Thank God, Another Break!

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم 

As-salaamu 'Alaykum Wa Rahmatullaah,

So, once again it's been another huge break since my last post.  It almost feels like my breaks or "pauses" end up being entire events in themselves.  If it was practical I would say "no updates" are like "posts" of themselves. Unfortunately, it's something that as of yet cannot manage to change. I really want to go back to the second part of the "No Cell Phone" post, but another thing came up which I have to put up while it's still fresh in my mind.  

If you couldn't guess already, it's another khutbah that I really wanted to share with you.  I pray to Allah that he allows us to benefit from it and to bring it into practice.  Aameen.

Indeed (without doubt) all praises, thanks, glory, etc., are due to Allah; we praise/thank/glorify Him and we ask Him for help and guidance. And we seek refuge in Allah from the evil of ourselves and from the evil of our deeds.  Whomever Allah guides, there can be none to misguide him/her, and whomever He allows to be led astray, there can be none to guide him/her.  And we bear witness that there is no true god worthy of worship except Him, One and unique, without any partners/parts/equals. And we bear witness that Muhammad in His slave, and last and final Messenger.  We send our salutations and peace upon the Prophet Muhammad and upon his family, his companions and all those who follow him in sincerity until the end of times, all together. 

Thereafter, "O humankind! Have Taqwa(consciousness/awareness/fear of punishment/love) of your Lord, Who created you from a single person, and from him He created his mate, and from them both He created many men and women, and have Taqwa of Allah through Whom you demand your mutual (rights), and revere the wombs (the bonds of kinship). Surely, Allah is always watching over you. " (4:1)   "Oh you who have believed! Have Taqwa of Allah and speak (always) the truth. He will direct you to do righteous good deeds and will forgive you your sins. And whosoever obeys Allah and His Messenger, he has indeed achieved a great victory. " (33:70-71)
Then, thereafter, brothers and sisters in Islaam, Allah, the Most High and Exalted, says in His esteemed book,  "(Iblis) said: 'Because You have sent me astray, surely I will sit in wait against them (human beings) on Your Straight Path.'  'Then I will come to them from before them and behind them, from their right and from their left, and You will not find most of them as thankful/grateful ones.' " (7:16-17)


Respected Brothers and Sisters in Islaam,

There are many places in the Qur`an where Allah, 'Azza Wa Jall, mentions the story of our father, Adam [AS] and how He, 'Azza Wa Jall, honored him.  Time and again, Allah, Subhaanahu Wa Ta'alaa, also mentions the story of Iblees, Shaytan, the Devil or Satan, and how he was once ranked among the angels though he was a Jinn by virtue of his once being obedient to Allah; how he disobeyed Allah, Subhaanahu Wa Ta'alaa, and was throw out of Jannah.  There are numerous lessons that we can learn from this story.  One specific lesson that we need to pay attention to is mentioned in Suratil A'araaf.  After informing us of how Shaytaan disobeyed Allah, and Allah gave him the verdict of punishment, and how he asked Allah for respite and Allah then gave him respite to stay on Earth until the Day of Judgment,  Allah tells us that  "(Iblis) said: 'Because You have sent me astray, surely I will sit in wait against them (human beings) on Your Straight Path.'  'Then I will come to them from before them and behind them, from their right and from their left, and You will not find most of them as thankful/grateful ones.' " (7:16-17)

Shaytaan has made it his goal to sit in the way of the straight path of Allah and try to take people away from it.  He told Allah, 'Azza Wa Jall, that he will approach people from every direction, from every manner possible; from in front of them, from behind them, from their right side, and from their left side.  And then, he made another observation, and he said that You, Allah, "will not find most of them thankful/grateful." 

My respected brothers and sisters in Islaam,
Shaytaan's main aim is to misguide people and make them do shirk against Allah. He strives to get people to set up gods with Allah; set up other people or things that they rely on or put their trust in; he gets people to look to other people or objects like the stars or constellations as sources of comfort.  But Shaytaan does not stop there.  He does not give up trying to misguide those who already stay away from shirk.  He tries to get those people to commit at least a lesser form of shirk or kufr (disbelief, ungratefulness).  One of the things which he mentioned that he will try to get people to do is to become ungrateful. So, to be among the true slaves of Allah, over whom Shaytaan, himself, had to admit he had no control, "except Your (Allah's) true righteous slaves,"  one of the things we have to do is to be of the shaakireen-- thankful, grateful slaves of Allah.

