Ya Shakur, Ya Wahhab, Ya Wadud, Ya Karim

We give thanks
to You,
the Creator of All Gratitude,
for instilling these hearts
with a Way
toward Your Abundance
and Ever-present Grace.
So often,
You give us cause
to be grateful—
for our health,
for loved ones,
precious in our remembrance,
nurtured by Your Sustenance,
for all the beauties
that surround us
in the birds, and trees, and streams,
the graceful hills
and caverns deep with gems
that sparkle with Your Light,
igniting the fire of appreciation
in our souls
for all the blessings
of this life
and the Nearness
to which You draw us
with the magnetism
of Your Love
that renders
all our complaints
helpless
before the Power
of Your Giving,
Ya Wahhab,
Ya Wadud, Ya Karim.
Forever, we sing Your praise,
Ya Shakur,
You Who inundate these hearts
with waves of thankfulness,
turning us
inside out,
to know Your Name
in all its facets
and to sing,
“Glory be to God!”

~ Camille A. Helminski “Love’ville” 2016

Ya Wahhab, O You Who Overcome Us with Your Infinite Giving,
Ya Wadud, O Infinitely Loving One, Ya Karim, O Infinitely Generous One,
Ya Shakur, O Creator of All Thankfulness, Ever-Responsive to Gratitude.

Of all His/Her servants, only such as are endowed with knowledge stand in awe of God:
[for they alone comprehend that,] truly, God is Almighty, Oft-Forgiving.
They who follow God’s revelation and are constant in prayer, and spend on others,
secretly and openly, out of what We provide for them as sustenance—
it is they who may look forward to a bargain that can never fail,
since He/She will grant them their just rewards, and give them yet even more out of His/Her Bounty:
for, truly, He/She is Oft-Forgiving, Ever-Responsive to Gratitude.
[35:28-30]

All praise is due to God, who has caused all sorrow to leave us:
for, truly, our Sustainer is indeed Oft-Forgiving, Ever-Responsive to Gratitude.
[35:34]

Say [O Prophet]: “No reward do I ask of you for this other than loving those who are near you.”
For if anyone gains [the merit of] a good deed, We shall grant him through it an increase of good:
and, truly, God is Oft-Forgiving, Ever-Responsive to Gratitude.
[42:23]

“Gratitude is a key to Joy.” ~ Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi