What does "al-hamd" mean, and how is it different from thanks?

The word al-hamd, "praise", with the definite article, occurs 28 times in the Quran, in 27 verses across 21 surahs, and five surahs open with it: Al-Fatihah, Al-An'am, Al-Kahf, Saba and Fatir. This article reads its meaning and how it relates to thanks and, at each verse, gives the Sunni reading of al-Tafsir al-Muyassar first, then what the Shia commentaries of al-Safi (al-Fayd al-Kashani) and al-Mizan (al-Tabataba'i) say.

Quotations from the three commentaries are my renderings of the Arabic.

"Praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds"

[All] praise is [due] to Allah, Lord of the worlds -

(Al-Fatihah 1:2)

Al-Muyassar: praise of God for His attributes, all of which are attributes of perfection, and for His blessings, outward and inward, of religion and of this world; within it is a command to His servants to praise Him, for He alone deserves it — the Originator of creation, who sees to their affairs and nurtures all His creatures with His blessings, and His friends with faith and righteous deeds. Al-Mizan: hamd, as has been said, is praise for a beautiful act done by choice, and madh, "commendation", is wider: you can praise or commend a man for his generosity, and commend a pearl for its clearness, but you do not praise it for its clearness; and: praise is showing that a thing has a perfection through the existence of another, which must be its cause; and since every perfection ends in God, the reality of all praise returns and ends in Him — so praise is due to God, Lord of the worlds.

Al-Muyassar and al-Mizan agree that hamd is praise, and that God is the one who deserves it. Al-Muyassar makes it praise of God for His perfect attributes and for His blessings; al-Mizan makes it praise for a beautiful act done by choice, distinguishes it from commendation, which is wider, and returns all praise to God because every perfection ends in Him.

Praise at the opening of a surah

[All] praise is [due] to Allah, who created the heavens and the earth and made the darkness and the light. Then those who disbelieve equate [others] with their Lord.

(Al-An'am 6:1)

Al-Muyassar: praise of God for His attributes, all of which are attributes of perfection, and for His blessings, outward and inward, of religion and of this world — He who brought into being the heavens and the earth and all in them, and made the darkness and the light through the succession of night and day. In this is proof of God's greatness and that He alone deserves worship. Al-Safi: He describes Himself in a way that shows He is the one who deserves praise, whether He is praised or not, so that it stands as proof against those who equate others with Him. Al-Mizan: it opens with praise of God, as a kind of preface to the meaning of His oneness that the surah sets out to explain, putting the surah's purpose into the praise in order to argue for it in detail.

All three agree that the praise opening the surah is bound up with God's oneness: al-Muyassar says "He alone deserves worship", al-Safi "proof against those who equate others with Him", and al-Mizan makes it a preface to the argument for His oneness.

Between praise and thanks

And [remember] when your Lord proclaimed, 'If you are grateful, I will surely increase you [in favor]; but if you deny, indeed, My punishment is severe.' "

(Ibrahim 14:7)

Al-Muyassar: Moses said to them: remember when your Lord announced emphatically — if you thank Him for His blessings He will increase you from His bounty, and if you deny God's blessing He will punish you severely. Al-Safi relays from al-Sadiq: God never blesses a servant with a blessing, small or great, and he says "praise be to God", but he has given its thanks; and in another report: and the praise was better than that blessing; and, at Al-Baqarah 152, from al-Sajjad: whoever says "praise be to God" has given thanks for all God's blessings. Al-Mizan: thanks is showing a blessing in belief, word and deed.

Where they agree

All three agree that thanks is given for a blessing.

Where they differ

They differ on how the two relate: al-Muyassar, at Al-Fatihah, makes praise cover both God's attributes and His blessings; al-Safi relays that saying "praise be to God" over a blessing gives its thanks; al-Mizan makes praise the praise of a beautiful act done by choice, and thanks the showing of a blessing in belief, word and deed.

What the verses do not say

• They do not define praise in their own words; the commentators define it.
• They do not confine praise to any one blessing.
• They do not treat praise and thanks as one word everywhere, nor draw an explicit line between them.

Counted on the mushaf

• Al-hamd, with the definite article: 28 times in 27 verses across 21 surahs.
• "Praise is due to Allah": in 23 verses, two of them with "and".
• "Praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds": four times, Al-Fatihah 2, Yunus 10, Az-Zumar 75 and Ghafir 65, and twice with "and", Al-An'am 45 and As-Saffat 182.
• Surahs that open with it: five — Al-Fatihah, Al-An'am, Al-Kahf, Saba and Fatir.

Sources

• al-Tafsir al-Muyassar — King Fahd Complex for the Printing of the Holy Quran.
• Tafsir al-Safi — al-Fayd al-Kashani.
• al-Mizan fi Tafsir al-Quran — al-Sayyid Muhammad Husayn al-Tabataba'i.

Read:

• Verses about gratitude in the Quran, with the commentaries
• What is the difference between ar-Rahman and ar-Rahim?
• Surah Al-Fatihah: what the seven verses actually say