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Gratitude, Modernity and the Need for God in the Equation (Part 2)
Listen to Sr. Roohi Tahir as she discusses gratitude as an inherent aspect of human nature: the fitrah. Referencing the origin story, we can learn how shukr, gratitude, itself is a form of worshipping Allah.
This session was part of the Yaqeen Academic Conference at the 2021 MAS-ICNA Convention in Chicago, IL.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. I seek refuge with Allah from the accursed Satan. In the name of Allah, and all praise is due to Allah, and to His Messenger, and to his family and companions. I will try to keep points as concisely and as hopefully as connectively as I can. Put it together as best I can so that you have a cohesive understanding of this paper, inshallah. But I will be available for questions afterwards because of the shortage of time here. So, an article I came across in the Atlantic some time back, titled, Gratitude Without God, had the following quote in it. And I just want to start with that. Gratitude is the animus of these secular rituals. This was in the context of the Thanksgiving holiday. So, gratitude is the animus of these secular rituals. But the object of the gratitude is unclear. If people aren't thanking God, who are they thanking? You can thank your grandma for making delicious pie, but who do you thank for the general circumstances of your life? So, I want to just take a moment here for you to really reflect on what your understanding of gratitude is. To really think about, you know, what informs me in terms of the choices that I make in life. And actually, it's perfect timing that this talk came right after the discussion that we just had on Ijma,
on the idea of really knowing and understanding what the truth is and what the knowledge of Ardeen is and that fog. Because this quote, to me, gets to the crux of the objective of the paper. We are talking about shukr, which is the Islamic concept of gratitude. But there is such a disparity between what conventional understanding of gratitude is and what the concept of shukr is. The obvious link that's missing is God, right? And what you just heard, it actually speaks to a crisis. A crisis and that fog that was described in the previous presentation. And so, that's the objective here of the paper, is to really challenge ourselves. Do I have the correct understanding? And how do I behave in accordance with what's expected from me, from Allah, as a believer? And we can see how far removed we are becoming from that as a society. And I will contextualize that. I have three points to really get across in these few minutes. The first one was this objective. The second one is we need to look at what is shukr, right? What is shukr in terms of its distinct factors? First and foremost, that it is God-centric. It's not a secular concept. It is nice, of course, to have that interaction and gratitude between us and other people. But we will see that shukr is in fact a far deeper, more holistic concept that we really need to take a deeper dive into. And then the third point, which is actually kind of the real takeaway that I want everyone here to be able to leave with, in order for you to hopefully get interested enough to go back and actually read this paper once it's published, inshallah, is to contextualize that to our lives today.
We hear these concepts, these Islamic concepts that are actually this particular issue of shukr, it is half of our faith. Do we take it as half of our faith? So let me, again, get moving to the part where we really get into the discussion of then what is shukr? And suffice it to say for now, I'll come back to it, we'll talk about what that crisis is that I'm talking about as we get into the difference between gratitude, as it's understood today, and how we behave in accordance with that, and what shukr really is. So, science, whether you talk to psychologists, whether you talk to social scientists out there, people who are doing research, and there's a lot of references in the paper that I would encourage you to kind of get the details there. They theorize about what gratitude really is and where it comes from. Is it wired into our DNA? Is it something that's part of our innate behavioral? Is it something that humans evolved out of social need, that this is something that we evolved along with the lines of the theory of evolution? And they all conclude, there's no agreement there on one definition of gratitude or where it originated. But what they do come up with as sort of a collective end point is, well, we don't have enough information yet, we're still researching the neurological connections and so forth, but we think it's an inherent component of human nature that provides the glue that's necessary for humans to form meaningful relationships. And I read that as I was researching this, and I said, you know what, that actually from an Islamic perspective, we can align with. What is that? That's the fitrah. Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala has naturally and innately given us, all of us, all human beings from birth, the recognition of what?
