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"That is because Allah will
never change the grace which He
hath bestowed on a people until
they change what is in their
(own) souls" {Soorah al-Anfal
(8):53}
This is one of the ways in which
Allah deals with His servants,
for He made the condition of
people directly related to their
belief. If they change their
belief, Allaah will change their
condition. Allah will replace
their security with fear, and
their sustenance. And security
and sustenance are two Allah's
greatest graces. Allah says in
the Quraan: "So let them
worship Allah the Lord of this
House (the Kaaba) Who provides
them with food against hunger
and with security against fear
(of danger)" {Soorah Quraish
(106:3-4)}
Suhaib ibn Sinan narrated that
the Prophet said:
"How remarkable is the case
of the believer! There is good
for him in everything, but this
is not the case for anyone
except for the believer. When
the believer receives any good,
he is thankful to Allah, and
gets a reward. And when some
misfortune befalls him, he
endures it patiently, for which
he is (also) rewarded." {Fiqh
as-Sunnah, vol.4, p.1.}
What is Thankfulness?
In Islamic terminology,
Thankfulness is the
acknowledgment of the fact that
Allah is the only Grantor of
graces, and full submission to
Allah in a way that assures that
acknowledgment. The graces
(favors) of Allah are endless
and countless. Allah says in His
Book: "And if you were to
count the blessings of Allah,
you will never be able to count
them." {Soorah Ibrahim (14):
34}
He, the All Mighty also says:
"And whatever blessings and good
you have, it is from Allaah .."
{Soorah an-Nahl, (16): 53}
How can a servant (Abd)
thank Allaah? {The word
'slaves' represents mankind, for
all of mankind are expected to
totally submit to the will of
Allah}The servant can thank
Allaah in many ways. These
include:
1. Prostrating to Allah,
when the servant receives a
blessing from Allaah or when
Allah saves him from a disaster.
The Messenger of Allaah (salallahu
alaihi wasallam) used to
prostrate to Allah whenever he
received a pleasant thing or was
told good news. This prostration
is conducted for the sole
purpose of giving thanks to
Allaah, the Granter of the grace
and benefit that the servant
received. [see Fiqh as-Sunnah by
Sayyid Sabiq (English trans.)
vol.2, p.45]
Abdur-Rahman ibn 'Auf relates
that the Messenger of Allah (sallaahu
alayhi wasallam) went out once
and he followed him until he
entered a grove of palm trees
and prostrated. His prostration
was so long that 'Abdur-Rahman
feared that Allah had taken his
soul. 'Abdur-Rahman came to look
at him and he raised his head
and said: "What is wrong,
Abdur-Rahman' ?" Abdur rahman
mentioned what had happened, and
he (sallallahu alaihi wa-sallam)
said: "Gibra'el came to me
and said: 'Shall I not give you
glad tidings'? Allah says to
you, Whoever prays upon you, I
pray upon him. Whoever salutes
you, I salute him.' Therefore, I
prostrated to Allah in thanks."
{This is related by Ahmad and by
Al-Haakim who says: "It is sahih
according to the criterion of
al-Bukhari and Muslim}
2. Thanking Allah in
words: The majority of
the scholars agreed that if the
servant does not thank Allaah
for the grace he has, then that
grace will go away and may never
come back. Allah's Messenger (sallaahu
alayhi wasallam) said: "It is
a fine thing when a believer
praises and thanks Allah if good
comes to him, and praises Allah
and shows endurance if smitten
by affliction. The believer is
rewarded for everything, even
for the morsel he raises to his
wife's mouth." {Bayhaqi
transmitted it in Shu'ab al-Iman.
Sunan at-Tirmidhi no.1733 See
also Saheeh Muslim (7138)}
3. Talking about the
benefits Allah has granted him.
This is because concealing the
benefits of Allah is ungrateful.
Allaah says in the Quraan:
"Do they believe in the false
deities and deny the favor of
Allaah." {Soorah an-Nahl
(16):72}
Ibn Katheer commented that
denying the favors of Allah
means hiding his grants and/or
relating them to others than
Allah.
Narrated by Zaid bin Khalid Al
Juhani : The Prophet led us in
the Fajr prayer at Hudaibiya
after a rainy night. On
completion of the prayer, he
faced the people and said, "Do
you know what your Lord has said
(revealed)?" The people replied,
"Allah and His Apostle know
better." He said, "Allah has
said, 'In this morning some of
my slaves remained as true
believers and some became
non-believers; whoever said that
the rain was due to the
Blessings and the Mercy of Allah
had belief in Me and he
disbelieves in the stars, and
whoever said that it rained
because of a particular star had
no belief in Me but believes in
that star." {Saheeh al-Bukhari
(1:807)}
4. Helping people in need.
It was mentioned in a
Hadeeth of Prophet Muhammad (sallaahu
alayhi wasallam) that:
"As the grants from Allah to
a servant increase, so will the
people's needs of that blessed
servant's services. If the
servant ignores their needs, it
will cause those grants to be
removed" (lbn Hibban)
The Prophet (sallaahu alayhi
wasallam) said, "If anyone
strokes an orphan's head, doing
so only for Allah's sake, he
will have blessings for every
hair over which his hand passes;
and if anyone treats well an
orphan girl or boy under his
care, he and I shall be like
these two in Paradise," putting
two of his fingers together."