In order to be shaakireen, however, there are a few things we must look into:
1. "what is shukr or what is the importance of shukr?" and "why do we have to be shaakireen?"
2. We should look at examples of people before us who were thankful to Allah, or who were told to be thankful by Allah.
3. We need to ask, "who do we have to be thankful to?"even if it may seem obvious.
And, finally, we need to find out, "how do we do shukr?"

    So, what is the importance of shukr?  After telling us how Musa [AS] told his people to remember Allah's blessings on them when they were saved from the Pharaoh and his punishment of killing their male children and leaving their female children alive so their civilization would end, Allah tells us in Surah Ibraaheem that He, 'Azza Wa Jall,  made a proclamation, a declaration.  Allah declared, "And (remember) when your Lord proclaimed: "If you give thanks, I will increase/give you more (of My Blessings); but if you are thankless, verily My punishment is indeed severe." Then Allah tells us that Musa [AS] told his people, And Musa (Moses) said: "If you disbelieve, you and all on earth together, then verily Allah is Rich (Free of all needs), Owner of all Praise." (14:7-8)  In essence, shukr  is important for our own selves.  As Allah declared if we are grateful, Allah (SWT) will increase His blessings for us.  And if we are ungrateful, then we should be aware that His punishment is severe.  One importance of shukr, then, lies in the fact that we are in need of it ourselves, as Allah is not in need of anything. Musa [AS] told his people the same thing; he told his people that if they, and all the people on the entire Earth were to be ungrateful to Allah or to disbelieve Him, then without even the smallest of doubts, He is Rich, free of all needs, Most Praise-Worthy.

    Another importance of shukr is that our very belief may depend on it.  In fact, Allah commanded us to be thankful to Him in Suratil-Baqarah: "Therefore remember Me (by praying, glorifying), I will remember you, and be grateful to Me (for My countless Favors on you) and never be ungrateful to Me." (2:152)
Similarly, Allah tells us to be grateful to Him if we truly believe in Him: O you who have believed! Eat of the lawful things that We have provided you with, and be grateful to Allah, if it is indeed He Whom you worship. (2:172)
Then again in Suratin-Nahl, Allah tells us, "So eat of the lawful and good food which Allah has provided for you. And be grateful for the Favor of Allah, if it is really He Whom you worship." (16:114)

