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Why we give thanks

Why we
give thanks

We say thank you when someone holds a door open. So who do we thank for eyes, ears, air, fruit and the sky? One simple thread runs through this site: I exist, I recognise a Giver, and I give thanks. Worship is how people do it.

Count the giftsWhat if…?
ContinueAll episodes
Photo: Jesús Gómez Fernández, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
1. I existEyes to see this, a mind to read it, a world to stand on. None of it was my idea.
2. I recogniseSomething gave me all of this. Each faith names that Giver in its own words.
3. I give thanksWe thank a stranger who holds a door. Worship, in every tradition, is thanks for everything else.

The simple formula, step by step →

Most of the world gives thanks in some form. Jews wake with Modeh ani, “I give thanks before You”. The central Christian service is called the Eucharist, from the Greek for “thanksgiving”. The Qur'an opens with al-ḥamdu lillāh, “praise and thanks belong to God”. Sikhs say Waheguru ji da shukar, Hindus offer food before they eat, Buddhists count gratitude as a rare and precious quality, and many people with no religion feel thankful simply to be alive.

These pages ask why. Why do humans give thanks at all? Why do fasting, prayer, giving, sacrifice, pilgrimage and rest look so alike across traditions? Why have people bowed to kings, stars and carved figures? And what does it mean that the whole universe runs on one steady order? Each faith speaks in its own words, and the sceptic gets a fair hearing too. Start anywhere.

The big question

Why thank, and thank whom?

Modeh Ani · Eucharist · Alḥamdu lillāh · Shukrana · KataññutāWhy do we give thanks at all?Someone holds a door open and we say thank you without thinking. So who do we thank for eyes, ears, air and fruit?
A plain line of reasoning · Psalm 103 · Qur'an 14:34 · 1 Thessalonians 5:18I exist. I recognise. I give thanks.Three steps. You are here. You did not make yourself. Thanks is the natural reply.
Avodah · Latreia and leitourgia · ʿIbāda · Bhakti · Simran and sevaWhat is worship?In Hebrew and Arabic, the word for worship grows from the word for work and service. Worship is not only something that happens in a building.

Why the world worships

Shared roots, wrong turns and one order

One message, many prophets · Shared roots · What scientists of religion sayWhy do the practices look so alike?Fasting, prayer, giving, sacrifice, pilgrimage, a day of rest. Why do so many traditions do such similar things?
Fiṭra · Romans 1 · Isaiah 44 · God-kings · NatureWhy have people worshipped kings, the Sun and idols?For thousands of years people bowed to rulers, stars and carved figures. The scriptures read this as a real instinct, pointed the wrong way.
Al-Ikhlāṣ · The Shema · “One God” · Ik Onkar · The same laws everywhereOne God, one orderLight that left a quasar eight billion years ago obeys the same rules as the torch in your kitchen. Many believers see in that a single signature.

More shared practice

From Common Ground

Yom Kippur · Lent · Ramadan · Vrat · The Sikh viewFastingTwenty-five hours without water. Forty days without meat. A month of nothing from dawn to sunset. And a Guru who said the truest fast is truth itself.
Tzedakah · Charity · Zakat and sadaqa · Dasvandh · DanaGivingA coin box by the door, a tenth of the wages, 2.5% of savings, an envelope on the plate. Every tradition on this site says the same surprising thing: what you have is not only yours.
Shema and Amidah · The Lord's Prayer · Salah · Japji · Puja · Quaker silenceHow we praySome sway, some kneel, some touch their foreheads to the floor, some sit in silence for an hour. Prayer is something people do with their whole selves. Here is what a visitor sees, and what it means to the people praying.
Genesis 18 · Shabbat · The Last Supper · Iftar · LangarThe shared tableThree strangers come out of the midday heat, and an old man runs to feed them. Jews, Christians and Muslims all remember Abraham's welcome. His children are still laying tables for strangers.
Leviticus 19:18 · Hillel · Matthew 7:12 · Bukhari 13 · and beyondThe Golden RuleTreat others as you would want to be treated. It may be the most widely shared moral idea on Earth, found in scripture, in philosophy and in people with no religion at all.
5 min
Words worth knowing · a phraseAlḥamdu lillāh: praise be to God

Play and ponder

Count what keeps you alive; imagine a world slightly different

60 sec
PlayCount the giftsA live count of what keeps you alive.
60 sec
PlayWhat if…?Take things away and see if you would still be here.

Go deeper

The science and the arguments

5 min
WordFour lines. Fifteen words.
Qur'an 30:30 · Romans 1:20 · Mind and beliefThe instinct for GodThree faiths say the knowledge of a Creator is planted in us. Psychologists have spent thirty years testing what children and adults intuit. Here is what each side says, and what it can and cannot tell us.
Qur'an 55:5–7 · Mathematics and philosophyWhy does the universe follow laws we can understand?A few symbols on paper can find a planet no one has seen. Why should the world be readable at all?
Qur'an 67:3–4 · Philosophy and physicsIs the universe fine-tuned for life, and what would explain it?Two physicists wrote one book together and came to two different answers. That is a fair picture of where this argument stands.

