Alhamdulillah

Alhamdulillah
Arabicٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّٰهِ
Romanizational-Ḥamdu lillāh
Literal meaning"praise be to God"

Alhamdulillah (Arabic: الحمد لله, al-Ḥamdu lillāh) is an Arabic phrase meaning "praise be to God", sometimes translated as "thank God", "praise be to Allah" or "thanks be to the Lord". This phrase is called Tahmid (Arabic: تَحْمِيد, lit. 'Praising'). A longer variant of the phrase is al-ḥamdu l-illāhi rabbi l-ʿālamīn (ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّٰهِ رَبِّ ٱلْعَالَمِينَ), 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 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", an adaptation of the Hebrew word found in the Jewish Book of Psalms.

Origins

The phrase "al-ḥamdu li-llāh" is believed to be an Arabization of the Greek phrase, "glory to God" (δόξα τῷ θεῷ), mediated through the Syriac expression "praise be to God" (teshbuhtâ l-alâhâ).

Meaning

Alhamdulillah written in Sini-Arabic script on an incense box, Qing Dynasty, 19th century, China. Adilnor Collection, Sweden.

The phrase has three basic parts:

The phrase is first found in the first verse of the first Surah of the Quran (Al-Fatiha). So frequently do Muslims and Arabic-speaking Jews and Christians invoke this phrase that the quadriliteral verb hamdala (Arabic: حَمْدَلَ), "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 (Arabic: ح م د), meaning "praise", can also be found in the names Muhammad, Mahmud, Hamid, and Ahmad, among others.

Translation

English translations of alhamdulillah include:

Variants

Various Islamic phrases include the Tahmid, most commonly:

Arabic
Classical Arabic		Transliteration
IPA		Phrase
ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّٰهِʾalḥamdu lillāhi
/ʔal.ħam.du lil.laː.hi/		All praise is due to God.
ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّٰهِ رَبِّ ٱلْعَالَمِينَʾalḥamdu lillāhi rabbi l-ʿālamīna
/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-ḥamdihī
/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-ḥamdihī
/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-ḥamdihī
/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.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Oil found in Gambia, West African nation". The Day. New London, Connecticut. 18 February 2004.
  2. ↑ Know, Vic Lang'at Junior in Did You (2020-01-17). "What is the Meaning of Alhamdulilah?". WorldAtlas. Retrieved 2026-04-06.
  3. ↑ "alhamdulillah". Lexico. Archived from the original on February 27, 2020. Retrieved 2021-10-16.
  4. ↑ P. Bearman; Th. Bianquis; C. E. Bosworth; E. van Donzel; W. P. Heinrichs, eds. (2012). "taḥmīd". Encyclopaedia of Islam, Glossary and Index of Terms (2nd ed.). Brill. doi:10.1163/1573-3912_ei2glos_SIM_gi_04657.
  5. ↑ Taghavi, Hadi; Heidari, Alireza (2025-07-03). "The Aḥmad Enigma: Unveiling Qur'anic and Matthean Scriptural Engagements". Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations. 36 (3): 278–279. doi:10.1080/09596410.2025.2592172. ISSN 0959-6410.
  6. ↑ பாகவி, ஆ கா அப்துல் ஹமீது (3 March 2016). Tarjamathul qur'aan bialthafil bayan [ar] (in Tamil). chennai: Darul huda. pp. 1-294-47-122-111.
  7. ↑ "The Quranic Arabic Corpus – Quran Dictionary".
  8. ↑ "Ayah al-Fatihah (The Opening) 1:2".
  9. ↑ "Tasbih, Tahmid, Tahlil, and Takbir". My Islam. Retrieved 2026-09-24.

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