We are entering, fully, the season of autumn, full of beauty with its many vibrant colors as the leaves on the trees change at being relieved of their duties in this world. Additionally, in the latter part of November the traditional holiday of Thanksgiving is celebrated here in America. Honoring this tradition, we share with you the true meaning of giving thanks with some excerpts from Bediuzzaman’s treatise On Thanks. The entire treatise can be found in The Letters.
-Nur: the Light
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. And there is nothing but it glorifies Him with praise. Will they not then give thanks? (Qur’an 36:35, 73)
Worship God and be of those who give thanks. (Qur’an, 39:66)
By repeating verses like these, the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition shows that thanks is what the Most Merciful Creator wants most from His servants. The Qur’an, the All-Wise Distinguisher between Truth and Falsehood, calls on people to offer thanks, giving it the greatest importance.
Indeed, just as the All-Wise Qur’an shows thanks to be a result of creation; so the universe, which is a mighty Qur’an, shows the most important result of the world’s creation to be thanks. For if the universe is observed carefully, it is seen from the way it is arranged that everything results in thanks; each looks to thanks to an extent and is turned towards it. It is as though thanks is the most important fruit of the tree of creation, and gratitude is the most elevated product of the factory of the universe.
The exquisitely adorned forms, the fragrant smells, the wonderfully delicious tastes in the bounties that are sustenance invite thanks; they awake an eagerness in animate beings, and through eagerness urge a sort of appreciation and respect, and prompt thanks of a sort. They attract the attention of conscious beings and engender admiration. They encourage them to respect the bounties; through this, they lead them to offer thanks verbally and by act, and to be grateful; they cause them to experience the highest, sweetest pleasure and enjoyment with thanks.
The measure of thanks is contentment, frugality, and being satisfied and grateful. While the measure of ingratitude is greed, wastefulness and extravagance; it is disrespect. If someone eats a delicious bounty and gives thanks, by virtue of this thanks the bounty becomes a light and a fruit of Paradise in the hereafter. If, because of the pleasure, they think of it as the work of Almighty God’s favor and mercy, it yields true, lasting delight and enjoyment. If they fail to give thanks, the temporary pleasure leaves a pain and sorrow at its passing, and itself becomes waste.
Thanks is the means of raising man to “the best of forms” which is the highest position in accordance with this comprehensiveness. If he does not give thanks, he falls to “the lowest of the low” and perpetrates a great wrong.
-Bediuzzaman Said Nursi
The entire treatise On Thanks can be found in The Letters.
