The Gratitude of the Sahaba - Portal Gems #59

Est. Read time: 4 min
Edition Number: 59
Adapted from: The Heart of the Quran: An Exploration of Surah Yasin
Instructor: Shaykh Ahmed Billo

Assalamu Alaykum,

Today’s gem is from Shaykh Farhan Zuberi, Shaykh Ahmed Billo, and Mufti Abdul Wahab Waheed’s course, The Heart of the Quran: An Exploration of Surah Yasin. In this gem, as Shaykh Ahmed Billo goes through verse 35 where Allah ﷻ says will they not give thanks. Shaykh explains that this verse not only reprimanding the Quraysh for not believing, but that we can look to the lives of the Sahaba to see what true gratitude looks like.

Hope you enjoy!

We begin in the Name of Allah ﷻ, the Most Merciful and Compassionate,
We ask that He ﷻ sends Peace and Blessings upon our noble and beloved
Prophet Muhammad ﷺ

Let us not get confused and think, “Oh, these verses are criticizing and reprimanding the Quraysh because they didn't believe and they were not grateful.” But how do we apply this to you and I?

In one of the most difficult situations that the Sahaba faced, the Battle of the Trench, when they were digging and they knew an army, the likes of which they had never seen before, was coming forth to wipe them off the face of the Earth. And the Sahaba themselves, the Prophet ﷺ, they were going through a time of famine. And they're digging this trench, and they're hungry. They've tied rocks to their stomachs to kind of suppress the hunger. You know, this idea of tying rocks to your stomach to suppress hunger, it's a foreign idea. Even when I say it, it doesn't make sense. Can you conceptualize? Can you actualize, like if I was hungry and I tied a rock to my stomach, would it remove my hunger? It would just be like an additional pain, right? But somehow, for them, momentarily it suppressed their hunger.

During that time of hunger, you know what they're chanting? They're saying, “If it wasn't for Allah ﷻ, we would not have been guided. We would not have prayed. We would not have given charity.”

Even in that difficult moment where they don't know when the next meal is coming, and they know an army is approaching to wipe them off the face of the Earth, they're like, “We're happy Allah ﷻ has guided us. If it wasn't for Allah's guidance, we wouldn't have prayed, we wouldn't have given charity.”

That's why psychologists refer to gratitude and gratefulness as the healthiest human emotion. They say it's the quickest way to happiness. That's why the most pleasant people that you interact with are people that are thankful. They say that when you're thankful, when you show gratitude for what you have in your life, you naturally become more alive, more energetic, you sleep better.

We live in a society, in a culture that constantly complains. We complain about everything. We're sitting in a room that's blowing cold air - we call it AC. A hundred years ago, this was unfathomable. We live lives that are better than the lives of kings in the past, honestly, we do.

What are we complaining about? Allah ﷻ has given us so much. Allah ﷻ is mentioning the simple things here: dates and grapevines and gardens, and all of this so that you can eat. What's the purpose? Will you not be grateful?

May Allah ﷻ grant us tawfiq to be grateful.

أقول قولي هذا وأستغفر الله لي ولكم، فاستغفروه إنه هو الغفور الرحيم

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