An Attitude of Gratitude
By Yusha Evans | 2026-01-16T14:54:38.919723+00:00 | Topic: Iman
An Attitude of Gratitude
Yusha Evans
Opening Khutbah
Introduction: Learning to Smile
How's everyone? Alhamdulillah. You good? As Muslims we have to learn to smile. Yeah? It's gonna be the first lesson. I could just drop the mic now and I think I would have done a great deal of service to Muslims in London if we just learn to smile.
And hopefully tonight insha'Allah ta'ala by the time you leave you'll have reason to smile when you understand your relationship with Allah a little better.
First and foremost I want to say Jazakumul khair for the invitation because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) says:
(Jami at-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1954)
Whoever does not thank people then he is not thankful to Allah.
So I have gratitude for being able to come out here and be with you brothers and realize that I'm just one of you, whatever bio they try to give you or trump up they try to put on the posters about me. I'm a simple, humble Muslim just like you, no more knowledgeable than you, but the thing I do love is that I try to share what I know with others to try to help them.
Muslims: Masters of Complaining
There's one thing that I have seen over the past decade. We have become particularly good at something. If there weren't a global award given out for it, we would probably win it the past 15 years running easily. You know what award that is? For complaining. For complaining.
We as Muslims are very good at complaining. We do it so much that we don't even think about it sometimes. We will find the easiest and most simple thing and complain about it and argue about it and bicker about it and be
upset about it and protest about it and sign petitions. We're very good at this type of thing, very, very good.
And when you live that type of lifestyle where you are constantly complaining and constantly looking for the negative, you'll find it. You'll find it. This is the way the human mind works.
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 7405)
Allah is as you perceive Him to be.
Meaning that if you see Allah as angry and vicious towards you, this is how you will create a reality for yourself. You'll behave in this type of manner. Those who see Allah as forbearing and merciful and gentle and patient will find that joy and happiness that they seek. And the best of those will find a position in between the two. They will know that Allah is merciful and gentle and patient and forbearing, but then they will also understand yes that He is the most stern in punishment and He has the most serious torment waiting for those who disobey and disbelieve in Him in the hereafter. So they find themselves between those two.
The Question to Ask Daily
So what I want to try to get tonight is I want you to ask yourself this question today and every single day of your life. If you want to do one thing that can change your perception of the world, your reality, every single day is ask yourself:
What do I have to be grateful for today? What do I have to be grateful for?
Because if you wanted to know what you have to complain about, that list will be very long every single day. Every single day. Every single day. But if you look for that which you have to be grateful for, you will find that your time will be too busy counting the favors of Allah. You won't have time to complain. You won't have time.
This is why Allah says:
If you were to try to count my favors, you will be unable to do so because they are endless.
When Dawood (peace be upon him) asked Allah something in response, it was very beautiful. He wanted to understand how much favor Allah showed him. So he asked Allah, show me the least of your favor. He wanted to understand this. And Allah told him, take a breath. He took a deep breath and Allah responded and said, that is the least of my favor to you. That is the least of my favors to you. The very fact that you breathe.
So if we begin with that, then the list would grow very large of what we have to be grateful for.
Ibn al-Qayyim on Gratitude
A lot of this that I'm going to give you tonight, I'm not going to try to overload you with information because I also know that we have an aptitude to catch the first five minutes of a lecture, memorize that, maybe catch the last five minutes, everything in between becomes kind of a gray area.
So there is beautiful books written by contemporary ulama as well as the ulama of the past about gratitude. One of the most deep intellectual psychological of them was written by Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyya (may Allah have mercy on him). It was called عُدَّةُ الصَّابِرِينَ وَذَخِيرَةُ الشَّاكِرِينَ )Provisions for the Patient and Treasures for the Grateful).
He wrote a very beautiful book about patience and gratitude, saying that these two things, if the human being and the Muslim in specific can learn patience and gratitude, they would have most of what they need to live a beautiful life in this life and enter into a beautiful life in the next life. And he gave so many stories and evidences, some we will go through tonight.
