“My friend said to me that you pray and I will wait,” Mr. Imtiaz was telling me one of his incidents. This incident was an expression of the supreme human quality of kindness and acknowledgment that we people often experience in our daily lives. He had to go somewhere a day ago. A friend of his who was going in the same direction, offered to accompany him. So Mr. Imtiaz’s friend took him to his destination. While returning, it was time for afternoon prayers and Mr. Imtiaz expressed his intention to pray. But his friend, not minding the delay, delivered the sentence which was stated at the beginning. Listen to the story after that in his own words.
“I started praying. At the same time, I thought that this person had shown me great kindness. My heart was filled with feelings of gratitude for him. But the next moment I realized that I was grateful for a favor that, if not done, would not have mattered much to me. But the One before whom I now stand, my whole life is weighed down by the weight of his greatest favors. My body, my soul, my house, wife, children, property, my every moment, every aspect of my life, every corner of my existence is under the grace of this Lord. If even one of His blessings is taken away, I will be ruined and life will become a story of sorrow and pain.”
I prostrated yearningly. I said “My Lord! You have many favors on me. But instead of being grateful, I keep crying over minor deprivations and temporary problems. My Lord, I have underestimated your great bounties and magnified your small trials. You have given me thousands of blessings in life, but I have been ungrateful for one or two things that I have not received, forgetting the countless others and thousands that I have received. Forgive this great sin of mine.”
I said to Mr. Imtiaz:
“You did not stay for prayer yesterday, but you stayed in one of the gardens of Paradise.” You did not prostrate in prayer yesterday, you were filled with divine sustenance. Your prayer yesterday was no ordinary prayer. It was a meeting with Allah SWT. You seemingly bowed to the ground with gratification but in fact this prostration has been done at the feet of God. Congratulations on this meeting. Enjoy this prostration as it is given to those who are lucky. Especially in today’s era when everyone gets all the blessings and remains ungrateful all his life if he doesn’t get one or two things.”