GratitudeFrom the masjid's own video, Dec 3, 2025.
Blessings are gifts, not entitlements
“What we have to build inside of ourselves is a sense of indebtedness.”
In one sentence
Gratitude grows when we stop treating blessings as owed, recognize our debt to Allah, and repay it through worship and service to family and community.
The khutbah in 5 steps
- Defines entitlement through family examples and argues that blessings should be received as gifts rather than obligations.
- Uses Musa helping others and Ibn Khaldun’s account of generational wealth to illustrate gratitude and indebtedness.
- Introduces the hadith that every bodily joint requires daily charity and reframes ordinary good deeds as repayment to Allah.
- Applies this idea to family service, dhikr, smiling, helping others, removing litter, and other small acts of sadaqa.
- Concludes with Abu Bakr’s service to a blind elderly woman and prayers for Muslims facing hardship in Gaza, Sudan, and elsewhere.
Try this week
Thank parents, spouses, children, and others instead of treating their efforts as owed.
Ask a parent at home, “Is there anything you need me to do?”
Use dhikr such as subhanallah, alhamdulillah, allahu akbar, and la ilaha illallah as repayment to Allah.
Smile at others and help people do good or avoid sin.
Offer directions, pick up litter, share resources, and look for small opportunities to serve family and community.
Quotes
In the khateeb's words
“everything that anyone does to us as a blessing not something that we're owed”
“what we have to build inside of ourselves is a sense of indebtedness”
“every time you smile in the face of your brother every time you help a brother do good sadaqa”
Talk about it at home
For the dinner table
The khutbah teaches that many things we treat as normal are actually blessings from Allah. Instead of assuming that family members owe us their work, care, or sacrifice, we should thank them and recognize what they give. The speaker describes this as having a debt to Allah that we repay through prayer, remembrance, kindness, and service. Even small acts such as smiling, helping someone, or picking up litter can become sadaqa. Abu Bakr’s quiet service to a blind elderly woman shows how gratitude can shape a whole life.
- What is one blessing we sometimes treat as something we are owed?
- What small act of service could you do for someone in our family this week?
- How can children learn gratitude by watching adults?
Keep listening
More on Gratitude
ICI · Irving, TX · Oct 24, 2026Thank Allah in ease and hardship“Even in moments of difficulty, when it feels like there's nothing going your way, there is always something to be grateful for.”
Either we're receiving a blessing, which calls for shukr, or we're going through a hardship, which calls for sabr.13:29Al-Ittehad · Vista, CA · Sep 19, 2026Gratitude and patience carry believers through life
Real gratitude is not a feeling.16:14London Muslim Mosque · London, ON · Sep 11, 2026Gratitude means using blessings well