Alhamdulillah


Alhamdulillah is an Arabic phrase meaning "praise be to God", sometimes translated as "thank God" or "thanks be to the Lord". This phrase is called Tahmid. A longer variant of the phrase is al-ḥamdu l-illāhi rabbi l-ʿālamīn, meaning "all praise is due to God, Lord of all the universes", the first verse of Surah Al-Fatiha, the opening chapter of the Quran.
The phrase is frequently used by Muslims of every background due to its centrality in the texts of the Quran and Hadith, the words of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Its meaning and in-depth explanation have been the subject of much exegesis. It is also commonly used by non-Muslim speakers of the Arabic language.
A similar variation used in Christianity is the phrase "Hallelujah".

Meaning

The phrase has three basic parts:
  • al-, the definite article, "the".
  • ḥamd, literally meaning "praise", "commendation".
  • li-llāh, preposition + noun Allāh. Li- is a dative preposition meaning "to". The word Allāh is the proper name of the God of Abraham. "Al ilah" means "The God", and it is a combination of the definite article al- and the word ʾilāh. As in English, the article is used here to single out the noun as being the only one of its kind, "the God" or "God". Therefore, Allāh is the Arabic word for "God". ʾilāh is the Arabic cognate of the ancient Semitic name for God, El.
The phrase is first found in the first verse of the first sura of the Qur'an. So frequently do Muslims and Arabic-speaking Jews and Christians invoke this phrase that the quadriliteral verb hamdala, "to say al-ḥamdu li-llāh" was coined, and the derived noun ḥamdala is used as a name for this phrase.
The triconsonantal root Ḥ-M-D, meaning "praise", can also be found in the names Muhammad, Mahmud, Hamid and Ahmad, among others.

Translation

English translations of alhamdulillah include:
  • "all praise is due to God alone"
  • "all the praises and thanks be to God"
  • "praise be to God"
  • "all praise is due to God"

    Variants

Various Islamic phrases include the Tahmid, most commonly:
Arabic
Qurʾanic Spelling		Transliteration
IPA		Phrase
ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّٰهِʾalḥamdu lillāh
/ʔal.ħam.du lil.laː.hi/		All praise is due to God.
ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّٰهِ رَبِّ ٱلْعَالَمِينَʾalḥamdu lillāhi rabbi l-ʿālamīn
/ʔal.ħam.du lil.laː.hi rab.bi‿l.ʕaː.la.miː.na/		All praise is due to God, Lord of all the universes.
سُبْحَانَ ٱللَّٰهِ وَبِحَمْدِهِsubḥāna -llāhi wa-bi-ḥamdih
/sub.ħaː.na‿ɫ.ɫaː.hi wa.bi.ħam.di.hiː/		Glorified is God and by His praise.
سُبْحَانَ رَبِّيَ ٱلْعَظِيمِ وَبِحَمْدِهِsubḥāna rabbiya l-ʿaẓīmi wa-bi-ḥamdih
/sub.ħaː.na rab.bi.ja‿l.ʕa.ðˤiː.mi wa.bi.ħam.di.hiː/		Glorified is my Lord, the Great, and by His praise.
سُبْحَانَ رَبِّيَ ٱلْأَعْلَىٰ وَبِحَمْدِهِsubḥāna rabbiya l-ʾaʿlā wa-bi-ḥamdih
/sub.ħaː.na rab.bi.ja‿l.ʔaʕ.laː wa.bi.ħam.di.hiː/		Glorified is my Lord, the Most High, and by His praise.