The Imperative Of Showing Gratitude To God On The Creation Of Man

Dr Adekunle Mikail

All gratitude and adoration to Allah, the truth God who Has created all things in the best way. He Has began the creation of man from clay, and made his progeny from a quintessence of despised fluid , afterwards, He fashioned him in due proportion , and breathed into him of His spirit.

And he gave you ( mankind) the faculties of hearing and sight and understanding, but little thanks do you give!

Allah’s creation in itself is good : it is beautiful, in proper proportions, and adapted for the functions it has to perform. There is no evil or disorder in it . Such evil or disorder as creeps in is due to man’s will , as far as the world of man is concerned.

Spiritual teaching has then been directed to train and cure that Will, so that it brings it into conformity with the Universal Order and Plan.

This is why man is asked to contemplate his own humble beginning. His material body ,apart from life, is a piece of earth or clay, which is another term for primeval matter. Matter is therefore the first stage, but even matter was not self-created . It was created by Allah Himself.

Man’s body is a complex network of water , blood , bone, tissue and cartilage which science and biology has continued to unravel since the time immemorial but which remained more intriguing, fascinating and mysterious till today. This body of his is the nearness thing to him which he does everything with , day and night!

And if mankind will count the bounty and grace of Allah around them, they will not be able to count it ,for it is uncountable, non-count and immesurable . Or can man estimate the grace from God to him to be alive ,hale and hearty; to see with his eyes or to talk with his mouth or to walk with his legs? .

For there are many of his type, who is not given the grace to be alive, hale and hearty, see with his faculty of sight or hear with that of hearing. There are others who are blessed with eyes but can’t see with it; some are given the ears but hear not while some are endowed with legs that which move not!

If man will reflect on the creation of Allah on his body and when he thinks about its parts, he will definitely come to the realization that there is no bone in him nor blood or sweat or nerve unless he sees the inimitable insignia of God’s works and imprints on himself. This is the essence of Quran 51 : 21 , 82: 6-8, 51:21 90:8-10 and 16:78 as follows:

Q 51:21:
” And in your own soul (too); will you not then see?”

Q 82:6-8:
” O man! What has beguiled you from your Lord , the Gracious one, who created you , then made you complete,then made you symmetrical? Into whatever form He pleased He constituted you”

” Q 90 8-10:
” Have we not given him ( man) two eyes. And a tongue and two lips and pointed out to him the two conspicuous ways?”

Q 16:78:
” And Allah has brought you forth from the wombs of your mothers – you did not know anything- and He gave you hearing and sight and hearts that you may give thanks”

What is apparent in all the verses above is the urge from God to the mankind to show gratitude to Him for what He Has done in the life of man. In an Hadith of prophet Muhammad ( salla-llahu alehi wasalam), there is an indication for man to use every part of his body to work an alms as a token in appreciation of God’s works in him. The Hadith is stated underneath here:

” Every division of human part is mandated to offer an alms every day whenever the sun shines ; being just among a people is an alms; helping a man in mounting his animal and loading his belongings on it or from it, is a form of alms; good word is a type of alms; every step you take to mosque in your efforts at observing the daily canonical prayers is a kind of alms and clearing the People’s ways from daggers is also an alms”

The bones in human body are 360, 256 are visible among them while the remaining ones are not naked to the eyes. The Hadith is therefore pointing to the matchless works of Allah in the making of man as an entity. It is also a reminder to man on the Allah’s mercy on him which needs to be appreciated everyday as a way of showing gratitude to Him.

And when this will involve a lot of gratitude which man may not be capable of showing, Allah later makes this easier by giving him many other ways of goodness by making every Tasbih ( praise) an alms; every Takbir ( magnification of Allah’s names) is an alms; Amru-bil-maruf (commanding what is good) is an alms; Wanahyu ani-l- munkar ( repressing what is abhorrent) is an alms; being just between two persons is an alms; good speech is an alms; every step into the mosque is an alms;clearing the ways of people of daggers is an alms; while observing two rakah of salat when the sun shines in the morning doubles the rewards of every alms aforestated, since Salat involves the use of every division of one’s body in worshipping Allah.