But again I'm going to try to keep it short and concise because what I want you to do is leave with something you can use. I don't want to give you too much.
Allah's Beautiful Verse
Allah says in the Qur'an:
I even think about that verse, just that first phrase. It's something that would be enough for the Muslim to be grateful for for the rest of their life. You could spend the rest of your life busying yourself with remembering this.
Allah says: Remember me and I'll remember you.
I mean it's astounding that Allah is telling us, each and every one of us, if you remember me I will remember you. Do you understand what that means? Do you understand that Allah is telling you that if you remember me, and it doesn't matter how many people are doing it, that all together all over the world, Allah has this ability that if you remember me, I will remember you.
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 7405)
Whoever remembers Allah in a small gathering, Allah remembers them in a gathering that is greater than that, meaning amongst the angels that surround His throne.
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said that a person starts doing good and they do good to the extent to where Allah begins to love them, and then when Allah begins to love him, he says to those around his throne, I love so and so, calling them by name. Allah mentions their name and so you love them.
And then those angels will pass it on to the angels down in rank and down in rank and down in rank that Allah loves so and so, so you love them. And then those angels in lowest rank pass it on down to all of the living things on this earth until the entire creation begins to love that person.
SubhanAllah, this was the love of our Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). He had that love to where even trees used to cry when he wouldn't stand next to them anymore. He had a tree that he used to give a khutbah next to in his masjid, one of the trunks of the roof. Then a woman came and suggested that he build some stairs so that the sisters in the back could hear him. He did so.
The first Friday when he didn't stand next to that tree, that tree began to cry so much so that all the companions heard it. And he came down from his minbar and he went and he consoled that tree. You see, this was the amount of love that Allah bestowed upon his Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). The entire creation looked at him with love.
The Command to Be Grateful
Allah then says:
And be grateful to me and do not become kafur, ungrateful.
Kafur, the word ingratitude that Allah uses in his book is kafur. Kafar from the very same root word of kafir, of disbeliever. Because someone who disbelieves is not in reality doing anything but denying the truth, rejecting the truth.
There's no such thing as a pure atheist. There's no such thing because you are denying something. There was no one who was born as a child and the first things they began to speak were the fact that there is no God. This is something they learned or that was brought upon by some coincidences or circumstances in their life that caused them to reject the fact of a creator.
Maybe because of the injustice, maybe because something bad happened to them. There's no pure atheism and I'd be willing to debate that fact. There's no such thing as pure atheism. The fact that you even have to debate it is the simple fact that you have to have an argument to deny the existence of the creator of all things.
So this word kafur, ingratitude, is when someone becomes ungrateful for the favors that Allah has bestowed upon them. And Allah gives it as a command: be grateful to him and do not become ungrateful.
Allah also says:
And be grateful to Allah if it is Him that you worship.
So Allah is equating ibadah with gratitude. That if it is me that you really worship, then you'll show me gratitude.
Another word for gratitude in the English language is tribute. When you pay tribute to something, when you give tribute, is to show gratitude for that thing which you've given tribute to. And Allah is asking you not just to be thankful to Him, but to give tribute to Him in your life, meaning that you live a life that shows that gratitude to Allah, that you are thankful.
Why Muslims Should Smile
This is why I don't understand why Muslims can only complain and frown all the time. Why do we look so angry all the time? Yes, there's plenty to be angry about, sure there is. Our prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) went through more than you. He went through more than all of us together, yet he never ever was seen without a smile on his face. He never passed anyone without smiling at them. He would become angry for the right reasons, yes, but in his daily life he would smile at everyone.
So this is a life showing that he had something that made people want what he had. How can we live in a society like the west where we're supposed to be representatives of the deen of al-Islam? We're supposed to be representatives of the greatest human beings to walk the face of this earth. We say we have the truth. We say we have the most perfect way of life for mankind, yet we walk around as if we're on the footstep of death every single day.
