Gratitude towards Allah

One day, a man named Habib bin Muhammad (may Allah have mercy on him), a man preoccupied with the worldly pursuits, decided to attend a gathering of al-Ḥasan Al-Baṣree (may Allah have mercy on him). While there, Habib became greatly moved by al-Ḥasan's sermon. When Habib left, he decided to repent for his sins and lead a new life of worship and obedience to Allah.

The first thing he (Habib) decided was to purify his soul by giving charity. He started off by giving away 10,000 dirhams in the early part of the day. Soon thereafter, he gave away another 10,000 dirhams and said, "O my Lord, this 10,000 is my gratitude for the guidance You have blessed me with." He then gave away another 10,000 dirhams, and this time he said, "O my Lord, if You did not accept from me the first amount or the second amount, then accept this from me." He then gave away another 10,000, after which he said, "O My Lord! If you have accepted from me the third amount, then this is a show of my gratitude for You having accepted my deed."

Moral

From this story we learn that charity is a method of purification for our souls and wealth and a remedy for our sickness. We also learn how concerned and worried the Muslims of the past were about their deeds being accepted from Allah, these days we do deeds and think it's automatically accepted, we should strive to do more deeds and to ask Allah to accept them as well.