That he is our creator, he is our lord, our master, that we are born innately inclined towards worshipping him. And we will see that shukr is actually the worship of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. And therefore shukr is, it is a human, innately human quality. Now, you might ask, well, why is everyone not feeling grateful all the time? Well, because there are detrimental factors that get in the way, and we're going to talk about that right now. We have to start at the beginning. What is the origin of shukr? Go back to the origin story, and unfortunately we won't have time to detail all of it, but I'm talking about Adam, alayhis salam, and Iblis. And of course most of us here, alhamdulillah, I think are familiar with this story. Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala, very early on, this is at the creation of the first human being with Adam alayhis salam, tells us about the difference and the nuanced differences between shukr, gratitude, and everything else, which is ingratitude, disbelief, denial of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala, disobedience of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala, in the contrasted behavior of these two, Adam alayhis salam and Iblis. When Adam alayhis salam is created, the messenger of Allah, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, he said when Allah created Adam, he breathed the soul into him, then he sneezed, meaning Adam alayhis salam sneezed, and he said, what did he say? Alhamdulillah. All praise and gratitude is due to Allah. So this tells us the intimate connection between, and the fact that they're so intertwined, shukr is the essence of our creation, of our servitude to Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala, and our worship of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. That's how deep that concept is within us, and it has been there from the advent of man.
Now, what did Iblis do? We know the story. He refused to bow, he refused to follow the command of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala says he became min al-kaafireen. And what is that? Kufr. The word kufr, did he disbelieve in Allah? No, he was amongst the best of worshippers. What that kufr is referring to is his denial, his ingratitude that came from him being arrogant, thinking himself better than the human being that was just created, the noble human that was created before him. So we see this contrast between shukr and kufr. Shukr, faith, obedience, servitude. And kufr, disbelief, denial, and disobedience, and ingratitude. That is the choice with which Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala put us on this earth. We know the rest of the story. Everybody is now, humanity has now been created and we are to make a choice between two paths. That's the paradigm with which we came to this earth. Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala says you have two distinct paths. We already showed them the way, he says. Whether they choose to be grateful or ungrateful. So Subhanallah, that's the core essence of shukr. It is an act of ibadah. It is the worship of the heart. It starts from the heart and as we'll, we actually, before I get to the sort of exact definitions of how that's going to show up and inshallah, hand it over to Ustad Al-Lubna to really talk about the benefits of seeing that in our life. I do want to, before we leave this story, leave with one important point here, which is that what did Iblis do when this all happened? He threatened us. He threatened us and there is an ayah with which he threatened us and he said, Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us in the Quran that Iblis said, because you made me go astray, who is he blaming? Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala.
That I will come to them on the straight path, meaning to humanity. He will come to each and every one of us. And where will he come from? From behind, from the front of us, from behind us, from the right of us, from the left of us. We'll come back to what that means when I talk about today, the context, just before I wrap up inshallah, because I know my time is going to be running out soon. But one of the things that we want to understand is that the last part of that threat, most importantly, what did he say to Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala? He said, and you won't find most of them grateful. Subhanallah, he uses that as the, now that tells you the value of shukr in the sight of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala, that if Iblis is going to attack any place that's vulnerable, if he's going to take us off track and make us, as we will see, that means hold on to the dunya and doubt our religion and get confused about and be in this fog, what is that going to be? It's going to be to get us away from shukr. So keep that in mind as we now look at the definition of shukr itself. And I'm going to let Ustadh Ulama talk a lot more about the positives of this, but essentially, the key thing I want you to take away from my portion of this is that it is an act of worship. Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala has commanded it, therefore it's actually an obligation. It's not a nice quality. It's not just a personality trait. It's not just a value that we uphold or a something cognitive which has been suggested, a positive outcome for a favor. And the source of that favor is something external. That's how clinically you can explain this. And perhaps a multitude of other ways. But we understand it to be again connected to God. You cannot take God, Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala, out of that equation. He is the one who gave us everything. He is the source of all blessings and therefore the one worthy of our worship and our gratitude.
