The ultimate kafir doesn't just reject thanking Allah. The ultimate kafir rejects ascribing blessings to Allah, i.e. ends up rejecting Allah. It is not a coincidence. Alhamdulillah, we praise Him, we ask His help, and we ask His forgiveness. And we seek refuge in Allah from the evils of our souls and from the evil deeds of our deeds.
Whom Allah guides, there is no one who is astray from Him, and whomever He misguides, there is no one who is calm from Him. وَأَشْهَدُ أَن لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَن مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهُ وَلَا تَمُوتُنَّ إِلَّا وَأَنْتُمْ مُسْلِمُونَ ثم أما بعد Allah سبحانه وتعالى says in the Quran وَإِذَا أَنْعَمْنَا عَلَىٰ الْإِنسَانِ أَعْرَضَ وَنَأَىٰ بِجَانِبِهِ وَإِذَا مَسَّهُ الشَّرُّ كَانَ يَؤُسَىٰ When we bless mankind, when blessings are surrounding mankind, the response of man is that he turns his back, he takes it for granted. He has a puff and pride and arrogance. أَعْرَضَ وَنَأَىٰ بِجَانِبِهِ He turns away from all of these blessings, assuming the blessings will continue.
There is no acceptance, there is no gratitude, there is no recognition. Rather, there is a sense of entitlement. وَإِذَا مَسَّهُ الشَّرُّ And when some calamity happens, when the slightest hint of a problem happens, كَانَ يَؤُسَى He becomes bitter, he becomes complaining, he becomes somebody who is not satisfied with the reality. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions in this verse, One...
of the main characteristics that we all are so familiar with. And that is, we take blessings for granted and the slightest tragedy, the slightest problem, we find it to be the biggest issue constantly moaning, groaning, complaining about this. So the question therefore is, how do we change this attitude such that we appreciate the good and we can overcome and overlook the negative? There are multiple responses, but today's khutbah, we will illustrate one of the most important Quranic, Islamic manifestations of how to change our mindset. And that is the reality of shukr to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Shukr, or to be grateful for what we have. Shukr, to understand and appreciate the blessings Allah has given us is a mind changer. It is a paradigm shift. When we become of the shakireen, when we become of the thankful, when we start thinking of the positives, when we start looking at the good, then all of a sudden this impacts how we view the world.
And in fact, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala reminds us in the Quran that He created us to separate those amongst us who are grateful from those who are not grateful. There are only two categories of people. Either the first category, those that understand and appreciate. Or the second category, those that are complacent and arrogant and reject. Allah says in the Quran, إِنَّا هَدَيْنَاهُ السَّبِيلَ إِمَّا شَاكِرًا وَإِمَّا كَفُورًا We showed him the path, now it is up to him.
We showed him the hidayah, it is very clear, truth and falsehood. And now, mankind will decide, إِمَّا شَاكِرًا وَإِمَّا كَفُورًا Either mankind will choose the path of thankfulness. shakir or mankind will choose the path of ungratefulness kafur and by the way the term kufr or kafir it has two meanings in the quran the primary meaning that we associate is the one who rejects allah subhanahu wa ta'ala but in fact the quran has the term kufr not only for rejection of allah but also for a rejection of thanking allah because the ultimate kafir is the one who rejects thanking Allah by worshiping him. The ultimate kafir doesn't just reject thanking Allah. The ultimate kafir rejects ascribing blessings to Allah, i.e. ends up rejecting Allah.
It is not a coincidence that the same root that describes ungratefulness also describes disbelief in Allah. Let that sink in. When you are ungrateful, the Quran uses the term kufr.
And when you reject Allah, the Quran uses the term kufr. In other words, to be very simplistic, kufr, one of the opposites is iman, and kufr, the other opposite is shukr. لَإِن شَكَرْتُمْ لَأَزِيدَنَّكُمْ وَلَإِن كَفَرْتُمْ إِنَّ عَذَابِي لَشَدِيدٌ If you show me shukr, I will give you more. The opposite of shukr is also kufr.
The opposite of iman is also kufr. Because the root is the same. The concept is the same. That you reject the blessings Allah has given you. You do not appreciate the blessings Allah has given you.
And therefore, O Muslim, one of the seminal characteristics of iman, is that iman causes you to be of the shakireen. Iman causes you to constantly look at the positive and don't take it for granted. Iman of always, always brings about a positive paradigm.
Look at the good, look at all the blessings. Allah says in the Quran, وَإِن تَعُدُّوا نِعْمَةَ اللَّهِ لَا تُحْسُوهَا If you attempted to... count Allah's blessings, you would never be able to finish that list. You cannot even count Allah's blessing, but we take them for granted.