That is the importance of Shukr, so why should we be thankful to Allah? In Suratin-Nahl, Allah tells us, "And Allah has brought you out from the wombs of your mothers while you know nothing. And He gave you hearing, sight, and hearts that you might give thanks (to Allah)." (16:78)
Again in Suratus-Sajdah, Allah reminds us, "Then He fashioned him (Insaan; the human being) in due proportion, and breathed into him the soul; and He gave you hearing, sight, and hearts. Little is the thanks you give!" (32:9)
Sometimes we take all the blessings around us, like day and night for granted, so Allah reminds us, "And He it is Who has put the night and the day in succession, for such who desires to remember or desires to show his gratitude." (25:62)
     The question should then be, why not, --rather than why-- should we be thankful to Allah for even what we might think is the simplest of things?  Allah (SWT) asks us in Suratul- Qassas if He were make the Earth in a perpetual state of daytime, what god besides Allah could dare to be able to bring back the night so that we may rest.  Similarly, if Allah were make the Earth in a perpetual state of night, what god besides Allah could dare to be able to bring back the day.
    Why should we not thank Allah when He himself is appreciative and thankful to His slaves while He does not need to be so?  In fact, it is one of His siffah that He is ash-Shakoor, appreciative or thankful.  He, 'Azza Wa Jall, tells us in Suratil-Faatir(35) how He will reward the righteous people, "That He may pay them their wages in full, and give them (even) more, out of His Grace. Verily He is Oft-Forgiving, Ash-Shakoor (Most Ready to appreciate)." (ayah 30)
     Out of His appreciation for our obedience He rewards us, though He does not need to reward us for doing something we should be doing as His slaves to begin with.  In suratil-Insaan (76), Allah, 'Azza Wa Jall, says, after describing the Jannah  that His true servants will be entering, (And it will be said to them): "Verily, this is a reward for you, and your endeavor has been appreciated (accepted)." (ayah 22)  And again in Suratil-Israa (17) Allah expresses His appreciation, "And whoever desires the Hereafter and strives for it, with the necessary effort due for it while he is a believer  - then such are the ones whose striving shall be appreciated, (thanked and rewarded by Allah)." (ayah 19)
If think about all those reasons for the importance and necessity of shukr and honestly think about them, we realize that we can't actually properly be thankful.  And Allah, 'Azza Wa Jall, reminds us of that as well when He says in Surah Ibraaheem (14), "And He gave you of all that you asked for, and if you count the Blessings of Allah, never will you be able to count them. Verily, insaan (the human being) is indeed an extreme wrong-doer/self-oppressor, an extreme ingrate (disbeliever). " (ayah 34)
    That is the reality of the abundance of His blessings on us and our ungrateful nature.  However, Allah (SWT) did not leave it at that.  In suratin-Nahl (16) after describing the countless blessings of the stars and how they can be used to find directions; the roads that He enabled the human to make and how they are used to travel on; the animals and how they can be used for transport; the animals whose hides can be used for tents and the animals whose hides can be used for clothing, Allah, tabaarak wa Ta'alaa, says, "And if you would count the favours of Allah, never could you be able to count them..." But here Allah (SWT) ends the ayah differently and He says, "Truly/Indeed/Without even the smallest amount of doubt! Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful." (ayah 18)  That is the Mercy of Allah.  Yet, we should not get complacent and think that we do not need to thank Allah because He will forgive us as He is the Most Merciful and Most Forgiving.  Instead, we need to understand that Allah, 'Azza Wa Jall, is letting us know that He is aware of the fact that we cannot possibly thank Allah completely, the way He deserves, for the countless blessings that He gave us but that we should try our best to thank Him in the most complete manner possible and then He will forgive us for our shortcomings.

Now that we have looked into the reasons and importance of Shukr, we should look at examples of those before us who were thankful to Allah.  The wise man, Luqmaan, who was honored by Allah, and is mentioned in the Qur`an, was given wisdom and knowledge of the religion and was told to be thankful to Allah, "And indeed We bestowed upon Luqman Al-Hikmah (wisdom and religious understanding) saying: 'Give thanks to Allah.' " At the end of this ayah Allah reminds us again of the importance of shukr, "And whoever gives thanks, he gives thanks for (the good of) his ownself. And whoever is unthankful, then verily, Allah is All-Rich (Free of all needs), Worthy of all praise." (31:12) Luqman was told to thank Allah for the Hikmah he was given;  It is because of obedience to all of Allah's commands, including this one, that he was honored with being mentioned in  Al-Qur`an al-'adheem.

    Then we have the examples of the ulull 'adhm minar-Rosol, the most strong-willed of the messengers: Nuh, Ibraheem, Musa, Isa, and Muhammad  'Alyhimus-Salaam.   Allah (SWT) described Nuh [AS] as shakoor when He said, "O offspring of those whom We carried (in the ship) with Nuh (Noah)! Verily, he (Nuh)was a grateful slave." (17:3)
   Allah, 'Azza Wa Jall described Ibraheem [AS] as an entire Ummah, nation, unto himself, "Verily, Ibrahim (Abraham) was an Ummah, or a nation, obedient to Allah, Hanif (i.e. to worship none but Allah), and he was not one of those who were Al-Mushrikun (polytheists, idolaters)." (16:120) Directly following that Allah tells of one of Ibraheem's [AS] characteristics, "(He was) thankful for His (Allah's) Favors."  So Allah, "chose him and guided him to a Straight Path." (16:121) The thankfulness of Ibraheem [AS] was not limited to himself but it continued to his family.  When he left a part of his family in a barren desert with no signs of life around, this is the dua'a that he made, "O our Lord! I have made some of my offspring to dwell in an uncultivated valley by Your Sacred House (the Ka'bah at Makkah) in order, O our Lord, that they may perform As-Salaah. So fill the hearts of some the people among with love for them, and (O Allah) provide them with fruits so that they may give thanks."  At such a difficult time, in their life, Ibraheem [AS] asks Allah to give his family the ability to thank Him, 'Azza Wa Jall.
    Similarly Musa [AS] was a thankful slave of Allah.  As I mentioned previously, he reminded his nation to thank Allah and told them of its importance for their own benefit.  And Allah (SWT) further reminded him, (Allah) said: "O Musa (Moses) I have chosen you above men by My Messages, and by My speaking (to you). So hold that which I have given you and be of the grateful." (7:144) Finally we have the example of the final and last of all Messengers, the Imaam of all the Messengers, Muhammad (Sallallahu 'Alyhi Wa Sallam):

