the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—said: “Allah—mighty and majestic—has declared: ‘I have divided the Prayer between Me and My servant in two halves’—that is, Sūrat al-Fātiḥah. ‘When he says, “All praise is for Allah, Lord of all realms,” I say, “My servant has praised Me.” And when he says, “the All-Merciful, the Ever-Merciful,” I say, “My servant has extolled Me.”’ Thus praise (ḥamd) is distinct from commendation (thanāʾ).

The main point is that whoever unites tasbīḥ (declaring Allah’s transcendence) with ḥamd (praise) has combined affirming Allah’s perfection with denying any shortcoming of His.

As for His words, “and seek His forgiveness,” they mean: ask Him to pardon you. Forgiveness (maghfirah) entails overlooking the sin and concealing it; it joins the covering of the fault with absolution from it. The very root of the word points to this, for it is derived from mighfar, the helmet placed on the head in battle to protect it from arrows—it both shields and covers.

Concerning His words, “Indeed, He is ever Relenting,” we learn that Allah—Exalted is He—is abundantly Relenting, for tawwāb is an intensive form that indicates His frequent turning toward those who repent so that He may accept them.

Allah turns toward His servant with a repentance that precedes the servant’s own turning, and with another that follows it, as He Most High says: “Then He turned toward them so that they might repent” ⦗9:118⦘. The earlier turning is that Allah grants the servant the success to repent; the later turning is that He accepts that repentance once the servant has returned to Him.