Allah says in the Quran, وَأَسْبَغَ عَلَيْكُمْ نِعْمَهُ ظَاهِرَةً وَبَاطِنَا He has immersed you, أَسْبَغَ You are swimming in Allah's mercy. You are surrounded by Allah's mercy. ظَاهِرَةً وَبَاطِنَا Some of them are obvious and others are not that obvious. But you are surrounded by Allah's mercy. Allah says in the Quran, that, وَرَحْمَةِ وَسِعَتْ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ My rahmah encompasses every created being.
Allah's rahmah is much, much more than we can imagine. We are surrounded by Allah's rahmah. We would not be here without Allah's blessings. Every breath that we take, every sip of water, every single blessing, Allah has given it to us.
And yet, we take it for granted. We don't even acknowledge it. We don't show. shukr to it. So realize, O Muslim, that shukr is that one element that changes our perspective.
It makes us optimistic. It makes us positive. It makes us appreciate the good of life. If we don't have shukr, then all of the good that we have becomes trivial and irrelevant and the smallest negative becomes the biggest issue for us.
it impacts our psyche, it impacts our psychology. The one who is shakir is the most pleasant person to be around, the most optimistic person to be around, the one who's always cheerful, the one who doesn't have shakir. You don't want him around you.
You don't like this person in your life. This person is always looking at the negative. So how then do we inculcate shukr?
Once we understand how important shukr is, once we understand Allah created us to separate the shakir, from the kafur and allah wants to see shukr now the question arises how does one demonstrate shukr how does one bring about shukr into our hearts multiple things can be said here and of them it all begins from the perception from the niya from the everything begins from your own perception we learn in the quran that when suleiman saw the blessings allah has given him when suleiman looked around and he saw all of the wealth and the power and the might. The first thing that he said, All of this is from Allah's blessings upon me. All of this is Allah's fadl.
I didn't deserve it. I didn't earn it. I was not able to acquire it myself. Allah gave it to me. هذا من فضل ربي It is an attitude. It is a paradigm shift.
Everything begins from how you look at the world. When Sulaiman a.s. sees all of these blessings, there's no arrogance, there's no entitlement. There's no, I earned this, I deserve this.
Contrast this with Qarun. Contrast this with that multi-billionaire whom Allah mentions in the Quran being so wealthy that the keys to his treasure chest could not be lifted except with a group of men. When Qarun saw his wealth and somebody said to him, you should be thankful. Qarun said, I did this from my own.
إِنَّمَا أُتِتُ عَلَىٰ عِلْمٍ مِنْ عِنْدِي This is my skill. I was able to acquire my wealth. I know how to do business.
This is my talents that got all of this. Contrast Qarun. When Qarun says, I did all of this from Sulaiman.
Even though Sulaiman had much more than Qarun. Sulaiman had the wealth. the power of the jinn, the power of the creation, the power of the animals. Sulaiman had the wind on his back.
Sulaiman had all of the armies. People couldn't even imagine of what use is gold and silver when you have the power of nature. And still Sulaiman said, هذا من فضل ربي.
This is from my Lord. And Allah gave it to me. Why? Not because I am so pious, even though he was pious. Not because I'm so holy, even though he was holy.
But he realized, أَذَا مِنْ فَضْلِ رَبِّ لِيَبَلُونِي أَشْكُرُ أَمْ أَكْفُرُ This is from Allah's blessings so that Allah tests me. Am I grateful to Allah or am I ungrateful to Allah? It's all about the paradigm shift. When Qarun was ungrateful, Allah took all of his wealth in a millisecond and the people saw. And when Sulaiman was grateful, Allah gave him even more power and izzah.
When Sulaiman demonstrated shukr, It only increased his power and izzah. And when Qarun demonstrated ingratitude, Allah took it away in a millisecond. So learn from these lessons and understand, shukr is what changes all of this. One of our scholars of the past, a great scholar and linguist, his name is Al-Fayruz Abadi. Al-Fayruz Abadi said that there are five levels of shukr, or I should say five pillars of shukr.
That there are... manifestations of shukr that need to be demonstrated in five different areas. And of course, this is one interpretation.
Al-Ghazali has others and other scholars have given others. But for our khutbah today, let's use Al-Fayruz Abadi's categorization in order to get an appreciation of how we have the attitude of shukr. He says, number one, the first manifestation of shukr is that the heart must be humbled to the one who has given you everything. Shukr begins with humility, not arrogance. Number one, there must be humility, not entitlement.
