Gratitude for Blessings and Its Pillars

Question:
You mentioned in today's lesson that the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) would eat a date and follow it with water and locusts if they found them, and the worldly life did not concern them, and they opened up the conquests. We are today in a great blessing, and they will be asked by Allah the Exalted about it. What is your advice to us regarding giving thanks for these blessings we are in, such as food, drink, clothing, and others?

Answer:
The most important thing for ourselves and for all Muslims is to direct these blessings toward the obedience of Allah the Mighty and Majestic.
Because gratitude has three pillars, and it is not gratitude unless it stands upon three pillars: speaking about these blessings outwardly, acknowledging them inwardly in the heart, and then directing them toward the obedience of Allah the Mighty and Majestic. So whoever directs them toward the disobedience of Allah has disbelieved in this blessing, and whoever conceals them and does not speak about them is a disbeliever of this blessing, and whoever speaks about them while believing in his heart that they are not from Allah, but rather from his own effort, earnings, and his own power and strength, this is not one who gives thanks to Allah properly. So these three things are necessary: speaking about them outwardly, attributing them to Allah, acknowledging in the heart that they are from Allah, not from his own power or strength, and not from the action of so-and-so or so-and-so, directing them toward the obedience of Allah the Mighty and Majestic and seeking help with them in the obedience of Allah, in the obedience of the One who bestowed them and the One who granted them. This is how gratitude is.