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Furthermore, among the many meanings of hamd, the most well-known one is displaying the attributes belonging to His Kamâl1.
The haqiqah of this matter is as follows: Allah Subhânahu created man and made him a comprehensive exemplar that gathers the universe in himself and an index of the book of the ‘âlam that comprises eighteen thousand ‘âlams, and into his essence, He entrusted a sample from all those ‘âlams, in which one of the Names of Taâ’lâ manifests.
If man spends all of what is bestowed on him for the purpose and hikmah of their creation and spends them for performing shukr al-‘urfî that is included under the title of “hamd,” and if he obeys Sharî’ah that removes the rust of nature, then each of those samples opens a mishkât2 and a window to the ‘âlam to which they belong and becomes a mirror to the attribute of Allah that manifests in that ‘âlam and to the name that manifests from that attribute. Thus, in this way, with both his rûh and material being, man becomes a summary of al-‘âlam ash-shahâdah and al-‘âlam al-ghayb, and what is manifested in those ‘âlams manifests in him.
Man becomes a place of manifestation for the attributes of Allah belonging to His Kamâl through offering hamd. This is indicated by what Muhyiddîn al-'Arabi said in explanation of the hadith:كُنْتُ كَنْزًا مَخْفِيًّا فَخَلَقْتُ الْخَلْقَ لِيَعْرِفُونِى 3 That is, I created creation to be a mirror in which I might observe My Jamâl.