A grateful servant of Allah is the one who does not abuse Allah’s blessings to commit sins and does not stand against His commandments that are meant for the happiness of man.

It is a great sin that people use Allah’s blessings, like the human body, the earth, the air, the food, the clothing, and every material thing in the world, to commit sins and to act against the commandments of Allah, who has blessed us with all these bounties.

A sinner has no tools to commit sins, but Allah’s blessings. Someone who looks at women with lust is actually using the gift of eye for committing a sin.

Someone who is listening to unlawful music is using the gifts of ears to commit a sin.

Lying, falsely accusing someone, mocking a person, starting a fight, cursing, acting unjustly, being cruel, giving a false testimony, etc. is using the gift of tongue to commit a sin.

Anyone who is doing a wrong deed is in fact using one or more of Allah’s gifts for doing that.

What Does It Mean to Be Grateful?

Prophet David asked Allah, “Lord! What should I do to be a grateful servant for you?”?

“Use my blessings in the way I have commanded you,”? said Allah, “That is how you could thank me.”?

Therefore, according to this, committing sins is actually being ungrateful towards Allah.

As the starters, we need to know more about the gifts of Allah. After that, we should believe that everything we have is a blessing of Allah and in order to thank Him for the given blessings, we need to use those blessings in the right way. This will bring us happiness both in this world and in the world after.

We should not use Allah’s blessings in order to satisfy the desires of our whims. We should only use these gifts to make us a happy life in this world and in the world after. Otherwise, we will be severely punished.

We should be careful that these blessings won’t create problems for us. Allah has given us all these bounties to live happily. So, we should learn from the prophets and from Qur’an in what way to use them.

We should feel even more responsible towards the spiritual gifs. They will help us gain perfection and happiness in this world and in the world after.

Being indifferent towards Quran, prophets, Imams, Islamic sages, and mystics is as big a sin as disbelief and ungratefulness.

All the people will be questioned on the Day of Judgment, in regards to the gifts they had in the world.

Prophet Muhammad said, “There are four things people are asked about in the world after: How did you use your life and your body? Where did you get your wealth from? How did you spend it? And the last question is about their love towards me and my household.”? A man asked Prophet Muhammad, “What proves that someone loves you?”? “His love towards this man,”? said he and put his hand on the head of Ali bin Abi-Talib.

In order to be grateful for the gift of life, one should spend it in the way of Allah, and in order to be grateful for the gift of body, one should worship Allah, help the people, earn his livelihood by lawful means, believe in Imams, and obey them.

Imam Ali told his son Mojtaba, “Son! Stay away from committing sins, say your prayers on time, pay Zakat, forgive other’s sins and do not get angry at people, visit your family often and be patient with the ignorant, be persistent in your way, be loyal towards Quran, be nice to your neighbor, propose to people what is acceptable and deny from them what is prohibited, and stay away from every sin.”?

If one lives based on this saying, he really is a grateful servant of Allah.

Different People in regards to Allah’s Gifts

A point to be mentioned is that, there are four types of people in regards to the gifts of Allah, especially the spiritual ones:

1.These people accept neither the material bounties of Allah, nor about the spiritual ones. They are whether lazy and corrupted people who refuse to work, or ignorant and cruel people who do not accept the religion of Allah.

2.These people accept the material or spiritual bounties of Allah, but they are too stingy to use them. They just save them up without using them or helping others out.

3. These people accept the material or spiritual bounties of Allah, but they use them in a wrong way. Like the wealthy courtiers and so.

4. These people accept the material or spiritual bounties of Allah, and they believe that Allah has trusted these gifts with them, so they need to use them in the right way. These are the people whom Quran calls ‘the grateful people’.

According to Imam Sadiq, “In order to be grateful towards Allah, you should be careful not to commit sins with his blessings and not to resist His teachings by the power of His own gifts.”?