A Reflection on Gratitude

Ya Allah, from the depths of degredation you lift me with your light, nur ala nur, it penetrates the darkness of my black heart like the brightness of stars in the sky that radiate hope to the destitute and dreams to lovers. From your embrace let me never fall…the world you have created is truly a faithless friend – and anything of beauty is only such because it is a reflection of your pre-eminence…your lutf… your greatness… your majesty… your love.

In the welcoming of guests, in the mother’s love for her child, in the rescue of the helpless one crying for help, I see Your mercy and become the child in need of your love; the destitute, naked, helpless fakir in need of sustenance; the decrepid, the unsightly, the addicted to the dunya in desperate need of your healing Ya Shafi, Ya Razzaq.

I am the criminal guilty of all sins, big and little, clinging to your door and begging for your mercy that is greater than the expanse of the oceans and the skies, the universe and all it contains. I am your secret and You are mine; in my heart your name beats divine.

I am among the sinners; my cloak is dirty with the dust that I toil in… From dust I was made and to dust I shall return… but it is for You, Ya Rabbi, that my heart burns… If I could ask for one wish it would be this… hide me amidst the dust of the way of Your Beloved, Your chosen, Your Friend and our Master, our Beloved and leader Muhammad ﷺ, the praised one, the gracious one, the generous one, the Mercy unto Mankind, the unique and the chosen, the praiseworthy whose name shall remain annointed throughout time. How blessed an ending to be a particle of dust in the way of Muhammad ﷺ, who carried with him a message of salvation tha began with Adam (Peace be on him) and was granted to all the prophets as brothers. Ya Allah, pout some divine and heavenly color on the lovers of your Beloved Muhammad ﷺ and his brethren… Musa and Isa (Peace be on them), Yunus and Ibrahim (Peace be on them). Pour some grace upon those of us lose and groping for your light. Save us and show us the way… the way of truth, the way of justice, the way of your light, the way of mercy. How merciful are you that you grant us existence from non-existence, eloquence of speech from muteness, nourishment from hunger, health from sickness. Ya Razzaq, how merciful of you to provide us provision from poverty, love instead of hate, forgiveness instead of wrath. You are the Turner of Hearts! How merciful of You to guide us from heedlessness, to protect us from elements known and unknown. How great your mercy that started before we were born in the wombs of our mothers who loved us more than themselves.. and how great can your mercy be that your love exceeds that of our mothers.

“Say: ‘If the ocean were ink (wherewith to write out) the words of my Lord, sooner would the ocean be exhausted than would the words of my Lord, even if we added another ocean like it, for its aid.” (The Holy Quran, 18:109)

Ya Shakoor, how unfathomable is your mercy that you would show gratitude to us, who are in dire need of your mercy and help, for our meager acts of worship...You are Allah, The Most Great, The King, The Independent, The Most Praiseworthy; you do not need our worship but out of your immeasurable mercy you permit us to know you, to praise you, to remember you, to call upon you in prayer and in our hearts, with our tongues and through the acts of our hands until all we see is the reflection of your majesty and beauty. How infinite is your mercy that you bless us with the grace of your praise – your praise that can lift even the spiritually dead out from the myre of their personal perdition. How merciful are you that when we praise you we are ennobled… verifuly, without you we are at great loss… in the shade of your mercy we are vicegerents… worthy only through your remembrance that forges the quality of our souls like gold in a fierce blaze.

We cling to you like pilgrims clinging to the cloth of the Kaabah. . . we cling to your rope like humble wayfarers clinging to the garment of Mustafa ﷺ.

We thank you in health and in sickness, in poverty and wealth for thanking you is a blessing in itself. Thank you, Allah, for your great blessings upon us and we pray for your blessing upon the Prophets, especially Muhammad ﷺ, his family companions and followers. And pray that you raise us from among his followers on the Day. Grant him the mighest maqam in Jannah and accept his intercession and allow us to drink from Al-Kawthar.