ٱلۡحَمۡدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ ٱلۡعَـٰلَمِينَ
All of the Praise and Gratitude be to Allah, Lord(Master) of the Worlds (Nations of people).
Let us appreciate what does "Alhamdulillah" truly means and the implication it brought.
ٱلۡحَمۡدُ لِلَّهِ
“Alhamdu lillah” = “All of the Praise and Gratitude be to Allah”
The word “hamd” حَمۡد is a Noun.
In Arabic, there are:
(1) “Jumlah ismiyyah” = Noun sentence
(2) “Jumlah fi’liyyah” = Verb sentence
“Alhamdulillah” is = “jumlah ismiyyah” (noun sentence). There is no verb in there.
If it is “jumlah fi’liyyah” (verb sentence), then it will be :
نَحْمَدُ اللَّه (nahmadullah) = “We praise Allah” (in the present tense).
A verb is associated with Time. Once we are done praising, it is over. It may only be a one time action.
A "Verb Sentence" is limited to time:
(1) Past tense (fi’il madhi)
(2) Present / future tense (fi’il mudhori’),
= Meaning it is temporary.
We praising Allah is temporary as we did not exist before and we will cease to exist in the future. We cannot execute the command of “Hamd” forever. However, "Hamd" is permanent. Before humans or any creatures even existed, all praise and gratitude ("The Hamd") already belonged to Allah and will continue to be there even after everything ceased.
“All the Praise and Gratitude be to Allah” is a "Noun Sentence" and not limited to time past, present or future (beyond time).
A Verb needs a do-er. A Noun does not need a do-er. As “Hamd” is a Noun, it does not need someone to be doing something.
Gratitude exists after something good has been done by someone to another person. It is a reaction to an action. “Hamd” is independent of any action. It is not a reaction. Even if Allah does no favor to humankind, the perfection of "The Hamd" of Allah is still there.
Not a command
The ayah does not say “Praise Allah!” = اِحْمَدِ اللَّه which is a Commanding Verb (Fi-‘il ‘amr). Allah does not need to issue a command to praise Him. If it was a command, the person where the command fall upon can choose whether to do it or not to do it. Eg. Allah’s command to establish the Solah but so many people chose not to do the Solah for whatever reasons.
There is no point in issuing a command for doing “Hamd” as sooner or later everything will die. On the other hand, “Hamd” (not a verb but a noun) is always present.
Not because of our Action
The ayah does not say “We praise Allah” نَحْمَدُ اللَّه, as if we are doing something. If it is our action, it may mean that only we humans are praising Allah. However this is not the case. The Angels are glorifying "The Hamd" of Allah too. It is not limited to only humans recognizing "The Hamd" of Allah but with other creatures as well.
Some non-Muslims asked, "Why does your God wants people to praise Him so much?".
The answer is in the word "The Hamd". All the Praises already belonged to Him. He does not need us to praise Him but we are the ones that need to praise Him because we need lots of things from Him.
Eg. If a person befriended the mayor of a town, he will be praising the mayor because the mayor might help him when he needed help. The mayor in turn needed the people to praise him so that he can keep his job.
Allah does not need us in order to be what He is. He taught us “Alhamdulillah” so that we will benefit from it.
[Sahih Muslim - 223] Abu Mālik al-Ash‘ari (R.A) reported:
The Messenger of Allah (s.a.w) said:
"Purity is half of faith, "al-hamdulillāh" fills the Scale, and "subhān Allah wa al-hamdulillāh" fills what is between the heavens and the earth.
No one can praise Allah the way He praised Himself. He taught us how to do it with "Alhamdulillah" while realizing that our recitation still falls short of what He deserves.
The Arabic word “Al-hamdu” actually means “(1) Praise and (2) Gratitude” existing at the same time.
-> The Arabic word for (1) ”Praise” is = “Madh” مَدْح
-> The Arabic word for (2) ”Gratitude/Thanks” is = “Syukr” شُكْر
Both existing at the same time produced the word “Al-hamdu”. ٱلۡحَمۡدُ
Why did Allah not use these words in Surah Al-Fatihah?
الْمَدْحُ وَ الشُّكْرُ لِلَّهِ
All the “Madh” and “Syukr” belongs to Allah
Instead of that, Allah used just one word “Al-Hamdu” ٱلۡحَمۡدُ
“Al-hamdu lillah” ٱلۡحَمۡدُ لِلَّهِ . All "Hamd" belongs to Allah.
“Madh” can be a false praise. Eg. You said, “Boss, what a nice tie you have there” when it’s job appraisal time. That might be an insincere praise of your boss’s ugly tie.
- “Hamd” is a sincere praise of Allah's Greatness.
“Madh” can be a praise to a non living item or a creature. Eg. You said “What a nice car!” or "what a beautiful cat". The car or cat does not know that it is being praised.
