The Disease Of Ingratitude: Recognizing Allah's Countless Blessings

Opening Praise and Salutations

الحمد لله الخالق الوجود من العدم، وجاعل النور من الظلام، ومخرج الصبر من الآلام، فنشكره على المصائب كما نشكره على النعم، ونصلي ونسلم على رسوله الأكرم، ذي الشرف الأسمى، والنور الأتم، وكمال النبيين والكتاب المحكم، سيد ولد آدم، الذي بشر به عيسى ابن مريم، ودعا لبعثته إبراهيم عليه السلام، حين كان يرفع قواعد بيت الله المحرم، والذي بارك الله به كافة الناس العرب منهم والعجم، فسبحان الذي لم يتخذ ولداً، ولم يكن له شريك في الملك، ولم يكن له ولي من الذل، وكبره تكبيرا.

الحمد لله الذي أنزل على عبده الكتاب، ولم يجعل له عوجا، قيماً لينذر بأساً شديداً من لدنه، ويبشر المؤمنين الذين يعملون الصالحات أن لهم أجراً حسناً.

أما بعد, O people, Allah says in His Book — I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Shaytan, in the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful:

And the Prophet ﷺ said:

"O women, give in charity and engage abundantly in seeking forgiveness, for indeed I saw that you were the majority of the people of the Hellfire."

(Sahih Muslim, Book 1, Hadith 192)

A lady from among them — an eloquent woman — asked: "Why is that, O Messenger of Allah?" And the Prophet ﷺ replied:

"You deny the goodness of your husbands (family members)." — or as he ﷺ said.

The Glorification of Allah

Respected audience, dear brothers and sisters, we start off with the glorification of Allah.

اللهم يا من لا تراه العيون — O Allah, the eyes cannot see You. ولا تخالطه الظنون — and thoughts cannot fathom You. ولا يصفه الواصفون — anyone attempting to give a description of Allah is unable to do so. يعلم مثاقيل الجبال — He knows the weight of the weightiest mountains. ومكاييل البحار — and the depths of the deepest oceans. لا يواري منه سماء سماءً ولا أرض أحداً — nothing can remain hidden from the sight of Allah.

Say, O Muhammad ﷺ: if the waters of the oceans were to be turned into ink, and all the trees of the world were to be turned into pens, and they get busy writing down the glorification of Allah, the pens will perish, the ink will finish, and the glorification of Allah will never end.

The Disease of Ingratitude — كُفْرَانُ النِّعْمَة

Respected audience, dear brothers and sisters, there is something each and every single one of us is afflicted by, and at times we don't notice the affliction that is present in our lives. There are sins that are at times open and apparent, and we notice them in our lives, and we actively work on getting rid of those sins, and then there are some other actions that we don't even notice, and they are a part of our lives, and at times they become hard habits, that are very difficult to get rid of. As the hadith of Rasulullah ﷺ states:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 52; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1599)

That halal is something which has been made evident by Allah, so is the case with haram, but in between these two things there are many gray areas that many people are unaware of, and they at times become accustomed to those bad habits.

One of those things is كُفْرَانُ النِّعْمَة — it's something that we engage in day and night. Allah brought us into this world, He granted us life — the gift of life — and He looks after us during our worldly life, and each and every single blessing that is present in our life that we have, is due to the sheer mercy of Allah. The very fact that we live healthy lives, we walk on the face of this earth, happens to be a blessing of Allah. Yet the insan is day and night engaged in كُفْرَانُ النِّعْمَة — that is, denying the blessings of Allah that are present in his life.

At times he eats food, and he says that he doesn't like the food. At times he is given clothes by Allah, yet he denies the clothes and says he doesn't like them. At times he is given children and pious progeny, and he says that he has not been granted pious progeny by Allah. He is given a beloved spouse, yet he says that they are not the best of the creation. And he goes on denying blessing after blessing, engaging in كُفْرَانُ النِّعْمَة, yet he doesn't even notice, due to the fact that he has gotten accustomed to it.

And I mentioned the hadith of Rasulullah ﷺ at the very beginning, in which he told the women of Medina to engage in istighfar. There was one lady who was very eloquent, and she used to ask questions from Rasulullah ﷺ. She said: "Ya Rasulullah, what is the reasoning behind it that you are telling us to engage in istighfar?" Rasulullah ﷺ replied:

"I noticed that you were in the majority in the fire of hell." So she asked why, and one of the reasons Rasulullah ﷺ stated was:

"You engage in not doing shukr of your family members" — that you deny the blessings that you've been granted by your family members. You spend your entire life with an individual, with a specific family, and in the end you say that you have not seen a single good day. This is the thing which takes the son of Adam to the brink of the fire of hell.

The Cure: Gratitude — الشُّكْر

Now, what happens to be the opposite of كُفْرَانُ النِّعْمَة? Yes, we do engage in it, but how do we counter the bad habit of كُفْرَانُ النِّعْمَة? That happens to be the attribute of the performance of the shukr of Allah. And we notice that Allah has mentioned that when a person engages in the shukr of Allah, he is granted an increment and increase in his blessings:

"If you were to engage in the shukr of Allah, being thankful towards the blessings that you've been granted, Allah will grant you an increment in your blessings. And if you deny the blessings of Allah, then know verily that the punishment of Allah is indeed very severe."

1. Gratitude of the Tongue — الشُّكْرُ بِاللِّسَان

Now when it comes to shukr, how do we engage in it? The easiest way is الشُّكْرُ بِاللِّسَان — and that is by saying:

And also letting the people around you know that you are happy with the decree of Allah:

"Whatever happens to me, I am happy with the decree of Allah." Remember, when Rasulullah ﷺ's last son passed away, what did he say?

