Islamic Character Reflections

Are You Thankful?

Recently my city got hit by a blizzard. In the middle of the storm, I had to make a trip outside in the whiteout conditions. Walking in the blizzard was pretty amazing; the storm almost knocked me down with powerful wind gusts, visibility was low, and the snow was still coming down hard. It got me thinking about how easy it is for Allah to cripple a society by just altering the weather slightly. The same precipitation that falls from the sky, giving life to Earth, can also be used by the Creator to take it all away. It’s pretty amazing – the fact that this doesn’t happen often is a Mercy from Allah, and one of the blessings we ought to be deeply thankful for.

The Concept of Thankfulness

In the Qur’an, Allah says about being thankful,

14:7

“And [remember] when your Lord proclaimed, ‘If you are grateful, I will surely increase you [in favor]; but if you deny, indeed, My punishment is severe’.” (14:7)

In this ayah (verse), Allah tells us that if a slave is grateful, He has promised that He will increase the blessings that have already been given to them. But if the slave denies the blessings that they have been given, the punishment from his Lord is severe. Let’s take a deeper look at this verse.

The concept being communicated in the ayah is emphasized greatly through the language. In Arabic, emphasis can be placed, not with separate words or additional adjectives, but with just an added letter and/or a shaddah1 to intensify the meaning of what is being said. The purpose of this emphasis technique is to remove any doubt from the mind of the reader to the truth of what is being read. Because of this, with translation we lose aspects of the meaning; English lacks the same use of emphasis, which means we can remain unaware of specific points that we should be focusing on.

In this verse from Surah Ibrahim, there are eight points of emphasis. The complete meaning being conveyed in English is, ”if you are truly thankful, then certainly, most definitely I shall increase many times for you [in favor]’, and ‘if you were to actually deny my favors, then certainly, most definitely My Punishment is extremely severe.”

This subtle depth of meaning is lost when we translate the ayah. Once we understand this emphasis, we can begin to appreciate the true depth of what Allah says.

Allah has given a promise that, if we are thankful to Him for His blessings, He will certainly give us more. Yet, if we were to be ungrateful, Allah does not say outright that He will give us a punishment; rather He leaves it open as if to remind us that, ‘look, My Punishment is severe – that is all you need to know so start becoming thankful for your own benefit.’

The Opposite of Thankfulness

Another important point to make is that Allah uses disbelief (كفر) as the opposite of thankfulness (شكر). A kafir (كافر) is one that “covers something up” and this is why a farmer is linguistically known as a kafir because he covers up seeds with soil – this word ‘kuffara’ is also in Surah Hadeed (Qur’an, 57:20). Allah pairs up shukr and kufr to teach us that they are opposites of each other. This is why in the verse the word ‘kafar’ is used, which comes from the root (كفر), to say that one who is ungrateful “covers up” or rejects the blessings of Allah thereby belittling them and showing ingratitude. This relationship between the two opposing concepts is highlighted elsewhere in the Qur’an where Allah pairs these two words together:

2:152

“So remember Me; I will remember you. And be grateful to Me and do not deny Me.” (2:152)

Iblees (satan) also said that his ultimate goal was to make us disbelieve Allah through his method of making us ungrateful to Allah:

7:17

“Then I will come to them from before them and from behind them and on their right and on their left, and You will not find most of them grateful [to You].” (Qur’an, 7:17)

Allah ties iman (faith) to being thankful:

4:147

“What would Allah do with your punishment if you are grateful and believe?” (Qur’an, 4:147)

And the pleasure of Allah is tied to being thankful to Him:

39:7

“…And if you are grateful, He approves it for you…” (Qur’an, 39:7)

Lastly, being thankful is showing humility towards Allah. When we take a look at the Qur’anic story of Qarun who was blessed with great wealth, we see that despite all of his blessings, he was someone who failed to be grateful. What did he say?

28:78

“He said, ‘I was only given it because of knowledge I have’…” (28:78)

Qarun was ungrateful, he was arrogant and he rejected Allah’s blessings. Because of this Allah caused the Earth to swallow him up as a punishment for his arrogance. This teaches us that if we are not consciously being grateful towards Allah, we can build within ourselves a type of arrogance that deludes us into believing that whatever blessings we have is due to ourselves instead of Allah. We need to understand and practice gratefulness consciously, but how?

Thankfulness in Our Lives

Once the importance of being grateful has been established, the question is: How can we become grateful to Allah? A key rule to remember is that true thankfulness towards Allah is to use the blessings He gave us in a manner that will earn His Pleasure. We have countless blessings in our lives and cannot ever truly be thankful for them. We have warm homes, plentiful food, family, friends, cars, money in our wallets and bank accounts, quality education – and the greatest blessing of all: we have been blessed with imaan. Can we truly be thankful to Allah in the manner which He deserves? Perhaps not, but we can definitely make a conscious effort to start acknowledging these blessings in our life and increasing in good deeds to show gratitude.

