Alhamdulillāh
All Praise is for God, The Lord of all creation
This is a random Friday post-Fajr musing I began writing this morning. However I won’t publish it straight away as I must actually not procrastinate from morning routines. So bakhoor (inscence) fumigating, coffee in the filter and I have two hours to leave the house for work. I’ll be back…
Right, ok where did I intend to take this piece. Aha — I remember. Aha! You used an em dash. Gotcha you AI addict. Erm no, I’ve always used these before they became cool. I’m also testing this Substack AI detector. I do use AI not going to lie, and it’s one of the best things to assist me with programming in my work.
Anyway, I digressed. So far this year I’ve not been abroad but I’ve felt I’ve done quite a lot of drop and pick-offs to Manchester Airport. Often these trips come with a standard routine which I do often enjoy. Despite the number of times I may have forgotten to pay the airport parking fees, they have had negligible effect on the experiences. An inspiration for this piece is from my weekly readings of Tafsir Hawl al Fātihah by the late great Shaykh Abdullah Siraj ul Dīn al Husaynī. I won’t go into his biography but you can read more about this great scholar of Aleppo, Syria. These readings we do as a small group with my teacher and friend, Shaykh Zāqir every week on a Sunday morning. It’s light reading, companionship with someone much more knowledgable than myself and to be fair I just enjoy it. I try to treat all of my readings and studies as book clubs and it’s a great way to share ideas, debate and encourage each other to commit to a life long of reading and studying. I must add too, that any work of Shaykh Abdullah Sirāj ul Dīn — May Allah have mercy upon him and sanctify his soul — have a very deep meaning but easy to read style and he connects all of his points to ahadīth so I find reading his works is a great way to connect and spend time with the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him.
Now, this specific work we’ve been reading has been ongoing for 30 plus weeks now. We’ve read about 60 pages if we exclude the muqadimāt (introductions) which has covered the meaning of the ta’awudh (protection litany) and the Basmala (In the name of Allah) and now we’re and are still covering the Hamdala (Praise be to God) phrase.
So going back to the airport trip routine. I usually set off earlier to make sure I’m not in a rush and this also gives me time to do the routine. First stop whilst waiting for someone to land is to go to Didsbury Mosque to either pray if it’s time or to read Qur’ān and relax for a while rather than be sat in motorway traffic had I left later and then rushing to find parking at the airport. If I’m rushed, I’ve realised there is a high probability that I will forget to pay the airport charge and then have an enforcement letter to pay the £60 fine. So getting to Didsbury early which is around 15 mins from the airport gives me plenty of time to ensure I’m not rushing or getting caught in traffic. Sometimes at the masjid you meet someone and start a conversation and on occasions I have messaged friends who may be around to catch up for coffee.
After the masjid stop, if the weather is nice in Manchester — those who know will know most of the time it rains — but even then I have my brolly (umbrella) and usually I’m prepared for the Great British weather to then walk just less than a mile down to Barlow Moor Road to Didsbury Village Bookshop off the corner of Grenfell Road. T’is a beautiful place. A bookshop of secondhand books with a great collection from Greek classics, military books, to penguin classics, Oxford Concise and language books. This year my favourite section has been economics, policy and sociology. And within this section I’ve found old government policy books related to topics about youth employment schemes, The Lucas Plan, Neighbourhood schemes, Urban planning laws of Manchester, Leeds and Huddersfield along with lots of Keynesian economic philosophy papers and essays during Lord Maynard Keynes’ time in office and how they funded World War 2. It’s Aladdins cave in Didsbury if you love books. And usually these books are around two to four pounds (sterling currency for our pond side friends not weight). So much value.
After the book jaunt I will buy some flowers from the local flower shops. The two I would recommend is The Flower Lounge or Flourish. The flowers are for family and whoever is arriving — a diplomatic way to justify book spending. Then off to the airport.
If it’s departures i.e. dropping off, then I’d do the routine in the reverse order unless I need to be somewhere urgent.
So what has the above got to do with the phrase, Alhamdulillāh?
One thing that has become prevalent is this phrase. Muslims say it verbosely and confidently which is good. As well as it being commonly known as an “Islamic” phrase in the English vernacular. Translated as All Praise is to Allah.
Many just say it and move on. But Shaykh Abdullah has spent about 30 pages so far explaining everything about the meaning, its gravity, its usages and manifestation in the cosmos and creation. A phrase so light but insurmountable in reward with so much light.
Shaykh Abdullah mentions that God praises Himself because he encompasses all and absolute perfection. Everything belongs to Him by His absolute right. A phrase often used for all situations. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him demonstrated this through his actions of saying the Hamdala (Praise) after eating and drinking. On this occasion, I say it on this mundane piece about a routine as I have no FOMO for not going on abroad holidays - years of much frequent travelling has been done. And right now, holiday destinations aren’t a priority.
All Praise belongs to God, for from my latest airport pick-up our friends brought for us some popular Pakistani biscuits worth two quid altogether and a few kilos of of mangoes, that were only less than 72 hours ago sitting on a cart in the dusty roads of Sheikhupura, Punjab.
The Prophet Muhammad’s name, peace and blessings be upon him, is a morphology of Hamd in that the Prophet is praised abundantly. He will have the flag of praise on the Day of Resurrection and he will take the station of praise, and be inspired by Our Lord to praise Him in forms of beautiful glorification the The Prophet does not know. And we will witness this. And many sections of the book show the deep love Shaykh Abdullah has for The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him.
It’s Friday, the Jumm’ah, the Day of Eid of the week. Send abundant praise upon The Messenger of Allah, His Beloved:
