Nadim Ali – The Necessity Of Gratitude
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Indeed, our praise belongs to Allah, the Most
High. We thank him and we seek his
aid and we seek his forgiveness and we
seek refuge with him from the evil of
ourselves and from our bad actions.
Whoever law guides them, there is no one
who can mislead him. And whoever law causes
to go astray, then there is no one
to guide him.
I bear witness that there is no deity
except Allah who is unique and without partners.
And I bear witness that Muhammad is his
worshipper and his messenger. May the peace and
blessings of Allah be upon him and his
family and his companions
and those who follow them with good intentions
until the day of judgment.
Only who believe fear Allah as he should
be feared and don't die except as Muslims.
Again, all you who believe fear Allah as
you should be feared and don't die
except as Muslims.
O mankind, be careful of your duty to
your ab who created you from a single
soul and from it created its maiden, from
the 2 of them spread forth many men
and many women. Be careful of your duty
to Allah who may demand your mutual rights
and be careful of your duty to the
wounds that bore you. Indeed,
Allah is our al Akib over you.
For you who believe, through Allah, in all
we speak the truth, he will cause your
deeds to be beneficial, and he will forgive
for you your sins. And whoever obeys Allah
and his messenger, then he has truly achieved
a tremendous accomplishment.
Indeed, the best speech is the book of
Allah and the best guidance is the guidance
of Muhammad in
the most evil of all affairs,
a new and inventive matters, which has no
precedence in Islam. And indeed, all innovations are
astray, and each astray is in the hellfire.
Oh, Allah. Save us from it. Oh, Allah.
Accept our du'a.
And surely,
we have created many of the jinn and
mankind for *. They have hearts wherewith they
understand not. They have eyes wherewith they see
not. They have ears wherewith they hear not.
They are like cattle, neigh even more astray.
Those that are the heedless ones.
They are the heedless ones.
And when we look at this particular ayat,
you know, a lot is comparing
people who
just don't see
in a spiritual level.
It's comparing them to cattle. He he even
says they're worse than cattle,
worse than cattle,
worse than sheep.
Basically, we have to look at, you know,
how
are we going to be? What is gonna
be our attitude
towards the submission that we're supposed to have
as Muslims?
Are we just Muslims by
name?
Are we by Muslims by
character and behavior? Because as the prophet said,
he only came to change character, to improve
character.
Because the Arab community was some of the
worst people in the planet.
Drinking.
You know, all their culture was just about
alcohol.
The killing the the the female child,
evil, marrying,
family members. It's it's just they would they
would they would be beyond ignorant. That's what
he called the the age of Jahaliyah,
the age of ignorance.
And many of us come out of our
own form of Jahaliyah. And so we have
to recognize that why are we Muslim? When
we have, you know and, like, even your
parents say, they asked their children.
And even my children were asked, you know,
when did you become a Muslim for yourself?
When did you become a Muslim for yourself?
Because many of us were born going to
church.
You know, some of us
didn't go to anything, didn't have any type
of religion,
but Allah gave us Islam.
And we have to ask ourselves, when are
you practicing Islam for yourself and not just
to be seen?
You have to look at this ayat and
understand
that we have to have all of our
faculties.
We can have all of our faculties
and not proceed Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala on
a spiritual level because that's the that's the
ultimate goal.
The sign you to to worship Allah as
if you see him although you can't see
him.
Worship Allah as if you see him, you
know, again, even though you will not be
able to see Allah. We have to work
to be better than animals
and seek a higher purpose.
These are some of the things that we
have to look at.
You know, a part of
our main purpose is that we need to
be expressing gratitude
on a daily basis. You know, people ask
me, well, how are you doing? And tell
them I woke
up. Because a lot of people didn't wake
up today, brothers and sisters.
You know, I was talking to someone last
night and they said,
our generation, when I was raised up in
Chester in in Philadelphia area,
our generation, many of us didn't expect to
make it to 21.
You know, I mean, some people in the
streets today, they they they have that same
type of attitude.
You know, but Allah has allowed me to
get 69 years on the planet. So if
Allah allows you to get many years on
the planet, what are you gonna do? How
are you gonna change? What are you going
to improve upon? Because, again, there's a concept
of quality assurance in business that nothing is
ever perfect. And so we have to have
that same
attitude in our deen. We're never perfect.