{Sunan at-Tirmidhi no.4974}
Why does the servant not
thank Allah?
The servant may not
thank Allaah for several
reasons:
1. The servant may be
unaware of the general grants
that were bestowed by Allah
on the creatures. Many
people wrongly think that money
is the only thing to be
considered and ignore the other
general grants such as hearing,
vision, sanity and health. The
Prophet (sallaahu alayhi
wasallam) said, "There are
two blessings which many people
lose: (They are) health and free
time for doing good." {Saheeh
al-Bukhari vol 8: 421}
Aaishah, the Prophet's wife
said: "Whenever a servant drinks
a drop of water which gets into
his body and leaves it with no
harm, then a thanks is due."
A man came to a good Muslim and
complained that Allah made him
very poor. The good man said:
"Would you like to have ten
thousand dinars and be insane?"
The Complainer answered: "No."
The good man said: "Would you
like to have ten thousand dinars
but have your legs chopped off"
The complainer answered:
"No." The good man then said:
"Aren't you ashamed of yourself
complaining about your Lord
while all of these grants which
are His; have been bestowed on
you?"
2. The servant may not
give thanks to his Lord because
he is unaware of the people who
have less bounties than him.
This is mentioned in a
Hadeeth in Saheeh Muslim, that:
Allaah's Messenger (sallaahu
alayhi wasallam) said, "Look at
those people who have less than
you and never look at those who
have more grants than you, this
will ensure that you will not
depreciate Allah's grants." {Saheeh
Muslim no.1530}
At times of hardship, one should
turn his eyes towards a person
who owns less worldly things
than him. He will then be calmed
and his ungratefulness will
disappear. One will then thank
his Lord and say: "Thanks to
Allah who has guarded me against
the harm which He has afflicted
others, and who has chosen not
to afflict me" {Sunan at-Tirmidhi}
3. The servant may not
give thanks to his Lord because
he is unaware of Allah's names,
attributes and laws. The
real ignorant person is the one
who gets deceived by the amount
of money he has or by his
position or his power. He
forgets the fact that as Allah
has granted, He may also take
the blessings away. Allaah says
in His Book, "Say, O Allah!
Lord of Power (and Rule) You
give Power to whom You will and
You take away power from whom
You will, and you endue with
honor whom you will, and
humiliate who you will. In Your
Hand is the good. Verily, You
are Able to do all things."
{Soorah al-Imran (3):26}
When does Allaah take His
grants away from His servants?
1. When one commits sins:
The Messenger of Allaah (sallaahu
alayhi wasallam) said, "The
servant will be deprived a
provision because he committed a
sin" (Musnad Ahmed)
On the other hand, fearing
Allaah causes His provisions to
come forth, Allah says in the
Quraan: "And whoever fears
Allaah and keeps his duty to
Him, Allaah will make way for
him out of every difficulty, And
He will provide for him from
sources he never imagined" {Soorah
at-Talaq (65):2-3}
2. When the servant
relates the grants to himself
and does not acknowledge
that Allah is their Grantor as
Qaroon (a tyrannical king
mentioned in the Qur'aan al-Qasas
(28): 78 ) said: "This has
been given to me only because of
knowledge I possess."
Consequently. his punishment
was, "So We caused the earth
to swallow him and his dwelling
place. Then he had no group or
party to help him against Allaah."
{Soorah al-Qasas (28): 81}
3. When the servant does
not give Zakaat. The
Messenger of Allaah (sallaahu
alayhi wasallam) said, "Indeed
Allaah the Most High said,
'We have sent down the wealth
for the prayer to be established
and that Zakaat be given; and if
the son of Aadam had a valley,
he would love to have a second;
if he had two valleys, he would
love to have a third, and
nothing will fill the belly of
the son of Aadam except dust …"
{Musnad Ahmed & at-Tabaraanee.
Saheeh al-Jaami, no.1777} So the
money is actually Allaah's
money, and we have been
entrusted with it. And he (sallaahu
alayhi wasallam) said, "Do
not shut your money bag;
otherwise Allah too will
withhold His blessings from you.
Spend (in Allah's cause) as much
as you can afford. " {Saheeh
al-Bukhari 2/515}
The Prophet of Allaah (sallaahu
alayhi wasallam) also said,
"Do not withhold your money by
counting it (i.e. hoarding it),
(for if you did so), Allah would
also withhold His blessings from
you." {Saheeh al-Bukhari
vol.2: 514}
4. When the servant of
Allaah becomes arrogant due to
the large amount of money he
has. If the person feels
superior to other people, and
his wealth becomes his only
business, if he talks about it
and only about it wherever he
goes, and forgets to remember
Allaah and praise Him; if he
starts evaluating people based
on their wealth, then Allaah
will remove his grants. Allaah
says in the Quraan: "Woe to
every slanderer and back biter.
Who has gathered wealth and
counted it. He thinks that his
wealth will make last forever.
Nay! Verily, he will be thrown
into the crushing fire." {Soorah
al-Humazah (104):1-4}
And finally there is no better
example for us than the
Messenger of Allaah (sallaahu
alayhi wasallam) who used to
offer night prayers till his
feet became swollen. Somebody
said to him, "Allah has
forgiven you, your faults of the
past and those to follow."
On that, he said, "Shouldn't
I be a thankful slave (of
Allah)?" {Saheeh al-Bukhari
vol.6: 360}
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