Even though you may be, doesn't mean you have to act like it. Doesn't mean you have to act like they're about to come to your house and arrest you today. Alhamdulillah, just keep smiling.
You see this is the beauty of al-Islam, is that we have something that we should show in a manner that would make other people want to know: what is it that you have that makes you like this? What is it about you that they're talking about you guys on the news constantly? They're constantly spreading Islamophobia, they're constantly spreading bigotry, they're constantly spreading hatred towards you, yet you still walk around smiling as if you're living the most beautiful life on this planet. What is that?
That special gift, that gift is iman. That is the sweetness of iman. That once you taste it, it can never leave your mouth. You can't forget that taste.
The Ummah of "We Hear But..."
When the Sahaba (may Allah be pleased with them all), Allah Azawajal referred to them in the Qur'an as:
They were people who responded to Allah with (سَمِعْنَا - samina) we hear you, and (وَأَطَعْنَا - wa ata'na) and we obey you. This was their norm.
When Allah commanded something, they did it. When the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) told them to do something, they did it. When he said stay away from something, they stayed away from it. When Allah prohibited something, it became prohibited for them at that moment. They lived according to the command and prohibition of Allah. This is why Allah says about them:
They were the best of us.
And that is the best that we can seek to obtain, is that attitude of (سَمِعْنَا وَأَطَعْنَا - samina wa ata'na). Whatever you say ya Allah, we are here to do it. And that is the best example.
And then on the other end of the spectrum, we have a people whom Allah Azawajal referred to them as (سَمِعْنَا وَعَصَيْنَا - samina wa asayna), they hear and they disobey. They would say to Allah, we hear you but we're just not going to do it. We hear you but we're gonna do something else. We hear you but we're just going to absolutely ignore it. Or we're going to change it. Or we're going to question so much that we can get out of it. And this is the worst end of the spectrum.
And what I like to coin is that we have become the ummah of (سَمِعْنَا وَخَلَا - samina wa khala). We hear but that's it. (سَمِعْنَا وَخَلَاصٍ - samina wa khalas) We hear but we don't do anything. We hear the book of Allah recited to us, and we say, mashallah, what a beautiful recitation.
We hear the sunnah of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and we say, mashallah, so beautiful. But we don't take it as a direct command. We hear the book of Allah recited and we don't question ourselves: what is Allah telling me to do? What is Allah telling me to stay away from? No, the book has become a recital. It has become a beautification for us. And that's it. It adorns shelves. It is in the hearts of those who have recited it and we want to hear them recite it beautifully, but that's about it.
That's about it. It has not become something that is a guide book to how we live our lives. And that is our huge problem, is the problem of inaction, of no movement for Allah.
What Allah Wants From Us
Even though we're moving, yes. We're striving and struggling everyday of our lives, yes. We're on the grind as they say in the streets. But that grind is only for what we can get out of this dunya. That effort is only for that paycheck that comes at the end of the week. That effort is only for that house that I just built, or that beautiful car that I just bought, or for whatever it is, that vacation I want to take, whatever it is.
That becomes our effort, striving for what we can get out of this life. And you'll never get enough, so stop wasting your effort. Allah jalla wa ala is saying:
Now work for Me. Your effort becomes for Me. Your struggling becomes for Me. No matter what it is that you're doing. If you go to work, you go to work for Me. You go to work to please Me. At the end of the week you get the paycheck because of Me.
Allah jalla wa ala, He's the one who presides the sustenance. This is an idea that this ummah has lost. The work for Allah jalla wa ala. The effort for Allah. And Allah is very clear about what He wants:
Allah says, He wants your wealth. Yes, Allah wants your wealth. He doesn't need it. Allah is free of need from anything of the creation.
But Allah is asking in the Qur'an: who will lend to Allah a goodly loan? Who will give to Allah from His wealth? That is only a trust to you. Every single dollar that you make in your life is because Allah provided it to you. And it is only entrusted to you for a period of time until it leaves you.
