Hence, the only One truly worthy of worship is Allah.
The phrase “alone, without partner” is added for emphasis, confirming His absolute oneness—glorified and exalted is He—and that no one shares with Him in His divinity. “To Him belongs the dominion and to Him belongs all praise, and He is capable of everything.” Dominion here refers to an unrestricted, universal, and all-embracing sovereignty: the sovereignty of the heavens, the earth, and whatever lies between them; over humankind, animals, trees, seas, rivers, the angels, the sun, and the moon. All of this—both what we know and what we do not know—belongs to Allah. The entire kingdom is His, and He disposes of it as He wills, in accordance with His wisdom, exalted be He.
“And to Him belongs all praise” means that He possesses perfect and absolute excellence in every circumstance. He, exalted is He, is praised at all times—during ease and during hardship. In times of ease a person praises his Lord with the praise of gratitude, whereas in hardship he praises his Lord with the praise of surrender and entrustment, for the harm a person experiences may conceal a hidden benefit that only Allah knows. Thus one praises Allah in every state. Whenever something pleased the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) he would say, “Praise be to Allah, by whose favor good deeds are perfected,” and when something displeased him he would say, “Praise be to Allah in every circumstance.”
As for the saying some people use—“Praise be to Allah who is not praised for anything disliked except Him”—this expression is erroneous; it is not reported in any text and its meaning is unsound. What should be said is, “Praise be to Allah in every circumstance.”
“O Allah, none can withhold what You give, and none can give what You withhold, and the fortune of the fortunate avails nothing against You.” This statement likewise expresses entrusting one’s affairs to Allah: whatever Allah grants, no one can prevent, and whatever He withholds, no one can bestow—hence, “and none can give what You withhold.” If we truly believe this, from whom shall we seek provision? From Allah alone. Believing that none can withhold what He gives and none can give what He withholds means we ask only Allah for bounty, and we know that if so-and-so were to give us something, the One who had decreed