DISCOVER THANKSGIVING

DISCOVER THANKSGIVING The Prophet of Islam has said: Man lam yashkur-an-naas, lam yashkur-Allah. One who fails to acknowledge man, he will surely fail to acknowledge God. SHUKR (acknowledgement) is a great virtue. If one lacks this virtue, he will be ungrateful towards man, and consequently, towards God Almighty. But Shukr is not a ready-made thing. We have to apply our intellect to discover it; otherwise, we will fail to be grateful towards both, man and God. Here is an example to illustrate this point. When one enters a room and turns on a switch, suddenly, the room becomes full of light. Certainly, this calls for shukr; but people generally take it for granted, and therefore fail to acknowledge. Shukr (acknowledgement) is a great virtue. If one lacks this virtue, he will be ungrateful towards man and, consequently, towards God Almighty. In ancient times, for several thousand years, there was no electricity. Several Western minds experimented over a long period of time and eventually invented the electric light bulb. Then came Thomas Alva Edison (1847–1931) who invented the first commercially practical incandescent light. For him it was not an easy task. He worked on about 3,000 different versions of the light bulb before he found the one that would work best. He experimented with more than 10,000 different types of materials to find a suitable one. However, it is difficult to find a man or a woman who, as they turn on the switch of the electric light bulb, sincerely acknowledge its inventor. And when they fail to acknowledge man, they also fail to acknowledge God and remain ungrateful for divine blessings.