And then when it leaves you, it is either going to be for you or against you. If it is spent only for worldly gain with no intent to please Allah whatsoever, then it is only for you in this life. Whatever you bought with that money, you got it. You better enjoy it.
But the money that is given for the sake of Allah, Allah says, you will find it with Him. And it will be returned to you manifold over. It is a return process. So Allah is asking for your wealth. Yes, without a doubt.
And then what else does Allah want from us? (وَأَنفُسِكُمْ - wa anfusikum). And yourselves.
You put your greatest commodity at my disposal. You put your greatest commodity, yourself, at the disposal of Allah. That means when I have time, I dedicate some of my time to Allah jalla wa ala.
The Two Categories of Humanity
Allah categorizes all of humanity into two groups. You have believers, people of iman, this is all of us inshallah. And you have disbelievers. There is no third category. There is no third category.
But Allah also puts all people into two other categories. All people. Allah says:
Verily I have shown them my way. I have shown them my way so that what? Whether they will be grateful or whether they will become ungrateful.
So Allah says all human beings also fall into two categories. I have shown them my way. I have given them everything they need for guidance. Now to see whether they will be grateful for that or they will become ungrateful.
Unfortunately you will find some people in this category of (لا إلهَ إِلَّا اللهُ - la ilaha illallah) they will also fall into the category of ingratitude. Category of ingratitude. Because they have been given guidance, they have been shown the right way, they maybe grew up knowing who Allah was, grew up hearing the Qur'an every single day, but yet they live a life that is not in gratitude to Allah and paying tribute to that guidance which they have been given.
If You Are Living and Breathing
I want you to think about something for a moment. If you are living right now, you are breathing, your heart is beating, your lungs are working, your kidneys are functioning, your liver is doing its job, and you can say (لَا إِلهَ إِلَّا الله - la ilaha illallah) then you have everything to be grateful for.
If you can wake up every morning and the first thing that comes out of your mouth can be (لا إِلَهَ إِلَّا الله - la ilaha illallah) then know that that is a gift given to you by Allah that you didn't deserve. You didn't deserve. You didn't earn that. Allah gave it to you as a ni'mah to you.
So you deserve in return to live a life of gratitude and tribute to Allah for the rest of that day. You have something to be grateful for even if it was just for the simple fact that you woke up and you could still form the statement (لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ - la ilaha illallah). You have enough to spend the rest of the day repaying that. That would be enough for you to spend the rest of your day giving service to Allah through everything that you do. Trust me, believe me.
Allah's Response to Gratitude and Ingratitude
Also Allah says something very beautiful and scary about the way Allah deals with those who are grateful and the manner and tone in which He speaks to them in the Qur'an, and also in the manner and tone and way He speaks to those who are ungrateful. They're so contrastly different that anyone who even begins to pay attention would see the gap between the two. That there is a chasm between the two areas of gratitude and ingratitude.
Allah Azawajal says:
Whoever is grateful then verily he is grateful to his own benefits. He is grateful for his own benefits. Whoever is grateful, that gratitude, you're not giving anything to Allah. We have to understand that. That's part of our aqeedah, is that no amount of worship that we do will increase Allah in the least. In the least. His dominion cannot be increased by your gratitude. It's for your own benefit.
And the same respect, even if everyone on earth disbelieved, it would not reduce Allah's dominion or power or capability in the slightest. This is reality. So if you are grateful to Allah, then it is for your own benefit you are doing. Not only are you showing a tribute to Allah, you are showing tribute to your own life. I'm doing myself good. I'm benefiting me. You have to understand that.
But then Allah says:
But whosoever is ungrateful, Allah doesn't even address them directly. See the difference here? Allah doesn't even address them directly. Whoever is ungrateful, then know your Lord is free of need, he's rich, doesn't need it, and he is kareem.