- “Hamd” is not for an object or animal.
“Madh” is a praise that you have no control over the thing that people praised you of.
Eg. People said that you are very handsome. You did not create your own face. This is an unworthy praise. This is the same as you saying to an artistic sculpture, "You are beautiful". The sculpture did not create itself.
- “Hamd” is for one who is worthy of praise due to His own perfection.
We are also taught to do "Syukr" = Thanks in gratitude for something good that we get from Allah:
[Quran Surah Ibrahim 14:7]
وَإِذْ تَأَذَّنَ رَبُّكُمْ لَئِن شَكَرْتُمْ لَأَزِيدَنَّكُمْ
And ˹remember˺ when your Lord proclaimed, ‘If you are grateful, I will certainly give you more.
"Hamd" is not the same as "Syukr". "Hamd" is a Gratitude independent from whether you get anything from Allah or not.
If the Surah begins with “Madh and Syukr”, there is the word “and” in between. It means that these two are separated. At any one time, all the “madh” (praises) be to Allah but all the “syukr” (gratitude) may not occur at the same time or vice-versa. Either one can occur independently.
Not everyone that you praise, you are thankful, eg. you praised the bravery of a lion in the wild, but it’s nonsense for you to thank that same lion.
Not everyone that you thank (having gratitude), you will praise, eg. Prophet Abraham (peace be upon him) had a sense of gratitude towards his idol worshiping father but will not praise him for being a good idol worshiper.
Allah deserves both praise and gratitude at the same time.
Therefore “Al-Hamdu” means both “madh” and “syukr” are present. Both nouns must exist.
The subtlety in the language necessitates that the Qur’an uses the better word in the correct context.
“Al-hamdu” is a noun which is specifying something that is known (ism ma’rifah),
Eg. If you say “a house”, it can be any general house. If you say “The house”, then you are saying about that particular known house.
“Al-hamdu” is not any kind of Praise and Gratitude but the “Hamd” known and directed to Allah only.
If the "Al" is removed and only "Hamd" is used in the Surah, then it just means "Some praise and gratitude". With the "Al" attached to Hamd, then it is every single unconditional praise exclusively belongs to Allah and nothing deserves the praise except Allah alone. No one is to be praised except Allah.
A person who praises himself (showing arrogance) is contradicting with "Alhamdulillah". Allah praises Himself and now you the slave praises yourself? Is it a challenge to your lord?
That is why when something good happens to a person (eg. career promotion, etc.) and when people start praising him, the correct response should be saying “Alhamdulillah”, All praise & gratitude belongs to Allah.
There is only so much a person can be praised. There is a limit on the number of items that people can praise a person, eg. "You are an intelligent person with a beautiful house and a lovely wife". However for Allah, the praise has no limit.
Everything Allah does has a purpose and deserves “The Hamd” (The praise and gratitude). Allah created the skies. We look at the skies and we praise Allah for creating such beautiful skies. The heart is created to appreciate beauty. At the same time we thank Allah for allowing it to run orderly and the atmosphere as a canopy protecting earth. We are in awe over something that is amazing.
Each time when we recite “Alhamdulillah”, we are to feel the greatness of Allah and with sincere feeling of gratitude towards Allah. After each solah, we do the zikr of “Alhamdulillah” 33 times. If we do it in a hurry or with our minds somewhere else with no focus, it is indicating that we don't have a feeling for this phrase.
May Allah make us people of “Hamd”. How do we know that we are people of “Hamd”?
The way we recite "Alhamdulillah" each time in our Solah shows our attitude whether we really meant what we said. Are we performing the Solah grudgingly or gratefully? We don’t praise someone we hate. We praise to someone whom we love. Hence, if our Solah is not filled with love towards the Creator, are we people of “Hamd”? Only those who established the Solah with gratitude and love towards the Master are people of “Hamd”. Only people that Allah loves will be placed in Paradise.
Usually "Alhamdulillah" is good when the money is good. When the money goes down so too goes "Alhamdulillah". When you lost everything and you said “Alhamdulillah” in a reluctant manner, that is not gratitude. “Alhamdulillah” is supposed to be expressed with emotional gratitude. We thanked Him the same way whether we are in a happy mood or feeling down.
We are to say "Alhamdulillah" even when we are undergoing suffering. We are to be full of gratitude towards God and think of His wisdom upon whatever has happened. Whether we realize of the wisdom or not, it is still better than wasting our time on self pity which will not solve our problems and is damaging to our well being.
If something drastic like a drought, flood or pandemic happened, the “praise and gratitude” to Allah remain the same. “Hamd” in everything Allah does whether we see it as good or bad in our limited wisdom. We may or may not understand the magnitude of the “Hamd” of Allah, His Wisdom and Mercy. Allah has a larger plan for us. Something which seemed bad to you may actually be good for you. We may know it later on in our lives or we will only know when we are in the hereafter. After we know the reason, we will thanked Allah gratefully especially in the hereafter.