So ultimately our gratitude extends beyond us. Shukr extends beyond us or anyone else, any other entity to Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. It also then likewise extends beyond the benefits of this dunya into the akhira. Because that is the only promise, the only way we are going to attain that promise of paradise. What does this tell us about shukr that's important again before we just contextualize it in the last five minutes here? Any notion of self-entitlement, and that's where I'm coming to a discussion about the prevalent mindset today. Any notion of self-entitlement is dispelled in the real understanding of shukr. Why? Because Allah is the true owner of everything that exists. We don't really own anything. And shukr is not based on how much you and I have in this world. The proportion of the world that Allah has given us, and I mean wealth, status, comforts, nobility, anything that you would deem positive that you aim for or aspire for, does that mean those things are bad? No. It means that regardless of whether you have less or more of any one of those things, it's all part of a test. Because Allah tells us that the blessings are innumerable. And again, a lot of these things are in detail in the paper, and I really pray that inshallah you'll all be able to get the depth that I'm trying to convey in a short time. But the Prophet ﷺ said in addition to not only being grateful of course to Allah, part of that, part of that is in our obedience to Him, is in worship, but it is also in serving His creation. So therefore it does not negate all of the wonderful aspects of conventional gratitude that we do understand, the positives that it will help us in our well-being and nurture our relationships, because the Prophet ﷺ said, he who does not thank the people is not thankful to Allah.
So we have this entire holistic system where it has to be within us in our hearts, and as Ibn Qayyim said, he said that, gave us this perfect sort of way to understand what an ibadah that comes from our heart has to look like. It starts with the recognition and love of Allah as our master creator, the one who provided us the ability to be grateful, the faculties with which to worship Him, and to be guided. All of that and then all the provision and everything we need to successfully navigate this life, and to overcome Iblis, because that's all part of the test. He's given us all of that, that's what the shukr is for. And in that, it begins in the heart with love and recognition and the knowledge of that. That has to then be on our, expressed on our tongues in the way of the praise and the thankfulness and the acknowledgement. And then likewise in our faculties and physically we need to be able to turn that into acts of obedience, as well as refraining from things that are acts of disobedience and displeasure, the displeasure of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So to try, I have a few more minutes inshallah, just a few more, okay. There is a connection, again this is a very lengthy scholarly discussion, I will not be able to do more than allude to it, but between sabr and shukr. And why I even wanted to bring it up, because these two really make up our deen. Why I want to bring it up is because the perfect example, it is set through and given to us through all of the lineage of the prophets that have come before us. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala put them through all kinds of testing, we know this right? All the way to our beloved prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam. Regardless of humble provision and having been persecuted and suffering grief and loss and all of the things that the prophets went through.
