Tafseer of The Opening · Al-Faatiha · 1:2
[All] praise is [due] to Allah, Lord of the worlds -
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ (All praise belongs to Allah)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The meaning of الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ (all praise belongs to Allah) is: thankfulness (al-shukr) belonging purely to Allah — exalted be His praise — to the exclusion of everything else that is worshipped besides Him, and to the exclusion of all that He has brought forth from His creatures, on account of the favors with which He has graced His servants: favors that cannot be counted by any number, and the number of which none but He can encompass. This concerns the perfecting of the capacities for obedience to Him, and the enabling of the limbs and bodies of those charged with duties to fulfill His obligations, together with that which He has spread out for them in their worldly life as sustenance, and with which He has nourished them by the enjoyments of existence — without their having any right thereto with Him — and together with that toward which He has directed them and to which He has invited them: the causes that lead to the eternal, everlasting abiding in the House of the lasting dwelling place, in the lasting felicity. So to our Lord belongs praise for all of that, in the first and in the last.
And in accordance with the explanation we have given concerning the word of our Lord — exalted be His mention and hallowed be His names — الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ, the report of Ibn ʿAbbās and others has been transmitted:
151 – Muḥammad ibn al-ʿAlāʾ related to us, saying: ʿUthmān ibn Saʿīd related to us, saying: Bishr ibn ʿUmāra related to us, saying: Abū Rawq related to us, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: Jibrīl said to Muḥammad — may Allah's peace be upon them both —: Say, O Muḥammad: "al-ḥamdu lillāh." Ibn ʿAbbās said: "al-ḥamdu lillāh" is: thankfulness toward Allah, submission to Allah, and the acknowledgment of His favor, His guidance, His origination [of creation], and more than that.
152 – And Saʿīd ibn ʿAmr al-Sakūnī related to me, saying: Baqiyya ibn al-Walīd related to us, saying: ʿĪsā ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, on the authority of Mūsā ibn Abī Ḥabīb, on the authority of al-Ḥakam ibn ʿUmayr — who had enjoyed the companionship [of the Prophet] —, who said: The Prophet ﷺ said: When you say "al-ḥamdu lillāhi rabbi l-ʿālamīn," you have truly thanked Allah, and He increases your [favors].
He said: And it has been said: A person's saying "al-ḥamdu lillāh" is a praising of Allah by means of His beautiful names and attributes, while his saying "al-shukru lillāh" is a praising of Him by means of His favors and benefactions.
And it has been transmitted from Kaʿb al-Aḥbār that he said: "al-ḥamdu lillāh" is a praising of Allah. But in the transmission from him it was not clarified which of the two meanings of praising that we have mentioned he intended by it.
153 – Yūnus ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā al-Ṣadafī related to us, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: ʿUmar ibn Muḥammad related to me, on the authority of Suhayl ibn Abī Ṣāliḥ, on the authority of his father, who said: al-Salūlī informed me, on the authority of Kaʿb, who said: Whoever says "al-ḥamdu lillāh," that is a praising of Allah.
154 – ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥasan al-Kharrāz related to me, saying: Muslim ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Jarmī related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Muṣʿab al-Qurqusānī related to us, on the authority of Mubārak ibn Faḍāla, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, on the authority of al-Aswad ibn Sarīʿ: that the Prophet ﷺ said: There is nothing that Allah the Exalted loves more than praise, and for that reason He has praised Himself and said: "al-ḥamdu lillāh."
Abū Jaʿfar said: Among those who know the languages of the Arabs there is no mutual contradiction in the judgment regarding the correctness of a person's saying: "al-ḥamdu lillāhi shukran" (all praise belongs to Allah as thanks). Since this is correct with all of them, it has thus become clear that "al-ḥamdu lillāh" is sometimes pronounced in place of thankfulness (shukr), and that thankfulness is sometimes placed in the position of praise (ḥamd). For if that were not so, it would not be permissible to say "al-ḥamdu lillāhi shukran," wherein from a person's saying "al-ḥamdu lillāh" the verb "I thank" (ashkuru) is derived as a verbal-noun designation. For if thankfulness did not have the meaning of praise, it would be erroneous that from "al-ḥamd" something be derived which is neither its meaning nor its wording.
If someone were to say to us: What is the reason for the insertion of the alif and the lām (the definite article) in al-ḥamd? Why was it not said: "ḥamdan lillāhi rabbi l-ʿālamīn" [without the article]?
Then it is answered: The insertion of the alif and the lām in al-ḥamd carries a meaning that the saying "ḥamdan" — with the omission of the alif and the lām — does not convey. That is because their insertion in al-ḥamd communicates that its meaning is: all praises and perfect thankfulness belong to Allah. But if they are omitted from it, then it would only indicate that the praise of the one who utters that belongs to Allah, not all praises. For the meaning of a person's saying "ḥamdan lillāh" or "ḥamdun lillāh" is: I praise Allah with a praising. The explanation of a person's saying الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ, however, when he recites the sūra of Umm al-Qurʾān (the Mother of the Qurʾān), is not: "I praise Allah." Rather, the explanation of it is what we described earlier: that all praises belong to Allah on account of His divinity and His benefaction toward His creatures, by means of the favors which He has bestowed upon them and which have no equal, in religion and in the world, in the present and in the future.
