 We begin by praising Allah, as He is most worthy and deserving of all praise. We ask Allah and we ask Allah alone to guide us, to prevent us from being misguided and from misguiding others. And we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to forgive us of our sins, our weaknesses, our glenishes, our sins, those that we commit knowingly and those that we commit unknowingly, consciously and unconsciously. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to bless his noble prophet Muhammad ibn Abdullah, Sallallahu alayhi wa alayhi wa sahbihi wa saddam, to bless his noble companions, the righteous and his family, his companions and the righteous everywhere. We find ourselves brothers and sisters at the cusp or at the moment where many in our, in the society at large, in America, certainly, that celebrate Thanksgiving, the giving of thanks. And I'm not here to give a position on whether or not Muslims should or should not celebrate Thanksgiving. Whether I want to allow this as an opportunity for us to reflect upon our own Thanksgiving and the idea of giving shukr or gratitude and thanks to what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has given us. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala reminds us in the Quran, that be grateful to me and I will remember you, show gratitude or be grateful to me and do not show ingratitude. And this is what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is setting as a relationship between ourselves and our remembrance of God, our remembrance of Allah, the dhikr of Allah, and the fact that when we remember God, God remembers us. And then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, God Almighty commands us to show gratitude to him. Wa shkuru li wa atafu. That show gratitude to me and do not be among the ingrates or do not be ungrateful. Now what's interesting to note here is that when we talk about shukr, when we talk about gratitude, the opposite of shukr or the opposite of showing gratitude is ingratitude or kufr, literally kufr. Now what's interesting is often of course when we think of kufr, we think of kufr in the theological sense of being the opposite or diametrically opposed to the notion of iman or belief, that the opposite of belief is kufr. And this is certainly true when we think of it in theological terms. But when we look at the etymology of the term or the root of the term, that the opposite of kufr is not iman in a linguistic sense, but rather shukr in a linguistic sense. Because the word kufr literally means to be ungrateful or ingratitude, to be an ingrate. A kafir then literally means one who is an ingrate or is ungrateful to God. And so linguistically these two are seen as being opposites. The idea of shukr and showing and expressing one's gratitude is the opposite of kufr or showing of ingratitude or being ungrateful to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And we know that time and time again, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala reminds us of His favors, His na'amah upon us or upon human beings. And then says, لعلكم تشكروا so that you may show gratitude. Reminding us of the bounties that we enjoy day in and day out in our lives, in our daily lives. The bounties and the na'amah and the grace that God has bestowed upon us in order that we may be grateful to Him. In order that we may express our gratitude, our thanksgiving to God for the bounties and pleasures and the grace that we enjoy on a daily basis. And if we just pause for a moment even and reflect upon those things that we have in our lives that we should be grateful for. Now it's only human that we tend to focus on the negatives or we tend to focus on those things that we would like to rectify or change. Those things that we don't have, those things that are remiss or those things that are absent in our lives. But if we for a moment think about the things that we do have, the things that we should be expressing gratitude, I can say with certainty that regardless of your own individual conditions, regardless of our own individual capacities, that the good outweighs the bad. I can promise you that regardless of where you are economically, financially, or where you are even with regards to your own health perhaps, if you're dealing with an ailment, or where you are of that promotion you were passed up for at work, regardless of where you find yourself, I can assure you that if you think for a moment about those things that we should express gratitude to God for, gratitude to Allah, Shukr, that those things outweigh those things that we lack or that are remiss in our lives, those things that are absent. And this is a part of taking inventory of what we have. And so if this moment of Thanksgiving, so-called Thanksgiving, is nothing but an opportunity for us to show gratitude, to show a true sense of appreciation and thanks to God for what Allah, for what God has given us in our lives, then I think that that's a win-win situation for all of us. Now, we can, that's certainly a valid consideration and that's certainly one that I want you to leave with today. But the question that I pose, or the question that we have to ask ourselves, is why then is it that we are given to ingratitude? Why is it then that we oftentimes do reflect upon those things that are lacking or remiss or absent in our lives? Why is it that we don't focus regularly and frequently and as a natural expression and disposition of who we are of what Allah SWT has given us and has bestowed upon us? That to me is the more meaningful question. Why is it that we as human beings are then given to ingratitude, to being ungrateful to what Allah SWT has given us? And so I want to then, as an attempt to answer or to respond to this inquiry of why is it that we as human beings tend to be ungrateful? Not so much to focus on it exclusively, but rather to allow ourselves to then take inventory of those things, to rectify those things that prevent us, that prevent us from being grateful to Allah SWT. The first thing that I would submit to you to consider is the idea of utopianism. And what do I mean by that? That's a big word probably to use in this context. But the idea of utopianism is this idea that somehow this dunya, that this world, that our lives in this Hayatid dunya, in this life, that we will somehow achieve human perfection, or that we will somehow achieve a perfect social or economic or political order. This pursuit of a utopia, this pursuit of perfection, and that pursuit is not only an individual one, but also a societal one. That that pursuit for attaining perfection in this world, in this life, I would submit to you, brothers and sisters, that that pursuit for perfection is a fool's errand. That that pursuit for perfection