Ash-Shakour (The Most Thankful)
Surely, you have done a favor for someone and he has denied your favor upon him! He forgot about you completely! Your favor was not reflected on his face, as it was still frowning like before!
It is undoubtedly a very difficult experience!
Life is full of those who cannot grasp the concept of: thank you!
They fail even to utter the words, “May Allah be pleased with you.” The concept of smiling is unthought-of.
Leave those people alone. Life is too short for you to waste your time on blaming them or even thinking in the status of denial in which they have decided to live. Seek shelter in the Most Thankful, the Exalted, to give life to the roses of your heart that have been destroyed by the ungrateful ones.
Live your life with the Most Thankful. Contemplate the hidden meanings of this great name. change the ups and downs of this arduous life with the meanings inherent in this great name.
He surprises you with His gifts
Allah, the Exalted, thanks His servant for his good deeds. The words “good deeds” have unlimited possibilities, almost enough to fill, with their greatness and extensiveness, what is between the heavens and the earth.
Allah, the Exalted, orders you to comply with the good deeds which will fix your life in this life and the life of the Hereafter. If you comply with these good deeds, Allah, the Exalted, is the One to be thanked, as He guides you to these good deeds, He facilitates them for you, and He ameliorates your state, does He not? However, Allah, with His generosity, is the One who thanks you for these good deeds!
Is there a generosity that can compare to the generosity of Allah? Is there anyone who is more openhanded than Allah? How does He thank you?
Ages may tear apart but this question may remain unanswered.
As He cannot be seen, the same concept applies to His names and characteristics, whose essence and nature cannot be understand by using reason alone.
However, we have the way to think and to contemplate to have ourselves immerged with this great name in order to figure out its grace in our lives.
Being the Most Thankful,
He forgives sins and conceals shortcomings
He glorifies blessings and rewards
He gives health, welfare, children, money, and blissful livelihood
He blesses you with a good memory and good reputation
He answers your prayers, He makes you feel with His nearness, and He makes you feel not alone
He recovers you from diseases which have killed so many people
He removes afflictions, less than which have perished the souls of others
He guides you to the right path and many have deviated from it
He comforts your heart with His guidance and remember that many hearts of people are smart than you, more knowing than you, and may have adopted Islam even before you but have deviated away taking the astray way.
Mathematical Calculation
Read and contemplate:
﴾The example of those who spend their wealth in the way of Allah is like a seed [of grain] which grows seven spikes; in each spike is a hundred grains.﴿ Have you finished? No! ﴾And Allah multiplies for whom He pleases.﴿
O Allah the Exalted!
A grain of work can be multiplied by Allah's grace, generosity and gratitude into seven hundred grains of reward.
How on earth does one grain multiple to seven hundred?
You do one good deed, worthy of one reward, but Allah multiplies it into seven hundred. And Allah multiplies the rewards of whomever He pleases.
With Allah's generosity, all mathematical calculations change; as His generosity is not subject to mathematical calculations but rather divine grace!
O Allah, the Exalted! He surprises you with His gifts, and He amazes you with His generosity. Is there anyone on this earth who is not gifted by the Great and is not flourished by the Ever-Generous? Not just during each moment, but even during each small portion of every moment, we receive countless gifts and rewards!
Mention in the Book
Allah’s prophets have done good deeds and had patience on calling for the way of Allah to communicate His words, so He has thanked them by elevating their names, has made them examples to be followed, has preserved their stories forever, has documented their moral lessons in His Books, has protected their dignities by not allowing anyone to underestimate their potentials or to think ill of them. Allah, the Exalted, has certainly thanked them.
By mentioning them in His Holy Books, I feel it always with sincere compassion!
Any servant of Allah was created by His Ability. He was a thing not worth mentioning, and then Allah says:
﴾And mention Ibrahim in the Book; surely he was a truthful man and a prophet.﴿
﴾And mention Musa in the Book; surely he was sincere.﴿
﴾And mention Ismail in the Book; surely he was truthful in his promise.﴿ ﴾And mention Idris in the Book.﴿
Take a pause in reading: ﴾We found him patient,﴿then continue reading: ﴾most excellent the servant﴿. The great King says about one of His servants: most excellent is the servant!