And on account of this meaning, the recitation of the reciters and the scholars of the community has been unanimous in pronouncing al-ḥamd in الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ in the nominative (rafʿ) and not in the accusative (naṣb), which would lead to the indication that the meaning of the one who recites it is this: "I praise Allah with a praising." If a reciter were to recite this in the accusative, then he would, in my judgment, distort its meaning and would deserve punishment for his reciting it in that manner — if he recites it so deliberately while knowing of his error and the corruption of his explanation.
If someone were to say to us: What is the meaning of His saying "al-ḥamdu lillāh"? Has Allah — exalted be His praise — praised Himself and lauded Himself, and then taught us to say this as He said it and described Himself with it? If that is so, what then is the reason for His saying — exalted be His mention — إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ (You alone we worship and You alone we ask for help), while He — mighty be His mention — is the Worshipped, not a worshipper? Or is that from the words of Jibrīl or of Muḥammad, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ? Then it would be invalid that this is the speech of Allah.
Then it is answered: Rather, all of that is the speech of Allah — exalted be His praise. But He — exalted be His mention — praised Himself and lauded Himself with that of which He is worthy, and then taught that to His servants, and imposed its recitation upon them, as a trial and testing on His part of them. Thus He said to them: Say الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ, and say إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ. His saying إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ therefore belongs to what He — exalted be His mention — taught them to say and to which they ought to submit themselves toward Him in meaning, and it is connected to His saying الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ, as though He had said: Say this and that.
If he were to say: Where, then, is His saying "Say," so that the explanation of it would be what you claim?
Then it is answered: We have demonstrated in the foregoing that it belongs to the usage of the Arabs — when they know the place of the word, and do not doubt that their listener, on the basis of what they have shown in their wording, knows what they have omitted — that they omit that which the uttered [portion] suffices for, especially when that omitted word is an utterance or the explanation of an utterance. As the poet said:
"And I know that I shall soon be a grave, when the swift camels go on and he does not go on. Then the questioners said: 'For whom have you dug?' Then the informers said to them: 'A vizier.'"
Abū Jaʿfar said: He means thereby: Then the informers said to them: "The deceased is a vizier," whereby he omitted "the deceased," since he had brought into the wording something that pointed to it. And likewise the saying of the other:
"And I saw your husband in the battle, girded with a sword and a spear."
For it is known that a spear cannot be girded on; he meant only: "and bearing a spear." But because its meaning was known, he sufficed with what had already become clear in his speech, without giving expression to what he had omitted from it. And one says to the traveler, when one takes leave of him: "Accompanied and protected" (muṣāḥaban muʿāfan), whereby one omits "go" and "depart," since the meaning of it is known, even though one leaves off its mention.
So it is likewise with what has been omitted from the saying of Allah — exalted be His mention —: الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ. Since by His saying — mighty and exalted —: إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ it became known what He intended by His saying الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ, namely the meaning of His command to His servants, the indication of what was shown of the utterance made it unnecessary to reveal that which had been omitted.
And we have already transmitted the report that we mentioned earlier as a beginning concerning the explanation of the saying of Allah: الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, and that he used to say: Jibrīl said to Muḥammad: Say, O Muḥammad: "al-ḥamdu lillāhi rabbi l-ʿālamīn." And we have clarified that Jibrīl taught Muḥammad only that which he was commanded to teach him. And this report informs us of the correctness of what we have said concerning the explanation of it.
The statement concerning the explanation of His word: رَبِّ (Lord).
Abū Jaʿfar said: The exposition concerning the explanation of the name of Allah, namely اللَّهِ, has already passed at بِسْمِ اللَّهِ, so we have no need to repeat that in this place.
As for the explanation of His word رَبِّ: the word "rabb" is applied in the language of the Arabs to various meanings. Thus the master who is obeyed [in his affairs] is called a "rabb." To that belongs the saying of Labīd ibn Rabīʿa:
"And they destroyed on a certain day the lord (rabb) of Kinda and his son, and the lord (rabb) of Maʿadd, between Khabt and ʿArʿar."
By "rabb of Kinda" he means: the master (sayyid) of Kinda. To that also belongs the saying of Nābigha of the Banū Dhubyān:
"She hastens toward al-Nuʿmān until she reaches him; may my newly acquired and my inherited possessions be your ransom, O lord (rabb)."
And the man who sets something in order (al-muṣliḥ) is called a "rabb." To that belongs the saying of al-Farazdaq ibn Ghālib:
"They were like a foolish butter-maker, when she stored her butter in an untreated [not rubbed with rubb] leather skin."
