Thankfulness

“Literally meaning gladness felt about and gratitude shown for the good done to one, Sufis use shukr (thankfulness) to mean using one’s body, abilities, feelings, and thoughts bestowed upon one to fulfill the purpose of his or her creation: being thankful to the Creator for what He has bestowed. Such thankfulness is to be reflected in a person’s actions or daily life, in speech and in the heart, by admitting that all things come directly from Him, and by feeling gratitude for them.”¹⁾

“Being sincere and straightforward and being certain or convinced of the truth of the Islamic faith is thankfulness of the heart. As for physical thankfulness, it means observing all acts of worship. Since thankfulness relates directly to all aspects or branches of belief and worship, it is regarded as being half of the faith.”²⁾

“Thankfulness is praising The All-Benevolent by mentioning His benevolence.”³⁾

“The purpose of seclusion is to purify the heart from anyone other than God, to ponder the countless blessings of God and to give thanks to Him. That is, contemplation, remembrance, and thankfulness.”⁴⁾

“The whole world, with the bitter and the sweet, with the beginning and the end, everything is for God to test His servant. All these means of trials and tests are summarized in two points: patience and thankfulness. The servant either gives thanks for the blessing or endures the calamity.”⁵⁾

“Abu Uthman (Moorish) said: ‘Thankfulness is knowing that you are incapable of thankfulness.’ Junayd says: ‘Thankfulness is that you do not consider yourself worthy of blessings.’ ‘Thankfulness is to submit and attribute the blessing to its owner.’ ‘Thankfulness is to attain the existing (through gratitude) and (thus) to reach the unavailable (because thankfulness increases blessings).”⁶⁾

“Thankfulness is to confess the blessings of the True Bestower by praising Him. Thankfulness is something acknowledged with the heart, praised with the tongue, and done by the body.”⁷⁾

“The true Bestower of all precious bounties and goods we enjoy requires three things: remembrance, thanksgiving, and reflection. Saying bismillah at the beginning is a manner of remembrance, and saying al-hamdu lillah (All praise and gratitude are for God) at their end is a manner of thanksgiving. Reflection means always being mindful and thinking of the precious and ingenious bounties we receive as miracles of the Eternally Besought One’s Power and as gifts from His Mercy.”⁸⁾

“Prayer stands for praising, glorifying, and thanking God Almighty. We glorify Him by saying Subhanallah (All-Glorified is God) by word and action in awareness of His Majesty. We exalt and magnify Him by saying Allahu akbar (God is the All-Great) through word and action in awareness of His Perfection. We offer thanks to Him by saying Al-hamdu lillah (All praise and gratitude are for God) with our heart, tongue, and body, in awareness of His Grace.”⁹⁾

“O people! Our Lord … displays His care and compassion for you, so thank Him by showing your respect for Him.”¹⁰⁾

“Since you have free will, you reduce these gifts’ value through your pride, damage them through your conceit, nullify them through your ingratitude, and usurp them by appropriating them to yourself. Your duty is being thankful to God, instead of taking pride in yourself. What is fit for you is not fame, but humility and feeling shame (for your deficiencies). Your right is not praise, it is repentance and to seek forgiveness, and your perfection lies not in self-centeredness but in attributing every good to God.”¹¹⁾

“… loving bounties—all foods and fruits—granted to us because of themselves and the pleasure they give is a carnal love, for it is for the carnal self’s sake. The pleasure coming from eating and drinking is transient and mixed with pain. If you love the bounties you receive on account of their being favors of Divine Mercy and fruits of Divine Bountifulness and Benevolence, and if you receive pleasure from them and have an appetite for them in appreciation of the Divine grace in them, this love is pure gratitude and pure pleasure without any pain.”¹²⁾

“Giving thanks increases bounty, but heedlessness dispels it.”¹³⁾

“The Qur’an uses such reiterated phrases as: ‘Will they not be thankful? We will reward the thankful. If you are thankful, I will give you more. Nay, but God do you serve, so be among the thankful,’ to show that the All-Merciful Creator’s most important command is to give thanks. Proclaiming that not doing so means denying bounties, He reproaches them severely, in Surat al-Rahman, no less than 31 times: ‘Then which of your Lord’s bounties do you deny?’ Like its microcosm the wise Qur’an, this universe (the macro-Qur’an) also demonstrates that creation’s most important result is thanksgiving. We can see that the universe is arranged in a way to arouse thanksgiving, and that everything calls for it. It seems that thanksgiving is the Tree of Creation’s most important fruit and the best product of this factory of the universe.”¹⁴⁾

“As everything is concentrated around and directed toward provision, provision itself comes through, subsists on, and points to thanksgiving. This is because the need and desire for provision are a natural thanksgiving, and the pleasure and satisfaction coming from provision are an unconscious thanksgiving. Both of these are common to all animate beings. Those who change the nature of such thanksgiving through misguidance and unbelief drift into associating partners with God.”¹⁵⁾

“Thanksgiving is recognized by contentment and thrift, consent and gratitude; not giving thanks is recognized by greed and waste, ingratitude and consuming without regard for what is lawful and unlawful. Greed causes depravity and humiliation.”¹⁶⁾

“Having such a comprehensive nature, people can attain the highest rank (being creation’s ‘best pattern’) only through thanksgiving. Without it, they commit a most dire sin and fall to the lowest rank. There are four pillars of the way of being a worshipping and (thereby) beloved servant of God, as stated in the following: In the way of depending on awareness of one’s impotence before God, four things are essential; They are, O beloved one, acknowledgement of one’s absolute impotence and poverty (before God), and absolute thanksgiving and zeal (in God’s cause). Thus the most essential pillar is thanksgiving.”¹⁷⁾

“… a believer equipped with a consciousness of helplessness and poverty is blessed with special favors from God Almighty, and they come like a bolt out of the blue. Everything is in its proper place, so there is no need for someone to intervene in order to save him in the flow of worldly events. Individuals who recognize this situation act with enthusiasm and see no reason for hopelessness. He says, ‘Why shouldn’t I keep running in His path with feelings of thankfulness!’ and rears up with enthusiasm. Before the blessings that come showering down, they feel energized and thankful; they proceed on, not losing speed for a lifetime. This is the Master Bediüzzaman’s consideration of helplessness and poverty, which refers to an acknowledgement that leads one to attain the feeling of absolute enthusiasm and absolute thankfulness. What is meant by ‘poverty’ and ‘helplessness’ is not material poverty. This is the Honorable Sage Bediüzzaman’s consideration of helplessness and poverty, which refers to an acknowledgement that leads one to attain the feeling of absolute enthusiasm and absolute thankfulness. When individuals can do that, they fully sense the point of reliance, and they seek help in their heart, and thus set foot on this path that will lead them to God and deepen their relations with Him.”¹⁸⁾

Compassion

Contemplation

Enthusiasm

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