This ayah taught us to be people of positive attitude and optimistic in life.
Everything else changes. Your health, your wealth, your companions, your strength, but "Alhamdulillah" never change. There is no gap in "The Hamd" of Allah. We must change our attitude that "The Hamd" of Allah will never be missing from us in whatever situation we are in. It never goes away as it is permanent.
We are overwhelmingly in gratitude and praise to the Creator that we have no complains regarding anything that happened in our lives.
People who looked back at their lives of “sorrow” feeling that they deserved better from their Lord were in lack of gratitude to the Master. Since “Hamd” is permanent, no matter if we are in a bad situation, we are to say “Alhamdulillah”. Once we said it, there shouldn’t be any complain coming out of our mouth. Complaining is the opposite of “Hamd”. Complaints happen because you think you deserve better from God. The correct way is to “confide” in Allah by recognizing our weaknesses and finding ways on how we can improve or stand back on our feet.
Atheist seeing war, destruction and human suffering dismissed the idea that a God exists because to them if a God really exists, everything in this world must be perfect, no sufferings, everything must be good as seen by the physical material world. This idea seems a lot more like paradise which is not why this world is created to be.
Naturally when we get a big ni’mah (blessed beneficial thing) like moving to a new big house, our lips will say “Alhamdulillah”. We having praise and gratitude to Allah.
The Prophet s.a.w taught us, during our good times, we are to recite this du'a. Please memorize:
الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ الَّذِي بِنِعْمَتِهِ تَتِمُّ الصَّالِحَاتُ
= “Alhamdulillah, the One who, by His blessing and favor, good works are accomplished”
What happen if a burglar entered our house and ransacked all our expensive belongings? What will be the first thing that come our of our mouth? Do we curse the burglar first? The correct way is to recite “Alhamdulillah in all circumstances”. Meaning we recognize that what Allah allowed to happen to us is a good thing. As when we are feeling down, we are taught to recite (please memorize this duá):
الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ عَلَى كُلِّ حَالٍ
= “Alhamdulillah in all circumstances”
Normally our vision is only on the current world and not of the hereafter. Only a person of wisdom will see that any unwelcoming incident that happened to him in the current world may actually be beneficial to him in the hereafter. If our vision is for both this world and the hereafter, our heart is at peace of anything that happened.
While in Surah Ibrahim, ayah 7, Allah said:
” …. If you are grateful, I will surely increase you [in favor] … ”
Appreciation and gratitude to your Master is the first step for a believer to get guidance. If you lose "The Hamd" of Allah, then guidance (hidayah) will not find you. When “Hamd” is constantly with you, guidance (hidayah) will surely find you. Every single beat that your heart makes or every single breath that you take reminds you of "The Hamd" of Allah.
In the material world, the rich should thank and praise Allah for getting a comfortable luxurious life. The poor and wretched people will not thank and praise Allah because they have nothing. However, both the rich and the poor are to say Alhamdulillah in their Solah as it is not based on their wealth. It is in His wisdom why some are rich while some are poor. A poor humble generous person may trust Allah more than a rich arrogant stingy person. One of the benefit of doing the Sunnah zikr of "Alhamdulillah" 33 times after every Fardh Prayer is to eradicate arrogance and stinginess.
A rich person may forgot God. A poor person may be remembering God. However it may be the other way around. The poor abandoning God because he is mad at God for not making him rich while the rich shows his gratitude towards God that with his wealth he can help the poor. Put your priority in the path that is favored by God.
Example, a poor pious person dies and enters paradise. In Paradise, he has totally forgotten his wretched life on earth which is just like a forgotten dream. He will say that he has never been poor and wretched before. If Allah made him rich in this world, he may be turned to be an arrogant and cruel person which will end him in hell for infinity.
Another example, an atheist lived a rich luxury life in this world but failed to enter Jannah. While on the way to hell, he will have totally forgotten his comfortable life on earth. His luxury life is a forgotten dream. He will say that he has never enjoyed life before.
This world is just a short test before we are transferred to the eternal life. The eternal life is where real life begins. It doesn’t matter whether currently you are rich or poor, having good or wretched life. What matters to God is what your actions are. Actions that are based on God consciousness.
If you truly understand this phrase “Alhamdulillah”, it can transform the way you live your life. You will be a happier person. You will complain less. You do not have to be rich to be happy. You will be thankful and contented with what you have without being bothered with what other people have.
