Gratitude Towards the Creator and Creation - Sh. Shakir Pandor | Islamic Reminder | Jumu'ah Khutbah

Gratitude Towards the Creator and Creation

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds. And the end is for the righteous.

And peace and blessings be upon the Master of the Prophets and Messengers. Our Master, our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and companions, all of them. And those who follow them with goodness until the Day of Judgment.

My Lord, open my heart, and ease my affairs, and release the knot from my tongue, so that what I say may be understood.

Glory be to You, there is no knowledge for us except what You have taught us. You are the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.

Respected Elders, Brothers, Mothers, and Sisters, Peace and blessings be upon you. It is really an honor for me to be amongst you and standing before yourselves, having an opportunity to say some words that I pray Allah will make beneficial for myself and for all the listeners, bi idhnillah ta'ala.

So when I was told by Brother Humayun that I will be leading in Masjid Darus Salaam, it was kind of interesting and exciting — just because I was an imam in Elizabethtown, Kentucky from 2008 to 2011. And in that time, I got to know Mufti Minhaj quite well. He was an imam in St. Louis at that time. And so I actually had the opportunity to go to St. Louis and speak at the masjid that he was at. And in that same time, Mufti Azeem had started the project, and it was an opportunity for me that they would come and visit to do their collections. So I got a chance to become more acquainted with them and take benefit from them.

Alhamdulillah, at that time the project was just in its early stages. And I still recall Mufti Azeem when he came to Elizabethtown, Kentucky to collect — he went over the project and what it was going to look like. And then to actually be able to see it — I mean, for yourselves, I guess those of you that have seen this project in its completion after it's been established for so many years, when a person gets desensitized, then they really don't appreciate their blessings. And that's what happens to a lot of us.

The Human Being Gets Desensitized to Blessings

We get desensitized very quickly. We get desensitized to our surroundings. This is the fitrah of the human being — the nature of the human being. Imam Ghazali, rahimahullah, he actually points out that when you constantly see sin, he talks about the five qualities of friendship — what are the five qualities that you should look for in a friend? And one of them that he points out is righteousness. Because if you have a friend who's a fajir, a person who transgresses and commits major sins, then he says, even if you don't do it, you're going to get desensitized to it. It's not going to have the same weight. It's not going to be the same issue in your sight.

So alhamdulillah, this masjid — to be able to see it after its completion, my first time seeing it after it's been established for a number of years. When we drove into the parking lot, Brother Humayun is telling me, "Well, you know, they're going to be doing the expansion." And I'm like, this is the first time I'm seeing it and the first thing you hear about is that there's going to be an expansion. May Allah take it from strength to strength. And may Allah bless the community, all the masajid wherever they may be, and all of the imams, and all of the great works of deen wherever they are taking place.

You know, I was originally from Toronto. I was an imam in Kentucky for a number of years, and then I got a chance to move back to Toronto. That's where I'm currently established. I'm an imam in a masjid a little east of Toronto. Toronto is many times compared to Chicago in different ways — but the Muslim population, mashallah, is a great number here, and it's also, mashallah, a great number over there.

Surah Al-Insan: A Reminder of Our Origins

So my few points that I would like to share with you are really in regards to a very interesting surah. Every single ayah and every single message that Allah makes mention of in the Qur'an is obviously very interesting. But Allah titles one of the surahs within the Qur'an — it has two names, actually, Surah Al-Insan or Surah Al-Dahr. One of the names of this surah is Al-Insan — the human being. Allah titles it "the human being."

And the first thing that Allah starts with is a very interesting reminder. Allah brings the human being back, takes the person back. You know, if you ever speak to your parents or grandparents — I'm a product of immigrants — so it was very common when I was a young kid to hear my parents say, "You know how it was like in our days? You know what it was like when we were growing up? You know what it was like at that time? What do you guys know?" This kind of rhetoric was something that we would hear. Reminding us: "Wait a minute, do you know where you're from? Like, you're a product of this."

And so Allah reminds the human being:

My brothers and sisters, today we're sitting here in these fascinating masajid. You know, there was a time we can go back to where there were no masajid. You know, I can talk about Toronto — when I was growing up as a young kid in Toronto, I was born and raised there. When I was growing up, there were no masajid. In the early 2000s, they actually tried to make a count of the masajid in Toronto and it came up to over a hundred. But I was born in 1977 — in the early 80s, there was one masjid in Toronto. And I couldn't even go there because it was so far.

We can probably trace our steps back and find out when Islam first established in our countries. Actually, last year for the Canadians was the 150th year of Canada being established, and October over there is actually recognized as Islamic History Month. So we actually did a presentation with our local library. We had a historian, a Muslim brother, who actually put together a presentation on the history of Muslims in Canada. And we found out that Muslims were in Canada even before Canada was established. But we can trace our roots back. But what happens before that? There was no Islam there — at least to our understanding.

And so Allah makes us trace our steps back:

Do you realize? Do I and you realize? There was a time that this earth was empty of humans. Never mind Muslims, never mind Islam — there was a time when this earth was empty of human beings entirely. The human being was not something to be mentioned. Nobody would make mention of a human because there was no example of a human being on earth.

