Gratitude in Grief

by Bint Shehu

*Online eLearning Course of Taleem Al Quran English 2023 to 2024*

A brief account on my journey with the phrase: alhamdulillah.

 ‎ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ ٱلْعَٰلَمِينَ 

https://quran.com/1:2

The news of my grandfather’s death was broken to me by his daughter: my mother. My go-to response was… alhamdulillah! It certainly took me by surprise, as it did her. She then made a comment I cannot recall.
Alhamdulillah for not recalling it 😊

Praise for Allah is almost foreign to us at the onset of grief. We say it during condolences because it is the expected reply. However, it was praise that came from deep within me.
Alhamdulillah for that.

My relief, which lead to the heartfelt praise for my Rabb was due to the nature of his illness. My grandfather, may Allah forgive him, had a condition that prevented him from lying down, as doing so lead to loss of breathing. Thus he had to be seated at all times. Imagine that. SubhanAllah! I still picture how I saw him last, sitting on a mat outside his room and hunched over a bit.
Alhamdulillah for the blessings that are in health and in illnesses.

Though we visited a lot and spent time with him growing up, I never got to converse much with him because he was deaf, and I, unfortunately, did not get to learn sign language. A family member usually translated between us, and it always felt inadequate to me.
He wasn’t born that way, but came upon it much later in life.
I look forward to long conversations with him in Jannah.
Alhamdulillah for blessings we don’t even stop to acknowledge. Astaghfirullah!

One thing, though – the feeling of always being welcomed with real warmth and love lives on in me.
Alhamdulillah for family, and the ability to maintain ties of kinship.

With hindsight and reflection, I now understand my praise at that moment came from relief for him that his illness is finally over. That now he gets respite from our Rabb, the Most Merciful, Who never breaks His promise and has assured us that after hardship (and within hardship) comes relief.
Alhamdulillah for the gift of eeman.

Fast forward to last year, when my father died. My go-to response was the classic and established “inna lillahi wa inna illayhi raji’oon” followed by “Allahumma ‘jurni fi museebati wa akhlifli khayran minha”, then loads of dua. I made the statement, and supplicated with full consciousness of the meaning of what I was saying. It gave me hope.
After that, there was Hamd – sincere and deep praise. I believe Allah prepared me for that by guiding me to the book, ‘Don’t Be Sad’ by Dr A’id Al Qarni.
Alhamdulillah for beneficial and practical knowledge.

I praised Allah and still do for my father’s demise, for his long illness, for family, for calm within the trial and for having good expectations from Him for my father. With a heavy heart, I still found reasons to smile sincere smiles through the period of grief. I miss my father, may Allah forgive him.
Alhamdulillah for being alive to benefit him the best way I can.

He was a good father to us and did his best by us. He listened and engaged. He was not just my father but a friend I could come to and discuss things with earnestly. Yes, he had his moments, but don’t we all? Long story short, I love my father! And he loved me too. May Allah love and be pleased with him, ameen.
Alhamdulillah for the gift of good parents.

Jumping to the present, I have been shaken to the core by a personal trial, and I still see reasons to say alhamdulillah! That, however, is a story for another day in shaa Allah.

This life is filled with tests, those we can comprehend and those we will never. The goal is to become better because of them, to earn the pleasure of Allah through them and be handsomely rewarded by Him for bearing those tests with beautiful patience.
If that is not reason enough to say alhamdulillah, I don’t know what is.

We are people of alhamdulillah!
We can live it with understanding of what the phrase truly means.
We should be grateful for having it to begin with.

“Alhamdulillah” for me is the silver lining I see in every cloud that comes my way, believing that nothing comes my way which is not good for me, even if I don’t see it initially.
Positivity is a choice, and with “alhamdulillah”, it becomes an easy choice.

Alhamdulillah!!! ❤️

Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Aalameen.