Showing Ultimate Gratitude Towards Allah(SWT) - Mufti Azeemuddin | Islamic Reminder | Jummah Khutbah

Showing Ultimate Gratitude Towards Allah

Respected elders and dear brothers, young friends, mothers and sisters. السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ.

Every morning and evening, we are thanking Allah for His countless blessings upon us. And because this is a national holiday and people are supposed to be thanking their Creator. Although the current commercialized environment rarely allows us time to reflect on the blessings that we enjoy. I thought it would still be very apt to speak about this important aspect of our life of a human and a life of a believer and a life of a Muslim. The aspect and the concept of being grateful and filled with gratitude to all of those who have done good towards us.

The Comprehensive Definition of Shukr

Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyya mentions one of the meanings of or rather a very comprehensive definition of شكر and gratitude. And he says:

شكر is the manifestation of Allah's blessings upon a slave's tongue. ثَنَاءً وَاعْتِرَافًا in the form of praises of Allah and in the form of acknowledging Allah's blessings. You have to praise Allah and you acknowledge that we are indebted to Him. Number two, وَعَلَىٰ قَلْبِهِ, it is the manifestation of Allah's blessings upon the servant's heart. شُهُودًا وَمَحَبَّةً, it manifests itself by شهود, by being a witness. The heart is witnessing those blessings. وَمَحَبَّةً and the heart is filled with love and gratitude towards that amazing محسن and that giver of blessings. Number three, وَعَلَىٰ جَوَارِحِهِ, شكر is the manifestation of Allah's blessings upon a servant's limbs. انْقِيَادًا وَطَاعَةً in the form of obedience and in the form of submission.

So what an amazing comprehensive definition Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya gives of شكر. It's reflected on the tongue, it's reflected on the heart, it's reflected on the limbs. And in شكر itself he says, it is the manifestation of Allah's blessing. That's very deep. Meaning the fact that we are being grateful to Allah itself is the biggest blessing. The biggest blessing itself. Ibn Qayyim is saying that شكر is a very big blessing of Allah. That's what you're enjoying. If you're a شاكر, if you're a grateful, then you are enjoying the blessing of Allah that millions and millions do not have.

Shaitan's Declaration About Gratitude

How do we know that? Because when Allah had this address with shaitan and shaitan has been given the reins to be able to cause chaos and mischief on earth. Allah, he says to Allah, O Allah now watch, you've given me some abilities, I am going to attack them. From the front, from the back, from the right, from the left. I'm going to attack them in their wealth, I'm going to attack them in their children, in their spouses, in their relationships. I'm going to use my voice to be able to incite them to do wrong. I'm going to do all of those things. And then he tells Allah:

I'll come from the right, from the left, from the front and the back. وَلَا تَجِدُ أَكْثَرَهُمْ شَاكِرِينَ And you will not find, you will find the majority of your servants will be ungrateful. Because he knows that well, he is the most ungrateful. He is the most ungrateful from amongst Allah's creation. Who enjoyed Allah's blessings way beyond average people, and average jinn, and average humans. But yet he chose to use his intelligence only and forget about how much he had benefited from Allah.

The Example of Gratitude to Our Mothers

Sometimes your mother may say something to you, and it may not make so much sense, or you may not want to do it, you may think something is better. But then a person should think that, listen, at the end of the day, this is my mom asking me to do it. So even though I don't feel that this is the best thing, or I don't want to do it, but how much she has done for me, there is no way I can recount those blessings, there is no way I can appreciate. If it's just simply, if it will make her happy to wear a certain color of a jacket, or a certain color of a dress, sure, if it will make her happy, that's a big enough reason for me to do it. As opposed to trying to put everything down on a chart and put the pros and the cons. The biggest pro is my mom likes me to wear this, my mom has asked me to do it, done deal. It outweighs all the other things. Because you're thinking about how much your mother has done for you.

