There is an ignorant tendency among some people when it comes to appreciating the help they receive from their friends. A well-wisher may support a person and his family, and thereby emancipate him from many obstacles in life. Then, having attained the state of affluence, the person would say I thank Allah first and then so and so, for had it not been for his assistance I would not have reached where I am. Such kind of thinking in our traditions is termed as practical polytheism. This is because the helper is just an intermediary of grace (wasitah) and has no independence whatsoever, and thus cannot be taken as a second independent helper.
“Imam Abu ‘Abdillah (al-Sadiq (as)) is reported to have said about the verse (And most of them do not believe in Allah without associating others (with Him)) (12:106)’ that it refers to when a man says: ‘Was it not for so and so, I would have perished, and was it not for so and so I would not have got such and such a thing, and was it not for so and so, my family would perish. Don’t you see that he has made a partner for Allah in His Kingdom, who sustains him and averts [evil from him]? [The narrator says:] I said: ‘What if he were to say if Allah would not have Blessed me with so and so I would have perished. The Imam (as) said: Yes, there is no problem in this and the like.” [‘Uddat al-Da’i, pg. 99]
The above however should not lead one to overlook the traditions of expressing gratitude and thanks to whosoever has done good. Such traditions emphasize the ‘nobility’ of the agent of Allah’s Grace. But gratitude should never be mingled with polytheism and words of ignorance. In fact the good doer is required to express gratitude to Almighty Allah for having given him the succor (tawfiq) to do all the good, and hence be availed with the Godly spirit.
Sh Muhammad Khalfan
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