الْحَمْدُ للّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ

2. All praise and gratitude⁶ (whoever gives these to whomever for whatever reason and in whatever way from the first day of creation until eternity) are for God, the Lord⁷ of the worlds,⁸

6. As one must understand Qur’ānic concepts in order to understand the Qur’ān, we give a brief explanation. The Arabic word translated as “praise and gratitude” is hamd. It encompasses both meanings and carries other connotations as well. We give praise on account of some particular praiseworthy achievements or qualities; we feel gratitude for some particular good done. But in relation to God, hamd affirms that God is eternally worthy of praise and gratitude because He is God eternally, eternally Merciful and the Lord of all creation. Whether His favors are recognized as such by His creatures or not, He must still be praised and thanked. Thanking is required by loyalty to God because of His favors, while praise is required by being a sincere servant aware of Who God is and what servanthood means.

It should be noted that all praise and thanks are due to God alone, and are His alone. Wherever beauty, excellence and perfection occur, the ultimate source is God. No created beings, whether angels or humans, heavenly or earthly objects, have anything other than a dependent excellence, beauty or perfection. Where these qualities occur, they are, in reality, simply favors from God. Thus, if there is one to Whom we should feel indebted and grateful, it is the Creator of everything, Who is in reality the Creator of that to which we respond with praise and gratitude, and not its apparent possessor.

When we say “All praise and gratitude is for God,” we also mean that it is God in Whom we seek refuge when we are in danger, to Whom we pray for help when we are in difficulty or in need, and Whom alone we adore and worship.

7. The word “Lord” is used to translate Rabb. It has three sets of related meanings: (i) Upbringer, Trainer, Sustainer, Nourisher; (ii) Lord and Master; (iii) He Who directs and controls.

God’s being Rabb means that every being (and every part of every being) – from elements or inanimate objects to plants, animals and humanity, and all other beings in other worlds – is raised, sustained, directed and controlled by Him until it achieves its particular perfection, the purpose of its creation. This means that what we commonly call the “natural laws” are, in reality, designations or descriptions for God’s exercise of His Lordship, of His being Rabb. A complementary kind of God’s bringing up or training of humanity is His sending Prophets and religions. It follows that, in affirming God as the sole Upbringer, Trainer, Sustainer, Nourisher, Lord and Master of all beings (at-tawhīd ar-Rubūbiyah), we affirm another dimension of faith in God’s Oneness and Unity.

8. “Worlds” translates the Arabic ‘ālamīn (singular, ‘ālam). The word comes from ‘alam, ‘alāmah, meaning something by which another thing is known. Thus, in this perspective, every individual thing or set of things, from the tiniest sub-atomic particles to the largest nebulae and galaxies, is a “world” and indicates God. The plural form (‘ālamīn) is particularly used for conscious beings, giving the sense that everything that is created is as if conscious, and signifying that its pointing to God’s Existence, Unity and Lordship is extremely clear for conscious beings.

From another perspective, the “worlds” are classified as Lāhūt (the High Empyrean: the pure, immaterial world of pure Divine Realities), Jabarūt (another of the immaterial worlds where Divine realities are manifested in their pure, immaterial forms), Malakūt (the world of the pure inner dimension of existence), Mithāl (the world of the symbols or ideal, immaterial forms of things) and Shahādah (the corporeal world, including the visible world and the firmaments.) These worlds should be thought of as dimensions rather than distinct locations: the Divine truths or realities manifested in material forms in this world are manifested in other worlds in the forms peculiar to each.

The “worlds” are also classified as the world of spirits, this world, the immaterial world between this and the next (al-‘Ālam al-Barzakh), and the eternal world of the Hereafter.

The “worlds” may also be taken to refer to different domains or “kingdoms” within this earthly world, or other worlds beyond this earth.