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As for those who disbelieve, they say, “What did GOD mean by such an allegory?” He misleads many thereby, and guides many thereby. But He never misleads thereby except the wicked.
[24:44] GOD controls the night and day. This should be a lesson for those who possess eyes.
[76:3] We showed him the two paths, then, he is either appreciative, or unappreciative.
We know that the majority of people will always be unappreciative (2:243, 10:60, 22:66) [80:17] Woe to the human being; he is so unappreciative! [100:6] The human being is unappreciative of his Lord.
Since we know that unappreciativeness is tantamount to disbelief, we definitely don’t want to fall into that category. So, let’s all work hard to be more appreciative of God’s gifts and blessings that we may stay on the right path.
But in reading Quran I also found verses that say God is Appreciative.
[35:34] They will say, “Praise GOD for removing all our worries. Our Lord is Forgiving, Appreciative.
[4:147] What will GOD gain from punishing you, if you became appreciative and believed? GOD is Appreciative, Omniscient.
What does that mean? Is God appreciating His own creations—His sunset, His mountains, His stars? Maybe. But I think it’s more than that.
[17:19] As for those who choose the Hereafter as their priority, and work righteousness, while believing, their efforts will be appreciated.
God is appreciative of the striving of the believers. He is so Merciful that He knows it’s difficult for us to overcome our natural stinginess, our impatience, our egos. So, when we do good works, He is appreciative of that.
[64:17] If you lend GOD a loan of righteousness, He will multiply the reward for you manifold, and forgive you. GOD is Appreciative, Clement.
[42:23] This is the good news from GOD to His servants who believe and lead a righteous life. Say, “I do not ask you for any wage. I do ask each of you to take care of your own relatives.” Anyone who does a righteous work, we multiply his reward for it. GOD is Forgiver, Appreciative.
And what that really said to me is that we need to be appreciative of each other. We need to acknowledge a good work by someone else. We need to be kind to one another, helpful, encouraging. If God, who is all-powerful and so high above us, can be appreciative of the little accomplishments we do (and we don’t do anything without God’s help and support)…if He can be so Gracious as to appreciate us, then we certainly need to do more to appreciate one another.
May God help me to be kind to others and to acknowledge their kindnesses towards me. May God make me more appreciative of everything around me, including friends and family and even strangers. There are so many ways to show our appreciation of God’s gifts by appreciating one another. A smile and hello to a person passing on the street is showing appreciation. Letting the car pull in front of you, instead of being angry at the delay, is appreciation. None of us knows how much longer we have on this earth to do the righteous works that will gain us Paradise, so we need to strive every day to be more appreciative of God and His blessings.
[3:145] No one dies except by GOD’s leave, at a predetermined time. Whoever seeks the vanities of this world, we give him therefrom, and whoever seeks the rewards of the Hereafter, we bless him therein. We reward those who are appreciative.
[2:152] You shall remember Me, that I may remember you, and be thankful to Me; do not be unappreciative.
[14:7] Your Lord has decreed: “The more you thank Me, the more I give you.” But if you turn unappreciative, then My retribution is severe.
[4:36] You shall worship GOD alone—do not associate anything with Him. You shall regard the parents, the relatives, the orphans, the poor, the related neighbor, the unrelated neighbor, the close associate, the traveling alien, and your servants. GOD does not like the arrogant showoffs.
One beautiful thing about worshiping God alone is that it can be done in many different ways. We all get to maintain a certain individuality so we are not like a group of robots that do the same thing. Some ways of worshiping God alone can be through meditation, reflection on creation, using kind words to others, giving to charity, leading Quran study, doing sermons, there are many, many, many different ways to worship God alone. I started with chapter 4 verse 36 because it confirms this point. The verse begins with a direct commandment, you shall worship God alone—do not associate anything with Him, then shows nine different avenues to achieve that goal (obeying God and regarding our parents, relatives, orphans, poor, related neighbor, unrelated neighbor, close associate, traveling alien, and servants), then closes by reminding us not to be showoffs.
Worshiping God alone is the same message that all the messengers brought to all mankind. This message is complete and good for any universe and all time. It is the common theme for Submitters all around the World. Worship God alone is the purpose of our lives, our ultimate goal, and should be the focus, no matter what the topic of discussion is. But we are humans and imperfect, so sometimes we forget our purpose and goal, and fall off the path of worshiping God alone.
The devil is one sneaky ardent enemy of mine. He is constantly trying to keep me distracted from worshiping God.
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