The concept of thanksgiving in the Quran
This article examines the concept of thanksgiving using a contextual and semantic analysis of the word thanksgiving and its roots in the Qur’an.
The root (Shukr) and its derivatives are mentioned in the Holy Quran 75 times in the following different forms:
– the imperative verb form (Shukr, Shukr, ….) 7 times.
– the past tense form (Shukr) four times.
– the present tense form (Shukr, Shukr, Shukr) thirty-five times.
– The noun form of the subject (Shaker, Shakirun, Shakirin) fourteen times.
– The noun form of the verb (mashkur) occurs twice.
– The exaggerated form (shakoor) occurs ten times.
– The infinitive (Shakra, Shakur, with the Shin) occurs three times.
By following these derivations at the level of the Qur’anic context, we find that thanksgiving comes as the opposite of polytheism and disbelief in many verses, and we also find it mentioned in other verses that when people are in distress, they pledge to be thankful if God saves them from that distress, and when He saves them, He does not say that they did not thank God, but says that they are polytheists, as if it makes it clear to us that those who do not thank are polytheists, and they also disbelieve.
Thankfulness is the opposite of polytheism
(63) Say: “Who will deliver you from the darkness of the land and the sea?” (63) Say: “Allah will deliver you from it and from all distresses, and then you will make partners.” (64) Say: “Who is able to send you a punishment from above you, or from beneath your feet, or to clothe you in distress, and to afflict some of you with the misery of others? Say: “He is the One who is able to send upon you a punishment from above you or from beneath your feet, or to clothe you in various kinds of affliction, and to make some of you feel the pain of one another.” {
[Surat al-An’am: 63-65]: 63-65]
{He is the One Who created you out of one soul and made her husband out of her to dwell with her; and when he had intercourse with her, she conceived a light pregnancy and passed away; and when she became heavy, they called upon Allah their Lord, saying, “If you will give us a good deed, then we will be (189) When Allah gave them good, they made Him partners in what He gave them, so Allah is far above what they are polytheists (190): “Do they associate with that which does not create anything while they create (191)?”
[Surat al-A’raf: 189-191]
{He has control of the heavens and the earth, and those who disbelieve in the revelations of Allah are the losers (63) Say: “O ignorant people, how can you command me to worship other than Allah?” (64) Indeed, it has been revealed to you and to those before you that if you were to engage in polytheism, your work would be frustrated and you would be a failure. (65) But Allah, worship Him and be of those who are thankful (66) And they have not estimated Allah as He is worthy of His estimation (67) }
[Surat al-Zamar: 63 to 67].
(120) Abraham was a devoutly devout nation, and was not of the polytheists. (120) He was thankful for His favors, and We chose him and guided him to a straight path. (121) And We gave him in this life a reward. (122) Then We revealed to you that you should follow the way of Abraham, and that he was not of the polytheists (123) }
[Surat al-Nahl: 120-123]
The Prophet Yusuf here attributes his following the way of his fathers as a favor from Allah, so he did not engage in polytheism {I followed the way of my fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – we had nothing to do with polytheism – this is a favor of Allah over us and over people, but most people do not thank Allah.
[Surah Yusuf: 38]
Thankfulness is the opposite of disbelief
{When he saw it, he said, “This is from the favor of my Lord, to test me whether I should give thanks or disbelieve, and whoever gives thanks, he gives thanks for himself, and whoever disbelieves, my Lord is rich and generous.”
[Surat al-Naml: 40] {We have given Luqman the wisdom to give thanks to Allah, and whoever gives thanks, he gives thanks for himself; and whoever disbelieves, Allah is rich and gracious}
[Surat Luqman: 12] {Abraham was a devoutly devout nation to Allah, and was not of the polytheists (120) Thankful for His favors, He chose him and guided him to a straight path (121) And We gave him in this world a good thing. (122) Then We revealed to you that you should follow the way of Abraham, and that he was not of the polytheists (123) }
[Surat al-Nahl: 120-123]
The Prophet Joseph here attributes his following the way of his fathers as a favor from Allah, so he did not engage in polytheism {I followed the way of my fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – we had nothing to do with polytheism – this is from Allah’s favor over us and over people, but most people do not thank Him.