Why Alhamdulillah is used instead of these two phrases:
1. Inna-lhamda lillah إِنَّ الْحَمْدَ لِلّٰهِ = Surely, all "The Hamd" belongs to Allah. (Used in khutbah and opening dawah speeches)
The word “inna” as a strong emphasis (“taukid”) is used. Surely, all "The Hamd" belongs to Allah is the truth against the falsehood that “hamd” also belong to the idols. It seemed a more powerful way of emphasizing an idea against falsehood.
2. lillahil-Hamd لِلّٰهِ الْحَمْدُ = To Allah, belongs all "The Hamd" (in Surah Jathiyah)
In classical Arabic, when an Arab uses reversed sentence, it will be translated as = Only to Allah belongs all "The Hamd".
Eg. “Dinner, I ate” = means I ONLY ate dinner and I didn’t eat breakfast or lunch. Therefore “Dinner, I ate” is not the same as “I ate Dinner”.
"lillahil-Hamd" = All "The Hamd" ONLY belongs to Allah and does not belong to other than Him. This phrase is used in Surah Jathiyah in debating & correcting people with the mistaken concept of having Hamd to others too. It is not appropriate to use “Alhamdulillah” to the Mushriqoon, as they will agree that they praised Allah but it does not address the problem of them praising the idols too. That is why “lillahil-Hamd” is used.
“lillahil-Hamd” depicts a comparison between Allah and other entities that people were glorifying to, i.e. the idols, rock star, actors, leader, etc. “Hamd” ONLY to Allah and not to the idols was a different information than what the idol worshipers understood. People who do “syirk” (associate partners with Allah), have to be informed that the idols cannot be praised alongside Allah (no comparison). The phrase “lillahil-Hamd” indicates other entities exist that people are praising too. The idol worshipers praise and thank both Allah and the idols.
Both phrases shows that a disagreement exists between “Hamd” is only for Allah versus the Mushriqoon's “Hamd” for both Allah and for other than Allah (i.e. False gods).
In Surah Al-Fatihah, Allah is talking to everyone listening to the Qur’an. Every single person in the beginning stage of life knew about "The Hamd" of Allah. It’s in your nature (“fitrah”). This information is hard coded in humans when they are created and as time passed, people developed another kind of information. “Alhamdulillah” is mentioned in the very first Surah when man is still pure “fitrah” as at the time of creation. The Quran begins with a statement of fact.
The phrase “innalhamdalillah” is not suitable with Surah Al-Fatihah since we only say it when man has developed other kind of false information. When people persist in burying the truth.
The phrases “innalhamdalillah” or “lillahilHamd” are for debating with people. It is for formal usage when speaking to people. While using "Alhamdulillah" in the first Surah indicates that there is no debate or argument with the people. We are not talking to people but we are talking to Allah. "Alhamdulillah" is the buried truth in everyone's heart that we declare in our Solah.
In “Alhamdulillah”, Allah is giving details about Himself and nobody else. He did not want you to even think about other entities in this first Surah of the Qur’an. Its just between Him and you (the people).
How detailed the Qur’an’s choices of words and phrases are! We are in gratitude to the scholars of the past (the “ulama'”) that spent their entire lives studying each and every word in the Qur’an that we can now appreciate how perfect the words of Allah because of their effort. There is no other book that has been studied at this level of intensity.
“Alhamdu lillahi Robb-il-‘alameen”
What if the ayah omit the word “Allah”, such that it become = “Alhamdu Robb-il-‘alaameen” = “Praise be of the Lord of the worlds” ?
If you only say “Lord”, it can mean some other entity that people of other faith associate with. When Christians say "Praise the Lord", they may mean praise to Jesus. Even when the magicians of Fir’aun said “We believe in the Lord of the Worlds”, Fir’aun thought they were talking about him. The magicians had to add “the Lord of Musa and Haroon” to clarify that Fir’aun was not the one that they were talking about.
By only using the word “Robb” (“Lord”), different people may interpret it differently.
With “Alhamdulillah”, Allah mentions His name with clarity and preventing confusion. The Praise is directly associated with his name, “Allah”.
If we say = “Alhamdu al-Kholiq” = Praise and Gratitude to the Creator, it means we are only grateful that He created us. We are only recognizing and praising only one of His Attributes.
If the praise is only by His attribute of “ar-Raheem”, it will mean we are only appreciating this particular “Mercy” of God. How about the other attributes?
Therefore the praise is by His Name “Allah” which encompasses all His Attributes. This is His greatest name. Anything else in replacement of His name will be limiting His “Hamd”!
We are unable to praise Allah the way he deserves. Hence Allah taught us how to praise Him the way He deserves to be praised. This is a phrase that we used everyday, in the daily Solah and outside of Solah. When some one asks “how are you” or “how is your day? “, the first thing that comes out of your mouth will be “Alhamdulillah” even though you feel that you are having a bad day. When you praised Him, things will get better.