And what is Allah trying to establish by saying this? Ibn Kathir, rahimahullah, mentions: He is trying to establish the du'f — the weakness of the human being. Like, you are not somebody that occupied this earth by yourself. You were put here. You didn't create yourself. You were put here. So understand that.

There was a time that this earth didn't have all these monuments, all of these structures, these great buildings. Allah when He reminds us about the 'Ad and Thamud, He mentions regarding the 'Ad:

You build these structures all for what? For the purpose of trying to live forever. You establish yourself on the earth with this idea that you're going to live forever. So Allah wants us to remember. Remember our roots. Remember where we actually came from.

Created from a Drop — The Reality of Human Origin

And that's why Allah says right after that:

That we created this human being from a drop of liquid that was mixed. The human being was not even created from just one parent — just one individual. The father and the mother had to come together — two liquids had to come together for this human being to actually be produced. It doesn't matter how much a man as a male might feel himself dominant — he can't keep his progeny on earth without having a female. This is a system that Allah created.

And then right after that Allah says نَّبْتَلِيهِ — so that we can test them. And Allah says right after that, فَجَعَلْنَاهُ سَمِيعًا بَصِيرًا. Think about your faculties. Think about your abilities. Think about what you have — because of which you are who you are. Today on earth, each one of us might claim our own status. But the reality is that without being سَمِيعًا بَصِيرًا — hearing and seeing — you are nobody. That defect is very difficult.

The Story of a Friend Who Lost His Sight

You know, I had a friend of mine who actually became blind. Many times we come across people who were blind — we've always known them to be blind. But I had a friend of mine who actually lost his eyesight, and it was a really ajeeb experience. He was a little elder than me when we were studying. And he had a tumor in his brain — it went undetected. The doctors actually thought it was just migraines, and that's what they kept diagnosing. He was getting medication for that. And one day he woke up and he was blind. He couldn't see.

And because he was a friend of mine, I actually had a chance to go for 'umrah with him, and I had a chance by the favour of Allah to lead him in tawaf. And my brothers and sisters, I don't think we actually realize — when you have a young person, this man was in his early 20s — the challenge for this man. His younger brother was also a friend of mine. And he was saying, "You know, my brother just doesn't want to accept that he's blind. So he'll wake up in the morning and he'll try to run down the stairs just to prove to himself, 'No, I can do it. I'm not blind.'" In his initial days he didn't want to accept it. If anybody tried to tell him he was blind, he didn't want to accept that he was blind. And he would try to do everything as he normally would do. And it was very challenging on the family, because the family would have to always be on the lookout — he's going to hurt himself. He can't take care of himself. And they knew that, but he didn't want to accept that. He would get so upset.

فَجَعَلَهُ سَمِيعًا بَصِيرًا — we don't know what the faculty of sight actually means. We don't know what it means. Only because we're desensitized to it. We're used to the fact that we have it. And we always assume we'll always have it. But that is from Allah.

Guidance and the Two Paths

So Allah then says something again very profound, and that's basically the gist of my talk. Allah says after that:

We are the ones who guided him in his way. The human being is programmed — all of us are programmed. That's the fitrah. That's the fitrah that we are upon. Allah calls Himself الْفَاطِرُ. And He says:

That's the nature that Allah has put us upon. The fitrah has been ingrained — it's innate, it's something Allah has programmed within us. And so Allah says, إِنَّا هَدَيْنَاهُ السَّبِيلَ — We guided him in the way. And the scholars point out that السَّبِيلَ here is either way.

Because in other surahs Allah makes mention in Surah Al-Balad. For example, Allah says:

Two possible outcomes that this person can have — either the path of good or the path of evil. But the way Allah defines that over here is very interesting again. He says, إِنَّا هَدَيْنَاهُ السَّبِيلَ — We guided this human being. We put instincts within him:

It's the same Allah who has put instincts of good and instincts of evil within this human being. And so Allah says: إِمَّا شَاكِرًا وَإِمَّا كَفُورًا — this human being has been guided to either be grateful or to be kafur.

Gratitude — The Greatest Element of Guidance

It's interesting Allah doesn't say "believer and disbeliever." Allah says "grateful and ungrateful." Because gratitude, my friends, is really a very important element of guidance. It's possibly the greatest element of guidance. If a person wants to be guided, they need to have gratitude. And a person who's grateful generally will find their way — unless they become stubborn and their gratitude is not sincere. And that's why Allah tells us in another verse:

Allah says: what is Allah going to get out of punishing you if you are grateful and you believe? He brings gratitude before belief. And then Allah says, وَكَانَ اللَّهُ شَاكِرًا عَلِيمًا — Allah Himself is one who is appreciative. Allah is appreciative. So Allah has given us faculties. Allah wants us to be appreciative. Because the opposite of appreciation is kufr — that's what He terms it as. It's translated as ungratefulness, but it's also translated as disbelief. We know the word kufr can be translated as ungratefulness, ingratitude, and it can also be translated as disbelief.

