By Abid Mohammed 

Being grateful is something that we all know is a virtuous quality. Lecture after lecture has been delivered on the subject of “showing thanks to God for His favors.” Articles have been written to encourage us to “recognize His blessings,” and “be grateful for what God has given us.” We are continuously reminded of how little appreciation we show for the fact that many of us have food on our table, a roof over our heads and relative peace and security in our lives. This discussion almost always takes place in the context of experiencing trials and tribulations, and I couldn’t agree more. There is a lot of room for improvement for many of us when it comes to gratitude. When the going gets tough, we should strive to avoid going towards ingratitude.

Yet, part of me always has always wondered—is gratitude an emotion to be experienced exclusively during times of hardship? And what are many of us actually grateful for? The gifts or the Giver? These may seem like easy questions to answer, but the next time you come across “gratitude,” be it as a topic of a discussion or an emotion you experience, I want you to pay close attention to the circumstances in which it arises and where exactly your heart lies. Does your heart only show thanks when it is pushed against the wall? And even then, does it only find happiness and peace intrinsically in the gifts of this world (albeit with some acknowledgement that God is the Giver), like a child who loses their favorite Buzz Lightyear toy, only to be consoled by the fact that he still has his awesome Optimus Prime helmet that his dad gave him for ‘Eid last year? Or does your heart delight in the fact that it can use those very gifts to draw nearer to Him and that the gifts, themselves, are meaningless?

In his Ihya `Ulum Al-Din (The Revival of the Religious Sciences), Imam Al-Ghazali draws a beautiful analogy in trying to show the different form of gratitude that people express:

“Let us give an example. We say that a king who desires to make a journey grants a man in his entourage a favor in the form of a horse. He imagines that the man to whom it is granted will be delighted with the horse for three reasons. Firstly, he will be delighted because it is a horse and because it has monetary value which can be of benefit to him; because he can use it for riding and that suits his purpose; and because it is a valuable racer as well. This kind of joy is for one who has no interest in the king, his interest is only in the horse. Had he found the horse in a desert, he would have taken it and his joy would have been similar to this joy.

“The second kind of joy is when he delights in it, not because it is a horse, but because he infers the care of the king expressed in it, and his [the king’s] compassion for him. Had he found the horse in the desert, or someone other than the king had given it to him, he would not really be happy with it because, in principle, he has no need of the horse and it is of no significance to him compared to his desire to have a place in the heart of the king.

“The third kind of joy is when the servant delights in the horse in order to ride it, to go out in the service of the king and bear the toil of the journey in his service and to obtain the rank of nearness to the king. Perhaps he will be promoted to the position of a minister, because he is not content that his position in the heart of the king should be limited to his [the king’s] giving him a horse and caring for him only to this degree. Rather he does not want the king to convey the [favors] from his wealth on anyone. Except through him. Yet, he does not want the ministry for the sake of the ministry, rather he wants to see the king and be near him. If he had to choose between this proximity to him without the ministry and the ministry without proximity, he would choose proximity.

“These are the three levels [of joy]. In the first, there is no thankfulness at all because the vision of the one possessing it [this level of joy] is confined to the horse and his joy lies in the horse, not in the one who gave it. This is the state of all those who are made happy by a blessing because of the pleasure of it and because it is agreeable to their purpose. This is far from the meaning of thankfulness. The second [kind] enters the definition of thankfulness in that the person delights in the giver but not exactly because of him [the giver], rather, because of the knowledge of his care; this incites [the person] to seek favor in the future. This is the state of the righteous, who worship God and are thankful to Him for fear of His punishment and hope for His reward.

“Perfect thankfulness is found only in the third kind of joy. It is when the joy of the servant in the blessing of God (exalted is He) is because it enables him to reach a place of proximity to Him (exalted is He), to reside in His companionship, and enjoy the vision of His countenance continually! This is the highest level [of attainment]. Its characteristic is joy in this world only for what it is, a field under cultivation for the Hereafter and the means to assist him to it. He grieves at every blessing that diverts him from the remembrance of God (exalted is He) and turns him away from His path. He does not desire the blessing because it is pleasurable, just as the possessor of the horse does not desire the horse because it is a racer or an ambler, but because it carries him in company with the king, that he may continue to see the king and be near him.

