💎The esteemed Shafi’ī scholar of Tafsīr and Fiqh, Badr al-Dīn Al-Zarkashi (d. 794 AH رحمه الله) said in the beginning of his book al Burhan:

وَقَالَ الشَّافِعِيُّ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ:

Al-Shafi'i, may Allah be pleased with him, said:

جَمِيعُ مَا تَقُولُهُ الْأُمَّةُ شَرْحٌ لِلسُّنَّةِ وَجَمِيعُ السُّنَّةِ شَرْحٌ لِلْقُرْآنِ وَجَمِيعُ الْقُرْآنِ شَرْحُ أَسْمَاءِ اللَّهِ الْحُسْنَى وَصِفَاتِهِ الْعُلْيَا

"Everything the Ummah (i.e., its scholars) says is an explanation of the Sunnah, and all of the Sunnah is an explanation of the Qur'an, and all of the Qur'an is an explanation of Allah's Most Beautiful Names and His Supreme Attributes."

زَادَ غَيْرُهُ: وَجَمِيعُ الْأَسْمَاءِ الْحُسْنَى شَرْحٌ لِاسْمِهِ الْأَعْظَمِ وَكَمَا أَنَّهُ أَفْضَلُ مِنْ كُلِّ كَلَامٍ سِوَاهُ فَعُلُومُهُ أَفْضَلُ مِنْ كُلِّ عِلْمٍ عَدَاهُ

Another added: "And all the Most Beautiful Names are an explanation of His Greatest Name. And just as it is superior to all other speech, so His knowledge is superior to all other knowledge."

💎Don’t Downplay the Severity of a Hardship after Allah Removes It

🔘Bakr b. ‘Abdullah al-Muzanī (رحمه الله) said:

"يَنْزِلُ بِالْعَبْدِ الْأَمْرُ فَيَدْعُو فَيَصْرِفُهُ عَنْهُ، فَيَأْتِيهِ الشَّيْطَانُ فَيُضْعِفُ شُكْرَهُ، فَيَقُولُ: إِنَّ الْأَمْرَ كَانَ أَيْسَرَ مِمَّا تَذْهَبُ إِلَيْهِ،

"A matter descends upon a servant, so he supplicates, and it is diverted from him. Then, Satan comes and weakens his gratitude, saying: 'The matter was easier than you thought.'

قَالَ: وَيَقُولُ الْعَبْدُ: كَانَ الْأَمْرُ بِأَشَدَّ مِمَّا أَذْهَبُ إِلَيْهِ، وَلَكِنَّ اللَّهَ صَرَفَهُ عَنِّي "

[However] the servant [should] say: 'The matter was more severe than I perceived, but Allah diverted it from me.'"

📜Kitab al-Shukr Ibn Abi-l-Dunya (26).

💎Recognizing Allah’s Blessings by Recognizing Your Inability & Deficiency in Truly Realizing Them

🔘Muhammad b. Salih al-Tamimi (رحمه الله) narrated that some of the scholars, when reciting the verse,

{وَإِنْ تَعُدُّوا نِعْمَةَ اللَّهِ لَا تُحْصُوهَا} [النحل: ١٨]

"And if you should count the favors of Allah, you could not enumerate them" [Surah An-Nahl: 18], would say:

«سُبْحَانَ مَنْ لَمْ يَجْعَلْ فِي أَحَدٍ مِنْ مَعْرِفَةِ نِعْمَتِهِ إِلَّا الْمَعْرِفَةَ بِالتَّقْصِيرِ عَنْ مَعْرِفَتِهَا، كَمَا لَمْ يَجْعَلْ فِي أَحَدٍ مِنْ إِدْرَاكِهِ أَكْثَرَ مِنَ الْعِلْمِ أَنَّهُ لَا يُدْرِكُهُ،

"Glory be to Him who has placed in no one's recognition of His favors anything but the recognition of their inadequacy in truly appreciating them, just as He has not placed in anyone's comprehension of them more than the knowledge that they cannot fully comprehend Him.

