What is sustenance in Islam?

What is Sustenance in Islam?

If someone hears the word of Allah in the Qur'an:

"And in the heaven is your provision and all that you have been promised." And all what you've been promised.

If you see the words of Allah clearly in the Qur'an saying that your provision has already been written, and you shall see it when the time comes for it — why would anyone worry about the rizq and the provision in this dunya? Why do we keep worrying about that stuff? Why do we keep worrying?

If we know the one who's providing is al-Razzaq — the one who provides. Al-Wahhab — the one who gifts you. Al-Ghani — the absolute rich. Now if you know all of this, why do you worry so much about that? Because we're human beings. Because we are human beings. And uncertainty and anxiety is part of the structure of human beings, because we need that to depend on Him.

Lately people are worrying about the prospect of their jobs, of their professions, and the concern about what's happening around the world. And everybody's asking about the rizq. Well, again, if Allah is the one who guaranteed that to you, why do you worry about sustenance then?

Rizq Is More Than Money

See, brothers and sisters, when it comes to the subject of sustenance and rizq in Islam, it's not just about finding a job or qualifying yourself for specific degrees and so on. That's part of the process. That's part of the asbab — the means to it. But at the end of the day, rizq and sustenance is way beyond just what you do. A lot of it has to do with barakah — a blessing from Allah.

Our ulama speaking on the subject of rizq for Islam and for Muslims said: look, rizq for Muslims is not just money. Rizq, or provision, or sustenance comes in different forms. Peace of mind is rizq as well. Love that you have between your family, your spouse, and your children — that's rizq as well. Having kids is rizq as well. Many, many things that we live and see around us is part of your rizq, part of your provision. So don't just focus on money as your rizq only — it's bigger than that.

Some people might not have as much in terms of their financial provision, but subhanAllah they have little of that, yet they have so much barakah in their life. They're peaceful, they're happy, they're excited. Allah blessed them with family that is, mashaAllah, patient with them, and they deal with things in an amazing way. And others being given so much wealth — alhamdulillah, that rizq has been covered for them — but they have other challenges they have to deal with, because that rizq was not to the extent of others.

So if you look at sustenance and rizq, it is much more than just money. Much more than just that job that you worry about all the time.

Wealth and Spirituality Are Not Contradictions

I want to share with you here about the meaning of having wealth from the Qur'an and the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ — the means by which you can collect that wealth. See, some people think that being wealthy contradicts being righteous or spiritual, and that's not true.

Imam Ahmad was asked this question: is it possible for someone to be zahid — ascetic — and have all this wealth in their hand? To have a thousand dinar, which is like saying hundreds of thousands of dollars in our time. Can someone who owns so much money still be zahid — meaning have that piety, that spirituality, and that ascetic life?

He said: absolutely. He said: as long as this dunya is in your hand, not in your heart. As long as this wealth is in your hand and is not in your heart.

How do we know? How does someone know that this dunya is not in his heart but in his hand? He said: if it increases, it doesn't change you. It doesn't make you any happier because alhamdulillah you're already being covered. And if it decreases, it doesn't make you sad, because you know all comes from Allah and all goes back to Allah. And the one who gave you in the first place is the one who's taking it back, and the one who took it back is going to give it back to you. So you're not pursuing that dunya — you're pursuing the one who's giving it to you and taking it back from you.

Ways to Increase Your Rizq

Brothers and sisters, there are so many ways of collecting that rizq from Allah. And here are some of these methods that we find in the Qur'an and the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ.

1. At-Taqwa — Consciousness of Allah

You need to increase your rizq. The number one thing that you need to focus on — when everybody's worrying about the financial aspects of their life, money, and economy — the first thing is at-taqwa: being conscious of Allah, connected with Allah at all times. Didn't He say:

"Whoever has that taqwa of Allah — if you have that righteousness, that piety and consciousness of Allah — He will give you an exit out of every difficulty, يَجْعَل لَّهُ مَخْرَجًا. And shall provide for them from sources they don't even account for — وَيَرْزُقْهُ مِنْ حَيْثُ لَا يَحْتَسِبُ — like you can't even imagine."

You'll find that rizq comes from different ways. Remember when we talk about rizq, it doesn't have to be money. It doesn't have to be an increase in the money count itself. It could increase in the money's value — the purchasing power that you have on your dollar increases by the blessings of Allah. There are different ways of doing that.

