ثُمَّ أَمَاتَهُۥ فَأَقْبَرَهُۥ

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Especially Merciful,

Gratitude. 

Whenever a person expresses thanks to someone for something the feeling is always a positive one. Being thankful will never generate sadness but the very opposite. Let’s think of some scenarios:

1) Your mother cooked your meal when you got back from work. It was a hard and a laborious day and you were exhausted; 
2) A friend spends time listening to you whilst you are going through something very difficult;
3) Someone overlooks your mistake;
4) someone surprises you with a gift you wanted for a very long time and so on.

It’s a feeling of thanks, happiness and this generates appreciation and love. It’s often that when a person will show gratitude the relationship with whom he or she is grateful towards will grow stronger.

But what about our relationship with Allah? This is the most important relationship of all. He is the One who bestows upon us every single blessing and all these sorts of relationships.  If you will go back and contemplate every blessing we can see and perhaps cannot see goes back to Allah. 

We as human beings often need to reset sometimes. Too often our thoughts are regarding the things which are less important and in the grand scheme of things are often futile.

Take a step back and ask ourselves:

'Where are we heading? Whom are we heading towards?'

'How has life passed by? What were we before and what are we today?'

'How did we get here?' 

'Go back to the source of all blessings'

If a person is so preoccupied with life’s difficulties then one must see how he or she has been fashioned and this is even more evident when one becomes a parent. It is not we who feed the unborn child in the womb - it is Allah.

But it’s also the same in the world, Allah has given us hands and legs to facilitate attaining nourishment but where does the source of sustenance come from? Allah. 

Think about the process by which you have attained your meal, from a seed, sunshine, rain, the process of growth, to the farmer, to store, to the market and so on. It doesn’t cease there then we should contemplate how Allah has given us the mouth, teeth, windpipe, stomach and so on to eat and digest this food. 

We often overlook these things as little things, but they are not. To grow close to Allah a person must not be heedless of His blessings but one should be continuously grateful and be sure the relationship with Allah will improve. Gratitude will turn into a deep love, positivity and thankfulness manifested in action.

And Allah is the Most Appreciative of all, despite the fact we cannot truly express our gratitude the way He deserves. Yet, we must be thankful, for praising Him causes closeness and increases our awareness of Him.

Reflections on Surah 'Abasa Ayah 21