O Allah! How great His generosity when He wants to show it!
Consider His gratefulness to our Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, and how Allah distributed His mercy to him: ﴾Will they distribute the mercy of your Lord﴿
He has favored him with His Message: ﴾Allah best knows where He places His Message.﴿ He was with the Prophet in all roles of his life: "And Allah will protect you from the people. ﴾He beautified him with the most beautiful of morals: "And most surely you confirm yourself to sublime morality.﴿
Behold the juxtaposition of the name of Allah and the name of His Prophet in the call to prayer and the Islamic testimony of faith.
Hassan said:
Allah has included the name of Prophet next to His
When the caller to prayer says: I testify…
He has derived his name to glorify
The Lord of the Mighty Throne is praiseworthy and this is Muhammad!
The companions of the Prophet, peace be upon him, who sacrificed their souls, lives, and wealth to ensure the victory of Islam were thanked by Allah when He affirmed that any evil words against them were a sort of hypocrisy. He is pleased with them. He doubled their rewards. He rewarded with the best bounty all of them. And He made them the best of generations. Allah says:
﴾Certainly Allah was well pleased with the believers when they swore allegiance to you under the tree...﴿ He also says: ﴾To each Allah has promised good.﴿
The prophetic hadiths make very clear and obvious the grace of them as general and their prominent persons. All of these are due to the gratitude of Allah upon them for their belief, striving, and exertion of effort.
An Atom
The Most Thankful thanks those who do good. Allah, who has the loftiest attributes, sincerely thanks His servants in a way that suits His generosity, glory, and greatness. His way of thanking is not normal. Because He is the Most Thankful, He frequently thanks His servants for a single good deed done. Because
He is the Most Thankful, He thanks His servants for the big good deeds and even the small good deeds, provided that they be performed solely with the intention to gain the pleasure of Allah. Allah does not only thank His servants for the great deeds they do, but He thanks them even for an atom-sized good deed: ﴾So, he who has done an atom's weight of good shall see it﴿ First, Allah granted a woman with Paradise by virtue of a date. Second, He admitted a woman to Paradise for giving water to a dog. Third, there was a man whose life was full of sins, so he ordered his children to burn his body after death and to throw his ashes after burning him, for fear of being asked before Allah. So Allah made Him enter Paradise because of his fear of Him. Fourth, a man had nothing but one blessing—he gave charity to his friend. Fifth, a man killed one hundred people, but he sought the refuge of Allah and emigrated with his soul to him.
Part of Allah’s way of thanking His servants is that He quickens the reward of the charitable by giving him benediction and overwhelming him with blessings. Our Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, told us: "He accepts repentance from His worshipers and takes it in His right Hand and then enlarges it for that person (who has given it) as anyone of you brings up his baby horse."3 This is surely a part of His thanking and delight by virtue of His servants’ worship!
Ten years ago, when we were standing in front of a famous store, one of the inhabitants of the eastern region told me a story about the store. He said that his friend was a regular employee there who used to save part of his salary, and his wife would do the same, so that they could build their sweet home. Their savings were almost sufficient to start the process of building a house. The husband went to pray in a mosque and heard a speech given by one of the preachers who were urging people to build mosques: "Whoever builds a mosque for the sake of Allah like a sparrow's nest for Allah, Allah will build for him a house in Paradise."4 These words deeply touched the heart of the husband, so he went to his wife, telling her of his intention to put all his money into charity to build a mosque. His wife gave him her money gladly, and she requested to give him a hand with the project of building the mosque!
Can you imagine that? You change your plans, for which you have been sacrificing years of time and work, in one single night! This change was made purely for the sake of Allah, the Exalted, and this change came from a living heart who desires Allah and the life of the Hereafter.
My friend added that, after building the mosque, the couple began saving from scratch again. An idea came to the husband to invest in trade. Then, he opened a small store. Countless clients came to him from around the globe and he earned an enormous profit. So, he renovated his store to make it more spacious and he opened subsequent second and third branches. My friend also added that he has accumulated thirteen branches in the eastern region alone in the past ten years. O Allah, You are the Most Thankful who never causes loss to those who trade with You.