It was narrated that 'Aishah [RA] said When the Messenger of Allah prayed, he would stand for so long that his feet became swollen. 'Aishah [RA] said, 'O Messenger of Allah, are you doing this, while Allah has forgiven your past and future sins?' He (Sallallahu 'Alayhi Wa Sallam) said,"O 'Aishah, should I not be a thankful slave?" (Bukhari and Muslim)

May Allah, 'Azza Wa Jall, allow us to be true thankful servants of His.  May He help us understand the importance of thankfulness and may He allow us to learn from the examples of the true shakireen. Aqoolo qawlee hadhaa was-sataghfirullaaha lee wa lakom.  Fas-staghfiruho innahu huwal-Ghafooror-Raheem.   

Part 2
All praise/thanks/glory/etc. are for Allah, the one who guided us to Islam, and we would not have been guided had Allah not guided us. And we bear witness that there is no true god worthy of worship except Allah, One and Unique, without any partners/parts/equals. And we bear witness that Muhammad in His slave, and last and final Messenger,  may the most blessed salutations and peace be upon him and all his family and righteous companions. 


After talking about the importance of and reasons for being thankful and looking at some examples of thankful people, we should now ask, "who should we be thankful to?"  Allah (SWT) gives us the answer to that question when He says, "And We have enjoined on man (to be dutiful and good) to his parents. His mother bore him in weakness and hardship upon weakness and hardship, and his weaning is in two years - give thanks to Me and to your parents. Unto Me is the final destination." (31:14)
    There are three categories that we have to be thankful to. The first is being thankful to Allah.  The second is being thankful to our parents.  The third is being thankful generally to other people for what things/favors they may give us.  While it is clear how important the first two categories are, we should not forget that the third category is also of great significance.  It is related by Abu Dawood that the Prophet, Sallallahu 'Alayhi Wa Sallam, said, "He who does not thank the people, does not thank Allah."  If we can claim to be thankful to Allah and continue to behave arrogantly and ungratefully with people around us then Rasulullah Sallallahu 'Alayhi Wa Sallam is informing us that in actuality we are not being thankful to Allah either.  Another Hadeeth in Sunnan Abu Dawood hat is classed as saheeh by Al-Albani in his, Irwa' al-Ghaleel, stresses the importance of the third category,

Abdullah ibn 'Umar [RA] said: The Messenger of Allah said: "Whoever does you a favor, then reciprocate it, and if you cannot find anything with which to reciprocate it, then pray for him until you think that you have reciprocated him."

 The final question we need to address, after understanding the importance of and need for shukr, the examples of the shakireen, and who we have to be thankful to, is "how do we show our gratitude and how can we be thankful?
   A famous scholar, Ibn Qayyim [RH] described gratitude in his book, Madaarij Al-Salikeen,  as being composed of five parts:

Gratitude may be in [1] the heart, [2] in submission and humility, [3] on the tongue, [4] in praise and acknowledgement, [5] and in the physical faculties by means of obedience and submission.

