Ingratitude

You know

when humans are babies they really don't know how to think about anything that isn't themselves.

They kind of know that if they cry when they are hungry or uncomfortable

there's a good chance that they will be fed or given comfort,

but it takes a long time for them to understand

what it means for someone to feel the need to give them food and comfort.

Babies don't care if their crying wakes their parents in the middle of the night.

Babies don't understand how hard it can be for those who care for them,

trying to find ways to clothe them and shelter them from harsh weather.

Babies don't care if their parents go without food in order to feed them.

That is the way that babies come into the world.

Then as they grow they learn that their needs are provided for by other people,

and they grow to love and care for them in return,

and they understand that although they don't have to pay for what they need,

they still owe thanks to the one who gives to them.

They feel that the giver deserves gratitude.

But there are those who grow up never understanding the need to be thankful,

thinking that they should always just be given what they need

and refusing to admit that they owe anybody anything.

Like babies, they only think of their own needs

and have no concern for those who care for them,

not even enough to say 'Thankyou'.

People can think that the good things they get are owed to them,

that they earn them just by being who they are.

But a baby has to learn that the effort involved in crying

is not them looking after themselves,

but is just asking someone else to give them what they want.

Then, for their journey through life,

they need to understand that their own efforts are not in the end what provides for them.

God is the Provider,

Al-Razzaq,

and so we should be thankful, not ungrateful.

But if people can grow to be adults without understanding that they owe thanks to other people,

how much easier it is to think that what they have comes from their own efforts

and not from a God they cannot see.

In the Arabic language, the word that means

being ungrateful

has the same letters as the word that means

choosing not to believe,

K F R,

to cover.

To cover, to hide something, to pretend it isn't there.

Not believing is choosing to pretend God isn't there,

while for those who choose to believe, God stays invisible but uncovered

and can be known,

and deserves only thanks.

As God is our Creator, what can we possibly offer other than grateful thanks,

this is Hamd.

And Hamd does not change God in any way.

Hamd is for the good of those who feel it,

gratitude, loving thanks.

So when people think they have nothing to give thanks for,

this is not good for the way that they feel,

or those around them.

With God covered, the view looks down from the top of a hill

from which thanks all rise towards the one looking down from the summit.

This is Ingratitude,

the seed of not believing,

feeling no need to say Thank-you.