Al-hamd lillah (praise belongs to God)

The phrase "praise belongs to God" opens the Fatiha. Sha'rawi holds that praise covers God's essence, attributes, favours, method and decree, and that God taught His servants praise in two words so that the learned and the unlettered stand equal in it. ^{1 2}

Sha'rawi lists the favours that precede human existence: the sun, rain, air, the earth, the alternation of night and day, and the subjection of the cosmos to humans. He argues that no one creates these or can, and so one praises God for them. ^{2 6 3}

Sha'rawi holds that praise first passes through reason to grasp the meaning of favours, then settles in the heart, then moves the limbs so the believer stands in thanks. He lists everyday acts that call for praise: sleep and waking, food, transport, work and family. ^{4 7}

Sha'rawi says praise is owed even for what one dislikes, because God knows what is better for the person, and what he dislikes may be the good itself. ⁵

This is Sha'rawi's reading and is attributed to him. The scan gives no other view on the sense of praise or on how it differs from thanks, and none has been checked. The edition is unverified.