Well here is shaitan, who should have said, okay fine, I'm made out of fire, and he's made out of soil and mud. Adam, I don't want to bow down to him, that doesn't add up to me, that doesn't make sense. But he should have thought that, hey, I am a simple, small, humble servant of Allah, and he has given me so much. So if he's asking me to do it, then why not? Let me not overthink the command. Let me look at the one who's issuing the command, and let me feel indebted to him, and just go ahead and do it.

Understanding Kafir: The Opposite of Shakir

So shaitan, he knows this very well, that he is the greatest كافر. What's كافر? The opposite of شاكر. كافر is the opposite of شاكر. كافر is the one who hides. A farmer is called a كافر, because he hides the seeds within the ground, after which it germinates, and then you have a plant, or a vegetable, or something of some sort growing. Allah says:

This word is كفار, used in the Quran in the meaning of farmers. The farmers, they love to see their plants, and their crops in full bloom. So كافر is the one who takes a seed, and puts it into there. Now you move it from that basic root word, and you move forward to someone who is called a كافر in our terminology. Why is that person called, that someone is a disbeliever called a كافر? Because he is taking Allah's blessings, and he's hiding and saying, Allah didn't give me anything.

You know like with children, you say, hey give me, Baba just gave you something, can you give me something? He says, no, Baba didn't give me anything. And little kid will put his hand behind his back, and act like he hasn't received anything. Well this is what a person is doing with Allah. When Allah says, I want you to come here for, I want you to get up, and leave your bed, and perform صلاة الفجر. And the person acts as though, he hasn't heard that. Why should I? I slept late.

But سبحان الله, the fact that you were able to go to a party last night, and enjoy that, and enjoy the food, was because Allah enabled you to do that. If you're sick, no matter what type of food is brought in front of you, you will have no appetite. Is that not so? You will have no appetite at all. If a person becomes, Allah forbid, disabled or handicapped, instantaneously something happens. He will not be in a mood to go outside anywhere. The fact that we're able to spend time with family and friends, and enjoy, that's a blessing of Allah. How can a person use that excuse, that I slept late last night, hence I'm not, I wasn't able to wake up this morning. That is an example of كفران النعمة. That is an example of hiding Allah's blessings, and acting as though that is not important.

Being Indebted to Allah in Every Moment

That if Allah has asked me to be here at 6, I have to be at 6? Because the fact that I've gotten life after death, the fact that I've woken up, is because of Him. So we're indebted, we're indebted to Him in every single moment, in every single moment. And when a person is ungrateful to Allah, in any form of disobedience, he becomes a كافر, in that sense. Becomes ungrateful.

Once I was asked by a border security agent, he said, why do certain people amongst you, or certain terrorist groups call us كافر? And then he had actually a logo كافر hanging there. You've seen certain license plates, you've seen certain stickers on the cars nowadays, and they have this كافر, infidel, they're proud of it. They say that's what certain groups call us, so we're gonna wear that. So he asked me, why do these guys call me كافر? I said, you know, سبحان الله, this word, and I gave him this whole background of this word. And he said, you know, in reality, كافر could be me, could be you, could be anyone of us. Anyone who's ungrateful to Allah is a كافر. That's it. So ask yourself, how grateful are you?

And now, of course, there's different levels of كفر. كفر and دون كفر, they're different levels. There's a level where a person says, I'm sleeping through my prayers. There's a level, and I need to pray. There's a level of a person says, I don't want to pray. There's a level of a person says, I don't believe in prayer. So these are all different levels of كفر. So we're not going to say they're equal, but the general theme is that being ungrateful to Allah is كفر, and opposite of that is شكر.

Allah's Confirmation About Gratitude

And so shaitan already mentioned that, and Allah himself says that:

The previous ayah was, وَلَا تَجِدُ أَكْثَرَهُمْ شَاكِرِينَ You will not find majority of them to be grateful. And in this ayah, Allah says, وَقَلِيلٌ مِّنْ عِبَادِيَ الشَّكُورُ That very few of My servants are grateful. So Allah is acknowledging that fact as well. So if we are being grateful to Allah, we are from one of the most chosen group of people.

