The Meaning of ‘If You Are Grateful, I Will Surely Increase You’

Question

Question: In the Holy Qur’an there is the verse: [ar]لَئِن شَكَرْتُمْ لَأَزِيدَنَّكُمْ[/ar] “If you are grateful, I will surely increase you” (Surah Ibrahim, 14:7). Now, when a person experiences a hardship, that too is one of Allah’s favours. If he gives thanks for it, then [it would seem] that it [the hardship] would increase within him. Yet a person does not wish to remain in hardship constantly. What, then, is the meaning of this noble verse in that case?

Answer

The true favour (ni‘ma) is [heavenly] reward and recompense (ajr wa thawab): patience (sabr) in the face of hardship, grief, illness, and difficulty is also a means to it. Gratitude (shukr) for comfort, health, happiness, and well-being is likewise a means to it.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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