Everyone gets happy and gets sad, but you should turn your happiness into gratitude (to Allāh) and your sadness into patience (ṣabr).
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Gratitude
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Benefitting from Being Happy with what Allah has Provided
It is reported that Al-Ḥasan Al-Baṣrī – Allāh have mercy on him – said:
Whoever is happy (satisfied) with what Allāh has apportioned for him, it will suffice him and Allāh will bless it for him, but whoever is not satisfied, then [what is apportioned for him] will not suffice him and it will not be blessed.
Ibn Abī Al-Dunyā, Kitāb Al-Riḍā ʿan Allāh bi Qaḍāʾihi article 95.
Dua of the Horse
Muʿāwiyah b. Khadīj (or Ḥudayj) reports that he once passed by Abū Ḏarr Al-Ġifārī – Allāh be pleased with him – while the latter was standing with a horse of his, so he asked:
“What are you doing with this horse of yours?” Abū Ḏarr replied, “I think this horse has had his supplication answered.” Muʿāwiyah asked, “And what supplication does a beast have?” He replied, “By him in whose hand is my soul, there is no horse except that it supplicates every twilight before the dawn: O Allāh, you have given me to a servant of yours and have put my provision at his hands, so make me more beloved to him than his wife, his property and his children.”
Imām Aḥmad, Al-Musnad, ḥadīth 21334.
The Link Between Blessings and Gratitude
It is reported that ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib – Allāh be pleased with him – said:
Blessings arrive with gratitude [to Allāh], and gratitude is connected with more [blessings], and the two are tied together: more blessings from Allāh will never stop unless gratitude from the servant stops.
Ibn Abī Al-Dunyā, Al-Shukr article 18.
Who is Rich?
A man once asked ʿAbdullāh b. ʿAmr b. Al-ʿĀṣ – Allāh be pleased with them:
“Are we not from the poor of the Muhājirīn?” He replied, “Do you have a wife to go back to?” The man replied, “Yes.” ʿAbdullāh asked, “Do you have a home to live in?” The man said, “Yes.” ʿAbdullāh said, “Then you are one of the rich.” The man said, “And I have a servant.” ʿAbdullāh said, “In that case, you are a king!”
Muslim, Al-Ṣaḥīḥ #5290
When Blessings Turn to Blight
It is reported that Al-Hasan Al-Basrī – Allāh have mercy on him – said:
Verily, Allāh lets [a person] enjoy a blessing for as long as He wills. But when He is no longer thanked for it, He turns it into a punishment. Ibn Abī Al-Dunyā, Kitāb Al-Shukr article 17
Ibn Abī Al-Dunyā, Kitāb Al-Shukr article 17
At the Crossroads of Gratitude
It is reported that Al-Ḥasan Al-Baṣrī – Allāh have mercy on him – said:
It has reached me that when Allāh the Mighty and Majestic blesses a people and gives them some good he asks them to be grateful. If they are grateful, He is all-able to give them more. But if they are ungrateful, He is all-able to turn His blessings into a punishment. Al-Bayhaqī, Shu’ab Al-Imān article 4536.
Al-Bayhaqī, Shu’ab Al-Imān article 4536.
The best thing after Iman and the worst thing after Kufr [women]
It is reported that ‘Umar b. Al-Khattāb – Allāh be pleased with him – once addressed the people and said:
No man can have anything better after faith (īmān) than a woman of righteous character, loving and child-bearing. And no man can have anything worse after unbelief (kufr) than a sharp-tongued woman of bad character. Al-Ḥāfidh Abul-Qāsim Al-Aṣbahānī, Al-Targhīb wa Al-Tarhīb article 1528. Also recorded in other sources with a slight variation in wording.
Al-Ḥāfidh Abul-Qāsim Al-Aṣbahānī, Al-Targhīb wa Al-Tarhīb article 1528. Also recorded in other sources with a slight variation in wording.
Dead Hearts and Empty Supplications
It is reported that Ibrāhīm b. Adham (d162H) – Allāh have mercy on him – once passed through the market of Baṣrah. People gathered around him and asked:
O Abū Isḥāq, Allāh the Exalted says in his Book. ‘Call on me, I will answer your prayers’, but we have been calling on Him for a long time and He does not answer our prayers. [Ibrāhīm] replied, “O people of Baṣrah, your hearts have died in respect to ten things: First, you know Allāh but you do not give Him His rights; second, you have read Allāh’s Book but you do not act by it; third, you claim to love Allāh’s Messenger – Allāh’s peace and blessings be upon him – yet you abandon his Sunnah; fourth, you claim to be enemies to Shayṭān but you conform to [his ways]; fifth, you say you love Paradise yet you do not work for it; sixth, you say you fear The Fire yet you put yourselves closer to it [by sinning]; seventh, you say death is true but you do not prepare for it; eighth, you busy yourselves with the faults of others and disregard your own; ninth, you consume the favors of your Lord but are not grateful for them; and tenth, you bury your dead but take no lesson from them.” Abū Nu’aym, Ḥilyah Al-Awliyā’ 8: 15, 16.
Abū Nu’aym, Ḥilyah Al-Awliyā’ 8: 15, 16.
Praise be to Allāh for this Calamity
It is reported that Shurayḥ – Allāh have mercy on him – said, “If I am afflicted with a calamity, I praise Allāh for it four times: I praise Him because it wasn’t worse than it was, I praise Him when He gives me the patience to bear it, I praise Him for enabling me to say al-istirjā’ (‘To Allāh we belong and to him we will return’; see Al-Baqarah: 154-156 ) in hope of a great reward, and I praise Him for not making it a calamity in my religion.”
Al-Dhahabī, Siyar A’lām Al-Nubalā`, in his biography of Shurayḥ Al-Qāḍī.
We can only repent
It is reported that Ṭalq b. Ḥabīb – Allāh have mercy on him – said, “The right of Allāh is too great and heavy for the creation to fulfill and the blessings of Allāh are too many to enumerate, but you should remain repentant, morning and evening.”
Ibn Abī Al-Dunyā, Al-Tawbah article 62.