A short poem on gratitude is posted at the Illume Magazine site on my Community Blog.
Author Archive
Gratitude by Jamerican Muslimah
Gratitude – a lovely and personal reflection on what she is grateful for.
More Thoughts on Thankfulness
This is a follow up post to what I wrote last week on the Shared Spiritual Reckoning blog. Again, this is on thankfulness.
A Reflection on Giving Thanks
This is my post on thankfulness/Thanksgiving over on the Shared Spiritual Reckonings blog.
The Complainer’s Challenge
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!
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.
RE: Gratitude Blog Carnival Submissions – An IMPORTANT Note
Please Note: Submissions for the Gratitude Blog Carnival will NOT be accepted if they are not properly submitted.
PLEASE, DO NOT post your submission as a comment on the blog! EMAIL your submission to me at niqaabisister@yahoo.com OR use the handy Submission Form through the Blog Carnival Site by following THIS LINK. SHUKRAN!
A blog carnival is a list of links to blog posts on a variety of other blogs, often around a centralized theme (in this case, Gratitude to Allah). Writers of those blogs submit the LINK to the post they have published on their own blog for inclusion in the carnival. If you do not have a blog or write for a group blog where you can post your submission, you may email me at niqaabisister@yahoo.com with the text of your submission for me to “Host A Post” at http://WriteousSisterSpeaks.wordpress.com. However, if you have a blog or participate in a group blog, it is greatly appreciated if you post your submission there and simply send me the link to it to participate in the carnival.
Gratitude Blog Carnival Accepting Submissions
Bismillahir Rahmaanir Rahiim
Prepare yourself! We will be hosting a Gratitude Blog Carnival in October, inshaAllah. Please join us!
The month of Ramadan is often used as a means of correcting our slackened efforts in this deen. It is a month when extra effort is made towards spiritual goals, with the du’a that we will receive blessings for our good works, and the hope that we will come out of Ramadan ready to incorporate more into our daily spiritual practice the rest of the year.
Many Muslims keep journals throughout Ramadan to track their progress on goals and save for future benefit the feelings, sights, and lessons learned throughout the holy month.
Gratitude is one of the character-improvements that we should see as a fruit of Ramadan. “Depriving” ourselves for the month should make it that much clearer to us how much we take for granted, how much we sometimes normally overeat, overspend, oversocialize, over-talk, etc.
So, this year, the Grateful to Allah blog will host a blog carnival designed to celebrate our gratitude to Allah. This is an opportunity to take the lessons learned, the insights discovered, and the goals intended during Ramadan and express our gratitude for them. It is also an opportunity to share and learn from what each other have experienced throughout the month.
- This carnival is open to ALL Muslims.
- After winding down from Ramadan and the Eid festivities, please look over your journals, blog entries, and memories of the month and write a blog post expressing what you are grateful to Allah for.
- Email the link to your post, along with your name, email address, and the name of your blog to niqaabisister@yahoo.com. Or you can submit through the Muslimas Speak Up! Blog Carnival Submission form (technically this is not an MSU carnival, LOL, but to keep the Blog Carnival site appeased I have to list something anyway, and many of you find it easier to submit through that form, so please feel free.)
- Submission deadline will be Wednesday October 8.
- The carnival will be posted at the Grateful to Allah blog on Saturday October 11, inshaAllah.
- Please feel free to be creative; express yourself in your own way. Artwork and photographs with explanation of how they relate are welcome. Poetry, journal entries, essays, etc. are all fine.
- If you do not have your own blog but would like to participate, email your post and it can be hosted at the blog.
- Older blog posts related to gratitude are also welcome! Do not feel that you must write about Ramadan-related matters, or only what you felt grateful for during Ramadan. Ramadan is just a nice jumping-off point, but we should express this gratitude to Allah all year long.
- No limitations (as long as it’s halal, LOL): Poetry, essays, articles, lists, meandering random thoughts, quotes, photos, whatever: However you would like to express appropriate gratitude to Allah – please share.
PLEASE, DO NOT post your submission as a comment on the blog! EMAIL your submission to me at niqaabisister@yahoo.com OR use the handy Submission Form through the Blog Carnival Site by following THIS LINK. SHUKRAN!
See Also: An IMPORTANT Note
NaksibendiMuslimah
Umm Layth
A'ishah
ammena