“Alhamdulillah” is a cure for your problems. The Prophets s.a.w said that Allah will increased goodness (ni’mah) for you when you increase your “Hamd” (gratefulness) to Him. That is why we are doing the Zikr “Alhamdulillah” 33 times after every Solah 5 times a day.
When we have completed a task, we say “Alhamdulillah” since in reality Allah is the one that completes the task (not us). We thanked Allah for making it happened. We put our trust in Him for His wisdom no matter if our efforts bears fruits or goes the other way.
Understanding "Alhamdulillahi Robbil-'Aalameen" will humble us as none is greater than him as our Master. We will be more focused in our Solah. After reciting this ayah, Allah replied, ”My slave has praised me”.
From the very beginning, the first human to say "Alhamdulillah" was Adam(a.s) when the Ruh has reached his nose and he sneezed.
[Jami` at-Tirmidhi 3367]
Abu Hurairah (r.a) narrated that the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w) said:
When Allah created Adam, He breathed the soul into him, then he sneezed and said: ‘All praise is due to Allah (Alhamdulillah).’ So he praised Allah by His permission. Then His Lord said to him: ‘May Allah have mercy upon you O Adam ...
When the righteous are being ushered into Paradise, they will say "Alhamdulillah"
[Quran 39:74] The righteous will say, “Praise be to Allah (Alhamdulillah) Who has fulfilled His promise to us, and made us inherit the ˹everlasting˺ land to settle in Paradise wherever we please.”
The Angels will be saying "Alhamdulillah" at the end of Judgement Day.
[Quran 39:75] You will see the angels all around the Throne, glorifying the praises of their Lord, for judgment will have been passed on all with fairness. And it will be said, “Praise be to Allah—Lord of all worlds! (Alhamdulillahi rabbil-'alameen)”
The final people to say "Alhamdulillah" are the people living inside Jannah.
After every greeting or speech, the people of Jannah will recite "Alhamdulillahi Robbil 'Alameen"
[Surah Yunus:10]
".. and their closing prayer will be, “All praise is for Allah—Lord of all worlds! "
This phrase was from the very beginning of man until the final destination of the righteous, hence it is befitting that the Divine Book of Allah should begin with "Alhamdulillah" and for us to recite in our Solah throughout our lives. Your purpose of life is to praise/worship Allah.
[Quran 51:10] "I did not create jinn and humans except to worship Me."
رَبِّ ٱلۡعَـٰلَمِينَ
“Lord of the worlds” (Robb-il’alameen)
The in depth meaning of the word “ROBB” رَبّ (Lord) comprises of all of these :-
1) “The Maintainer”,
2) “The Caretaker”
3) “The Owner”,
4) “The One in Charge”
5) “The Giver”,
6) “The Master”, this is the Most important meaning.
——————————-
Let’s explore briefly these words :-
1) “The Maintainer”,
2) “The Caretaker”.
“Maintainer” and “Caretaker” are not the same.
Eg. A machine that is constantly running by keeping a clinically ill patient alive. What if the machine stops working for 2 minutes? The patient dies. This is called the “Maintainer”. The nurse that changes the patient’s diapers once in a while and checks the blood pressure is the “Caretaker”.
So Allah is “The Caretaker” and “The Maintainer” of all His creations. Your existence cannot be sustain with the Rabb.
Your heart beating because He is maintaining its function. You didn’t pay for its running time. Your lungs inhaling and exhaling are functioning without you paying any rental fee. Your tongue that complains to the Creator is being maintained by the Maintainer. You can still talk. Some people took a bad turn in life and asked “Where is God?”. Actually, God, the Sustainer is always with you.
If you owned a car, it may be that you neglect to maintain the car until it breaks down on the road. You don’t really love your car.
-> Mantainer & Caretaker = Sustainer
-> He is the “Sustainer“. Hence we are “the creatures being sustained“.
3) “The Owner”
Difference between you owning something and Allah owning everything.
When you own something, in reality you do not have full authority over it. Example, you own a car but the law said that you cannot modify your car anyway you want. There are guidelines and rules you have to follow. You can drive your car within the law on the road. You cannot drive against the flow of traffic, etc. We own something but we still cannot do whatever we want with it. We share the authority with others such as the government who made laws on what you own.
As for Allah as "Robb", it is with full ownership and authority of everything. He has full authority over your body. He said do not take in wine, meat of swine, anything harmful into your body. You own your body but do not have full authority over it. If you ignore His instructions regarding your body and instead do the opposite of what he has prohibited, you are only doing harm to yourself. His authority is at the highest top level. We are properties of Allah and will be returned back to the Owner.
If you go over the speed limit while driving and is caught speeding, you can either get a fine or even a jail term. These are punishments for acting against Traffic law. Why is it that people find it hard to apply the same logic on the Laws defined by our Owner?
