December 18, 2007
(2) Pasha Hour International: Live from America!
Section: WRITINGS | 120 reads
MUSLIMS: WORLD’S DESIGNATED BLESSERS AND THANKERS
Here is one way to do it, thank God I mean: Just say, “Thank You God!”
Or say, “Praise be to you, Lord and Master of the Worlds!”
Or say “Glory be to you God!”
Or, if you can’t think of anything to say, just think of God in the innermost recesses of your heart and mind and feel grateful for all that God has given you. For all the blessings God has conferred upon you and yours.
Muslims give thanks to God all the time by saying Alhamdu Lillaah! – All praise be to Allah. We do this after eating; after drinking; after waking up from sleep; and after almost everything else.
Even when sneeze.
Ask Muslims a simple question: “Hey how are you doing?” Guess what they will say. They will say: “Alhamdu Lillaah!” – All praise to Allah!
That is right. Question: How are you? Answer: Alhamdulillah!
Ask Muslims the same question when they are ill. What do you think the answer will be? Believe it or not, the answer will be pretty much the same. Here is how a typical encounter may go.
“How are you?”
“Alhamdulillah!”
“But you don’t look all that great though, are you sick?”
“Well, yeaaah, I have been running fever; and I have a splitting headache; and it looks like I may just die; but ‘Alhamdulillah!’”
That is a Muslim for you, folks, that is a Muslim for you.
I would say the business of giving thanks never got a better day.
Not because Muslims are that smart or good or hot. But because “Alhamdulillah!” is God’s own direct gift to humanity and the world.
And “Alhamdulillah!” rings in the message of the Qur’an in this world, as those are the very first words of the Qur’an.
GIVE MUSLIMS A CALL AND THANK THEM
So, whether it is giving thanks to God or man, Muslims are the ultimate “Thank-You People” of the world. They are God’s and the world’s “Designated Thankers.”
Just like I used to say about Muslims that they are the world’s “Designated Blessers,” I am now saying that Muslims are the world’s “Designated Thankers.”
They thank God and they have been asked to thank people. They are thus the world’s professionals when it comes to the business of giving thanks.
What blessings this brings down on them, on you and on God’s world in general, I cannot fathom. But this much I must say that next time you want to know who the Muslims are just remember this: Muslims are the fellows, men and women, who not only spend their lives blessing you and yours, but also thanking God Almighty, and thus opening up additional doors of divine blessings on you and your world.
So, maybe you should give the Muslims you know a call and say “Thank You Muslims!” Muslims may not have a clue, being the kind of generally clueless people that they are, what you are talking about.
But don’t worry. Just say: Thank you, Muslims.
I would if I were you.
ALHAMDULILLAH! IS THE BEST PRAYER, SAYS PROPHET MUHAMMAD, SALLALLAAHU ALAIHI WA SALLAM!
And then guess what else the Qur’an says? It says – of course it is Almighty Allah who says it, for the Qur’an is his speech – “Thank me and I will give you more.”
That is why – right, as if I have any clue what he says or means – Prophet Muhammad, Sallallaahu Alaihi wa Sallam, points out that “Alhamdulillah!” is the best and the most successful way of praying to God Almighty.
It is the best prayer or supplication there is.
You want to ask God for all kinds of wonderful things, just say to him: “Thank You Lord!” and watch his blessings rain down on you.
But then don’t just do it once or twice and then look out the window to see what is happening. Learn to connect with him. Build a relationship with him. Spend a lifetime saying Thank You to him.
A BUSINESS OR ECONOMIC MODEL FOR GIVING THANKS
Earlier in this Payaam, I called on our math geniuses to build a mathematical model for us to calculate the amount of thanks we should give God and people.
I am now calling on our superior business and economic brains to design an econometric model for us that will tell us exactly how much we owe God and people in a dollar-and-cents sense.
A model that would tell us the value of all the assets we have at our disposal.
The R & D and the capital outlay that has been made in our being as well as all the recurring expenses that we incur in living our lives on a daily, hourly or second-by-second basis.
Call it micro- or milli- or nano-seconds if you want. I have no clue what any of those things mean anyway.
DON’T BE LEFT OUT!
And then the Qur’an goes on to reinforce that message in all sorts of other ways.
It is not just you, the Qur’an tells human beings. Everyone and everything in this universe sings the praises of God Almighty and gives thanks to him.
So, in a universe every bit of which is constantly engaged in giving thanks to God, don’t be the odd man – and the odd woman – out.
Again: Want to thank God? Learn to thank people. That is Islam 101, as they say here in America.
That means we can say “Thank You!” to people who do us various favors. Saying this is good and wonderful. But the fact remains that it doesn’t do much for you, other than maybe making you feel good for a few moments.
How can we put a bit more content in it and give people something that will be of real use to them in their lives? Something a bit more “functional” as it were?
My own easy and convenient upgrade to “Thank You!” is “God Bless You!”
When you say “God Bless You!” we at least start thinking if there really is a God who can and will bless us. But Islam says there indeed is a God. And if God wants to shower someone with his love, mercy and his blessings, it becomes a privilege for us to invoke God’s blessings on people.
So, my own personal way of looking at it is it beats a simple thank you by a couple of lengths.
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