Gratitude 5 August 2008
Posted by Baraka in BARAKA, Spirituality.trackback
Longing for the true RoseIf you express gratitude for My blessings, I will increase you in them.” – Qur’an 14:7
Umm Zaid and Umm Ali’s seven-day gratitude challenge and Imam Zaid’s pre-Ramadan article Gratitude in the Face of Calamity both resonated with me recently.
I have an overwhelming amount to be grateful for, and yet I rarely express it.
Isn’t joy so much more worthy of being shouted from the rooftops than complaint is?
The challenge – to consciously be full of gratitude in speech and thought for a week – reminds me of the day that Rabia al-Adawiyya saw a man passing with a large bandage around his forehead. When questioned about it, he replied that he was suffering from a headache.
“How old are you,” she asked.
He replied that he was thirty, so she asked, “Till today, how have you passed your life?”
He replied, “In perfect health”.
She said, “For thirty years the Lord kept you sound, and you did not fly any colors on your body to express your gratitude for His gift, so that people could ask you the reason for your joy and, then, learning of God’s blessings on you, praise Him! But today, at the first sign of illness, you have flown the colors of complaint for all to see!”
Struck by her words, from that day on the man was known to all as the one who never complained.
The art of happiness seems to be a little different for each of us, but as I get ready for my second course of chemotherapy tomorrow morning, I can’t help but think that it is also very similar for all of us.
Trite as modernity has made it sound, is there really more to life than love and compassion? Were we not brought to life by the very breath of One whose rahma (mercy) is infinite, and thus created as vessels to pour that rahma on all those around us?
Before I became ill I took everything and everyone around me for granted, as if I in some way deserved it, or that it was permanent. Since the first paralysis/blindness, I’ve come to see that our control over life is in many ways an illusion, that everything we hold beloved can be swept away – whether it is the bedrock of our identity, the mobility we depend on, or the future we planned.
Coming to know this is difficult, and a prelude to unexpected serenity. These are lessons I needed, ones that I’m not sure that I can convey, much as one cannot explain the sudden knowing when one meets one’s soulmate.
Tonight, I am grateful for the taking away and the giving, for the loss and the gain, for illness and health, for nearness and distance, for blindness and sight – for the lessons that each of these has held for me in the past few years.
I am grateful for the stillness and contentment that pervades my heart this minute. I am ever grateful for my partner, family, health, and material wealth, for even as the last two have diminished, so has my awareness of being awash in infinite, uncountable blessings – each step I take, every breath I take – increased.
Alhamdolillah.
“Wondrous are the believer’s affairs. For him there is good in all his affairs, and this is so only for the believer. When something pleasing happens to him, he is grateful, and that is good for him; and when something displeasing happens to him, he is patient, and that is good for him.”
- Prophet Muhammad (saws), Sahih Muslim.
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Originally posted on Rickshaw Diaries, September 2005.
[...] August 5, 2008 · Filed under From Other Blogs, Gratitude By Baraka, posted at OtherMatters, a beautiful reflection on gratitude. [...]
Asalaamu alaikum.
What a beautiful reminder. Very inspiring.
Making du’a for you with the chemo, ukhti.
“No more sadness.”
That is a message I needed to hear.
Thank you my friend.
Baraka – not sure if the chemo reference is an old or new one – but in case you’re really going in tomorrow for another round, may it go well and smoothly, inshallah, and accomplish the healing it is meant to.
Flying the colours of complaint is an interesting way of putting it! :) I guess my face flies those colours, even if anything else may not, when I’m upset… all the more reason to continue to try and perfect a calm, smiling visage at all times!
welcome back from your hiatus! and all the best.
Salaams dear friends – It is so good to be back and to hear your voices again!
Just to clarify, this is a re-post from 2005 so although insh’Allah I will have chemotherapy again the time has not yet come. Jazak Allah khair for your concern and duas! :)
Warmly,
Baraka
as-salam alaykum, sufi master
this is one of my all-time favorite baraka bytes. may Allah preserve, protect and purify you at every turn.
Salams, Baraka
May Allah grant you healing and ease.
was-salams
Ibrahim
Dear Baraka,
Such beauty you express here…
Its what we all need to hear…
To find love and blessing instead of fault.
The blessings of deep peace and healing to you my sister,
Maithri
Assalam-alaikam Baraka,
Thank you for the reminder, its so easy to fall into complacency and take everything for granted. Just the act of thinking about all we have and how we have been blessed is enough to change your whole frame of mind, and you have guided me to doing that this morning.
Great post, though-provoking and inspiring. May Allah swt shower His blessings on you always.
Alsalamu Alaikom,
SubhanAllah, every day we live thorugh is a chance Allah is giving us to make the best out of that day.
Many see their illness as a loss, when it only is one when one chooses for it to be. I see that you have gained from your illness when you have expressed your gratitude, May Allah reward you.
“I am grateful for the taking away and the giving, for the loss and the gain, for illness and health, for nearness and distance, for blindness and sight – for the lessons that each of these has held for me in the past few years.”
Beautifully expressed. I loved this post.
A wonderful post, dearest Sister :) It is a reminder and a lesson for us each day of our lives, which in itself is the greatest blessing and reason for gratitude to our Creator.
Ya Haqq!
Salaams all and jazak Allah khair for all your thoughtful comments! :)
[...] presents Gratitude posted at other|matters. Dr. Noreen A. Kassem presents A Healthy Fast: 10 Things to Know to Get the [...]
[...] other|matters, by BARAKA: The challenge—to consciously be full of gratitude in speech and thought for a week— [...]