Gratitude - II

Again, knowing and recognising the favors, aswell as their source, is
the initial step and it precedes thanking Allaah. Recognising favors
such as the favors of being able to move, walk, work, exercise, sleep,
eat etc. all branch from the great favor of being healthy. The favor
of being humans; the favor of being Muslims; the favor of being
guided; the favor of being well-mannered; the favor of being a Prophet
)when it applies for those whom Allaah Has chosen( are also great ones
to reflect on. This issue is very important to mention when calling
people towards Allaah. Allaah repeatedly reminds us in different parts
of the Quran of His favors upon us.Hesays )what means(:"…And ]He[
subjected for you the ships to sail for you through the sea by His
command and subjected for you the rivers. And He subjected for you the
sun and the moon, continuous ]in orbit[, and subjected for you the
night and the day. And He gave you from all you asked of Him. And if
you should count the favor ]i.e., blessings[ of Allaah, you could not
enumerate them. Indeed, mankind is]generally[ most unjust and
ungrateful."]Quran 14: 32-34[ There are many other verses in the Quran
in which Allaah reminds us of the favors that He has bestowed upon us.
One way of calling people towards Allaah is to remind them of the
favors of Allaah upon them, so that they may be grateful and not to be
amongst those about whom Allaah says)what means(:"…And Allaah is full
of bounty to the people, but most of the people do not show
gratitude."]Quran 2: 243[ Some people attribute favors to other than
the actual source, like Qaaroon, who said when he was reminded of the
favors of Allaah upon him )which means(:"…I was only given it because
of the knowledge I have'…"]Quran 28: 78[ It is arrogance that leads to
such a reaction, which results in misery for such people, because
Allaah says )what means(:"And whatever you have of Favor – it is from
Allaah…"]Quran 16: 53[
Expressing gratitude by the tongue: One's tonguereflects what he
conceals in his heart, and thus when his heart is overwhelmed by
gratitude to Allaah, the tongue will naturally constantly utter praise
and gratitude to Allaah. One should ponder upon how the Prophetwould
perform Thikr, or supplications and remembrance of Allaah, to see how
much gratitude and praise theycontained;
·Whenever hewoke up, he would say:"All praise is due to Allaah, Who
has brought us backto life after He has causedus to die, and to Him is
the return."
·Whenever hewould retire to bed, he would say:"All Praise is due to
Allaah who has fed us, provided us with drink, satisfied us and given
us protection. Many are those who have no one to provide for them or
give them shelter."
·Some of his regular morning and evening supplications were:"O Allaah!
Whatever favor I, or any of Your creation has, is solely from You;
there is no partner with You; All praise and gratitude is due to You."
·Hewould ask forgiveness saying:"I seek refuge in You from the evil of
what I have done. I acknowledge the favors that You have bestowed upon
me, and Iconfess my sins, so forgive me."
·All his supplications would begin with the praise of Allaah, which
Heis very worthy of.
·Hewould begin all hisspeeches by praising Allaah.
·The opening supplication for prayer, Soorah Al-Faatihah,
supplications whilst bowing and prostrating, and his supplications
after concluding his prayers, were all filled with praise and
gratitudeto Allaah.
·Whenever hewished to eat, drink, travel or sneeze, he would praise
Allaah and thank him.
·On one of the nights when it was the turn of 'Aa'ishahto be with him,
she began looking for him in the dark by feeling around with her hand,
then her hand touched his hands and she heard him saying:"O Allaah! I
seek protection against Your Wrath in Your Pleasure. I seek protection
in Your Pardon against Your punishment; I am not capable of
enumerating praise of You. You are as You have lauded Yourself".
Expressing gratitude by the limbs: Any righteous deed or act of
obedience which the son of Aadam performs is a form of expressing his
gratitude to Allaah, the Lord. There are different means of performing
gratitude of the limbs; one of which iswhen one practices the
instruction of Prophet Muhammadwhen he said:"When you get up inthe
morning, charity is due from every one of your joints. There is
charity in every ascription of glory to Allaah; there is charity in
every declaration of His Greatness; there is charityin every utterance
of praise of Him; there is charity in every declaration that He is the
only true God )worthy of worship(; there is charity in enjoining good;
there is charity in forbidding evil. Two Rak'as of Dhuhaa )i.e.,
forenoon prayer( is equal to all this)in reward(."Thus, any ofthe
things mentioned in the above narration is a righteous deed which
reflects gratitude to Allaah. One should exert all efforts to thank
Allaah using all his limbs and should never feel that he has thanked
Allaah enough, or that he does not need to do it again the next day.
