Fatwa fi Sighat al-Hamd
- Author died
- 751 AH
- Editions
- Dār ʿAṭāʾāt al-ʿIlm
Fatwa fi Sighat al-Hamd (Legal Responsum on the Formula of Praise) is a short treatise by the Hanbali scholar Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya (691–751 AH / 1292–1350 CE) addressing the authenticity and theological validity of a widely circulated supplication of praise .
Occasion and Context
The work originated as a formal legal response (fatwa) to an inquiry concerning a dispute between two men over the supplication: "Praise be to God, a praise that meets His blessings and matches His abundance" (الحمد لله حمدًا يوافي نعمه ويكافئ مزيده) . One disputant challenged the phrase by citing the Quranic verse وَإِنْ تَعُدُّوا نِعْمَةَ اللَّهِ لا تُحْصُوهَا (And if you should count the favor of Allah, you could not enumerate them) and the Prophetic supplication لَا أُحْصِي ثَنَاءً عَلَيْكَ أَنْتَ كَمَا أَثْنَيْتَ عَلَى نَفْسِكَ (I cannot enumerate Your praise; You are as You have praised Yourself), prompting the other party to react abusively . The questioner asked Ibn al-Qayyim to clarify the authenticity of the report attributed to the prophet Adam, determine which of the two men was correct, and elaborate on the matter .
Content and Arguments
Ibn al-Qayyim opens by declaring that the narration does not appear in Sahih al-Bukhari or Sahih Muslim, is absent from authoritative hadith collections, and possesses no known chain of transmission (isnad) . It is related only from Abu Nasr al-Tammar from Adam, which involves an immense chronological rupture; Ibn al-Qayyim notes that even had Abu Nasr narrated it directly from the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, the report would be unacceptable due to broken transmission (inqita'), making a direct report from Adam even less credible .
The author also refutes the juridical position adopted by some scholars—notably within the Shafi'i tradition—who held that if someone takes an oath to praise God with the most comprehensive praise (majam' al-hamd), they fulfill their oath by reciting this specific phrase . Ibn al-Qayyim critiques this deduction on theological and linguistic grounds:
- Impossibility of matching divine favor: Human gratitude cannot fully repay or equal (yukafi') divine bounty, as the ability to praise God is itself an additional blessing that demands further gratitude . Citing his teacher Ibn Taymiyyah, he emphasizes that created beings can reciprocate the favors of other creatures, but no creature can ever reciprocate or equal God's favors .
- Superiority of revealed formulas: The phrase is entirely absent from the Quran and authentic Prophetic traditions . Ibn al-Qayyim compiles the authentic invocations of praise established in revelation, including the opening of the Quran, the phrases used in sermons (khutbah), the opening of matters, and daily routines such as concluding meals, dressing, and waking . He argues that had this unverified formula been the most comprehensive, the Prophet ﷺ would not have omitted it in favor of other supplications .
Later scholars, including al-Saffarini, abridged and cited Ibn al-Qayyim's critique in their own works when discussing formulas of praise .
Manuscripts and Publication
The original manuscript copies left the treatise untitled, as was common with short legal answers . Surviving manuscript witnesses include:
- A partial copy preserving the first half of the text, held in Leiden (with a microfilm copy at the King Faisal Center, collection no. 11740 b, dated to the 8th century AH) .
- A complete manuscript in the Saudi Library at Dar al-Ifta in Riyadh (no. 672/86, 13 pages, copied in 1338 AH) .
The text has been published under varying editorial titles:
- Edited by Fahd ibn Abd al-Aziz al-Askar under the title Matali' al-Sa'd bi-Kashf Mawaqi' al-Hamd (Riyadh: Dar Ibn Khuzaymah, 1414 AH / 1993 CE) .
- Edited by Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Sa'ran under the title Jawab fi Sighat al-Hamd (Riyadh: Dar al-Asimah, 1415 AH / 1994 CE) .
- Edited by Abd Allah ibn Salim al-Batati under the title Fatwa fi Sighat al-Hamd (Mecca: Dar Alam al-Fawa'id, 1425 AH), as part of the Athar al-Imam Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya project supervised by Bakr Abu Zayd .
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