A. D. M. Walker, “Gratefulness and Gratitude,” Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, New Series 81 (1980-1981), pp. 39-55, see in particular p. 39. For a general treatment of gratitude in moral philosophy, see Terrance McConnell, Gratitude, Philadelphia, Temple University Press, 1993. On some recent developments in psychology on the study of gratitude as a human emotion, see Robert Emmons and Michael McCullough (eds.), The Psychology of Gratitude, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2004. While the focus in the volume is on the psychology of gratitude, some of the contributors also explore the subject from anthropological, biological and even theological vantage points. Unfortunately, Harpham’s essay on “Gratitude in the History of Ideas” (19-36) entirely skips the Islamic tradition. See also the more popular work by Robert Emmons, a leading figure in the field of gratitude studies, Thanks! How the New Science of Gratitude can make you Happier, New York, Houghton Mifflin Company, 2007.

A. D. M. Walker, “Gratefulness and Gratitude,” Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, New Series 81 (1980-1981), pp. 39-55, see in particular p. 39. For a general treatment of gratitude in moral philosophy, see Terrance McConnell, Gratitude, Philadelphia, Temple University Press, 1993. On some recent developments in psychology on the study of gratitude as a human emotion, see Robert Emmons and Michael McCullough (eds.), The Psychology of Gratitude, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2004. While the focus in the volume is on the psychology of gratitude, some of the contributors also explore the subject from anthropological, biological and even theological vantage points. Unfortunately, Harpham’s essay on “Gratitude in the History of Ideas” (19-36) entirely skips the Islamic tradition. See also the more popular work by Robert Emmons, a leading figure in the field of gratitude studies, Thanks! How the New Science of Gratitude can make you Happier, New York, Houghton Mifflin Company, 2007.)| false
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Ibn al-ʿArabī, Futūḥāt, 2:202.

Ibn al-ʿArabī, Futūḥāt, 2:202.)| false
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Makkī, Qūt 1:414. Shihāb al-Dīn al-Suhrawardī provides a virtually identical definition in the ʿAwārif al-maʿārif, eds. ʿAbd al-Ḥalīm Maḥmūd and Maḥmūd b. al-Sharīf, Cairo, Maktabat al-Īmān, 2005, p. 477.

Makkī, Qūt 1:414. Shihāb al-Dīn al-Suhrawardī provides a virtually identical definition in the ʿAwārif al-maʿārif, eds. ʿAbd al-Ḥalīm Maḥmūd and Maḥmūd b. al-Sharīf, Cairo, Maktabat al-Īmān, 2005, p. 477.)| false
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Ibn al-ʿArabī, Futūḥāt, 2:202.

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Ibn al-ʿArabī, Futūḥāt, 2:202. The ḥadīth or a variant is cited frequently in discussions on gratitude. See Sulamī, Ḥaqāʾiq, commentary on Cor 14, 7; Qushayrī, Risāla, p. 335; Abū Khalaf al-Ṭabarī (d. 1077), Salwat al-ʿārifīn wa uns al-mushtāqīn, eds. Gerhard Böwering and Bilal Orfali, Leiden, Brill, 2013, 168 [#269]; Abū l-Ḥasan al-Sīrjānī (d. 1077), Kitāb al-bayāḍ wa-l sawād, eds. Bilal Orfali and Nada Saab, Leiden, Brill, 2012, p. 302 [#660]; Ghazālī, Iḥyāʾ, 4:132; Shihāb al-Dīn al-Suhrawardī, ʿAwārif al-maʿārif, eds. ʿAbd al-Ḥalīm Maḥmūd and Maḥmūd b. al-Sharīf, Cairo, Maktabat al-Īmān, 2005, pp. 476-477; Ibn al-Qayyim, Madārij, 2:255. A similar dialogue between David and God is also often quoted quite often, sometimes alongside the story of Moses, where the Israelite king is confirmed in his knowledge that the ability to show gratitude for a gift is itself the result of divine grace. See Qushayrī, Risāla, p. 335; Qāshānī, Sharḥ, p. 211; Ibn al-Qayyim, Madārij, 2:255. In Kharrāz’s version, the conversation takes place with Moses. Kitāb al-ṣidq, 47. In Makkī and Ghazālī, God confirms both David and Moses in their understanding that human gratitude has its origin in Him. See Qūt, 1:413; Iḥyāʾ, 4:132.