Proclaiming Allah's Blessings

The Prophet ﷺ, for example, he mentioned that Allah actually rather tells Allah, Allah mentioned in surah al-Duha to the Prophet ﷺ:

As for the blessings of Allah upon you, O Muhammad ﷺ, I want you to proclaim them. Proclaim how blessed you are. Proclaim and mention to people how many blessings you have. وَأَمَّا بِنِعْمَةِ رَبِّكَ فَحَدِّثْ This is sometimes if we ever have to acknowledge something that we have achieved. Let's say you're speaking to your family members, you're speaking to your kids. And you say, your dad, your mom was able to do this when they were a young person in college, in university. As a young man I was able to achieve this, this type of grades or this type of job. So scholars I've heard whenever they see something like that, talking about their own achievements, they will always say, تَحَدُّثًا بِنِعْمَةِ اللَّهِ عَلَيَّ وَأَمَّا بِنِعْمَةِ رَبِّكَ فَحَدِّثْ I'm saying this. How am I... I don't want to boast. I have no right to boast. But Allah Himself says, Proclaim Allah's greatness and blessings upon you. So in practicing on that ayah, I share with you some of Allah's blessings upon me. And as long as a person ascribes that to Allah, hopefully it will not lead him to self-conceit and praise. But instead it will genuinely be, this is the blessings of Allah that I don't deserve, yet He has chosen me to enjoy them. So Allah wants us to proclaim those blessings.

Allah as Ash-Shakir

Now what's so interesting is that, شكر is something which Allah is asking us to do, but from amongst the beautiful names of Allah, one of the names is الشاكر or الشكور. شاكر and شكور is one of the names of Allah. For example, Allah says:

Speaking about Safa and Marwa during hajj and umrah, and the importance of doing that, going from the sa'i between them, running in the footsteps of Hazrat Hajra. Allah says, إِنَّ اللَّهَ شَاكِرٌ عَلِيمٌ Allah is appreciative. Now we have to understand these words. There was a recent very famous debate that took place couple weeks ago, between a Muslim and a Christian. Many of you were...

Understanding the Depth of Arabic Words

I didn't watch it, but I know it's being shared all over. And I chose to turn it on for a minute or so. I was in the middle of something just to see what's happening. And I heard the Christian debater saying that aspects of Quran don't make sense. And he says, he was quoting a verse of Surah Al-Ahzab.

Allah is the one who - He translated as, prays upon His Prophet. And he said, well, how does that make sense? How does God pray to a Prophet? And he was trying to debate the issue of Trinity and so forth. What the poor guy doesn't understand, is that you salli, like many, many thousands of words in the Arabic language, and in English as well, they have multiple meanings based on the application and the context.

The Multiple Meanings of Shukr

So, for example, why I'm mentioning that, is that because shukr is that same word as well. Shukr is also a word that has multiple meanings. When a human is a shakir, is very different from Allah being shakir.

So, that just reminded me of salah, that when Allah is sending:

That verse, indeed Allah and His angels, what does يُصَلِّي mean? Send salutations. They're not praying. You don't translate this as praying. You translate it as sending the choicest blessings upon the Prophet ﷺ. يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا O believers, you do the same.

So we feel that we cannot adequately thank the Prophet. So what do we say?

Allah say, I want you to send blessings and make dua for Him. So we raise our hand, we say, Allah, I can't do anything for my Prophet. O Allah, I ask You now to do it. You've asked me to do it? I'm just gonna ask You back to do it. I'm gonna ask You to send blessings upon the Prophet because I don't have the ability to truly appreciate and thank Him for what He has done for me. سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ

So salah has so many different meanings based on the context. Similarly, shukr also is like that. When Allah says He is shakir, what does it mean? You're not gonna say that He is thanking His servants. Instead, we're gonna say He's appreciative. That He values whatever they do. That's what it means. He values whatever little they do.

