The Fitnah of Ungratefulness

THE APPEARANCE OF DAJJAL path of gratefulness to God. That is why this evil of the present age has been termed dajjaliat in the hadith. What is gratefulness? Gratefulness is, in essence, another name for the acknowledgement of God’s blessings. This grateful behaviour has been desired of man at all times. To show gratefulness for some blessing received from a benefactor is a natural human feeling. However, acknowledgement always requires a point of reference; for instance, when you eat anything, your food is a point of reference for acknowledgement. Then you call out, “O God, I am grateful to You for giving me food to eat.” However, anyone who has made a scientific study of the whole spectrum of the health-giving qualities of the different foods will be doubly appreciative of any given food item. His feeling of gratefulness will be far more significant in intensity than that of one who has no specialized knowledge of food so that when he utters these words: O God, I am thankful to You for having given me this food; he will do so in superlative terms. Where the layman will only be able to savour the taste of the food, the food specialist will appreciate it on a superior level, based upon his extensive knowledge of dietetics. If the acknowledgement of the former is a simple one, the acknowledgement of the latter will be on a Himalayan scale.