[Surah Yusuf: 38]
And those who divide Allah’s sustenance that He has sent down to them as haram and halal of their own making, slandering the lie, which is polytheism {Say, “Do you see what Allah has sent down for you from a sustenance, and you make of it haram and halal; say, ‘Has Allah authorized you? Or do you slander Allah (59) and what do those who slander Allah on the Day of Resurrection think of Allah (60)} [Surat Yunus: 59-60]
God recommends man to do good to his parents and thank God and them for the blessing of his existence in this life, some people see his existence in this life only as a result of lust between his parents, and forget his pregnancy, separation and upbringing {And we commanded man to his parents, his mother carried him lightly and separated him in two years to thank me and your parents, and to me is the destiny} [Surat Luqman: 14]
{We have commanded man to do good to his parents. His mother bore him against his will and gave birth to him against his will; and his pregnancy and childbirth are thirty months, until he reaches the age of majority and is forty years old, when he says, “My Lord Instruct me to give thanks for the blessings You have bestowed on me and my parents, and to do good deeds that are pleasing to You, and reform me in my offspring; I repent to You, and I am of the Muslims.”
[Surat al-Ahqaf: 15]
Give thanks to God, not thank God
We notice in all the previous Qur’anic verses how thanksgiving is the opposite of polytheism and disbelief, but the greatest observation is that the command to thank God is not in this form, such as thank God, thank me, or thank me, but rather the context comes Thank God, thank me, or thank him Even for the parents, he said thank me and your parents, he did not say thank your parents, although we always say thank God or thank you, so-and-so.
{Eat from what God has provided you with a good diet and be thankful for the grace of God if you are worshiping Him} [Surat al-Nahl: 114] We do not thank God, but we thank His grace, favor, and benevolence to us, meaning that we thank God’s grace to God, we thank the grace of our existence to God and our parents, we thank our guidance to God, we thank the sustenance given to us by God, and we thank our survival from distress to God, which means that we attribute the blessing This is the meaning of thanksgiving to God, which is the true meaning that if we do the opposite of it, we are polytheists, which is what I referred to at the beginning of this article because it is the opposite of polytheism and disbelief in most verses.
Qarun disbelieved when he did not attribute the blessing to God.
(76) Seek what Allah has given you for the Hereafter, and do not forget your share of this world, and do not forget your share of this world, and do good as Allah has done to you, and do not seek to make corruption in the earth, for Allah does not love those who corrupt. (77) Qarun said, “I have received this wealth on the basis of a knowledge that I have, and I will give it to him. (77) He said, “I have received this on the basis of a knowledge that I have, or does he not know that Allah has destroyed before him a number of centuries before him who were more powerful than him and more numerous, and that the guilty will not be held accountable for their sins (78) [Surat al-Qur’an: 76-78]
Qarun is just one example of human nature that forgets God’s grace and bounty and attributes it to its own capabilities and abilities.
{If distress befalls man, he will call upon us, and then, when we give him a blessing from us, he will say, “I have received it on knowledge, but it is a temptation, but most of them do not know it” [Surat al-Zumar: 49].
Conclusion: The meaning of giving thanks is to attribute the blessing to its owner and not to share it with your own power, ability and knowledge, and then to act according to this principle so that you do not disbelieve it.
The active noun is shaker, which is the one who attributes the work in question or the grace and favor to its owner, so he recognizes its merit, does not disbelieve it, and does not share with him his whims. This name is shared by man and God, the Lord of the Worlds…
God is shaker for you, that is, he attributes your endeavor and your work to you, which is also the meaning of not putting one foot in front of the other. And that your endeavor will be seen, and whoever does the weight of an atom will see it, good or bad.
The exaggerated form is shakoor: It means that you always give credit where credit is due and do not forget it, no matter how small it is, this quality is also shared between God and man.
God says: “Whoever does an iota of good will see it.” As for the people, He says: “Few of my servants are thankful.” This is the fulfillment of Iblis’ pledge: “And you will not find most of them thankful” (and you will not find most of them thankful).
