Blessings of God
The present world with all its components is an expression of the blessings of God. For a thinking person, every such experience and every observation remind him of the universal gifts of the blessings of God. This discovery is enough to make him regard God as his Benefactor. He becomes the grateful servant of God. However, this feeling becomes the most intense when a man discovers all these blessings at the level of his being. The first discovery causes man to utter these words, “God, You have given me so much!” However, further discoveries cause him to call out spontaneously, “O God, You are so merciful that You have given me those blessings of which I knew, and besides those, You gave me Your countless blessings about which I had no knowledge and so could not have asked You for them.”
This same reality has been expressed thus in chapter 19 of the Quran: “For when the revelations of the Merciful were recited to them, they fell, prostrating themselves and weeping.” (19:58) At another place in chapter 96, the Quran has this to say: “Prostrate yourself and come closer to God.” (96:19) An actual act of self-prostration is a moment of nearness between God and man. At that moment, a spiritual contact is formed at an invisible level between God and man. This contact experience is so intense that tears fall from the eyes of the servant.
Umar b. Khattab reported that there were brought some prisoners to God’s Messenger amongst whom there was also a woman, who was searching (for someone) and when she found a child amongst the prisoners, she took hold of it, pressed it against her chest and provided it suck. God’s Messenger said: ‘Do you think this woman would ever afford to throw her child in the Fire?’ We said: ‘By God, she would never throw the child in Fire so far as it lies in her power.’ God’s Messenger said: ‘God is more kind to His servants than this woman is to her child.’ (Sahih Muslim, Hadith No. 2754)