There is no contradiction between thanking people and being grateful
to Allaah, because Allaah commands us to thank and reward those who do
us favors, the foremost of them being one's parents, as Allaah says
)what means(:"…Be grateful to Me and to your parents…"]Quran31: 14[The
problem is when one thanks people and abandons thanking Allaah; this
is a great disaster. Additionally, there is a difference in the manner
in which onethanks people and thanks Allaah; one shouldbe submissive
and humble whilst thanking Allaah because this reflects servitude,
while on the other hand, one cannot do so with other humans; one
should instead supplicate for their forgiveness and praise them. One
who does not thank other people is evil and it is unlikely that he
would thank Allaah and express gratitude towards Him.
Additionally, favors and bounties from Allaah are preserved and even
increase by one being grateful, but what is it that helps a person to
be grateful?
·By observing the condition of those who are lower than you in status,
and to remember when seeing those who are higher than you in standard
that it is only bythe decree of Allaah.Allaah says )what means(:"And
it is He who has made you successors upon the earth and has raised
some of you aboveothers in degrees ]of rank[ that He may try
youthrough what He has given you."]Quran6: 165[
·By realising that one willbe held accountable for these favors,
asAllaah says )what means(:"Thenyou will surely be asked that Day
about ]worldly[ pleasure".]Quran102: 8[Even for bounties as seemingly
minor as cold water. Some people, due to their misunderstanding of the
concept of gratitude, deprive themselves from enjoying them, whereas
in fact they were bestowed upon us to enjoy.Allaah says )what
means(:"…Eat from the good ]i.e., lawful[ things which We have
provided for you and be grateful to Allaah if it is ]indeed[ Him that
you worship."]Quran2:172[Thus, gratitude cannot entail deeming lawful
matters as prohibited, which is one of the principles of the Soofees.
If gratitude was a precondition of enjoying the bounties of Allaah,
then nobody would have been able to enjoy any of the favors orbounties
from Allaah, because no one can do enough deeds to appropriately
express gratitude to Allaah for what He bestowed upon us. The solution
thereforeis to utilise these favors and bounties in ways that please
Allaah, and to thank Him and seek His pardon for our shortcomings -
and Allaah will accept this much from us.
·By supplicating to Allaahto help us to be grateful to Him, as in the
prophetic supplication in which hetaught Mu'aathto say: "O Allaah!
Help me remember You, express gratitude to You and worship You in the
best manner."
It is more virtuous to be grateful when blessed with a favor than to
persevere when one is afflicted. Allaah loves to see the effects of
His favors. Once, Imraan ibn Husayncame out wearing a fine garment,
and when he saw how his friends were looking at him, he said: "The
Prophetsaid:"Allaah loves to see the effect of His Bounties on His
slaves."
The Prophetsaid:"Eat, drink and give out in charity without arrogance
or exaggeration, because Allaah loves to see the effect of His
Bounties on His slave."Therefore, the limit when expressing and
showing the effect of the favors from Allaah on oneself is to neither
be boastful and proud, nor to exaggerate.
Allaah hates a Kanood, oran ungrateful person, and punishes him.
ImaamAl-Hasansaid: "A Kanood, is one who remembers the disasters which
befall him and always forgets to mention the favors from Allaah )upon
him(." This quality is more apparent in women; for example, awoman's
husband is kindto her for many years, but as soon as she experiences a
minor shortcoming from him, she will immediately tell him that she has
never seen anything good fromhim. This is a form of oppressing the
husband, and thus the majority of the dwellers of Hell are women, the
reason beingthat they are ungrateful to their husbands. If being
ungrateful to one'shusband results in punishment in Hell, how will the
case be for those who are ungrateful to Allaah?
'Umar ibn 'Abdul-'Azeezwould look at the favors of Allaah upon himand
say: "O Allaah! I seek refuge in You from meeting Your favors
withungratefulness or denying them after knowing them, or forgetting
them and not mentioning them with praise )i.e., praising You(."
It is also recommended that one prostrates whenever he receives news
about a new favor or bounty from Allaah, as was the practice of the
Prophet. Likewise, when Abu Bakrreceived the news that Musaylamah the
liar)who claimed to be a Prophet after the death of Prophet Muhammad(
was killed, he went down into prostration. Ka'b ibn Maalikalso
prostrated when he was given the good news of forgiveness from Allaah
after he failed to participate in a battle. Onthe other hand, this
should not be a daily practice, but rather, it should only be done
when one receives good news or a new favor. An example of a new favor
or good news is the incident when one of theSalafwho was hiding from
Al-Hajjaaj, prostrated when he received the news of his death, because
the deathof a tyrant is a great bounty and favor from Allaah. Also,
the news of having a new baby, or a Muslim victory over the infidels,
warrants such a prostration to be made.
Imaam Ibn Al-Qayyimsaid: "The religion consists of two halves; one
half is represented by gratitude and the other half is by
perseverance."Scholars have disputed regarding who is better, a rich
person who is grateful, or a poor person who is patient, but it seems
that it is best for the rich person to be grateful, and for the poor
to persevere.