The Book of Praising Allah the Exalted and Giving Thanks to Him.

The reader: In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions.
He said, may Allah have mercy on him: "The Book of Praising Allah the Exalted and Giving Thanks to Him. Allah the Exalted said:

So remember Me; I will remember you. And be grateful to Me and do not deny Me.

فاذكروني أذكركم واشكروا لي ولا تكفرون

[Al-Baqarah 2:152]

And He the Exalted said:

If you are grateful, I will surely increase you

لئن شكرتم لأزيدنكم

[Ibrahim 14:7]

And He the Exalted said:

And say, "Praise to Allah

وقل الحمد لله

[Al-Isra 17:111]

And He the Exalted said:

And the last of their call will be, "Praise to Allah, Lord of the worlds!"

وآخر دعواهم أن الحمد لله رب العالمين

[Yunus 10:10]

".

The Shaykh : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
The author al-Nawawi, may Allah have mercy on him, said in his book *Riyad al-Salihin*: "The Chapter on Praising Allah and Giving Thanks to Him". Praising Allah means describing Him with praises and perfections and exalting Him above everything that contradicts or opposes that. So He, Glorified and Exalted is He, is the One worthy of praise; He is praised for His beautiful kindness and for the perfection of His attributes, (Exalted and Majestic is He), along with love and magnification. Allah praised Himself at the beginning of creation, saying: And He praised Himself when He revealed the Book to His servant, saying: And He praised Himself for exalting Himself above a partner or equal, saying: And He, (Exalted and Majestic is He), praised Himself at the end of creation, saying, Glorified and Exalted is He: So He, (Exalted and Majestic is He), is praised at the beginning of creation, the end of creation, and the continuation of creation. He is praised for what He revealed to His servant of laws. He is praised in every state. For this reason, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), when something that pleased him came to him, would say: And when something that contradicted that came to him, he would say: When something that pleased him came to him, he would say: And when something that contradicted that came to him, he would say: And what some people say today, "Praise be to Allah who is not praised for anything other than what is disliked," is an error and a mistake. Because if you say, "Praise be to Allah who is not praised for anything other than what is disliked," it is a title indicating that you are averse to what He has decreed for you. But say as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: This is the correct way and it is the Sunnah that came from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family). Allah praised Himself and commanded His praise, so Allah the Exalted said: So He commanded us to praise Him, (Exalted and Majestic is He), and indeed He made our praise of Him one of the pillars of prayer; the prayer is not valid without it. The beginning of al-Fatihah is: If this verse were removed from al-Fatihah, your prayer would not be valid. So praising Allah the Exalted is obligatory for every person, and so is gratitude. Gratitude for His blessings: how many blessings He has bestowed upon you, such as intellect, soundness of body, wealth, family, and security—blessings that cannot be counted. If it were not for this breath of His, which, if you were distressed, you would lose your life, even though it goes out without you feeling it and without you exerting effort for it. Look at those who are afflicted with shortness of breath; how they strain when inhaling and exhaling. And this breath is continuous and constant, a blessing that is never counted. Intellect, children, wealth, religion—all these are great blessings for which He, (Exalted and Majestic is He), deserves to be thanked. And as for gratitude, the scholars said: "It is the performance of obedience to the Bestower". This gratitude is that you perform obedience to the Bestower, especially in the kind of that blessing. So if Allah bestows wealth upon you, let the effect of this wealth be seen in your clothing, your house, your vehicle, your charities, and your expenses, so that the effect of Allah's blessing upon you with this wealth is seen. In knowledge: if Allah bestows knowledge upon you, let the effect of this knowledge be seen in you by spreading it among people, teaching people, calling to Allah, Mighty and Majestic, and so on. So gratitude is of the kind of the blessing that Allah bestowed upon you, or broader than that. So whoever disobeys Allah has not performed the gratitude for Allah's blessing; he is ungrateful for Allah's blessing, and I seek refuge in Allah. Allah the Exalted said: So the sinner has not performed the gratitude for Allah, Mighty and Majestic, and his gratitude is diminished by the amount of disobedience he committed. Even if a person says with his tongue, "I thank Allah, praise be to Allah," while he is disobeying Allah, he has not been truthful in what he said. Gratitude is the performance of obedience to the Bestower and gratitude to Him. Gratitude has two great benefits: one is acknowledging the right, favor, and kindness of Allah the Exalted, and the other is that it is a cause for an increase in blessing. Whenever you give thanks, the blessings of Allah increase upon you. Allah the Exalted said: If a person gives thanks, Allah increases him, and if he is ungrateful, he exposes himself to the punishment of Allah, and the punishment of Allah the Exalted is severe. And He the Exalted said: Give thanks to Allah for this blessing He bestowed upon you and made easy for you to reach, so it reached you without any power or strength from you. These good things that we eat, if Allah the Exalted had willed, we would not have been able to attain them, either due to difficulty in us or due to the lack of these blessings. Allah the Exalted said: So the important thing is that it is upon us to give thanks for the blessing of Allah, and the gratitude should be of the kind of the blessing. So you expend from knowledge and wealth according to what Allah, Mighty and Majestic, has given you. Health as well: if Allah gives you health and energy, and your brothers need help and assistance, then giving thanks for the blessing of Allah is that you help them. And Allah is the One who grants success.