“Thus Shibli (may God grant him mercy) said, ‘Thankfulness is the vision of the Bestower, not the vision of the blessing.'” ((Littlejohn HT. Al-Ghazali on Patience and Thankfulness. 1st ed. Cambridge, UK: Islamic Texts Society; 2011. p. 73-75))

May God enable us to show continuous gratitude towards Him, as best as we can, so that He will give us even more (Quran, 14:7), and so that we can use that more to draw nearer to Him. May He enable us to be amongst the “few” who are “thankful” (Qur’an, 34:13) and may He protect us from being amongst “most human beings” who “do not give thanks” (Qur’an, 2:243) and the terrible punishment that they face (Quran, 14:7).

When recognizing His gifts, may He empower us to say, as Sulaiman (`alayhi assalam, peace be upon him) said, “…This is from the favor of my Lord to test me whether I will be grateful or ungrateful. And whoever is grateful – his gratitude is only for [the benefit of] himself. And whoever is ungrateful – then indeed, my Lord is Free of need and Generous,”(Qur’an, 27:40).

Excerpts from Kitāb al-Arba`īn fī Usūl al-Dīn (The Book of Forty Principles of the Religion)

The Prophet ﷺ said: “There is no intercessor of higher status with Allah on the Day of Judgment than the Qur’an—neither a prophet nor a king nor [any] other.”

Know that there are external manners and internal, hidden secrets to reading the Qur’an. As for the hidden secrets, they are five:

Firstly: that you sense, at the beginning of your reading, the greatness of the words by sensing the greatness of the speaker. You do this by feeling in your heart the presence of The Throne and His Dominion, the heavens and the earth, and all that is in between them of Jinn, humans, animals and plants; and that you remember that the Creator of all of them is One, and that they are all within His Grasp and Power, experiencing His Favors and Compassion; you feel that you want to read His words and see through them His Attributes, His Beauty, His Knowledge and His Wisdom.

Know that just as the Qur’an can only be touched by those who have purified themselves—while being veiled from the rest—its true meaning and secrets are also veiled from the hearts if they are vile and impure.

Secondly: that you contemplate its meanings while reading, if you [want to be] of the people of the Qur’an. Repeat all that your tongue has recited unmindfully; don’t count mindless reading as part of your good deeds because the purpose of beautiful recitation is to increase contemplation.  Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “There is no goodness in an act of worship that is void of understanding, nor in recitation that lacks contemplation.”¹

Thirdly: that you reap the fruits of knowledge from their branches and seek them from their abodes, as you contemplate; don’t seek the antidote from where you seek the gems, nor the gems from where you see the musk and [fragrance], for every fruit has its own branch and every gem its own source.

This is facilitated by knowing the ten categories we have sorted the Qur’an into. Of these ten, are the following:

• That of the Qur’an which relates to Allah (Glory be to Him), His Attributes and Actions; seek from it the knowledge of greatness and magnificence.
• That which relates to guidance to the Straight Path; seek from it knowledge of mercy, compassion and wisdom.
• That which relates to the destruction of enemies; seek from it knowledge of honor and might, conquest and overpowerment.
• That which relates to the lives of the prophets; seek from it knowledge of kindness and blessings, favors and generosity.

So, for each category, seek from it that which is most befitting…

Fourthly: that you avoid whatever inhibits your understanding, because that is the covering that prevents you from understanding. Allah (glory be to Him) says “…Indeed, We have placed over their hearts coverings, lest they understand it, and in their ears deafness…” (Qur’an, 18:54). The God-conscious seeker of truth is tested with one of two kinds of coverings: either the veils of doubt and denial that test those who are weak in faith, or the veils of heart-saturating desires that test the ones engrossed in the life of this world.

As for the worshippers who are solely focused on the Way of Allah, they [struggle] with two other kinds of veils.

The first is the whispering which diverts the heart from thinking about one’s intention. How was it at the beginning? Is it still there now? Is there still sincerity now? That is if he were in prayer. Another type of whispering is that which diverts your focus to correct the pronunciation of the letters, which leads to doubt and repetition.  This happens in prayer and outside of it [as well]. How can the secrets of the Kingdom be seen by a heart that is focused [only] on how the lips open and close, and how the tongue and jaws move, and how air passes through them?

The second kind of veil the worshipper faces is limiting oneself to the apparent meanings of the Qur’an. This truly inhibits understanding… [because] the truth that Allah has ordered His servants to believe in is of degrees; it has both an apparent meaning (like an outer skin) and a deep internal meaning, which is like the marrow.