But I also want you to see that the mercy of Allah always overcomes his torment and his punishment, his wrath. The mercy is always there. The door is always, even to the worst of disbelievers, the door is always cracked open. Because Allah says that he is kareem, reminding that he is kareem. Even though you have rejected him, even though you are ungrateful to him, even though he doesn't need you or need your gratitude or need your worship or need anything from you, by telling you that he is (غَنِيٌّ - ghani) he is also reminding you that he is (كَرِيمٌ - kareem) that he is forbearing, he is merciful, and all of the things that kareem means. Leaving that door open for you to come back.
Subhanallah. This is why understanding the book of Allah is more than just memorizing it. It's more than just memorizing it. There is so much subtlety to the way Allah speaks to us that even within the tone, even within the way that Allah addresses us, many lessons can be derived and learned and understood.
The Story of Bani Israel
Allah when dealing with the people of Musa (peace be upon him), you see we can learn a lot about gratitude and ingratitude from Bani Israel. A lot. They swung very far on both pendulums when it came to gratitude and ingratitude. There were times when they were truly grateful to Allah and Allah blessed them for it. And there were times when they were extremely ungrateful to Allah and He put them through intense difficulties for it, up until this day.
Up until this day, they remained ungrateful to Allah, therefore Allah has left His azaab on them no matter where they go. No matter where they go.
When they wandered in the desert, they ended up being wandering in the desert because they disobeyed Allah again, so they wandered and wandered. But even then Allah still favored them. Clouds would follow them in the open desert where most of them would have burned and died of heat stroke or dehydration. The clouds followed them. When they were thirsty, Allah caused water to come up from the ground, twelve springs. When they were hungry, Allah sent down bread from the sky.
But they got tired of that. They got tired of the bread. Imagine sitting around thinking, what's for lunch? Bread and water. For dinner? Bread and water. For dinner next week? Bread and water. That's it. We're eating bread and water. And that's it. Even though it was a direct miracle from Allah, they got tired of it.
So they went to Musa (peace be upon him) and said, can you ask Allah to send us some garlic, some lentils, you know what I mean, a little something to spice it up a little something? How do they even know what those things were, those vegetables? Because they used to have them. They were remembering things they had when they were slaves.
You understand that mentality? That's like being in prison and starting to like prison food so much that you come home and you start getting craving for them. I like that slop they gave in prison. It's a weird psychology but this is how they behaved.
So Allah started to send them quails and other things and they still complained. And Allah told Musa (peace be upon him), tell them something. Just remind them of something. First of all he said, tell them to remember the days of Allah. Remember the days when Allah saved you. Remember that. Remember when you were being slaughtered by the thousands. Remember when you were slaves and you had nothing and Allah freed you from it. Now you're complaining because, you know, not enough luxury, you don't have enough. This is almost how we are.
Allah will give us everything, then we'll complain about the things that we don't have. We'll complain about the things that we don't have.
Allah says:
Tell them, remember the favors of Allah upon them. Remember that. And these are people who are wandering in the desert. They have no home. But Allah is still telling Musa to tell them: remember the favor of Allah upon you. Remember the favor of Allah upon you.
And then Allah says:
Then make it proclaimed amongst them. (تَأَذَّنَ - ta'aḏḏana) the word (تَأذَّنَ - ta'aḏḏana) coming from the root (اذن - 'aḏina) the same as the ear (اذن - 'uḏun) meaning that something which will stick with you. Tell them this which should stick in their ears. They should remember it everyday. Tell them to never forget this. Never forget this.
And then what does Allah say?
If you are grateful to me, I'll give you more.
And look the way that it is phrased. Allah says if you are grateful to me in the past tense, meaning that even if you're just grateful once, or if you're just grateful sometimes, or if you're just grateful, then I will give you more in the present tense and future tense. I'll give you more, meaning I will continue to increase you. Just be grateful to me and watch me open the door. Watch me open the door.
And Allah did eventually open the door for them, open the door for them, with Yusha (peace be upon him). He opened the door for them after Musa.
So Allah is telling them, telling Musa: tell them, make it proclaimed amongst them to never forget this. If you are grateful to me, I will give you more.
