Ulama and wise men look at all the blessings before their...

Ulama and wise men look at all the blessings before their hands with the eye of sight and reason to see the Giver of these blessings; therefore, they get the moral advantage of these blessings and make use of them in the way that the Giver of these blessings has intended. The holy Qur'an is a Book of guidance. It draws people’s attentions to these gifts and blessings in this way by saying: “O men!

call to mind the favor of Allah on you; is there any creator besides Allah who gives you sustenance from the heaven and the earth? There is no god but He; whence are you then turned away.” Qur’an 35:3 Yes! All the divine blessings and their benefits lead to the oneness of the Truth, which is the true evidence that leads to the oneness of the Sacred Being and to the easy way to know the Almighty Creator.

Being grateful for the blessings Some people think that being grateful for blessings is achieved by saying, after making use of these divine blessings, “Thanks be to Allah,” or “Praise be to Allah,” or “Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds.” It is not reasonable that a word or two we utter with our tongues can achieve real gratefulness for all these material and moral blessings. Gratefulness should be suitable to the Giver and harmonious with the blessing.

This cannot be achieved except by a series of sayings, doings and feelings. Would we be grateful for all these divine mercies and blessings just by saying, “praise be to Allah” or “thanks be to Allah?” Can gratefulness be realized just by saying, “praise be to Allah” before all these material blessings? Think of our organs: the eyes, the ears, the tongue, the hands, the legs, the heart, veins, nerves and bones.

Consider other material blessings like food, drink, fragrances; beautiful scenes of nature, like mountains, plains, woods, rivers, springs, seas; the different fruits, grains, vegetables and millions of other blessings that are considered as tools and means that keep the life and the survival of man.

Can man offer the real gratefulness to Allah just by saying “thanks be to Allah” in return for the blessings of Islam, faith, guidance, guardianship, knowledge, wisdom, health, safety, purification, satisfaction, obedience, love, worship and the likes? Ar-Raghib al-Isfahani says in his book al-Mufradat, p.265, “The origin of thanking is from ein shukra.[^2]” It means from an eye full of tears or a spring full of pure water.