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Alhamdulillah

Alhamdulillah (, ') is an Arabic phrase meaning "praise be to God", sometimes translated as "thank God" or "thanks be to the Lord". This phrase is called Tahmid (). A longer variant of the phrase is al-ḥamdu l-illāhi rabbi l-ʿālamīn (), meaning "all praise is due to God, Lord of all the universes", the first verse of Surah Al-Fatiha, the opening chapter of the Quran.

The phrase is frequently used by Muslims of every background due to its centrality in the texts of the Quran and Hadith, the words of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Its meaning and in-depth explanation have been the subject of much exegesis. It is also commonly used by non-Muslim speakers of the Arabic language.

A similar variation used in Christianity is the phrase "Hallelujah".

Origins

The phrase "al-ḥamdu li-llāh" is believed to be an Arabization of the Greek phrase, "glory to God" (δόξα τῷ θεῷ), mediated through the Syriac expression "praise be to God" (teshbuhtâ l-alâhâ).

Meaning

The phrase has three basic parts:

  • al-, the definite article, "the".
  • ḥamd(u), literally meaning "praise", "commendation".
  • li-llāh(i), preposition + noun Allāh. Li- is a dative preposition meaning "to". The word Allāh () is the proper name of the God of Abraham. "Al ilah" means "The God", and it is a combination of the definite article al- and the word ʾilāh (, "god, deity"). As in English, the article is used here to single out the noun as being the only one of its kind, "the God" (the one and only) or "God". Therefore, Allāh is the Arabic word for "God". ʾilāh is the Arabic cognate of the ancient Semitic name for God, El.

The phrase is first found in the first verse of the first Surah of the Quran (Al-Fatiha). So frequently do Muslims and Arabic-speaking Jews and Christians invoke this phrase that the quadriliteral verb hamdala (), "to say al-ḥamdu li-llāh" was coined, and the derived noun ḥamdala is used as a name for this phrase.

The triconsonantal root Ḥ-M-D (), meaning "praise", can also be found in the names Muhammad, Mahmud, Hamid, and Ahmad, among others.

Translation

English translations of alhamdulillah include:

Variants

Various Islamic phrases include the Tahmid, most commonly:

See also

References

External links