In Thy Name We Live

Episode 13:  The Praiseworthy (Al-Hamid)

What is al-hamd (praise)?  It is the opposite of dispraise, and praise is usually for what is perfect and complete.  Allah is praiseworthy for His perfection, His Deeds, His Sublimity, His Blessings, and His generosity.  There is no praiseworthy but Allah.  There is a difference between praising and offering thanks; the latter being used with ordinary people.

We should praise Allah and express our gratitude to Him everyday.  How many times have you prostrated to Allah in gratitude.  We should remember Allah’s blessings on us, feel them and talk about them to people; Allah says what can be translated as, “And as of your lord’s favor then discourse about it (i.e. proclaim it)!” (TMQ: 93:11)[1].  We should praise Allah with our souls, not only by words.

Let us see how Prophet Muhammad (SAWS)[2] used to express his gratitude to Allah.  Every night he praised Allah saying, "Praise is due to you Allah the Owner of heavens and earth.  Praise be to you Allah The Superb Upright Sustainer of the heavens and earth.  Praise be to you Allah The Light of the heavens and earth. …  O Allah! To You is all praise, blessed and good praise, as much as would fill the heavens, as much as would fill the earth, as much as would fill what is between them, and as much as would fill whatever You will of anything else.  All praise be to You for bestowing the blessing of Islam, the blessing of Qur’an, and the blessings of family, children and money.

O Allah! All praise and gratitude be to You; and to You everything in our lives return."

Bring a paper and start writing down what Allah has blessed you with, everything, as the blessings of sight and speech.  You will not be able to count them all.  Will you?  Allah says what can be translated as, “And in case you number the favors of Allah you will not enumerate them; …” (TMQ: 16:18). 

Allah says, “And whatever favor you have, it is from Allah; ...” (TMQ: 16:53). 

Look at everything around you:  The clothes we wear; they are made of wool, cotton, or leather.  Where do these things come from? And what is their origin?  If we think for a while, we will discover that without Allah we would have been naked.  The furniture in our houses; they are made of wood that comes from trees and these trees were once seeds that were watered by rain.  The food we eat; Allah says what can be translated as, “So let man look into his food;” (TMQ: 80:24).  He also says, “O My servants! All of you are naked except those I clothed, so seek clothing of Me and I shall clothe you.  All of you are hungry except those I fed, so seek food of Me and I shall feed you. …”  The water we drink; from where does it come?  What if we were deprived from the drop of water?  Allah says what can be translated as, “Have you then seen the water you drink?” (TMQ: 56:68).  Furthermore, the ability to get rid of the excessive water from your body is a blessing; do not forget that.

How many times do we thank people for favors they do for us and forget to praise Allah.  Who protects us, and our families but Allah?  Allah says what can be translated as, “For him are angels taking turns (on end) before him and even behind him preserving him from the command of Allah. …” (TMQ: 13:11).  If someone paid you a ticket on a bus, you would keep thanking him.  What if someone bought you a present? You would thank him and your wife would suggest that you call him and thank him again.  Do not you feel embarrassed that you thank people more than you thank Allah?

There are other aspects of Allah’s blessings; you can see while other people do not, you can hear while others are deaf, and you can walk and move from one place to another while some people are paralyzed.  You can understand when others cannot.  Why do we always remember our misfortunes and forget all these blessings that Allah has bestowed upon us?  The blessing of breathing; think how many times you breathe in one minute.  What about if you are in charge of your breathing?  We should not forget the blessings of education, parents and the most important and the greatest blessing is that we are Muslims, and that Allah has offered us Ramadan as a chance to prostrate ourselves in worshiping Him.  The most beautiful blessing is al-jannah (Paradise).  A cloud would pass over the people of al-jannah and ask them, ‘What would you like me to rain today?’

Imagine if Allah (SWT)[3] created us without organs and we have to buy our organs with money, for how much would you buy your eyes? And if you were not rich enough you might not afford buying your son two eyes; you may then buy him one instead.  Hence, you, with all your organs, are worth billions of dollars. 

