Giving thanks is expression of our love for God
Harun Yahya
Our Lord created us out of nothingness, gave us countless blessings, protects us, healed those in sick, succors those in troubled, and gave us never-ending sustenance. One of the most important ways of showing our love for our Creator is by giving constant thanks for all of these blessings He gives to us.
Giving thanks is not only an obligation, but is also a practice that soothes our souls. From the moment we are born until the moment we die, our Lord gives us great beauties and blessings. Beautiful flowers, cute animals, delicious food, tasty drinks, vegetables and fruits of different flavors, shapes and colors, although they all come from the same soil, or vehicles that make transportation extremely easy are only few of the blessings that our Lord creates for our comfort and enjoyment. They are the manifestations of His beautiful love for His believing servants.
Our Lord creates so many blessings for us as explained in the verse: “If you tried to number Allah’s blessings, you could never count them. Allah is Ever-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” (Qur’an, 16:18)
And the only thing He expects in return is for us to be aware of these blessings and offer our earnest love to Him. The way to show our love is seeing that everything given to us is a gift from God and being in a constant state of gratitude toward Him.
Many details we might overlook when we don’t think about them are actually great blessings for us that are quite crucial for us and we don’t even have to make an effort to obtain them. Most of the time we understand that these details in our lives are precious gifts only when we lose them. Many people don’t even think about giving thanks to God for countless details in his life, in his body, around him. God says: “But very few of My servants are thankful’ and warns believers against such negligence.” (Qur’an, 34:13)
Whether we realize it or not, God continually bestows His blessings on us in an uninterrupted manner so that we can continue our lives and so that we are happy.
But there are people who nevertheless forget to give thanks and God refers to this ungrateful side of human nature: “It is He Who has created hearing, sight and hearts for you. What little thanks you show!” (Qur’an, 23:78)
We have established you firmly on the earth and granted you your livelihood in it. What little thanks you show! (Qur’an, 7:10)
Being ungrateful is a serious danger. People are powerless servants of God, who are capable of nothing for themselves except for those which God allows. Despite this, people want to be appreciated and recognized when they do something good, when they help another person.
A believer puts a special effort in the comfort and peace of others around him as a way of showing his love. He takes into consideration small details to ensure the comfort of others and uses his intelligence to make them happy and healthy. Of course, he does it all for God’s pleasure, but also expects to be loved in return too. However, if his efforts are ignored and an indifferent attitude is shown as though no special effort has been made, this will be a sign of a problem with the morality of the person who is receiving that special treatment and also shows that he lacks necessary love in his heart.
Acting unaware of all the incredible beauties, details and blessings that surround us, all coming from our Lord, Who created us and Whose infinite wisdom manifests everywhere in the universe, would be a sign of a soul that is unworthy of such beauties. That is also a serious character defect that might bring upon the wrath of God. Our Lord refers to this in a verse as follows: “And when your Lord announced: “If you are grateful, I will certainly give you increase, but if you are ungrateful, My punishment is severe.” (Qur’an, 14:7)
Even humans, the powerless servants, who have nothing more than the limited talents, intelligence and wisdom that God bestows upon them, expect gratitude in return for their good deeds. Therefore, it is clear that there should be no flaw in our gratitude to our Lord, Who gives us countless blessings every moment from our breathing, to our sight, from our ability to walk to our ability to fall asleep and many others that we cannot enumerate here.
For this reason, every time we are given a blessing, saying ‘Alhamdulillah, thank you my Lord’ would be a great reflection of our love and gratitude for our Lord. It will also be a reminder to the people around us. Furthermore, in addition to this verbal expression, protecting the blessings we are given, preventing any damage from coming to them and being considerate to show that one is aware of these beauties will also be another beautiful character trait that God will appreciate.
Our health is one of the greatest blessings that God gives to us. Giving thanks to God for every moment we are healthy, is a requirement of our love for God and making an effort to protect our health by staying away from harmful habits is a physical way to show our gratitude. For this reason, supporting our verbal gratitude with our considerate actions will be a beautiful sign of our faith.
Saying, ‘My Lord, I give thanks to you’, is not only an expression of gratitude, but also is a sign of a humble spirit that is always content and obedient towards God. Therefore, giving thanks is a practice that should be done not only in times of comfort, but also during times of poverty, difficulty or loss of blessings. Indeed, it is done even more enthusiastically at those times.
People who love God, who are content with God, give constant thanks for their health; they also give thanks when they get sick, for the fact that God has protected them from even worse conditions, for the fact that God created medication, treatment, doctors and medical instruments that will be means for their recovery. When they are in pain, they know that it could be worse and give thanks that it is not so. They know that every difficulty, every hardship is a part of the test in this world. They turn to God and give thanks to Him with joy, knowing that God creates these tests so that they can get achieve the morality that God will be pleased with.
For this reason, even if the believers live their lives full of difficulties and problems or in relative comfort and ease, they experience the peace of mind, the beauty and the blessings of feeling constant gratitude toward God and hope to gain the approval of God.
Adnan Oktar's piece on Arab News:
