Gratitude and Happiness

I'd not be wrong if I claim that everyone on this planet (at least) wants to be happy. Happiness is the state of being happy and gratitude is the quality of being thankful. That is the definition of happiness and gratitude according to The Oxford Dictionary. On the contrary we find in the teachings of Islam that gratitude is a way of life. Imam Ibn Taimmiya  الله رحمه ‎ writes in his book Jamia' Al-Masaail, that religion (of Islam) comprises of two things. Half of it is Sabr (roughly translated as patience) and half of it is Shukr (again roughly translated as gratitude). It is commonly mistaken that happy people are grateful. Many a times we see millionaires and billionaires making headlines reveling that they are going through a therapy due to depression or sometimes it being a cause of their death. Allah says in His kalaam:

وأذ تأذن ربكم لأن شكرتم لأزيدنكم ولأن كفرتم أن عذابي لشديد

"And remember! your Lord caused to be declared (publicly): "If you are grateful, I will add more (favours) unto you; But if you show ingratitude, indeed My punishment is terrible."" (Surah Ibraheem, Verse 5)

When looking at the pretext of this Aayah, we find that Musa السلام عليه is reminding his people of the favor of Allah when He ﷻ helped them escape Fir'aun and how their sons were being butchered and themselves being treated in a manner hardly able to be described by words. Although they were saved from Fir'aun they were not in any better circumstance. Being wandering in a desert and leaving their hometown behind with absolutely no means of survival isn't a case to be happy about. Had Allah ﷻ willed, they could have overpowered the tyrant and lived peacefully thereafter. After losing almost a generation of male infants, and running away from their own country and while wandering in the desert, Allah وتعالى سبحانه wants them to be grateful that they escaped Fir'aun. He wants them to focus on what went right and not to be depressed about what was lost.

It is a common practice among the desi households that when we have our family gatherings, we talk about politics, cricket, a natural disaster and how evil is spread across the globe. Nothing of all that is wrong to be talked about but I'm yet to come across a conversation about which we have direct control over. We hardly focus on the matters in hand and talk about "The Need of The Hour" and go on talking for hour after hour. Ryan Holiday writes in his book "Ego Is The Enemy", “Talk depletes us. Talking and doing fight for the same resources. Research shows that while goal visualization is important, after a certain point our mind begins to confuse it with actual progress. The same goes for verbalization. Even talking aloud to ourselves while we work through difficult problems has been shown to significantly decrease insight and breakthroughs. After spending so much time thinking, explaining, and talking about a task, we start to feel that we’ve gotten closer to achieving it. Or worse, when things get tough, we feel we can toss the whole project aside because we’ve given it our best try, although of course we haven’t.”

Back to the topic of Musa السلام عليه, what Allah وتعالى سبحانه should have logically said is that, his people opt for patience. The society we live in is undeniably not even close to good morally, our image is unfortunately not good globally and we ourselves are not the best of the emulators of our prophet Rasulullah ﷺ. Having said this we are not facing worse than what those before us have faced. Hence, we have no excuse to not be grateful for what have. Thanking Allah ﷻ for what we have and what we get is just a minute part of gratefulness.  A’ishah رضي الله عنها saw Rasulullah ﷺ standing for prolonged duration at Tahajjud, so much so that his feet were swollen. She asked, “O Prophet of Allah, why do you undergo so much hardship despite the fact that Allah has pardoned for you your earlier and later sins?” He ﷺ responded, “Afala akuna abdan shakura? Should I not prove myself to be a grateful servant?”

We learn from this hadith that gratitude is shown through deeds. Gratefulness is action. One goes out of his way to thank someone when they really want that person to be happy. One would not just say "Thank You" and disappear to someone who has helped them with one of their difficult subjects in university or helped them secure a job. Not just once, but the attitude of ours with that person would completely change for the rest of our lives.

If so, then why is our attitude towards Allah worse than that?

Do we not know that He وتعالى سبحانه created the heavens and the earth for our benefit?

He وتعالى سبحانه made Day and Night?

He ﷻ says regarding His blessings upon us in His kalaam:

وإن تعدوا نعمة الله لا تحصوها

"And if you should count the favors of Allah, you could not enumerate them"
(Surah Ibraheem, Verse 34)

I'd like to relate to you an incident from the life of Ibraheem Bin Adham الله رحمه ‎who was an Afghan prince and later became a well known Sufi Saint. It is said that he once was on a hunting expedition. It became dark and there was no hope of any prey. Everyone was starving. Those with him saw that the prince had to sleep hungry and trying to ease the tension one of them said, "The poor people are grateful when something is given to them and they opt for patience when they're denied." Ibraheem Bin Adham was among those who practiced gratitude at its highest degree. He replied that, that was the character of dogs and said "People should be grateful when they're deprived and prefer others over themselves when something is given." 

It is not but obvious that if one is aware of the blessings he/she has that person would never be sad. Upon counting the favors of Allah, we realize how much we owe Him. Just saying "Oh Allah, thank you for everything" is not enough and He deserves that we practice gratitude all our lives.