What else, what did they do in that time? They showed shukr as well as sabr. And that gives us the example that we are to follow that regardless of whether, and these are turbulent times, and the theme of this conference is very apropos for this particular topic, because who isn't going through something challenging? Does that negate anyone's discomfort or sadness or the things that they are going through? No. But Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in that find gratitude, because there is something worse that could be averted, as we just learned yesterday in the beautiful example that was set before us on the main stage last night with Dr. Yusuf Salam. That is really the embodiment of shukr and sabr together. And that's what we are to do, whether we are, and if we are blessed with plenty, alhamdulillah, that's not a bad thing. But just recognize the patience that's required in that in order to be able to restrain from the disobedience of Allah and the misuse of that. Iblis had all the knowledge, it was misused, he made his own fatwa. Ironic that's connected to the earlier talk that we can't do that, but that's what he did. And that he had the knowledge. Okay, so let's just wrap up with, I have much more to say, but I want to keep this on track. So inshallah, putting it in the context of our current paradigm here, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in the Quran, He says, and few of my servants are truly grateful. And this should be now a very heavy statement for us. If it wasn't already, it should sit heavier, having taken even this much of a glimpse into what shukr really is as an obligation upon us. If we claim to be Muslims, we claim to believe in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, we have to think beyond the superficial. We have to think beyond something that comes and goes with momentary, when I have this, I have that,
then I'm grateful, otherwise, suddenly I'm complaining. So what's behind that? One might say it's almost, it seems impossible in this day and age, how do I even begin to think about being consistent with gratitude? I want to be, I think we all aspire to want to be grateful, but yet the studies are showing that discontent. We know what's happening with wellness in general overall right now, it's a huge concern. As I started to look into studies, and this is the part that perhaps would be a little bit newer, because it's something that's very specific to this field, but, how many minutes do I have? A couple? Zero? Okay, so I'm not going to give you lengthy quotes, but I'm going to give you a couple of names. For example, these are experts in the field, and what they're telling us about having taken a pulse of what society is all about today. The things that are, there's a gentleman by the name of Todd Sloan, an author, a psychologist. He writes a book named Damaged Life, the Crisis of the Modern Psyche. You can look this up. He writes extensively about modernity and what it means, what is the psychological effect on us as human beings, what's the moral impact? Basically, where we're at in a nutshell is the increase of, I want instant gratification. We seek modernity, which is what? Technology, advancement, we've got everything at our fingertips, everything is digitized, digital media is out there, the images that are coming at us, the influences that are upon us. Even if you were sitting happy in your own home before, when you see what you don't have, there's human instincts there, right? That's the test of life. That's what Iblis took advantage of. And that's what I want to come back to in Closure, is that we need to reframe the reality of what this world is. Iblis' threat holds true today as it did from the beginning of time, as it did even 1400 years ago.
Islam is the same. It was there from the time of Adam, and that's why I went all the way back to the beginning. The same message, the same test, and this is actually a proof of the truth that is our deen, the proof of the truth that is in the Quran, that is Allah, that is a way to alleviate and dismantle those doubts if we have any, that what was said back then, it is happening today. And what is it that Ibn Abdallah ibn Abbas, he gave us the commentary on that verse that I mentioned where the threat of Iblis. And he said, what are those things that are happening? The front, back, side, that is having you doubt in the hereafter, having you want as much of this dunya, the attachment to this world, as Ibn Qayyim says, this is the attachment to everything other than Allah that causes us to move away from shukr. And that's indeed what we're seeing. And to be confused about our deen, did we not just spend almost 45 minutes talking about that? And then on the other side, falling into sin because of all the temptation. So when you now put, as I said, the images coming at us day and night, shaping our thinking of what we have and what we don't have, when Allah has just told us that everything you have is a blessing, everything you have contains something good in it. Whether you realize it or not, it may be beyond our capacity, but the creator knows what he created better, right? He knows the weaknesses and the strengths and what is right for us. So we need to reframe. And the scholars, the illustrious scholars of the past have given us a lot of indication on how to do that, that almost likening this world in our terms today, smoke and mirrors. We have to see through that. We have to think of what we need, make our goals and set our goals higher to be on this world. And anchor that happiness that we all seek, not in these glimmers of happiness that come and go, this sense of, I mean, people
are getting estranged. The family unit is breaking apart. These things that I'm sure the alumni will refer to in terms of how to see the positivity in life again. But all of that's falling apart for a reason, that people are just attached to something that's their man-made images that are fleeting and that are changing. Instead, anchor contentment, sakina, that's what we want. Where is that going to come? You have to anchor in something permanent. If you anchor it to anything in this world, and this is really where the paper wants to have you be feeling that sense of conviction by the time you're done studying this hopefully extensively through that paper, is anchor in the thing that is permanent, the one source, which is Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala, who is the source of everything you want here and eternally. So with that, I'll hand it over to Ustada Lubna, and of course that means we put God back in the equation. Inshallah.
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