Appreciating the Bounties of Hearing and Sight

This Article addresses the issue of being grateful to Allah ﷻ since He has given us the ability to hear and see.

Allah ﷻ has commanded His creation to remember Him and remain grateful for His many favors. He has also warned His creation about rejecting His favors and denying His blessings. Allah ﷻ says:

فَٱذْكُرُونِىٓ أَذْكُرْكُمْ وَٱشْكُرُوا۟ لِى وَلَا تَكْفُرُونِ ( سورة البقرة : ١٥٢ )

“So remember Me; I will remember you. And remain grateful to Me and do not disbelieve in Me.” (Soorat al-Baqarah: 152)

The scholars of tafseer cite the previous verse as an example of how the word disbelieve can mean to reject the favors of Allah ﷻ . So in light of this clarification, we understand the meaning of this verse to be: “So remember Me; I will remember you. And remain grateful to Me and do not reject My favors.” This type of rejection is called Kufr An-Ni’am or Kufraan An-Ni’mah which literally means rejecting the blessings of Allah. Allah continually reminds His creation to be mindful of His Favors. Allah ﷻ says:

وَءَاتَىٰكُم مِّن كُلِّ مَا سَأَلْتُمُوهُ ۚ وَإِن تَعُدُّوا۟ نِعْمَتَ ٱللَّهِ لَا تُحْصُوهَآ ۗ إِنَّ ٱلْإِنسَـٰنَ لَظَلُومٌۭ كَفَّارٌۭ ( سورة إبراهيم : ٣٤)

“And if you should attempt to count the favors of Allah, you could never calculate them. Indeed, mankind is very unjust and ungrateful.” (Soorat Ibraaheem: 34)

And certainly from the greatest of Allah’s favors upon us is that He granted us the ability to hear and see. Allah ﷻ says:

وَٱللَّهُ أَخْرَجَكُم مِّنۢ بُطُونِ أُمَّهَـٰتِكُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ شَيْـًۭٔا وَجَعَلَ لَكُمُ ٱلسَّمْعَ وَٱلْأَبْصَـٰرَ وَٱلْأَفْـِٔدَةَ ۙ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ ( سورة النحل: ۷۸ )

“And Allah has extracted you from the wombs of your mothers not knowing a thing, and He made for you hearing and vision and hearts (intellect) that perhaps you would be grateful.” (Soorat an-Nahl : 78)

Thanks and appreciation can be divided into three different categories:

Appreciation or thanks of the heart: This type of thanks and appreciation involves reflection over the blessings that you have been favored with. A person shows this type of thanks when he or she contemplates how Allah ﷻ has given him the ability to witness the beauty of the sun setting on the horizon or marvel at the speech of Allah as it is recited.
Appreciation or thanks of the tongue: This aspect of thanks and appreciation involves praising Allah ﷻ since He is the One who has granted you the ability to see and hear.
Displaying appreciation or thanks through your actions: This is the type of thanks and appreciation mentioned in the statement of Allah ﷻ :

ٱعْمَلُوٓا۟ ءَالَ دَاوُۥدَ شُكْرًۭا ۚ وَقَلِيلٌۭ مِّنْ عِبَادِىَ ٱلشَّكُورُ ( سورة سبأ : ١٣)

“Work, O family of David, in gratitude. And only a few of My servants are Grateful.” (Soorat as-Sabe: 13)

We can show our thanks for being given the ability to see and hear by using our hearing and our sight in the manner which Allah ﷻ has prescribed for us. So we should only look at things that Allah has permitted or recommended for us to look at, and we should only listen to things that Allah has permitted us or recommended for us to hear.

We can show our thanks to Allah ﷻ for giving us the ability to hear and see by constantly implementing all three of these types of thanks and appreciation. It is very important that we are very thankful for Allah’s many blessings and favors since He does not remove His blessings or change His favors as a punishment for people until they disobey Him and reject His favors as He says in His statement:

ذَٰلِكَ بِأَنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَمْ يَكُ مُغَيِّرًۭا نِّعْمَةً أَنْعَمَهَا عَلَىٰ قَوْمٍ حَتَّىٰ يُغَيِّرُوا۟ مَا بِأَنفُسِهِمْ ۙ وَأَنَّ ٱللَّهَ سَمِيعٌ عَلِيمٌۭ ( سورة الأنفال : ٥٣ )

“That is because Allah will not change a favor which He has bestowed upon a people until they change what is within themselves. And indeed, Allah is Hearing and Knowing.” (Soorat al-Anfaat: 53)

Moreover, our thanks and appreciation for Allah’s many blessings may lead to an increase in His favors as He says in His statement:

وَإِذْ تَأَذَّنَ رَبُّكُمْ لَئِن شَكَرْتُمْ لَأَزِيدَنَّكُمْ ۖ وَلَئِن كَفَرْتُمْ إِنَّ عَذَابِى لَشَدِيدٌۭ ( سورة إبراهيم : ٧)

“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” (Soorat Ibraheem:7)

Learning from the lesson

Allah ﷻ may cause our blessings to increase if we are grateful for His many favors upon us.
Allah ﷻ may remove His blessings from us if we are not grateful for them.

Discussion

Discuss the importance of being thankful and expressing your thanks to others. Do you believe it is important to show thanks to people whenever they help you? How does the religion of Islam deal with this issue? How should we understand the position of Islam in light of the authentic hadeeth found in At-Tirmidhi “whoever doesn’t thank the people, hasn’t thanked Allah “?