Page 146 - Pure Life 08

170 / ( PURE LIFE, Vol.3.No.8, (Jumada al-Thani 1438. Isfand 1395. March. 2017)

therefore, be rendered as 'the All-merciful', and
raḥīm, on the other hand, is taken to include as
objects the believer in particular, may be rendered
as 'the Gracious'. And no need to add the word 'All',
1
because the rahim has not that intensive meaning.
2. All Praise belongs to Allah, the Lord of
all the Worlds
The verse has three basic parts:
Al-hamdu (Al -the definite article, 'the'; Ḥamdu-
2
Meaning praise, commendation ), Li-llāhi
(preposition + noun. Li is a preposition means for,
belonging to, etc.; Allah – Meaning God) and
Rabbi’l ālamin (Rabb means Lord. Ālamin_ Plural
form of ālam which means world.)
The Arabic definite article Al may be used to
encompass all the individuals of a genus. For
example, al-asad can be used to mean 'all lions'.
This function is called istighraq.
One is encouraged to use caution when
employing this form of Al- as it may be confused
with its other meanings. The most well-known use
of Al- in this meaning occurs twice in this verse 1:3:
3
All praise is due to Allah, lord of all the worlds.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basmala.
2. Wehr and Cowan.1976.
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_definite_article.