If you build a car yourselves and claim ownership over it, you are not really the owner of every single parts that you purchased to build the car. There is a transfer of ownership from company that sells those parts to you. To build those parts, the company got the materials from the earth, etc. They are not able to create the materials from nothing. The materials are given by the Owner of everything. Therefore Allah owns whatever you own. Ultimate Ownership necessitate creation from nothing.
Allah is the Owner & Sustainer of His creations.
-> He is the “Owner“. Hence we are “being owned” or we are His “property“.
4) “The One in Charge”
He is in charge of all of our affairs. Our choices and decisions will be based on accordance to His preferences. The affairs of running a family, going out covering the Aurah, the affairs of running a country (i.e. if it managed by Muslims).
5) “The Giver”
When you work but is getting less than what you are supposed to get, you will complain because you deserved to be paid fully. What if someone gives you $100 as a gift? Will you complain that you deserve to get more than $100? You got it for free hence there is nothing to complain.
Allah is the Giver. Hence everything that you have are from the gifts given freely by Him. You will have no complain of the colour of your skin. Even if a person is born with no arms and legs, he cannot complain. Our arms and legs are free gifts from Him. You will appreciate more once you realize these. Gifts are something that you get when you didn’t do anything. If you expect to be given something, then that is for something that you have done.
When you are born, you have done nothing and yet you are given your sense of sight and hearing, your complete body parts, etc. You are short of one eye, you can’t complain because you don’t earn it as they are all gifts. Your voice that make those complaining sounds are given by Him. You may want to complain on why other people have it and why I don’t have it. He said He gives to whoever He chooses. You may have something that are not given to others.
-> He is the “Provider/Giver“. Hence we are the “Receiver of provisions“.
6) “The Master”
The Primary meaning of “Robb” is = The “Master“. The One who is obeyed.
This is the focus of our attention.
After telling us about “Alhamdulillah”, He now tells us what is our relationship to Him.
“Robb” is the core definition of who Allah is. His creations need to know this relationship. This is the most important thing, the heart of the matter. Everything else is secondary.
In a relationship, two parties are involved, examples :-
-> Teachers – relationship with = Students
-> Husband – relationship with = Wife
-> Boss – relationship with = Employee
-> Government – relationship with = Citizens
How about “Master”? Allah calls Himself = Master.
Our relationship with Him will be = Slaves
“Master of all the worlds (nations of people)” = He is the only Master and all other creations are slaves.
We are NOT servants of Allah. A servant is one who gives a particular service to others. If a boss tells an employee to do anything outside of his service (job scope), he can refuse the order. A servant provides service only during his working hours. Outside of the hours, he is a free man.
A servant and an employer each owe one with the other. An employer owes the servant his salary for the service done, while the servant owes the employer services he has to perform.
A slave is one who doesn’t have a choice but to follow and do whatever his master orders him. The Master doesn’t owe him anything. Whatever the master denies him from doing, he must comply. We are slaves of Allah as our obedience to Him is not only limited during the time of our prayers. It is an ongoing matter 24 hours a day. Whether you are in a bad situation or in a prosperous situation, you are still a slave to your Master.
A Slave is also not equally the same as a Worshiper. A Worshiper only has a connection with his God during the time of prayer. Once he is done with his prayers, he is free to do whatever he likes.
A slave’s connection with his Master is continuous, whether he is in prayer or outside of prayers. Allah not only demand to be worshiped but demand people to act as slaves to Him.
A Jew worships God on Saturdays. A Christian worships God on Sundays, a Hindu worships God in the temple, etc. Worshiping is restricted to time and location but a slave is permanently not restricted to time or location. He simply cannot do whatever he likes without the consent of his Master. He needs to do what the Master ordered him to do.
This is the difference between our religion and other religions. By definition, Islam is not only a religion but a way of life (Deen), since you are a slave to Allah 24 hours everyday.
We are:
> Slaves during Ramadhan and still slaves during Eid, eg. no haram party during eid, etc.
> Slaves while in Masjid and slaves outside of Masjid, eg. not engaging in haram activities, etc.
> Slaves during religious classes and slaves outside of religious classes i.e your behaviour is the same whether your Ustaz is around or not.
> Slaves in the workplace, eg. no stealing, being honest and disciplined, etc.,
> Slaves while watching TV, i.e. becareful of what you watch,
> Slaves while exercising, eg. no wearing tight revealing sexy clothes, etc.
People generally are oblivious that they are slaves to the Master. Even if they realized it, it is easily forgotten. We will forget everyday and we need to remind ourselves everyday via “Solah” (Scheduled daily prayers). That’s one of the reasons why we recite this Surah 17 times a day, everyday until we die.
