Expressing gratitude to Allah SWT frees the heart from greed, jealousy and envy. When we are thankful to Allah we remain mindful of Him and His continuous mercy on us. Giving due thanks to Allah earns a person His love and draws one closer to Him. We are constantly focused on the things we don't have, instead of being grateful for the things we do have. All favours in this world are means by which Allah puts mankind to the test. A person of conscience recognizes that all the blessings by which he\she is surrounded with would not exist and that he could never attain unless Allah wills. Showing gratitude to the Almighty Lord is part of our faith (Eman). Allah SWT says, "Surely we have shown him the way, he may be thankful or unthankful" [76:3].

How to express gratitude: Gratitude may be expressed by the heart, the tongue or by the limbs through deeds, words, and gestures. The heart is for loving Him; the tongue is for thanking and praising Him; and the limbs are for obeying His commands. Besides conveying gratitude by words (saying "Al-hamdulillah”) for all the favours He SWT granted us, it is also important to express it in our deeds. True thankfulness towards Allah is to use the blessings He gave us in a manner that will earn His Pleasure. We can thank Allah for bringing us as a Muslim in this world by praying all obligatory prayers. We can thank Him for the money He gave us by giving Zakat and charity. We can thank Him for the food He is given us by feeding others. We can express gratitude for every blessing he gave us by doing what He has commanded us to do and stay away from what He has forbidden us. Prophet PBUH is reported to have stayed up in prayer all night until his feet swelled up. He was asked, "Why do you do this when Allah has already forgiven all your past and future wrong actions?" He PBUH said, "Should I not still be a thankful servant?" [Bukhari].

Rewards for gratitude: Expressing gratitude to Allah is considered an act of worship and earns a person Allah's love and draws one closer to Him. Allah does not need to punish His creatures if they thank Him and believe in Him. He SWT says; “And when your Lord proclaimed, If you are grateful, I will surely increase you (in favor); but if you deny, indeed, My punishment is severe" [14:7]. Allah has commanded us to give thanks to Him for all the blessings bestowed on us and He will reward us for it in this world and the Hereafter. Allah SWT says, “Therefore remember Me, I will remember you, and be grateful to Me and never be ungrateful to Me” [2:152]. - Allah puts no limit on His reward for gratitude when He refers to it saying, "We shall reward those who are thankful" [3:45]. - When Shaytan learned about the rewards and value of gratitude for a believer, he directed his efforts towards distancing people from it. It is mentioned in the Quran, "Then will I approach them from in front of them and from behind them, and from their right and from their left; and You will find that most of them are not grateful" [7:17].

Gratitude for being a Muslim: The fact that Allah has guided us to Islam itself should be a source of continual praise. Through the guidance of Quran and Sunnah, we are told about the right and wrong directing us to the only path leading to salvation in this life and the hereafter. We can express our gratitude for this favor by fully submitting to Allah’s commands. Allah SWT has left the door of repentance open for believers for as long as we are alive. It is never too late to turn to Allah sincerely and repent for our sins, Allah promises us in the Quran that all our previous sins will be forgiven if we are sincere in our repentance. We are given the opportunity to be in direct connection with Allah through prayer we are given opportunity to directly ask Him for whatever our heart desires. Prophet PBUH said, “Salah (prayer) is our direct connection with Allah. When we prostrate and put our forehead at the lowest level possible (the ground), we find comfort, healing, and peace. How could we not be thankful for having such a blessing?

Gratitude for gift of life and health: Life is a gift in a sense that it allows us to erase our evil deeds through repentance. The longer we live the more opportunity we have to earn more rewards, therefore, we should cherish every moment of it. When we get sick, everything ceases to matter, and all we want at that moment is to feel better. Even there is blessings and rewards behind a calamity that falls on a Muslim. No disease, nor sorrow, nor sadness, nor distress befall a Muslim, but Allah expiates some of his\her sins for that suffering. How can we not be thankful to Allah that even calamities in our lives is a source of expiation of our sins?

Gratitude for the pleasures of this life: To attain gratitude, we should not look at those who have been blessed more than us, but those who have been blessed less than us. A person of conscience recognizes that all the blessings by which he\she are surrounded would not exist unless Allah willed. His\her wealth, health, knowledge, intelligence, strength, power, status in the society, … all are blessings granted by Allah. Allah says, “...Allah shows favour to mankind but most of them are not thankful” [10:60]. - Prophet PBUH said, "Allah is pleased with His slave who says: `Al-Hamdulillah (praise be to Allah)' when he takes a morsel of food and drinks a draught of water''.