If you are grateful, I will give you more
(Ibrahim: 7)
That seems like a very memorable and nice moment for the revert, right?
When we are given favors by someone, we always show our appreciation for them. And the one who is most deserving of thanks and praise from people is Allah S.W.T because of the great favours and blessings that He has bestowed upon His servants in both spiritual and worldly terms. Allah has commanded us to give thanks to Him for those blessings.
As we open the Quran, the very first chapter (Surah al-Fatihah) starts with ‘Alhamdulillah’ which is generally translated as “all praise is for God.” In reality, the word Alhamdulillah signifies gratitude and thankfulness in our daily life. Hence, when someone asks how we are, Muslims often respond with, “Alhamdulillah.”
Gratitude is going beyond words into actions. We can see this in the example of our beloved prophet. It was narrated that Aishah said:
“When the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) performed the solats, he would stand for so long that his feet would become swollen. ‘Aishah said: O Messenger of Allah, Why are you doing this when Allah has forgiven your past and future sins? He said: “O ‘Aishah, should I not be a thankful servant?”
(Bukhari and Muslim)
The immutable fact is we were created from nothing, and then given everything that we have today such that there is no way we can calculate all the blessings Allah has given us:
“Is, then, He Who creates comparable to any that cannot create? Will you not, then, take heed? For, should you try to count Allah’s blessings, you could never compute them”
(An-Nahl 16:17-19).
Everything that happens to us – including those negative ones such as natural disasters or even events that we may consider to be personal afflictions – are from Allah. They may yet bring some good for us if we know how to perceive and respond to it appropriately.
The Prophet said:
“How wonderful is the case of a Believer! There is good for him in whatever happens to him – and none, apart from him, enjoys this blessing. If he receives some bounty, he is grateful to Allah and this bounty brings good to him. And if some adversity befalls him, he is patient, and this affliction, too, brings good to him”
(Muslim).
Being grateful to Allah may do wonders, even if you may not discern them readily. For instance, you may be in the middle of a problem and not having the least bit of knowledge about what to do about it, and what would happen next; then suddenly the solution dawns upon you.
Thankfulness liberates the heart from greed, conceit, jealousy and envy. When we are thankful to Allah, we remain mindful of Him and His continuous Mercy on us, and this in turn humbles us and improves our characters.
May Allah allow us to truly acknowledge His constant blessings and favours, so that we could forever be conscious of expressing gratitude and thankfulness to Him.