Thankfulness is not something that we just express with our words while inside us we have no appreciation.  Thankfulness is not simply an empty expression used to create a superficially well-mannered society. Instead, it consists of, first, feeling grateful in the heart, then becoming humble out of that gratitude, and then actually expressing it.  It is no wonder that Allah, 'Azza Wa Jall, reminded Luqman to be thankful while giving him wisdom and knowledge.  And we know of the example of a person who becomes arrogant and self-centered instead of thanking Allah with humility when he or she is blessed with large amounts of wealth and knowledge.  We have the example of Qaroon, who owned such vast treasures that many of the strongest men from his community were needed to carry just the keys to those treasures.  But instead of thanking Allah, he boasted that "this has been given to me because of the knowledge I have." So the consequence of his ungratefulness was the he and all his treasures were sucked up and swallowed into the Earth.  It did not take ages and centuries to destroy Qaroon, Allah (SWT) instantly destroyed whatever Qaroon saw as a testament to his own greatness.
  How do we thank Allah, then?  The first and most important thing is to complete the faraaid, the obligatory duties we have as Muslims; to pray all five salwaat (pl. of salah) at their fixed times, to fast in the month of Ramadan, to pay zakah every year if our wealth falls above the nisaab, and to go to Hajj at least once in our lifetime if we have the ability in terms of health and wealth.  We can thank Him (SWT) on our tongue by remembering Him all the time.  After we have completed the faraaid, we should not stop there and think we have thanked Allah enough.  After all, we know that His blessings are so numerous that we would not even be able to count them.  We should try to do naafil, extra, acts of worship. If we are praying our faraaid then we should try to include the sunnah in our prayers.  If we get up for Fajr  we should not feel content by just praying the fard but we should pray the two rak'aah  of sunnah as well.  Similarly, for Maghrib and 'Ishaa we should not just pray the fard and then just sit around and start talking with one another, but rather we should try to complete our adhkaar (prescribed words of remembrance) after the salaah, and get up and pray the two raka'aat of sunnah after these two prayers.  I am singling out these two sunnahs because of a narration in Saheeh Al-Bukharee where one of the sahabah, in giving a tafseer of the ayah in Suratil-Furqaan about 'Ibaadur-Rahmaan, the true slaves of the Most Gracious, Allah,  said that when Allah says that they remember Him standing and prostrating, meaning remember Him day and night, that these people are those who regularly pray the sunnah after Maghrib  and 'Ishaa.
   How do we thank our parents?  We must be dutiful to them, we must obey them in all the halaal and Islamically good things that they ask us to do; we must be kind to them, respect them, honor them, help them, and serve them.  Only after doing all that can we claim that we are making an effort to thank them.
   How do we thank others?  Rasulullah Sallallahu 'Alyhi Wa Sallam gave us a simple and easy way to do that,

Narrated At-Tirmidhi that Usamah Ibn Zayd [RA] said: The Messenger of Allah said, "Whoever has a favor done for him and says to the one who did it, 'Jazaak-Allahu Khayr (Allah has rewarded you)'  has done enough to thank him." Classed as saheeh by Al-Albani in Saheeh At-Tirmidhi

 Subhaan-Allah, look at the blessing of Allah.  When we thank someone, we do not simply say "thank you" but we actually make a dua'a to Allah to reward that person and we tell him or her so. Even more interesting is that fact that although "Jazaak-Allahu Khayr" is usually translated as, "May Allah reward you," it is actually in the past tense, meaning "Allah has already rewarded you."  That is the assurance that Allah, 'Azza Wa Jall wants us to give to the person who does us a favor however small it may be.

Finally, I would like to share some practical steps with you that we can take to try to bring thankfulness into our lives:
The [1] first step to bring about any change in our lives, whether it is an effort to begin praying or giving up an evil sin, or doing more good deeds is du'aa.  We should not belittle this important step in any way, because in itself it is an 'Ibaadah (an act of worship) and by asking Allah to help us become thankful slaves of His we are accepting that without His help we cannot do anything.  That in itself is a form of thankfulness through being humble and submissive in front of Allah.  The Prophet, Sallallahu 'Alayhi Wa Sallam, himself suggested this to us:

It was narrated from Mu'aadh ibn Jabal that the Messenger of Allah took his hand and said: "O Mu'aadh, by Allah I love you, by Allah I love you." Then he (sallallahu 'alyhi wa sallam) said, " I advise you, O Mu'aadh, do not fail, following every prayer, to say: O Allah help me remember you, thank you, and worship you properly."  Abu Dawood & An-Nasaai'; classed as saheeh  by Al-Albani.

