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)
And remember! Your Lord caused to be declared (publicly):
"If ye are grateful, I will add more (favors)
unto you; but if ye show ingratitude, truly My punishment
is terrible indeed." (Ibrahim 14:7)
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)
Yesterday (November 25) was the National
Day of Thanksgiving in America. It is a beautiful
holiday. It contains a good spirit and good message.
It is not a holiday of any particular religion.
It is not a Christian or Jewish holiday but it has
many deeply religious and spiritual meanings. I
believe that America at thanksgiving is America
at its best. It is unfortunate that like many other
moral and spiritual things this holiday is also
turned nowadays into too much indulgence and commercialism.
It is important that we remember and remind others
about the spirit of thanksgiving.
The Qur’anic word for thanks
is “shukr.” It is mentioned in the Qur’an
many times. It is the quality of human beings and
it is also the quality of Allah. According to scholars
Shukr means:
“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)
Allah also promised:
Nor can a soul die except by Allah's leave, the
term being fixed as by writing. If any do desire
a reward in this life, We shall give it to him;
and if any do desire a reward in the Hereafter,
We shall give it to him. And swiftly shall We reward
those that who are thankful. (Al ‘Imran 3:145)
In Islam thanksgiving is not only
a particular religious act or service; it is the
whole life. The whole life should be lived in obedience
to our Ultimate Benefactor, Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala.
God has been good to us and so in our thankfulness
we should worship Him, obey His commands and orders.
Our daily prayers, our fasting during Ramadan, our
Zakat and Hajj are all our acts of thanksgiving.
We should do them not only as duties that must be
performed but as our gratitude to our Lord and Creator.
Furthermore we should remind ourselves
that we are constantly under Allah’s favors
and blessings. There are many special prayers that
the Prophet taught us to keep us on the path of
gratitude and thankfulness. He told us that we 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)
When we take a ride for a journey
we should say:
The Prophet – peace be upon him - when he
used to mount his camel going on a journey he used
to say Allah Akbar three times and then he would
say, “Glory to Him Who has subjected these
to our (use), for we could never have accomplished
this (by ourselves). And to our Lord, surely, must
we turn back!" (Al-Zukhuf 43:13) O Allah, we
ask you this journey righteousness and piety and
the deeds that are pleasing to you. O Allah, make
this journey easy for us and shorten its distance.
O Allah, You are the Companion in journey and You
are the Guardian for the family (left behind). O
Allah, We ask you to protect us from the exhaustion
of journey, from bad scenes and from bad return
to our property and family.” When he used
to return he used to say, “Returning, repenting,
worshiping and praising our Lord.” (Muslim
2392)
Islam does not only teach us to thank
Allah, but we are also told to thank our parents,
our spouses, our friends, neighbors and all those
who do any good to us. The Prophet – peace
be upon him- said:
“Those who do not thank
people, they do not thank Allah.” (Al-Tirmidhi
1878)
(Khutbah at ISOC – Shawwal 13,
1425/ November 26, 2004)
