On Gratitude: Classes from King Solomon
From our well being, wealth, standing, youngsters, family members and associates to our primary human actions of respiration and seeing, there are literally thousands of issues that we regularly take with no consideration and for which we must always reward Allah. and be grateful. The very fact is, for all of the scientific and religious intricacies and complexities of the blessings I listed above, we will by no means be grateful sufficient; so irrespective of how a lot we thank the Creator for it, there may be all the time room for enchancment in our state of gratitude.
There are actually hundreds of reference-worthy books on this topic, from the Bible to the Bhagavad Gita to more moderen publications like “The Secret” educating us concerning the want for gratitude; my reference for this essay is the Holy Quran, basically, and its educating on gratitude relating to the inspiring story of King Solomon, who additionally occurs to be one in every of Islam’s revered prophets.
In verse 6 of “Sura Ibraheem”, Allah reminds us of gratitude thus: “And [recall, O Children of Israel]when Moses stated to His individuals: “Keep in mind the favor of Allah upon you when He saved you from the individuals of Pharaoh, who you with the worst torments and killed your [newborn] sons and maintain your females alive. And on this there was an excellent trial out of your Lord.”
Certainly, King Solomon is a person of gratitude and his instance deserves to be studied and carried out. In “Surah Naml” he noticed and preached the artwork of gratitude in lots of situations, the primary being associated to us in verse 15: And We had definitely given David and Solomon data, and so they stated: ” Reward [is due] to Allah, who has favored us over a lot of His believing servants.” This can be a clear lesson within the artwork of humility and gratitude as a result of our endowments of data are to not be attributed to our intelligence, it’s a reward from Allah and needs to be acknowledged as such.
Within the subsequent verse, 16, Allah offers us additional directions from the instance of King Solomon: And Solomon inherited from David. He stated, “O individuals, we have been taught the language of the birds, and we acquired from all issues. Certainly, it’s an apparent generosity.
Solomon is so enamored with the artwork of being grateful that he not solely stops to precise his gratitude for the numerous bounties that Allah bestows on him, however he additional prays to Allah to extend His blessings upon him by permitting him to be much more grateful. After having deciphered the speech of an ant who warned his youngsters to take shelter lest they be crushed by the entourage of Solomon, the nice king and Prophet of Allah prays, in verse 19 of the Surah Naml: “My Lord, enable me to be thankful for Your favor You bestowed on me and my mother and father and for practising the justice You approve of…”
On this identical sura, Solomon goes on to provide us one more lesson in gratitude. When he ordered the jinn to convey him the throne of the Queen of Sheba and one in every of them did so within the blink of a watch. The prophet whose identify is synonymous with knowledge stated this, in verse 40: “It’s my Lord’s favor to check me whether or not I shall be grateful or ungrateful. And whoever is grateful – his gratitude is just for [the benefit of] himself. And whoever is ungrateful – then certainly my Lord is Free from want and Beneficiant.”
King Solomon’s earlier assertion makes it clear that the presents and bounties given to us, whether or not bodily or intangible, are solely to check whether or not we will probably be grateful or not. And certainly the Koran is true; our gratitude doesn’t profit Allah. Because the Quran teaches elsewhere in verse 7 of “Sura Ibraheem”, our gratitude is for our personal good: “And [remember] when your Lord proclaimed: “In case you are grateful, I’ll absolutely enhance you [in favor]; however if you happen to deny, verily my punishment is extreme.'”
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