فتبسم ضاحكا من قولها وقال رب اوزعني ان اشكر نعمتك التي انعمت علي وعلى والدي وان اعمل صالحا ترضاه وادخلني برحمتك في عبادك الصالحين

فَتَبَسَّمَ ضَاحِكًا مِّن قَوْلِهَا وَقَالَ رَبِّ أَوْزِعْنِىٓ أَنْ أَشْكُرَ نِعْمَتَكَ ٱلَّتِىٓ أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَىَّ وَعَلَىٰ وَٰلِدَىَّ وَأَنْ أَعْمَلَ صَـٰلِحًا تَرْضَىٰهُ وَأَدْخِلْنِى بِرَحْمَتِكَ فِى عِبَادِكَ ٱلصَّـٰلِحِينَ

Wisdom (ḥikmah) is a lofty bestowal from God, and the Qur’an is deliberate in singling out Luqmān for it. In Sūrah Luqmān, wisdom is immediately tied to gratitude, revealing that ḥikmah is the inner light that enables a person to recognize, appreciate, and properly use God’s blessings. Without wisdom, blessings may be possessed yet remain spiritually wasted.

This truth is echoed in the life of Prophet Sulaymān. In Sūrah al-Naml, upon hearing the ant speak, he does not rejoice in power but asks Allah to inspire him to give thanks. Despite his unmatched kingdom, he knows that even gratitude requires divine guidance. Appreciation is not instinctive; it is taught by God

When Sulaymān asks who can bring the throne of the Queen of Sheba, it is neither display nor excess. It reflects wisdom — an awareness of the hidden potentials Allah places within creation, and how to employ them to humble hearts and reveal divine power.

In essence, wisdom is not merely knowing, but knowing how to respond to blessings. It is the humility to seek God’s inspiration so that what we are given becomes a means of gratitude and nearness to Him, not a veil between us and Him.

#Hikmah ​#wisdom ​#blessings ​#Grateful ​

We know that Suleiman AS was a prophet and king. His royal status did not deter him from appreciating the many bounties Allah had given to him. Some of the features of his kingdom included controlling the wind which meant he could transport anything from anywhere taking it far distances within seconds. He was given the ability to arrange an army of different species,  including elephants and birds -all of which were subdued to serve him and the kingdom and he was given the unique ability to communicate with them.

The Quran recounts his dua which occurs whilst he was marching with his army. He encounters an ant which warns its community,  that they should go back into their homes for fear of being trampled on. When Suleiman AS  hears this he smiles broadly and makes a dua asking Allah to give him the capacity to give thanks to Him for the many blessings Allah had bestowed upon him and his father Dawud (AS) and to grant him the ability to do righteous deeds that please Allah, and to make him among the righteous servants.


This dua gives us a real example of how critical it is to remember Allah’s blessings in order to generate positivity and to bring renewed value to these blessings. We often get worried about what tomorrow will bring us, forgetting the present blessings which we are surrounded by. By repeating this dua we secure our blessings, seek Allah's guidance in thanking Him in a manner that seeks His pleasure and seeks His assistance in doing further acts of goodness. Finally, we find that the conclusion of his dua indicates his humility despite the grandeur of his multiple blessings, he is not for one moment deceived into thinking that he is among the righteous servants, rather he earnestly seeks that Allah enters him in the fold of the righteous.

May Allah SWT enable for us to be constantly thankful to Him, and may He secure and increase for us the blessings He has given us, inspire us to righteous actions and make us among His righteous servants. Amen.  

Please share you reflection on the theme of Quranicduas. Which dua inspires you and why? Have you reflected on a new dua from the Quran this month? I would love to read your reflections inshaAllah.

Today while sitting with our family members at the iftar time with all the food and the fruits, dates and juices Alhamdulillah.
I was feeling blessed and grateful and start counting the blessings starting from our childhood like parents, school good teachers the joy that we had and then university, job marriage, children in-laws, relationship friends, money, food car etc and the list goes on Alhamdulillah
We can't count them 'impossible '
These Dua I always recite in my Salah 
These two Duas are quite similar 
And a lot to reflect 
But I am focusing here 
           'Gratitude '
One Dua showing the gratitude for parents especially the mother and the hardships she faced both physically and emotionally, then being thankful to Allah for this and asking Allah for the righteous in children as well 
The other Dua is about Prophet Suleiman AS 
When he passed through a valley where they were many ants.
Hazrat Suleiman(AS)  understood what they were saying.
Such an incident was enough to give pride to an ordinary man but Prophet Sulaiman (AS)  became the embodiment of gratitude and fully attributed to God and being thankful about the blessings he has given to his Parents as well, particularly for his father Prophet Dawood (AS).
Both these Duas are beautiful, showing thankfulness to Allah SWT and the deep respect to parents and asking about the righteousness in children.
These Dua showing humility and recognizing the blessings bestowed to us by Allah SWT.
A lot to discuss, but I can't cover it.
We need to memorize the Duas in Quran and understand the meaning and try to implement in our lives.