2. Kathrat at-Tawbah wal-Istighfar — Frequent Repentance and Seeking Forgiveness

The second thing is kathrat at-tawbah wal-istighfar — always repent to Allah, seeking His forgiveness. Always saying:

"I seek forgiveness from Allah and I repent to Allah." It is extremely important. Because Allah said that in the Qur'an in Surah Nuh. When Nuh was speaking to his people, what did he say?

He said to his people: "My people, seek forgiveness from Allah. I'm telling you, seek forgiveness from Allah — it's not just beneficial to you in the akhira, it also benefits you in this dunya, in this world as well. إِنَّهُ كَانَ غَفَّارًا — because Allah is often forgiving. يُرْسِلِ السَّمَاءَ عَلَيْكُم مِّدْرَارًا — He will send the rain in abundance upon you."

And rain back then was everything for these people, because they lived in an agricultural society. If the rain comes, they will have vegetation, crops, and they will be able to survive and trade and many things. But Allah will send rain — not necessarily rain from the heavens — but rain in everything around you. وَيُمْدِدْكُم بِأَمْوَالٍ وَبَنِينَ — He will provide for you family and children. وَيَجْعَل لَّكُمْ أَنْهَارًا — And He will give you rivers of khayrat from Allah. All of this because we always say:

"I seek forgiveness from Allah the Magnificent and I repent back to Allah." Provided, my dear brothers and sisters, this all comes sincerely from the heart — not just from the tongue. You don't say أَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّهَ while your actions are completely contradictory to it.

3. Sidq at-Tawakkul — Truthful Reliance on Allah

The third thing that we should focus on to increase our rizq and our sustenance in this dunya is sidq at-tawakkul 'ala Allah — the truthful reliance and tawakkul on Allah. You being truthful about it. Many of us say تَوَكَّلْتُ عَلَى اللَّهِ — but what does it really mean to you? What does that even mean? What if the outcome didn't come in the way that you like? You still put your trust in Allah and you rely on Allah. Is that tawakkul conditional — that you only do that if you get what you wish for? Or do you just trust Allah's judgment no matter what outcome comes from it?

And my job is to do my part. You see, when it comes to the tawakkul, you put in the asbab — the means to acquire that result. I put it there. What is that? Education? I'll take that education. Training? I'll do it. Talking to people, doing whatever is required for me to get that, to have that good business. So I did my part. But then what comes after that? The result is from Allah. No matter what the outcome is, I trust Allah's judgment and I accept that.

The Prophet ﷺ says:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2344; also reported in Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 4164)

"If you truly depend on Allah with your affairs, if you truly have your trust in Allah, He would have provided for you like He does to the birds — they go out in the morning with empty stomachs and return in the evening with full stomachs."

Their life is on a daily basis — they don't live month to month, they live day to day. So they go at the beginning of the day, seeking that rizq of Allah, and they come back with a full stomach every single day. They don't worry about anything besides one day. Us humans, we worry about years to come. We're looking for generational wealth — like what am I going to leave for my children, when you're not even married yet, and you're still worrying about the generational wealth you think about. But still, that's a human — that's the nature of human beings. If we truly trust Allah that He will provide, we will just do the right thing and put our trust in Him.

4. Giving Charity — As-Sadaqah

Another thing that Allah promised will give you rizq — which is very paradoxical to us here — is giving. Being charitable. Look, you're spending your money, you're sending it out, it's going out all over the place. But Allah promised that if you give, He'll give you back. As He said in the Qur'an:

"Whatever you spend for the sake of Allah, He shall replace that for you. He shall give it back. And He is the best to provide." What does that mean? He's not going to give it back equally. You give charity — He will multiply that for you. Again, might not be in number, but in the expanded meaning of rizq, in the other aspects of your life that Allah will provide for you: health, alhamdulillah, family, good life — many other things that other people are complaining about. But that's rizq. So give, and Allah will give you back.

5. Hajj and Umrah

Brothers and sisters, part of it as well — some of the ibadat that increase our rizq — the Prophet ﷺ mentioned: keep doing as many times — do hajj, do umrah. Because they repel poverty and faqr. Allah provides rizq. Sometimes we worry about the expenses of going for hajj, the expenses of going for umrah, but we don't know that Allah will provide so much khair as a barakah of doing that ibadah and that ta'ah. So if you haven't done it yet — what are you waiting for? Make sure to dedicate that time of the year to go for hajj. Make sure to try to go to umrah if you can.

