Via Umm Travis at Tea Break Thoughts, please check out The Complainer’s Challenge. What an excellent way to get in touch with our gratitude, mashaAllah!
Archive for October, 2008
Gratitude Blog Carnival – 1st Edition
Bismillahir Rahmaanir Rahiim
Asalaamu alaikum and welcome!
The Grateful to Allah blog is a group blog dedicated to expressing our gratitude to Allah for His many favors upon us. We are proud to present this carnival, a round up of posts from other blogs on the topic of gratitude.
Umm Layth at The Muslimah presents A Blessed Home
Darvish gives us Answered Prayers and Generosity of Spirit
Tim of Folio shares The Need to Express Gratitude and God’s Generosity
A brother Aiman asked me to host his entry, Except With the Favor of Islam
Bint-eh Adam of Tranquil Art discusses “what really counts” in Farewell: End of the Nokia 6230 Era and shares Bracelets and Things
Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore has offered us a poem hosted here at the Grateful to Allah blog: Gratitude
Tiel Aisha Ansari of Knocking From Inside gives us one of her exquisite poems, Nearer Thee
Nourah of Chronicles of Super Hijabi shares short fiction (YAY!) in Zakiyyah’s Second Chance
Saha of Yemen Journey… And Beyond! gives us Grateful to Allah – Beauty, Contemplation…Action
Hammad Din of Din Seeking the Deen shares On Gratitude
Aaminah Hernandez shares a poem, written for the carnival, AlhamdulALLAH
We at the Grateful to Allah blog would like to encourage random and frequent expressions of gratitude to our Creator and Sustainer. If you would ever like to contribute to this blog, or you have written something about gratitude on your own blog and would like us to link to it, please email the administrator at niqaabisister@yahoo.com.
Many thanks to those who participated in this carnival and shared such inspiring treats. To those who wanted to participate but were not able, inshaAllah there will be a next time and we look forward to reading your thoughts, inshaAllah.
Also, thank you to all readers. We hope this carnival touches your heart and encourages you to be grateful, and we hope the same for ourselves. 
Gratitude by Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore
GRATITUDE
He threw an arm up in the air
in gratitude
He kicked a leg out in the air
in gratitude
He moved his whole body through the air
in gratitude
He took a big gulp of rosy air
in gratitude
And his eyes shone and his voice cracked
in gratitude
And in gratitude things to be grateful for
came to him
And with gratitude dark things left him
and light things took their place
And beatitude came over him in its
luminous circles he walked through
And he moved in space with a
wider latitude
And the whole world in its various spheres
showed him gratitude
And matter mattered less as matter and
more as gratitude
A serene demeanor became his
general attitude
He opened his hands wide in the air
in gratitude
In his breast his heartbeats kept time
to the meter of gratitude
And he never took a chance with anything other
than gratitude
It carried him past the end of his
days in the same Paradise he was always in
And this is Reality
not some platitude
_______________
(from Underwater Galaxies)
To read more of this amazing poet, you can check out his blog and be sure to also check out the group blog, The Court of Lions, that brother Daniel and several other of my (Aaminah) personal favorite poets contribute to.
Real Friends
Bismillahir Rahmaanir Rahiim
I am so grateful for real, true friends.
For the one who tells you what you really need to hear, even when you don’t want to hear it.
For the one who pulls you out of despair and negative thinking by calling you to remembrance of Allah.
For the one who holds up the mirror, and then holds your hand when you are crying at the image of yourself.
For the one who can tell you, with all sincerity, that they love you for the pleasure of Allah, within minutes of you making a total jerk of yourself.
For the one who would defend you against anyone else.
For the one who is always there when you just need to not be alone.
For the one with tried-and-true advice who shares it without making you feel stupid for not having thought of it yourself.
For the one who puts a smile on your face as soon as you see their name pop up in your inbox or chat box or Facebook comments or caller ID.
Do you have a friend like that? Do you have more than one friend like that?
Say a du’a to Allah to thank Him for giving you such friends.
Then tell your friends how much you appreciate them.
And try to be the same kind of friend back, inshaAllah.
NaksibendiMuslimah
Umm Layth
A'ishah
ammena