Written Before Time

Whatever is written for a person in this life — the food eaten, the water and drink taken, every form of nourishment that passes into the body — is guaranteed and fixed, decreed long before that person was ever born. This is a matter of ʿaqīdah. No amount of effort brings a person more nourishment than what is already written for him. On the strict, Māturīdī definition given earlier, the funds sitting in a pocket, a credit card or a bank account, and property generally, are not rizq at all in the proper sense; rizq is only what nourishes, gives growth, and sustains a life. This provision belongs to human beings in particular, not to animals, which know nothing of ḥalāl and ḥarām and simply follow their instincts to whatever rizq is set before them; only human beings have the choice of acquiring theirs by a lawful or an unlawful path. Allah (swt) is al-Razzāq, the Provider — the Provider for everyone, for everything, without exception. This is the belief.