In all the deeds mentioned in the Hadith above, there are some which are public services from the doer to the public while there are others among them that are personal to the doer.

Among the public ones are : settlement of rift between two persons; helping those in needs in their needs; good speech; and salvaging the roads from dangers so that the users will be saved from accidents.

The one who are personal to the doers are deeds such as Tasbih ( offering praise to God), Takbir ( magnifying Allah’s name), Tahmid ( showing gratitude to God) ,Tahlil ( saying Lailaha-illa-llahu) and walking into the mosque for prayer.

In another instance, the prophet (salla-llahu alehi wasalam), has guided whom is not capable of coming up with any of the deeds above daily to what he can do to show gratitude to God for all that He Has been doing for him.

He has advised that personality to curtail his own evil from spreading to other people, if at all he is incapable of engaging in any of the good deeds listed above.

My Readers, part of the big blessing of Allah on man’s body is wrapping it with the apparel of security and health. Abu-Dardah( may the Lord be pleased with him) said:” good health is the wealth of the body” .While Wabb Bn Manbah had said that :” It is written in the wisdom of the people of David that :” Healthiness is an hidden wealth” . In another ancient record, we read :

” There are many mercies of God hidden in man’s sweat” . A wise man has also observed :” If there is something more beneficial than Earth we inhabit, that is certainly Healthiness and if there is something which equals the Earth ,it is wealthiness !”

In the Sahih Bukhari from Ibn Abass ( may the good Lord continue to bless him and his father ), from the prophet salla-llahu alehi wasalam, he said :” two mercies of God which many people are being unfair with are Healthiness and being free” i.e that many people have not been using the two mercies of Healthiness and freedom, God bestowed on them wisely and judiciously.

It is instructive to mention here that ,on the day of resurrection, man will be queried on how he had deployed these mercies and blessings of God while he lived here. He would be asked about how he had spent them and about the gratitude he had offered on them as a repose for bestowing them on him ,in the first place. This is what Allah is driving at in Qur’an 102 :8 when He says:

” Then on that Day you shall most certainly be questioned about the boons”

At-Tirmidhi and Ibn Habban narrated from the Hadith of Abu-Hurrairah ( may the Lord be pleased with him) from the prophet ( salla-llahu alehi wasalam) that :” Indeed, the first thing man will be questioned on , on the day of judgement is Allah’s mercy. He would then be asked :” have we not made healthier for you your body and made you to drink from cool drinkable water?”.

Ibn Mashood ( may he be pleased with) said:” the real mercies are security and healthiness”. Ibn Abass said on the meanings of the verse: ” Then on that Day you shall most certainly be questioned about the boons”; he said :” the boons here denotes: ” Healthiness of the body, hearing and sight, and that Allah will question His servants on how they have used them while living. He is the most conversant with that knowledge than all His servants hitherto. It is also the meaning of the verse: “Surely, the hearing and the sight and heart , all of these , shall be questioned about” – Qur’an 17:36

O you who believe! He who is desired to know Allah’s grace on healthiness, should endeavor to visit the afflicted with diseases , or the one who have lost some parts of their body or damaged some parts; in the hospitals and behold how many sick person who is shouting out of the pain in his body; how many are limping and how many are permanently damaged as a result of illness; he will realise the grace of God on him.

This is the reason it is recommended by the prophet salla-llahu alehi wasalam that ” whoever says when he rises in the morning that :” O Lord whatever I rise up with in your grace or with with anyone among your servants, is but from you alone, you have no partner; you alone is all praise and gratitude”; he had paid the gratitude and due for that day. And he who had said it in the evening, has paid the gratitude and due for that evening.

It is essence that every sensible man will need to praise God in the morning and evening for it contains the recognition , realization and acknowledgement of God’s mercy and grace in his life. Surely, he who is in the habit of praising God in the morning and night, is sure of increment in all the mercy and grace of God he has been enjoying !