You would be told: The reason is that of the allegorical verses (al-mutashābihāt): [^6] it is divine condescension to human intellects; making something familiar to the mind and inducing it to understand, like one speaks to a child in terms he is accustomed to and familiar with. The mass of the people gather their information from their senses and they do not look at sheer truths except in the mirror of what they imagine them to be and from the point of view of that to which they are accustomed. Moreover, the aim of the phrase is to convey the meaning, and this is not achieved except by affecting the heart and emotions, and by clothing the truth in a style familiar to the one addressed; in this way his heart is prepared to accept it.

[^6]:Meanings that cannot be applied literally to God Almighty, such as “the hand” in the verse, “The hand of Allah is over their hands.”(48:10) See, Nursi, İşârâtü’l-İ’caz [Abdülmecid], 26.

► 2 ◄

“[All] praise (al-Ḥamd)”

Its positioning as regards what precedes it

Since “the Most Merciful (al-Raḥmān)” and “the All-Compassionate (al-Raḥīm)” indicate the [divine] bounties and favours, they necessitate praise. Furthermore, “All praise be to Allah (al-ḥamduli’llāh)” is repeated in four suras in the Qur’an, [^7] each repetition referring to one of the principal bounties, which are the first creation and the continuation of it, and the last creation and its ensuing continuation.

[^7]:Suras al-An‘ām, al-Kahf, Sabā’, al-Fāṭir.

Its positioning here

[“All praise be to Allah (al-ḥamduli’llāh)”] being put at the opening of the Fātiḥa of the Qur’an is like putting the conception of the Qur’an’s ultimate purpose in the forefront of the brain, for praise is a concise form of worship, which is the result of creation, and of knowledge of Allah, which is the purpose and aim of the universe. So to mention praise is to conceive of the Qur’an’s ultimate purpose. Indeed, Allah (May He be exalted and glorified) says: “I created not the jinn and men except that they might worship.”(51:56)

Furthermore, there is the well-known meaning of praise: the display of the attributes of perfection.

How this is achieved: Allah created man and made him a comprehensive summary of the universe and an index of the book of the world, which comprises eighteen thousand worlds, and lodged in his essence a sample from each, in which is manifested one of His names. If man spends all of what is bestowed on him in the way of that for which he was created, for