Rizq (رِزْق) is generally translated as provision or sustenance. The broader meaning of it is anything that we get in this life such as, food that we eat, water that we drink, money that we earn and spend, house that I live in, car that I drive...the list goes on and on. As a Muslim we say that rizq comes from Allah and also we we say that we "earn" our rizq. Let's unwrap the apparent counter intuitiveness nature of the rizq and why we fall into the trap of many common misconceptions. This will change the perception of life and free yourself from many worldly crisis, inshaAllah.
Somehow we’ve connected Rizq with our work which Allah always kept unconditional in the Quran. There are numerous ayats that declared that repeated throughout the Quran. Allah said- He created us, then He will give us Rizq, then He will give us death and then He will resurrect us. Allah didn’t add any preconditions to any of the above four of His actions. Allah also declared in the Quran that He extends Rizq whoever He wishes and restricts whoever He wishes. It’s repeatedly mentioned in the Quran. Then why and from where we got this idea that our work is a precondition to get our Rizq?
Allah has ordained us to seek knowledge (e.g. “Iqra - read"; and “Afala ta’qilun - Will you not use your intellect?", in Surah Al-Mulk, Surah Al-Noor, etc.). So we have to acquire knowledge. That’s Allah’s order. Allah also said in the Quran that He created things on this earth to test who are good at work. Allah has ordained us to do good and stop evil. So we’ve to work to pass the test of this world, establish good and curb evil. Isn't that a lot of work by itself? Allah never connected those work that He ordained us to do as precondition to Rizq. Yet, we create that precondition without any apparent reason.
One reason could be: we are confused by our observations on this earth that are so causal in nature (Causality is in short - to get an effect there has to be a cause). That is also sometimes reinforced by some stories of renowned Muslims or Islamic figures and their remarks on Rizq. We, many times, also take wrong lessons from such stories. Such an example is of prophet Sulaiman alahiassalam. As a Muslim, whose life style we should follow? Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), right? Then why do we skip the prophet's (pbuh) living example and take the example of some others in Islamic history (and often in wrong interpretation)? What and how much wealth our prophet (pbuh) had left when he died? What and how much wealth Khulafa-e-rashideen had left when they died? Almost nothing or very insignificant! Those examples are in their lives but we look at someone else. Why?
Nonetheless, if you think you’re creating your own Rizq - then tell me: what do you use as a resource to “earn” your own Rizq? Your education? Your talent & brain power? Your body muscle? Your eyes? Your hands?
Had you been able to acquire your knowledge without a good brain power? Who created those? Who had given those to you at the time of your birth?
Had you been able to go to college to study for 25+ years without money or housing or food from your parents? Did you choose your parents when you were born?
Did you order your fingers, eyes,. Ears, muscles with the specification that you are proud of and you use everyday to “earn” your Rizq?
Did you order your birth in a safe, secure and in an educated, well-off family/society? What if you had been born in Yemen today? In Afghanistan today? In Ukraine today? In the poorest of an African country today? Who gave you this nice family, society, country and this beautiful earth at birth? Allah, right?And He had given you without you even asking for that? What if you had been born in a time of ice-age? or even 2 thousands years ago or at a time when the earth was wild and you had to live in a cave? Did you pick that for yourself? NO. you’re just lucky to be born with all those blessings to “earn” your Rizq. It’s 99.99999…% of things that were chosen before you were even born and you are worried about the little insignificant effort you think you’re making? Think deep!
Now let’s get back to our current time. What Elan Musk’s son had done to earn hundreds of billions of dollars? What Steve Jobs's son or Bill Gates' son or Warren Buffet’s son had done to earn their hundreds of billions of dollars? Nothing. They didn’t even know that they were born with that “Rizq”.
If you think Steve Jobs had billions of dollars of Rizq, it’s not true either. How much he consumed was his Rizq. Rest of them were deception to keep him in the deception, circling in this materialistic world and forgetting the life after death.
We’re in illusion. We have to work as Allah has ordained us. We have to rely on Allah for Rizq as Allah has declared that in the Quran. Those are two independent things and we mess up when you create this “unconnected” connection.
