There is so much that I owe to my Creator'so much that I cannot innumerate. Today I am grateful to God, my Creator and the Creator of all things, that He granted me a home in a small market town in a steep-sided valley. I am grateful to my Lord for granting me this humble dwelling on one side of the valley, overlooking the fields of cows on the other side and the woodland beyond. I am grateful that He enables us to buy fresh vegetables from the market in the centre of town every. I am grateful that He granted us a home we could afford. I am grateful to God for granting me my loving, caring parents and I am grateful to them--although they may not think so given that I chose to walk this path, not theirs. But I am grateful. I am grateful for their unerring provision, the clothing they provided me in my youth, the education they furnished me with and the meals they prepared for me day after day. I am grateful that they sent me to Sunday School and took me to church, and instilled in me my moral compass. I am grateful for Stepping Stones when I was a child. I am grateful for all these things and I thank God for granting them to me.

I am grateful to God for granting me my wife who supports me and encourages me, and cooks delicious Turkish and English tucker. I am grateful to my Lord for granting me someone who understands me, who comforts me when I am down and kicks me when I am lazy, and I am grateful to her too. I am grateful to my Creator that He enabled me to make seven delicious scones one Sunday morning and I am grateful that He decreed that my wife would not be angry with me about the burnt shortbread biscuits. I am grateful that God granted me the friendship of my brother Abdul Haq who moved to Bahrain on business; he is a great support to me always and a true friend indeed. I am grateful that He granted me the wise counsel of Abdul Baasit who has never over the nine years I have known him failed to ask after my parents, about their health and wellbeing.

I am grateful that God has granted me the ability to write and I am grateful that He has given me a creative nature. I am grateful that God granted me employment in an extremely pleasant country town, even though I often moaned about my work ungratefully. I am grateful that I was able to walk past the ancient houses every day from my car to my desk and that in the summer I could ascend the hill between fields of barley to walk beneath the leafy canopy above in the forest at the top, or stroll beside the river running behind the high street. I am grateful that I could sit it the park amidst the scented flowers in my lunch hour and munch on my sandwiches. I am grateful that I can now pray in my local mosque ten minutes' walk from my desk every lunchtime.

I am grateful that God has granted me good health. I am grateful that my Lord has granted me the companionship of fellow Englishmen also following this path who smooth the way before me. I am grateful that God granted me the friendship of my older Somali companion Abdi who has a special place in my heart although I have not seen him in years. I am grateful that he studied Development Studies and Geography at the same time as me, sharing his expertise in the field. I am grateful that He granted me the friendship of my older Turkish companion too, who invited me to his home when I studied in Stirling and inspired me with his culture so that I prayed to God that He would be grant me a life like his, and lo He granted me a wife from that same land who prepares Turkish breakfast just like the one I tasted in that house in Scotland. And I am grateful to God for his immense signs, for although my friend had never met my wife, when he visited us in Ankara we discovered that he was a close friend of my wife's closest friend.

I am grateful to God for granting me bounties greater than I can measure. I am grateful that He granted me so many friendships throughout my years and throughout this land and others. I am grateful to my Lord for granting me the gift of faith. I am grateful to the Most Merciful for making me shy throughout my youth. I am grateful that He protected me from bringing harm upon myself. I am grateful that He placed in my heart the fear of my parents. I am grateful that He granted me warmth and gave me food. I am grateful that He protected me from harm and has sustained my life long enough for me to begin to correct my conduct and start to purify my heart. I am grateful for the Letter of James. I am grateful to God that He inspired me to walk, walk, walk. I am grateful that He granted me my garden and the fruit trees within it. I am grateful for all these things and for so much more. I am grateful that He has granted me what wealth I have. I am grateful for the cheerful greeting of an old man I encountered in the street this morning. I am grateful for laughter and I am grateful for tears. I am grateful that God tested me in a way which made me appreciate His bounty. I am grateful that He makes my heart ache whenever I do wrong and that He causes tears to well up in my eyes when I stumble into sin. I am grateful that He sends critics to me who remind me of my shortcomings. I am grateful that I have a bowl of carrot and courgette soup waiting for me downstairs. I am grateful that He decreed that we once received two fresh trout and two bottles of milk every Monday, delivered straight to our door. I am grateful that blessing after blessing is bestowed on me despite myself and that God sends sign after sign, from the beauty of the dawn across the hill in the morning to the bright moon above us on a cloudless night. There is so much to be grateful for. I am grateful that God sent anonymous with his messages for me, which made me go off on a great tangent, giving thought to the beautiful chaffinch of all things, which made me think of the beauty of God's creation, which made me think of his vast Mercy and Blessings bestowed upon us. I am grateful indeed. May God, how glorious is He, forgive me for every moment of sadness, for every moment spent with ingratitude. There is so much that God has poured upon me and I am truly grateful.

In life we must always remind ourselves of the debt we owe our Lord. Seven years ago a flat battery had to remind me this. That morning my rented car would not start and so I had to call out the AA. It was funny how something foreign could become so familiar within such a short space of time, such that something we could once do without becomes something we take for granted. And it was funny how when something is always there we do not thank God for it as we do when something new arrives. We pray for safe travels when we go on holiday and thank Him on our arrival, but the daily trip to work and back becomes a routine normality which we do not thank Him for. We pray for sound employment and thank Him when He responds, but we take our daily bread without the same words of thanks. We ask for good health when struck down with illness and thank Him when we recover, but as we go about our everyday business in good health, sometimes we forget to thank the One who has power over all things.