فَجَعَلَ مَعْرِفَةَ نِعَمِهِ بِالتَّقْصِيرِ عَنْ مَعْرِفَتِهَا شُكْرًا، كَمَا شَكَرَ عِلْمَ الْعَالَمِينَ أَنَّهُمْ لَا يُدْرِكُونَهُ فَجَعَلَهُ إِيمَانًا، عِلْمًا مِنْهُ أَنَّ الْعِبَادَ لَا يُجَاوِزُونَ ذَلِكَ»

Thus, He made the recognition of His favors carried out by the acknowledgement of our inability to fully recognize them an act of gratitude, just as He accepted the knowledge of the learned that they cannot fully comprehend Him and made it an act of faith, knowing that His servants cannot exceed this."

[Meaning that just as we cannot fully fathom and grasp the extent of Allah’s greatness and the perfection of His knowledge, power, wisdom, etc., then likewise we cannot fully grasp the extent of Allah’s favors and kindness; recognizing our inability to fully grasp this is an essential part of faith.]

Kitab al-Shukr Ibn Abi-l-Dunya (202).

💎What Allah Stops You From Having or Takes from You Might be a Greater Blessing than What He Gives:

🔘Saleh b. Mismar said,

«مَا أَدْرِي أَنِعْمَتُهُ عَلَيَّ فِيمَا بَسَطَ عَلَيَّ أَفْضَلُ، أَمْ نِعْمَتُهُ فِيمَا زَوَى عَنِّي»

"I do not know whether His favor upon me in what He has extended to me is greater, or His favor in what He has withheld from me."

🖊️Kitab al-Shukr Ibn Abi-l-Dunya (203).

🔘Ibn al Qayyim (رحمه الله) said:

مصدرُ ما في العبد من الخير والشرِّ والصفاتِ الممدوحة والمذمومة من صفة المُعطِي المانع؛ فهو سبحانه يُصرِّفُ عبادَه بين مقتضى هذين الاسمين؛

“The source of good and evil, and all praiseworthy and blameworthy qualities within a servant stems from the divine attribute of Allah being the Giver and the Withholder. Indeed, He, Glorified be He, directs His servants (affairs) according to the implications of these two names.

فحظُّ العبدِ الصادقِ من عبوديَّتِهِ بهما الشُّكْرُ عند العطاء، والافتقارُ عند المنع؛

The share of good for a sincere servant is found in his servitude by way of both (implications): by having gratitude when given, and having a sense of neediness when prevented.

فهو سبحانه يُعطِيه ليشكُرهُ، ويَمنعُهُ ليفتقرَ إليه، فلا يَزالُ شكورًا فقيرًا.

For He, Glorified be He, gives to invoke gratitude, and withholds to evoke neediness, thus the servant remains always grateful and in humble need.”

🖊️Al Fawā’id, p. 114 ‘Ata’āt al ‘Ilm

💎How Do You Respond to Allah’s Giving, Withholding, Commanding & Forbidding? How do you measure up? (1)

Ibn al Qayyim (d. 751 AH رحمه الله) said in Al Fawā’id:

"أقام الله سبحانه هذا الخلقَ بين الأمر والنهي والعطاء والمنع؛ فافترقوا فرقتين:

“Allah, Glorified be He, established this creation between [His] command and prohibition, and [His] granting and withholding; thus, they divided into two groups:

فرقة قابلتْ أمرَه بالترك، ونهيَه بالارتكاب، وعطاءه بالغفلة عن الشكر، ومنعه بالسخط. وهؤلاء أعداؤه، وفيهم من العداوة بحسب ما فيهم من ذلك.

One group responded to His command with neglect, His prohibition with commitment, His gifts with ingratitude, and His withholding with resentment. These are His enemies, and their enmity is proportional to their degree [of that response].

