The Power of Gratitude
By Nouman Ali Khan | 2026-01-08T20:46:26.552224+00:00 | Topic: Iman
The Power of Gratitude - Khutbah by Nouman Ali Khan
Opening Dua
"[After, but then, O Lord of the worlds, O Amen, with patience and enjoin one another to truth and enjoin one another to good deeds and do, those who have believed, from, make us, O Allah, Allah. There is no god but Allah, at the time of death, make us firm, O Allah, and may they understand my speech, my tongue, from a knot, and untie, my affair, for me, and ease, my chest, for me, expand.]"
Introduction to Surah Ar-Rahman
So many parts of the Muslim world take a select few surahs of the Qur'an that the Muslims have a special affiliation towards because of some narrations that are famous about those surahs. And Surah Ar- Rahman is certainly one of them. In many cultures around the world, especially in Southeast Asia, the recitation of Surah Ar-Rahman is very, very common.
At the same time, what is also tragic is a lot of people - most people who recite and love the surah and have heard it so many times - don't know what it says. Don't know what Allah (عز وجل) is saying. And so let's take advantage of that love that we have for the surah and actually try to learn something about it as well.
The Repeated Phrase of Surah Ar-Rahman
This surah uniquely Allah (عز وجل) repeats the same phrase multiple times - an unusual frequency of times:
"[Then which of the favors of your Lord will you deny?]"
It keeps - every few ayat Allah keeps uttering the same thing over and over again. And that statement roughly translates: What favors, what wonders, what incredible things that your master has done are you going to be in denial of? That's a very rough translation. But essentially Allah keeps asking: How much more in denial can you be? How much more stuff can you ignore? How much more can Allah do for you all around you? And you pretend that it's not Allah who's the one doing it. How blind can you be? And He keeps asking that question over and over and over again.
The Reason for Repetition
Now, scholars grapple with the problem: Why does Allah repeat Himself like that? Why does He keep repeating that question time and time again? And it's also baffling because in the beginning Allah talks about what He created in the world and then asks that question. Later on He's gonna start describing Judgment Day and He'll ask that question again. Then a few ayat about Jahannam, Hellfire, then He'll ask that question again. Then every few ayat about Jannah He'll ask that question again.
So it's not like it's the same subject. There are literally five different subjects in the surah and He still asks the same exact question over and over and over again. And so it begs, you know, it really makes one
curious.
And you would have to understand that Quran is:
[(Quran 26:195)]
Allah even says:
"[And We did not send any messenger except [speaking] in the language of his people...]"
Messengers came in the language of the people. And the Arabic of the Quran is very clear. In other words, you don't have to come up with some exhaustive, technical, complicated, philosophical explanation. It's actually very natural.
When someone is angry with you, they repeat themselves. And especially if they're asking a question sometimes to scold somebody. For example, a teacher is yelling at the students because most of them failed the test: "Didn't we go over this? Didn't we review this ten times? Did I not teach you? Did I not do my job?" In other words, when a teacher repeats those questions, it's an expression of "I did everything I could. Why didn't you do your part?" And the more he repeats that question, it's an expression of how angry he is and how upset he is with people who've taken advantage.
Allah's Mercy Despite His Anger
Like in the case of the example I gave you of a teacher who did everything he could for every single student: "Is there any question? I'll stay after class. I'll help you however I can." And you still do this and you still fail the exam and you still miss the most obvious.
You know, Allah (عز وجل) as angry as he is in this surah, it's so amazing that he began with what are his names? Ar-Rahman. Ar-Rahman. Because if he wasn't Ar-Rahman, then anybody else who made Allah this angry, they wouldn't exist anymore. They would've been in Allah's punishment already.
The Context and Audience
So the point of the surah is that you and I, or humanity rather, has made Allah extremely upset. Allah is extremely disappointed with humanity. And the only reason Allah is not executing what they deserve is because he's Ar-Rahman. More particularly actually, not all of humanity, but particularly the first audience of Rasulullah (صلى الله عليه وسلم)
So let's first understand the example. Even though these are not the ayat I want to share with you today, but I do want to set the stage for the ayat that I did want to discuss with you. Allah (عز وجل) is talking to Quraysh. And many argue this is almost a decade of Qur'an has already come down. Ten years Rasulullah (صلى الله عليه وسلم) is reciting the Qur'an to the people of Mecca, and then comes Surah Ar-Rahman. So it's a long time into the period - the Meccan era - that this surah is revealed.
