What is Alhamdulillah?

Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu!

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

We are the people of Alhamdulillah.

 What does Alhamdulillah mean? It is two things:

1. That you thank Allah

2. Appreciation and praise is for Allah

Thanks and praise are two separate things. You can see a beautiful building, and you will praise it but you will not thank it. You will see a beautiful car, and you will praise it but you won't thank it. 

Sometimes the opposite happens. You may thank someone but you won't praise them. 

Allah says that the Muslim has to be grateful to his parents no matter what, even if his parents are not Muslim. Even if they want you to leave your faith, you still have to be grateful to them. You will not praise their shirk (non-belief), but you will still thank them. 

So, sometimes in life, you can have praise without thanks. And, sometimes in life, you can have thanks without praise.

 Another example of this is Firown. He raised the Prophet Musa (as) in his home. Many years later, Prophet Musa (as) came back to him, and Firown reminded him, saying, "Didn't you live many years here? Didn't we raise you as a newborn in this house?" He was reminding Prophet Musa (as) of his favour. And, obviously, when someone does you a favour, you owe them thanks. Prophet Musa (as) realised the favour, and he did thank him. He thanked Firown but he never ever praised him. 

When we say Alhamdulillah, then we are praising Allah for whatever He is doing, and we are also thanking Him for doing it. There are people of other religions who believe in God, but they don't have Alhamdulillah. Some Muslims don't understand Alhamdulillah. When we say it, we should be grateful from the bottom of our hearts. For all the things that are going wrong in your life, there are more things that are going right. There are so many other things that could be wrong with you. 

Being people of Alhamdulillah, we are constantly grateful and we are constantly positive. If we understood Alhamdulillah, we would never be depressed. A Muslim cannot be depressed. Muslims themselves complain about the state of the Muslims. Allah is the One who can change our circumstances. All we need to do is turn to Him and say Alhamdulillah, and be positive.

May Allah make us the sincere people of Alhamdulillah - Ameen!

Wasalaam!