Faith In Action – EP03 – Gratitude

Are the landless a foreigner rajim Bismillah R Rahman Rahim al hamdu Lillah wa salatu salam ala rasulillah In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, The Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah and made his peace and blessings be upon our beloved prophet muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, we begin by greeting our brothers and sisters Assalamu alaykum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh, who made the peace and the blessings and the mercy of Allah be upon all of us, you're calling in. And we're still in our discussion, faith in action. And we've been saying that this dean of ours is the Dean of action, not only any action, but the best of actions, not only the best of actions, but the best

of righteous actions. And last week, we explored one of these actions and that was the action of rectifying and reforming with ourselves or be that which is around us, also of the actions that are very important. And they shape and indicate the way that we look into life is the idea of gratitude, shocker. As we have been instructed, in an appreciation, gratitude, showing that you are aware of the blessings that came your way, and that in return, you are being appreciative and thankful and grateful for the fact that it was shared with you beat it came from Allah subhanho wa Taala. And ultimately, all things come from Allah subhanho wa Taala. But in the process, Allah may facilitate

others for us to extend these blessings and these boundaries to us, and whether we show that appreciation and that gratitude and thankfulness to them, or we don't. So inshallah, the action that we will be talking about today is the action of shocker. A believer is always a grateful individual, a believer is fully aware of the good that is coming his way. And as a result, he responds to it. And the way that you respond to it is that you acknowledge it, and then you manifest your acknowledgment of it into action. So the word that the Quran uses to describe this idea of being thankful and grateful is the concept of sugar. And they say that linguistically speaking, the word

chakra and sugar is actually a word that is mostly used by farmers in relationship to the palm tree. And they say that the palm tree does not really require a lot of water. So what they do is that they give it a little water, and in return, they describe it as being Shakur. It is very grateful that in exchange for the little water that we give it, it gives us a lot of fruits back and then other people say that it is actually a language that is used by cattle growers. Some people say that, you know, it was used mostly by people who have horses, where you give the horse very little food, but in return, it gives you such a lot of effort. So you say that this is a very shocker. So for very

little, the reward that comes your way is immense and is in great quantity, and good quality. And as such, Allah subhanho wa Taala describes himself as one of his names is Shaku, Allah is grateful to Allah even though our deeds they say that Allah is grateful in a sense that our deeds are never good enough. No deed can never be good enough that the reward for it is what Allah subhanaw taala has prepared for the believers in the hereafter. So that such kind of a reward such kind of a deed, we human beings are not capable of producing something like it. However, Allah being Shaku, he takes this very little deeds that we have initiated on our parts, blesses it for us for our sake. And then

Allah subhanho wa Taala rewards us for it. And this is a beautiful example that was demonstrated by the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, when he said that whenever man, you know gives was his right hand, from lawful means, Allah subhanho wa Taala, even if it be like a date, Allah subhanaw taala takes that date, and he grows it for man. And in return Allah subhanho wa Taala rewards him for it. Now you would think that just a small piece of date cannot really deserve all this reward. And that's where we say Allah subhanho wa Taala is Shaku

So we say that we human beings also, we have to be grateful. And remember the way that we respond to things that around us is an indication of our attitude that we express to life. And that is why they say, the way you see life determines how you live life. So life in itself in Islam is seen as an AMA, it's seen as a blessing. And for that blessing, we need to be grateful. Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam would wake up in the morning and the very first thing that would come out of his mouth, and hamdulillah all praise and thanks are due to Allah subhanho wa Taala. Why, and then he would explain why Alhamdulillah Allah D ROC de la Roja. All praise is due to Allah for giving me my

soul back. Because in Islam, sleep is seen as a minor death. So take all the praise are due to Allah for giving me my life back. And then he explains what it is that he wants to do with his life. And he said, whatever mentally, physically, and that he permitted me to make a mention of him again, and that is beautiful. That's an expression of a very grateful attitude, appreciative attitude, and you can just imagine a person who is grateful, full of gratitude, how it is that they would be living life. So again, we say this concept of sugar is an important action that is manifestation of faith, and so panela throughout the Quran, the opposite of the word kufr. disbelief is not the word Eman,

but rather always it is in opposition to the word sugar imageshack urine were emerica fora in the Holocaust in Santa Monica 13 am judging nipton eva jalna who's me and basura in Medina who said be the image Shakira Anwar Emma Guevara there indeed we have showed man the way and as a result, man will either take the path of being shocked or grateful or man will take the path of being food being grateful. So what happens is we have this concept of q4 is always the opposite of sugar. And sugar is always the opposite of copper. Another example of this is in Surat Ibrahim, where Allah Subhana Allah says, Where is the as then are a boom there in Chicago, as Eden nakum wala Inca fortum in aza

