Gratefulness in the State of Ungratefulness

The Quran tells the story of Adam and Iblis in detail. It explains how Iblis was deprived of God’s blessings because of his refusal to bow to Adam. At that time Iblis said to God: “Because you have put me in the wrong, I will lie in ambush for them on Your straight path: then I will surely come upon them from before them and from behind them and from their right and from their left, and then You will find most of them ungrateful.” (7:16-17)

In this verse, his being put in the wrong implies his being put to the test. What Iblis wanted to say was that under normal conditions, he was able to follow divine commands but the command of bowing to Adam was too hard a test for him to pass and, as a result he was distanced from God’s mercy. Then he expressed his intention of doing the same to all human beings until the majority failed in the test and took to the path of ungratefulness.

We learn from the Quran that Iblis has no power over man (15:42). Then the question arises as to how he will make man ungrateful.

Actually, there are always reasons for being ungrateful in the life of this world. To lead a life of gratefulness it is necessary to learn the art of being grateful, even where there are reasons for ungratefulness.

This is the point where Iblis finds an opportunity to mislead man into becoming an ungrateful servant of God. As a result, he fails to turn ingratitude into gratitude. Every incident of ungratefulness is made a pretext for becoming ungrateful, and finally a person is forever deprived of whatever blessings gratefulness would bring him.