GEM-1 :
Why “All praise belongs to Allah” — and not “we praise Allah”?
The verse
At the very start of Sūrat al-Fātiḥah, we say:
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ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ ٱلْعَٰلَمِينَ Al-ḥamdu lillāhi rabbil-ʿālamīn “All praise and thanks belong to Allah, the Lord of all the worlds.” |
The special word: Ḥamd
Look closely at the word Ḥamd, which means “praise and thanks”. You cannot hold praise in your hand — it is not a physical object. It is an idea: something real, yet untouchable. So Ḥamd is a NOUN form in arabic.
A question worth asking
Here is something to wonder about. Allah could have phrased this as an action form teaching us to say — “We praise and thank Allah, the Lord of the worlds.” In everyday speech, “Praise belongs to Allah” and “We praise Allah” seem to say the same thing.
But the words of Allah are never chosen at random; every word rests in its perfect place. So there must be a reason He chose a NOUN here, rather than a VERB. Let us see what that single choice unlocks.
The gem
Reason 1 — A NOUN form of a word does not depend on anyone, But a Verb depends on it’s doer of the action.
When we say “Praise belongs to Allah,” we are simply stating a standing truth — like saying “the sky is high” or “honey is sweet.” It is true in itself. It does not wait for anyone to make it true.
But if it were a verb — “We praise Allah” — then the praise would suddenly need a doer. Someone must be there to do the praising. And if no one praises, where has the praise gone? By choosing the naming word Ḥamd in a NOUN form, Allah made His praise independent of every creature. Whether or not anyone praises Him, praise still belongs to Him.
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A simple picture. A diamond is precious whether or not anyone is looking at it. Its worth does not switch on when someone walks in to admire it, and switch off when they leave — it simply is precious. “Praise belongs to Allah” states that standing worth. “We praise Allah” would only describe the moment someone happens to admire it. |
Reason 2 — A naming word carries no clock, it’s TIMELESS.
Every verb carries a time with it — past, present, or future: “I praised,” “I praise,” “I will praise.” A verb always points to some moment. A NOUN word carries no time at all.
So when Allah uses the noun Ḥamd (Praise and not “we praise”), His praise is lifted out of time completely. It is not tied to yesterday, today, or tomorrow. And this fits what we already know of Him: Allah is beyond time and place — and so is the praise that belongs to Him.
Putting it together
Now gather the picture in your heart:
Whether or not we praise Him,
whether or not we even exist,
whether past, present, and future come and go —
praise has always belonged to Allah, and always will.
All of that — an entire ocean of meaning — is carried by a single format (NOUN) of a word HAMD . That is how perfect the speech of Allah is.
GEM-2 :
An NOUN is considered as something that is established and changes or varies with time. So, When Quran uses a NOUN instead of VERB for a quality, Allah wants that quality as an established fact for us which becomes part of our being or who we are. For examples, in Quran 3:134, Allah is talking about three qualities, one must have to achieve TAQWA (awareness of Allah). We’ll talk about two of them here, where Allah used NOUN forms to describe the people having those qualities.
- الكاظِينَ الغَيْظَ – The one who controls his anger, and
- العافِينَ – The one who forgives completely.
By using NOUN forms, Allah is telling us the quality of “being patient and merciful” are qualities which should be rooted in our character as a second nature. It is what who we are at all times. You cannot be sometimes patient and sometimes not. You cannot be sometimes merciful and other times not. These are constant traits should be built and stay inside us.
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