Day 13 / Juzz 13

“And [remember] when your Lord proclaimed, ‘If you are grateful, I will surely increase you [in favor]; but if you deny, indeed, My punishment is severe.’ [14:7]

Allah says in this ayah that even if you a showed a little bit of gratitude, I will increase you. The strongest possible language is used here. So, increase you here, means a lot and a lot.

The question is to who, grateful to who? Allah didn’t mention himself. So this leaves it open. It means we need to be grateful to our parents, our friends, grateful for your health, grateful to our employers, grateful to anyone who has done something good for us. In other words, be appreciative for everything and to everyone.

Grateful is not just an act of saying Alhamdulilah. It’s a way, it’s a lifestyle, an attitude, because you have to *constantly* be grateful. Allah is saying, that if you show this attitude even a little bit, I swear I will increase you.

Allah doesn’t usually use ‘I’ in the Qur’an, He usually refers to Himself as ‘We’ and It’s only In the most intense places in the Qur’an that ‘I’ is used.

So what will Allah increase you in? The beauty in this ayah is that Allah didn’t limit what He will increase you in. He will give you more and more and more of everything – you just show Him gratitude.

You know, this ayah was given in a speech of Musa (as) to the Israelites after they had crossed the water. His audience are scarred parents who have been through so much torture and suffering, yet Musa (as) didn’t give them a Khutbah about patience, rather He gave them a Khutbah about gratitude.

Why? Because you will never be able to have patience If you don’t have gratitude.

Allah then says if you are ungrateful, and not appreciative, then My punishment is severe. Allah didn’t use ‘I’ He used ‘We’ showing His Mercy towards us.

Allahu Akbar.

May Allah make us amongst those who are truly truly grateful and may He increase us in goodness and blessings, ameen.