So what do you think will happen if you're ungrateful? Look at the way Allah speaks again. Here it's so beautiful the way Allah is addressing those who are ungrateful. Allah says, but look at also how he's speaking to those who have ingratitude. Allah doesn't even speak to them again. Allah does not even address them directly again.
He doesn't say: if you are ungrateful I will punish you. Because people who show ingratitude to Allah after all he has given them, do not deserve that direct address. Allah says: if you are ungrateful, then know that the punishment of your Lord is severe.
That's all he says. Know the punishment of your Lord is severe. Not even giving them direct reference.
Look at the two differences. Allah says: if you are grateful to me, I will give you more. So if you want more in your life, you want increase, you want Allah to bless you more and more, be grateful for what you have now even if it's very little. Be grateful, Allah will give you more.
If you have a lot and you are grateful, Allah will give you even more.
The Story of the Blind Boy
I met a blind boy, his video has been passed around on YouTube and I love to watch it. Trust me, if there's ever a time where I start feeling like my gratefulness to Allah is waning, I remember this boy and I watch his video that I saved on my phone. Two minute video.
But I met this boy alhamdulillah when I went to Kuwait recently. When I went to Kuwait, he's one of the students of one of the Imams of the Grand Masjid. Now this boy is a blind boy. No vision. He has no sight. And he used to go to a Quran teacher and try to learn the Quran, one of the most well, you know, one of the respected ones in his locality. But the Quran teacher didn't have, he had a lot of students, so he wasn't able to give him a lot of time. But this boy used to complain and complain to the shaykh: give me more and give me more and give me more.
And in that time the boy had an amazing ability to memorize, but he couldn't read the Quran in braille or anything of that nature. And alhamdulillah finally he was able to start memorizing the Quran with some of the bigger scholars in Kuwait. And he was asked if he's happy now. He said yes, I'm happy and I'm grateful.
And then he made it a point. He made it a point. He wasn't asked. He made it a point. He said: I do not wish I ever had my vision back.
Why don't you want your vision back? The shaykh asked him. Why don't you want your vision back? Why would you ask for that? Every boy wants to be able to see.
He said: I don't want my vision back and I wouldn't take it back if it was even offered to me. Because Allah has blessed me with this blindness. My eyes will never be questioned in the day of Qiyamah. I don't have to worry about being questioned about these eyes. These eyes don't have to see anything that are wrong or immoral or evil. Allah has blessed me in a way that he has not blessed others for it. And I would not want it even if it was offered to me.
This is what gratitude is about. This is understanding gratitude and understanding the plan of Allah. That this boy is blind because of the Qadr of Allah. And maybe there's a wisdom and reason behind it. We gotta learn to see through things.
The Story Written Before Creation
Let me leave you with this. If you forget everything else I said tonight, I won't be upset. I won't be upset. But if you can try to remember this last thing, I guarantee you'll find a reason to be grateful for the rest of your life.
What is the first thing that Allah created (الْقَلَمُ - al-qalamu) the pen. Allah created the pen first. And what was the first command he gave to that pen? Write.
And the pen wanted to know, what to write? He said: write everything. Everything that will ever happen, anytime, anyplace, anywhere.
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said when he made his Isra wal Mi'raj, he said the pen, that pen has been lifted from the paper and the ink has become dry. Qadar of Allah has been set. Everything is gonna happen.
Why don't you think about something real quick and remember this everyday? And if this doesn't give you enough reason to have gratitude, then I can't help you, to be honest with you.
Somewhere through that writing that happened thousands and thousands and thousands of years before Allah created anything else, somewhere along that journey of that pen writing on that paper in a book that is only with Allah, Allah commanded that pen to write your name. Allah commanded that pen to write your name. And then next to your name, Allah commanded that pen to write "Muslim."
What have you done to deserve that? What have you done to deserve that?
When you didn't exist, you didn't exist, and Allah had already written it in a book that is with him. Write this person's name. Write Ahmed, write Mohammed, write Fatima, write Aisha, and right next to her name, his name, write "Muslim."
