Mandatory (wajib) thankfulness. Muslims are required to fulfill the obligations (wajibat) and refrain from the proscriptions (muharramat). This is the minimum level of being grateful and thankful to Allah. To be thankful to Allah requires that one desists from disobedience (ma’siah) to Allah, to strongly disapprove sin, and not to misuse or abuse any of our limbs
(jawareh) or whatever bounty Allah has bestowed upon us. Man has been given one of the most important favours from Allah and that is sight. Man must not use it in disobedience. Allah bestowed us with the bounty of audition and we should use it in a beneficial way.
Preferable (mustahab) thankfulness. This is for Muslims who desire to be among the righteous and competing believers. This type can be grouped into subcategories:
a. What is beneficial to the entire community such as what is mentioned in this hadith.
b. Limited to only the person who performs it, as mentioned in Hadith 25.
Though the above mentioned classifications may be perceived positively or negatively, it should not drive us away from the great meaning of the charitable acts where we can look at them from a different perspective. Not from the perspestive of whether they are preferable (mandoub: if we do it, we will be rewarded and if we do not do it, we will not be blamed) or obligatory (wajib). Sometimes preferable things become mandatory. For example, if a blind man wants to cross the road and you are the only one to assist him, helping him becomes mandatoryy. If every one of us is expecting someone else to assist the blind man, he will end up with nobody willing to help him.
This sort of attitude will weaken the bonding within the society. There are many negative examples that can be seen today. The recklessness of some Muslims who do not give a helping hand to the needy people is often noticed in the Muslim community these days. As a result, the Muslim is blamed when he is the only one who is capable of doing that action but fails to do it
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