We're never perfect. Only the law is perfect.
But we wanna strive for goodness every day.
We wanna have that attitude
of gratitude. That's important.
The prophet said,
whoever does not think people does not think
Allah. Again, whoever does not think people does
not think Allah.
And how do you hear that?
And,
basically,
we don't know what's gonna get you across
the bridge.
The bridge,
you know, over the hellfire.
It may be that
animal that you helped out one day or
that person that you helped out, you know,
with with fix a flat or help give
you a jump from the car or the
little change you gave to a homeless person.
You don't know what will get you across
that. So it's about
doing everything feasibility about for a lost pleasure.
That's how we have to be, and that's
how we can show the gratitude. And that's
when people do things for us. You know,
a lot of times, you know, we we
get defensive.
Oh, you shouldn't have done that. Oh, you
shouldn't have said that. Just say thank you.
You keep it moving because they're giving blessings.
They're giving blessings. Again, this particular high even
highlights the fact again
that showing
gratitude is a significant part of our Hidade.
It's a significant part of our worship.
Just being grateful.
Just being grateful
and failing to do so. It's a form
of ingratitude to Allah.
And, you know,
especially for us old baby boomers,
you know, if you didn't come into the
room and then when you come into the
room and you didn't speak to an elder,
you you might get your head slapped off.
You know, you get a consequence.
You know? You know, the and and give
me our parents taught us, you know, to
have certain amount of gratitude.
You know, as listeners, you know, we have
to basically understand that. You know, there's a
penalty. If if we didn't show gratitude,
you say thank you or you don't, show
him manners and all of that. That's the
basics of the family that
that we would teach that the family members
would teach us.
And so that's what Allah is saying. Just
show gratitude. Be grateful. Be grateful that you
wake up. Be grateful that you have what
you have. The prophet
said, don't look
up. Look down.
In other words, don't look at the millionaires
and the billionaires,
but look at the people who are sleeping
in the street,
people who,
housing insecure, people who are hungry,
you know, and have a level of gratitude.
I look at people as we walk in
the park on a daily basis.
And I asked myself and I talked about
it. What is their story? What is their
story that they're in this condition?
And
I said, all the blame and phallic, I
seek refuge and love from becoming that way
because everybody
can can sink low
and everybody can be raised high, but it's
based on how you participate in this deed.
You know, are you praying just like the
chicken pecking for feed, or are you basically,
you know, praying to basically clean your heart
to
instill a level of iman in your heart
so that you can, you know, basically do
as much good as possible?
And, again, as I stated, our parents, they
understood
the importance of of gratitude.
You know? And so we have to, you
know, look at, you know, why do we
challenge a lot when he mentions that there's
a certain level of punishment
for ingrate for people who are being ungrateful.
Because he tell us, you know, if you
don't show gratitude, you don't get get a
punishment.
You know, this particular verse that didn't highlight
the importance of using our senses
to recognize again that Allah has bestowed upon
us many things, many things. Like I said,
don't look up. As the prophet said, don't
look up, Look down.
Don't look at what people what people who
have more than that you have. Look at
the people who have less than you
and see what you can do for them.
But even if it's a kind word, as
the prophet also said, even a smile is
charity.
Because you have people walk all day,
and
and and nobody will speak to them. You
know, tell you all the story often about
I was in his class on suicidology,
and the person said that he wouldn't kill
himself if a person smiled at him. He
was going towards the Golden Gate Bridge to
jump off the bridge.
And he walked and looked in people's faces
and looked in people's faces. And one person
smiled and then he turned around because he
told his therapist that say, if if if
somebody smiled at me, I wouldn't have killed
myself.
And somebody smiled, and the person who smiled
at him did not know and does not
know
the power of that smile that he gave
him.
Saved the man's life. He got into treatment,
and and he was left to tell that
story.
And so, again, we don't know
people's stories.
And so we have to be grateful that
Allah has given us this deen.
This deen is the supreme deen.
This is the last the Quran is the
last testament,
and so we have to treat it as
such.
We live in a society that's majority,
none none, or not yet risky.
But
are we given the dawah?
