Gratitude

Next we observe that both humanity and the animal kingdom are organized like a circle with sustenance at their center. Allah has endowed both humans and animals with a powerful desire for provision, made them dependent upon it, and caused them to strive for it. He has made sustenance into an abundant and inexhaustible treasury containing countless blessings. Food is only one category among the many forms of sustenance. To enable human beings to benefit fully even from this single category, Allah has equipped the tongue with the faculty of taste, a remarkably sensitive instrument capable of distinguishing the countless flavors and subtleties of different foods. This demonstrates that among all realities in creation, sustenance is one of the most extraordinary, precious, wondrous, delightful, comprehensive, and unique.

Furthermore, we see that everything gathers around sustenance and is directed toward it. Yet sustenance itself, in all its forms—spiritual and material, spoken and unspoken—subsists through gratitude. It is sustained by gratitude, gives rise to gratitude, and manifests gratitude. Appetite and longing for sustenance are themselves a kind of innate gratitude. Likewise, delight and enjoyment are forms of unconscious gratitude found throughout the animal kingdom. Only the human being, through disbelief and misguidance, corrupts this natural gratitude and turns away from thankfulness toward shirk.

Moreover, the beautifully adorned forms, exquisite fragrances, and delightful flavors of the blessings that constitute our sustenance are invitations to gratitude. They awaken admiration in living beings, transforming it into appreciation and reverence and stirring a profound sense of inward thankfulness. They attract the attention of conscious beings, encouraging them to value these blessings and to express their gratitude through both words and deeds. In doing so, they experience the sweetest joy and the highest pleasures found within gratitude.

In addition, these blessings that are granted as sustenance acquire, through gratitude, an infinite joy and delight beyond their temporary taste and enjoyment. They remind us of the boundless favor and gracious attention of the Generous Owner of the treasuries of mercy, allowing us to taste, even in this world, a glimpse of the everlasting bliss of Paradise. Thus, while sustenance becomes a precious, rich, and all-encompassing treasure through gratitude, it loses all of its true worth through ingratitude.

As explained in The Sixth Word, when the faculty of taste functions for the sake of Allah—that is, when it is employed in the service of gratitude—it acts as a discerning connoisseur and a highly honored, grateful inspector of the countless blessings of Allah, the Most Merciful. However, when it functions solely to satisfy human desires, concerned only with consuming sustenance while neglecting gratitude toward the One Who bestows it, this faculty descends from the rank of an exalted inspector to that of a mere doorkeeper of the stomach. Just as the faculty of taste is lowered through ingratitude, so too do sustenance itself and all that is connected to it descend from their highest station to the lowest, becoming divorced from their true purpose and contrary to the wisdom of the Creator of the universe.

The measure of gratitude is frugality, contentment, and satisfaction. The measure of ingratitude is greed, wastefulness, disrespect for blessings, and the pursuit of appetite without regard for what is halal or haram. Indeed, greed is not only a form of ingratitude but also a cause of deprivation and humiliation. Even the blessed ant, despite its social order, is metaphorically trampled underfoot because of its greed. Although only a few grains of wheat would suffice it for an entire year, it remains unsatisfied and strives to gather thousands. By contrast, the blessed bee, through its contentment, flies above our heads and, by Divine command, offers its honey freely for humanity’s benefit.