in the abiding bliss. So to our Lord belongs all praise for all of that, firstly and lastly.

: 10. Upon Allah: 4. Abu Nasr Isma'il ibn Hammad al-Jawhari said:

Praise (Hamd) is the opposite of dispraise (Dham). You say: I praised (hamadtu) the man, I praise (ahmadu) him, a praise (hamdan) and a commendation (mahmadah), so he is praised (hamid) and commendable (mahmud). The term 'tahmid' is more intensive than 'hamd', and 'hamd' is more general than 'shukr' (gratitude). He said regarding 'shukr': It is the praise of a benefactor for the kindness he has bestowed. It is said: I thanked him (shakartuhu) and I thanked for him (shakartu lahu), and the use of the preposition 'lam' is more eloquent. As for 'madh' (extolment), it is more general than 'hamd' because it applies to the living, the dead, and even inanimate objects—as one praises food, a place, and so on. It also occurs before or after a favor, and applies to both transitive and inherent qualities; thus, it is more general.

27: 14. Knows (Ya'lam): 1. Ibn Kathir said: He said: The worlds (al-'alamin) consist of one thousand nations: six hundred in the sea and four hundred on land. Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib said something similar. This has also been narrated in a raised (marfu') form, as the Hafiz Abu Ya'la Ahmad ibn 'Ali ibn al-Muthanna said in his Musnad: Muhammad ibn al-Muthanna related to us, 'Ubayd ibn Waqid al-Laythi Abu 'Abbad related to us, Muhammad ibn 'Isa ibn Kaysan related to me, Muhammad ibn al-Munkadir related to us, on the authority of Jabir ibn 'Abd Allah, who said:

Locusts decreased in one of the years of 'Umar's caliphate, so he inquired about them but was informed of nothing. He became distressed by that, so he sent a rider to gallop to Yemen, another to Syria, and another to Iraq to ask whether any locusts had been seen or not. He said: The rider who came from the direction of Yemen arrived with a handful of locusts.