You know, are we given the dawah verbally,
or are we giving the dawah, you know,
through our behaviors? Or are we, you know,
dressing as Muslims and doing other
things? Are we basically
transversing the the both worlds?
You know, the dope world, the gangster world,
and then coming to Jummah,
going to the Masjid. You know, Islam is
supposed to clean that up. That's supposed to
be the past, brothers and
sisters. You know, we have to basically change.
Allah said he does not change our condition
until we change what is in our hearts.
That's what we have to look at doing.
In Islam, again, showing gratitude is, again, it's
fundamental to our faith.
An attitude
of gratitude helps keep us humble, helps to
keep us humble because
throughout the day, and that's why we we
pray the 5 times a day.
You know, it's it's a reminder.
And then between, if we're victorying, if we're
reading, if we're connecting with people on a
healthy way, it helps us to maintain that
level of humility.
And being humble doesn't mean that you're weak.
Being humble is recognition that there is a
strength that that comes from some somewhere outside
of us, and that strength has come from
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
That's what being humble is, that that we
know
from Allah we come and then surely to
Allah is our return. It's the remnants of
Allah on a daily basis that helps to
strengthen our faith.
And during these times, during these perilous times,
specifically in this part of the world,
we're gonna go into
problems.
We have the political climate going on
and the country is divided.
And so
when
and if and when problems starting to happen,
what would be your position?
What will be your role? Because a lot
of times they put Muslims on the menu.
And so we have to be prepared in
how what's the best way to prepare is
not to just go get guns and knives
and all of that stuff, but the best
way to prepare is preparing your
heart, preparing your heart to be ready for
any type of adversity.
And then Allah will give you the inspiration
as to what you need to do.
You know, because we can engage in passive
resistance, and we can engage in active resistance.
It's within our DNA. We can do both.
But you have to have
basically,
a clear understanding of what tool to use.
Like, you don't use a screwdriver on the
boat.
You know, you use the proper tool for
the proper situation.
You know,
we have to increase our faith.
The remembrance of a long and daily basis
helps helps us helps to keep shaytan
away from us no matter in what form
the shaytan comes to us. The concept of
gratitude or shukr in Arabic
is mentioned over 70 times in the Quran,
and it's one of the most important acts
that that we can engage upon, brothers and
sisters. These are some of the things that
I wanted to just bring to you today
just we've been reflecting
on just the importance. You know, I'm just
grateful that Allah has given me the family
that I have and the community that I
have and and the the path that Allah
has put me on because when we look
back, specifically for us older brothers, you know,
each each period of our lives, we reach
a fork in the road and we say,
well, if I take taken this fork, if
I went right instead of left,
then this might have happened.
And and then
when we look down how Allah had been
guiding us all along
to to this path. So these are some
of the things that we have to look
at. What does the law says?
And remember when the law when the law
proclaimed,
if you are grateful, I will surely increase
you in in favor. But if you
deny, indeed, my punishment
is severe.
So the great gratitude is important. It's a
big part
of who we are supposed to be about,
what we're supposed to be about. This verse
again, it emphasizes that, again, the gratitude
is not just expressing,
you know, our love and appreciation,
you know, for Allah, but it's a way
of earning
the blessings from Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and
avoiding
the punishment of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. You
know, again,
these are some of the things that we
have to look at, and we don't wanna
be superficial about it, brothers and sisters.
We don't wanna display superficial gratitude, but it
should be heartfelt.
And, again,
it should be
only
for the pleasure of Allah. You should only
do what feasts to be the law, and
you know it
when you feel it in your heart. If
I've said anything that's inconsistent with what Allah
has given us and the prophet, peace be
upon him, has taught us and role model
and role model for us, I take full
responsibility for that if I've said anything in
which you have gained some new insight. As
always, all praise belongs to Allah.
All our sin, peace and blessings upon the
beloved prophet and his family and his companions
in Allah. Increase his honor and elevate his
station and grant him the highest place in
paradise and bless him with your divine mercy.
Oh, Allah, bless us with his intercession on
the day of judgment and forgive
our sins.
Amen. The prophet said
that
Allah is pleased with 3 things from his
servants,
that he worships him alone,
that he does not associate anything with him,
and that he is grateful to him. That's
what Sahih Muslim Hadid. He also said that
gratitude
for gratitude for the blessing
is in itself a blessing. And so
for those of you who are mathematically inclined
to just being grateful for something,
Basically, it's a it's a blessing in itself.
