Surah Al-Fâtihah 1:2

الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ

1:2 Al-Hamd-u-li(l)-Allâhالْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ conveys that “all praise is due to the rightfully worshipped Being whose name is Allâh, Who combines in Himself the aggregate of all Perfect Excellences and Praise”. Al-Hamdالْحَمْدُ is that praise which is offered in appreciation for the commendable actions of one worthy of praise. It also refers to the lauding one who has done a favour of his own volition and according to his own choice (Râghib). Allâh did not inaugurate His book with thanks (- shukr) or with commendation (- thanâ) or gratitude (- madah) to Him, but with al-Hamd الْحَمْدُ. Shukr differs from hamd حَمْد in the sense that its application is restricted to the beneficent qualities of someone. Shukr can be used for those who have done a favour, small or great. Madah differs from hamd in the sense that it applies to involuntary beneficence. This kind of praise can be true or false (Lane). Thanâ (accolade) of someone serves the purpose of self-interest or publicity based on some experience.

Hamd حَمْد is used in both the active and the passive sense, that is, it is used both for the subject and the object, and it signifies that Allâh is praiseworthy and receives perfect praise (Muhammad in Arabic) and He also bestows it (Ahmad). This interpretation derives support from the fact that Allâh has followed up the word hamd with the mention of His Attributes, the most Gracious (Al-Rahmân الرَّحْمَـٰنِ) and the Ever Merciful (Al-Rahîm الرَّحِيمِ). Al-Rahmân signifies that hamd is used in the active sense and Al-Rahîm signifies that it is used in the passive sense, as His Rahîmîyyat is not hidden from those who possess knowledge. Allâh has used the word hamd as a veiled reality that uncovers His face through His Attributes of Al-Rahmân and Al-Rahîm.

The Bestower of bounties upon His creation of diverse kinds, without any claim on their part, becomes the object of the adoration of all those who become conscious of these bounties. In its culmination of adoration, the worshipper makes Al-Rahmân the Muhammad (loved One; praised One). When Divine commendation and adoration reaches perfection, then Al-Rahîm becomes Ahmad (the lover/or praiser) of the worshipper.

Al-Hamd is that verbal praise and glorification, which is offered to honour the Mighty and the Noble for His acts of beneficence. Al-Hamd is the praise that also implies the humility, lowliness, and submissiveness in the person who offers it (Râghib). Perfect praise and glory is the exclusive prerogative of the Lord of Majesty. The ultimate goal of all kind of glorification be it in a small or a large measure, is our Lord Who guides the misguided and exalts the lowly and is the only object of praise.

Every type of praise and glory, whether relating to external aspects or internal realities, to inherent excellences or as manifested in natural phenomena, is due exclusively to Allâh. No other shares in it. Whatever true praise or perfect excellence the wisdom of the wise can imagine or the minds of thinkers can contemplate belongs to Allâh. The true Praise Al-Hamdالْحَمْدُ is the due only of Allâh, Who is the source of all grace and light and exercises beneficence deliberately and not under compulsion. He is the true Benefactor, and from Him proceed all benefits from beginning to end; and for Him is all glorification, in this world and in the Hereafter, and all praise that is bestowed on others reverts back to Him.

The word hamd contains in it the refutation of the worshippers of humans, animals, and idols. They praise their imagined deities and ascribe to them the Attributes of God. Their deities lack love, tenderness, grace, mercy, pity, forgiveness, goodness—the high qualities that are required for exercising beneficence. Even if they ascribe such qualities to them, they cannot of their own accord grant to humankind grace and beneficence irrespective of their deed or request, race or religion. Allâh is that Perfect Deity Who grants to all living creatures the shape and constitution appropriate to them, without their asking. Such a Lord who combines in Himself all perfect Attributes, and Who is free from every defect, the One without associate and the Source of all beneficence, is to be rightfully praised.

The Holy Prophet (pbuh) said, “Allâh is free from imperfection and I begin with His praise as many times as the number of His creatures, in accordance with His Good Pleasure, equal to the weight of His Throne and equal to the Ink that may be used in recording His words” (Abû Muslim). (See also the exegesis of chapter 1, page 252-254)

In the words that follow - Rabb al-‘Âlamîn رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ, the word Rabbرَبِّ means Creator, Sustainer, and Guardian Evolver to Perfection of the Universes. According to Lisân al-‘Arab and Tâj al-‘Arûs, the two most authentic lexicons, the word Rabb رَبِّ has seven connotations, namely: Mâlik (Supreme Master), Sayyad (Chief), Mudabbir (Determiner), Murabbî (Provider), Qayyûm (Sustainer), Mun‘im (Rewarder) and Mutammim (Perfector).

The word al-‘Âlamînالْعَالَمِينَ is a plural of ‘âlam (realm), which is derived from ‘alama and means knowledge, sign, distinguishing mark, created object, and realm. Thus al-‘Âlamîn includes any sign by means of which one is able to know its Creator. The expression employed here is not Khâliq al-‘Âlamîn (Creator of the worlds) but Rabb al-‘Âlamîn. The word al-‘Âlamîn is to be translated as all the worlds or many worlds. This can refer to worlds of particles and elements in cosmos, the worlds that are manifest and those that are hidden, worlds of plants and animals. The expression also includes the worlds of knowledge, worlds of human thoughts and intellect, and worlds of non-particles, the worlds of Paradises, the worlds of Fire and Hell (55:46-75, 88:4-16), the worlds of souls (nafûs) and many other worlds that are known only to Allâh (6:59; 6:73). Al-‘Âlamîn is everything other than Allâh.