#quranicduas

Allahumma Barik May Allah be with us in this dunya and the hereafter

When I first learned about Süleyman عليه السلام, I was deeply moved by how he praised Allah سبحانه وتعالى. And when I read that Allah praised him as His thankful servant, I felt a longing in my heart. I found myself yearning to reach that level of gratitude. I remember clearly crying and begging Allah, asking, 'Where is my ability to thank You? Do You accept my gratitude as well? I want to be among the most thankful servants.'

Just like after Kun Fayakun when Allah created the world in a few days, I too was blessed, Alhamdulillah. My reason for sharing this is simply to let the world know that Allah has given us a powerful tool—gratitude. With this tool, we can overcome grief and find happiness even in the saddest times.

Gratitude has brought me so much happiness from unexpected places. When I am sad, Allah reminds me of one of His favors, and I smile. Things we take for granted become a source of happiness for us. How great is my Rabb!

One last thing I wanted to share was a lesson from Ustad Nouman Ali Khan when he was teaching Surah Al-A'la. He explained that the first Ayah is not only about glorifying Allah but also about realizing His glory. Just engaging in this exercise helps me forget whatever troubles I face, and my grief disappears.

So now, when I read Fabi ayyi ala e rabbi kuma tukaththiban, I respond with, 'None, O Allah! I thank You and praise You for all blessings, known and unknown, from the time I was conceived in my mother’s womb and for all eternity.'

May Allah make us all the best of His servants. Allahumma Ameen.

Reminds me of when our Prophet (SAW) said 

'By Allah, it is not poverty that I fear for you, but rather I fear you will be given the wealth of the world, just as it was given to those before you.'

Suleiman (AS) is our role model of how to act if you’re blessed.

- be it blessed by your hard work or election to power / authority 
- be it blessed by generational wealth or power bestowed on you with little effort on your end 

What I love about being grateful is that it’s so easy for the vast majority of us who may struggle with other actions-
- it’s not like fasting the sunnah days 
- it’s not like waking up for tahajud,


You simply have to wake up with a positive attitude and 'count your blessings.'

And fortunately for us, it’s 'trending' to be grateful.
But even more fortunate for us is the fact that we were told to do this thousands of years ago! 

To slow down and say : 
Alhamdulilah I have 5 fingers 
Alhamdulilah I’m not being bombed. 
Now what will I do with these blessings to obtain Allah’s pleasure??!! 

Subhanallah,
Shukr = possibilities 

Empathy, compassion, soft-heartedness and generosity are the molecular building blocks to our existence.

In a culture that celebrates busy-ness, excess, and extroversion as measures of a good life, these qualities are most often overlooked, if not neglected. However these traits are vital, in order to thrive.

We have become a self-obsessed nation, our phones and devices creating an empathy gap; we live in our own little bubble, making it easier for us to walk past without noticing the subtleties around us.

In the story of Sulaiman alai:
‎قَالَتْ نَمْلَةٌۭ يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّمْلُ ٱدْخُلُوا۟ مَسَـٰكِنَكُمْ لَا يَحْطِمَنَّكُمْ سُلَيْمَـٰنُ وَجُنُودُهُۥ وَهُمْ لَا يَشْعُرُونَ
'…an ant warned, 'O ants! Go quickly into your homes so Solomon and his armies do not crush you, unknowingly.' (27:18)

‎فَتَبَسَّمَ ضَاحِكًۭا مِّن قَوْلِهَا
So Solomon smiled at her words (27:19)

Sulaiman alai could have easily ignored the ant and just walked over them, crushing them like we do so often in our day unknowingly, but he showed compassion by moving away from it.
That seemingly minuscule deed was noble enough that it was mentioned in the Quran, such a simple action that was carried out to a creature, of which he would not receive any benefit from. 

