Gratitude.
Allah says: لإن شكرتم لأزيدنكم
“If you are grateful, I will increase for you.”
Another easy and excellent proven method to combat grief is by means of gratitude. Gratitude is vast. We are bound to be grateful to Our Creator as well as His creation who are of benefit to us.
We have seen that those who concentrate on their infinite blessings instead of their counted sources of grief are not just happier, instead they bring out the best in themselves, thereby leaving a pretty scent along their path.The positive vibe of a truly grateful individual spreads like sunshine in his own life and even if he doesn't realise so, it spreads light to those that interact with him regularly. Being grateful in it's truer sense would include gratitude for unexplainable grief that brings out your strength, gratitude for the limbs that most people only notice when they cry out in pain, gratitude for the functions in our bodies that we cannot fathom their intricacies, gratitude for the people that make us smile, gratitude for the fresh air instead of air polluted with the remains of a bomb, gratitude for life itself, for oxygen itself, for the miracles within our own bodies and the acceptance of wishes that were merely passing thoughts.
As humans, we know of gratitude but not many of us know the manners of gratitude. We show gratitude in different ways for different blessings and gratitude was never just meant to be verbal. Infact, verbal gratitude is like smoke that disappears into thin air.
Gratitude to our Creator, our Most Merciful and kind Allah, entails servitude to Him and Him only. This is not something attained as easily as overnight. Rather, it is something that we will continue to strive on until our death, and although none has ever been guaranteed the ranks of perfection, our Allah is ever so merciful that He rewards us for every intention, every little prayer, every meagre effort made to attain His pleasure and only His paradise.
We go to such lengths to please social media audiences, to please secular professionals, business leaders, the 'sultans' and whom not. Our efforts are consumed by the world and its subjects.
A baby step at a time, slowly but surely, turn your attention towards The Creator of all of these businesses, of all their talents, their wealth and so-called fame. Difficult much?
The best part about showing gratitude to The Most Deserving Being is that the littlest gestures never go unnoticed and on the Day of Qiyamah, the sincere ones will even be dazzled at the mass of their good deeds, bi idnillāh.
May Allah make us from among those with whom He is pleased, from those who are grateful to Him in the true sense.
(Coming up: an enlightening way to practice gratitude. )
R. Pàđiá