وقسم قالوا: إنما نحن عبيدك؛ فإن أمرتَنا سارعنا إلى الإجابة، وإن نهيتَنا أمسكنا نفوسنا وكففناها عما نهيتنا عنه، وإن أعطيتَنا حمدناك، وإن منعتَنا تضرَّعنا إليك وذكرناك.

Another group said: "We are but Your servants; if You command us, we hasten to comply, if You forbid us, we restrain ourselves and refrain from what You have forbidden. If You bestow us, we praise You, and if You withhold, we implore You and remember You."

فليس بين هؤلاء وبين الجنة إلا ستر الحياة الدنيا؛ فإذا مزَّقه عليهم الموت صاروا إلى النعيم المقيم وقرة الأعين؛

For these, nothing stands between them and Paradise but the veil of this worldly life; when death tears it away, they will proceed to eternal bliss and the delight of their eyes.

كما أن أولئك ليس بينهم وبين النار إلا ستر الحياة؛ فإذا مزَّقه الموت صاروا إلى الحسرة والألم.

Similarly, for the former, nothing stands between them and Hell but the veil of life; when death tears it away, they will proceed to regret and pain.

💎How Do You Respond to Allah’s Giving, Withholding, Commanding & Forbidding? How do you measure up? (2)

Ibn al Qayyim continues:

فإذا تصادمتْ جيوشُ الدُّنيا والآخرة في قلبك، وأردتَ أن تعلم من أي الفريقين أنت فانظر: مع من تَميل منهما ومع من تُقاتل، إذْ لا يمكنك الوقوف بين الجيشين؛ فأنت مع أحدهما لا محالةَ.

When the armies of this world and the Hereafter clash in your heart, and you wish to know to which group you belong, observe: towards whom you lean and against whom you fight, for you cannot stand [neutral] between the two armies; inevitably, you are with one of them.

فالفريق الأول استغشُّوا الهوى فخالفوهُ، واستنصحوا العقلَ فشاوروه، وفرَّغوا قلوبهم للفكر فيما خلقوا له، وجوارحهم للعمل بما أُمروا به، وأوقاتهم لعمارتها بما يَعمُر منازلَهم في الآخرة، واستظهروا على سرعة الأجل بالمبادرة إلى الأعمال، وسكنوا الدنيا وقلوبهم مسافرة عنها، واستوطنوا الآخرة قبل انتقالهم إليها، واهتموا بالله وطاعته على قدر حاجتهم إليه، وتزودوا للآخرة على قدر مقامهم فيها،

The first group shrouded themselves from their desires and opposed them, consulted their intellect and heeded its advice, emptied their hearts for contemplation of their purpose, dedicated their limbs to executing His commands, used their time to build what furnishes their abodes in the Hereafter, hastened to good deeds anticipating the swift passing of life, inhabited the world with their bodies while their hearts journeyed beyond it, settled the Hereafter before their departure, concerned themselves with Allah and His obedience in accordance to how much as they needed Him, and prepared for the Hereafter in accordance to how long they would dwell in it.

فعجَّل لهم سبحانه من نعيم الجنة وروحها أن آنسَهم بنفسه، وأقبل بقلوبهم إليه، وجمعها على محبته، وشوَّقهم إلى لقائه، ونعَّمهم بقربه، وفرَّغ قلوبهم مما ملأ قلوب غيرهم من محبة الدنيا والهم والحزن على فوتها والغمّ من خوف ذهابها،

Therefore, Allah hastened for them some of the delights and spirit of Paradise, comforted them with His presence, turned their hearts towards Him, unified them in His love, filled them with longing to meet Him, blessed them with His proximity, and cleared their hearts of the worldly love, worries, and grief that filled others’ hearts.

فاستلانوا ما استوعرَه المُترَفون، وأَنِسوا بما استوحش منه الجاهلون؛ صَحِبُوا الدنيا بأبدانهم، والملأَ الأعلى بأرواحهم".

They found ease in what the indulgent found harsh, and familiarity in what the ignorant found foreign; they accompanied the world with their bodies, and the highest assembly with their spirits.”