When I realized that, I knew for the rest of my life what I needed to do was to try to give as much servitude back to Allah as I could. Because I knew that Allah had in that book written with him: write this boy's story, and then write in December 1998, write "I guide him to Islam."
I didn't earn that. Reading the Bible didn't bring me to that. Reading the Quran didn't make that happen. What made that happen was Allah had already written it for me and given it to me as a gift before I existed.
What can I do to repay Allah for that? If I were to live the rest of my life worshipping Allah from morning to night and not sleeping and fasting every day and doing every act of good deed that one human being could possibly do, I will not have repaid enough. There won't be enough.
If all of you donated me all of your good deeds, if every human being on the face of this planet that's ever existed gave me all of their good deeds and I tried to take that to Allah on the day of judgment and repay him for that, I wouldn't have enough.
And I think I deserve Jannah? You think you deserve paradise? Paradise is a gift. A gift. What you strive to get is forgiveness from Allah through this good that you try to do and the gratitude that you show to Allah.
Hopefully He'll let the rest go. That He'll forget the rest and pass by the rest and then grant you Jannah as a gift that you don't deserve.
Because you didn't deserve guidance in the first place. You don't deserve to wake up every morning. You don't deserve to eat. You don't deserve to breathe. You don't deserve to drink. You don't deserve any of it. And Allah gives it to you anyway.
And even those who reject Allah, even those who disobey Allah, even those who knew Allah at one point in their life and turned their backs on Him, Allah still gives it to them. What about you? And you walk around with a frown on your face?
The most evil tyrant, Allah gives them more and more and more. And you walk around as if you have something to complain about?
Stop complaining. Stop complaining and start showing gratitude. This was the way the believers of the past were. This is the way the companions were. This is the way Ibn Taymiyyah was.
You want to see a man who lived a life of gratitude? Read the life of Imam Ahmed. Read the life of Ibn Taymiyyah. You'll see men who lived gratitude even through hardship.
When Ibn Taymiyyah said: You can't take my happiness because Jannah is here in my breast. I have my Jannah and I carry it wherever I go. You can't take that from me. You can lock me in the deepest darkest dungeon that exists in the face of this planet, but you cannot take away what I have because it's here.
Ibn Taymiyyah said: Whoever does not live like they already have Jannah in this life, don't expect it in the next life. Allah is as you perceive Him.
Conclusion
So remember that brothers and sisters. Let's be happy. Show some gratitude. You might not always be able to find the thing to be happy about everyday until you start reflecting on your own existence. Then you'll find more than enough reasons to show gratitude and smile when you see people and greet them.
And know that no matter what I might be going through, I might be sleeping on pavements tonight, I might be eating out of bins outside of the takeaway down the streets, but I have Islam. I have guidance. I have deen from Allah. I'm good. If I die tonight, Alhamdulillah.
May Allah increase all of us. Hopefully something I have said has benefited you. I have extended my time but I felt that this need to thoroughly be understood for the reality of the matter that whether you have a little bit or you have a lot, just be grateful and Allah will give you more.
This ummah needs to realize that the reason Allah is taking so much from us is because we haven't learned to be grateful for what we have. That's why He took it from us in the first place. Allah would have never taken dominion and leadership from this ummah had we not become ungrateful for what we've been given.
So we need to wake up insha'Allah. As they say, it's going to be alright if you're a Muslim. You believe it's going to be alright insha'Allah. Regardless of how you see it, it's going to be alright. It's going to be alright. As long as you put your two feet in Jannah, it won't matter how you got there. Nobody will be questioning the other person how did you get here. No, it won't matter anymore. We made it.
Until then we keep striving, we keep struggling and we show gratitude.
Closing
اللَّهُمَّ إِنَّا نَسْأَلُكَ الْجَنَّةَ فِي الدُّنْيَا وَالصِّدْقَ فِي الدُّعَاءِ
وَصَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَى نَبِيِّنَا مُحَمَّدٍ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ وَسَلَّمَ تَسْلِيمًا كَثِيرًا
End of Lecture