The cause of persistence of blessings - Part IV

The reward of thanksgiving

The reward of thanksgiving is absolute without a limit, and the proof for this concept is that Allah (Exalted is He) suspended many types of rewards on His Will, such as His Saying:

فَسَوْفَ يُغْنِيكُمُ اللَّهُ مِنْ فَضْلِهِ إِنْ شَاءَ

"Allah will enrich you if He will, out of His Bounty."(At-Taubah: 28)

And He informed us that He responds to whom He wills, as He said:

فَيَكْشِفُ مَا تَدْعُونَ إِلَيْهِ إِنْ شَاءَ

"If He will, He would remove that (distress) for which you call upon Him" (Al-An'am: 41), and His Provision and Forgiveness are suspended on on His Will also, as He said:

وَاللَّهُ يَرْزُقُ مَنْ يَشَاءُ

"And Allah gives (of His Bounty, Blessings, Favours, Honours, etc. on the Day of Resurrection) to whom He wills without limit" (Al-Baqarah: 212)

And said:

يَغْفِرُ لِمَنْ يَشَاءُ

"He forgives whom He wills" (Ale-Imran: 129)

And accepting the repentance also, as He said:

وَيَتُوبُ اللَّهُ عَلَى مَنْ يَشَاءُ

"Allah accepts the repentance of whom He wills" (At-Taubah: 15)

While He has made the reward of thanksgiving absolute without a limit, as He said:

وَسَيَجْزِي اللَّهُ الشَّاكِرِينَ

"and Allah will give reward to those who are grateful." (Ale-Imran: 144)

And said:

وَسَنَجْزِي الشَّاكِرِينَ

"And We shall reward the grateful"(Ale-Imran: 145)

So, when the enemy of Allah, Iblis, knew the high grade of the thanksgiving, and that it's one of the highest grades, he has intended to prevent the slaves from performing it, and said:

ثُمَّ لَآتِيَنَّهُمْ مِنْ بَيْنِ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَمِنْ خَلْفِهِمْ وَعَنْ أَيْمَانِهِمْ وَعَنْ شَمَائِلِهِمْ وَلَا تَجِدُ أَكْثَرَهُمْ شَاكِرِينَ

"Then I will come to them from before them and behind them, from their right and from their left, and You will not find most of them as thankful ones (i.e. they will not be dutiful to You)." (Al-A'raf: 17)[1]

So, the thanksgiving is one of the acts of obedience which are highly rewarded, and its grade is of the greatest grades, and so the thankful, patient believer has been given all the good in prosperity and in adversity, as the Prophet (May Allah exalt his mention, and peace be upon him) said:

عجبا لأمر المؤمن إن أمره كله له خير وليس ذلك لأحد إلا للمؤمن : إن أصابته سراء شكر فكان خيرا له وإن أصابته ضراء صبر فكان خيرا له

"How wonderful is the case of a believer; there is good for him in everything and this applies only to a believer. If prosperity attends him, he expresses gratitude to Allah and that is good for him; and if adversity befalls him, he endures it patiently and that is better for him"[2]