La Hawla Wala Quwwata Illa Billah Meaning in Urdu & Hindi

La hawla wala quwwata illa billah means "There is no might and no power except with Allah." In Urdu: Allah ki madad ke baghair na koi taaqat hai na quwwat. In other words: whatever I am able to do, I can do only because Allah lets me.

The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ called these words "one of the treasures of Paradise."

How to say it: Lā ḥawla wa lā quwwata illā billāh. People write it many ways: La hawla wala quwwata illa billah, Lahaul wala quwwat, La howla wala quwwata, Lahol. All are the same Arabic words.

La hawla in Urdu and Hindi

In Hindi script the Arabic is read: ला हौला व ला क़ुव्वता इल्ला बिल्लाह. In Urdu it is often written as one word at the start: لاحول ولا قوۃ الا باللہ.

Word by word

"In the book" is the word's number in 600 Words of the Quran and how many times it appears in the Quran.

Two words for strength are used. Ḥawl comes from a root about turning and changing, so it is the ability to change a situation; quwwah is strength and power. The phrase says both belong to Allah. A little warning about ḥawl: in the Quran the same word most often means "around" (as in "those around the Throne"), and that is the meaning taught for word #395 in our book. In lā ḥawla it is used in its other sense, "might".

The story: a treasure of Paradise

Abu Musa al-Ash'ari narrated that he was with the Prophet ﷺ on a journey, and whenever they climbed a high place, the people called out Allāhu akbar loudly. The Prophet ﷺ said: "O people! Be kind to yourselves, for you are not calling upon a deaf or an absent one, but you are calling an All-Hearer, an All-Seer."

Then he came to Abu Musa, who was quietly saying lā ḥawla wa lā quwwata illā billāh to himself, and said: "O Abdullah bin Qais! Say: La hawla wa la quwwata illa billah, for it is one of the treasures of Paradise" (Sahih al-Bukhari 6384; also Sahih Muslim 2704).

Notice what was praised: a quiet phrase, said to oneself, admitting that every bit of strength is from Allah.

In the adhan: your answer to "come to prayer"

When you hear the adhan, the Prophet ﷺ taught repeating each phrase after the muezzin, except two. When the muezzin says ḥayya ʿalaṣ-ṣalāh ("come to prayer") and ḥayya ʿalal-falāḥ ("come to success"), you answer: lā ḥawla wa lā quwwata illā billāh. He said that whoever answers the adhan this way from his heart will enter Paradise (Sahih Muslim 385).

It is a beautiful answer. The call says "come to prayer", and you reply: "I can't even do that without Allah's help."

The same idea in the Quran

Surah Al-Kahf tells of a man with two rich gardens who became proud of them. His friend told him what he should have said when he walked into his garden:

Lā quwwata illā billāh is the second half of our phrase, word for word, inside the Quran. And right before it in that verse comes mā shāʾa llāh, the origin of saying MashaAllah when you see something good. See MashaAllah meaning.

It is also part of the third kalma

Lā ḥawla wa lā quwwata illā billāh is the last phrase of Kalma Tamjeed, where the books add al-ʿaliyyil ʿaẓīm after it. The Prophet ﷺ taught these words, SubḥānAllāh, wal-ḥamdu lillāh, wa lā ilāha illallāh, wallāhu akbar, wa lā ḥawla wa lā quwwata illā billāh, to a man who said he could not memorise anything from the Quran (Abu Dawud 832, graded hasan by al-Albani). More in Kalma Tamjeed meaning.

When to say La hawla wala quwwata illa billah

• Before something hard: an exam, a difficult conversation, a long day. It is a request for strength as much as a statement.
• When you feel proud of what you did: to remember where the ability came from, as in the verse of the two gardens.
• In reply to the adhan, at ḥayya ʿalaṣ-ṣalāh and ḥayya ʿalal-falāḥ (Sahih Muslim 385).
• As quiet dhikr, the way Abu Musa said it on the journey.

In South Asia many people also say lahaul on hearing something shocking or bad, a bit like "astaghfirullah". Whenever you say it, it helps to remember what the words themselves mean: "my strength is only from Allah". For other words of trust, see Hasbunallahu wa ni'mal wakeel; for the phrases we say every day, SubhanAllah meaning and Astaghfirullah meaning.

The words lā, illā, quwwah and Allāh are all taught in 600 Words of the Quran, each with a real verse and its meaning in English and Roman Urdu.