The word “Allah” denotes the One who alone possesses divinity and the right to be worshipped by every creature. No one else has ever borne this name—exalted is He. Even Pharaoh did not claim, “I am Allah”; he merely said, “I am your lord.” Thus the name is exclusive to Allah; no one bears it, nor would anyone dare to say, “I am Allah.”

“Rabb” (Lord) is an adjective attached to the divine name and appears in the genitive construction, while “al-ʿālamīn” (all the worlds) is the noun governed by that genitive and carries the yaʾ as the sign of its case because it follows the pattern of the sound masculine plural.

It is therefore evident that every form of praise and every expression of commendation belongs to Allah, the Lord of all worlds.

There is the world of the angels, the world of inanimate objects, the world of birds, of beasts of prey, of livestock, of insects and ants—countless worlds on land and sea that only Allah knows and only He can enumerate; Allah is the Lord of them all.

“Lord of all worlds” can be said of none but Allah—glorified and exalted. It is impossible for anyone else to be called “Lord of all worlds.”

Accordingly, when the term al-rabb (“the Lord”) is used without qualification, it refers exclusively to Allah, majestic and sublime. For a created being the term must be restricted, as in rabb al-dār (“master of the house”) or rabb al-bahīmah (“owner of the animal”), meaning its possessor and caretaker.