Allah's Appreciation for Our Efforts

Allah, like for example, a human, if I give you $5 as a gift, and from that you come back and buy me a gift, or lunch and you give it back to me. One possible response, I gave you that money, you're feeding me with my own money, what's the big deal? Allah doesn't say that. That you are giving sadaqa from the money I gave you. So, I don't care about that. Instead, Allah, He says, whatever you give, I appreciate.

He's asking me:

Can you give me a loan? Can you give me a loan? That money that He gave us, that risk that He gave us, that job He gave us, and it's His deen, look at the way He speaks to us. Are you willing to give me a loan? And trust me, I will give it back to you, not in the amount you gave me, I will multiply it numerous times before I give it back to you. That's what you call shakir. Someone who is appreciative of whatever we do.

The Benefits of Gratitude

And Allah not only does He say that He's appreciative, He says that, as long as you are appreciative, I'm gonna protect you from my punishment. He says:

How will Allah benefit by punishing you? As long as you have two qualities within yourselves. One is you're grateful to Allah and you have Iman. If you are grateful to Allah and you have Iman, Allah says, how will I punish you? Why would I punish you? That doesn't make me enjoy. I don't enjoy punishing you. So this is one of the beautiful benefits that we get from being thankful to Allah, is that we get protected from Allah's punishment.

Number two:

Allah says, if you are grateful to Allah, Allah will become pleased with you.

Number three, Allah says:

Allah says, Allah has made a declaration, if you are grateful to Allah, then Allah says, most definitely I will increase you in your blessings.

Gratitude to People as a Path to Allah

Respected friends, this is the order from Allah, the command from Allah, to not only appreciate Him, but to appreciate all of those means that He has chosen for us to enjoy blessings. Those means include our parents at the very top, our teachers, our spouses, our children, our neighbors, our relatives, fellow musallis, and fellow congregants. These are all avenues of Allah's blessings.

And we've been told by the Prophet ﷺ:

(Sunan Abu Dawud, Hadith 4811)

Whoever is not able to be grateful to the humans, will truly never be able to be grateful to Allah. If we cannot thank one another, and that's why Rasulullah ﷺ has said, that a person, when someone is enjoying some blessing, and someone has been kind to you, then the least is that we should thank him. And if we do not express our appreciation to him, then we have done kufr. كُفْرَانُ النِّعْمَةِ

You know, sometimes people are very hesitant and very reluctant to say, جَزَاكُمُ اللَّهُ خَيْرًا Or, thank you. That was a nice gesture, I don't know why. They have a very hard time being appreciative for things that are being shared with them. They take it for granted, that this is as though a right of theirs. And Rasulullah ﷺ is saying, that that is definitely a part of being كُفْرَانُ النِّعْمَةِ Ungrateful to Allah, that someone who's done good to you, you have to verbally, vocally, or through a message, somehow or another, let them know how much you enjoy it. It's not like, of course he knows I'm appreciative. That doesn't work. No. We need to praise them. We need to thank them. We need to let them know.

The Friday Sale of Salutations

And so let us ponder upon those blessings. Every day, especially on this Friday, when there's a Black Friday sale, someone said it so beautifully, Black Friday sale, you're gonna get maybe 10% off, 20% off on certain products. Maybe, and I've been reading that many times, their sales are better on days besides today. But one sale that goes on every single Friday, now you don't have to wait till next year, is a sale on صلوات على النبي. Every single day.

And what is that? Whoever sends one صلاة على النبي, whoever sends one salutation upon the Prophet ﷺ, Allah's immediate response is that Allah will send down 10 blessings upon you. And Allah will give you 10 rewards. And Allah will forgive 10 of your sins. And Allah will elevate your status in Jannah by 10 levels. That's every single day.

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 384)

So let us all say once:

Make a habit on your way out, in and out. Make a habit inshallah, especially in this beautiful blessed Jumu'ah to send as much salutations of the Prophet ﷺ, the one we just read, or simply صلى الله عليه وسلم itself.

I ask Allah to make you and I from amongst His grateful servants. Grateful to Him. Grateful to all of those who have been and are being kind to us. And allow us to be raised from amongst the شاكرين.