Mouood Mouood English Edition
Offering Thanks
One of the features of the pious is that they offer thanks. Thanking, as Raghib believes, is to appreciate a favor and to express it. The opposite is ingratitude which is the ignoring and concealing of a favor. Gratefulness is of three kinds; heartfelt gratefulness, which is the appreciation of a favor and blessing, gratefulness expressed by the tongue which is the laudation of the Lord, and gratefulness by the organs of the body which is the gratitude to a favor as it deserves to be treated.67
In this relation, there are many Quranic verses and traditions. Allah says: “And very few of my servants are grateful.”68
In Kashshaf, it has been related that someone was praying in this way: “O Allah! Make me among the few ones!” When he was protested as what kind of supplication it was, he recited the above-mentioned verse, and said: “I like to be among them.”
In another verse, God says: “If you are grateful, I would certainly give to you more and if you are ungrateful, My chastisement is truly severe.”69
The Messenger of Allah (SAW) has been reported by Imam Sadiq (AS) as saying: “One, who eats his food thankfully, has the reward of one who has observed recommended fasting. One, who offers thanks for his being healthy, has the reward of one who is afflicted, but is patient. One, who offers thanks for what has been given to him, has the reward of one who is deprived, but is satisfied.”70
Ammar ad-Duhni narrated: “I heard Imam Sajjad (AS) say: ‘Surely, Allah loves every sad heart and loves every grateful servant. God Almighty will ask each servant on the Day of Judgment: ‘Did you thank so-and-so person?’ When the servant says: ‘No, I just thanked You’, God will say: ‘When you did not thank him, you have not thanked Me.’’ Then the Imam said: ‘The most thankful one of you before God is one who thanks people.”71
Being grateful to God is an outstanding feature of the pious. Hence, God Almighty has introduced His prophets as thankful servants in the Holy Quran.
Prophets sometimes introduce themselves as such. When people protested the Holy Prophet (SAW) why he put himself in so much trouble, he would say: “Should I not be a thankful servant?”
When the Lord of the universe praises a group of people, He says: “Most surely there are signs in this for every patient endure, grateful one.”72
When God blames a group of people, He says: “… but most of people do not give thanks.”73
It means that they see divine blessings, but they are indifferent to them. Mentioning His blessings, God says: “And He it is Who made for you the ears and the eyes and the hearts; little is it that you give thanks.”74
When telling the stories of the prophets and their nations, God says: “…that you may give thinks.”75
What is gratefulness that is so much important? What is the meaning of being grateful to God that He has attached so much importance to? What is the gratefulness with which God tests His servants? What kind of act is gratefulness that the abandonment of which shall entail chastisement for the servants, but to practice it makes man beloved to God and increases His blessings? Sa’di the Persian poet says in one of his poems: “Gratefulness increases God’s favors; whereas ungratefulness takes blessings out of your hands.”
Sheikh Toosi says: “Being grateful is considered as the best act which entails God’s favors. It can be through words, behavior, or intention.
Gratefulness has three elements:
1- Acknowledgement of the Benefactor; man should know that all blessings, open or hidden come from God Almighty. He is the true Benefactor and all mediators are ruled and conquered by Him.
2- Submission, humbleness, and delightedness towards a favor or blessing; As it is a gift, it shows the favor of the Benefactor, the sign of which is that man does not get happy with the world except with what may bring him closer to God.
3- When this state is felt in the heart, vigor is seen in the act which belongs to the heart, the tongue and all parts of the body. As for the heart, the intention is to glorify and praise God, reflect on the sign of favor, and serve God. As for the tongue, it is to express that with laudation, praise, and glorification of God, and with enjoining the good and forbidding the evil. As for the acts of the organs of the body, it is to use all the blessings and favors, open or hidden, in the service of God. Observing piety and self-retrain against sins, using the eyes to see (and ponder on) what God has created in the nature, reciting the Quran, and reviewing the knowledge and sciences of the prophets and the imams…and the same is said about the other organs.
