By Abdul Rehman Raza
The One who is most worthy of our gratitude, more than anyone else, is Allah, our Lord! But why should we be grateful to Him anyway?
The basic thing that separates humans from every other living thing is the ability to think and ponder. A rabbit would never sit under a tree, stare at the sky and think why is it blue, why are there clouds or how was it made? The purpose of this post is to make you use this very thinking ability of yours. Think about what? Think about the one who has given you this ability to think! Your Creator! Almighty Allah!
Take a break from life and THINK! The One who made you, made the world for you, made everything around you, gave you the ability to think and ponder, gave you faculties of seeing, hearing, gave you this gadget that you’re using right now to read this article, the ability to read and understand this, the food you eat every single day, the clothes you’re wearing… But this list would keep going on and never end!
Let’s do a short exercise: write down all the things that Allah has blessed you with, everything you can think of. Now think again, did you deserve all this? Could you really pay Allah for this? Obviously not! But Allah still blessed us with all of this and He doesn’t stop, His Mercy is continuously falling on us even at this very moment!
Now comes the golden question, if someone gives you a glass of water, you thank that person, right? Should we not be grateful to the One Who created us and who has given us so much and keeps on giving us every moment of our lives?
Indeed, we should be! In fact, being grateful to Allah is a very important part of our faith. Feeling grateful is one thing but there is a practical aspect to being grateful as well.
Being grateful actually means having gratitude in the heart, professing it through the tongue and showing it through actions.
Some points below can help you be grateful to Allah in a practical way:
‘Ibadah, Worship Allah Only
Be His righteous slave, offer your prayers regularly, fast, especially in the month of Ramadan, give in charity, remember Him regularly, read and understand His Book, do what He likes, follow the role model of Prophets (AS) especially our final Prophet Muhammad (SAW).
Hope and Patience in Tough Times
Being grateful in good times is easy, the real test is when we face trials and hardships. A person who is truly grateful, does not become ungrateful even in hard times. He believes that Allah does everything for the person’s own good. Even in hard times, a believer finds something positive, he thanks Allah irrespective of good or bad times.
Be Good To Others
One of the best ways to be grateful to Allah is being good to others around us. Have mercy and love for your fellow human beings as well as other creatures of Allah. We should love others the same way we want others to love us and in order to acquire Allah’s love.
Mention Allah’s Blessing Upon You
Instead of complaining to people, we should tell them about how much has Allah blessed us and praise Him.
“But as for the favour of your Lord, mention [it].”, (Surah Duha, verse 11)
THE REWARD
This one verse from the Quran should be enough (though there are many other benefits not being mentioned for brevity’s sake):
“If you are grateful, I will surely increase you [in favor]”, (Surah Ibrahim, verse 7.)
May Allah make us truly grateful to Him!
