A servant of Allah should never tire of thanking and praising Him, incessantly and
unhesitatingly. In a supplications by the Messenger of Allah, he says, "Lord! I am incapable
of praising You enough; You are as You have praised Yourself." Praising Allah and thanking
Him as He really deserves is not within the human capacity. A servant of Allah, therefore,
must leave it to the One Who can do so: Allah, Praise is due to Him, and ONLY to Him. How
can man acquire perfection in such an area while he contemplates upon some blessings
bestowed upon him by Allah and says to himself: "I was mere naught and Allah caused me to
be, then He granted me the beautiful outward appearance, and the power of reason which is
the very best of my inner qualities, then He granted me hearing and vision and guided me to
know Him, then He made His great rewards attainable and even praised me in his Great
Book"? If you move your tongue and say: Alamdu-lillh (Praise to Allah), thinking that mere
saying so is sufficient to express gratitude for all the great favours He has bestowed upon you,
then you surely have taken leave of absence from your sanity, for you surely will not have
thanked Him at all. "Talk is cheap," says an axiom, whereas "actions speak louder than
words." Express your gratitude towards your Maker by actions, not only by words. A
servant's true expression of gratitude is his own admission that he simply is incapable of
sufficiently express his gratitude to His Maker, Sustainer, and Benefactor.
Jabir ibn Abdullah al-Ansari has quoted the Messenger of Allah saying, "If one is given
something while being capable of finding a way to likewise give, let him do so, but if he is
not, then let him praise the giver, for one who remains silent and says nothing commits kufr,
apostasy. And if one were to put on clothes which he was not given, he would then be like
one who wears two outfits of forgery." [7]
- "Al-`Aliyy"
Allah has said, "... what they call upon besides Him is falsehood; Allah is the High, the
Great" (Qura'n, 22:61).
"Al-Aliyy" is one of Allah's Attributes, and it is derived from uluww, height, sublimity, or loftiness versus lowliness. The height referred to here is that of status. Al-Aliyy is High, so
High that He can never be conceived nor visualized. Minds are at a loss regarding His
Greatness; intellects are incapable of conceiving His perfection. According to Al-Mufradat,
one who is `aliyy is a prominent person, a man of distinction. When applied to the Almighty,
as in 22:61 cited above, the implied meaning is that He is above being described by anyone or
truly known by anyone, and He is above what anyone says about Him.
He is the One above Whose status there is none at all, and everything in existence is under
His control. Allah has said, "He is the Most High, the Great" (Qura'n, 2:255), "... judgment
belongs to Allah, the High, the Great" (Qura'n, 40:12), and, "... the Great, the Most
High" (Qura'n, 13:9).