And in some places in the Qur'an, it's generally only translated as ingratitude. In Surah Ibrahim, Allah mentions:

If you're grateful, I will increase my favors upon you. And if you're ungrateful, then my punishment is severe.

Gratitude Towards Parents

Human beings by nature demand gratitude for themselves. The place where gratitude is a must towards another human being is towards parents. Allah Himself makes mention in Surah Luqman:

Be grateful to Me and be grateful to your parents. You know, anybody that's a parent will know that when a child is ungrateful towards them, it's very very difficult on the parent.

You know, I remember when I was in Kentucky, when I was the imam there, I came across an advert — because the town that I was in was part of the Bible Belt — and so selling alcohol was generally prohibited. But not only was it prohibited, they had adverts against selling or consuming alcohol. And I came across this advert: it was just a young child, the father is taking care of him, trying to make him walk, helping him ride his bike, showing these life events of this child with the father. And this child grows up, and at the end, the child is about 14 or 15 years old and says, "Dad, I want to have a party." The father says, "Sure." The child says, "Could you buy some alcohol for me?" The father says, "No." And then the child pushes the dad and says, "You've never done anything good for me." And then the advert comes up: "Don't be a pushover." You know how the feeling is when a child is ungrateful towards their parents, shows ingratitude towards their parents — and the parent actually knows what they've done for this child.

The Story of Abdullah ibn Umar and the Yemeni Man

That's why Imam Bukhari in his Al-Adab Al-Mufrad has narrated the narration where Abdullah ibn Umar, radiyallahu 'anhu, was doing tawaf of the Ka'bah, and a Yemeni man was carrying his mother on his back, doing tawaf. And he said to Abdullah ibn Umar, in a poetic manner, "I've carried her more than she carried me. I've carried her for longer than she's carried me." This man had carried his mother from Yemen all the way to Mecca and was making her do tawaf of the Ka'bah. "I've carried her longer than she's carried me — meaning she carried me for nine months in her stomach, and then she nursed me. And so I've done, in my time, I've carried her longer than what she's carried me. So have I repaid her right that's upon me?"

And Abdullah ibn Umar, radiyallahu 'anhu, looked at him and answered: "Not even for one pang that she felt at the time of labor — one pang that she felt — you haven't even repaid her for that. Never mind the actual pregnancy, the whole pregnancy, and the actual labor, and the actual nursing. Your claim that you've carried her longer than she's carried you doesn't mean that you've fulfilled her right upon you."

(Al-Adab Al-Mufrad, Imam Bukhari, Hadith 11)

So, gratefulness towards parents — gratitude towards parents. If a person is really not able to show gratitude towards their parents, it's very difficult for that individual to show gratitude to Allah. And that's why Allah ties it together. And Ibn Abbas, radiyallahu 'anhu, mentions that in this ayah this is the condition — a person cannot be grateful to Allah if they're not grateful to their parents. Allah puts it together: أَنِ اشْكُرْ لِي وَلِوَالِدَيْكَ.

What Does True Gratitude Mean?

So Allah in this surah mentions the importance of gratitude, and this is a necessity upon us, my friends. And when we say gratitude, what does it mean? Sending a thank you card? You know, I recall coming across — and this is just from my memory — about the lady who actually started Mother's Day as a celebration. She spent all of her money afterwards against it. It was because of her that it was established, but when she realized it was commercialized and people were not actually showing gratitude to their mothers, she actually spent her money against that: "This is not what I started it for."

So, my brothers and sisters, gratitude is something that we have to think about. And Allah reminds us about our weakness, about who we actually are, where we came from, what we actually have, and that everything comes from Allah.

It's not just a thank you card. It's not just sending an emoji, an emoticon. Because that's become our case today — that's the way we work in our world. Everything is expressed through an emoticon. The thank you is no longer a thank you. Before, people used to actually write "thank you" out — maybe people had to actually buy a thank you card and post it. Now it's just an emoticon. And what's worse than that, with WhatsApp, you get the blue ticks. So the guy saw it but he doesn't reply. He doesn't say you're welcome. So next time I'm not going to send it to him. Look how ungrateful he is.

So it's our world — it's a world of ingratitude. We're very selfish. And this is a challenge for us, my friends. To really recognize Allah and to be grateful to Him. Because the time is going to come where we're going to really understand our own weakness:

The people are going to be in the graves for years on end. And then when they're going to be asked, they're not going to even know the time. They will say: we only stayed a little while — go ask those who kept count.

Allah in this surah then points out what happens to those that are grateful — the blessings and the ni'mah that Allah has kept for them. And I'll end with that. Allah says that your efforts of that Day are going to be recognized by Allah:

And Allah also says: إِنَّ هَٰذَا كَانَ لَكُمْ جَزَاءً وَكَانَ سَعْيُكُم مَّشْكُورًا — Indeed this is for you a reward, and your effort has been appreciated.

Closing Du'a

Inshallah, hopefully we can take this message back. Be aware of Allah. We pray that Allah blesses us with true gratitude towards Him, towards those that have ihsan upon us, and to be able to recognize the blessings of Allah and to be able to benefit from them. Alhamdulillah.