Villa she did. And your Lord announces to you that if you are grateful, in sugar, I will increase you, I will increase you in bounty, I will facilitate for the goodness for you, but I will increase you as he didn't know. And then he said well I incur for two, and if you are ungrateful, by being in the state of go for will incur for two in Arabella she did indeed my chastisement or my punishment is going to be severe. So here again is this example of sugar is always being in opposition to go for. And that is one of the actions that manifest belief and manifest faith. And also Allah subhanho wa Taala describes and says what alumina Abadi a shocker, and only very few of my servants are truly

the ones who are grateful, or only few are grateful. But what does it really mean to be grateful? What does it mean to be appreciative? What does it mean to show gratitude, the scholars of Islam, you know, be them theologians or be the essences of this Deen of Allah. One of them is Al fayrouz. Abadi, and then Pharaohs Abadi describes this idea of sugar and he says washoku Allah, marriages Salah keen, he said that indeed the concept of sugar is the highest level

of being a good believer is that simply because this Deen of Allah subhanho wa Taala you either describes the challenges that life brings into us, he describes it as either being bounties that we need to be grateful for, or trials that we need to be patient about. So they say that this Deen revolts or man revolts between two concepts, sugar and sub, we are either grateful, or we are either our patient for the challenges that life throws our way. And in fact also rose Abadi makes another point and he said that it is even greater than the concept of freedom and that is to be pleased. He said no, he said being shocked being grateful showing appreciation and sharing all praise singing

the praises of Allah subhanho wa Taala said this is such a high level that

Ultimately, those who are on the path of wanting a deeper relationship with their Creator, Allah subhanaw taala said, this is where the highest point is, and that is being in the state of sugar. And then they speak about it. And they say that sugar is actually made up of three components, said number one

is that it is actually to ponder and reflect upon the boundary in the heart, meaning that you actually visualize it, you are aware of it in your heart, you know what you acknowledge that he said, that's the first step. And then he said, that he has in the heart, the acknowledgement of this bounty must manifest itself in what is being said. So you're constantly engaged in praising Allah in showing gratitude of Allah subhanaw taala in acknowledging the bounties of Allah subhanho wa Taala upon you. I like to share this, you know, maybe some of you have heard me say this before, but we live at times, where we're constantly complaining, we're always complaining, we complain about

traffic, we complain about back ache after we wake up in the morning, we complain about the food not good about we complain about children not being obedient. We complain about our spouses, but we're always complaining. And they say that when a person is constantly engaged in complaining, what you do is that you create a very negative atmosphere around you, people who do not acknowledge, who do not see who can only see negativity, and that is when we complain when we see something wrong. So a person who's constantly engaged in such type of behavior is nothing but a person who is telling us that his eyes are always focused on what is wrong and what is missing, they do not necessarily see

and appreciate that which is beautiful. So what happens is, he said that you begin by tesoro near metaphysical that by reflecting upon the bounty in the heart, and then expressing it in the chunk. And the third point inshallah we will hold on to take a short break, and we will come back so please do stay tuned. And we will see you then.

Was salat wa salam ala rasulillah, In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, The Most Merciful, All praise is due to him, and may his peace and blessings be upon our beloved prophet muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and welcome back again to faith in action. And at this point, if you've just joined us, we are talking about a beautiful concept and that is the concept of sugar gratitude and appreciation, acknowledgement of the bounty in the heart. And that manifests itself in the listen by the tongue, you're talking about it.

And when you do that, we said you're constantly talking about that which is positive. So the people who are around you, we are creating what we call positive energy, that things are good. This is beautiful, Masha, Allah Hamdulillah, you know, it couldn't have been better. And we're grateful to Allah subhanho wa Taala. And we appreciate what Allah Subhana Allah has given us. It said that when we are engaged in this, we create such a positive beautiful atmosphere for the people who are around us. Now imagine that we be in the presence

of a person, or we ourselves, become people who are engaged in what people who are engaged in only seeing that which is negative, and talking about that which is negative, what kind of atmosphere are we going to create around us? What kind of environment is going to be created around us? So the idea of lesson is not just to do what we call lip service, that's not the point. So they say that this is the second principle. And then they said, the third principle is taking this bounty of Allah subhanho wa Taala Allah and using it in ways that are only pleasing to Allah subhanho wa Taala we cannot say Oh Allah, I appreciate what you have given me or Allah, I acknowledge what you have given

me. And then I take this and I misuse it. Or I take it and use it in ways that Allah does not approve of, that cannot be sugar. So my deeds will have to be a testimony of my acknowledgement and of my appreciation with the with the tongue. And that is why Allah in the Quran, he commands the people of Deadwood and says romelu leatherwood, the shukra or people of their would perform sugar, gratitude and appreciation. And the word ml is usually an action that is physically carried out. Why they say that to indicate that sugar is not only lip service, but rather it's also manifestation in actions as well. And throughout the Quran, we are invited to be grateful woman Shakira for

NIH curonian FC, and whosoever is grateful, they're only grateful for themselves meaning that Allah does not necessarily benefit from us being grateful, and he is not harmed by us being ungrateful when you do so you do so for your own good. And if you choose not to do so, you also do so against your own good, Allah does not benefit and Allah is not harmed by However, if you choose to do Allah will appreciate it for you. And if you choose not to do Allah will not miss you. And that's why sometimes people say that thanking Allah being truly grateful to Allah is very difficult. And that is why only two people are mentioned by name in the Quran as being truly grateful. And that is

