الحمد لله رب العالمين والصلاة والسلام على سيد المرسلين وعلى آله وأصحابه أجمعين.
I intend sharing with you some thoughts on the subject of gratitude, thankfulness and gratefulness to Allah (SWT). What is gratitude all about? What is its importance? What are its benefits? How to attain it?
Gratitude is at the core of man’s relationship with Allah (SWT). It helps us focus our minds on Allah. Showing gratitude to Allah is part and parcel of having faith in Him. This means that a person who is ungrateful to Allah has no true faith in his or her heart. Gratefulness to Allah may be expressed by the heart, by the tongue, or through good deeds and gestures. True gratefulness by the heart is manifested through sincere belief that all the blessings we have—the known and the unknown—our very existence, our life, our body, our physical appearance, and all our abilities and accomplishments are from Allah.
وَمَا بِكُم مِّن نِّعْمَةٍ فَمِنَ اللَّهِ
“Whatever blessing you have is from Allah” (al-Nahl, 16:53).
Indeed, of all the worldly possessions man has, few are more precious than a grateful and thankful heart. When the heart is grateful, it is also happy. When a person loses happiness in the heart, it is replaced with worry and emotional disturbance. Our beloved Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was a shining example of both gratitude and happiness. He lived in the most trying of conditions. He led a very frugal life, and yet he continuously gave thanks to Allah (SWT), and as mentioned in the Shama’il of Imam Tirmidhi “there was always a smile and sign of happiness upon his blessed face.” He always thanked Allah and recommended his followers to do so. One of his favorite supplications was,
اللهم أعنّي على ذكرك و شكرك و حسن عبادتك
“O Allah, help me remember You, to be grateful to You, and to worship You in an excellent manner.”
Gratefulness by the body is shown by using one’s limbs, organs, faculties, and abilities for the purposes for which they were created. Let us take a moment to assess our own level of gratitude. How grateful are we? Do we perceive Allah’s favors in our day-to-day life? How many of His blessings can we identify? Do we thank him for the food that we eat, the clothes that we wear, the air that we breathe, the limbs that we use, and the gift of life itself? Do we thank Him for the blessing of our capabilities? The more we thank Allah, the more He will grant us from His bounties, for He promises,
لَئِن شَكَرْتُمْ لَأَزِيدَنَّكُمْ
“If you are thankful, I will give you more” (Ibrahim, 14:7).
There are numerous Prophetic supplications for different times and occasions that teach us to thank Allah for His blessings. Although thankfulness is a religious act of great significance, few people truly do it, for Allah says,
وَقَلِيلٌ مِّنْ عِبَادِيَ الشَّكُورُ
“Few of my servants are truly thankful” (Saba’, 34:13).
How important it is then to be grateful to Allah (SWT)? To develop a feeling of gratitude and consciousness of Allah’s boundless favors, the first and foremost task is to acknowledge and appreciate those favors. It is a general human weakness that if one is afflicted with a misfortune, one keeps complaining about it to others. However, a person hardly speaks about the countless bounties that he or she enjoys.
We can employ some simple exercises to begin to practice gratitude. For example, we can choose one aspect of our life each day and ask how we can become more grateful for it. Become grateful for the blessing of food by focusing on its smell and taste. Chew it slowly, and appreciate its role in sustaining our bodies. Become grateful for the blessing of the body itself by focusing on the benefits it brings us. Become grateful for the blessing of sleep by focusing on the comfort of our pillows, beds, and our state of restfulness in the morning. Let us look at our spouses with eyes of gratitude, appreciating all that they do for us, and let us express our appreciation to them. Remaining grateful requires that we continuously strive to remember Allah’s countless blessings upon us.
وَإِن تَعُدُّوا نِعْمَةَ اللَّهِ لَا تُحْصُوهَا
“If you tried to count Allah’s blessings, you would never be able to calculate them.” (al-Nahl, 16:18).
We should focus upon what our lives would be like without the blessings Allah has given us, and there are numerous things that we take for granted. What would our life be like without them? A man once went to a scholar and complained of his poverty. The scholar responded, “Would you prefer to lose your eyes and have ten thousand dirhams?” The man replied, “No.” The scholar then responded, “Your ears, your hands, your feet?” The man again replied, “No.” The scholar then said, “Well, then you have fifty thousand dirhams worth of goods! Why are you complaining?”
Sheikh Sadie (Rahimahullah) narrates a story in which he says that while he was traveling, he reached Damascus in a miserable condition; he did not have any money to buy new shoes to replace his old ones. It pained him that he was unable to buy a new pair of shoes. With these thoughts he entered the mosque where he observed a lame person, without feet. On seeing this, he immediately fell into prostration, thanking Allah profusely for having provided him with feet, if not with new shoes.
This incident identifies the perspective in which we should look at things. Those with a feeling of gratitude observe numerous manifestations of Allah’s favors, which then fill them with greater gratitude. However, there are others who are always complaining of what they do not have and are, therefore, unable to thank Allah for the many blessings He has bestowed upon them.
While we have health, let us strive to remember those who are sick. While we have wealth, let us strive to remember those who are poor. While we have life, let us strive to remember those who are dead. If we ever become touched by calamity, whether it is sickness, injury, loss of job, or any other thing, let us remember that there is always a worse suffering that could have hit us. The Prophet (SAW) taught that no Muslim is afflicted with any harm, even if it were the prick of a thorn, but that Allah expiates his sins because of that, as a tree sheds its leaves.
As Muslims, we can thank Allah directly by invoking His names, performing dhikr, and declaring our appreciation for His favors upon us. We can also thank our fellow human beings for what they do for us. As the Prophet (SAW) said, “Those who are not grateful to the people are not grateful to Allah.” Also, our expressions of gratitude are not to be limited to Muslims or even humans. The Companions once asked the Prophet, “O Messenger of Allah, will we be rewarded for being good to animals?” He responded, “Yes, there is a reward in showing good to every living creature.”
We should avoid looking at those who have been blessed more than us, rather we should look at those who have been blessed less than us, and they are so many. Those who fail to do this are always complaining about their problems, and are never blessed with satisfaction or contentment. It is impossible for anyone to be in a state that is in all respects better than that of everyone else. You see, gratitude is a sense of fulfillment that comes not from wanting more but rather from a sense of knowing that Allah has already blessed us with what we need.
Let me conclude by saying that having a sense of gratitude is a great blessing and those of us who instill that sense within ourselves not only seek Allah’s pleasure but embody a sense of happiness, relieving us of many pressures and anxieties.
May Allah make us among those who sincerely praise Him and thank Him for all His blessings and favors.
أَقُولُ قَوْلِي هَذَا وَأَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّهَ لِي وَلَكُمْ وَلِسَائِرِ المُسْلِمينَ وَالمُسْلِمَاتْ فَاسْتَغْفِرُوهْ إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ
وَصَلَّ اللهُ عَلَى خيرِ خَلقِهِ مُحمَّدٍ وعَلَى آلِه وأصْحَابِه أجْمَعِين- بِرَحْمَتِكَ يا أرْحَمَ الرَّاحِمِين