For example, [Allah] has ordered His creation to believe that He can be seen; however, seeing has an external and internal [meaning]. If one believes that seeing Allah is similar to the seeing humans are accustomed to in this world, how can he expect to know the secret of Allah’s saying “You will not see Me…” (Qur’an, 7:143)?! And how will he understand that that is impossible in this life with this eye that is limited to seeing directions and sides?! And how will he understand His saying: “Vision perceives Him not” (Qur’an, 6:103) side-by-side with His saying: “[Some] faces, that Day, will be radiant. Looking at their Lord” (Qur’an, 75:22-23)?!

Fifthly: that you do not limit yourself to capturing the lights (of the Qur’an), but also glean the appropriate conditions and effects. So, don’t read a verse except that you become adorned with its characteristics. That way, you will have a certain understanding and overall state for every verse you read.  So, when mercy and the promise of forgiveness are mentioned, you become elated with happiness; when anger and harsh punishment are mentioned, you cringe and become overtaken with fear; at the mention of Allah (Glory be to Him), His Names and His Greatness, you lower your head and feel miniscule—as if you’re vanishing from witnessing His Glory; at the mention of the disbelievers, and Allah’s Exaltedness above having a son and spouse, you bow your head and lower your voice, as if hiding from shame…

These effects should also show on your limbs, as with crying out of sadness, sweating at the forehead from shame, shuddering and shivering in awe of His Glory, and feeling joy in the limbs, tongue and voice when given glad tidings, and feeling fear in them (when being warned).

If you do that, all your parts take part in receiving the barakah (blessings) of the Qura’n.

This was his advice in regards to the science of philosophy, particularly the Greek philosophy of Plato and Aristotle which many Muslims took pride in studying. He was warning them of the dangers that could result from this study. But he didn’t stop there. He even warned people about studying mathematics and other sciences. Why?

So You Thought You Were Safe
“What’s wrong with math?” you might ask. “That has nothing to do with religion.” Here is what al-Ghazali had to say: “The mathematical sciences…nothing in them entails denial or affirmation of religious matters…from them, however, two evils have been caused…”

The First Danger: Blind Conformity
“One of these is that whoever takes up these mathematical sciences marvels at the fine precision of their details and the clarity of their proofs. Because of that, he forms a high opinion of the philosophers [who were the mathematicians at that time] and assumes that all their sciences have the same lucidity and rational solidarity as this science of mathematics. Moreover, he will have heard the talk of the town about their unbelief and their negative attitude. [They say]: ‘If religion were true, this would not have been unknown to these philosophers […]’”

Al-Ghazali then expresses his deep regret over this sad state of affairs: “How many a man have I seen who strayed from the path of truth on this pretext and for no other reason!”

The only thing that has changed in our time is that it is not the philosopher who holds such a position in the eyes of students, but rather the scientist. How many times have I heard a Muslim doubting something about his own religion while saying: “But scientists say…”? One thousand years and not much has changed.

Imam al-Ghazali goes on to say that a man skilled in one field is not necessarily skilled in every field. Also, the internal consistency of one subject does not necessarily relate to another subject. Today, we find that even psychiatrists need a shrink or some family counseling sometimes. Just because someone may have the ability to process mathematical equations quickly in their mind or to figure out how certain chemicals react with one another doesn’t mean they have all the answers to life.

The Second Danger: Rejecting the Good
There is another problem. When some well-meaning believers realize the first danger, they begin to form a hatred for the sciences themselves rather than differentiating between the subject and its adherents. The Imam said, “The second evil likely to follow from the study of the mathematical sciences derives from the case of an ignorant friend of Islam who supposed that our religion must be championed by the rejection of every science ascribed to the philosophers…”
This mentality, the rejection of scientific research, whether it be in the natural or social sciences, is also very dangerous. Islam teaches us to take what is good and leave what is bad.

What to Do
So what should a Muslim do in such circumstances? There is no easy answer to that question. The Muslim perception is that everyone ‘needs’ a good (secular) education nowadays and there will naturally be some risks. If we concede the correctness of that ‘need’, the real solution will have to be a long term one, where practicing Muslims end up teaching the sciences, thus cutting off both evils from the root.

In the meantime, we can follow the words of the son-in-law of the Prophet ﷺ: “Don’t know the truth by men. Rather, know the truth and you will know its adherents.”