We Are The People Of Alhamdulillah

And SubhaanAllah -- Walhamdulillah, we are the people of Alhamdulillah! What does Alhamdulillah mean? It's basically, even though we can talk about it for hours, just a brief explanation - it is two things. Alhamdulillah is two things. One part of it is that you thank Allah, thanks is for Allah. The second part of it is appreciation, Appreciation -Praise is for Allah. Two things: Thanks & Praise. They're two separate things. 'Al madh wathanah' on the one hand, "Ash shukr' on the other hand. They're two different things. Now let's first understand the difference between these two things. 

You can see a beautiful building, and you will praise it. But you will not thank it. You will see a...you will see an amazing athlete, he plays football, and he scored an amazing goal, you will praise the athlete but you will not...thank the athlete. You will see a beautiful car, you will praise the car but you won't...thank the car. And sometimes the opposite is the case. There are some people you have to thank, even though you will never praise them. That happens too. Allah Azzawajal, for example describes that the Muslim has to be grateful to his parents no matter what. Even if your parents are 'mushrik' -- You have to be grateful to your parents...even if they are struggling against you to do shirk! They want you to leave your Iman, and you still have to be grateful to them. You will not praise their shirk, 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. I'll give you another example of thanks without praise so it becomes clear. You have the case of Firaun (la'anahullah). He...whether he liked it or not, he raised Musa (Alayhi Salaam) in his castle, and Musa (Alayhi Salaam), many years later came back to him, and he actually reminded Musa (Alayhi Salaam) saying, 'Didn't you live many years here? Didn't you spend, didn't we raise you as a newborn in this house'. He's reminding Musa (Alayhi Salaam) of his favor, and obviously when someone does you a favor you owe them thanks! So even Musa (Alayhi Salaam) acknowledges the favor, and he does thank him. He says, 'wathilka n'imatun tamunuaha alaya 'Itaraf' - He admitted, yes that is a favor you did for me. When you admit someone's done you a favor, you are thanking them

He thanked even Firaun, even though he will never ever praise him, so you can thank someone without praising them and you can praise someone without thanking them. When we say Alhamdulillah, then we are saying that we praise Allah for whatever He's doing, whatever he's doing is awesome, it's great! It couldn't be better, it's perfect! No complains and after we praise him we are also thanking him that he did it. It's a different way of thinking; it's not like anybody else.

By Ustadh Nouman Ali Khan