What does alhamdulillah mean?
Alhamdulillah means “praise be to God” or “thank God.” Arabic speakers say it when something goes well, when asked how they are, after a meal, after sneezing, and on hard days too.
Literally: al-ḥamd (the praise) + li-llāh (belongs to God) → "praise be to God"
الحمد لله
texted as el7amdilla
How it sounds across the Arab world
Tap to hear it in each dialect, with notes on how people there use it.
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PalestinianJerusalem, Nablus, Gaza, Jenin0:01الحمد للهil-HAM-dil-la texted as el7amdilla
Answers every “kifak?” Often squeezed to “hamdilla.”
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LebaneseBeirut, Tripoli, Saida0:01الحمد للهil-HAM-dil-la texted as el7amdella
“Il-hamdilla 'as-salame” welcomes anyone home from a trip.
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EgyptianCairo, Alexandria0:01الحمد للهil-HAM-du lil-LAH texted as el7amdulillah
Egyptians keep more of the vowels: il-hamdu lillah.
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GulfKuwait, the Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar0:01الحمد للهil-HAM-dil-lah texted as el7amdillah
The standard reply to “shlonak?”: “bkheir, il-hamdillah.”
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IraqiBaghdad, Basra, Mosul0:01الحمد للهil-HAM-dil-lah texted as el7amdillah
The standard answer to “shlonak?”, even on a bad day.
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Formal ArabicTextbooks, news, speechesالحمد للهal-HAM-du lil-LAAH texted as alhamdulillah
The opening words of al-Fatiha, the first chapter of the Quran, after the bismillah.
Same word across the Arab world. What changes is how freely people use it.
The story behind alhamdulillah
Al-hamdu lillah: the praise belongs to God. They are among the first words of the Quran, opening al-Fatiha, the chapter Muslims recite in every prayer, at least seventeen times a day across the five daily prayers. Words said that often get worn smooth, which is why the phrase slides so easily into ordinary talk.
Ask someone in Gaza how they are and you will very often hear il-hamdilla, whatever the day has held. The word carries acceptance: I'm alive, and the rest is in God's hands. Its fuller form, alhamdulillah 'ala kull hal, praise God in every situation, is said most often when things are at their worst.
It also marks small moments. Muslims say it after a sneeze, and the person beside them answers yarhamak Allah, God have mercy on you. It's said after a good meal, when a test result comes back clear, when the car starts on a cold morning. Arab Christians use it the same way, as everyday Arabic for thank God.
In a sentence
How people actually use it, dialect by dialect.
- Palestinianالحمد لله على السلامة، كيف كانت الطريق؟il-hamdilla 'as-salame, kif kanat it-tari'?Thank God you're back safe. How was the drive?
- Egyptianالحمد لله، نجحتil-hamdu lillah, nigihtThank God, I passed.
- Iraqiزين الحمد لله، إنت شلونك؟zein il-hamdillah, inta shlonak?Good, thank God. How are you?
People also ask
Why do people say alhamdulillah after sneezing?
It's a Muslim practice to thank God after a sneeze. Whoever hears it answers “yarhamak Allah” (God have mercy on you).
Is alhamdulillah only for good things?
No. People say it on hard days too, often as “alhamdulillah 'ala kull hal,” thank God in every situation.
How do you write alhamdulillah in Arabic?
الحمد لله. English spellings often run it into one word, but in Arabic it's two.
Related words
Words that tend to come up in the same conversation.
How we checked this page
Checked by two AI models, not yet by a native speaker
Each dialect form above is shown only if it passed an independent check. If we weren't sure how a dialect says it, we left that dialect out rather than guess. The audio is an AI voice tuned to each dialect; we're replacing it with real speakers over time. How we check words.