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In the Name of Allah, |
Gratitude
Expressing gratitude to the Almighty is the foremost basis of our relation with Him. This expression pertains to the heart, the tongue and the deeds we do. Expression of gratitude by the heart means that it should be brimming with thankfulness to God for His innumerable bounties and favors. The heart, when filled with gratitude, impels the tongue to pour out words of gratitude for the Almighty whenever one comes across His favors and blessings or is reminded of them, just as a cup brimming with water overflows with the slightest of stirs.
A heart teeming with gratitude has a profound effect on the deeds of a person. He relishes every deed that satisfies his urge to be thankful. Similarly, he develops an aversion for deeds which reflect ingratitude to a visible or hidden favour of God. If a person has within him the true awareness of acknowledging a blessing, he is never willing to use this blessing against the liking of its bestower. Suppose, someone gives us a torch to save us from stumbling in the darkness or gives us a sword to protect ourselves from an enemy or gives us a vehicle to save us from the bother of walking, then only a very ungrateful and thankless person can use these very sources to break into the house of his well wisher and massacre his family. Likewise, a person, who is mindful of acknowledging favours, can never use the Almighty’s favours for the cause of Satan. A’ishah (rta), in a letter to Mu‘awiyyah (rta), has referred to this reality in the following words: ‘The least obligation of a person who has been blessed with favorus in that he ought not use these favors in disobeying the bestower’.
To inculcate gratitude in our selves we need to observe the following.
First, we should always be mindful of all that God has blessed us with, tangible or intangible. This is a common trait of man that he wails when faced with the slightest of problems and blindly ignores the continuous favors befalling him as if they never existed. A man who doesn’t have an eye for blessings and their importance never appreciates the bestower nor cherishes thankfulness towards him. To eradicate this unresponsiveness, a man may portion out a section of his daily time to contemplate all the visible and hidden blessings of God scattered throughout the universe. He should imagine while meditating that there was all the probability that he would not have been blessed with those bounties. What if he had been deprived of sight, born dumb or with hands benumbed and feet paralyzed? Above all what would he be like without the gift of reasoning?
Second, we should realize that we are blessed with what we didn’t deserve. Neither did we earn anything nor can we. He, the Almighty can withdraw every favour from us. What could one do if he fell from the crown to the stillest doom? For this very reason we shouldn’t leave an unfortunate man unnoticed and must mind that God can replace him with us. It is only His grace that we are spared the plight.
Third, we should not only look
towards those privileged rather we should compare ourselves with the less
fortunate. A person who looks only to the more blessed is never satisfied
and he is always complaining. He is denied happiness in life, no matter how
richly blessed he is. He could not have been raised above all after all. So
to keep meriting the kindness of the Almighty, everyman should notice the
worth of those who lack a lot of what he enjoys. One of Sheikh Sa‘di’s narratives
elucidates the matter cogently. During one of his journeys, he tells, his shoes
wore out. He became aggrieved for he couldn’t buy a new pair. Hobbling along he
came to a mosque where there was an amputee, who had no feet at all. Suddenly,
an impulse of gratitude swelled his heart and he knelt down in order to offer
thanks to the Almighty for the feet He had been blessed by him. Sa‘di’ has beautifully made us
understand how to view the world in order to be grateful. People who see the
world through Sa‘di’s eyes find every now and then innumerable signs of
His graciousness urging them to be thankful. On the other hand, there are those
who in spite of having sound health, fret on not owning the most modern car.
