One of the comprehensive ayahs (verses) in the Islamic creed is God‘s saying; {Why should Allah punish you if you have thanked (Him) and have believed in Him. And Allah is Ever All-Appreciative (of good), All-Knowing} (4:147)
It seems that when man believes in Allah and thanks Him he achieves the aim of his existence, why?
Because originally his existence is beneficence and favors from Almighty God, God grants him the blessing of existence, you exist.
So this is a big blessing for you, Allah grants you the blessing of existence, the blessing of bestowal and the blessing of guidance, you are the trace of the grace and the blessing of Almighty Allah.
God subjected the universe to introduce Himself to you and to honor you.
Consider the following example: If a friend of yours is a specialist in electronics to a high level, and he invented a device and has given it to you as a gift. You appreciate, esteem and admire this device which offers a great service and you feel grateful to the one who has given you this device as a present. Similarly, the universe is subjected to you.
Look and Reflect
Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) indicated that when he saw the crescent he used to say: “A crescent of goodness, orientation and guidance” (Abu Dawud)
You can compare everything to this hadith; for example: (the creation of) your son leads you to God, how he was a drop of liquid then he becomes a very complicated creature. Also, the fresh water leads you to God and you benefit from it, and the food you eat leads you to Him and you benefit from it.
If you believe and thank, you achieve the purpose of your existence. Everything Allah creates has two tasks: a beneficial task and a guiding task. In fact, the guiding task is bigger and more important than the beneficial task, because the beneficial task ends when the human being dies, but the guiding task continues and expands after death forever and ever.
When a human being thinks about something and gets to know Allah through it he achieves the aim of its existence, but if he benefits from it only he would achieve nothing. Actually, most of the western world benefit from the grace of Allah to a high level, but they don’t know Allah, consequently, they have not achieved the main purpose of it.
Consider what God says: {If you give thanks, I will give you more (of My Blessings} (14:7)
When you thank God you achieve the aim behind your existence, because originally your existence is a blessing and grace from Him.
Sometimes a person buys a house and pays its price, the owner of the house who sells you the house can’t say that he has grace and favor upon you, because he takes the price of the house in cash, but if someone offers you a house as a present and the house is very expensive, it differs.
So you are in front of giving and granting from Allah, like your existence and the blessing of guidance. Moreover, you, as a whole, are in a blessing from Allah and what around you is a blessing too, and the whole universe is subjected to you according to the following noble ayah:
{And has subjected to you all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth; it is all as a favor and kindness from Him. Verily, in it are signs for a people who think deeply.} (45:13)
In a reaction to the fact that the whole universe is subjected to you, the guiding task is to believe in Allah and the beneficial task is to thank Him, if you thanked Allah and believed in him you have achieved the aim behind your existence.
Knowing Him
Knowing God is what distinguishes between believers. This means that thanking Allah is not something extraordinary because the origin of your existence is a blessing, you are created for happiness, and you should thank Who deserves that:
{And Allah is Ever All-Appreciative (of good), All-Knowing} (4:147)
I will put forth the case of a person who gives a sick person a present and he leaves a note in the gift that refers that this gift is from him. How would the patient thank that person if he does not know that he is the one who offered him the gift?
Look at the correlation between thanks and knowledge, so if ten people visited him and only one had the gift but he didn’t leave a note in the gift, how would the patient know who offered the gift? While if the person left a note in the gift, the patient would thank him if he met him again.
Thanking God Increases His Blessings
{If you give thanks, I will give you more (of My Blessings} (14:7)
Some learned scholars, (who really knew Allah), explained this ayah saying: if you thanked My blessing I would give you more of My obedience, and if you thanked My obedience I would give you more of My solitude, and if you thanked My solitude I would give you more of My proximity, and if you thanked My proximity I would give you more of self sufficiency, and if you thanked the sufficiency I would give you more of My knowledge, and if you thanked My knowledge I would give you more of My connection.
The more you thank God the more He will grant you from His bounty. So, if someone thanks Allah because He helps him to obey Him, now in this case thanking Allah for obedience causes proximity to Him.
This solitude: “I am the companion of those who remember Me, and when My servant asks for Me he will find Me.”
If you thank Allah for the proximity between you and Him, Allah would give you more self sufficiency. Actually, self sufficiency is a very sublime status, which means to be satisfied with Allah and to dispense with people, because the believer is self sufficient, with self-esteem and self respect; he never lowers himself to anyone because Almighty Allah makes him self-sufficient:
If you thank sufficiency I will give you more of My Knowledge. Knowledge is a very precious thing, and the knowledge of Allah is what distinguishes between believers.
Above Anything Else
Whoever knows Allah renounces anything else. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) applied the doctrine of Allah perfectly (one hundred percent), and any honest believer should apply the doctrine of Allah perfectly. Nevertheless, the difference between the rank of the prophets and that of believers is related to the knowledge (of Allah), while applying the doctrine is the same.
For example, when a doctor gives the patient an injection, there are some procedures he must first take; he should disinfect the injection and disinfect the part of the body that he will inject the liquid into, that is what the most qualified doctor and an ordinary nurse do, but the difference between the doctor and the nurse is difference in knowledge. Similarly, the doctrine of Allah can be applied by an ordinary believer or by the greatest prophet, while the difference between them is in knowledge.
If you give thanks to sufficiency I will give you more of My knowledge and if you give thanks to My knowledge I will give you more of My Connection (of getting closer to Allah). In fact, a human being has tasted everything in the worldly life but if he tastes the feeling of proximity from the Almighty he will renounce everything in the worldly life, because he who knows Allah renounces everything else.
To be continued…
By Muhammad Ratib An-Nabulsi