Ibn al-ʿArabī, Futūḥāt, 2:202. The ḥadīth or a variant is cited frequently in discussions on gratitude. See Sulamī, Ḥaqāʾiq, commentary on Cor 14, 7; Qushayrī, Risāla, p. 335; Abū Khalaf al-Ṭabarī (d. 1077), Salwat al-ʿārifīn wa uns al-mushtāqīn, eds. Gerhard Böwering and Bilal Orfali, Leiden, Brill, 2013, 168 [#269]; Abū l-Ḥasan al-Sīrjānī (d. 1077), Kitāb al-bayāḍ wa-l sawād, eds. Bilal Orfali and Nada Saab, Leiden, Brill, 2012, p. 302 [#660]; Ghazālī, Iḥyāʾ, 4:132; Shihāb al-Dīn al-Suhrawardī, ʿAwārif al-maʿārif, eds. ʿAbd al-Ḥalīm Maḥmūd and Maḥmūd b. al-Sharīf, Cairo, Maktabat al-Īmān, 2005, pp. 476-477; Ibn al-Qayyim, Madārij, 2:255. A similar dialogue between David and God is also often quoted quite often, sometimes alongside the story of Moses, where the Israelite king is confirmed in his knowledge that the ability to show gratitude for a gift is itself the result of divine grace. See Qushayrī, Risāla, p. 335; Qāshānī, Sharḥ, p. 211; Ibn al-Qayyim, Madārij, 2:255. In Kharrāz’s version, the conversation takes place with Moses. Kitāb al-ṣidq, 47. In Makkī and Ghazālī, God confirms both David and Moses in their understanding that human gratitude has its origin in Him. See Qūt, 1:413; Iḥyāʾ, 4:132.)| false
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Ibn al-ʿArabī, Futūḥāt, 2:203.

Ibn al-ʿArabī, Futūḥāt, 2:203.)| false
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Ibn al-ʿArabī, Futūḥāt, 4:243.

Ibn al-ʿArabī, Futūḥāt, 4:243.)| false
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Ibn al-ʿArabī, Futūḥāt, 2:203.

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See Sara Sviri, “Words of Power and the Power of Words: Mystical Linguistics in the Works of al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmidhī,” Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 27 (2002), pp. 204-244, in particular pp. 204-209.

See Sara Sviri, “Words of Power and the Power of Words: Mystical Linguistics in the Works of al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmidhī,” Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 27 (2002), pp. 204-244, in particular pp. 204-209.)| false
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Kharrāz, Kitāb al-ṣidq, 45.

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Makkī, Qūt, 1:413. Cf. Ghazālī, Iḥyāʾ, 4:130.

Makkī, Qūt, 1:413. Cf. Ghazālī, Iḥyāʾ, 4:130.)| false
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Makkī, Qūt, 1:413-414. Curiously, Samʿānī (d. 1167) considers complaint to God of God to be an expression of gratitude. “Lamenting to the Friend about the Friend,” he writes, “is tawḥīd itself. Outwardly it is complaint but inwardly it is to show gratitude: ‘Since I have none but You, to whom should I speak?’ People imagine that the lover is complaining, but in fact his words display sincerity in love.” To complain of God to other than God, of another, or to another of God, however, he sees as blameworthy. William Chittick, Divine Love: Islamic Literature and the Path to God, New Haven, Yale University Press, 2013, p. 173.

Makkī, Qūt, 1:413-414. Curiously, Samʿānī (d. 1167) considers complaint to God of God to be an expression of gratitude. “Lamenting to the Friend about the Friend,” he writes, “is tawḥīd itself. Outwardly it is complaint but inwardly it is to show gratitude: ‘Since I have none but You, to whom should I speak?’ People imagine that the lover is complaining, but in fact his words display sincerity in love.” To complain of God to other than God, of another, or to another of God, however, he sees as blameworthy. William Chittick, Divine Love: Islamic Literature and the Path to God, New Haven, Yale University Press, 2013, p. 173.)| false
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Makkī, Qūt, 1:414; Tirmidhī, Furūq, p. 117.

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Ibn al-Qayyim, Madārij, 2:258.

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Tirmidhī, Furūq, p. 117.