in this life is something that no matter how hard we strive, we will never achieve. We will always fall deficient of perfection. Because the abode of this dunya is predicated upon the fact that this dunya, this world, is an imperfect world. This life that we live day in and day out is an imperfect life. It is the reality of this world. And we can never change that reality. And the reality of the akhira, of life hereafter, is a reality of perfection. That is the life. That is the context. That is the domain, if you will, of perfection. Not this life. This life is by its very nature. This world is by its very nature imperfect. And all that we will achieve in this world is going to be limited in some capacity. Whether it's limited by our own imperfections, our own, those things that prevent us from achieving so-called human perfection, or it's a societal need. But the fact remains that we will never achieve absolute perfection in this life. And so trying to perfect our lives, or trying to perfect our societies, that is to say absolute justice, or absolute mercy, that is by and large a fool's errand, because we will never achieve it. And so utopianism is a false pursuit. And so the best that we can do as human beings is be the best human beings that we can be. And a part of being human is to accept our imperfections, is to accept the fact that we have limitations, that we cannot be perfect beings. If God wanted us to be perfect beings, he would have made us angels, angelic beings who are incapable of sin, incapable of falling short of God's instruction, of God's command. Because that's the angelic realm. That's the domain of the angels. That's the reality of the angelic beings, is that they are perfect beings. They are perfect in submission to God. They are perfect in obedience to God. They are perfect in all that they achieve, because that is their reality. But the reality of the human being is that we are imperfect. We are limited. We are limited as human beings. And so the sooner we accept the fact that we will never have perfection, whether it's an individual goal, or it's a societal goal, the sooner we will allow ourselves to be then grateful for even the limited successes that we achieve. To be grateful for even the limited accomplishments that we are able to achieve. Because we will not achieve perfection in this world. Whether it's an individual pursuit, or it's a societal pursuit, a collective one. As a community, we will always struggle. That's the reality of this life. We can't social engineer our ways out, ourselves out of that reality. Because that's the limitation of this world. And that is what the life hereafter is predicated upon. The very nature of the Akhira, is that the Akhira is the domain in which all wrongs are rectified. That perfection and balance, true balance, can be achieved. And so, that's the first obstacle for us to be grateful. Is this pursuit of human perfection. The second reason I would submit why we are often given to ingratitude and being ungrateful to Allah SWT is what the Quran refers to time and time again. And that is the insatiable quest and competition for this life. Al-Hakumut Takafu, right? The accumulation of wealth, the insatiable quest that human beings have to get more. The Prophet SAW said that if the son of Adam, if he had two mountains of gold, he would say, where's my third? That's the nature of our button. That's the nature of our appetites. Is that our appetites are never ever satiated. Our appetites are never satisfied. And so, the more you give in to our appetites, the more we give in to that insatiable appetite that we have, whether it's an appetite for wealth or food or sexual gratification, whatever it may be, the fact of the matter is, is that it is a vessel that can never be filled. It is a vessel that is always hungry for more. That is insatiable. You cannot satiate that appetite. And so, what the nature of this world, and if we examine our own lives and we think about how often we see ourselves in comparison to others, right? The idea of keeping up with the Joneses or the Ahmads or Abdullahs, right? The idea of keeping up with someone else. Well, that person has a better car than I have. Well, that person has a better job. Well, that person has a better 401k, whatever it may be, right? That person, look at their family. Their family is so perfect and their children are obedient and their perfect little Muslims and whatever. However we examine the other when it compares to our own limitations. That is an element of this insatiable quest that we have. To constantly compete. To constantly acquire more. And unfortunately, society is constructed in a way in which it feeds that appetite. It feeds that appetite for wanting to acquire more. That somehow salvation, somehow we will find happiness if we just get more, right? What they call salvation through acquisition or redemption through acquisition. That somehow if I acquire more things, I'll be happy. If I get the latest iPhone, somehow I'll be happy. If I get the latest technology or the gadget or the latest whatever it may be, right? Some article of clothing, whatever it is, that somehow if I just get that object of my desire, somehow I will be happy and I will find satisfaction. But that appetite that we have, the human beings that are again, as I was talking about earlier, are part of the human experience. Those appetites are very real and we will never eliminate those appetites because that's a part of being human. But what we can do is suppress that insatiable appetite. What we can do is we can suppress the need to constantly feed it, to constantly feed whatever it is that our appetite desires. And so that competition, that endless wanting more, that endless wanting to get the latest thing, that that insatiable appetite leads to ingratitude because you're always going to be ungrateful because you don't have what someone else has or you don't have the latest of whatever. And so the more we pursue those appetites to their ends, the more we will constantly find ourselves in this cycle of ingratitude and being ungrateful for that which we do have, for that which we do possess, for that which we have achieved. And so that is something that we have to be mindful of in order to eliminate this tendency that we have, all of us, to be ungrateful or to show ingratitude to what Allah SWT has given us. And finally, brothers and sisters, I want to make an important note or talk also about community standards, community standards. And the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam he understood this very well. As we know, one of the prohibitions for men in our culture, in our tradition is that men are prohibited from wearing gold or silk. Now if you just focus