When I first got that car I was wondering at all the blessings that God had bestowed on me, but soon I would get in the car in the morning, drive to work and park, failing to say All Praise is for God in exchange for His blessings, just as I made my sandwiches at lunchtime without saying, "Thank you Lord," just as I would wake in the morning without thanking God for the opportunity of another day to better myself, just as I would write a letter without thanking God for giving me sight--and what an amazing thing that is--just as I would take so many things for granted and yet not express my gratitude to the Bestower of all things.

It reminded me of the words of a poet: "If my thanking God for His blessings is a blessing, then I must thank Him in the same measure again. How can one thank Him save by His grace as time goes on, and life goes by... If a good thing comes, I rejoice heartily; if a bad one comes, I receive a reward. In both cases He gives me a gift too large for the minds of men, and the land and sea."

That day, I thought, I would not moan about the frost killing my battery. I decided to thank God instead for giving me time to reflect on His blessings. How perfect He is, and how we fail to express the gratitude He deserves. Years later it was the sudden beauty of my garden that brought this back to my mind after a seemingly long winter and the arrival of spring at last. Our front garden was suddenly blooming with flushes of new green leaves and splashes of colour everywhere. There were pinkish red flowers on the camellia, purple tulips, bright yellow cowslips, orange on our exotic oak, yellows, pinks and blues everywhere. The scent was splendid and it was a sight that made me mutter praises of God over and over again.

God has always been generous to me. His magnificence never fails to amaze me. His signs, His bounties and His blessings multiply. One evening I decided to stop writing, for words worry me. The responsibility we shoulder when we use words is great and so I worried as I often do about my writing that exists in the public domain. God has granted me the ability to write and thus I felt that I should use this gift for the greater good, but still I worry. Is it a gift or is a test? A very dear friend of mine pointed out that all gifts can also be a test. Still, the concern remains and that night I decided to rest my pen. Not for the first time, however--the same happened last time I decided to give up my writing--I received an email later that evening in which someone I did not really know told me that he found my writing useful. The timing: God's generosity? Why was it that every time I concluded that my writing should cease somebody had words for me? Was it a sign or was it a test? God knows best, but I know that God is always generous to me. He never ceases to shower His blessings upon me, despite myself. God is great, magnificent.

We say that God is the Most High because everything around us bears witness to this. We say He is Great--Allahu Akbar--because this is evident all around us. I think of His generosity one evening when my computer crashed in the middle of a piece of work. I spent an hour writing words in my defence, choosing the right words to respond to another's. Yet when I tried to send those words--praise belongs to God--my computer timed out and it timed out three more times after that, and then my other computer crashed when I tried to use it instead. It was then that I recognised God's generosity. What was to be gained by responding? What was to be gained with those words? I recognised His generosity at last, and so finally I deleted that email, wiped away that text and--praise belongs to God--the computer worked once more. God's generosity. Were matters within my hands, were I able to control such things, were I able to decree anything, I would decree that I land face down in the fire of hell. But God is ever generous, ever protecting us from ourselves, ever granting us an escape from our own wickedness. He is the ever generous, and this is why we call Him the Most High, the Great.

A few days earlier I had been feeling sad and so I returned to my Lord in prayer, supplicating to Him who has the power to grant and withhold. I was feeling confused, recognising that without His help all of us will go astray, and so I prayed as best I could. What can I say except that God is ever generous? Without any effort on my part, He sends aid, He sends guidance. That day I had conceded that it was time I did the painting I have been promising my wife all year and so I went down to the hardware store to get some paint. A member of staff there told me that the Islamic Studies classes were starting in the mosque at last the following day. He walked with me to the car park and fetched me a timetable from his car. So the following morning my wife and I walked the ten minute trek from our house, across the top of the hill and down through the graveyard to the mosque in that wonderful sunshine for the first class beneath that stunning calligraphy in the dome. The gentle Algerian introduced us to half an hour of Qur?anic commentary and half an hour of the biography of the Prophet, peace be upon him.

For half an hour he began to tell us the meaning of the Arabic word Hamd, and for half an hour he described to us the appearance of our blessed Prophet, upon whom be peace. What can one say except that God is the Most Generous, the Most High? What can one say except that we count the Blessings He showers upon us every day?

We learnt that morning that God has said that very few of His servants say shukr--thank you--and so we begin every prayer with Alhamdulilah, a gift from God, that we thank Him for those things that we are aware of and those things that we are not. Alhamdulilah--all praise is for God. God the Most Great saves us from ourselves and gives us the words to say because He knows that we would not say shukr on our own accord. Alhamdulilah. God is the ever generous. If I were to write of all the bounties that I felt that weekend it would take up too much space and too much time, but nevertheless I was made aware of His generosity--this was His generosity in itself. I felt humbled and blessed, for God had granted me so much despite myself. He had granted me so much although I am so undeserving. Time after time He protects me from myself and I wish I could repay Him, but I know I never can and so all I can say is this: I seek refuge in God, the Lord of the Worlds, from myself and I pray that He guides me and does not let me die other than as one who has earned His pleasure.