Showing gratitude to Allah, exalted is He, is the obligation of every Muslim. True gratitude is an immense character trait and the believer who possesses it has reached a high rank. Allah says, pointing to the rarity of those who possess this trait: Few of My servants are truly grateful. 192 Allah also promises that He will increase the blessings of those who are grateful: Your Lord has proclaimed: “If you are grateful, I will surely increase you, but if you show ingratitude, verily My punishment is severe.”193
True gratitude is for the heart to be filled with witnessing the magnitude of the Bestower and His bestowal of immense bounties and grace upon His slaves. This witnessing leads believers to use their bodies to perform acts of obedience. They thus use the bounties that Allah has bestowed upon them for the purpose for which they were created, conscious of Allah’s grace and kindness and the immensity of His generosity. If they do this, they warrant an increase in blessings from Allah. Believers must be aware of the limitless blessings that Allah has bestowed upon them.
Allah says: If you were to count the bounties of Allah, you would never be able to number them.194 He also says: He has showered His blessings upon you, both seen and unseen. 195 Allah has showered His blessings upon every human being, but the greatest blessings are Islam and faith. If Allah has conferred upon you these two bounties, show gratitude to Him and praise Him. To show gratitude to Him here is to earnestly apply the teachings of Islam in your life. If you do so, Allah will raise your rank and increase you in faith, knowledge of Him, closeness and tranquillity and will bestow upon you felicity in this life and the hereafter.
Showing gratitude to Allah is a cause of receiving an increase in His favours and graces. All of Allah’s servants receive millions of His bounties in every instant. They experience these blessings in their sight, their hearing, their limbs, their movement, their stillness and their intellect. They experience them both internally and externally. There are millions of cells working in your body, each one performing a specific task. Each individual cell contains numerous blessings; transcendent is Allah, the Sublime!
You must therefore be aware of Allah’s bounties. He has made you a member of the best of nations brought forth to mankind, so thank Allah and constantly show gratitude to Him by giving each individual bounty its due. Employ your sight and hearing for the purpose for which they were created. Do not, for example, listen to someone’s conversation if you know that they are averse to you hearing them. If you do this, you will be punished on the Day of Judgement by molten lead being poured into your ears.196
Only listen to speech that draws you nearer to Allah and that which benefits you in your religion or your worldly affairs. Your tongue was created to remember Allah, to recite the Qur’an, to benefit you and assist you in your religion and in your worldly affairs, so use it for these purposes. Beware of using it for a purpose that Allah has forbidden. If Allah has endowed you with wealth, then show gratitude to Him by making sure that it comes from a source that is lawful and making sure that it is spent in the correct way. Every time Allah confers a bounty upon you, show gratitude to Him by using it for its intended purpose. Gratitude is the means of safeguarding Allah’s blessings. If you do not show gratitude for them, those blessings are in danger of being taken away. As a poet once said:
When you receive blessings, heed them
For truly sins eradicate blessings
Safeguard them by showing gratitude to Allah
For indeed Allah’s vengeance is swift
Thus, strive to be amongst the grateful, and strive to emulate the Prophet s who showed us the greatest example of gratitude. He would stand in prayer in the night until his feet became swollen. He was asked, “Why do you do this, O Messenger of Allah, when Allah has forgiven your past and future sins?”
He answered, “Should I not be a grateful servant?”197
What is remarkable is that if you show gratitude to Allah, He will in turn show gratitude to you!198 Who are you and what is your gratitude compared to the gratitude of Allah, the Creator, the Fashioner, the All-Capable? Allah states: Whoever desires the Hereafter and earnestly strives for it, and he is a believer—those shall have their striving rewarded.199 He also says: Whoever performs a good deed voluntarily, truly Allah is Grateful, All-Knowing.200
O Allah, help us to remember You, show gratitude to You and perfect our worship of You. Make us among the grateful, those who remember You often, those that constantly return to You, those who humble themselves to You, by Your mercy, O Most Merciful.
May the blessings and peace of Allah be upon our Master Muhammad and upon his family and Companions. All praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds.
192 Saba’, 34
193 Ibrāhīm, 14
194 Al-Naḥl, 16
195 Luqmān, 31
196 As in the hadith narrated by al-Bukhārī, 197 Narrated by al-Bukhārī , 198 In Arabic the word shukr is used to describe the gratitude the slave shows Allah as well as the recognition and reward that Allah grants the slave.
199 Al-Isrā’, 17
200 Al-Baqarah, 2
وَأَقِمِ ٱلصَّلَوٰةَ لِذِكْرِي
"And establish prayer for My remembrance."