Allah's Special Favor to the Arabs
I want you to appreciate what happened:
"[And We have not sent you, [O Muhammad], except as a mercy to the worlds.]"
Allah did not send his messenger except as a loving, an act of loving care and mercy for all nations and all peoples. But the special favor was done:
"[It is He who has sent among the unlettered a messenger from themselves...]"
Among the unlettered, among these Arabs who had no civilization. They had no massive buildings. They had no great armies. They had no great accomplishments. They had nothing. They were the nobody of the world. And Allah decides to send his greatest messenger to them. They had no reason.
And by the way, these are not just - maybe they're not great in the worldly sense, maybe then they're great in the spiritual sense. Maybe these are people that worshipped Allah or had proven themselves in ibadah. No, these were people of shirk also. So in the worldly sense they were the most backwards, and in the spiritual sense they were also the most backwards.
And forget being the most backwards - you know, in India or in China or in other places you will find, you know, Buddhist temples and Hindu temples and things like that. Here you found the house of Allah built by Ibrahim (عليه السلام) turned into a temple. That's far worse a crime than any other pagan place. Any other place, they built it to worship idols to begin with. But they've actually taken a place that was pure and corrupted that place.
So they are in the spiritual sense the most backwards. They are in the worldly sense the most backwards. Relegated, useless. Even the Roman Empire doesn't want to conquer them. They are not interested because what are they going to get out of the desert? They don't care. The Persians don't want to conquer them. They are left alone to their devices, you know, hurting and being Bedouins in the desert. And that's it. They are left alone.
The Greatest Gift to the Least Deserving
And those people Allah chose to give the best of all messengers (صلى الله عليه وسلم), the most incredible of, the one that was sent as a model to all of humanity. And then he gave the greatest revelation - the Quran - to those people. And then he decided he won't just give them the whole thing at once. He will give it to them in their language, first of all, from a person who they already respect, so they are inclined to listen. And on top of that, he will give it to them little by little by little at the right occasion so that it's easy for them to learn.
You see, in good education you need a good teacher, you need a good curriculum, right? And you need lessons that the teacher can relate to your situation. All of that is perfect when it came to Quraysh. You couldn't find a better teacher - "I was sent as a teacher." All teachers after him will be inspired by his teaching. You couldn't get a better curriculum than Allah's own words. It couldn't be more designed to meet your needs because he's the one who made you, and then he sent you these instructions.
So they should have been the most grateful of all people in the world that they received this Quran. They received this gift.
The Ingratitude of Quraysh
And over the course of these 10 years, what have they done? They've made fun of this prophet. They've even attempted to torture and beat him. They've ignored the Quran. Ignored these lessons that Allah gave. And by the way, when they did this with Allah's messenger and when they did this with Allah's book, Allah has a right to punish. And it's not like he hasn't done it before. He's taken care of nations before. But he doesn't do that to them.
And then they say: "Oh, why you keep telling us that Nuh's nation was flooded and Lut's nation was rained on with fire from the sky, or this nation had winds come and hit them, and this nation had an earthquake? Why don't you just punish us then? I mean, we've been listening to you talk about this stuff for years. We've heard these stories over and over again. You know, just bring it. Let's have it."
"[And they urge you to hasten the punishment...]"
They're literally saying - Quran mentions it - they're trying to tell you to hurry up: "Bring it. Bring the punishment already. Let's hurry this up. Let's expedite this process."
Allah's Response: Ar-Rahman
And in response to that, Allah says: "Ar-Rahman. You've made me plenty angry. You deserve it. But I'm gonna be Ar-Rahman to you. And I'll speak to you differently." This is the mercy of Allah. This is why this is the final revelation.
The Muslims need to understand Allah (عز وجل) - when previous nations defied Him, He would annihilate them. They would not be left on the face of this earth. But Allah did a mercy like He never did before in the history of all the prophets by sending Rasulullah (صلى الله عليه وسلم) and sending the most merciful of His kalam.
