Just Say Al-Hamdu Lillah!
With Subhaanallah Thrown in for Good Measure!
Dr. Pasha
(Bringing Islam to the World One Concept at a Time!
Taking the Qur'an to Every Home and Heart that Needs It --
And which One Does Not?)
Sometimes when people ask the routine question "How Are You?" you don't know what to say. For a few fleeting microseconds that is.
Then sanity begins to kick in.
What does a slave say, you ask yourself, when one of Master's Appointed Agents approaches you and demands to know how you thought The Master was running his Plantation Earth, especially your part of it – the part on which you were not only supposed to be working, but one which you were actually supposed to help run and manage?
So, what do you say?
It is a trap, you realize: a test, from The Master himself. But not quite in time.
Late, always late. By a fraction of a nanosecond late.
Not good enough for you – as a slave.
Your human instinct, and the urge of your situation, implore that you launch into an elaborate cataloging of all your woes, all your hardships and all your challenges for that day, for that moment.
A thorough review and critique, as it were, of how you thought The Master was running his Plantation.
But then you catch yourself. Just in time. But not soon enough.
Alhamdulillah, you say.
Alhamdulillah is the word, you say.
And then you hear the Universe echo it back: Alhamdulillah!
You sense the universe reverberate with the sound, sight and glory of Alhamdulillah!
And Subhaanallah!
The grass half asleep on the ground echoes it. The winds rushing past you in every direction echo it. The birds chirping on the trees sing it. The stars twinkling up in the sky flash it.
They all nod their invisible heads and say: Alhamdulillah!
Just the way the Qur’an says:
Wa Lahul Hamdu Fis-Samaawaati wal Ard!
Alhamdulillah in the High Heavens and Alhamdulillah on lowly Planet Earth.
And it is so AM and PM. and during all that span of time that lies in between: Alhamdulillah – nonstop!
And Subhaanallah! – nonstop!
Heena Tumsoona wa Heena Tusbihoon!
Wa 'Ashiyyan wa Heena Tuzhiroon!
And then you hear the voice: ever so gentle, ever so inaudible, and yet ever so clear and distinct and overpowering.
"What took you so long?" the voice asks.
You are caught. Once again. You are trapped. Not saying the right thing at the right time.
Fast enough, soon enough!
Then you fumble out the answer. Not to anyone in particular. More to yourself than to anyone else. Maybe to that voice you thought you heard.
You blurt out:
"Not programmed to say it right, to say it in time!
Not designed to do the right thing!"
The Qur'an comes to the rescue. All of a sudden. And out of nowhere.
As the Qur'an always does.
As the Qur'an always comes to the rescue of those who love it; those who keep reading and reciting it; and those who keep pondering it, come what may: rain, thunder, lightning or earthquake.
Says the Qur'an – what you should have said in the first place:
"I am sorry, I forgot!"
Hear the Qur'an say it:
Fa-Nasiyy!
Paraphrase I:
"Adam forgot!"
Paraphrase II:
"Human DNA – Human Genome: To Forget!"
Here is the fuller story:
Wa Laqad 'A-hidnaa Ilaa Adama,
Fa-Nasiyy!
Paraphrase:
"We told Adam what to do, he said he would do it,
But then he forgot!"
Qur'an goes on:
Wa Lam Najid Lahu 'Azmaa!
Paraphrase I:
"Not programmed to do the right thing, to say the right thing."
Paraphrase II:
"No backbone!"
Paraphrase III:
"Weak, wobbly -- fickle!"
Paraphrase IV:
"What an undependable fellow Adam!"
And the Qur'an makes it even more clear. It says elsewhere:
Khuliqal Insaanu Da-'eefaa!
Paraphrase I:
"Weak from Day One!"
Paraphrase II:
"Weak by design."
Paraphrase III:
"That is how you were meant to be: weak and unpredictable!"
Paraphrase IV:
"Humans, created to be weak!"
Alhamdulillah, you say.
Subhaanallah, you say.
There is nothing else to say, you realize. Nothing more, nothing less.
And nothing else to do.
Alhamdulillah in the beginning, Alhamdulillah in the end.
Lahu Alhamdu Fil Oolaa wal Aakhirah!
That is how the Qur'an puts it.
And that is what you were told to say:
Wa Qul Alhmadulillah!
Paraphrase:
"Just say 'Alhamdulillah!'"
And that you realize is the end of the story:
Wa Qeela Alhmadu Lillahi Rabbil 'Aalameen!
And that is the last thing you should be saying any way – the last claim, the very last assertion and statement of any kind you should be making:
Aakhiru Da'waahum An Alhamdulillahi Rabbil 'Aalameen!
Alhamdulillah, you say.
Subhaanallah, you say.
And it is all over!
END