Widen your boundary of compassion and empathy. 
Do it with love and not just because you want something in return. 
Begin with those closest to you - your family, your daily acquaintances, your friends. 

Release any animosity or grudges you have towards them. Help them out whenever you can, be kinder to them, find out their needs. 
Learn to engage with one another, asking questions, getting curious and trying to understand their perspective rather than dominate conversations. And sometimes, all you need to do is simply listen. 


'Everybody thinks of changing humanity and nobody thinks of changing the himself' - Leo Tolstoy

Abdullah ibn Amr reported: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ, 'The merciful will be shown mercy by the Most Merciful. Be merciful to those on the earth and the One in the heavens will have mercy upon you.'
♥️

#empathy #love #compassion #kindness #mindfulness #generosity #sunnah #life #gratitude #respect #understanding #bekind #getcurious  #lessons #Quran #reflections #spilledthoughts 

These verses remind me of how ungrateful I am. How can I complain about anything?

Had Allah willed, I could have been blinded, struggling to see my way. How could I possibly restore my vision if Allah took it away from me? 

'Had We willed, We could have easily blinded their eyes, so they would struggle to find their way. How then could they see?' (36:66)

Had Allah willed, I could have been paralyzed - unable to move back and forth as I wish. 

'And had We willed, We could have transfigured them on the spot, so they could neither progress forward nor turn back.' (36:67)

Reflecting on these verses reminds me of the importance of this dua: 'My Lord! Inspire me to ˹always˺ be thankful for Your favors which You have blessed me and my parents with, and to do good deeds that please you. Admit me, by Your mercy, into ˹the company of˺ Your righteous servants.' 27:19

Prophet Sulayman ﷺ was given so much by Allah yet this didn’t turn or harden his heart. The more he was given, the more grateful he ﷺ became. 

He ﷺ was a leader who had incredibly strong emotional intelligence and voiced thankfulness and praise to Allah for being able to have these precious feels of gratitude running through his mind, heart and soul. 

This is the same Prophet ﷺ who asked Allah to fill his heart with even more gratitude. So many toxic men thinking they’re good righteous strong leaders but the strongest of men are the ones closest to their Lord who make heartfelt duaa like this:

رَبِّ أَوْزِعْنِيْٓ أَنْ أَشْكُرَ نِعْمَتَكَ الَّتِيْٓ أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيَّ وَعَلَىٰ وَالِدَيَّ وَأَنْ أَعْمَلَ صَالِحًا تَرْضَاهُ ، وَأَدْخِلْنِيْ بِرَحْمَتِكَ فِيْ عِبَادِكَ الصَّالِحِيْنَ
My Lord, enable me to be grateful for Your favour which You have placed upon me and upon my parents, enable me to do good deeds that please You, and admit me by Your mercy amongst Your righteous servants. 
(Quran, 27:19 Duʿa of Prophet Sulayman ﷺ for Gratitude to Allah & Doing Good Deeds)

SubhanAllah, how many of us, when we are feeling grateful praise Allah for even having that inner-state of gratitude? We say alhamdulilah, all praise belongs to Allah for giving us this and providing us that. But do we praise Allah for being able to have those warm loving positive vibes radiating in our hearts, for being granted the ability to be grateful to Him? 

How are we doing with our ongoing tests of gratitude? Are we grateful for being able to be grateful??

In Surah AnNaml, Prophet Suleiman ﷺ also eradicates the idea that we should be 'proud' of ourselves in choosing to be good, do good, live good and instead, it should be deeply rooted gratitude again.

How many of us when being advised to connect deeper with Allah will say 'oh I already do istighfaar 100xs a day, my devotion is so strong, my eman is always on par, I give lots of sadaqa, I have done X number of Umrahs, I read Quran every day, I this and I that. to attempt proving to others and our own fragile egos that we are such good servants? Even if we don’t express our deeds to anyone, we sometimes fool our selves, our nufoos and shaytan arRajeem gets a kick out of that. 

So we get a glimpse of what was going through the inner-state of Prophet Suleiman ﷺ when he mentions Allah as the One who grants this awareness that even gratitude, feeling thankful and grateful is a gift from Allah even though it’s felt from within. 
الحمدلله💕

Jazaak Allah khair, this is an incredible reminder on shukr. I really liked your point about feeling proud of going good deeds. even if we worshipped Allah every second, it wouldn't be enough to repay the blessings He has given us. We must be incredibly grateful that He blesses us with the opportunity to worship Him, and the opportunity to then thank Him for blessing us with this opportunity. alhamdulillah alhamdulillah ❤️ Allahu Akbar! 

