Thanksgiving in Islam

By Dr. Muzammil H. Siddiqi

Then do ye remember Me; I will remember you. Be grateful to Me and reject not Faith.
(Al-Baqarah 2:152)
We bestowed Wisdom on Luqman: “Show (thy) gratitude to Allah.” Any who is (so) grateful does so to the profit of his own soul; but if any is ungrateful, verily Allah is free of all wants, worthy of all praise. (Luqman 31:12)
The Qur’anic word for thanks is “shukr.” It is mentioned in the Qur’an many times. Shukr is not only the way of good human beings; according to the Qur’an it is also the way of our Lord, our Creator. Allah loves thanks and thankful attitude and He says that He Himself is the most Thankful and Grateful Being. Four times in the Qur’an Allah is called “Shakur” (35:30,34; 42:23; 64:17) which means “Most Grateful.” According to scholars Shukr mean:
“It is the consideration of the favor and its acknowledgment. Shukr from the human means the recognition of the favor. Shukr from Allah means the reward and appreciation.”
Shukr is a very important principle in Islam. It is a quality of the believers and it is a source of all goodness. Shukr is used in the Qur’an sometimes as equivalent to faith. The faithful are thankful people and the unfaithful are ungrateful people. Allah has described His Prophets and Messengers among those who were thankful people. Prophet Noah was a grateful servant of Allah (Al-Isra’ 17:3). Prophet Abraham used to thank Allah for His many blessings (Al-Nahl 16:121). Prophet David and his family were told to be grateful to Allah (Saba’ 34:13). Allah told His Prophet Muhammad:
Nay, but worship Allah, and be of those who give thanks. (Al-Zumar 39:66)
Thankfulness creates many positive qualities in life. It makes a person happy, contented, hopeful and optimistic. Thankfulness takes away hate, anger, grudges and jealousy. Give thanks to someone and you will always see a smile in return. Thankfulness makes strangers friends; it can win even the hearts of the enemies. Thankfulness should not be only in happy times; it should be also in difficult times. Someone may say how a person can be thankful when he/she is in distress, difficulty, suffering and pain. We must, however, know that Shukr can change the difficulty. It certainly lightens the burdens of pain.
In Islam thanksgiving has two aspects: thankfulness to Allah and thankfulness to human beings. Thankfulness is not only a ceremony or festival; it is the whole life. The whole life should be lived in thankfulness to Allah who is our Ultimate Benefactor. We should also express our gratitude to many others from whom we receive benefits and services.
Allah has been good to us and so in our thankfulness we should worship Him and obey His commands and orders. Our daily prayers, our fasting during Ramadan, our Zakat and our Hajj are all our acts of thanksgiving. We should do them not only as duties; we should do them with an attitude of thankfulness and gratitude to our Lord and Creator. We should never forget that we are constantly under Allah’s favors and blessings. The Prophet –peace and blessings of Allah be upon him- was the most grateful servant of Allah. He taught us to remember Allah and give thanks to Him all the times. He told us that when we get up in the morning we should say:
When the Prophet – peace be upon him - used to go to bed, he used to say, “In your name I die and I live.” And when he used to wake up, he used to say, “Thanks be to Allah who brought us to life after he made us to die and to Him is the resurrection.” (Al-Bukhari, 5837)
When we eat, he told us that we should say:
When the Prophet – peace be upon him - used to eat or drink, he used to say, “Thanks be to Allah Who gave us food and drink and made us Muslims.” (Al-Tirmidhi 3379)
When we put on our clothes, we should say:
Whenever the Prophet – peace be upon him - put on any new dress, he would say its name ‘Amamah or shirt or shawl, then he would say, “O Allah, Thanks be to You, You gave me this to wear. I ask You to give me the good of this dress and the good for which it is made and I ask You to protect me from the evil of this dress and from the evil of that for which it is made.” (Al-Tirmidhi 1689)
The Prophet – peace be upon him - also said: “Those who do not thank people, they do not thank Allah.” (Al-Tirmidhi 1878)
We should be thankful to our parents. We should obey them, serve them and take good care of them when they need our help. We should thank our brothers and sisters, our relatives. We should thank our neighbors, coworkers, employers and employees. We depend on others and we owe many things to others. We must show our gratitude to every person in caring and thoughtful ways.
(Khutbah at ISOC – Shawwal 15, 1426/ November 18, 2005)

-DrSiddiqi@aol.com

Editor: Akhtar M. Faruqui
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