But in our daily life, you find that relationships between people are dispersed and divided by the smallest mistakes, so whoever you favor twenty times will hold you accountable for a small mistake and forget all your previous favors to him, because (few of my servants are thankful).
The name of the actor (Shaker) came attributed to God twice and was associated with knowledge (Shaker Alim) and (Shaker Alima)
while the adjective (Shakur) came attributed to God in four places.In three of them it is associated with forgiveness (Ghafoor Shakoor) and in the fourth time with dream (Shakoor Halim), all of which indicate that God overlooks his lapses, forgives them, and gives him his right to his endeavor, no matter how small and insignificant it may be.
Thanking God is the attribution of grace to God without associating with Him and without disbelieving it, and man’s thanks to man is the attribution of his virtue, favor and benevolence to him, which is different from retribution.
You reward someone who does you a favor or provides you with his money, but this falls under the door of retribution and reward, but thanks is the proof of his right, which he deserves.
There are those who do favors for you, and they do not need to be rewarded in kind, even if you double the reward, but your thanks to them may not dispense with it, as it represents the motivation and incentive for them to give and spend more and more, and your thanks to them shows them how much you benefited from their work towards you, while your disbelief of this favor may instill in them despair and apathy and thus stop giving to others in need.
The following verse makes it clear that reward is one thing and thanksgiving is another:
{We feed you for the face of God, we do not want from you a reward or thanksgiving} [Surat al-Man: 9] We do not want a reward from you nor do we need you to attribute the feeding to us, but it is for the face of God, then this verse comes to show how God rewarded them for that feeding:
{This was your reward and your endeavor was thankful
[Surat al-Man: 22]
Do the Dawood. Thank you.
(10) And We gave David a favor from Us, O mountains, and the birds with him, and We gave him iron. (10) And We gave him iron (10) To do good deeds, and to be able to use it well, and do good deeds. (11) And We gave Solomon the wind, whose wings are one month long and whose wind is one month long, and We gave him the eye of rain. And of the jinn are those who work before him by the permission of his Lord; and whosoever among them strays from Our command, We will make him suffer the punishment of the Seer (12) They shall work for him what they will, of pyramids, and statues, and graves like the answer, and sturdy cauldrons (13)} [Surat Sheba: 10-13]
Perhaps the concept of thanksgiving is clear, which is the attribution of grace, favor, livelihood, etc. to its owner, which also means your gratitude to its owner, but the confusion between thanksgiving and the act of thanksgiving still exists.
The act of thanksgiving is taking advantage of the blessings that God has given you of money, abilities, capabilities and qualifications to create something useful for the existence that they would not have been able to do so, so they give credit to God and you, so that is thanks to you and God, which is very much in the current world.
Taking advantage of technology and technology to spread science and guidance and everything that benefits humanity is an act of thanksgiving. Making medicine, for example, is an act of thanksgiving, even though its owner finds the reward for it in the form of sales, it is an act of thanksgiving.
The endowments represented by hospitals, universities, schools, and water wells stand as a witness to the work called the work of thanksgiving, and you can enumerate dozens of acts of thanksgiving similar to these examples, and when we find that this building is written on it as an endowment for God Almighty, we believe that its owner applies the concept of the verse (We feed you for the face of God, and we do not want from you a reward or thanks). It is an act of thanksgiving and we believe that its owner applies the concept of the verse (We feed you for the face of Allah, we do not want a reward or thanks from you)
But do we find anything in the Qur’an that supports this trend, and in another way, did the House of David do thanksgiving?
Yes, and with what Allah has given them in the previous verses, we can say that the House of David has done thanksgiving, as He says, “The Almighty says.
{And We gave Solomon wisdom and knowledge, and We made with David the mountains to praise him and the birds, and We were the doers (79), and We taught him to make clothing for you to protect you from your own misfortune (80)[Surat al-Anbiya: 79-80].
So they learned from them to make a garment for them to protect them from their fury, which they could not have learned, so they should thank this blessing to Allah and to the House of David.
