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5. Warning of being ungrateful for blessings
Some people think that the Divine talents and blessings in their hands are their own, and they do not think of the real Benefactor or ponder the source of these talents and blessings. They think that they are the actual owners; therefore, they behave with these blessings as they like and as their tendencies, lusts, and wishes lead them.
These people live in adversity and ignorance when they use these Divine blessings in the satanic way, and in the way of impermissible lusts. Worse yet, they use these blessings to mislead their families, children, relatives, and other people.
They use the blessing of their organs to support others in committing sins. They spend the blessing of money and wealth on bad friends and assist them to commit disobedience and sins. They use the blessing of science and knowledge to serve tyrants and their followers. They use the blessing of eloquence to mislead people.
These people change the fine Divine blessings into ugly, satanic deeds. Doing this, they advance step after step towards the eternal torment and the divine wrath, which waits for them and their followers.
“Have you not seen those who have changed Allah's favor for ungratefulness and made their people to alight into the abode of perdition (into hell)? They shall enter into it and an evil place it is to settle in.” Qur’an 14:28-29
6. Infiniteness of blessings
When we notice one of the many Qur’anic verses, we realize this meaning clearly. Allah has granted us blessings that cannot be counted, however people try to number them. Allah says:
“And if all the trees in the earth were pens, and the sea, with seven more seas to help it, (were ink), the words of Allah could not be exhausted. Lo! Allah is Mighty, Wise.” Qur’an 31:27
O man, you should think of the creation of your inners and organs with reason in order to find out this truth; the divine blessings cannot be counted and numbered.
The Holy Qur'an says concerning the creation of man:
“And certainly We created man of an extract of clay. Then We made him a small seed in a firm resting-place. Then We made the seed a clot, then We made the clot a lump of flesh, then We made (in) the lump of flesh bones, then We clothed the bones with flesh, then We caused it to grow into another creation, so blessed be Allah, the best of the creators.” (23:12-14)
Thus, the sperm changes, through many stages, into a complete human being with perfect aspects. So we should think of the secrets of our bodies and organs: the cells the body has, the digestive system, the veins, the blood, the respiratory system, the brain, the nerves, the eyes, the ears, the nose, and all the other organs and parts. Then we might know well that the blessings of Allah, even in this limited material body, cannot be counted or numbered.
The biologists and physiologists say that if you try to count the cells of your body day and night continuously and every second you count one thousand cells, you will take three hundred thousand years to count all the cells of your body.
Scientist and experts tell us that when food digests inside the wonderful laboratory, the stomach, there are chemicals at work more numerous than all the substances that are prepared in all the scientific laboratories. The chemical compounds found in this wonderful laboratory contain more than one million different atoms, and most of these compounds are poisonous and deadly.[1]
Scientists say that the heart is the size of a fist, but it has such great power that it contracts and expands seventy times every minute. In thirty years, it repeats this operation more than one million times. Every minute it pumps blood to all parts of the body via capillaries and veins, and, thus, it washes more than ten million cells![2]
Add to that the atoms of oxygen, hydrogen, azoth, soil, the roots and trunks of the trees, flowers and fruits, and all things in the heavens and the earth which have been created to serve man, and then see if the blessings of Allah can be counted, or not!
If you can look at a handful of earth, you will see that it is not pure, but it is a mixture of many minerals of minute atoms and these minute mineral atoms have become big rocks because of different natural influences. Soil contains many live creatures; a handful of soil may have millions of microscopic creatures called bacteria. Besides the bacteria, there are different kinds of plants and insects in soil. Many of these live creatures penetrate into soil and open pores to let air reach the roots of the plants and trees, which help them grow.[3]
The ability of man to consume food and drink via the mouth, the teeth, the tongue, the glands, the throat, the esophagus, the stomach, the duodenum, the intestines--all the activities of the digestive system--is another story about the blessings that Allah has given to man.
Another very important system is the filtering and circulation of blood through the veins and arteries spread all over the body of man. So is the structure of the heart--the auricles, the ventricles--the content of the blood--the red cells and white cells--the color and liquidity of blood, the temperature of the body, the skin, the ear and its structures, the eye and its parts, and many other things which are wonderful stories and astonishing secrets of the divine blessings.
In addition, if we look at the upper world, light, wind, the ebb of tides, the stars and the planets, we find many many marvelous facts. If we can count every minute three hundred planets and stars in the sky that we can see, it will take us three hundred and sixty years to count them all because man, until now, has discovered, using the greatest telescopes, more than one hundred thousand million stars. The earth is as a small grain in comparison with these stars. It is better to say that counting the stars is impossible for man. The expanse of space, which includes all these stars and planets, is so great and large that moving from one side of it to the other takes about five hundred thousand light-years.
The sun and its solar system are but a small atom hanging in the great sky. It moves four hundred kilometers a second. Turning around its axis takes nearly two hundred million years.
The system of the sky, the upper world, their influences on the surface and the center of the earth and their influences on the lives of the earthy creatures, especially man, cannot be perceived easily. Each drop of water that we drink contains thousands of useful creatures. In every cubic millimeter of blood, there are seven thousand and five hundred white cells and five million red cells.[4]
Here we understand the greatness of the Holy Qur'an, the Book revealed many centuries ago to the luminous heart of Prophet Muhammad (s), which reveals facts as they are. Among these facts is that the blessings of Allah can never be counted.
“And if you would count Allah's favors, you will not be able to number them; most surely Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.” Qur’an 16:18
7. Those grateful for blessings
The people, who know Allah , the world, man and the Day of Resurrection after pondering on the creation and by seeing the facts in the world of reality, hearing the truth from the tongues of creatures and existing things, trying to purify the inner self and the soul, acquiring divine morals, following the way of worship and servitude (to Allah), doing good and being kind to people, are really grateful for the blessings and gifts of Allah. Yes! These people exploit all the apparent and hidden blessings in the right way and gain the happiness of this life and the afterlife. So do all those who follow their way. The leaders of the Caravan of the Human Beings in this Divine Way are the Prophets (s) and the Infallible Imams (s). Therefore, we find the believers, every day after offering the daily prayers, asking Allah to keep them on the right path in which those great people have walked.
“Keep us on the right path; the path of those upon whom Thou hast bestowed favors, not (the path) of those upon whom Thy wrath is brought down, nor of those who go astray.” Qur’an 1:6-7
The Prophets (s) and the Infallible Imams (s) have used all the moral and material blessings in the right way, and, hence, they become so close to Allah and have positions in the afterlife higher than the minds of human beings can perceive. Allah talks in the Holy Qur'an about the reward of those who obey Allah and His Messenger (s) in all the affairs of this life, and that they will be standing in the afterlife beside those whom Allah has bestowed favors on.
“And whoever obeys Allah and the Messenger, these are with those upon whom Allah has bestowed favors from among the prophets and the truthful and the martyrs and the good, and a goodly company are they!” Qur’an 4:69