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Cf. Qushayrī, Risāla, 337. For the role of prayers in thanksgiving in the world’s religions, see Philip and Carol Zaleski, Prayer: A History, Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 2005, pp. 6, 83, 233-240, 248.

Cf. Qushayrī, Risāla, 337. For the role of prayers in thanksgiving in the world’s religions, see Philip and Carol Zaleski, Prayer: A History, Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 2005, pp. 6, 83, 233-240, 248.)| false
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Cited in Ibn al-Qayyim, Madārij, 2:252.

Cited in Ibn al-Qayyim, Madārij, 2:252.)| false
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Ṭabarī (d. 1077), Salwat, p. 168 [#269].

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Ibn al-Qayyim, Madārij, 2:256.

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Ibn al-Qayyim, Madārij, 2:256-257.

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Cf. Makkī, Qūt, 1:415.

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Qushayrī, Risāla, 335; Ibn ʿAbbād, Sharḥ, p. 190. For a slight variant, see Khargūshī (d. 1015 or 1016 ce), Tahdhīb al-asrār, ed. Syed Muhammad ʿAlī, Beirut, Dar al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya, p. 490 [section 12]; Ṭabarī, Salwat, p. 165 [#266]; Sīrjānī (d. 1077), Kitāb al-bayāḍ wa-l sawād, p. 300 [#656]; Ibn al-Qayyim, Madārij, 2:255. Makkī and Suhrawardī cite a near equivalent but without mentioning Junayd by name. See Qūt, 1:415; ʿAwārif, p. 477 (also p. 466, where the idea is tied to tawba).

Qushayrī, Risāla, 335; Ibn ʿAbbād, Sharḥ, p. 190. For a slight variant, see Khargūshī (d. 1015 or 1016 ce), Tahdhīb al-asrār, ed. Syed Muhammad ʿAlī, Beirut, Dar al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya, p. 490 [section 12]; Ṭabarī, Salwat, p. 165 [#266]; Sīrjānī (d. 1077), Kitāb al-bayāḍ wa-l sawād, p. 300 [#656]; Ibn al-Qayyim, Madārij, 2:255. Makkī and Suhrawardī cite a near equivalent but without mentioning Junayd by name. See Qūt, 1:415; ʿAwārif, p. 477 (also p. 466, where the idea is tied to tawba).)| false
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Kharrāz, Kitāb al-ṣidq, p. 86.

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Makkī, Qūt, 1:415.

Makkī, Qūt, 1:415.)| false
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Cited in Chittick, Divine Love, p. 168.

Cited in Chittick, Divine Love, p. 168.)| false
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See for example Kharrāz, Kitāb al-ṣidq, 44; Makkī, Qūt, 1:415; Ibn ʿAbbād, Sharḥ, p. 189. Outside the Islamic tradition, we may note the position articulated by Aquinas in the Summa Theologica, where he distinguishes between two kinds of ingratitude, with the first and broader kind including what our Sufi authors have in mind: “[i]n every sin there is material ingratitude to God, inasmuch as a man does something that may pertain to ingratitude. But formal ingratitude is when a favor is actually condemned, and this is a special sin.” (Questions 106-107).

See for example Kharrāz, Kitāb al-ṣidq, 44; Makkī, Qūt, 1:415; Ibn ʿAbbād, Sharḥ, p. 189. Outside the Islamic tradition, we may note the position articulated by Aquinas in the Summa Theologica, where he distinguishes between two kinds of ingratitude, with the first and broader kind including what our Sufi authors have in mind: “[i]n every sin there is material ingratitude to God, inasmuch as a man does something that may pertain to ingratitude. But formal ingratitude is when a favor is actually condemned, and this is a special sin.” (Questions 106-107).)| false
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Ghazālī, Iḥyāʾ, 4:136-137.

Ghazālī, Iḥyāʾ, 4:136-137.)| false
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Makkī, Qūt, 1:415.

Makkī, Qūt, 1:415.)| false
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Ghazālī, Iḥyāʾ, 4:139-140.

Ghazālī, Iḥyāʾ, 4:139-140.)| false
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Cf. Van Den Bergh, “Ghazālī on ‘Gratitude Towards God’,” pp. 85-86.

Cf. Van Den Bergh, “Ghazālī on ‘Gratitude Towards God’,” pp. 85-86.)| false
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Ghazālī, Iḥyāʾ, 4:146-148.

