Haza Min Fazle Rabbi

هذا من فضل ربّي is a very popular statement. Some of you must have seen this Qur’anic phrase beautifully printed as  wall hangers, photo frames, stickers etc. and sold in many Islamic bookshops. You may have seen it aesthetically fixed in some prominent place at a Muslim home. Or you have it hung at your home too!

Today let us try to understand what exactly this so popular Qur’anic phrase mean, Inshaa’Allah. 

هذا من فضل ربّي is found mentioned only once in the Qur’an. It comes in Surah al Naml.

When Allah blessed Prophet Sulayman alaihis salam with His choicest and exclusive blessings, this Prophet of gratefulness uttered this statement acknowledging the favours of His Lord upon him.

“And he (among the Jinn) who had some knowledge of the Book said: “I will bring it before the twinkling of your eye.” When he saw the throne placed firmly beside him, he (Sulayman) cried out: “This is by the grace of my Lord so that He may test me whether I give thanks for (His Bounty) or act with ingratitude. Whoever is grateful is so to his own good; and whoever is ungrateful, let him know that my Lord is Immensely Resourceful, Most Bountiful.” (Surah an-Naml 27: 40)

It is necessary to understand the background, briefly though.

Prophet Sulayman lived in Palestine. And Yemen that time was ruled by the Queen of Saba.  After the da’wah of this great Prophet of Allah to this Queen, and after the communication that followed, the Queen decided to meet Prophet Sulayman, alaihis salam.

When the Queen was on her way, Prophet Sulayman asked the Jinn in his employment as to who could bring this Queen’s throne before she arrives at his court. One Jinn said that he can bring it before he could get up from his place. The other Jinn said that he can bring the throne in split seconds, that is within the twinkling of Sulayman’s eye’! And so the throne was brought before him!

And upon seeing the throne which was brought in split seconds from a place (Yemen) that was 2000 miles away from Palestine, Sulayman alaihis salam said, “This is by the grace of my Lord so that He may test me whether I give thanks (for His bounty) or act ungratefully”. 

One of the amazing bounties Allah had bestowed upon the blessed Prophet Sulayman, alaihis salam, was that the Jinn were under his control and command. The fact that a throne was brought to him by the Jinn at such a supersonic speed was yet another bounty bestowed upon him by Almighty Allah.

The key Arabic word in هذا من فضل ربّي is فضل

The Dictionary of Qur’anic Usage lists five different meanings for the word فضل (fadhl):

1. Grace, favour 2. Bounty, gift  3. Benefit 4. Munificence, compassion, charity 5. Merit

هذا من فضل ربّي Haza Min Fadhli Rabbee can be translated as:

“This is from the blessings of my Lord”.

“This is by the favours of my Lord”.

“This is of the bounties of my Lord”

“This is from the grace of my Lord”.

“This is from the gifts of my Lord”

“This comes from the merits bestowed upon me by my Lord”

“This is by the munificence of my Lord’.

Now, a homework for you and me :)

Sit up, close your eyes, open your mind and heart and  Just recall the special gift and bounty which you think you enjoy in your life, and then say هذا من فضل ربّي Haza Min Fadhli Rabbee.

Recall the bounties, repeat the exercise. You will definitely feel the urge to show gratitude to Allah Subhanahu wa Ta’a’a for enjoying His bounties.

Okay, back to Prophet Sulayman, alaihis salam.

هذا من فضل ربّي is just half the statement as you can notice from the ayah mentioned above.

The full statement of Prophet Sulayman becomes very significant because he immediately realized what Allah wanted of him. In response to His bounties, is he grateful to Him or not? This is the crux of the matter!

Has this point ever occurred to our mind or heart at any time in our life?

With bounties and blessings, come responsibility!

Response to favours is gratefulness!

We enjoy countless blessings of Allah. Are we grateful unto Him?

1. Far from being grateful, we show our ungratefulness by talking about those things that are NOT found in us or among us!

Things we do have, we seldom talk about!

2. If you are grateful, remember it is only for your good.

One is not doing – nor can ever do – any favour to Allah by being grateful for His bounties. Allah is above all needs. We need Him, He doesn’t need us!

3. Kafara is the opposite of shakara. So it is Shukr Vs Kufr.

If we understand the value of being grateful to Allah, then we will not be unmindful of His bounties.

To express someone’s ingratitude to us, we sometimes use this idiom: ‘I taught him to swim and he drowned me!’

In this case, by not recognising your Creator, you are drowning yourself!

Ungratefulness leads to destruction!

4. Instead of recognising the Real Bestower, an atheist or a polytheist worships the WRONG, the IMAGINARY or the FALSE ‘god’/’gods’!

He breathes the air provided by Allah, and he bows before a tree! He eats from the fruits created by Allah, and worships the sun! He came out from the womb of his mother as per the design and pattern given to him by his  Creator, and worships the creations!

Why worship the creations? Why not worship the Creator?

Dear brothers/sisters, Haza Min Fazli Rabi is a humble and submissive statement which comes from the mouth or heart of those who acknowledge the grace and bounties of their Sustainer-Lord.

Shukr: Being Thankful to Allah is the essence of all ibaadah (worship, devotion and obedience)

I would like to conclude this post by referring this ayah of the glorious Qur’an.

If you hate kufr (unbelief), fisq (evil doing) and ‘isyaan (disobedience), then remember that it is only by the grace and bounty of Allah subhanahu wa Ta’aala. You hate them because it is made hatefulunto you! For this, you and I need to be ever thankful to Allah.

So having هذا من فضل ربّي decoratively written and pasted or hung at one’s home is not a problem. Not having the feeling of expressing gratitude in one’s heart is the problem!

May Allah bless us all with the Tawfeeq and Hidayah to understand and live by the Divine Guidance. Aameen.

May we all live up to the standard of هذا من فضل ربّي Aameen

Jazakallahu Khayra for reading this post of mine.

Haza min fazle rabbi