Today people argue that the Quran is barbaric or it's violent or it's extreme, you know. And even so many Muslims, so many Muslim children, when you ask them "What do you think of the Quran?" they say "It's got a lot of punishments. Allah is very angry. Most things are haram." These are the thoughts in their
head. These are the thoughts that we've put in our own kids' heads. This Quran came as a greater mercy than any other revelation before it.
The Universal Message
But I wanted to set that stage. What is Surah Ar-Rahman doing? How is it changing the perspective of these... these people couldn't be further from Allah. That's the point. The surah came. The audience of it are people who are not religious. They're not interested in religion. They're not interested in the messenger. On top of that, they make fun of the religion. And they couldn't be further from God. These are the people that Allah talked to in this surah.
And I wanted to particularly mention this because if it covers them, it covers anybody less than them. In other words, if it's talking to the worst of the worst, then it's definitely including less than that - myself, yourself, somebody in this audience that says: "Well, at least I come to pray the Friday prayer. I don't do much else. And don't ask me what I'm gonna do New Year's Eve. Let's not talk about that right now. But at least I'm here."
So there are people even among us who slip, who get away from Allah, who go far. And Allah is talking to all. Like you could think Allah, Quran only talks to good people, or it's really harsh to bad people. It's not that way. Allah (عز وجل) gives some very profound, loving wake-up calls. And that's one of the wake-up calls Allah gives is what I wanted to share with you.
The Reality of Death
"[Everyone upon the earth will perish,]"
Everyone on this earth shall cease to exist. Everyone on this earth, whoever is here, is going to be fan. Fan in Arabic from fana. Fana means not just that you'll die - that actually means nobody will remember who you are. There may be a time will come then people don't even know that there was a grave and underneath it is you.
Where we're sitting right now, we don't know who was here a thousand years ago. We don't know. We don't know who was here two thousand years ago. And we don't know how deep under the ground they are and what of them remains.
"[We know what the earth consumes of them, and with Us is a preserving record.]"
We know what the earth takes away from them. Allah knows. We don't know.
So Allah says one reality that needs to settle in your mind is you're not here permanently. You know what happens in our lives day to day - we get so caught up in what's going on today, what we need to finish now, what's gonna happen on the weekend, you know, when are we gonna do this in the next month or
The Eternal Face of Allah
The face of your master will remain - an expression in the Quran for glory, respect, dignity. The face of your master will remain - the one who possesses glory and the one who possesses all dignity.
Now in Arabic, karam is dignity. Ikram is when you dignify. It's (مُتَعَدِّي - muta'addi), meaning when you dignify someone. So for example, I walked in and somebody treated me with respect - that's ikram. Somebody treated me, somebody gave me respect - that's ikram. Somebody praised me - that's ikram. Or I honored my parents or my mother and father or a teacher or somebody else - I did ikram of them.
In other words, ikram is not when you're sitting by yourself. Somebody has to come and do ikram of you. You understand? You can't have it like your buyers - you live on your own on top of a mountain, you say "I have a lot of ikram." No, no. Who's honoring you? Like the birds come and honor you? Who honors you? Somebody has to do it for you.
The same thing with glory - jalal. When something has glory, it means somebody glorifies them. But look at what Allah just did. He said everyone is going to die, which means no one's left to honor Allah and no one's left to glorify Allah. And Allah still owns it. Allah still owns it.
The Misunderstanding About Allah's Needs
You know, there are people who become - when they become far from Allah they say: "Why does He need my prayers? Why does He need me to thank Him? Why does God want us to praise Him all the time?" I've even met some people who say: "Why is God so..." - (مَعَاذَ اللَّهِ - ma'adh Allah) - they speak about Allah in these terms: "Why does Allah need me to praise Him all the time? Anybody else that wants to be praised all the time, we consider them arrogant, full of themselves, needy. Why does God do that?"
And Allah answers that question. Listen, you're all going to die, and I'm still going to have what you think I need. I already own all dignity, all nobility, all honor, all glory. And I don't need - Allah is telling us He doesn't need creation to glorify Him. He already possesses it. He already owns it.
The Truth About Who Benefits
So He told us something so profound here. Death is on the horizon. And whatever you do, you're not doing it for Allah because you cannot add to Allah's treasure. You can only do whatever you do for yourself.
