Shall I Not Be A Thankful Servant

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
Assalaamu alaykum

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

The grammar of the people of Divine Oneness (Tauhid) is very simple. The doer (فاعل) is Allah and everything else is the done-to (مفعول به). If one realizes this, the servant responds to the reality that Allah is the Creator. The only sincere response of the servant is of thankfulness. "Shall I not be a thankful servant?"

وَٱللَّـهُ أَخْرَجَكُم مِّنۢ بُطُونِ أُمَّهَـٰتِكُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ شَيْـًٔا وَجَعَلَ لَكُمُ ٱلسَّمْعَ وَٱلْأَبْصَـٰرَ وَٱلْأَفْـِٔدَةَ ۙ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ ﴿٧٨

And Allah has extracted you from the wombs of your mothers not knowing a thing, and He made for you hearing and vision and intellect that perhaps you would be grateful. (78)

[Qur'an An-Nahl 16:78]

وَمِن رَّحْمَتِهِۦ جَعَلَ لَكُمُ ٱلَّيْلَ وَٱلنَّهَارَ لِتَسْكُنُوا۟ فِيهِ وَلِتَبْتَغُوا۟ مِن فَضْلِهِۦ وَلَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ ﴿٧٣

And out of His mercy He made for you the night and the day that you may rest therein and [by day] seek from His bounty and [that] perhaps you will be grateful. (73)

[Qur'an Al-Qasas 28:73]

وَمَا يَسْتَوِى ٱلْبَحْرَانِ هَـٰذَا عَذْبٌ فُرَاتٌ سَآئِغٌ شَرَابُهُۥ وَهَـٰذَا مِلْحٌ أُجَاجٌ ۖ وَمِن كُلٍّۢ تَأْكُلُونَ لَحْمًا طَرِيًّا وَتَسْتَخْرِجُونَ حِلْيَةً تَلْبَسُونَهَا ۖ وَتَرَى ٱلْفُلْكَ فِيهِ مَوَاخِرَ لِتَبْتَغُوا۟ مِن فَضْلِهِۦ وَلَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ ﴿١٢

And not alike are the two bodies of water. One is fresh and sweet, palatable for drinking, and one is salty and bitter. And from each you eat tender meat and extract ornaments which you wear, and you see the ships plowing through [them] that you might seek of His bounty; and perhaps you will be grateful. (12)

[Qur'an Fatir 35:12]

وَإِنَّ رَبَّكَ لَذُو فَضْلٍ عَلَى ٱلنَّاسِ وَلَـٰكِنَّ أَكْثَرَهُمْ لَا يَشْكُرُونَ ﴿٧٣

And indeed, your Lord is full of bounty for the people, but most of them do not show gratitude." (73)

[Qur'an An-Naml 27:73]

The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, used to recite long prayers at night, as Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) reported:

“The Prophet used to offer prayer at night (for such a long time) that his feet used to crack. I said, "O Allah's Apostle! Why do you do it since Allah has forgiven you your faults of the past and those to follow?" He said: “Shouldn't I love to be a thankful slave (of Allah)?”

[Bukhari]

The greatest gratitude comes from having this view of Allah.

In times of ease and in times of difficulties, you are thankful. Allah gives us blessings so that we are appreciative and Allah gives us difficulties so that we learn and turn to Him. Any blessing, trial and tribulation is a way to come close to Him.

If you are thankful, you are fulfilling the very wisdoms by which Allah created things. To the extent that one is thankful is the extent of that Divine facilitation given whether manifest physically or spiritually.

Keep our tongues moist with the remembrance of Allah, praising Him and thanking Him.

The greatest remembrance of Allah is the Qur'an itself. Strive to recite a juz or two of the Qur'an everyday and strive to embody the meanings as much as you can in your life. If you can't recite that much, start with a page a day and gradually increase it. If you still can't do that on a daily basis, find a time when you are doing chores or when you are driving and listen to the Qur'an. Almost everyone has a mobile phone with storage and media player. Fill it with Qur'an recitation of good reciters and even some of your own or your children's (instead of music, movies/videos, games and pictures) and listen to the recitation while you are waiting somewhere for someone or some thing.

Choose to occupy yourself with Qu'ran rather than doing all those things that don't bring benefit to your present worldly life and your next worldly life, which are too many to enumerate here, and they can be subtle or apparent. But be aware of our enemies--the nafs (lower self, ego) and hawa (desires/caprice), dunya (love of this world) and shaytan. Don't let your nafs, desires and lusts control you, don't let the world consumes you and don't let the Shaytan trick you into thinking that you are fine and you have time. The time that has passed will never return and the future is not in our hands but in His.

فَسُبْحَٰنَ ٱلَّذِى بِيَدِهِۦ مَلَكُوتُ كُلِّ شَىْءٍۢ وَإِلَيْهِ تُرْجَعُونَ ﴿٣٨

So exalted is He in whose hand is the realm of all things, and to Him you will be returned. (83)

[Qur'an Ya-Sin 36:83]

May Allah make us among those who are grateful. Ameen.

Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.

And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam

p.s.

Nafs -- deals with your sense of self (internal diseases such as arrogance, pride, avarice, etc)

Hawa -- is a subspecies of nafs, it deals mainly with appetites and lusts related primarily to stomach and sexual organs.

Dunya -- the appeal to get ahead and gather wealth. Usually manifested in either greed for possessions or fear of losing possessions.

Shaytan -- whispers ideas to the person related to one of the above. He's the weakest of the enemies as he just calls the person to one of the above. That's why some say the nafs is worst than 70 shayateen.