And I just gave you the example of Sulaiman versus Qarun. Sulaiman was humble, Qarun was arrogant. So it begins, number one, with a sense of appreciation and humility. I didn't deserve this.
Allah blessed me with this wealth, this health, my family, my children, all of this Allah gave it to me. I did not. earn it, it is Allah's, so you begin, number one, with humility humbling yourself appreciating that Allah has given it to you, number two once that humility comes, it should then be followed by a genuine sense of loving Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala appreciating the generosity of Al-Kareem, because Allah azza wa jal is indeed akramul akramin, and Allah azza wa jal has given you all of this without even you asking. Imagine if you were to ask, how much more will He give you? And so the second manifestation of shukr is that once you have humbled, you now love and appreciate.
You now have a sense of awe. You have a sense of genuine iman. And you want to praise Allah.
You want to worship Allah because Allah has given all of this to you. And of course, this notion of appreciating, this notion of recognizing that you lead to worship, This is very explicit in the Quran. The first commandment in Surah Al-Baqarah, يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ أُعْبُدُوا رَبَّكُمُ وَالَّذِي خَلَقُهُمْ وَالَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِكُمْ O mankind, worship the one who created you and all those before you.
Allah created you, so worship him in return. Allah gave you all of this, and so be... Have that ubudiyya to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala So the second manifestation is Your heart should then be full of awe Of humility, of love, of gratitude And you want to worship Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala This should lead to point number three How is worship done?
Once you have humility, point number one That humility then leads to awe and servitude Point number two Point number three What is servitude? What is worship? Point number three Obey the commandments of Allah by fulfilling the rights of Allah and avoiding the prohibitions of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Fulfill the commandments of Allah to demonstrate shukr. A part of being of the shakireen is you obey the sharia of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. A part of demonstrating shukr is to live your life in accordance with the sharia of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Allah has mandated rituals upon us.
This is one of the ways to manifest shukr, that Allah has given us wealth and health and time. Every few hours, we take away a few minutes, and we worship Allah facing the qibla. We do wudu, we stand up, we demonstrate piety.
Allah has given us so much wealth. Once a year, we are required to give a small percentage of that wealth for the fuqara. Allah has given us so much time. One month of that, we dedicate for the worship of Allah.
when it comes to the siyam of Ramadan, and so on and so forth. Likewise, committing sins needs to be minimized. And if and when a sin is done, shukr should cause us to repent as quickly as possible from that sin.
And this leads us to point number four. Point number four is that one of the greatest manifestations of shukr is to use what Allah has given you in the worship of Allah. And to be ashamed. ...to not use what Allah has given you to disobey Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. In other words, when Allah has given you so much, how can you use what Allah has given you to disobey Allah?
There should be a sense of gratitude in demonstrating, what Allah has given me, I need to give to others as well. When Allah has given me wealth, allow me to share that wealth with others. When Allah has given me health, allow me to use that health to benefit other people.
When Allah has given me time, allow me to use that time for other people. Likewise, when Allah has given all of these blessings, how can I use those blessings to disobey Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? There should be a sense of shame that I'm not going to use the very gifts Allah has given me to disobey Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And therefore, point number four is to use the blessings and blessings of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
give them to others whom Allah Azzawajal, Allah will use you to share His blessings and to not use Allah's blessings in a way that is not befitting. And this leads to point number five, that of the ways, Imam Al-Fair Hu Zabadi says, that you demonstrate shukr of the ways is you literally think to yourself about how Allah has blessed you and you talk to those whom you love and trust that they will not get jealous. and you remind them, i.e. for example, remind your family of Allah's blessings on all of you.
Remind your loved ones of Allah's blessings, so that you don't take it for granted. And Imam al-Faidu Zabadi says, this is based on the verse, وَأَمَّا بِنِعْمَةِ رَبِّكَ فَحَدِّثْ As for Allah's blessings, tell it to other people. And our Prophet ﷺ said, that tell the blessings to those whom you love. We don't brag and boast about blessings, but there are people who love us, we love them back. And amongst those whom we can trust, We don't take these blessings for granted.
And it is a part of demonstrating shukr that we remind ourselves. For example, when you're sitting with family, you literally bring up, you say, Alhamdulillah, Allah has blessed us with a loving family. Just to say it like this is one of the ways you are thanking Allah.
You're not taking it for granted. That you are demonstrating, وَأَمَّا بِنِعْمَةِ رَبِّكَ فَحَدِّثْ The ni'mah that Allah has given you, mention it to other people. So these are five, manifestations of shukr. Ibn al-Qayyim has a slightly different categorization.
