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Gratitude – Fuel of worship

Have you ever read a book that is so good that you feel so grateful to the author, probably because it helped you to find the answer you have been desperately searching for in life? Had it also came to your mind that “this book should have been pricier” or “this book is underrated” and so on?

Have you also felt like wanting or having the duty to pay back to the author of the book for his efforts in researching and writing the book? I’m sure most of you had. Although some of you had not felt it through books, you must had felt it through other means, maybe a doctor helping you, or someone saved you from a near-death experience or a movie that changed your life. Nevertheless, what is important here is the sense of duty felt to whom you are grateful of.

Now think of the One who has created the heavens (skies) and the earth which provides the means for you to live, made grown from the earth crops which you consume from, provided water from which you sustain from, meat from which you consume, – basically, everything and anything that has made it possible for mankind to survive and thrive in this world. He is the One who also created the human body with complex processes to undergo basic human functions like eating, drinking, sleeping, excreting. Shouldn’t the utmost gratitude and duty be paid to this Being?

O mankind, remember the favor of God upon you. Is there any creator other than God who provides for you from the heaven and earth? There is no deity except Him, so how are you deluded?
(Quran, 35:3)

As we can see, if we give some deep thoughts about the bounties of God upon us, we should in fact be surrendering our whole lives to God! What is interesting is that we should be more than happy to surrender and serve our Provider.

Because it is only He who holds our livelihood. Literally, every moment of our lives is fully dependant on God. We are constantly in need of God.

O mankind, you are those in need of God, while God is the Free of need, the Praiseworthy.
(Quran, 35:15)

Imagine, God is the originator of the heavens and the earth. What He wills, happens, what He wills not does not happen. The fact that you are reading this, it is a favor of your Lord. The fact that you are still breathing, it is a favor of your Lord.

 And if you would count Allah’s favors, you will not be able to number them; most surely Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.
(Quran, 16:18)

However, man usually forgets this because of a lack of seeing the signs of God, lack of remembering God, lack of thinking about the creation of the heavens and the earth, self-admiration, pride, and/or too busy with worldly affairs. That is why in Arabic, man is ‘insan’ which came from the root ‘nasaya’; meaning, to forget.

It is no wonder, then, that God commanded us to remember His bounties.

And as for the favor of your Lord, do announce (it).
(Quran, 93:11)

Gratitude, I believe, is a great fuel of worship because it sparks the fitrah within you to return to the the Rich, the Great, the Provider, the Majestic. Gratitude also makes you recognise the One who is able to protect and guide you, because all this time it was Him who has been providing for you.

All you got to do, is return to Him, humbling. Surrendering. That is the natural predisposition.

Then set your face upright for religion in the right state– the nature made by Allah in which He has made men; there is no altering of Allah’s creation; that is the right religion, but most people do not know–
(Quran, 30:30)

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Published inFinding IslamReflection

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