Now, it is clear what gratefulness is, why it is considered as an important feature of perfection, and why God has said “and very few of My servants are grateful.”76
As expressing thanks by the tongue is a divine blessing by itself, it requires another gratefulness.
In expressing gratefulness to God with the tongue, which is itself a blessing and requires other thanking, man, in thanking God, must admit inability in knowing God and the appreciation of the blessings. The Holy prophet (SAW) has said: “My Lord! We have not worshipped You as You deserve and we have not known You as You are.”
Imam Sajjad (AS) says: “O Lord! I cannot count Your praise, the praise which is due to You.”77
Sa’di the Persian poet in the introduction of his book, Gulistan (Rose Garden) writes: “The favor of God, Mighty and Glorified, Whose obedience is a cause of approaching (to Him) and the gratitude (to Him) brings more blessings. Every inhalation of the breath prolongs life and every expiration of it gladdens our nature, wherefore every breath confers two benefits and for every benefit gratitude is due. Whose hand and tongue is capable to fulfill the obligations of thank to Him? “Give thanks, O family of David, and few of My servants are thankful.”78
It is the best to a worshipper, because of his shortcomings, to offer apologies at the Throne of God, although what He deserves no one is able to accomplish.”
1. Qur’an, 22:18.
2. Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 82, p. 128.
3. Rawdhah of al-Kafi, p. 128.
4. Hammam Sermon.
5. Minhaj al-Bara’ah, vol. 6, p. 10.
6. Jami’ al-Sa’adaat.
7. Jami’ al-Sa’adat, vol. 1, p. 161.
8. Ibid.
9. Ibid., p. 165.
10. Jami’ al-Sa’adaat, vol. 1, p. 165.
11. Ibid.
12. Al-Baqiyat al-Salihat, by Sheikh Mofeed.
13. Awalim, vol. 2, p. 271.
14. Ibid.
15. Awalim, vol. 2, p. 271.
16. Ibid., p. 275.
17. Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 71, p. 394.
18. Ibid.
19. Ibid., p. 399.
20. Ibid., p. 401.
21. Qur’an, 3:193.
22. Qur’an, 3:198.
23. Hammam Sermon.
24. Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 75, p. 301.
25. Ibid., p. 300.
26. Qur’an, 53:32.
27. Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 69, p. 323.
28. Hammam Sermon.
29. Tanqeeh al-Maqal, vol. 2, p. 128.
30. Qur’an, 49:15.
31. Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 69, p. 126.
32. Ibid.
33. Qur’an, 3:159.
34. Qur’an, 17:24.
35. Qur’an, 26:215.
36. Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 72, pp. 51, 60.
37. Ibid., p. 55.
38. Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 72, p. 51.
39. Qur’an, 2:4.
40. Mofradat.
41. Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 67, p. 138
42. Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 67, p. 142
43. Qur’an, 18:82.
44. Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 67, p. 152
45. Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 44, p. 196.
46. Safeenat al-Bihar, vol. 2, p. 431.
47. Ibid.
48. Qur’an, 23:1-2.
49. Bihar al-Anwar,vol. 72, p. 112.
50. Ibid., p. 107.
51. Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 72, p. 112.
52. Ibid., p. 183.
53. Ibid., vol. 72, p. 183.
54. Wasa’il al-Shiah, vol. 12, p. 11.
55. Wasa’il al-Shiah, vol. 12, p. 11.
56. Ibid., p. 12.
57. Khisal, vol. 1, p. 253.
58. Nahj al-Balaghah, p. 1061.
59. Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 70, p. 168.
60. Ibid.
61. Ibid.
62. Ibid.
63. Qur’an, 9:55.
64. Qur’an, 20:131.
65. Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 70, p. 172.
66. Hammam Sermon.
67. Mofradat.
68. Qur’an, 34:13.
69. Qur’an, 14:7.
70. Bihar al-Anwar,vol. 68, p. 22.
71. Ibid., p. 38.
72. Qur’an, 31:31.
73. Qur’an, 40:61.
74. Qur’an, 23:78.
75. Qur’an, 28:73.
76. Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 68, p. 22
77. Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 68, p. 23.
78. Qur’an, 34:13.