The materialistic world needs you to think that those two are connected. It’s a tool for them to keep in this rat race. You put yourself in this non-existent and invisible chain (but we all see it as real in our own mind because we create that Chimera in our brain). It’s not surprising. Allah said that this world is nothing but a deception and He created us to test and we’re falling flat on our face in that test. Wake up! You have enslaved yourself to others voluntarily. Break the chain that isn’t even there. It will not just give you success in the hereafter (the ultimate success - as Allah has mentioned in the Quran) but it will also make your life in this world peaceful, free from fearing your boss, employer, politicians, etc. as well as from anxiety, stress, depression, hypertension, and save you from taking all those “life-long” medications.
Now you may question: how about the “reality” that we see surrounding us that the people who work hard are richer and who work less are poorer or in misery? Is that true? First of all, as I mentioned, that's not true because of the resources you were born with (mentioned earlier) that you yourselves never did anything to acquire. Leave that aside if you still want to get some “more proof”. Two types of examples.
First, you are used to see that with your apparent observation, then science proves through experimental proof that you were wrong and you accept them happily:
Do you still claim the earth is flat? But you see it flat right? Even Muslims used to believe that the earth is flat. Until science proved that no you were wrong. The earth is spherical.
Do you still believe the Sun revolves around the earth? But you see it rising and setting everyday. Just until recently we humans used to believe that the Sun and all the heavenly objects revolved around the Earth. Even today we still use the words “sunrise” and “sunset” still today. Until Science proved that your observations are wrong.
Do you still believe the Earth is standing still? But you see it’s still and we move on the Earth. But you now believe after scientists proved that the Earth is rotating 24 thousands mile per hour but you don’t see it. Also it’s moving at the speed of 67 thousands miles per hour and revolving around the Sun but your eyes and all other sensors tell you that it’s standing still devoid of motions.
Do you believe the Sun is larger or brighter than the Stars that you see in the sky? No you don’t. But your eyes deceive you every day and you accept that because you have proved mathematically that they aren’t smaller or dimmer than the Sun. So you are being “deceived” every day but you ignore it because you “know” the truth.
Do you believe that bacteria and viruses cause disease? But you didn’t see it until the invention of the microscope just recently. First time Muslim scientist suggested to wash your hand to prevent disease and later European other scientist proved that there are “unseen” living things that causes diseases. Now you believe them.
Do you believe in ultraviolet, gamma or X-ray ? You don’t see them though. There are lights that our human eyes don’t see but you believe them, pun intended, “blindly”. Because you use some apparatus to prove that. Similarly you don’t hear sounds lower than 20dB and higher than 20,000 dB but you believe them as well after science proved them.
Things even the scientists were first wrong and corrected themselves:
Do you still believe that “Fasting is bad”. Even doctors and scientists used to believe that fasting is harmful for diabetic patients or for acid reflux as they used to advise to eat frequently just recently. Now it’s proven that “Autophagy” in your cells actually cures your type-2 diabetic disease if you fast. Now you believe that even when scientists apparently “observed “ scientifically wrong. Now you believe that. But Allah had mentioned in the Quran that fasting is good for the sick if they only knew.
Have you heard of the Gravity that Newton had proved 300 years ago? He had a “proven” theory that the Gravity comes out of the heavenly bodies like The Sun, the Earth, etc. just like the magnetic force. Until Einstein proved that that’s not true. Gravity is just the curvature of space-time not emoting from the objects.
Scientists had pushed us to believe than they retracted:
Have you heard of Either? It was a “great discovery” that radio waves or other light waves came through the medium “either” as they thought that there must be something to carry the wave or particle. They retracted that claim of “either” later but most of us had accepted their earlier claim. Now we all know that there’s nothing called “either” that exists.
Do you believe that egg yolks cause heart disease? Scientists had “proved” that based on scientific evidence in the nineties so everyone had stopped it. Now they have retracted that a decade ago that the correlations were wrongly attributed. Now they understand the cholesterol better in the combination of HDL, LDL (High buoyancy and low buoyancy), and TG. The directive has now changed and you believe that.
Finally, it’s not proven yet, but do you know that many scientists are claiming that our life is “predetermined”? It will blow your mind that how that is so close, yet not same, to what said in the Quran? That is called Qadr (though there are differences between them) but you see what is happening with our or even Scientists observation, right?
So all these things tell you that what you see isn’t what is really happening. Would you claim based on your apparent visual observations or cognitive reasoning and after all the above examples? There are tons of such examples I can bring but if these aren’t enough then those may not be enough for you. Wake up! Ponder! Free yourself from the illusive and non-existent chain that we ourselves created in our brain!
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