the examples of this is the Prophet’s saying, peace and blessings be upon him: “Indeed, Allah is pleased with a servant who eats a meal and praises Him for it, or drinks a drink and praises Him for it.” What kind of praise is this? It is praise for His bestowal.
Here, the author, may Allah have mercy on him, praises Allah for His bestowal. Regarding his words, “to Allah”: what do we say about the preposition “to”? We say that it conveys two meanings:
The first is exclusive attribution.
The second is entitlement.
As for the first meaning, Allah, Exalted is He, is uniquely entitled to perfect praise in every respect. Others besides Allah may be praised, but only with qualified praise and not in every circumstance. As for the Lord, Exalted is He, He is praised in every circumstance, because His attributes and His bestowal are perfect.
Likewise, it conveys entitlement: we single out the Lord, Exalted is He, for perfect praise because He deserves it and is worthy of it. As for the word Allah, it is said that it originally derives from ilah (deity), but, because of frequent usage, the initial hamzah was omitted for ease. They cite another example: al-nas (people), originally al-unas, from which the initial hamzah was omitted because of frequent usage. Thus, since Allah originally means ilah, it has an active form but a passive sense: an ilah is one who is worshipped, endeared, loved, and venerated. It does not mean one capable of bringing things into existence, as the speculative theologians have claimed, for they interpret ilah as “the one capable of originating.” This is a grave error. Rather, ilah means the one truly worthy of worship.
Regarding his words, “for His outward blessings”: the expression “His blessings” is a possessive construction with a singular noun, and thus encompasses all His religious and worldly blessings, both outward and inward.
Outward means that which is apparent to people.
Inward means that which is hidden from people. Allah’s blessings, Exalted is He, are innumerable. As the author says, they are outward and inward, just as Allah, Exalted is He, says: “And He has lavished upon you His blessings, outward and inward” [Luqman: 20]. Outward blessings are those visible to the eye and witnessed by people, whereas inward blessings are less evident than that.
Among the outward blessings are security, prosperity, strength, food, drink, and the like. Among the inward blessings are the blessings of religion, such as bringing about in the heart repentance to Allah, reliance upon Allah, sincerity, and the like. These are blessings that people do not know; none knows them except Allah, Exalted is He. These are the inward blessings.
His words, “formerly,” mean earlier, while “recently” means later. In his use of “recently” there is a felicitous opening, which is