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allāhu yabsuṭu r-rizqa li-man yashāʾu wa-yaqdiru wa-fariḥū bi-l-ḥayāti d-dunyā wa-mā l-ḥayātu d-dunyā fī l-ʾākhirati ʾillā matāʿun
Allah expands the provision for whomever He wishes, and tightens it. They boast of the life of this world, but compared with the Hereafter the life of this world is but a [trifling] enjoyment.
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah Ar-Ra‘d – Verse 26
26. “Allah enlarges the sustenance for whomever he pleases and straitens (it for whomever He wishes) and they rejoice in the life of the world, while the life of the world beside the Hereafter is naught but a temporary enjoyment.”
The amplification and the straitening of one’s means of subsistence has been attributed to Allah in this verse, but it goes without saying that the acts of Allah, the Wise, are planned according to pragmatism and are philosophical, as some of its reasons can be seen explained in some verses of the Qur’an and in the Islamic quotations. For instance, committing sin causes changes in the life and means of subsistence of many individuals. We read in the supplication of Kumayl that:
“O’ Allah: Forgive those sins of mine which change the course of the blessings which you have bestowed upon me.”
At times, the differences, which exist in one’s means of subsistence, are because of the trial of these individuals. ‘Surah Al-Baqarah, No. 2, verse 155’ says:
“And We will surely test you (all) with something of fear and hanger and loss of property, lives and fruits; but give glad tidings to the (stead fast) patient.”
At times, being deprived is due to the deprivation which is inflicted on other people from their rights, like the garden which burned under fire, which Surah Al-Qalam No. 68 has made allusion to. At other times, lack of concentration on the circumstances of orphans results in straitening of one’s means of subsistence.
“Nay! But you honour not the orphans.” 53
What is important is the fact that we must not feel rude and arrogant once our means of subsistence is amplified, forgetting everything; nor must we become desperate of everything when our means of subsistence is at stake, for the Divine system is one which is based on His Wisdom and has got trial basis, and it is not based on luck, chance and good omens. Anyway, usually those who are affluent in their means of subsistence and are given sustenance in abundant, tend to forget it and ignore the Hereafter, sticking to the mortal world and its beauty, while this worldly life is nothing else but limited in its scope and is a mortal one as compared to the Hereafter, for the latter is immortal.
The verse says:
“Allah enlarges the sustenance for whomever he pleases and straitens (it for whomever He wishes) and they rejoice in the life of the world, while the life of the world beside the Hereafter is naught but a temporary enjoyment.”
Explanations
One’s means of subsistence depends on Him alone. It is not dependent upon one’s shrewdness, bigotry, breaking of testaments, and cutting off of those relationships which probably require disbursing and giving away. Low scale for means of subsistence is also allocated according to a divine philosophical echelon which is predetermined already.
Footnotes