6. Marriage

Another way Allah provides rizq — which is one thing that many people worry about these days — is, believe it or not, actually marriage. Unfortunately, we live in a time when getting married and sustaining a marriage is becoming financially a burden and difficult. Although the Prophet ﷺ mentioned that the less the burden, the more the barakah in our marriages. And that's what Allah promised in the Qur'an:

"Marry off the free singles amongst you." He said: marry them off if you can. Do it. And He said: if they are poor, Allah will provide for them. A lot of our young brothers and sisters — the singles — they worry about getting married because they look at the financial burden. But sometimes when you become, hopefully, responsible after you get married, you start calculating your dollars very well and saving them very well. But as long as you don't have that much responsibility, you don't know where your money is going because you're spending on things that might not be fruitful. Allah promised: if you do it for the sake of Allah to protect yourself from the fitnah, Allah promised He will provide for you.

7. Gratitude — Ash-Shukr

Finally, my dear brothers and sisters, part of also getting that provision from Allah is being grateful for whatever you have. Because Allah, when He divided the provision, it was by measure. Everything goes down from Allah with measure. Some Allah has given more than others. But does it mean that Allah preferred these people over those people? That's not what it is. Because some of those who have more — their fitnah is really in having more. And others who have less — their fitnah is being patient with that situation. So the test is always there, whether you have less or more. But everything goes by measure. And Allah promised — by saying:

He made it upon Himself as a promise to you: "If you are grateful to me, I shall increase you in the rizq and the provision." So give, and be grateful, and accept, and be grateful. Always be grateful to Allah and you will be happy with that.

Al-Ghani: True Richness vs. Mere Wealth

Brothers and sisters, when it comes to Allah, I want to mention this very important thing. The Arabic word for rich — we say ghani. And we know that one of the names of Allah is Al-Ghani. But what does it mean exactly? There is another word in Arabic called thari, and thari comes from tharwa — meaning abundance. That talks about the abundance of wealth.

But Allah did not call Himself Thari — He called Himself Al-Ghani. Why is that? Because Al-Ghani means self-sufficiency. You don't depend on anybody — independence from the need of anybody. That's the meaning of being Al-Ghani. How much wealth you have — that's irrelevant.

So some of us might be thari — meaning we have abundance of wealth — but we are still poor. Poor because it's never enough for us, and you always worry about losing it. You don't enjoy life because of that. So yes, you have the money, but you're not rich — you're only wealthy. And that wealth is not giving you the peace of mind that you're hoping it will give you.

But being rich — that's when it comes to ar-rida — being grateful and having that satisfaction of Allah's provision. If you have that, you will truly be rich. Meaning even if you don't have much, but alhamdulillah, you're very independent, self-sufficient, you're very content with that — you will find happiness and joy.

May Allah provide us all the ni'am of the dunya and the akhirah. I say this and ask Allah's forgiveness, and to the Muslims — ask His forgiveness. Indeed, He is the Forgiving, the Merciful.

Second Khutbah: Rizq Comes to Those Who Seek It

Alhamdulillah, and peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon his family and companions.

One of the scholars says a beautiful word:

Which means: rizq provision comes to those who take the steps — those who seek the means to acquire that rizq — not just for those who sit down, make du'a, and hope Allah will provide for them. The du'a is crucial to get the rizq of Allah — no doubt about it — but it doesn't work unless you take that effort.

As Allah described that to us in many examples. One of them is the example of Maryam, the mother of 'Isa (peace be upon him). She was a young lady who had just given birth to a child — alone, no help, nobody around to support her except for Allah. She was hungry, exhausted, and tired. And Allah still tells her: shake the palm tree, and the fresh dates will come down to you so you can eat.

Allah could have actually brought those dates down to her directly, because we know He used to provide for her when she was alone in the place of worship — provision was given to her without even question. He could have provided for her at that moment. But He wants to teach us a lesson: I need to take that effort so I can provide from Allah.

Be a Carrier of Rizq for Others

Also, Allah can use you to be the source of rizq to somebody else. And that's what is happening. May Allah make it easy for our brothers and sisters — the whole world has abandoned them and is deliberately trying to starve them. And everybody is trying — alhamdulillah, from the Ummah, we're trying our best to go and deliver as much as we can — to be the carriers of that rizq from Allah to our brothers and sisters.

Allah is using us — using our effort, our wealth — to help and support. Are you being part of this? Are you worrying about this? Not just taking that rizq — are you sharing it right now? I want you to think about this. Making this an opportunity — the more you give, sincerely for the sake of Allah, Allah will give you back. That's our duty. The least we could do for our brothers and sisters is to support them in this difficult time.

So make sure to ask Allah for that rizq, work for that rizq, and share it with others. And be grateful to Allah.