When Allah SWT created Adam (A.S), He ordered all the Angels and Iblees to prostrate to him. All the angels immediately prostrated, but Iblees did not. His pride prevented him from obeying Allah’s command. He gave the reason you created me from fire, and you created Adam from Dust. I am superior to him.
This story is beautifully mentioned in Surah Araaf and other places in the Quran. So when Allah got angry with him and ordered him to leave paradise, he challenged to misguide human beings till the Qayamah. You know what we wished for the Human Beings? He took an oath to make us ungrateful. He planned to snatch away this blessing of Gratitude given to us by Allah swt taala.
So let’s dive deeper into this article to explore this beautiful quality, which is an integral part of being a believer inshaAllah, and know why our biggest enemy wanted to snatch this blessing from us.
Gratitude is an antidote to depression
When we study the Quran, we come to know that gratitude is the opposite of Kufr. Emaan and Gratitude are deeply connected. One who is grateful is never depressed. This is a formula which given by our deen and can be applied and observed by practice.
Gratitude is not just a feeling. It is an act, a practice that comes only if we have emaan. The more gratitude we practice, the deeper our emaan grows. Not only Eemaan all other blessings in life will grow with gratitude.
“la in shakartum la azidannakum” (لَئِن شَكَرْتُمْ لَأَزِيدَنَّكُمْ) is an Arabic phrase from the Qur’an in Surah Ibrahim, verse 7, meaning:
“If you are grateful, I will surely increase you (in favor)”.
From the above verse, we also come to know that the opposite of Gratitude is Kufr. When an abd is ungrateful, He is in a denial mode. He does not accept the reality of life and challenges as they are. And this lack of acceptance and appreciation of what he already has takes him on a path where he goes into a blame and complain mode. He does not accept the responsibility of action, and the greater values like perseverance and patience will not be of interest. So we clearly see that gratitude is like a door to emaan and its growth.
Gratitude kills negative emotions:
“Be grateful to Allah for whoso is grateful is grateful for the good of his own soul.” [Surah 31, Ayah 12]
What prevents a Muslim from following his deen? What is the root of inaction? Why do we plan so much, but we fail to implement? Who stops us from living our lives fully and on purpose? If we throw the veil of blaming on situations and people, it will become apparent that it is we who become the biggest obstacle in achieving our true success/ fauzul kabeer.
We forget that Allah SWT has given each one of us this golden chance of striving to achieve real success. In the above Ayaah, it is clear that if we are grateful, it is for our good. Gratitude is the best gift we can give to ourselves. It gives us freedom. Freedom to take the right action at the right time. Negative emotions hijack a person. It is the biggest and most difficult challenge to human beings.
Gratitude cleans our soul and mind from these weeds. It acts like a fertilizer to dead hearts and souls. Only in a clean heart, the noor of Emaan reaches, and gratitude is the solution to all our modern-day problems.
Gratitude is linked with Wisdom
Surah Al-Luqman (31:12):
“And We certainly gave Luqman wisdom and said, ‘Be grateful to Allah.’ And whoever is grateful is grateful for the benefit of himself. And whoever denies [His favor] – indeed, Allah is Free of need and Praiseworthy.”
Here, Allah is mentioning gratitude with Wisdom. The Quran describes wisdom as an abundant good. So after gifting Luqman with the gift of wisdom, the very next advice He gave is to be grateful. Also from the above Ayaah, we come to know that Gratitude is solely for our own benefit, and Allah is Ghani and He does not need our ibadat and gratitude. It is for our own spiritual development.
Gratitude is Only with Practice
Gratitude is not just saying Alhamdulillah with the tongue. It is not just a zikr that we have to do mindlessly several times in a day. It is a powerful reminder and a tool of self-reflection and introspection. It is the medicine of a struggling nafs. We women love our homes. If we are truly grateful for this naymat, we take good care of it. Not only with tongue, we need to say Alhamdulillah for this blessing, but we need to do actions that beautify and maintain our home.
Likewise, for every blessing, we need to express gratitude through action. If we are truly grateful for having children, we put effort into giving them the best tarbiyah. It applies to all aspects of life.
Gratitude Changes Perception
Paradigm shift is what Stephen R Covey explains beautifully in his book “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.” It’s all about how we see things. Either the glass is half full or half empty to us. The same situation looks entirely different when we look at it through the lens of gratitude.
Gratitude changes everything in moments. We will not have to wait for years to become happy. Happiness is present right under our noses; we only have to change our perception, inshaAllah.
Emaan is the biggest blessing of all, and gratitude for the Emaan we have will change everything for the best. We don’t have to wait for years to become happy. Our happiness should not be dependent on any other naymat. We should never wait for x, y, or z thing to happen to be happy and grateful. We already have so much to thank and be happy for, Alhamdulillah.
So dear brother and sisters, let us take a pledge that we will truly take advantage of this beautiful blessing of Gratitude and become thankful for all the blessings that Allah swt has given to us, and make dua of khatima bil khair and rich Emaan. May Allah prevent us from becoming ungrateful and a tool of shaitan. InshaAllah, we will explore this topic more in our future articles, as it is impossible to do justice to this topic in just one article.