So you get multiple
rewards for one action. Just being grateful, you
get a blessing for that. You know, again,
the actions have to be for for Allah,
and the pleasure of Allah Allah. What does
the law says? That I am one who
is in need of nothing, but the grateful
servant is the one who is in need
of me. So Allah doesn't need anything from
us. As human beings, we have to understand
that be humble enough to understand that Allah
does not need anything from us. That's to
dictate from Allah. He don't need us. We
need him.
You know, that's why we have to continuously
reflect on what we have been given. We
come from,
as he says in English, a flood despised.
That was our origin.
That was our origin.
But
as we grow, we can we can get
become arrogant.
And so brothers and sisters, we have to
learn
to
be grateful,
be humble,
and also be thankful for the things that
Allah has given us and also for the
things that Allah has kept from us.
The law says that
he loves those who are thankful.
He loves those who are thankful.
So we we have to look at how
can we have a paradigm shift
where we basically
are not,
you know, inclined towards being
self centered to the point that we don't
help others,
that we don't, you know, basically,
engage in behaviors that are inconsistent with this
deen.
You know, we have to be of those
who are striving
to be the best Muslims that we can
possibly be. And again,
it no matter how long we've been Muslim,
10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years,
there's still room for improvement.
We continue to strive
until we're no longer alive.
We have to have that attitude of gratitude.
We have to think if we're doing things
that are inconsistent,
you know,
in sacrifice.
Make the sacrifice. Give it up.
And then the law will give you something
better. Whether it's a relationship, whether it's a
a job, or the way you're making money,
you know, give it up if you're doing
it physically,
Allah Allah, you gotta have enough faith to
know that something better is around the corner.
We have to be of those who are
grateful that if we have spouses in our
lives, the prophet, peace be upon him, said
the best of you are those who are
best to their families, not best to their
families,
best to their families.
Because you have
brothers and sisters who are putting their hands
on each other.
And so
if you look at the prophet, peace be
upon him, you don't see him ever
engaging in any type of domestic violence.
And so if you got to hit him,
you need to quit him.
You know, these are some of the things
that we have to look at. We wanna
be the best to our families and not
the beast in our family.
You know, these are some of the things
that we should look at working on.
You know, if there's an anger issue there,
there's treatment for that. Just like, you know,
people are, oh, a Muslim. I just pray
I'm not gonna go to a counselor.
You know? But big Greg would say, if
I get shot, don't take me to the
health food store.
You know? He going to he wouldn't go
to the hospital. So you have specialists who
who help treat anger. We have specialists who
help treat, you know, addiction. We have specialists
who help treat different types of mental illnesses.
So just like you get help for the
physical illness, you should get help for the
psychological and spiritual illnesses.
You know, you just can't pray everything away.
You know, you pray for guidance, and then
Allah
puts the necessary
instruments in your way to help you to
be able to make the necessary changes.
And, again,
when we are grateful, we get Allah's love.
We get his goodness, and we get contentment.
And again, gratitude
is concerned to be a fundamental aspect of
faith and a way to show devotion to
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. It's also a way
for us to recognize
that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala has bestowed upon
us
great things
and to express
appreciation for them. That's a part of our
deen. That's a part of who we are
as Muslims.
As the law says,
as for those who believe and do good
deeds, surely
we make them live in ease, and we
will most certainly give them
to drink
a purified a purified drink.
You know, again,
as for those who do good do do
good deeds, surely we make them we make
them live in ease, and we will most
certainly give them to drink of purified drink.
Those are some of the things that we
have to strive on, brother and sister, to
be able to get to get our thirst,
our spiritual thirst quenched in that way. You
know, we have to engage in good deeds
and once and we also have to show
gratitude and have that, again, attitude of gratitude.
Our lord, take us not to task if
we forget or fall into error. Our lord,
lay not on us a burden such as
you did lay on those who have gone
before us. Our lord, lay on us a
burden which we do not have the power
to bear and overlook our faults and forgive
us and have mercy upon us. You are
our protector and grant us a victory over
the disbelieving people he coming in front of.