JUNE 24
No Thanks-giving
In his book, The Cultural Side of Islam, Mohammad Marmaduke Pickthall (1875-1936) writes of an argument which appeared many years ago in the British press on whether, in the case of fire engulfing a room, it would be more important to save a living child or to preserve a rare and beautiful masterpiece of Greek statuary, the assumption being that circumstances made it possible to save only the one or the other. “I still remember many well-known scholars, expressing the view that, given the circumstances, the statue should be saved at the cost of a human life. Their argument was that human children were born daily in tens of thousands, but that no one could reproduce that rare specimen of ancient Greek art.” (pp. 3-4)
This scholarly option is an example of man’s ingratitude for the blessings of the Almighty, the sole reason being that God showers His blessings on man in great abundance at all times. It is this very abundance which causes man to become blind to the uniqueness of God’s bounty. If he is never truly thankful for it, it is because he has become insensible to it.
The debaters on this issue never stopped to consider what an extraordinarily rare miracle is the human child. They did not think how far more precious it was than all the specimens of art produced by man. Their sole consideration was that specimens of great art are extremely rare, whereas children are being born every minute all over the world. While the uniqueness of human art inspired their awe, the commonality of human children left them indifferent.
The greatest form of worship is the expression of human gratitude to God. Man’s words of thanks should pour from within him like the gushing water of a mountain torrent, and should never be diverted by Satan, whose sole desire is to see man go astray. Satan should never be allowed to come in the way of this superior form of worship. Those who want to live in this world as grateful servants of God must be ever on the alert to thwart the nefarious designs of Satan. If they do not see through Satan’s plans in time, they will never truly be God’s most grateful servants.