I recently met someone whose name is so-and-so Al-Rahily. I joked with him, saying, “Are you the owner of Al-Rahily’s famous stations in the city of Jeddah?”
He said to me, “No! The owner is my relative!”
Then he told me, “I will tell you about the story of Al-Rahily. At the beginning of his life, he was a frequent giver of charity to the poor. He supported the orphans, and he was extremely generous to his family. Then, Allah bestowed upon him from His blessings and he took ownership of these stations along with many other successful commercial works. Surely, this was the deed of the Most Thankful, the All-Praiseworthy, the Exalted.
Give to be Given in Return!
Our Prophet, peace be upon him, said: "The wealth of a man will not diminish through charity." We must believe in these words most heartily. Here our Lord says in His divine Hadith: "O my servant! Spend (in charity) and I shall spend on you."5 If you spend a Riyal on a poor man, trust in Allah that He will bestow His grace, health, satisfaction, and charity on you, in the equivalent of your Riyal or perhaps more than that.
While heading to the mosque to pray the Friday prayer, a poor university student heard a poor man who was next to a box of contributions urging people, saying, "O
my servant! Spend (in charity) and I shall spend on you." The student searched in his pockets, and the only thing he could find was 5 Riyals. He took them and put them in the box. The voice of faith in his heart was saying, “O Allah! I spend despite my poverty, so spend on me from Your richness!” That evening he was visited by his brother who told him (without knowing his situation) that it was his turn in the savings association and he was not in need of the money in full, yet the student refused. After a long argument, the brother took out two thousand Riyals and gave it to him. Here, Allah spent on him!
I read in an old magazine a story: One day, in the morning, a beggar knocked on the door of a house. The woman living there took from her wallet the last one hundred Riyals she had and gave it to the beggar. In her heart, she cried secretly, “O Allah! Spend on me ten times that! Ten times that!”
She went into the kitchen and made her husband breakfast. Her husband woke up and sat next to her at the table. While he was eating his breakfast, he remembered something and said to his wife, “On the table over there is an envelope that I received yesterday from the post office. It’s for you.” The wife picked up the envelope to see what was inside. She found a bank check to pay her for the article that she had written in the newspaper. Surprisingly, it was exactly one thousand Riyals!
Do Good deeds
I seek refuge in Allah that your aspirations and wills are all related to this dirty Life; as many of Allah's rewards are to be saved by Him to the Hereafter where everyone will be in a dire need.
One of the clearest image of divine thanking is the one which is associated with filial gratitude, including facilitating the way to live and succeeding all affairs as of success in life is limited to the people of kindness. You can investigate the matter yourself and you will find that a common foundation among most successful people is kindness to their parents.
Allah, the Exalted, says: "And do good actions."
Even if your good actions are insignificant, the Most Thankful appreciates them: "Then shall anyone who has done an atom's weight of good, see it!" The servant will see the reward bestowed upon him.
Although an atom cannot be seen by the naked eye, you have still done good deeds and you will see the fruit of each deed awaiting you on the Day of Judgment. Allah will be sure to please you and strengthen your heart on a Day that will make the children gray-headed.
When you pay attention to switch the light of your car off at the traffic light so as not to disturb those in front of you, the fellow drivers are unaware of your intention behind doing so, and they may not even pay attention to you at all. But do not ever think that the Most Thankful will not reward you. How can it be so? It does not matter! It is possible for an affliction which will blind you, an accident to damage your car, or to fall into a problem, yet Allah has protected you from this as a way of thanking you for your noble actions.
Your carefulness to open the door quietly at night so as not to disturb those who are sleeping!
When you stand holding the door of the mosque open for an old man to enter!
When you avoid running over a passing cat!
Your smile to a child!
Your carefulness to keep your room at your house neat!
Your prayer for a Muslim after his death because you know that he has no one else to pray from him!
When you close the tape which was not well closed!
When you lift a branch thrown on the street!
All of these are good actions: "And do good actions"
Keep your mouth shut!
