Do we deserve what we have?
So today I went to a good friend of mine for dinner. He owns a restaurant close to where I live. I strolled in and asked for his signature dish “the kasadiyyah”. While he was preparing the food, we started chatting about how each of us were. I asked him about his buisness and he said Alhamdulillah. He started telling me how he is thankful to Allah for everything. He said,”Wallah Allah has Given me more then I deserve,walhamdulillah”. I said, “mashAllah”.
I grabbed the food and proceeded to eat. As I turned a man came and said, “Allah gives us what we deserve beause He is Al-Haqq and He does not give us more then what we deserve….we deserve what we get”. Further he said, “What do you think?”
I responded, ” Let me think about it an articulate an answer inshAllah”. So I went and sat down and could not concentrate much on my dinner and kept on thinking, what is the correct answer to this. Does Allah give us what we deserve? Do we deserve this? If I deserve to get this then why should I thank Allah? By now I was frustrated at my incompetence. Anyhow, Allah gave the answer in His Book and the ayah immediately came to my mind.
وَلَقَدْ آتَيْنَا لُقْمَانَ الْحِكْمَةَ أَنِ اشْكُرْ لِلَّهِ وَمَن يَشْكُرْ فَإِنَّمَا يَشْكُرُ لِنَفْسِهِ وَمَن كَفَرَ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ غَنِيٌّ حَمِيدٌ
And We had certainly given Luqman wisdom [and said], “Be grateful to Allah .” And whoever is grateful is grateful for [the benefit of] himself. And whoever denies [His favor] – then indeed, Allah is Free of need and Praiseworthy.
Consequently, I went up to the brothers and said to them, “Alhamdulillah, I have the answer.”
I said, ” We do not deserve what we have. What Allah has given us is not a consequence of our self but it is because He is Al-Rahman ur Raheem and Al-Kareem. If we deserve this then there cannot be a God to start with because we would be self sufficient and we would not need to thank anyone. Thus, we have been given far more then what we deserve. Wallah u alam”. The brothers smiled and said, ” mashAllah this is the truth walhamdulillah”. I smiled and hugged the brother and said to him, ” JazakAllah khair for making me think and ponder, may Allah Accept!”.
That was the end of a beautiful conversation. I felt really good wallahi. Another reminder that came to my mind,
أَفَلَا يَتَدَبَّرُونَ الْقُرْآنَ أَمْ عَلَى قُلُوبٍ أَقْفَالُهَا
Then do they not reflect upon the Qur’an, or are there locks upon [their] hearts?
May Allah Guide us and Help us to understand the Truth and May He Gather us under His Shade on the Day of Judgment!
Musafirfidunya-A traveller's perspective 
true.. and we should constantly be thankful, this life is a mere test and everything in it belongs to Allah, he gives to who he wants and takes from who he wants
nice post, May Allah reward you
Amin….jazakillah khair
Jazakum Allahu khayran. MashaAllah that’s a great answer; Ar Rahmaan is the One who is always and continuously Merciful, which is why men cannot take this name because humans are never always Merciful.
Another thing I thought about when I read the question was that if we were given what we deserved, then the kuffar would not even receive a sip of water from Allah azza wa jal for their statements of kufr and shirk (Allah says in one ayah that the mountains almost crumble, and the skies nearly fall apart because they attribute a son to Ar Rahman) and likewise the believers would not be suffering as they are. What we don’t realize is that this is the nature of this dunya: the believer’s suffering is good for them and the non believer’s comforts are bad for them.
SubhanAllah even in the aakhirah, the disbelievers will get their exact retribution but the believers…because our Rabb is Rahmaan and Kareem, they will receive much much more than they deserve, may Allah make us from among them.
Allah knows best.
mashAllah sister Amatullah. A very deep analysis indeed. I never thought about it that way. Indeed the worse among the kuffar were given provision from their Rabb yet they still denied Him and rejected what came to them. SubhanAllah ;(………If Allah is so Merciful to them what about the believers! May Allah reward you with good and guide us all……..Jazakillah khair
masha’Allah, very nice,
thanks for sharing