Zeal and Enthusiasm Described in the Qur'an: Seeing Blessings and Beauties

The people who get most excited by Allah’s blessings and derive the most pleasure from them are believers. They know that everything has been created by Allah and consider every incident they encounter and everything they see as a blessing from Him. For this reason a particular beauty means more to them than it does to other people.

Another reason why believers feel such intense excitement at blessings is that they notice the details and delicate points that others fail to see. Those who cannot exercise reason properly and who do not profoundly ponder over events will comprehend only their outward appearance. Therefore, the pleasure they derive from them remains limited. Believers, on the other hand, see faithrelated points and Divine purposes in everything they encounter. Thus, they manage to appreciate many details and blessings, which give them more pleasure and excitement.

Another reason why believers see blessings in detail and are more impressed by them is the following: A person who is arrogant against Allah cannot recognize the beauties and marvels He creates because if he acknowledges Allah’s omnipotence, he must acknowledge his own imperfection. Since he finds this unacceptable, he will not see the beauties of creation in their proper perspective. Even if he notices them, he prefers to explain them away and suppress his excitement.

Free from arrogance and conceit, believers never fail to appreciate beautiful things and witness the magnificent creation of Allah, and they express inner feelings and excitement. For example, when they see a rose or a violet of eye-catching color arousing pleasure with all its beauty and attractiveness, they first realize that it is a manifestation of Allah’s attribute "jameel" (beautiful). Beautiful and fascinating creations lead them to reflect upon the vastly superior and eternal beauty of the Creator. This reflection excites them greatly, for they perceive that all these beauties have been created for them and that they are a favor and gift from Allah. They experience excitement knowing that all of them are signs of Allah’s love and mercy toward them. They enjoy thinking that although these beauties may not mean much to many people, they are the fortunate ones, the friends of Allah who derive the most pleasure from His blessings. They are grateful that He gave them the opportunity to see these beauties and had bestowed His favors upon them, and they experience the excitement of giving thanks to Allah.

They are happy that Allah gave them eyes to see such beauties, a clear consciousness to comprehend them and sincere faith to be grateful for them. They feel privileged, as many people do not derive pleasure from beautiful things due to spiritual blindness. But they can see and enjoy these beauties because Allah has chosen them and made them love faith. In addition, their contemplation of the variety of blessings, their perfect creation and the eternal wisdom manifested in them augments their reverence for Allah and the excitement they feel about His artistry. As Allah reminds: "And He gave you from all you asked of Him. And if you should count the favors of Allah, you could not enumerate them. Indeed, mankind is most unjust and ungrateful." Thus, they are in awe of the boundless variety in the blessings of this world. With gratitude to Allah they are elated at the thought that Allah has given all these favors out of His mercy; He gave such an abundance of blessings, whereas He could have given much less. Allah said: "If you are grateful, I will surely increase you [in favor]; but if you deny, indeed, My punishment is severe."

Remembering that Allah will add even more favors to those who are thankful is additionally pleasing.

Knowing that Allah created for them a lifetime abounding with favors and beauties and a destiny that always brings goodness invigorates them. A person of faith is aware of Allah’s protection and mercy toward him every second, and that both are favors from Him. Indeed, Allah grants mercy to whom He wills, and a person leads a pleasant and happy life only because Allah has decreed it. This fact is stressed in many verses such as these: "And your Lord creates what He wills and chooses."

"He brings them out from darkness into the light."

"And Allah guides whom He wills to a straight path." A believer knows that he owes the blessings he enjoys to Allah. Allah’s choosing him, enabling him to live in goodness, keeping him away from evil, and creating him with particular abilities greatly excites him. With zeal he turns toward Him and strives to attain His approval through both his behavior and attitude. As he observes the beauties of this world, he thinks about paradise, how perfect and flawless the beauties in paradise must be, and becomes excited with the hope of attaining them. The spirit of believers is manifested in the Prophet Muhammad’s words, "Truly, in every glorification of Allah is a sadaqah, in every magnification of Him is a sadaqah, every praise of Him is a sadaqah, and in saying, ‘There is no god but Allah’ there is sadaqah." What has been cited above is only a few examples of what excites believers. The scope of this guide is too limited to mention all the details that believers notice. Their horizons are broad, and their power to reflect is strong. The pleasure that disbelievers can never experience is the great favor which faith grants to believers.