 So we should ask Allah, to help us be thankful to Him.  Allah (SWT) mentions that a similar dua'a is made by the person who serves his or her parents properly once he or she attains the age of full maturity; the dua'a he/she makes is mentioned in sutatil-Ahqaaf:   "My Lord! Grant me the power and ability that I may be grateful for Your Favour which You have bestowed upon me and upon my parents, and that I may do righteous good deeds, such as please You, and make my offspring good. Truly, I have turned to You in repentance, and truly, I am one of the Muslims (submitting to Your Will)."
In this dua'a by asking Allah to give us the ability to thank Him for His blessings on us and our parents we are also appreciating our parents and asking Allah to help us honor them by being thankful for their blessings as well.  And a similar dua'a was made by another righteous slave of Allah.  Allah (SWT) told the family of Dawood [AS] to be thankful to Him: "Do the deeds, O family of Dawud (David), of thankfulness!"  Allah (SWT) did not just say be thankful, O family of Dawood, but He told them to actually demonstrate their thankfulness through their deeds.  And the family of Dawood took that command to heart and we see what Dawood's [AS] son, Sulaymaan [AS] did when he came across the valley of ants.  When he heard them scurrying away and telling one another to hurry to their homes so Sulaymaan and his army don't trample them, he did not turn around to his army and tell them, "Look at what a vast army I have and how I can understand the language of such a creature as this ant" in an arrogant manner. Instead he smiled at hearing this and made a du'aa to Allah: "My Lord! Grant me the power and ability that I may be grateful for Your Favours which You have bestowed on me and on my parents, and that I may do righteous good deeds that will please You, and admit me by Your Mercy among Your righteous slaves." (27: 19)
And at another point when he asked the Jinns to bring him the throne of the queen of the town that he was inviting to Islam and one of the Jinn brought it to him in the "blink of an eye," again Sulymaan [AS] thanked Allah in humility and said: "This is by the Grace of my Lord - to test me whether I am grateful or ungrateful! And whoever is grateful, truly, his gratitude is for (the good of) his ownself; and whoever is ungrateful, then certainly/without the slightest of doubt my Lord is Rich (Free of all needs), Bountiful." (27:40)  The first thing, then, is to make sincere dua'a to Allah to help us become thankful.

The second step is to be content with what we have by looking at those below us, as Prophet Muhammad, Sallallahu 'Alyhi Wa Sallam, advised us, "Look to those people who have less than you and never look at those who have more than you; this will ensure that you will not depreciate Allah's grants." Saheeh Muslim

The third step is to constantly remember Allah even by simply saying "Al-Hamdulillah"

Narrated that Anas ibn Maalik said: The Messenger of Allah said: "Allah is pleased with a person who eats food and then praises Him for it, or who drinks some drink and then praises Him for it." (Muslim)

In another hadeeth we find that we should say "Al-Hamdulillah" in every situation:

When there came to him (Sallallahu 'Alyhi Wa Sallam) a matter that pleased him, he said, "All praise and thanks are to Allah, the One by whose Grace all righteousness or good deeds are completed" and when there came to him something he disliked, he said, "All praise and thanks are to Allah in all situations." (Saheeh Al-Jaami')

The fourth step is that we should talk about the blessings of Allah and remind one another.  It is narrated from one of the great predecessors,  'Umar ibn 'Abdul-'Azeez, that he said, "Remind one another of blessings, for mentioning them is gratitude.

I ask Allah, 'Azza Wa Jall, to make us true thankful servants of His; I ask Allah to help us understand the importance of thankfulness and to implement it into our lives; I ask Allah to help us follow the examples of the great people before us who were truly thankful to Him.  Aameen. 
O Allah, the Healer, the Sufficient, cure us and our patients and all the Muslim patients from their illnesses.  O Allah, help all the Muslims all over the world who are suffering oppression.  Take them out of the oppression and raise from them someone who will deal with them mercifully.  O Allah make us a true Ummah submitting to you.  O Allah send our salutations and your Blessings on our Prophet, Muhammad and on his family and companions.