Appreciation of Almighty’s favours is the basis of Islam. Without this foundation there is no question of the superstructure. So it is that the very first chapter of the Quran (the Faatiha or the opening) starts by expressing gratitude to God. A Muslim is supposed to recite this short chapter at least seventeen times every day as an integral part of his mandatory prayers. In another place, the Quran explicitly states that God’s favours will only increase if one is appreciative of the blessings he already enjoys. As per the Quran, the opposite of being thankful for God’s mercies is kufr, which is the word the book employs for rejecting (or not acknowledging) the truth.
The Quran makes it clear that while we cannot wrap our heads around the nature or essence of God or how He acts, we can have an idea about some of His qualities or attributes, albeit strictly from our point of view and within the constraints of our limited understanding. The Quran mentions many of these attributes. Two of them, which occur frequently in the text proper, are also part of the Bismillah verse, which is included at the start of every chapter of the Quran barring one. These attributes are Ar-Rahman and Ar-Raheem. (The Faatiha, for example, despite consisting of only a handful of verses, starts with Bismillah and includes a verse mentioning both the attributes.)
Both Ar-Rahman and Ar-Raheem are derived from the same root which means mercy or beneficence, with the definite article ‘Al’ (which becomes ‘Ar’ here) meaning ‘The’ – anybody can be Rahman or Raheem but only God is Ar-Rahman and Ar-Raheem. Ar-Rahman refers to God’s universal mercy for everybody while Ar-Raheem refers to His mercy for those interested in a special relationship with Him; the former comes with the flavour of the intensity of His beneficence and the latter of its permanence.
Armchair philosophers often take issue with this. They point out (correctly) that there are any number of misfortunes suffered by people, and they argue that it is therefore not correct to say that God is universally Beneficent. The problem with this line of reasoning is that any statement that is true of each member of a group loses its significance altogether. Individual misfortunes, far from invalidating any thesis, help make the case in the first place.
Armchair philosophers often take issue with this. They point out (correctly) that there are any number of misfortunes suffered by people, and they argue that it is therefore not correct to say that God is universally Beneficent. The problem with this line of reasoning is that any statement that is true of each member of a group loses its significance altogether. Individual misfortunes, far from invalidating any thesis, help make the case in the first place. In other words, exceptions prove the rule. Take blindness, for example. Eyesight is a blessing precisely because it is possible, and indeed it happens to be the case, that some do not have it. As a wise man once remarked, God took away the eyesight of some so that those with eyes do not remain blind to Him. This is not to trivialize the hardship of somebody suffering from such a grave tribulation; but in yet another manifestation of God being Ar-Raheem, those who persevere under such trials are promised recompense in the next life. According to the Quran, it is a consequence of God’s mercy that He will bring all souls to the Day of Resurrection. As for the here and now, the very fact of feeling a sense of injustice when encountering a blind man means one takes God’s universal mercy for granted (even if one is not conscious of it) and is therefore shocked to find an exception.
On a related note, there is a popular narrative that seeks to explain God away. It goes something like this: God is a figment of man’s imagination. The primitive man did not understand the science behind thunder, lightning, floods, fire, hurricanes, earthquakes, and the like. This lack of understanding caused him to be afraid of all these things. It was this fear that resulted in his inventing the concept of a deity (or deities) who, he hoped, would protect him from the threat of these phenomena. Leaving the larger debate of ‘God creating man’ vs ‘Man inventing God’ for another day, let us examine the above argument on its own merits. If one is afraid of losing one’s life, family, health, or peace of mind, then it is obvious that he not only is blessed with all these things to start with but also appreciates their value and wants them to continue. That he fears for something to be taken away from him means that there is already something for him to be thankful for. Therefore, the ‘fear’ argument breaks down as soon as it is subjected to a little scrutiny. This is because gratefulness always precedes fear; there is no possibility of fear without being blessed first.