on those two as commodities, why is it that that focus is there of the prohibition of men from wearing gold and silk? And yes, there's some allowances for certain amount of silk and so on and I'm not here to talk about the legal jurisprudence here. But rather, there's a general prohibition. And that is because in a society, especially, and I don't think this is true only for 7th century Arabia, but certainly if we examine that society, but I think it remains true today, that this element of wealth, of wearing of silk or wearing of gold, of wearing of certain garments, it allows us or it allows individuals to elevate themselves based on economic wealth or based on where they are with regards to their financial resources. And the idea of prohibiting that or expressions of that economic status was so that society, so that as a community we wouldn't construct certain moles or certain goals or inachievable goals for others who don't have the financial means or don't have the means to express themselves in that way. And so in a sense it leveled the playing field with regards to how we should express the things, the bounties that Allah SWT has given us. Yes, some of us have the ability to dress a certain way. Yes, some of us have an ability to possess certain material wealth. But that that expression of material wealth should not allow others in our midst to feel disenfranchised, to feel somehow that they don't belong to that community or that they are not worthy of being a part of that community because they can't achieve that certain mold. But this wasn't true just for material things. The Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, he once overheard Aisha, Radi Allahu Anha. And she was talking with another one of her companions. And she was sharing with this companion the virtues of this other person, this other woman and her Ibada, her worship. And she was extolling the virtues of how perfect her prayer was and how, you know, she had so much tranquility and it was the form was right and everything was just perfect in terms of what she had observed of someone else's worship. And the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, he overheard this and he told Aisha, Radi Allahu Anha to stop that, to not get into that. And if we reflect upon what the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam was trying to do, was not only create a community, a social order in which expressions of material assets are less displayed or are less focused upon, but also a community in which people who find themselves at different places with regards to their own relationship with Allah, that they shouldn't somehow feel disenfranchised or unwelcomed in that community if they didn't achieve some sort of a mold or idea of what a perfect Muslim should look like. And so we as a community, brothers and sisters, as a collective, right here in MCC East Bay, our challenge is to create a community in which those, regardless of where they are, with regards to their own pursuit of Ibada or their own relationship with God should feel a sense of welcome and belonging. That just because a person doesn't dress a certain way or doesn't look a certain way or doesn't fit your idea or a certain mold of what a quote-unquote Muslim, perfect Muslim should look like, that that person somehow feels disenfranchised from our community, somehow feels that he or she isn't welcomed in our communities. And so our communal spaces, our communal spaces that we enjoy should be spaces in which all feel a sense of welcome and belonging. That all can be welcomed in the midst of our community and they can grow and they can be nurtured at their own pace and allow their own Ibada to be reinforced, to be reinforced, to be structured and that they can achieve their own relationship with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala at their own pace. That's what we as a community, that's the challenge that we have as a community and as individuals who belong to this community is to not allow any one of us, any one of those who come into the midst of our community to feel unwelcome or feel somehow that they are disenfranchised because they don't meet a certain standard that we have constructed. And we find many, many examples and I don't have the time to get into all of the examples during the time of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam where the Prophet was very conscious of this, of allowing people who were struggling with their faith or struggling with their own relationship with God to feel a sense of belonging, to feel that they could come into the midst of their communities, to come into the midst and the fold of a Muslim community and still feel welcome and still feel that they could grow and allow a standard by which they could grow and they could grow at their own pace. That was the challenge that was of that community and that was the challenge that we have brothers and sisters in our midst that leaves feeling disenfranchised, disempowered or feeling that somehow we aren't good enough to belong to this community. And so these are, I hope, in the brief time that I've had to elucidate some of the things of why human beings or why we as a society are given to this sense of ingratitude time and time again. I pray that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allows us to be Abdul Shakura to be grateful servants of him to be grateful for what the bounty is and the pleasures that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and the favors that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has given us. I pray that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gives us to feel and the ability to be thankful to him for all that he has given us. I want to quote this and we want to thank Allah and we thank Allah Elhamdulilah we thank Allah for his protection and support and we thank Allah for starting He is the only one who does not harm Allah, and who does not harm Him. And I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, alone, and no partner. And I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger. O my children, I believe in Allah. The truth is yours, and you will not die until you are Muslim. O my people, your Lord says, Who created you from one soul, and created you from her husband, and created many men and women from them. And may Allah be pleased with them, and be pleased with them. Indeed, Allah is great upon you. O my children, I believe in Allah. And I say a few words. May Allah protect you, and forgive you, and bring you closer. And whoever comes to Allah and His Messenger, he will have a great victory. Indeed, Allah and his angels will pray to the Prophet. O my children, I pray to him, and I pray to him. Peace be upon you all.