by Himself. He is absolutely self-sufficient, not just needless and self-sufficient, so that He would fulfill His own needs with His own grace: “My God, Your pleasure is too exalted to have a cause from You, so how can it have a cause from me? My God, You are self-sufficient in Your essence such that benefit cannot reach You from Yourself, so how can You not be self-sufficient from me?”(155)

Therefore, the effect reaching others is a characteristic of some instances of gratitude, not an essential part of the essence of gratitude, and if it is mentioned in the definition of gratitude, it is by way of the definition being more comprehensive than what is being defined.

The conclusion is that, based on this analysis, in distinguishing between praise (ḥamd) and gratitude (shukr), it should be said: If the intention is to distinguish praise from gratitude in the case of contingent beings, the difference is that in praise, it is not a condition for the effect of the perfection of the one being praised to reach the praiser, while in gratitude, the effect of the one being thanked reaching the thankful one is considered necessary. And if the intention is to include both necessary and contingent cases, such that God being thankful is also considered, then perhaps in this respect, gratitude is the same as praise in terms of instance, without any difference.

The “al-” in “al-ḥamd” is for comprehensiveness or genus, and its meaning is that any praise from any praiser and for anyone being praised is in reality the praise of God the Glorified, and no one other than Him possesses praise. Therefore, He is absolutely praiseworthy and absolutely praised.

The other possibility regarding the alif and lām is that they are used to refer to a specific thing, and what is meant by the specific praise (ḥamd ma_ʿ_hūd) is the perfect praise that God, the Exalted, has for Himself.(156)

The lām in li-llāh: It is either for possession or exclusivity. God is the possessor of every praise, or every praise is exclusive to Him.

Rabb: Rubūbiyya is directing a thing towards its perfection, and the Rabb is the one whose role is to direct things towards perfection and nurture them, and this attribute is firmly established in Him.

Concepts such as: ownership, companionship, lordship, guardianship, adherence, perpetuation, fulfilling needs, teaching or nourishing, are all necessary concomitants and effects of rubūbiyya, and each one is in a case and according to the requirements of various instances, and each one is an instance of the different instances of nurturing, not its meaning. Taking any of them in the meaning of rabb is by way of adding a general limit to a specific one, and the indication of this addition is that in Sūrah al-Nās, the word malik and the word ilāh are both mentioned after the word rabb, and if the expression “Rabb al-Nās” included the meaning of malik and ilāh, it would not have been necessary to mention “Malik al-Nās” and “Ilāh al-Nās” separately. And since the meaning of malik is not incompatible with the meaning of owner despite the difference, this point was mentioned as evidence.

The word rabb without any restriction and in an absolute sense is not applied except to the Holy Essence of God, but it is also applied to other than God in a restricted and qualified form; such as: rabb al-dār (master of the house) and rabb al-ibil (master of the camels). And if the word arbāb is used in the plural form, such as: “aʾarbāb mutafarriqūn” (12:39), it is in view of false beliefs and dualists, otherwise there is only one Rabb in the universe.

Note: In the verbal noun of form II (tafʿīl) derived from rabb, one should not use tarbiyat instead of tarbīt, because morphologically rabb is a doubled verb (muḍāʿaf) while murabbī is a defective verb with a wāw (nāqiṣ wāwī), and murabbī comes from the root rabw meaning growth and increase.

ʿĀlamīn: This word is the plural of ʿālam, and usually words on the pattern of fā__ʿ__il/fā__ʿ__al indicate tools and instruments, such as: khātam (seal), ṭābi__ʿ (stamp), and qālib (mould), which mean mā yukhtam bihi (that with which one seals), _mā yuṭba_ʿ bihi (that with which one prints), and mā yuqlab bihi (that with which one molds). ʿĀlam also means mā yu_ʿ_lam bihi (that by which knowledge is obtained), meaning that through which knowledge is attained. The reason for naming the world (ʿālam) with this name is that every world is a sign and indication of God, the Glorified, and through it knowledge of God is attained. Since in the system of existence, every existent being is a sign and indication of God, and every particle of the particles of existence is a sign of that Holy Essence, every existent being is a world (ʿālam) in its own right. On this basis, regarding the application of ʿālam to the totality of existents or to a specific set of existents, it must be said: If the totality (in addition to all of its units) has an independent existence, then applying ʿālam to it is literal, and it is also a world like each of its units, and will be under the management of the Lord of the Worlds (_rabb al-_ʿālamīn). But if it does not have an independent existence, then applying ʿ__ālam to the totality of things or a specific set of things is metaphorical, and only applying ʿālam to each of the units will be literal.

