ALL PRAISE IS DUE TO GOD

Discovering God’s greatness in the signs visible everywhere, one is compelled to say: ‘All praise and thankfulness is due to God, the Lord of the Worlds.’

One of the essential teachings of Islam is that on receiving anything, we should be grateful to God in acknowledgement of His bounty and utter these words ‘All praise and thankfulness is due to God, the Lord of the Worlds.’ Praise of God, in its true spirit, is the essence of the Quran. After accepting Islam, a believer’s inmost feelings find expression in these words of praise.

Man’s existence is a blessing from God. Man’s extremely balanced body is a blessing from God. The entire world created so favourably for man is a blessing from God.

When this reality dawns on man, and he realizes God’s immeasurable blessings upon him, his soul is filled with gratefulness to God. His greatness overawes his heart and mind. At that moment, words of acknowledgement of God—’Praise be to God, Lord of the Worlds’ spontaneously come to his lips.

God is All-Powerful. God is the Giver, man is the taker. The only thing man can offer Him is acknowledge His blessings. The moment of man’s greatest worship of God is when God’s glory and greatness pervade his soul; when he recognizes God’s divinity as compared to man’s servitude; when, in full awareness of his helplessness, he comes to acknowledge God’s bounties in the true sense of the word.

When man discovers God with all His attributes, his soul lies prostrate before Him. His whole being turns towards God. The feelings inspired in him by God’s bounties surge within him like ocean waves. When all these feelings find verbal form, they are called praise and gratefulness to God.

God is the greatest Being, yet in the universe, God remains invisible. But His supreme glory is visible in His creation. Therefore, the realisation of God can be attained through discovering His greatness in the signs visible everywhere. This realisation finds expression in words such as ‘praise be to God—Lord of the worlds’.