We can thank Allah for the warm bed by getting up for Fajr salah. We can thank Him for the money in our wallets by giving to charity. We can thank Him for the great food we eat by feeding others. We can start by setting the bar high for ourselves in doing good deeds and make our intentions of doing them only to show gratitude to Allah. We can start by being better servants to Him and doing what He has commanded us to do (in patience and forbearance) and staying away from what He has forbidden.

Going back to the snow storm, it was truly a reminder for me when I walked into my home – the fact that I had shelter with a roof over my head, warmth, food, a warm bed and comfort from the storm outside. It was a reminder to me that Allah has truly blessed me and there is much that I need to be thankful for, which perhaps I was overlooking by taking it for granted.

Let’s start by being more conscious of the blessings we have and increasing in our ‘ibaadah (worship) to show shukr – thankfulness. After all, the best of Allah’s creation would spend his entire nights in worship just to show gratitude to His Lord, didn’t he ﷺ (Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him)?

It was reported in al-Bukhârî and Muslim by our mother ‘Aishah (ra) that the Prophet ﷺ stayed up all night in prayer, stand­ing until his feet became swollen. When he was asked, “Why are you doing this, when Allah has forgiven all your past and future wrong actions?” he replied, “Should I not be a grateful slave?

So the question is, should we not follow in his ﷺ blessed footsteps and try our best to be grateful slaves as well? After all:

31:12

“…And whoever is grateful is grateful for [the benefit of] himself. And whoever denies [His favor] – then indeed, Allah is Free of need and Praiseworthy.” (Qur’an, 31:12)


  1. The ‘ّ’; double Arabic consonant.

About the author

Mansoor Ahmed

Mansoor Ahmed

Mansoor Ahmed recently graduated with a Bachelors in Computer Information Systems and is working as an IT professional in the healthcare industry. During college, he served as President of the Muslim Student’s Organization. He is studying Qur’an and the science of Tajweed with Shaykh Uthman Khan of Canada at Jaamiah Jazriyyah. His interests include technology, swimming, Arabic, Qur’anic studies, Tajweed and history, and plans to write on Quranic reflections and practical lessons.

22 Comments

  • jazak Allah khayr. Excellent reminder mash Allah on being grateful. I lost something very precious in my life by being ungrateful and repenting, I wish if there is anything I could do to get my wife back in my life.

    Thank you very much for the post.

    • Guys, Be grateful to Allaah for what you have. Trust me, your spouses take a lot of crap from you and yet put up with you. Learn to say sorry and Thank you to them frequently, learn from my example because I lost her as she felt unappreciated.

      • إِن يُرِيدَآ إِصۡلَـٰحً۬ا يُوَفِّقِ ٱللَّهُ بَيۡنَہُمَآ‌ۗ

    • Brother, with all the honesty, I’d try two things:
      First: asking Allah subhana wa t’ala to give you peace of mind and heart, to make you see the wrong you’ve done and forget the wrong she’s done; and to make you repent, learn from your mistakes and to move on – in whatever direction Allah wishes to take you. Remember that Allah knows all, sees all and puts us in situations which we have to pass through in order to learn things we wouldn’t learn otherwise. And Allah is the only one who can and will truly help you.
      Second: give some time for things to cool down and write her a letter. You can apologize, you can write what you feel… And please do that without expecting an answer. The point here is to let her know that you thank her for all the good she brought to your life, that you repent the wrong you’ve done and that you wish her well; not to ask her to come back to you.
      If your love for her is true, you’ll want the best for her – even if this means you being out of the picture.
      Allah will help you all the way, just keep the faith in Allah and He will lead you to where you ought to be.
      May Allah grant the best to you and all of our brothers and sisters in Islam! Ameen!

    • I hope you have spoken to her since you wrote this. Sometimes, just telling your wife how you feel is all you need to do. Inshallah.

  • Great post!
    Insh’Allah all of us will start counting our blessings more than our problems after reading this post.

  • Jazakamullahu khairan. Excellent reminder. This last week has taught us all so much. Many of our foreign sisters and brothers that were studying in Egypt are trying to safely come home on the advice of their families, employers and governments. They can do much more for the people of Egypt from here inshaAllah. Please make dua for them all and join the efforts going on in places around the country and in cities around the world! It’s time to walk the talk everyone!

  • Excellent reminder, alhumdulilah. We really need to stop much of our complaining and whining, especially over the trivial and insignificant things. A brother once advised me that he gives thanks for, lets say, around 10 things before going to bed. This is a really good habit to get into.