In pictures

Patchwork farmland of harvested and ploughed fields in evening light.
Patchwork farmland of harvested and ploughed fields in evening light. Photo: Jesús Gómez Fernández, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Wildflower meadows below the snowy slopes of Mount Rainier.
Wildflower meadows below the snowy slopes of Mount Rainier. Photo: Mount Rainier National Park, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Hands shape dough on a floured table.
Hands shape dough on a floured table. Gaelle Marcel gaellemm / Wikimedia Commons, CC0
A wheat field being harvested under a wide sky.
A wheat field being harvested under a wide sky. meriç tuna tuna59 / Wikimedia Commons, CC0
A woman's hands hold food close up.
A woman's hands hold food close up. Pingz Man / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)
Raindrops collect like beads of glass on round green leaves.
Raindrops collect like beads of glass on round green leaves. James Mann from Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)
A freshly baked loaf of bread on a wooden surface.
A freshly baked loaf of bread on a wooden surface. fireskystudios.com asthetik / Wikimedia Commons, CC0

Watch

Watch

For everyone

The Secret Power of GratitudeThe School of Life · 5 minThe School of Life: the secret power of gratitude.

Thanks in practice

The same shapes, side by side

Korban · The binding · The Eucharist · Qurbani · Yajna · SevaSacrifice: giving up what you loveJews, Christians and Muslims all remember Abraham's hardest test. At the heart of every kind of sacrifice is the same idea: giving up something you love, as thanks.
The pilgrim festivals · Canterbury and Walsingham · Hajj · Harmandir Sahib · Kumbh Mela · Bodh GayaPilgrimage: going there to say thank youEvery year, millions of people walk, fly and queue for days to stand in one particular place. Why travel to thank a God who is everywhere?
Shabbat · The Lord's Day · Jumuʿa · Amrit vela · UposathaA day of restSix days you work. Then you stop, and enjoy what you have been given. A weekly rest may be the oldest gift of time in the world.
Dhikr · The Jesus Prayer · The rosary · A hundred blessings · Simran · Japa · MindfulnessRemembrance: keeping God in mindBeads slipping through fingers. A name repeated with each breath. A blessing for a rainbow. Across traditions, people practise not forgetting.
Sukkot · Shavuot · Harvest Festival · Eid · Vaisakhi · Lohri · PongalHarvest and thanksgivingTins of beans on a school hall table. A hut with a roof of branches. A pot of rice allowed to boil over on purpose. When the food comes in, the world says thank you.

In this series

2 minCount the giftsLeave this page open. While you read, this counter adds up some of the things that keep you, and the world, alive.2 minWhat if…?What if one thing were taken away, or turned up or down a little?8 minI exist. I recognise. I give thanks.Three steps. You are here. You did not make yourself. Thanks is the natural reply.8 minWhy have people worshipped kings, the Sun and idols?For thousands of years people bowed to rulers, stars and carved figures. The scriptures read this as a real instinct, pointed the wrong way.8 minA day of restSix days you work. Then you stop, and enjoy what you have been given. A weekly rest may be the oldest gift of time in the world.9 minHarvest and thanksgivingTins of beans on a school hall table. A hut with a roof of branches.13 minOne God, one orderLight that left a quasar eight billion years ago obeys the same rules as the torch in your kitchen. Many believers see in that a single signature.8 minPilgrimage: going there to say thank youEvery year, millions of people walk, fly and queue for days to stand in one particular place. Why travel to thank a God who is everywhere?8 minRemembrance: keeping God in mindBeads slipping through fingers. A name repeated with each breath. A blessing for a rainbow. Across traditions, people practise not forgetting.8 minSacrifice: giving up what you loveJews, Christians and Muslims all remember Abraham's hardest test.8 minWhy do the practices look so alike?Fasting, prayer, giving, sacrifice, pilgrimage, a day of rest. Why do so many traditions do such similar things?9 minWhy do we give thanks at all?Someone holds a door open and we say thank you without thinking. So who do we thank for eyes, ears, air and fruit?8 minWhat is worship?In Hebrew and Arabic, the word for worship grows from the word for work and service. Worship is not only something that happens in a building.

Watch more: Why we give thanks

5 films and talks, chosen for this page. They play here.

  • Thank you

    whoisallah.org.uk · 1 min

  • Count the gifts

    whoisallah.org.uk · 1 min

  • Friday Sermon: The Blessing of Gratitude by Hamza Yusuf | Zaytuna College

    Zaytuna College · 39 min

  • The 3 Levels of Gratitude. | The Names Class 29: Al-Hamid | Shaykh Mikaeel Smith

    Qalam Institute · 2 min

    Qalam Institute: the three levels of gratitude.

  • Like Fruit? Thank a Bee!

    SciShow Kids · 4 min

  • More films and talks on F-ILMWatch free