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In this reminder, Shaykh Mirza Yawar Baig refers to his book and lecture series on Rizq:
- Book: Rizq – Obtained or Ordained?
- Lecture series: The Question of Rizq – Obtained or Ordained? (Standard Bearers Academy)
Auto-generated transcript:
Al-Rahim, Alhamdulillahi Rabbil ‘Alameen. Wa Salatu wa Salamu ala Ashrafi al-Anbiya’ wa al-Mursaleen Muhammad wa Rasulullah Sallallahu alayhi wa ala alihi wa sahbihi salam. Tasliman kathiran kathiran. Faham abadu.
My brothers and sisters, we are looking at the hikmah, the words of wisdom of Prophetﷺ. He spoke about things that are taught to us and which Allahﷻ makes manifest in our lives. He previously said that whoever creates something for someone else is created by Him, and whatever He gives from His end is given through Him. Similarly, I have tried to cultivate love for worship because it will accompany me after my death, just as anyone who loves another person speaks kindly to them. The Quran mentions this regarding your Lord: stay with Him and choose what pleases Him; do what you wish, but keep yourself away from your own whims and imaginary actions. Regarding worldly matters, look at what is best for your friends. Allah says, “Allah is with him.” Similarly, whatever I do for myself’s sake, listen to that first. Be like Allah Subhanahu wa Ta’ala when you meet Allah Subhanahu wa Ta’ala. He told people to start with small things—names, worship, and acts of devotion. Leave good choices and elections and other things in the world behind. Then feel connected to those things. They make a human being suitable. Allah Ta’ala said everyone is equal. And the one most dear among you is the one who is most pious. So I have tried to be pious, I have tried to ensure I develop piety.
Now, in this context, there is a wonderful story about a man who came to Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal and asked, “O Imam, what is your opinion on poetry?” The man recited the whole poem, but Imam Ahmad only listened to the first two couplets. He said, “If my Rabb asks me, ‘Did you have any shyness? Did you hesitate in disobeying Me?’ while you conceal your sins from My creation, yet you come to me…” He meant: if my Lord asks me, did you have any shame or hesitancy in disobeying Him, whereas you hide your faults from His creation? This dynamic also applies. You should not even look at them. Think about it. A simple thing like smoking. Smoking is haram. You should not do it. But if people do, someone with some ghira (shame), some haya (modesty), will not smoke in front of his mother or father. He will go hide somewhere to smoke, or speak in front of friends outside, but never in front of parents. That is why I say people who have ghira, Insha’Allah—because today in some cases you don’t even have that—but they won’t do it because you don’t want to show something which you know is wrong. You won’t do it in front of your parents. Similarly, it’s a very bad thing to use bad language or tell vulgar jokes. People who do that sit in their own circle and talk all this. But in front of their parents, you will not tell a vulgar joke or use bad language. You should not use it anyway, but especially in front of them. Because there is a Higher One above. Now my point is, if we don’t even do this in front of our parents, how much more should we not do it before Allah Subhanahu wa Ta’ala? Allah Subhanahu wa Ta’ala is the All-Knowing, the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing. He knows what we see, He knows what we think, He sees everything. How can we then act in ways that are not best for Allah Subhanahu wa Ta’ala to perceive?
Among the best questions regarding Prophetﷺ is about insulting others due to jealousy. They were jealous of someone, so he said, “However, I read in the Quran that Allah Subhanahu wa Ta’ala said: ‘Do they distribute the mercy of your Lord?’ No! We have apportioned among them their sustenance in worldly life, and We will raise some of them over others by degrees.” Allah says, “Allah does not speak like that, nor do I address people like that.” I know that the right to speak freely belongs to Allah Subhanahu wa Ta’ala. That is why I am not the most knowledgeable or the one with the strongest intention. This was established by Allah. So I am not such that I feel superior to anyone else, nor do I intend anything against anyone. Now, forget this here; ask about rizq (sustenance). Is it abundant or restricted? I have done something in between twice, and I have also done something in between on that matter. And I wrote a book about it under that name. It is available on Amazon now. The point being that Allahﷻ has said in this verse and several other verses in the Quran that Allahﷻ is the one who gives us our rizq, and Allahﷻ expands it or constricts it as He wishes. In another place, Allahﷻ said:
قُلْ إِنَّ رَبِّي يَبْسُطُ الرِّزْقَ لِمَنْ يَشَاءُ وَيَقْدِرُ وَلَكِنْ أَكْثَرَ النَّاسِ لَا يَعْلَمُ
(Qul inni Rabbii yabsutu r-riqqa liman yashao wa yaqdiru walakin akthara an-nasi la ya’lamu)
Say, “My Lord is the one who expands sustenance for whom He wills and restricts it, but most people do not know.”
So, first thing to understand is that Allah is the One Who Gives. So if Allah gives somebody something, alhamdulillah. If Allah gave you more, alhamdulillah. If Allah gives you less, alhamdulillah. That is the first thing. Second thing is, feeling jealous because somebody has something that you don’t have. This is the worst of characteristics and the worst conduct of anybody. We should never do that. One of the Salafis said that the blessing which Allah gives someone loves that person more than the person loves the blessing. The blessing which Allah gives someone loves the person more than the person loves the blessing. So if you are jealous of that, if you feel, “Oh, why did he get it? I should have got it,” then there is a second level of jealousy where somebody says, “I wish that gets destroyed.” For example, so-and-so has this beautiful car; I hope he has an accident. May Allah have mercy on us. People are like this. They think like this: “Why does he have this car?” But when you act upon it, I said, “For Allah’s sake, let it be for Him.” Because what happens to him in his worldly life belongs to you as well, since you are part of the same community. He will not do anything for your worldly life. Therefore, whatever happens to him in his worldly life, it goes to you. Or perhaps you will weep for them. If one person is given a beautiful provision, you do not give it to another. What will you say? Say “Masha’Allah” (ما شاء الله).
This is the thing to do. Do not feel jealous about it. Someone has something, so-and-so has something else. Say Masha’Allah, Alhamdulillah. Allah has given; may Allah Ta’ala put barakah in this for them. Barakah Allahulak. May Allah Ta’ala give barakah to you. You don’t have to know the Arabic to say everything in Arabic. You can say it in your own language, but the idea is to say this and to feel this genuinely, not just recite the words. So this is a very great mistake. May Allah protect us from it. Another wrong thing that people do: because you are mistaken, when you speak about them, you will inevitably commit gheebah (backbiting) or namimah (slander/insinuation). For example, if someone says, “A person who eats well,” and you know what they actually did… how much money they spent on food. If you say nothing bad directly, but imply it by saying, “Oh brother, he ate all his wealth,” then just the connotation—the insinuation towards that person where you are trying to malign them—is now gheebah. With this gheebah and namimah, which involves insinuations and situations, you are destroying yourself. You are destroying your own amal (deeds). Your amal go to that person. I mean, do you really think we have so many good deeds that we can afford to give some to this one, some to that one? And that happens because of jealousy. Because if you love somebody, if you want good for them, you will not say anything bad about them. So jealousy is the thing which creates this destruction.
And here our matter affects the community and the Ummah as a whole; it destroys our internal unity. People sit with us in gatherings. We have seen many such instances. May Allah guide us. Our small matters. That is why He wants to reduce this. And if understanding reaches people, He wants to reduce it. Allah Subhanahu wa Ta’ala wants to protect His creation from this reduction.
May Allah open the doors for khair and barakah for us also, Insha’Allah.