...on gratitude...

Note: This has been written for the Gratitude blog festival.

Alhamdaulillah, we have just finished another month of Ramadan in our lives. During a Khatam on the 29th night at our local masjid, the imam mentioned how we should be thankful that we still have the blessing of being alive whereas we all know people who were with us last year but were not here with us.

Since Ramadan finished we found out that someone we knew had been diagnosed with a life threatening brain tumor in her brain. Another person we know had her first baby recently and yesterday we learnt that while on maternity she lost her husband to cancer. And here we were getting caught up, worked up abot the real small every day issues that were really insignificant when compared to the challenges other people were facing. There is a lot to be thankful for.

Alhamdulillah, it only takes a small tummy ache or cold to make one feel terrible. Alhamdulillah, that most of us (reading this) feel well most of the time and have no major health issues.

One can be thankful for the fact that one is free to move about and free to say the truth. There are many places in the world where people are not free to move ( i.e. in jail), and, the reason is that they spoke the truth!

There are several people who die from hunger every day or have to walk miles to fetch water. It is a blessing to be able to afford to eat, which also relates to being thankful that we have the money to buy the food. Alhamdulillah for the halal rizq.

There are people who lose their parents and loved ones at a young age due to disease, war or other conditions. Alhamdaulillah that most of us have our loved ones to lean on.

It is a blessing to be able to communicate in the language of one's land and community.

We all know people who cant speak at all or cant speak well enough to communicate what they feel.

Alhamdaulillah, there are many people who are not thankful for what they have. They look at the glass with water and see the part that is empty. As Muslims we should believe that the glass is always full and when the water in the glass decreases the glass size also decreases i.e. the glass is always full ( and that will ultimately increase the glass size). One of the leading scholars of our time says that the best way to increase our rizq is to be thankful.

Who do we thank? The expression of thankfulness is to people around us. As the hadith goes "Whoever does not thank people does not thank Allah". However, the ultimate thankfulness should be expressed to Allah and the best way to express that thankfulness is to use Allah's gifts as he desires them.. Alhamdulillah...