ʿĀlam and ʿ__alāmat are the same word, ʿalam (proper noun) in which in the first word an alif is added to it after the letter ʿayn, and in the second word an alif comes after the letter lām and it ends with a tāʾ.

The Meaning of “ʿĀlamīn” (Worlds)

The term “world” (ʿālam) is applied to all existents, such as: the world of existence, and also to everything other than God; such as: the origination of the world and the annihilation of the world, and also to every type of existent; such as: the inanimate world and the human world, and also to every category; such as: the Arab world and the non-Arab world.

The word “ʿālamīn” (worlds) encompasses all the worlds before this world, the world of this life, and the worlds after this life (the intermediate realm (barzakh) and the Hereafter), as well as the human world, the world of angels, and other worlds of existence.

The word “ʿālamīn” in the Noble Qurʾān sometimes means all human societies, such as:

“Indeed the first House [of worship] established for mankind was that at Bakka [that is, Makkah]—blessed and a guidance for the worlds (ʿālamīn).” (3:96)

“[He is] the Lord of the heavens and the earth and whatever is between them... your Lord and the Lord of your first forefathers... the Lord of the east and the west and whatever is between them, if you should understand.” (26:23-28)

The meaning of the word “ʿālamīn” in the verse of al-Ḥamd is the entire contingent system of existence, not specifically human societies, which is intended by the context of guidance or warning in the verse of Āl ʿ__Imrān and the verse of al-Furqān. Therefore, the Persian equivalent of “ʿ__ālamīn” is “worlds” (jahānhā), not “all people” (jahāniyān).

Note: The word “worlds” (jahānhā) is also not a suitable equivalent for the word “ʿālamīn”, because as mentioned, the word “ʿālam” means sign and indication, while the word “jahān” means leaping, and its application to the world is due to the world’s inclusion of movement and leaping. Therefore, it should be said that applying the word “jahān” to worlds in which there is no sign of movement and leaping is incorrect.

Praise is Exclusive to God, the Exalted

The Noble Qurʾān considers the entirety of the possible worlds of existence to be the creation of God, the Glorious, and deems them all to be good and beautiful: “Say, ‘God is the Creator of all things’” (13:16), “Who perfected everything that He created” (32:7). Therefore, everything that is an instance of a thing, meaning the entirety of the possible worlds of existence, is good and beautiful. And since praise is in response to perfection, beauty, and bestowal of blessings, then absolute praise, eternally and forever, belongs to God: “All praise belongs to God”. No one else is worthy of praise. Intermediate causes are also the channels of divine grace, and the beginning of the chain of grace is solely the sacred essence of God.

The noble verse “All praise belongs to God, Lord of the worlds” contains two proofs for establishing and restricting praise to God, the Glorious:

The first proof, which is derived from the sacred name Allah, is that Allah encompasses all existential perfections (the essence that combines all perfections). And since praise is in response to perfection, and every perfect being is praiseworthy, then God, the Glorious, is praiseworthy. The noble verse “All praise belongs to God...” by making the ruling conditional on an attribute that indicates causality, conveys such a proof.

To explain, if it was said: al-ḥamdu lahu (praise is for Him), it would be a claim without an accompanying proof, and it would require a proof. And its proof would be that God, the Glorious, due to His encompassing all perfections, is worthy of praise. But in al-ḥamdu lillāh, the ruling (affirmation of praise) is made conditional on the attribute (Allah), where the subject itself carries the evidence. In cases where the object of the ruling itself contains the cause and reason for affirming the predicate for the subject, there is no need for argumentation. Just as in the sentence “Paradise is for the obedient and Hell is for the disbelievers”, the attribute itself (obedience and disbelief) explains the reason for affirming Paradise for the people of obedience and Fire for the disbelievers. In al-ḥamdu lillāh as well, the encompassing of perfection, which is the cause of affirming and restricting praise, is contained within the subject Allah.

The second proof, whose syllogistic middle term is the Lordship (rubūbiyya) of God the Glorious and is derived from the expression “Lord of the worlds” (_Rabb al-_ʿālamīn), is as follows: God is the Lord of all possible worlds of existence and has no partner in Lordship (and this is why the word “worlds” is in the plural form). And since praise (ḥamd) is in return for the blessing of Lordship (directing each existent towards the perfection befitting it), praise is exclusively for His Sacred Essence and He has no partner in praise. This is why it was mentioned in the literary discussion that the alif and lām in the word al-ḥamd are for comprehensiveness or genus, and its meaning is that every praise from every praiser for every praised one is in reality praise of God. Several proofs have been offered for the exclusivity and restriction of praise to God the Glorious, some of which will be mentioned in the section on the subtleties and allusions of this verse.(157)