Even if you're going to do the very best you could possibly do, that very best you did not actually do for Allah. You did it for yourself. Quran says:
Whoever makes whatever struggles, they're only doing it for themselves. This is an investment into yourself. When Allah is making you come back to Him, people confuse it and think "I'm being dragged into an obedience of someone else. I'm being dragged to serve someone else. I'm being dragged to do what I don't want to do."
And Allah is telling you: "Actually, all I'm inviting you to do - you wanna do it? Go ahead. You wanna walk away? Go ahead."
Whoever wants they can believe. Whoever wants they're welcome to disbelieve. Quran says openly you're free to walk away. But if you're gonna come towards Allah, then it's only gonna be - you're the only beneficiary. You can't benefit Allah just like you can't harm Allah. You can't benefit Allah.
And so he says:
His dignity will remain. This is a problem for you, you know. And then he asks the question again:
The Absurdity of Ingratitude
He doesn't even need you, and he feeds you, provides for you, takes care of you, gives you beauty in your life. He didn't just give you survival - people can survive inside a prison cell. He gave you a home. He didn't just give you like skin alone is enough to survive - he gave you wonderful clothes, air conditioning. He gave you the stuff, but he didn't need to give you anything because he doesn't need anything from you. How much in denial can you be?
What a powerful way to make this argument, to remind me and to remind you our place before Allah. We can never do enough for Allah, and we can never say Allah owes us anything. You and I can't say Allah owes us anything.
Our Arrogant Attitude Toward Allah
People say the silliest things: "I made so much dua, Allah didn't answer." Like Allah owes you. Making dua to Allah is not placing an order on Amazon. "It's been three days, they said three-day delivery, it didn't come yet. Oh, forget it, I don't pray anymore because I kept making dua and I still failed my exam."
You failed your exam because you don't study. You failed your exam because you didn't get a tutor. You didn't fail your exam because you made dua and Allah didn't deliver your order. Who are you to place demands on Allah? Our attitude towards Allah has become like a customer. We think of Allah like someone who owes us something.
Even our dua has become arrogant. Do you realize that? Even the way we ask Allah has become arrogant. And Allah is reminding us: How much more in denial can you be? How much more delusional can you be?
The Meaning of "Ala"
The word ala in the Arabic language - so profound. They translate this as "How many favors of your Lord will you deny?" Favors is ni'm. These are ni'm. These are favors. But the word ala actually comes from ala - (أداة التنبيه - adatu-tanbih) - something that gets your attention. Allah says I have done so many amazing things around you, all of them are begging for your attention, all of them are screaming "Look at what Allah did for you," and you don't pay attention. You're just oblivious. You don't even open your eyes and see what he's done.
You know, every time we get in our cars and we just turn the ignition - who starts the car? Every time you put your foot on the brake when there's traffic up ahead - who makes the brakes work? It's not BMW. It's not the brake pads that you just got changed. It's Allah who stops the car.
He sent guardians on you to just constantly secure you. There's a security detail around each of us of angels that Allah assigned. That's what he did for us.
(continuing the pattern)
A Personal Example
A friend of mine was on a road trip from here to New Orleans, and 2 or 3 of the bolts of his wheel popped off while he was on the highway doing 80. So the tire can come off at any time - 3 or 4 are gone - and he doesn't know this. And he's just cruising at 80. And he gets there, and when he parks the car, the wheel falls off. His wheel just falls off.
Now when that happens, he says "ya Allah, save me." But you know what? Who keeps them on for us? Now we think that's amazing because they fell off. But who's keeping them on? You know? This is how far away we become from how actively Allah is involved.
The Central Ayah: Everyone Asks Him
And that's why Allah (عز وجل) says the following. Now you'll appreciate what Allah (عز وجل) says. This was the khutbah, this was the ayah that I really wanted to share with you:
Everyone in the skies and the earth is asking Him. Everyone in the skies and the earth is asking Him.
Let's first understand that language. Asking is two kinds. And before I tell you what that means, let me tell you the confusion about this ayah. Allah says everybody is asking Him - the angels are asking Him, the animals are asking Him, we're asking Him. But somebody comes and says: "I know an atheist friend. He doesn't ask Allah. I know a friend who's not religious. He never asks Allah. My philosophy professor never asks Allah. What do you mean everything is asking Him?"