Sometimes the smallest creatures carry the loudest lessons.

The earth holds them quietly: ants, birds, bees. each living by laws we rarely notice, each a sign of the One who made them.

Ants are among the tiniest creatures visible to our eyes. We can unknowingly step on one without even realizing.

This verse I am talking about never ceases to humble me.

Because to me, it isn't just a story of Prophet Sulaiman's gift. It is a reminder of Divine attention, how even the smallest voice is received in the highest heavens.

When an ant that's so small, almost unseen spoke,  her voice was heard by a Prophet, and preserved in His Book to be remembered until the end of time as a sign.

“When they came upon the valley of the ants, an ant said: ‘O ants, enter your dwellings, lest Sulaiman and his hosts crush you while they perceive not.’”

(Surah An-Naml, 27:18–19)

For me, this verse isn't just about a miracle, it is also about  Divine attention. The Lord who manages galaxies also listened to an ant.

This verse isn't just about a miracle of language or Prophet Sulaiman's gift. It's also about how Allah dignifies even the smallest creation with awareness, care, and purpose.

And sometimes, when I whisper in the  dark, unsure if anyone understands the language of my fears, I remember that ant.

Tiny, unseen, unheard by the world but  yet she was heard by the King of all kings.

When an ant so tiny, unseen beneath our feet — could speak, be heard, and have its words preserved forever in the Qur'an, then no voice is too small for Him to hear.

So however tiny your worth may seem among the dwellers of earth or in this vast universe, Allah listens to you too.

Not just listens, but understands.

Not just understands, but provides.

Not just provides, but guards.

And hence, However small I feel in this endless creation, I know He listens. He understands. He provides. He guards.

No voice is too small for the One who heard an ant.

#PersonalReflection    #FarihaGuncha   #HisSigns  

Note: My book Walking with Pearls is available on Amazon. Link is in my bio

Ma Sha Allah! JazakAllah khyr for this heartfelt reminder. May Allah swt increase you in knowledge and wisdom of His word

Ants, an insignificant creature in our eyes, but Allah heard it and mentioned what it said in the Quran. 
This made me realize that if an ant was heard, then how can I even began to imagine that Allah hasn't heard me. The reality is that no one hears you like Allah does. He listens to the minute details of my issues. He just doesn't hear my concerns or problems but know 'every single turbulence of my heart'. He hears those feeling which I was not able to verbally express and also those about which I am myself  unaware of. 
Allah is always with you He never leaves you. It's just that we fail to realize 'وَهُوَ مَعَكُمْ أَيْنَ مَا كُنتُمْ - He is with you wherever you are' His company and presence is with us 24/7.

Think about how stressful it would be to lead a huge kingdom and how much concern you would have if you were trying to lead it a righteous manner without unintentionally oppressing or harming anyone.

Doesn't it feel horrible if you unknowingly hurt someone's feelings? Or unintentionally cause harm to someone? Sometimes we may find out we did these things, other times we may never know.

None of us are immune to this - even if we are extremely careful with our words and actions, we may be wearing a shirt made in oppressive conditions, we may be eating fruit that was farmed by someone who was treated unjustly, we may be consuming excessive food while someone living close by is hungry. Even if we aren't held accountable for the things we were truly unaware of, we can still have a negative impact on others through our lack of knowledge or neglect. We are desperately dependent upon Allah's mercy, forgiveness, guidance, and blessings. 

Sulaiman (a) had blessings upon blessings - being able to understand the language of other beings, being able to witness the beauty of this ant trying to protect its community, and the huge blessing of being prevented from causing harm unknowingly. 

There are so many blessings we are completely unaware. We will never know the number of harms were were protected from, or the number of times Allah has protected us from unknowingly harming others. When we reflect on this, we realize that we can never be grateful enough for His favors and that we need to make this dua for ourselves as well. 

May Allah protect us from harming anyone knowingly or unknowingly and answer this dua of Sulaiman (a) for us as well. Ameen.

JAK for your kind words! Alhamdullilah I am so grateful that you found it beneficial

Réflexions: An-Naml 27:19