Blessed praises be to Allah Who created and shaped us and bestowed His blessings upon us.  Praise be to Allah with whose favor good deeds are done.  “Praise be to Allah Who has sent down upon His bondman the Book and has not made to it any crookedness;” (TMQ 18: 1).  Praise be to Allah Who hears all supplications and does not give attention to a supplication more than the other. 

Musa (AS) (Moses) tells Allah (SWT), "how can I praise you Lord while praising You is a favor worth praising".  Do not you feel embarrassed that the whole universe is praising The Ever-Praiseworthy while you do not?  Allah (SWT) says what can be translated as, “... and decidedly not a thing (is) except that it extols His praise, but you do not comprehend their Extolment. ...” (TMQ 17: 44).  Even the jinn praise Allah.  When Allah (SWT) revealed the ayah that says, “Then to whichever of your Lord's boons do you (both) (i.e., the jinn and mankind) cry lies?” (TMQ 55: 13), the Prophet (SAWS) asked his companions to say as the jinn said.  They asked, ‘what did they say?’ He replied that they said, "not for any of your boons our Lord do we cry lies, praised be Thou".  Allah (SWT) says what can be translated as, “Surely man is indeed ungrateful to his Lord,” (TMQ 100: 6), which means that man remembers the bad things afflicting him but does not see any of Allah’s blessings.  Our aim is to make the praising of Allah (SWT) a natural disposition within us. 

The issue of praising means a lot to The Ever-Praiseworthy.  The Qur’an opens with an ayah of praise, “Praise be to Allah, The Lord of the worlds” (TMQ 1: 1).  Praise is the key to Allah’s satisfaction, as the ayah says, “… and He is not satisfied with disbelief from His bondmen.  And in case you thank (Him), He is satisfied with it for you ...” (TMQ 39: 7).  The Prophet’s (SAWS) intercession on the Day of Judgment starts by him prostrating beneath Allah’s throne and praising Him with praises with which no one had done before.  Allah (SWT) will then say, ‘raise your head Muhammad.  Ask and you will be given, and intercede and you will be granted what you wish’.  On the Day of Judgment accountability will begin by Allah (SWT) admonishing you with the blessings He granted you.  Praising Allah (SWT) is a means to be prevented from torture as the ayah says, “What would Allah perform with tormenting you in case you thank (Him) and believe? ...” (TMQ 4: 147).  On the Day of Judgment a call is heard asking those who used to praise Allah (SWT) to step forward and they will enter al-jannah carrying a flag written on it ‘Praisers of Allah’. 

Those who praise Allah (SWT) by their hearts and tongues are given a lot.  Allah says what can be translated as, “And as your Lord has notified (you), “Indeed in case you thank (Him), indeed I will definitely increase you and indeed in case you disbelieve, surely My torment is indeed strict.” (TMQ 14: 7).  Allah does not want you to thank Him because He needs it, He is telling you to thank Him to give you more.  We should thank Him in Ramadan by praying, fasting, or supplicating and He will give us more; may be He will make us cherish the night of al-Qadr (determination) as a result.  Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) says that al-hamdu-Lillah (praise be to Allah) fills the scale on the Day of Judgment. 

If you do not praise Allah (SWT) or used His blessing to disobey Him, He either takes it back, or changes it into a calamity or keeps it and takes away its beauty, or lets a misfortune befall you that you forget all about this blessing.  Like if you have a son and you are ungrateful, He may make him disobedient and crooked.  Allah (SWT) says what can be translated as, “… and whoever exchanges the favor of Allah even after it has come to him, then surely Allah is strict in punishment.” (TMQ 2: 211).  It is as when you use the money Allah granted you in disobeying Him.  There is an ayah that mentions what Satan says to Allah, “… and You will not find most of them thankful.” (TMQ 7: 17).  Satan makes you see that what people have is better than what you have and makes you ungrateful.  

Let us see how the prophets used to praise their creator.  The Prophet (SAWS) used to pray all night until his legs ached him although Allah (SWT) has already forgiven all his sins.  However, he used to tell Lady Aisha (RA) that should he not be a thankful servant. Similarly, Nuh (AS) (Noah) and Ibrahim (AS) (Abraham) were praisers of Allah.  When a man asked Ali (RA) how he was that morning, he replied, "I am up today surrounded by Allah’s favors and do not know how to thank Him.’

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