A Mercy Case

Before I was passionate about faith, I was passionate about religion as a social, historical, and cultural phenomenon. In high school, I used to incessantly read this website that described hundreds of different “new religious movements.” Who was the founder? What was the doctrinal structure of the group? Any controversies (embezzlement, sexual misconduct, etc.)? For whatever reason, it just fascinated me more than anything else (ignoring, for the sake of argument, fascinations driven more by my testosterone levels, like skateboarding, punk rock, and cute girls). But as I studied all of this, there was one clear “spiritual” question in my mind – “what does it mean to be truly grateful?” By the time I was 15, I was very aware of how “lucky” I was, and I wanted to know to whom I should show gratitude. My parents, to be sure. My country, without a doubt. But was there something, or someone else?

That search eventually led me to Islam, and in Islam I have found that gratitude is at the core of the experience of faith. On Hajj last year, while casually reading from my wife’s prayer book, I discovered a prayer from the Qur’an which summarized my life goals: “My Lord, enable me to be grateful for Your favor which You have bestowed upon me and upon my parents and to work righteousness of which You approve. And admit me by Your mercy amongst Your righteous servants.” (27.19) And recently, I re-read something which, of all the words in history that come from human beings who are not endowed with prophethood (nubuwwa), may be the most true and beneficial that I have ever found. I would like to think that if the teenage David had read these words, he could have saved himself a lot of time studying, and just gotten down to the real work of trying to live up to this exalted ideal.

“Your condition must always be either a tribulation or a blessing. If it happens to be a trial, you are required to endure it with perseverance (at the lower end of the scale) and patience (which is a higher grade), then cheerful acceptance and compliance, then annihilation [fana’], which is proper to the Abdal. If it is a blessing, on the other hand, it behooves you to be grateful for it. Thanks can be offered with the tongue, the heart, and the limbs and organs of the body.

To give thanks with the tongue means acknowledging that the blessing is from Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He), and dissociating it from creatures, from your own self and your power, strength and earning capacity, and from any other persons who may have had a hand in it. You and they are only means, tools and instruments for it, while its real allotter, executor and creator, the one responsible for it as active agent and prime mover, is Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He). The allotter is Allah, the executor is He, and the creator is He, so He is more deserving of thanks than any other. Attention is paid not to the errand-boy who delivers a present, but to the master, the sender of the gift. Concerning those who lack this correct attitude, Allah (Exalted is He) has said: They know an outward part of this world’s life, and of the hereafter they are heedless. (30.7) If someone notices only the exterior and the apparent cause, and his knowledge and understanding go no further, he is ignorant, defective and lacking in intelligence. An intelligent person is so called on account of his insight into ultimate principles.

As for giving thanks with the heart, this means holding the constant belief, the firm, strong and secure conviction, that everything you have in the way of blessings, benefits and enjoyments, outwardly and inwardly, be you active or at rest, comes from Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He) and from no other. When you give thanks with your tongue, you will be expressing what you feel in your heart. As He says (Almighty and Glorious is He): And whatever blessing you enjoy, it is from Allah. (16.53) He also says (Exalted is He): And He has lavished on you His blessings, outward and inward. (31.20) He says further (Exalted is He): And if you count the favor of Allah, you will never add it up. (16.18) In the light of all of this, the believer can have no benefactor apart from Allah (Exalted is He).

As for giving thanks with the limbs and organs of the body, you do this by making them move and work in obedience to Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He) to the exclusion of all creatures. You must not respond to the behest of any creature in anything involving opposition to Allah (Exalted is He). This extends to the self, the passions, self-will, desires, and everything else in the realm of creation. Make obedience to Allah the basic principle, the guide and leader, and everything else the offshoot, the follower and disciple. If you do otherwise you will be a despotic tyrant, applying a rule that is not the rule laid down by Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He) for His believing servants, treading a path that is not the way of the righteous.” Revelations of the Unseen by Shaykh ‘Abd al-Qadir, trans. of Futuh al-Ghayb by Muhtar Holland, pp. 140-1