بسم الله الرحمن الرحیم
اَلْحَمْدُ لِلّهِ بِجَمِیعِ مَحَامِدِه کُلِّهَا عَلَی جَمِیعِ نِعَمِهِ کُلِّهَا… اَلْحَمْدُ لِلّهِ مالِکِ الْمُلْکِ مُجْرِی الْفُلْکِ مُسَخِّرِ الرِّیاحِ فالِقِ الاْصْباحِ دَیّانِ الدّینِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمینَ اَلْحَمْدُ لِلّهِ عَلی حِلْمِهِ بَعْدَ عِلمِهِ وَالْحَمْدُ لِلّهِ عَلی عَفْوِهِ بَعْدَ قُدْرَتِهِ وَالْحَمْدُ لِلّهِ عَلی طُولِ اَناتِهِ فی غَضَبِهِ وَهُوَ قادِرٌ عَلی ما یُریدُ
ثم الصلاه و السلام علی محمد عبده و رسوله ارسله بالهدی و دین الحق لیظهره علی الدین کله و لو کره المشرکون
اوصیکم عبادالله و نفسی بتقوی الله و اتباع امره و نهیه، و اخوفکم من عقابه
Continuation of the Fourteenth Sign of righteous:
يُمْسِي وَهَمُّهُ الشُّكْرُ
He ends the day while his effort is to gratitude.
We said that one of the signs of the righteous is that they are thankful for divine blessings, and the daily hardships and tiredness that result from it do not neglect their attention to the essence of God and His blessings.
Is Thanksgiving possible for blessings?
Imam Sajjad (PBUH) addresses God in one of his prayers:
فَكَيْفَ لِي بِتَحْصِيلِ الشُّكْرِ وَ شُكْرِي إِيَّاكَ يَفْتَقِرُ إِلَى شُكْرٍ فَكُلَّمَا قُلْتُ لَكَ الْحَمْدُ وَجَبَ عَلَيَّ لِذَلِكَ أَنْ أَقُولَ لَكَ الْحَمْدُ؛
How to give you Thanksgiving and while my Thanksgiving itself needs another Thanksgiving, so every time I say: (Thankgiving is just for yo ), I have to say it again: Thanksgiving is just for you (Bahar al-Anwar). “
Whoever does a good deed has been bestowed by God with the success of this good deed. For the same reason, thanksgiving is also bestowed upon man by God himself, and therefore, for each thanksgiving, another thanksgiving is obligatory on man. With this in mind, this dynasty will not end and in fact man will not even be able to handle one of God’s many blessings. So how can we be thankful to God and why has the Almighty God given thanksgiving obligation and given a those how do thanksgiving a promise of blessings ?!
Moses asked the Almighty God the same question, and the Lord answered Moses. Imam Sadegh narrates the story as follows:
فِيمَا أَوْحَى اللَّهُ عَزَّ وَ جَلَّ إِلَى مُوسَى ع يَا مُوسَى اشْكُرْنِي حَقَّ شُكْرِي فَقَالَ يَا رَبِّ وَ كَيْفَ أَشْكُرُكَ حَقَّ شُكْرِكَ وَ لَيْسَ مِنْ شُكْرٍ أَشْكُرُكَ بِهِ إِلَّا وَ أَنْتَ أَنْعَمْتَ بِهِ عَلَيَّ قَالَ يَا مُوسَى الْآنَ شَكَرْتَنِي حِينَ عَلِمْتَ أَنَّ ذَلِكَ مِنِّي
God has answered to Moses, “Moses! Give me thanks as much as I deserve, then Moses said: O my Lord! How can I thank you as you deserve while there is no doubt that I will thank you unless it is a blessing that you have provided for me that I can even give this thanks ?! God Almighty said, “Now that you know that all thanks are for me, you have thanked me. (Kaffi)
Thanksgiving cannot be performed for a divine blessing, but as much as one realizes that all blessings are even blessed by the Almighty God, it is considered thankful to God for divine blessings. It will have Shakirin’s reward.
Thanksgiving has degrees and levels, the lowest level of thanksgiving is the expression of blessings and linguistic thanksgiving, and the highest level is the use of blessings for the sake of God, not in the wrong way. For example Thanksgiving for a book is to read it, not to use it as a pillow!
