Khalifahklothing - The Gift Of Gratitude - Dr. Uthman Lateef

About the talk -In order to be grateful to your Lord for the blessings that He has bestowed upon you, you must acknowledge in your heart that the giver of these blessings and the bestower is Allaah, may He be exalted, so you venerate Him, attribute it to Him, and you acknowledge that with your tongue, so you give thanks to Him after waking from sleep for having given new life, and after eating and drinking for having provided you with them and bestowed them upon you, and so on with every blessing that you see in your life.You give thanks with your physical faculties by not letting them see or hear any sin or evil, such as singing or gossip; you do not walk with your feet to haraam places; you do not use your hands to commit evil, such as haraam writing in a relationship with non-mahram women, or writing haraam contracts, or making or doing anything haraam. Giving thanks with the physical faculties for blessings also includes using them to obey Allaah, by reading Qur'aan and books of knowledge, listening to beneficial and useful things, and so on with all the faculties which you should use in various kinds of obedience and worship.Remember that gratitude for blessings is a blessing which needs to be given thanks for, so that one will continue to enjoy the blessings of his Lord, thanking his Lord for those blessings and praising Him for helping him to be among those who give thanks.Thanks or gratitude means reciprocating kindness and giving praise to the one who has done good and kind things. The one who is most deserving of thanks and praise from people is Allaah, may He be glorified and exalted, because of the great favours and blessings that He has bestowed upon His slaves in both spiritual and worldly terms. Allaah has commanded us to give thanks to Him for those blessings, and not to deny them. He says (interpretation of the meaning):"Therefore remember Me (by praying, glorifying). I will remember you, and be grateful to Me (for My countless Favours on you) and never be ungrateful to Me"[al-Baqarah 2:152]About the Speaker -Uthman Lateef has been the Director of the Hittin Institute since March 2008. He has a BA (First Class Hons) in History, an MA (Distinction) in Crusading Studies with a dissertation on religious poetry in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and is currently completing a PhD in the Muslim literary effort to inspire a yearning for Jerusalem in the twelfth century.He has been involved in many Islamic organisations, international charitable projects where he has been particularly active in raising awareness about the plight of Muslims in poverty-stricken Africa.He has spent time studying and travelling in the Middle East since 2001 and is a khateeb in many mosques as well as a popular speaker in universities and community centres.