The finest action that you can do is to hold the Holy Qur’an and start reciting a section. Then, your eyes may see something or your heart may feel something
highly advisable to you by Allah and you insist on keeping yourself on fire so as to get as much of it done as you can before the end of the day. By such, you commit yourself to the greatest deed to be done. You are surely doing a deed for which the Holy Qur’an was revealed!
If you ask about the greatest thing you can do, it is to surrender yourself to Allah, to live as a Muslim, to worship Allah as a Muslim, to treat people in the way that a Muslim should treat others, to see, speak, and feel as a Muslim, and to die as a Muslim!
Imam Ahmed was asked, “If someone dies following Islam and the Sunnah
Imam Ahmed was asked: anyone who dies following Islam and Sunnah, does he die peacefully? He said to the asker, “Keep your mouth shut! He dies with all the blessing and peace!”
Allah the Exalted says what means: "Whatever good you send before yourself, you shall find it with Allah"
Any good action you send it before yourself, you will that the Most –Thankful and the Guardian keeps it and makes it grow and when you come at the Day of Judgment, you find it superabundant and becomes greater than before!
"And whatever of good you send on beforehand for yourselves, you will find it with Allah, that is the best and greatest reward"
"And whatever good they do, they shall not be denied it"
It is weak Hadith but it is good on the level of meaning: "Good works protect from evil fates."
It is part of His thanking not to waste your good action but He will make it as a protection to you in order not face a horrible death!
So the feeling that He is called the Most –Thankful the Exalted and all good comes from Him makes the servant entrust his Lord with bona fida.
To where?
It is said to a desert Arab: you are dying! The desert Arab replied: to where? It is said to him again: to Allah! He replied: how come I am afraid of going to the One whom I see nothing from Him but good?
It is a great feeling and a considerable hope in Allah which fills the heart of this desert man. The Holy Quran is recited to him and he heard the saying of the Sincere the Exalted (that means) "And whatever of blessings and good things you have, it is from Allah."
Is everything from Allah? Sure, everything surrounds you such as health, money, comfort, easiness and satisfaction: "Great indeed has been Allah's favor upon you."
You worship Him only sixty or seventy years during most of which you sleep or your do permitted actions. However, He rewards you with the Heaven whose width is like the space between the heavens and the earth and you live inside it forever!
If Allah the Exalted gives for nothing in return, what if there is thing done? What if you have done something different than the rest of His good servant whom He blesses and loves by committing yourself to do good actions. Hence, you are not allowed to think that the Most – Generous will not confer His generosity upon you, the Most –Thankful will not thank you and the Praiseworthy will not praise you.
Relieving
Three men are forced by the rain to seek shelter in a cave in the mountain. A big rock rolled over and blocked the mouth of the cave. They began to supplicate and beg Allah with their good actions, and the thanking of Allah the Exalted is to make their reward or part of it the dispelling of this anguish and to move this great rock away. Once the third one made his supplication, the great rock and the walked under the coverage of the sun!
Essa –peace be upon him- spent his life for Allah the Exalted since he was the first Word of Allah in the cradle and was the servant of Allah. Bani Isra'il were conspiring against him to kill him. Yet, the thanking of Allah was the strangest this time; as He raised him! Allah has rescued him from the focal point of grief, conspiracies and worries and He raised him to the heavens to live with angels and His good creatures.
You are always winner with Allah.
Allah is the capable of rescuing you from your situation. I know very well that you are flooded with burdens and afflictions and the typical concept suiting your state is (relief). Do good actions to have Allah relieved you. The same is applied to Younes who extolment to Allah is the reason behind his relief from the belly of the whale.
You trade with the One with infinite generosity, the One with infinite thanking and the One with infinite grace.
There is no possibility that you will lose in the market where Allah facilitates its affairs. Be with Him with keeping your eyes open to see His grace and thanking. He will leave you. Trust me, you will prostrate to Him and He will duly thank you. Just be with Him!
O Allah! Let us thank you for your blessing. Make us among those who mention you and those who thank Your blessing. Guide us to good actions which import Your thanking: the thanking of the Most –Thankful and the Praiseworthy.