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1303)

"Indeed we are very sad and we are full of grief, but we will only utter what pleases our Lord." So that happens to be الشُّكْرُ بِاللِّسَان. A person can frequently engage in the remembrance of Allah, and when a person constantly thinks about the blessings that are present in his life, unknowingly the shukr of Allah comes upon his tongue.

2. Gratitude of the Heart — الشُّكْرُ بِالقَلْب

The second type of shukr is الشُّكْرُ بِالقَلْب. This type of shukr comes from within the son of Adam when he notices the blessings that Allah has given him. It is the type of shukr that comes from the heart.

3. Gratitude of the Limbs — الشُّكْرُ بِالجَوَارِح

And lastly, الشُّكْرُ بِالجَوَارِح — and that is by engagement in طَاعَةُ اللهِ, that a person day and night is engaged in obeying Allah and not doing a single thing which happens to be disobeying the orders or the commandments of Allah. This happens to be the real form of shukr which will help us attain the success of this world and the life hereafter.

Ramadan Is Near — How Do We Prepare?

Now, respected audience, the reason why I mentioned the aspect of كُفْرَانُ النِّعَم and the aspect of doing the shukr of Allah is because we notice that the month of Ramadan is very near. Rasulullah ﷺ mentioned in a hadith:

(Sunan al-Nasa'i, Hadith 2106)

"The month of Ramadan has dawned upon you — it is indeed a very blessed month" — and Allah has granted you a night, the worship of which is better than the worship of a thousand nights.

Now when a person engages in the shukr of Allah and he has the active fikr within him that Allah has granted this as one of the greatest blessings, naturally he will prepare for that greatest blessing which is upcoming, and he will do everything which is in his power to fulfill the commandments of Allah — making sure that nothing happens in this month of Ramadan, and leading up to it, which happens to be the disobeying of Allah.

And how do we prepare for the month of Ramadan? The fuqaha have mentioned that a person can engage in a few things which will help him prepare:

1. Talking Less — قِلَّةُ الكَلَام

One of them happens to be قِلَّةُ الكَلَام — talking less. This is something that we grow accustomed to, and we talk left, right, back and forth — at times necessary, at other times completely unnecessary. As the hadith states:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2317; Ibn Majah, Hadith 3976)

We engage in unnecessary talk, so we should try to abstain from it, because a person needs to be engaged in the worship of Allah around the clock in the month of Ramadan.

2. Eating Less — قِلَّةُ الطَّعَام

Secondly, قِلَّةُ الطَّعَام — a person should practice eating less. And many a time we notice that in the first days of Ramadan, we feel so drained and feel like all joy has been sucked out of our lives — even though we should be feeling the opposite of that. But the moment the month of Ramadan starts, we start to dread the fasting, and when we are fasting, a lot of us complain: "I'm not happy anymore, I feel like the joy has been sucked out of my life." The reason for that is we are not accustomed to fasting. So a person should grow accustomed to being hungry and decreasing his intake of food.

3. Less Socialising — قِلَّةُ الاخْتِلَاطِ مَعَ الأَنَام

And lastly, قِلَّةُ الاخْتِلَاطِ مَعَ الأَنَام — that a person should try less meeting people, and try more practicing, engaging, and worshipping Allah in moments where he can be alone, without having to be around anyone.

May Allah give us the tawfiq to perform whatever we can in order to get us prepared for the month of Ramadan. I say this and ask Allah's forgiveness for me and you and for all Muslims — so ask His forgiveness, He is the Most Forgiving, the Most Merciful.

Second Khutbah

الحمد لله وحده، والصلاة والسلام على من لا نبي بعده.

O people, indeed Allah has commanded you with a great matter — He began it Himself and then His angels followed, and He called upon you, O believers, from among His creation of jinn and mankind. For Allah said:

Also, Allah says in His Book:

And He ﷺ said:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1987)

"Have taqwa of Allah wherever you are, and follow up a bad deed with a good deed that will erase it, and behave well towards people."

بارك الله لنا ولكم في القرآن العظيم، ونفعنا وإياكم بما فيه من الآيات والذكر الحكيم. إنه تعالى جواد كريم ملك بر رؤوف رحيم.

Announcements

Soulful Chats will be taking place today, insha'Allah. We invite sisters to spend an evening in the environment of the masjid with young sisters, where we will experience a unique opportunity to bond and discuss the challenges that our youth face today. Age limit: 13 to 21 years old. Time: 5:45 PM to 7:45 PM.

The program "Attaining Allah's Mercy" will be held on Monday after Isha, 7:45 PM, with Muslimin Hajiuddin — a weekly program.

Saturday Team Fajr will be held tomorrow, insha'Allah. Fajr iqamah is at 5:45 AM.

Bukhari Dars will continue Monday after Isha salah.

Tuesday's Tafseer program will continue from Surah al-Mu'minun after Isha salah, insha'Allah.

Also, weekly Salawat gathering on Thursday after Isha salah.

There is a du'a request from brother Zahir, who is in critical condition:

And also for brother Imtiaz's wife, who is critically ill and in need of du'a to come out of her coma. May Allah grant them both complete and swift recovery.

Additionally, there is a brother Christopher Epstein, who is standing for District 4, Glendale Heights. He is a 26-year resident of Glendale Heights and has served in various school and sports boards. He is running for all the people of Glendale Heights. There is also Jose Pacheco, also of Glendale Heights District 3 — he is a write-in candidate and a 32-year resident of Glendale Heights, running for all the residents of Glendale Heights.