Sometimes in a relationship, a student doesn’t act as a student in front of his teacher. A husband doesn’t act like a husband to the wife and vice versa. A father doesn’t act like a father to his children, etc. The slaves of Allah in as many times doesn’t act as a slave in full sight of the Master. In a human perspective, the situation of “Master” and “Slave” is not of good morals, but in the “Divine” perspective, it is totally a different matter.
The lowest level in humanity that a person can get is to be a slave to another person. Any other job description will be higher than becoming slave. Nobody likes to be at the bottom. In human perspective, no slave will be thanking his master. Slaves will hate their master and they will not praise him. Slaves were treated badly and that was why no slave will ever be in gratitude towards his human master.
A human master can never be in comparison with the Master of mankind. We will be praising and thanking our Master. Fir’aun can claim that he was a "Robb" but he can never get Hamd from his slaves.
The highest level a person can get is to be a true slave of Allah. The Prophet went up “mi’raj” meeting his Master and Allah proudly mentioned him as His “Slave”. That is the highest honour a person can get. Usually revelations came down to the messengers but at one time the last messenger s.a.w was invited up to receive the revelation of establishing “Solah”. Allah mentioned the word “Slave” in reference to His Messenger receiving and establishing Solah indicating that the believers will also get the opportunity to be His “Slaves” by truly establishing “Solah” too.
In the divine perspective, we as “Slaves” thank our “Master”. The Master created us and provided us with all our organs and resources to survive and allowed us to enjoy all other things that He has created. It is very appropriate that we have a feeling of gratitude. He is our Master and we are the slaves as whatever laws He had decreed, we have no choice but to follow those laws, eg. the law of physics, chemistry, gravity etc, the law of what is right (good) and what is wrong (evil), the law of worshiping, the law of what to eat and what not to be eaten, etc. As slaves to the Divine, we submit with out hearts at Peace, with Sincerity, with Love as He is the ultimate Wisdom in our affairs.
The core definition of a God is that He is your Master. The core reason people disbelieve is the denial of a God being their Master. They can’t accept to the fact that they have a Master, refusing to humble oneself into being a slave of God. Some only believe in God as the Creator but not as a Master to humankind. Some Scientist agreed that a Mighty God, the Designer of the Worlds, exist. However they refused to acknowledge any kind of relationship between this Creator and his creations. Allah does not only want to be recognized as a God to be worshiped or God the Creator. Allah wants you to recognize the RELATIONSHIP between Him and you. Master and slave is a 24 hour, daily relationship.
The summary of our religion is to accept Allah as the Master and accept that we are His slaves. Even Muslims forget or are naive about this. Some Muslims understand the term “slave” as “creation of Allah” and not literally as slave of Allah. In their casual conversation, the term “slave” of Allah is quite often used but they do not perform the solah while some drink wine and they still say that they are slaves of Allah. They should use the term “creation” of Allah instead of “slave” of Allah. This is because they don’t understand the term “slave”. If you don’t accept this concept, it means that you have not understood this religion and you have not understood the revelations.
People question why “bad” things happened to them, eg. “God, why me?”, “God, why did you do this?”. Does a human slave deserve the right to question his human master? What right do we have over the Master of humankind? The Master will question you on judgement day.
If you own a she-goat that you milk everyday and one day the goat stops producing milk (not doing her job), you can slaughter the goat. You own the goat so nobody is going to stop you. The goat cannot complain. If your property (like your laptop) stops doing what it is supposed to do (not doing its job), you can get rid of it. We act as a master to the goat, the laptop, etc. Sometimes we kick our car when the engine refuses to start. We get angry at our property when it doesn’t work properly. A jockey whips his horse if it is not running fast enough. That is how our actions are with our own property because those property are of lower value than us humans.
Allah is higher than us. We are Allah’s property and when we don’t do what we are supposed to do, i.e. not doing our job as slaves, does He have the right to do whatever to us? Fortunately He will not treat us the way we treat our own properties. He is not the same as a human master. He explains that He is a Merciful Master in the next ayah.
Every ayah in this Surah is talking about the relationship between Master and Slaves. Each time we perform our “Solah”, it is an act of that relationship.
ٱلۡعَـٰلَمِينَ
1) The first opinion on the meaning of "al-‘aalameen"
“‘aalameen” is = nations of people”.
“Worlds” in Arabic is “awaalim” and not “‘aalameen”. Therefore the ayah means = Master of all nations of people, eg. The Jews, the Romans, the Persians, the empire of Japan, etc.. including all intelligent beings like the Jinn and Angels.
In Arabic, any word that ends with “een” is an indication of beings with life and intelligence in the plural form (Jama’ muzakkar salim). Eg. “Muslimeen”, “Muqorrabeen”, etc. Therefore the word “‘aalameen” referring to “nations of people”. It is not referring to the earth, planets, galaxies, etc.
2) However, other opinions said that "Al-‘aalameen" includes all of creations.