  • Does anyone have any other suggestions of how to show Allah you are thankful? The article suggests: “We can thank Allah for the warm bed by getting up for Fajr salah. We can thank Him for the money in our wallets by giving to charity. We can thank Him for the great food we eat by feeding others. We can start by setting the bar high for ourselves in doing good deeds and make our intentions of doing them only to show gratitude to Allah. We can start by being better servants to Him and doing what He has commanded us to do (in patience and forbearance) and staying away from what He has forbidden.”

    What if someone is already doing these things, is there anything else to do?

    “And [remember] when your Lord proclaimed, ‘If you are grateful, I will surely increase you [in favor]; but if you deny, indeed, My punishment is severe’.”

    Nobody wants punishment in my life, and Inshallah, will do whatever is possible to obtain more blessings. Please post any suggestions. Jazak Allah Khair.

  • Assalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh
    I had the same question, how to be properly grateful to Allah. My friend reminded me of this du’a that I had heard but never uttered before. And then I found the Hadith for it.
    We want to know the best way to Thank Allah, right? So isn’t asking the one you want to be grateful to, how to go about doing it, the best thing to do? And in shaa Allah He will open doors for you to show your Gratitude to Him in the best way. (We are all different remember and Allah has blessed us in different ways Alhamdulillah)

    Mu’aadh (raa) relates that the Messenger of Allah (saw) caught hold of his hand and said. “O Mu’aadh by Allah indeed I certainly love you” then he (saw) said, “I emphatically advise you O Mu’aadh that you should never forget to recite after every Salah:

    “اللَّهُمَّ أَعِنِّي عَلَى ذِكْرِكَ ، وَشُكْرِكَ ، وَحُسْنِ عِبَادَتِكَ”

    “Allaahumma a’inni ‘Alaa dhikrika wa shukrika wa husni ‘ibaadatik”

    “O Allah, assist me in Remembering You, and being Grateful to You, and performing Your Worship in an excellent manner.”
    (Abu Daawood cited this with Sahih chains)

    [Riyad us Saliheen: Book of Remembering Allah: Chapter 244: Virtues of Glorification and Remembrance of Allah: Hadith no. 1422]

  • i recite this durood 100 times and mashallah all my worries and stress have vanished, you have to do this everyday

    allahumma salli ala muhaadauev wa ala ali muhamaadauev

  • Jazak Allahu khairan to you all. I always say to myself I can never thank Allah enough! But I made a promise to Allah that whenever and wherever I remember all the good things Allah has and his doing to me on a daily bases, then at that spot I make sujud and say “subu kudusul robil malaika til waru” or keep keep saying Allahamdulillah if I am on the road. May Allah give us good knowledge and understand of Islam. Amin thumma Amin
    Twitter @zeetod (I wish to learn more!)

  • i was so ungratefull and arrogant. i was ungreatfull for my parents who , howe much of a disobidenet harsh daughter i was always wanted to do the best for me. always tried their best to give me the best .

    i broke their hearts almost on daliy basis and humiliated them for the whole world to see. and when they brought the best proposal they can for me i kicked it out becz th guy was not goodlooking enough. now he is married and living happyly and the proposls that came aftet is nowhere near good as him.

    i lost my way, i was led astray and now finaly i have found my way.

    pls help me . what can i do to make allah swt to accept and not to punish me for my ungratefullness?

    i pray thahajud , luha , awwabin , witt evryday. i recite quraan and insha allah hope to perfom umrah in a few days and will be a focused muslima to work myself to achieve allah’s mercy

    ameen

    • Sister, just carry on doing what you are doing, and try to put right what you previously did wrong. Inshaallah all will be ok. At least you realised the error of your ways, some people go through their whole lives without any remorse.

  • It took me all day to do my Federal, State and Local taxes, but I am done (The first thing I am grateful to Allah for) and I do not owe any taxes (Last year I owed 3K, so this is the second thing I am so grateful for today. It seems he has been helping me in big ways like this everyday this month. For example my hospital bill was paid for. That saved me over 2K! My mom’s blood pressure went back to normal. And it turns out, I can have children 🙂 My face was aging and I asked Allah for help during dua and on the internet when I was looking for a fertility treatment, it was DHEA which also makes you look younger. In a week my skin had oil again and it looked like I got a mini-facelift. Only God could show me that when I wasn’t even looking. Thank God for all of this and much more he did this month. I am pretty new to Islam, but I Love it! I think Allah likes when we are grateful. I make sure I don’t just ask but tell him also everything I am grateful for that day. I had believed in God since I was four years old, but this religion, in it’s way to honor and respect Him is the best.

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