The concept is the same. Ibn al-Qayyim says, to show shukr to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala implies three things. And again, all of these categorizations are valid. It's just a matter of how you want to express what is shukr. Ibn al-Qayyim says, to show shukr to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is manifested in three manners.
It is manifested first and foremost in the heart, And then in the tongue, and then in the body. It begins from the qalb, and then it moves on to the tongue, and then it is completed in the heart. And so Ibn al-Qayyim says, the qalb, the heart, is the repository of shukr. Because in the heart, you acknowledge Allah's blessings upon you, and you show the sense of shukr. thankfulness and appreciation and humility.
And it is similar to Imam al-Firuza Badi when he says it begins with humility. Ibn Qayyim says it begins with the qalb, the same thing. Then when the qalb acknowledges what Allah has given you, the tongue will automatically move in praising Allah.
Thanking Allah, Alhamdulillah. And he mentions the story of Nuh a.s. that, our prophet said nuh alaihis salam was so thankful to allah that not a single sip of water could he take except that he would say alhamdulillah for that sip and not a single morsel of food except that his tongue would say alhamdulillah not for every meal for every morsel for every time something entered his mouth he would say alhamdulillah alhamdulillah so conscious of allah so begins with the qalb moves on to the tongue. And then Ibn Qayyim says, it is perfected in the body.
When the body becomes the perfect worshiper of Allah, when the body outwardly and inwardly, it becomes pious and muttaqi, and ihsan is demonstrated. This is the highest manifestation of shukr. And then he mentions the famous verse in the Quran, اِعْمَلُوا آلَ دَاوُودَ شُكْرًا وَقَلِيلٌ مِّنْ عِبَادِيَا الشَّكُورِ اعملوا آل داود شكرا O family of Dawud, demonstrate your shukr through your amal.
اعملوا شكر Ibn al-Qayyim says, this verse shows shukr is not just in the heart. It's not just in the tongue. It must be in the amal. اعملوا آل داود شكرا Show your shukr through your good deeds, O family of David.
Family of David means Dawud and Sulaiman. O family of Dawud, show me how thankful you are. And that's showing. is done by the amal. And so, O Muslim, The concept of shukr is one of the primary manifestations of iman.
When you have iman in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, automatically it will be, as I said, a paradigm shift. You will be grateful for what Allah has given you. You will be thankful for all the blessings you have. You will become an optimistic and cheerful person. Otherwise, when you don't have shukr, you become petty, you become stingy, you become...
grumbling and complaining all the time you become entitled and arrogant and this is not the way of the believer o muslim allah subhanahu wa ta'ala loves the shakireen and allah subhanahu wa ta'ala blesses the shakireen allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in the quran if you are thankful i will give you even more but if you are ungrateful then know that my punishment is very severe we want allah's we want allah's blessings we want allah's pleasure and we seek refuge in allah from allah's punishment may allah subhanahu wa ta'ala bless me and you with the quran and may he make us of those who his verses they understand and applies halal and haram throughout our lifespan i ask allah's forgiveness you as well ask him for his the gafoor and the Alhamdulillah Alhamdulillah alwahid alahad al samad alladhi lam yalid walam yulad walam yakullahu kufwan ahad waba'du O Muslims, as we look at all of these blessings that Allah has given us, without a doubt the greatest blessing that Allah has given us is the blessing of Iman. The biggest blessing is the blessing of Iman. Alhamdulillah alladhi hadana lihada wama kuna linahtadia laula an hadana Allah And of the blessings of Iman is the blessing of the Quran and the blessing to be in the ummah of the Prophet ﷺ. There is no blessing that is greater than the blessing of being a Muslim. And the blessing of being a Muslim is manifested in believing in the Qur'an, and in believing in the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.
And of the greatest manifestations of appreciating that blessing is to live our lives in accordance with the Qur'an and the teachings of the Prophet ﷺ. Also, O Muslim, Our Prophet ﷺ gave us some practical advice to make sure that we show shukr, that we demonstrate shukr. Of them, the famous hadith in Ibn Majah where the Prophet ﷺ said, كُنْ قَانِعًا تَكُنْ أَشْكَرَ النَّاسِ That be content with what Allah has given you.
You will find yourself the most thankful of all mankind. Be content. Don't be greedy. Don't compare yourself to those with more than you.
No, be content. and you will find you are the most thankful for what you have. O Muslim, our blessings are too many. Yet when we compare with those who have more than us, we trivialize our blessing. There is no blessing greater than the blessing of Iman.
