Gems from taraweeh Tafseer reflections

"And to Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and the earth, and to Him is [due] worship constantly. Then is it other than Allah that you fear?" "And whatever you have of favor - it is from Allah . Then when adversity touches you, to Him you cry for help." (16:53) Do you have taqwa (God consciousness) of other than Allah, despite having n’ama (blessings) from Him? It’s a strange question in a sense. Someone has given you everything. Everything you have is what He gave you. Then you turn and you are thankful and then you have taqwa (God consciousness) of other than Him? Allah is saying what’s wrong with you? How do you judge? Therefore, this Deen (religion) is founded on two things: Love and Gratitude. Yet gratitude is more important! The first that you say in the Qur’an is Al hamdi lillahi Rab El Alamein. He Subhanahu wa Ta’ala is teaching you gratitude. With love, there is always something in return. The human being is not used to giving love without receiving love. Therefore, if you love people, they always question: Do you really love me? When you love there is always an expectation for love in return, but when you are thankful, there is no expectation for ‘thank you for thanking me’. When you thank, it is passive. There is no self, no nafs (self, psyche, ego or soul). You see the nafs is the whole problem. People live a hundred years and they are still dealing with their nafs. The Nafs isn’t going to go with you until you die. Only the Anbiya alayhum el salam (Prophets), the big Sahaba (companions), and the Awliya (saints) can overcome their nafs, but the nafs is going to kill you. When you love, there is something in the nafs for it. But when there’s gratitude, there’s passiveness. You’re just giving. All the na’ama (blessings) you have is from Allah. Why do you go about thanking others? Why do you go about recognizing others? Why do you go about looking good in front of everyone else other than Him? When you dress to go to some XYZ party, but when you come to masjid of Allah then ‘whatever I have is okay’. When you go to people with high SES (social economic level), you make sure you watch what you say because you want to display your best adab, but how come when we come to house of Allah we don’t display the best adab? You’re in His home and you are His guest. Isn’t He worthy of your best adab in His house? Isn’t He worthy of your best words in His house? Isn’t He worthy of your best behavior in His house? Isn’t He worthy of your heart in His house? Because if you don’t give Him your heart in His house, where else are you going to give it to Him? Allah is reminding you in this Ayah that all the na’ama (blessings) that you have is from Allah. Every single n’ama (blessing) no matter what it is, it is from Him. Recognize that! You cannot reward Him for what He gave you. All He wants you to do is recognize that He gave you that na’ama from your heart. When say “Al hamdi lillah”, it ought to have a different feeling. You are truly in the state of gratitude and thankfulness to Him, at least with your heart. Allah says if you are thankful to Him, He will give you more. He doesn’t need our worship, He doesn’t need our salah (prayer), siyam (fasting), qiyam (night prayer), all that stuff! He doesn’t need all that. Even if a deed is really good and eligible for acceptance, He doesn’t need it. He just wants you to be thankful to Him. Be thankful and don’t turn your Deen into rituals." - Sayyidi Shaykh Dr. Muhammad bin Yahya al-Husayni al-Ninowy