Narrated Ibn Abbas (Radi Allahu anhu): The Prophet (SallAllahu alaihi wasallam) said, “You will be gathered (on the Day of Resurrection) and some people will be driven (by the angels) to the left side (and taken to Hell) whereupon I will say as the pious slave [Isa (Jesus)] said:
“Never did I say to them aught except what You (Allah) did command me to say: ‘Worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord.’ And I was a witness over them while I dwelt amongst them, but when You took me up, You were the Watcher over them; and You are a Witness to all things.” “If You punish them, they are Your slaves, and if You forgive them, verily You, only You, are the All-Mighty, the All-Wise.” [Surat Al-Maeda (Table Spread) Ayat – 117:118]
Sahih Al-Bukhari 6:4626
The Blessings of Gratitude and Shukr
Gratitude (shukr) is about expressing thanks and appreciation to those who do any favor to us. Obviously, none can come close to our creator, Allah, who gave us everything. As the Quran states: “Who created you, fashioned you perfectly, and gave you due proportion” [Infitar 82:7]. As humans, Allah has bestowed on us the nature to be grateful, and we should thus express that gratitude not just to Allah but to the people with whom we deal as well. In many places in the Quran, Allah divides people as being grateful and as ungrateful to motivate us to join the camp of those who are grateful. In one of such verses, Prophet Sulaiman said, as stated in the Quran, “. . . then when (Sulaiman (Solomon)) saw it placed before him, he said: ‘This is by the Grace of my Lord to test me whether I am grateful or ungrateful! And whoever is grateful, truly, his gratitude is for (the good of) his own self, and whoever is ungrateful, (he is ungrateful only for the loss of his own self). Certainly! My Lord is Rich (Free of all wants), Bountiful” [An-Naml: 40]