Thank Allah for that blessing. After that... The blessing of health is the most precious blessing. Wallahi of what chooses millions or billions if you don't have good health. So when you have health, be thankful to Allah.
A man came to Hasan al-Basri and he said, Ya Hasan al-Basri, I am impoverished. I have nothing. Make dua for me. Hasan al-Basri looked at him and he said, You seem healthy and young.
Would you give me a million gold coins for your eyesight? The man said, No, of course not. Okay, would you give me a million for the ability to walk?
Of course not. How about a million for your hands? Of course not.
A million for your health? Of course not. Hasan al-Basri said, I see you walking around a multi-millionaire and yet you complain you don't have anything.
I see you walking around a multi-millionaire, you have health, and yet you are complaining you have nothing. This is why our Prophet ﷺ said, be grateful, be content with what Allah has given you. You will be the most thankful of all of mankind.
Be content and don't be greedy, and automatically it will lead to a paradigm shift. Also, our Prophet ﷺ said, hadith is in Tirmidhi, two things, whoever does them will be written amongst the shakireen and the sabireen. Two things, if you do them, you're gonna be a shakir and a sabir. He said, when it comes to this dunya, look at those that have less than you, and you will be thankful to Allah.
And when it comes to the religion, look at those higher than you, and you will strive for excellence. This hadith is an important hadith about how to be of the shakireen. Don't compare yourself to the top 10%, the top 1%, the top 0.01%. Compare yourself to those who are living in places where bombs are dropping. Compare yourself to those who don't have three meals a day.
Compare yourself to those who don't have what you have. And all of a sudden your heart will Say, Alhamdulillah, I am so fortunate. And when it comes to the religion, don't look at the drug addict and say, at least I'm not like him. No, look at the one who's praying fajr in the masjid, say, oh, why am I not like him?
Look at the one who's, even though he's working just like you, he's also memorizing Quran, he's also giving charity, and ask yourself, why can't I be like that person? Our Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, if you follow these two characteristics, when it comes to the religion, look up. When it comes to the dunya, look at those whom you have been privileged over. Do this, you will be from the shakireen and the sabireen. And the final point of advice, and again, khutbahs have to always be concise.
There's so much more to be said. The final point of advice, I remind myself and all of you, when you want to be of the shakireen, raise your hands to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and make dua to Allah to make you of the shakireen. Our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam taught Mu'adh ibn Jabal. He said, never ever forget to make this dua after every single salah.
What dua? اللهم أعني على ذكرك وشكرك wa husni ibadatik. Allahumma a'inni ala zikrika. O Allah, help me to remember you. wa shukrika.
And help me to be thankful for you. Thankful to you. You make dua to Allah.
O Allah, I don't wanna be arrogant. I don't wanna be self-entitled. I don't wanna be moaning and complaining. I wanna be grateful, O Allah. Make me from the grateful.
So you raise your hands after every single salah and you say, Allahumma a'inni ala zikrika wa shukrika. wa husni ibadatik. When you do all of these things, wallahi o Muslim, it won't just help your akhirah, it will help your dunya as well.
You will be a better person. You will be a more pleasant person. Your family, your friends are gonna see this difference. Why?
Because the barakah and the blessings of iman and the sweetness of shukr, it is gonna be manifested in your own personal life. And when you do so, Allah will bless you with even more. Never forget, la in shakartum. la azidannakum if you show me shukr I will give you even more and wallahi I want more and you want more I want more from Allah the way to get more from Allah is to show shukr to Allah may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make us of the shakireen Allahumma inni da'in fa amminu Allahumma la dada'i fihal yawmi dhamman illa ghafarta wala hamman illa farajta wala dainan illa qadaita wala maridhan illa shafi'an la asiran illa yassarta Allahumma ghafirl lana wa li ikhwanina allatheena sabakuna bil imaan wa la thajaa fi qulubina ghilla lillatheena amanu Rabbana innaka ra'ufu ar-raheem Allahumma a'izzal islama wal muslimin Allahumma a'izzal islama wal muslimin Allahumma man aradana aw aradal islama wal muslimin bisu'in fashghilhu binafsih wa ja'al tadmeerahu fi tadbeerihi ya qawyu ya aziz Ibadallah Inna Allaha Ta'ala Ya'muru Bil Adli Wal Ihsani Wa Ita'idil Qurbah Wa Yanha Anil Fahshai Wal Munkari Wal Baghi Ya'idhukum La'allakum Tadhakaroon Uthkuru Allah Al-Azima Yathkurkum Washkuruuhu Yazid Lakum Waladhikru Allahi Ta'ala Akbar Wa Aqimis Salat