A few Points about Thanksgiving
1.One of the blessings of thanksgiving is that man has attained a place where it must be difficult to achieve. Imam Sadegh says:
الْمُعَافَى الشَّاكِرُ، لَهُ مِنَ الْأَجْرِ مَا لِلْمُبْتَلَى الصَّابِرِ، وَ الْمُعْطَى الشَّاكِرُ، لَهُ مِنَ الْأَجْرِ كَالْمَحْرُومِ الْقَانِعِ
The person who is thankful and grateful has the reward of the one who is suffering but is patient, but the one who has become the blessings of God and is thankful has the reward of the one who is deprived but he is still thankful and has contentment.
2. Sometimes God excuses giving blessings so that his servant will be grateful for the blessing so that he would become a higher position, Imam Kazim (PBUH) says:
مَنْ حَمِدَ اللَّهَ عَلَى النِّعْمَةِ فَقَدْ شَكَرَهُ وَ كَانَ الْحَمْدُ أَفْضَلَ مِنْ تِلْكَ النِّعْمَةِ
Whoever glorifies and praises God for the blessings he has given him, this praise is more virtuous than the blessing.
3.Thanksgiving to the blessings of God, though seemingly minor in deeds, has a supreme position with God; Imam Sadegh says:
إِنَّ الرَّجُلَ مِنْكُمْ لَيَشْرَبُ الشَّرْبَةَ مِنَ الْمَاءِ فَيُوجِبُ اللَّهُ لَهُ بِهَا الْجَنَّةَ … إِنَّهُ لَيَأْخُذُ الْإِنَاءَ فَيَضَعُهُ عَلَى فِيهِ فَيُسَمِّي، ثُمَّ يَشْرَبُ فَيُنَحِّيهِ وَ هُوَ يَشْتَهِيهِ فَيَحْمَدُ اللَّهَ، ثُمَّ يَعُودُ فَيَشْرَبُ ثُمَّ يُنَحِّيهِ فَيَحْمَدُ اللَّهَ، ثُمَّ يَعُودُ فَيَشْرَبُ ثُمَّ يُنَحِّيهِ فَيَحْمَدُ اللَّهَ، فَيُوجِبُ اللَّهُ عَزَّ وَ جَلَّ بِهَا لَهُ الْجَنَّةَ
Someone drinks some water from you and God makes paradise obligatory for him, … He takes the container of water and puts it in his mouth and then says “Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim” and then drinks afterwards He removes the container of water despite its appetite and praises God, repeats the drinking, and removes the container from his mouth again, praising the Lord with words, then ( For the third time he comes back and drinks the water and removes the container and praises God, so the almighty God makes paradise obligatory for him.
4.An example of blasphemy of blessings is the non-use of science by scientists. Amir al-Mu’minin describes the past period of Arabs before the Prophet (s):
نَوْمُهُمْ سُهُودٌ وَ كُحْلُهُمْ دُمُوعٌ، بِأَرْضٍ عَالِمُهَا مُلْجَمٌ وَ جَاهِلُهَا مُكْرَمٌ
Their sleep was like waking up, and their eyes were constantly shedding tears. They lived in a land where the knowledgeable people had their mouths shut, and the ignorant people had great position.
5. One of the results of disbelief is divine blessings is insecurity and poverty in society. The Holy Quran says:
ضَرَبَ اللَّهُ مَثَلًا قَرْيَةً كَانَتْ آمِنَةً مُطْمَئِنَّةً يَأْتِيهَا رِزْقُهَا رَغَدًا مِنْ كُلِّ مَكَانٍ فَكَفَرَتْ بِأَنْعُمِ اللَّهِ فَأَذَاقَهَا اللَّهُ لِبَاسَ الْجُوعِ وَالْخَوْفِ بِمَا كَانُوا يَصْنَعُونَ ﴿نحل:۱۱۲
And God cites the example of a town that was secure and peaceful, with its livelihood coming to it abundantly from every direction. But then it turned unappreciative of God’s blessings, so God made it taste the robe of hunger and fear, because of what they used to craft.