Pick-Up 068: An Aha Moment!
Peace be upon you, dear friends,
Do you remember by any chance the issue in which we’ve talked towards the end about the relational condition of the act of gratitude and how it becomes a deficient act and a flawed concept when we dismiss the Agent to Whom we should be grateful? I was also wondering in that email about how the “modern” practice of gratitude though deficient still has benefits.
It was during a girls-only online jalsa when the sweet I.L. brought up the relationship between the practice of gratitude and increase and she mentioned verse 7 from Surah Ibrahim:
“وَإِذْ تَأَذَّنَ رَبُّكُمْ لَئِن شَكَرْتُمْ لَأَزِيدَنَّكُمْ ۖ ”
“And when your Lord proclaimed, ‘If you are grateful, I will surely enhance you [in blessing]…“ [14:7]
She pointed out how the verse doesn’t say “If you are grateful to Me” and how it stopped at grateful…just grateful…followed by God’s promise to increase.
At that moment, it was like a light bulb lit up in my head: “I finally get it!”
We’re no exegetes but we sure know that these details in the Quran aren’t futile. Quite the contrary, they’re of extreme importance. And so I think I got my answer on why the practice “still works” for nonbelievers, and that is simply because it’s God’s promise. You can imagine me gesturing air quotes for still works because I believe it’s a temporary worldly situation. The second part of that same verse holds a warning…
“.وَلَئِن كَفَرْتُمْ إِنَّ عَذَابِى لَشَدِيدٌۭ”
“…but if you are ungrateful, My punishment is indeed severe.”
The word translated as ungrateful here is كفر which also means to disbelieve and literally means to conceal/hide (our innate disposition to believe in a higher power). And so, the ungratefulness plays out by disbelieving and denying His blessings through disobedience and unthankfulness. But eventually, Allah knows best.
Another verse I found interesting in regard to this concept is the conversation between God and Satan after Iblis refused to bow to Adam as depicted in the Quran:
قَالَ فَبِمَآ أَغْوَيْتَنِى لَأَقْعُدَنَّ لَهُمْ صِرَٰطَكَ ٱلْمُسْتَقِيمَ ثُمَّ لَـَٔاتِيَنَّهُم مِّنۢ بَيْنِ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَمِنْ خَلْفِهِمْ وَعَنْ أَيْمَـٰنِهِمْ وَعَن شَمَآئِلِهِمْ ۖ وَلَا تَجِدُ أَكْثَرَهُمْ شَـٰكِرِينَ
“He said, ‘For leaving me to stray I will lie in ambush for them on Your Straight Path. I will approach them from their front, their back, their right, their left, and then You will find most of them ungrateful.’” [7: 16-17]
May Allah not make us among those and may He counts us among His grateful servants. Ameen.
AlhamulilAllah always and forever.
That’s it for this week.
Take good care.
P.S: As I wrote this the sunrays landed on the cover and the reflection got my attention so I snapped it.
📹The Sphere of Youtube
Check out Heba’s first video of the series on the Ihyaa I mentioned in the last issue.
💭 This Week’s Quote
"Silence is the garden of thought."
― Ali ibn Abi Taleb.
Thanks for Reading!
Thoughts and feedback on the newsletter or on anything covered within are always welcome, just hit reply. Hope you enjoyed this. As always, I appreciate you.
Stay curious and have a great week. 🤟
Meriem.
Photo by Khadeeja Yasser