Gratitude is a very trending word in the personal development industry now. It has been identified as one of the most critical aspects to having a life of abundance and success in this temporary world.

In the Western world gratitude is all about finding abundance in this world and manifesting more into life. But, for a Muslim to live a life of gratitude has a much greater purpose and meaning. For a Muslim to live a life of gratitude is to also to live in expectation of the bigger prize in the hereafter.

So what is gratitude?

Gratitude is to offer gratefulness to Allah for everything that he has bestowed upon us in this world. Yes, the good and the ones we consider as bad as well.

The following hadith makes it clear,

“Amazing is the affair of the believer, verily all of his affair is good and this is not for no one except the believer. If something of good/happiness befalls him he is grateful and that is good for him. If something of harm befalls him he is patient and that is good for him”. (Saheeh Muslim #2999)

This is the manner of gratitude a Muslim should have.

Unlike how we hear, gratitude should be offered not only for the gains in our life, but also for the pains. Because, if we at least slightly understand the love of Allah for his slaves and his wisdom in the affairs he carries out in our lives, we would realize that every single decision from him is a blessing for us. Whether that be a gain or a loss. Whether that be getting a child or losing a child, getting married or not getting married, finding a job or losing a job, all is good for a believer.

But to reach this state of gratitude is definitely not easy. It requires us to constantly make it a habit to think positive of Allah and have good expectations of Him, when he gives and when he takes away. It requires us to focus on the positive side of things instead of dwelling on the negatives. As the saying goes, "what we focus on grows". And what we focus more on, that's what we see more of.

This is again reassured by another verse in the Quran,

"Remember that He promised, “If you are thankful, I will give you more, but if you are thankless, My punishment is terrible indeed.” (Surah Ibrahim, 14:7)

Grateful for what?

Literally anything.

For our house, car, food, water, children, education, skills, wisdom, time, clothes, sleep, breath, health, disease, loss of loved one, loss in business, miscarriage, or any kind of failures, any good or bad thing happening in our lives. When we are grateful for whatever Allah gives us, whether we see good in it or not, Allah gives us more of that we could be grateful for. And He will fill our hearts with contentment in his decisions for us. Isn't that amazing?

Now, Gratitude won't come so easily. Because Allah created man as ungrateful in nature.

Allah says in the Quran,

“Truly, Allah is full of Bounty to mankind, yet most of mankind give no thanks.” (Surah Ghafir, 40: 61)
It truly requires persistent effort from our side to inculcate the attitude and habit of gratitude in our lives.

It would also be beneficial to remember that by being ungrateful we are only depriving ourselves of the many provisions Allah has ordained for us.

So, if you are thinking about building a new habit, focus on building the life changing habit of gratitude in your life. Once you train your mind to shift the focus from always complaining and nagging to being grateful, even when things don't seem to be going well, Insha’Allah, soon it will become an attitude that you can carry till the end of your life, Bi idhnillah.

Additionally, I would like to suggest three simple tips to build the habit of gratitude in your daily life.

1. Keep a gratitude journal: This is a very commonly practised tip to build a gratitude habit. Instead of the normal way of listing out things you are grateful for, I would suggest, taking just one or two things each day and really doing a reflective journaling on that single thing you are grateful for in your life. Some questions to ask yourself in the process would go like this: What aspects of this thing or incident are you specifically grateful for? How does it make you feel? What do you think Allah is teaching you through this experience? This process Insha’Allah will help you in diving deep into your life events and experiencing gratitude for the good and hard events almost in an equal sense.

2. Catch yourself when you say a word of ingratitude: We know we are responsible for the words that come out of our mouth. The first step to limit the amount of ungrateful words that comes out of us would be to create an awareness of the words we utter frequently. Note down those words of ingratitude every time you catch yourself doing it. And challenge yourself to limit the utterance of those ungrateful words one day at a time.

3. Shifting the thought of ungratefulness to that of gratefulness: Once you are aware of the words you say, the next step would be to be mindful of the thoughts that leads you to say those words. Remember, you always say things based on your thought process. So, it's important to shift your thoughts to a positive one and stick to it consistently until it becomes a habit, in order to build that gratitude muscle till you reach a stage where you are able to ward off any thoughts of ungratefulness as soon as it comes to mind.

Last but not the least, remember that Shaythan is always active on his mission to push us onto the path of ungratefulness and slowly stray us away from being righteous slaves who show gratitude to Allah in all times.

And remember that Allah the Ever Merciful Lord never ever leaves a slave of His in a state of being where there is nothing good in his life to be grateful for. We just need to take a closer look at our lives to truly see and experience the blessings of Allah.

May Allah enable all of us to show gratitude to Him during ease and Hardship. And enable us to always focus on the bigger prize and reward which is in the hereafter.

- Written by Safeera Abdul Latheef