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Ghazālī, Iḥyāʾ, 4:147-148.

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Izutsu, God and the Man in the Koran, p. 15.

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Harpham, “Gratitude in the History of Ideas,” p. 26.

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Ibn al-ʿArabī, Futūḥāt, 8:281-282.

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Ibn al-ʿArabī, Futūḥāt, 1:277. Ibn al-ʿArabī’s remark forms part of a broader discussion in which, at risk of simplification, he argues that any claim of greatness, grandiosity or lordship (rubūbiyya) on the part of the human being will have grave consequences in the posthumous state. The safest course is therefore to remain attached to one’s nearest ontological root (aṣl), which is that of weakness, nothingness and servitude (ʿubūdiyya) before God. Now since in the world one’s own closest root stems from the mother, there stands an extricable and somewhat analogous relation between remaining bound to one’s servitude, on the one hand, and close to the mother, on the other. Both are means of safety. Conversely, Ibn al-ʿArabī also asserts that the mother is herself protected through her relation with offspring. Hence the practice of the sunnah with respect to burial, where “his lineage is traced to his mother as a protective covering (sitr) from God over her (ʿalayhā)”—the allusion being to a ḥadīth which speaks of the security a mother gains upon death, through a ḥijāb or covering from God, for having endured the loss of children in life. I am grateful to Dr. Winkel for bringing these insights to my attention as well as sharing his unpublished translation of the chapter with me. See also William Chittick, The Self-Disclosure of God: Principles of Ibn al-ʿArabī’s Cosmology, Albany, suny, 1998, pp. 318-322 (on p. 322 ʿalayhā is mistakenly read ʿalayhi).

Ibn al-ʿArabī, Futūḥāt, 1:277. Ibn al-ʿArabī’s remark forms part of a broader discussion in which, at risk of simplification, he argues that any claim of greatness, grandiosity or lordship (rubūbiyya) on the part of the human being will have grave consequences in the posthumous state. The safest course is therefore to remain attached to one’s nearest ontological root (aṣl), which is that of weakness, nothingness and servitude (ʿubūdiyya) before God. Now since in the world one’s own closest root stems from the mother, there stands an extricable and somewhat analogous relation between remaining bound to one’s servitude, on the one hand, and close to the mother, on the other. Both are means of safety. Conversely, Ibn al-ʿArabī also asserts that the mother is herself protected through her relation with offspring. Hence the practice of the sunnah with respect to burial, where “his lineage is traced to his mother as a protective covering (sitr) from God over her (ʿalayhā)”—the allusion being to a ḥadīth which speaks of the security a mother gains upon death, through a ḥijāb or covering from God, for having endured the loss of children in life. I am grateful to Dr. Winkel for bringing these insights to my attention as well as sharing his unpublished translation of the chapter with me. See also William Chittick, The Self-Disclosure of God: Principles of Ibn al-ʿArabī’s Cosmology, Albany, suny, 1998, pp. 318-322 (on p. 322 ʿalayhā is mistakenly read ʿalayhi).)| false
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Joseph Hewitt, “Gratitude to Parents in Greek and Roman Literature,” American Journal of Philology, 52, no. 1 (1931), p. 35.

Joseph Hewitt, “Gratitude to Parents in Greek and Roman Literature,” American Journal of Philology, 52, no. 1 (1931), p. 35.)| false
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See for example, “Some Aspects of the Treatment of Ingratitude in Greek and English Literature,” Transactions of the Proceedings of the American Philological Association, 48 (1917), pp. 37-48; “The Gratitude of the Gods,” Classical Weekly 18, no. 19 (1925), pp. 148-151.

See for example, “Some Aspects of the Treatment of Ingratitude in Greek and English Literature,” Transactions of the Proceedings of the American Philological Association, 48 (1917), pp. 37-48; “The Gratitude of the Gods,” Classical Weekly 18, no. 19 (1925), pp. 148-151.)| false
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Cited in Zilio-Grandi, “Gratitude,” p. 59.

Cited in Zilio-Grandi, “Gratitude,” p. 59.)| false
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Makkī, Qūt, 1:428.

Makkī, Qūt, 1:428.)| false
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Hujwīrī, Kashf, pp. 110-111.

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