Ibrahim alayhis. Salaam. Allah said Shakira only and Rami, he was indeed grateful to his bounties. And the other person is new alayhis salam where Allah says in who can evidential Quran, indeed, he was a servant, most grateful to Allah subhanho wa Taala. Going back to the previous statement of Al fayrouz. Abadi. Abadi said these are the principles or these are the types of sugar. And then he said the embodiment of sugar is was five steps. He said number one is a hobo rule shaqiri Hello, Shakira, Lil Moscow. He said, number one, there is got to be a sense of humor, humility, or humbleness from the one who is being grateful towards the one that he is being grateful to, meaning

that the relationship between us and Allah, one of the steps or the first step of being grateful, is that I say Allah subhanho wa Taala, I humbled myself to you, because you are the one who is giving, I am the one who is receiving. And as such, I acknowledge my position as being the one who is the recipient of your goodness. And as a person who is the recipient of that goodness, I can only be humbled to that. The second point they say is that,

that there's got to be love that is expressed in appreciation. Because we're human beings, we like people who've been good to us. And we are emotionally positively inclined towards anybody who does any act of goodness towards us. So we say that Allah subhanaw taala is constantly giving us these acts of goodness, constantly giving us these bounties constantly facilitating for us say that the more we acknowledge that about him subhanho wa Taala, the more we love Allah subhanho wa Taala and at that point, the relationship or the dynamics of the relationship, Subhana Allah, they really change, and inshallah we do have a topic on that on its own. But for right now, we say that this is

the second step in the process of showing appreciation. So it's humility, and then it is love. And then he said that it's also the concept of charity or off, it is an acknowledgement that you acknowledge that this bounty is from Allah subhanho wa Taala. And you acknowledge it because, again, the idea is not to pay lip service, but rather the idea is, Oh Allah, I am truly aware, I am genuinely aware, I am authentically aware that what I have is from you, and nobody else but you should panic.

So it is number one by showing that humility, and then loving Allah subhanho wa Taala and then they say that it is about attitude of acknowledgement that it only comes from Allah subhanho wa Taala and that is why in the Hadith, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam says in say, the list of for the Hadees that is called as the master or the core of still for it is a statement, where do you say abou, la cabina, ametek, Allah, I fully confess and acknowledge your boundaries upon me, I lay, right, they envelop me, they cover me, they are so much intensely so much upon me. So this idea of Eric you're off. And then he said, The fourth step is

you have to actually say that you have to praise Allah subhanaw taala by saying, Alhamdulillah Allah, I am grateful to what you have given me. And by the way that is not only to Allah, but also to the people whom Allah facilitates to extend his goodness to us. And that's why in the Quran, Enescu Lee, when you validate, it said, Be grateful to me and to your parents, as well. And in the Hadith, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam taught us Malaysia

Elijah karela he said that he who does not show appreciation to people will not show appreciation or does not show appreciation to Allah subhanho wa Taala. So when we receive goodness, acknowledge the goodness, emotionally positively be inclined towards the person, and who's given us the goodness and they say that you have to say this with your tongue. And then he said the final point as it was about he says it is that it cannot be used in ways that Allah subhanho wa Taala dislike, or that Allah subhanho wa Taala detests and as such a person with insha Allah eventually get to that stage where that person is called Shakur or Shakur. And speaking of shocker on shock, or both are

mentioned in the Quran, once we have shachar. And once we have Shaco. And again, the Arabic language is such a rich language, they say that these are all what we call co medalla, superlative forms, or forms of intensification, the word shachar and shekou. Again, they all talk about the same thing. And that is appreciation, a person who is appreciative where they differ is in the intensity of their appreciation. So for example, we have a ruling that says or a principle linguistical principle that says colusa thin film webinar he has he had it on film and every audition that is made to the construct of the statement or of the of the award is an addition in the intensification of the

subject that Ord is talking about. So for example, if I say Shakira being grateful, is less of a degree than describing a person as shachar this is almost part of the personality as such, and I can say Shekhar, and I can say Shaku and I can say shukran. And the more alphabets, I add to the makeup of the word, the more intensity I am bringing into into that. But this idea of being appreciative and appreciation shows so much about the individual and it says so much about who we are. So they say that of the benefits of three she ation we said earlier, is that appreciation of sugar is half of faith, the other half being stubborn, and I believe we've said enough about about that. We also

said that one way of keeping the bounties that Allah subhanho wa Taala has given us is by being grateful and that's why they say that, you know, the righteous would pray and say we're Jana, Shakira, Karina linea Amica with Nina via oligopoly her and make us amongst those who are grateful to you and they express appreciation for the near and for the bounties that you have given us, with Nina via Alec praising you, because of what you are given them abelia fully accepting that would allow us to pan what Allah is giving us because sometimes Believe it or not, Allah sense bounties our ways, but we do not accept it. May Allah subhanho wa Taala make us amongst his grateful servant,

acknowledging his bounties upon us testifying our this bounties and using his blessings in ways that he loves and approves of. And with this, we come to the conclusion of this part of our program, and like always, greatly appreciate you being part of it. And until we meet then, at some other time we say so long was Salam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato.