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If Life’s Blessings Were Sold by a Merchant
Imagine if the air we breathe were owned by a merchant, sold by the liter, charging you for every inhale and exhale. How much would you pay just to survive a single day? And imagine if the light that fills your morning were a paid service, where the sun would rise only for those who subscribed, and darkness would remain for anyone who couldn’t afford it. Imagine if the rain that revives the earth were a product on a shelf, falling only on those who had the money, and denying water to anyone who couldn’t pay.
What if the gift of sight were something you had to buy? How much would you pay to see your mother’s face, or the road in front of you, or a single verse from the Book of Allah? And what if hearing were rented? How much would you pay to hear your child’s laughter, the call to prayer, or a simple “I love you” from someone dear? And what if health were sold in markets? Who could afford a beating heart, a breathing lung, or legs that carry you through life?
Yet God has given us all of this for free—without payment, without conditions, without waiting. He says: ﴿ وَإِن تَعُدُّوا نِعْمَتَ اللَّهِ لَا تُحْصُوهَا ﴾ and He says: ﴿ وَلَكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ النَّاسِ لَا يَشْكُرُونَ ﴾ and also: ﴿ وَلَكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ النَّاسِ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ ﴾
Blessings are not items to be counted—they are entire lives granted to us, breaths gifted without price, and peace placed in the heart without effort.
We live in a world where, if humans owned these blessings, they would monopolize them, and only the wealthy would survive. But God, in His endless generosity, distributes them to everyone: the rich and the poor, the strong and the weak, the believer and the disbeliever. As if He tells us every day: “My mercy is greater than your commerce, and My generosity surpasses your calculations.”
How beautiful it is to realize that everything we have is not from our own power, nor from our own hands, but from a Lord who gives without limit, without cost, and without expecting anything in return. He says: ﴿ وَمَا بِكُم مِّن نِّعْمَةٍ فَمِنَ اللَّهِ ﴾
So to Him belongs all praise, all thanks, and all glory—for what we know and what we do not know, for what we see and what we cannot see.