He means thereby: in a leather skin that had not been set in order. To that belongs that one says: "So-and-so sets his benefaction toward so-and-so in order (yarubbu)," when he seeks to maintain it and to make it last. To that belongs the saying of ʿAlqama ibn ʿAbada:
"Thus you became a man to whom my guardianship has passed; and before you others led me (rabbatnī), upon which I perished — rulers (rubūb)."
By his words "has passed to you" he means: my guardianship (ribāba) has come to you, so that you became the one who leads my affair and sets it in order, when I came out of the guardianship of others among the kings who ruled over me before you and neglected my affair and left off oversight of it — and they are the "rubūb": the singular of it is "rabb." And the owner of a thing is called its "rabb." The meaning of "al-rabb" is also applied in ways other than these, but they return to one of these three meanings.
So our Lord — exalted be His praise — is the Master who has no equal, nor a likeness in His loftiness; and the Orderer of the affair of His creatures by the favors which He has poured out abundantly upon them; and the Owner to whom belong creation and command.
And in accordance with what we have said concerning the explanation of His word — exalted be His praise — رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ, the transmission of Ibn ʿAbbās has come:
155 – Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: ʿUthmān ibn Saʿīd related to us, saying: Bishr ibn ʿUmāra related to us, saying: Abū Rawq related to us, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: Jibrīl said to Muḥammad: "O Muḥammad, say: الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ." Ibn ʿAbbās said: He says: Say: all praise belongs to Allah, to Whom the entire creation belongs — all the heavens and who is in them, and all the earths and who is in them and what is between them, of what is known and what is not known. He says: Know, O Muḥammad, that this Lord of yours, nothing resembles Him.
The statement concerning the explanation of His word: الْعَالَمِينَ (the worlds).
Abū Jaʿfar said: "al-ʿālamūn" is the plural of "ʿālam" (world). And "ʿālam" is a plural that has no singular of its own wording, like "al-anām" (the creatures), "al-rahṭ" (the group), and "al-jaysh" (the army), and similar names that are formed for a collective which has no singular of its own wording.
And "al-ʿālam" is a name for the kinds of the nations, and each kind of them is a "ʿālam"; and the people of each generation of each kind of them are the "ʿālam" of that generation and that time. Thus humankind are a "ʿālam," and all the people of an epoch among them are the "ʿālam" of that epoch. And the jinn are a "ʿālam," and likewise all the remaining races of creation: each race of them is the "ʿālam" of its time. For this reason it was put in the plural, so that it was said: "ʿālamūn," while its singular [itself] is a plural — because the "ʿālam" of each epoch of it is the "ʿālam" of that epoch. To that belongs the saying of al-ʿAjjāj:
* "Khindif is the head of this world (al-ʿālam)" *
Thus he made them the "ʿālam" of his time. And this statement which we have made is the statement of Ibn ʿAbbās and Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, and it is the meaning of the statement of most of the exegetes.
156 – Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: ʿUthmān ibn Saʿīd related to us, saying: Bishr ibn ʿUmāra related to us, saying: Abū Rawq related to us, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ: all praise belongs to Allah, to Whom the entire creation belongs: the heavens and the earths and who is in them and what is between them, of what is known and what is not known.
157 – And Muḥammad ibn Sinān al-Qazzāz related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of Shabīb, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: rabbi l-ʿālamīn (Lord of the worlds): the jinn and humankind.
158 – ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥasan related to me, saying: Muslim ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Muṣʿab related to us, on the authority of Qays ibn al-Rabīʿ, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning the saying of Allah — mighty and exalted —: رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ, he said: The Lord of the jinn and humankind.
159 – Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq ibn ʿĪsā al-Ahwāzī related to us, saying: Abū Aḥmad al-Zubayrī related to us, saying: Qays related to us, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr: his saying رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ, he said: the jinn and humankind.
160 – Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥīm al-Barqī related to me, saying: Ibn Abī Maryam related to me, on the authority of Ibn Lahīʿa, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn Dīnār, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr: his saying رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ, he said: the children of Ādam, and the jinn and humankind; each nation of them is a "ʿālam" in itself.
161 – Muḥammad ibn Ḥumayd related to me, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Mujāhid: الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ, he said: humankind and the jinn.
162 – Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq al-Ahwāzī related to us, saying: Abū Aḥmad al-Zubayrī related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of a man, on the authority of Mujāhid, with the like of it.
163 – Bishr ibn Muʿādh al-ʿAqadī related to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Zurayʿ related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Qatāda: رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ, he said: each kind is a "ʿālam."
164 – Aḥmad ibn Ḥāzim al-Ghifārī related to me, saying: ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Mūsā related to us, on the authority of Abū Jaʿfar, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas, on the authority of Abū al-ʿĀliya, concerning his saying رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ, he said: Humankind are a "ʿālam," and the jinn are a "ʿālam," and beyond that there are eighteen thousand worlds, or fourteen thousand worlds — he doubts — of the angels upon the earth; and the earth has four corners, in each corner three thousand worlds and five hundred worlds, which He created for His worship.
165 – al-Qāsim ibn al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn ibn Dāwūd related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to us, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, concerning his saying رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ, he said: the jinn and humankind.