The word ‘Âlamîn has its root also in ‘alama which means to know. ‘Âlam in the sense of knowledge means something concerning which report or information is given. Thus, ‘Âlamîn are the means by which one knows the Creator. Rabb al-‘Âlamîn رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ impels the seeker to seek knowledge about his Creator, the Sustainer, and his Evolver. Sometimes, al-‘Âlamîn is used in a restricted sense. We read, “O Children of Israel! Remember My favours, which I conferred upon you that exalted you above all your contemporaries”الْعَالَمِينَ” (2:122), or similarly, “Blessed is He Who revealed Al-Furqân (the Holy Qur’ân) to His servant that he may be a warner to all humankind الْعَالَمِينَ” (25:1). In verse 2:122, the restriction applies to the people of a particular period, and in 25:1 the restriction is to humankind. In both cases al-‘Âlamîn الْعَالَمِينَ cannot include the other realms of non-particles and that of animal and plant worlds.

Allâh, as Rabb al-‘Âlamîn, has provided all the means for the physical requirements of all kinds of life, without discrimination (35:25). Rabb al-‘Âlamîn is an outright refutation to those who seek to confine the Providence and His Grace to their own people, believing that their own communities were preferred (cf. 35:25). If it is so, people may have reason to complain that God was gracious towards some chosen people and not towards others. Some may say that a particular people was given a Book so that it may be guided thereby and another was not, or that He manifested Himself through His Words and Revelation and signs in a certain age but remained hidden in another age. By extending His Providence universally, He disposed of all such objections and exercised such universal benevolence that no people or age was denied the beneficence of His material and spiritual grace. These words are also a refutation to those who have taken the created as their lord, as the expression of Creator, Nourisher, Sustainer, Guardian; Evolver of the world cannot be applied to created lords.

The expression Rabb al-‘Âlamîn tells us that none of the forces in operation in the heavens and the earth in various shapes and forms to ensure the proper running of the universe operates on their own, but that Divine power operates through them. All the faculties with which the celestial bodies and earthly elements are invested are but a reflection of the Powers and Attributes eternally possessed by Allâh, the Supreme. With the words Rabb al-‘Âlamîn رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ Allâh has made it plain to us that the cosmos and its spheres are nothing in themselves; it is His dominating Power (Rabûbîyyat) that operates in them, as it were, from behind a screen. He makes the moon shed light in dark nights that ripen the fruits. He manifests a glorious light by His Power of Rabûbîyyat through the instrumentality of the sun and makes manifest His multifaceted Designs in various ways. It is His Power of Rabûbîyyat that descends from the sky in the form of rain that revives and refreshes the dead earth, and provides drink for the thirsty (cf. 30:48-50). It is His Power of Rabûbîyyat that gives fire the quality of combustion and invests the air with the quality to refresh life, make flowers blossom, lift clouds, and convey the beautiful sounds (cf.: 56:57-74). It is His Power of Rabûbîyyat that enables the earth to carry on its back humans with their burden of sins, and the beasts. “The heavens are about to burst on account of that, and the earth about to split asunder, and the mountains to fall down in pieces, because they have ascribed a son to the Most Gracious” (19:91-92). His Rabûbîyyat sustains the earth despite these claims.

Divine Power manifests itself as the power of the hand manifests itself through the pen. We say the pen writes but, in fact, it is the hand and not the pen that does the writing. Similarly, it is true that all the heavenly bodies and earthly elements, indeed every atom in the lower and upper spheres that is visible and perceptible; manifest themselves by virtue of the powers of the Rabb al-‘Âlamîn.

A magnifying glass, by reflecting the rays of the sun, may ignite fire, but that causes no diminution in the power of the sun. Fruits are fostered and ripen under moonbeams, but that process does not wear down the moon. These natural phenomena furnish insight into Divine working. The same principle is at the center of all spiritual phenomena. The universe has come into existence through the word kun of Rabb al-‘Âlamîn. The same idea is expressed in another verse (27:44) that the world is as if a palace with floors paved with transparent glass, under which runs a strong current of water. An unaware person ignores the glass and is afraid to step on the floor lest he should tumble into the swift current. In 17:70, it is stated: “We (...) have carried them over land and sea”; which also conveys the same idea, namely, that horses, cars and ships are only the visible means of carriage and that it is Divine Power, which is the real carrier. This Rabûbîyyat is operative and pervasive throughout the universe, in the heavens, in the earth, in bodies, in souls, in the realms of knowledge, substances, and essences and in animals, plants, minerals and all others. This Rabûbîyyat sustains all. A human being receives sustenance from the spring of this Rabûbîyyat, from the early embryonic, even pre-embryonic state, to the time of death, and beyond in the stage of life in the Hereafter. Divine Providence (Rabûbîyyat) is thus the creator of every existing thing and Sustainer of every extant object, yet it is the human being that benefits most by it. Here the human being who is supposed to be the vice-regent of Allâh on this earth is being reminded that Allâh is the Lord and Providence of the universe, so that the horizon of his hopes may be extended and he may believe in the statement of our Lord: إِنَّنِي أَنَا اللَّهُ لَا إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا أَنَا“I, and I alone am Allâh. There cannot be, is no other and will never be one worthy of worship but I” (20:14).