That's when you need to understand there are two meanings of the word asking in the Arabic language. One is consciously asking. The other is needing. (سؤال - su'al) is also needing. So for example:
The one who asks, don't shrug them. Also means the one who needs - don't shrug them. There are people that come with it - they're needy, but they don't beg. You need to know that they're in need, and before they get to ask, you should still give them.
The Universal Need
The meaning of the ayah is: Everyone in the skies and everyone on the earth is in need, and they keep needing from Him. There's a disbeliever, there's a rebellious Muslim, there's someone who knows they're doing something wrong and they shouldn't be doing it - they do it and defy Allah anyway. Allah gives them and gives them and gives them too.
You know, the one who prays among you five times a day and the one who doesn't pray at all and the one who's here for the first time this year - all of you Allah gives. Like it's not - any of you Allah doesn't give. All of our lungs Allah fills with air. All of our hearts Allah keeps beating. And the heart of mine that is beating inside - every next beat, before it beats, it sends a dua to Allah: "Ya Allah, can I beat again?" And He gives His permission. This heart needs. Every vein in my body needs. It needs from Allah.
And without the permission of Allah:
Not a leaf will fall until He gives permission. Not a leaf will fall off a tree. Not a cell in my body will move without His permission.
Allah's Patience with Rebellion
I can rebel - Allah gave my soul the opportunity to forget about Allah, do whatever I want, talk how I want, earn money how I want, have whatever relationships I want, spend my Friday night however I want. You know, Friday daytime Alhamdulillah you did what is due to Allah. Friday night now give to Shaytan, right? For a lot of people - make the weekend complete, balance the equation out.
But Allah doesn't strike you with lightning. Allah doesn't, you know, drag you back into the masjid. He could if He wanted to. He set nations straight before. He doesn't do that to you and me. When the hand steals, it doesn't become paralyzed. When a person does zina, they don't get a heart attack. When somebody eats haram, they don't get like stomach cancer. He doesn't do that. They keep eating and they keep smiling. Every one of them needs.
Allah's Constant Involvement
And then He says to you and me, every single moment, every single day - (يوم - youm) here is actually (مصطلح لجميع الأوقات) - like it's all times, all hours, every single day, all the time He is involved in something that only He can do. And this is actually not a warning in the surah. It's actually a beautiful thing that I wanted to conclude with:
The Human Limitation vs Allah's Unlimited Capacity
When I'm teaching, let's say 50 students - one of them asks me a question, one of them needs some extra help, one of them says they have a problem, one of them says they have a confusion. I give one of them 5 minutes, I give another one 5 minutes, I give another one 5 minutes. If I give all of them 5 minutes, that's 250 minutes - I'm almost dead. I can't address all of their concerns. And even if I did, even if I give each of them 5 minutes, all of them will complain: "I only got 5 minutes." Isn't that the case?
I can't keep track of all of their requests. I can't even answer all of their questions. Some of their questions are beyond me. Some of their requests or needs I cannot fulfill. Somebody will come and say to me: "I need about 3 hours of your time." I'll say: "I'm sorry, I don't have 3 hours of my time to give you. I wish I did. I have other obligations."
When people are demanding from you, you'll know what it means. When too many people are asking you too many things, you know what happens to a person? They crack and they say: "I need a break. I'm just going to take a vacation. I can't handle this anymore." Like the manager of a store after Christmas sales - they just don't want to deal with anybody. People snap when you keep making requests of them and asking them and asking them.
The head of a household can lose it often because their demands are coming at them all the time from every direction. They're being pressured all the time. And in that position, you know, some people will be heard and some people will not be heard. And the people that are more important or priority will be heard. People that are less important will not be heard.
Allah's Unlimited Response
Look at who Allah (عز وجل) is. Everybody is asking him. The believer is asking him. The disbeliever is asking him. The most rebellious of the Muslims - forget the non-Muslims for a second - the most rebellious of the Muslims, the ones who openly, proudly do haram, who utter vile things from their mouth, who do wrong things towards one another, they do all of that openly. But even their heart begs for the next beat, and Allah gives.
You know, even they - Allah sends angels and guards their car as they drive to the club on Friday night. Even they Allah (عز وجل) protects and gives all of them. And He says: "I give." What Allah provides, only He can provide. This is sha'an. Sha'an is an amr (يختص بأحد) - it can only be done by a person.