Such people can never be grateful in the real sense. (Adapted from Islahi’s ‘Tazkiyah i Nafs’)
Author: Tariq Hashmi
Topic URL: October 2003 www.monthly-renaissance.com
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Debate & Discuss * Discussion Forum: Islamic Customs & Etiquette | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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* General Discussion Forum: 66- can you clarify please | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Morals and Morality
Javed Ahmad Ghamidi (Tr. by Shehzad Saleem)
After faith, the second important requirement of religion is purification of morals. This means that a person should cleanse his attitude both towards his creator and towards his fellow human beings. This is what is termed as a righteous deed. All the shari‘ah is its corollary. With the change and evolution in societies and civilizations, the shari‘ah has indeed changed; however faith and righteous deeds, which are the foundations of religion, have not undergone any change. The Qur’an is absolutely clear that any person who brings forth these two things before the Almighty on the Day of Judgement will be blessed with Paradise which shall be his eternal abode:
وَمَنْ يَأْتِهِ مُؤْمِنًا قَدْ عَمِلَ الصَّالِحَاتِ فَأُوْلَئِكَ لَهُمُ الدَّرَجَاتُ الْعُلَى جَنَّاتُ عَدْنٍ تَجْرِي مِن تَحْتِهَا الْأَنْهَارُ خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا وَذَلِكَ جَزَاء مَن تَزَكَّى (20: 75-76) And he who comes before Him as a believer having done righteous deeds, exalted ranks are for such people, evergreen gardens beneath which streams flow. They shall abide therein forever and this shall be the reward of those that keep themselves pure. (20:75-76)
It is doing these righteous deeds which is termed as sound moral behaviour and while the emanation of unrighteous ones is termed as immoral behaviour. The Prophet (sws) is reported to have said: إنما بعثت لأتمم مكارم الأخلاق(I have been sent to achieve the culmination of high moral standards).[1] He is also reported to have said:
“The best among you are those who are morally sound from others.”[2]
“These are the people who are very dear to me.”[3]
“On the Day of Judgement, it will be high moral behaviour which will carry most weight in the scales of a person.”[4]
“A believer achieves the same rank through high moral behaviour as can be achieved through fasts and the night prayers.”[5]
Further may be seen at: May
2007 http://www.monthly-renaissance ________________________ [1]. Bayhaqi, Sunan al-Kubra, vol. 10 (Makkah: Maktabah Dar al-Baz, 1994), 191. [2]. Bukhari, No: 5682; Muslim, No: 2321. [3]. Bukhari, No: 3549. [4]. Abu Da’ud, No: 4799; Tirmadhi, No: 2002. [5]. Abu Da’ud, No: 4798; Tirmadhi, No: 2003.
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Topic: Module 2: Hair Dye
Jhangeer Hanif (Moderator)
Tahayyah666
Jhangeer Hanif (Moderator) How do you define nice? Someone may find it nice to dye their hair blue or dark red etc?
Sidrah Thats the problem with defineing ABNORMALITY. every1 has their own views of wht is normal and wht is not normal. ABNORMALITY can never have a universal meaning. so wht is nice 2 me, u might think i'm weird of abnormal just because u think thats nasty.
What about the common 'prototypes' (about normal and abnormal) that we have as a result of having an upbringing in a particular society? What is implied in this question may be more appreciated by thinking of a society which is somewhat secure from the onslaugts of a foreign cultures and ideas.
Mohawkbearclan5
[I think that it
is OK to use hair dye, but it should be a color that occurs naturally.
Jhangeer Hanif (Moderator)
Red occurs
naturally. Do you think it is okay to use red color? or do you mean to say
that the colors which occur NATURALLY in our hair?
Sunrise2005 I am a new student here, Want to reply for Mr. Jhangeer Hanif question. We can use natural black color in order to dye hair, or we can use Mahndi for this purpose, but I don't think so that red color seems to be natural. May be by using Mahndi if someone's hair color seems like redish brown then its fine, as Hazrat Abu Bakar (RA) used mehndi.
Jhangeer Hanif (Moderator) I appreciate your answer. I however would request that you please tell me what is your argument for accepting natural black and the colour of the Mehandi only?
You have quoted the act of Abu Bakar, rta, as far as redish brown is concerned but no word about black?
sunrise2005 Thank you Sir for appreciating my answer.
I didn't say that the hair color of Hazrat Abu Bakar RA was redish brown, I just read in hadith that he used mehndi.
Now about the argument that why natural black color or mehndi ? In Sahi Muslim Hazrat Jabbir RA told that our Muhammad SAW said to dye the color and don't use dark black color. I just mentioned the concept of that hadith. So this is the reason that our Prophet SAW also dislike this thing. If I am not wrong then Hazrat Muhammad SAW also used mehndi, am I right Sir?
And Shaba Karam RA also uses mehndi so we should have to follow them.
Hope I answered the question.
Jhangeer Hanif (Moderator) You did answer!
Can you copy and paste here the complete hadith, of you which you talk about?
perv1 If hair dye is not permitted because it is not in Hadith or no precedent in Islam. Then do we abandon all that has no Islamic precedent or is not mentioned in the Hadith?
Jhangeer Hanif (Moderator) No. We are not obligated to abandon it. But how do you see all the novel things for which we have no precedent in times of the Prophet, sws?
Further may be seen at: http://www.studying-islam.org/forum/topic.aspx?topicid=418&lang=&forumid=15
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waseem
066.001
Ibrahim (Moderator) Please state your problem in understanding these verses in the form of question. Thanks
oosman
I think (but I am
not sure) that these verses are elaborated more in the following hadith. I do
not know how authentic the hadith is, so read with caution.
waseem
Surah 66. mentions
about two incidents. firstly the prophet (sws) is pointed out that he should not
forbid what is halaal. secondly the azwaaz i mutaharat are pointed to.
atifrafi
There are 2
different stories as stated by you. Many scholars have done research on this
topic and I seriously think that it was there mistake....
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Will
all Non-Muslims be Condemned to Hell?
Answer:
Topic URL: http://www.studying-islam.org/querytext.aspx?id=594
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