There is little of significance in this interpretation. It does not indicate that praise is a cause of blessings or brings them about (1), but only that it accompanies them and coincides with them by chance. It is well known that blessings coincide with incidental circumstances that do not cause them to occur. Thus, there is no connection linking this hadith to those blessings; there is merely a meeting or coincidence, a notion broad enough to encompass both chance and causation.

Likewise, they explain “repays His further bounty” as meaning that it is equal to His further bounty and fulfils the gratitude due for the additional blessings and kindness Allah has bestowed (2).

This admits both a sound meaning and an unsound one.

If what is meant is that praising Allah, extolling Him, and remembering Him are nobler and better than the blessings He has bestowed upon His servant—provision, well-being, health, and worldly ease—then this is true. It is supported by the Prophet’s ﷺ words:

“Whenever Allah bestows a blessing upon a servant and he says, ‘All praise belongs to Allah,’ what he is given is better than what he received.”

Narrated by Ibn Mājah (3). For the servant’s praise of the Bestower of blessings (4) is itself another blessing, better and more beneficial to him, and yielding a greater (5) return than the immediate blessing. For the greatest