Like, you know, some of you that run businesses - there are some things only you can do. If you hire somebody else to do it, they'll mess it up. And you've tried it before - you left them at the cash register, something got messed up. So only you can do it. This is called sha'an. There are things that Allah does that only Allah can do. Nobody else can do it. Nobody else can do it.
The Answer to "Where Was Allah?"
And when you realize that is what Allah is doing for you all the time, you will forget one silly question that sha'an brings into your heart and brings into mine: "Where was Allah when I needed Him? Where was I when I was having this problem? Why didn't He help me at this occasion?" People ask this question, don't they? This question even comes in your head sometimes: "Where was Allah?"
And Allah's answer is: "I've always been there. And I'm taking care of your tongue as you get to say that. How do you think the voice comes out of your voice box? How does the air come out of your mouth so you question Allah? He gives you the strength to do that." This is:
"[Every day He is engaged in some affair.]"
And then He asks the question again:
"[Then which of the favors of your Lord will you deny?]"
Addressing Both Humans and Jinn
The last thing I want to share with you - my time is up - is that in this surah throughout, Allah (عز وجل) - a lot of people are curious about that - Allah addresses both human beings and jinn. (كما) - the dual pronoun - refers to both human beings and jinn. So why are human beings and jinn being mentioned? It's really interesting. It's actually really interesting.
Because the Quraysh - the people, remember we started with that audience? These people were in - they became the enemies of the Prophet (عليه السلام). They didn't just not accept Islam. They in a sense befriended the shayateen. They became friends of the shayateen. So the people who oppose Allah'sdeen - on the outside you see human beings, and what you don't see around them hovering and doing waswasa to them are who? The jinn. The shayateen.
Allah sees all of them. Allah sees that the ungrateful is not just the human being that you and I see. Allah also knows that the one doing waswasa to them all the time is also among the jinn. So he questions what you can see, and he questions what you cannot see.
The Spiritual Battle Against Ingratitude
And in this incredible surah, when you and I walk away from Allah, when you and I distance ourselves and rebel against Allah and become the worst crime of all - become ungrateful to Allah - whose waswasa do we follow? We follow:
"[and You will not find most of them grateful.]"
Shaytan's promise was: "I will guarantee you, you will - most of them - you will find that they're not grateful." His job is to make us ungrateful. His job is to make us not conscious of what Allah does for you and me. That's what he does constantly with waswasa.
Which is why Allah addresses both. Recognize that you're not alone. There's shayateen around you whose constant job is to make you forget, which means you're gonna constantly have to fight that spiritual war, that invisible war. And you and I are gonna have to remember because there's forces that want us to forget, that want us to ignore.
You know:
"[And none made me forget it except Satan - ]"
I didn't forget except shaytan was capable of making me forget. Shaytan was not given any power over us. One power he was given - he can make you forget. He can make you forget.
You know, just like you forget your key - you don't know where the keys are. Just as it's time to get to Jumu'ah on time, you never lose your keys until it's masjid time. That's shaytan right there, you see.
Closing Dua and Advice
May Allah protect us from the waswasa of shayateen. May Allah make us truly, truly grateful. I know for a lot of young people, because New Year's is around the corner, it's a time of great temptation. A lot of friends are gonna call you and say: "Hey man, let's go to the party."
And you're gonna say: "Nah bro, I just heard a khutbah. I don't think I can do it."
And they're gonna say: "You're no fun. Come on man, just live a little."
And you're gonna hear it from your friends. And that's the time you're gonna have to just look around you and see: Who are you following at the end of the day? And who will benefit you? Who's gonna benefit you? Is the way of Allah gonna benefit you, or the way of these friends that are asking you to just - just forget for a little while? "I know you heard it. I know it's in your heart somewhere. Just forget it. Just put your conscience to sleep and just have a little fun. And then you can wake it up later again."
"You can become good people later on. Right now it's time to party."
If you can fight that and conquer that urge, wallahi al-'azim, you've conquered one of the greatest battles ever. You've conquered yourself. May Allah (عز وجل) make us capable of conquering our nafus and really submitting them to His pleasure.
Final Dua
Move up as much as you can.