Ash-Shakur

The One who gives great reward for little good, and who repays manifold and abundantly the good done for His pleasure. Allah Almighty says: "If you loan Allah a goodly loan, He will multiply it for you and forgive you. And Allah is Most Appreciative and Forbearing." (At-Taghabun, 17) Shukr means to give thanks and, in keeping with the rules of humanity, not to be ungrateful. The person who does not give thanks, who does not notice by whom the blessings given to him were given, is an ungrateful person. Ash-Shakur is the One whose appreciation is continuous and whose appreciation embraces all who obey, making no distinction between great and small acts of worship. True gratitude is to give thanks to the Giver of blessings while confessing one's own inadequacy. Thus when Allah Most High said, "Work, O family of David, in gratitude" (Saba, 13), David (peace be upon him) said: "O my Lord, how shall I thank You, when even my gratitude is a blessing from You?" And Allah Most High answered: "Now you have known Me and thanked Me, O David — for you have realised that thanking is itself a blessing from Me." Responding to blessing with gratitude becomes a means for those blessings to increase further. Allah Almighty says: "...If you are grateful, I will surely increase you [in favour]..." (Ibrahim, 7) Gratitude has three essential conditions: 1. To accept and acknowledge the blessing given by the Giver of blessings. 2. To use that blessing in obeying Allah. 3. To thank those who, by Allah's will, were the means of that blessing reaching you. Allah Almighty accepts gratitude and does not leave it unrewarded. He answers gratitude with gratitude and with more besides, thereby causing good to multiply. Allah has given a firm promise to His servants that He will increase the blessings for which they express gratitude. Those who take the path of gratitude confess that the blessings that have come to them are not from causes and means but from Allah alone — for they look not to the servants who bring the gift but to the master who sent it. They believe in their hearts that it is Allah alone who creates the blessing, apportions it, sends it, and grants and arranges the faculties and causes that engage with it. When some friends of Allah were asked "What is gratitude?" they replied: "That you do not disobey Allah with the blessings He has given you." Every Muslim should know that the absolute Object of gratitude is Allah, that by the consensus of scholars thanking Him is obligatory, and that Allah accepts both the little and the much. Know that every limb and organ has its own particular gratitude. Just as the tongue thanks its Lord with words of gratitude, the other organs too must thank their Lord in their own way. The gratitude of each limb and organ corresponds to the purpose of its creation. Every organ should be used in obeying Allah's command and avoiding His prohibition. Accordingly: The gratitude of the body is that you do not use your limbs in anything other than obedience to Allah. The gratitude of the heart is that you do not occupy it with anything other than remembering and knowing Allah. The gratitude of the tongue is that you do not use it to praise and extol anyone besides Allah. The gratitude of wealth is that you do not spend it anywhere other than where Allah loves and is pleased. After knowing these things about thanking Allah, the Muslim should thank those among people who do good to him, and should not forget this noble hadith: "Whoever does not thank people does not thank Allah."

The noble name Ash-Shakur is recited 526 times as "Ya Shakur, jalla jalaluhu" for provision to be plentiful, for blessings to be lasting, and for progress in good works. One who suffers from shortness of breath and bodily fatigue, if he writes the noble name Ash-Shakur into water, wipes his body with it and drinks of it, he finds healing. If the noble name Ash-Shakur is recited 41 times over water, and the eyes are washed with that water and it is drunk, great blessings are found: the chest and the body find healing and the eyesight grows strong.