The first level of creations are all those with souls that will go through judgement day. Even an animal has a soul and will go through judgment day for any retribution over another animal. While all other inanimate creation without souls are subservient to man and man is subservient to Allah. So Allah is the LORD of all the Worlds i.e all creations having souls including inanimate objects. This is the stronger opinion as we will see in further discussion.
[Quran, Al-Jathiya:13]
And has subjected to you (man) all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth; it is all as a favour and kindness from Him. Verily, in it are signs for a people who think deeply.
At the very beginning of creation, Allah is already the Lord of the Worlds.
[Quran 6:1] "All praise is for Allah (Alhamdulillah) Who created the heavens and the earth and made darkness and light ..."
All praise and gratitude from whatever in this world and in the hereafter.
[Quran 34:1] "All praise is for Allah (Alhamdulillah), to Whom belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth. And praise be to Him in the Hereafter. He is the All-Wise, All-Aware."
"Lord of all the worlds" also means that Allah is in charge of how a species interact within the same species and between different species.
How humans are supposed to interact with one another and how human to interact with the animals.
How animals interact with one another, between the Predators and the Prey, how animals compliment each other or supports each other for safety and food.
How nature interacts with one another, how the ice caped mountains give flow to rivers, how the rocks store water and contribute to water streams, the water in turn give rise to plantation with the support of sunlight and the list goes on.
How the earth interacts with the moon for stability, how the sun's gravity maintained the orbit of earth around it, and the list goes on.
Allah is in charge of the System of all the worlds. There are many pieces of the intricate puzzles and Allah is in charge of all of them maintaining harmony and balance. If there are multiple powerful LORDS, then all the worlds will no see the balance and the harmonious interactions as we see it now. Each LORD will want to have his own system. There will be chaos and all the worlds cannot be sustained.
However Jinns and Humans with their free will and unchecked desires, disobeyed the System and disturbed the harmony and balance. Nature will take care of itself if human do not interfere. Human created and been using non Biodegradable plastic in huge quantity and trying very hard to recycle them in order not to destroy the planet and the living creatures. We see sea turtles, sharks choking on plastics. We release toxic gas into the atmosphere at an alarming rate. We create synthetic product to falsify what is natural. Cancer is a disease of human creation.
Anything that nature produces is biodegradable to maintain the balance of life but human has perverted the system. Every single element of nature is naturally supporting and maintaining each other without human corruption.
Humans are to submit to "The Lord of the Worlds" in order not to destroy themselves.
By saying "Lord of all the worlds" is also emphasizing that there is only 1 Allah and the rest are creations. Automatically it is distinguishing between the two.
All creations are not unique. There are trillions of Humans, Jinns, Angels, Animals and other creatures that we cannot even imagine. However there is only 1 Allah.
If nations of this world accept one Master for all and accept all nations as His slaves and to obey Him, then all of us are the same. There will be no superior race, no racial segregation, no nationalism, tribalism. A lot of disputes can be avoided. This is what humans living on earth are supposed to be.
Is He the only Master or are there Masters other than Him?”.
If there are other god/masters existing other than Him, then they would have to share the administration of the world. Only the weak needs each other. If they are sharing the load of administration, this means that they are not all-powerful! This is not the definition of God. One God, the All-Powerful is enough to deal with all the worlds.
If you think there is a weaker god than Him, then the All-Powerful God would surely have destroyed the weaker god, which also means there is no such thing as a weaker god.
If you think that there are two all powerful Gods, then the universe and all the worlds would not have formed, as each of the Gods would constantly be at war destroying each other’s creation (to prove that He is the ONE and only ALL powerful Master – no sharing).
A God does not share his territory. Sharing is a sign of weakness. Anything that exists is in His territory. He puts a system upon His creation and no other entity can create another system. Therefore, a God is the one and ONLY Master of the world.
Another definition of God is that he is the all powerful and none is more powerful than Him. There are so many ayaat in the Quran emphasizing on Allah's Lordness over His creations.
Why is it important to internalize His Greatness over all creations? Only after understanding and overwhelmingly in awe of Him that a slave will be in total submission and focused in his role of why he is created by the Master. Refer to "Critical Thinking" in this website on some of such ayaat.
Each time we recite the Fatihah in Solah, we are to feel the greatness of our Master.
It is human nature when confronted with a powerful entity we will be in fear. Fear is necessary to instill discipline. Discipline is needed to maintain order. Order is needed so that human does not destroy itself. Punishment for transgression is necessary to stop corruption. However if the Master is all about punishment, then the slaves will be in constant fear and the feeling of oppression. Hence the next ayah will put the hearts of the slaves at ease. Allah is describing Himself as not a harsh or sadistic Lord but a Merciful and Compassionate Lord as His greater attribute.