Rizq Comes to Those Who Seek It

Many people do not understand this concept. Were reliance on Allah (swt) truly as complete as it is for the animals, the birds, the insects, rizq would come without the seeking of it in the true sense of the word. Is it possible that Allah (swt) could open a mouth and place food directly into it? Yes, it is possible, if Allah wills it — but Allah (swt) will never do this. It would be against ḥikmah, against wisdom: Allah (swt) has set asbāb, causes. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) says that were a person truly to believe in Allah (swt), to rely on Him a hundred per cent as the birds do, he would leave his nest with an empty stomach and return to it with a full one — but reliance on Allah (swt) is not, in practice, at that hundred per cent; it is claimed, but the actions show otherwise. Allah (swt) loves those who make tawakkul toward Him:

Were you to rely upon Allah (swt) as He rightly should be relied on, He would provide your rizq for you as He provides for the birds, which go out hungry in the morning and return full in the evening. Allah (swt) never forgets anyone's rizq, never will. To worry that not working will mean Allah (swt) gives no rizq at all is, naʿūdhu billāh, also wrong — work should still be sought, and rizq asked for, but that rizq will come regardless, whether it is liked or not; only, the condition Allah (swt) sets is that the work still has to be done.

A spider's nest — bayt al-ʿankabūt — is often found in a dark, damp corner of a place of worship. The spider is a blind creature; it cannot see anything at all, and yet not a single spider worries about its rizq, its sustenance, because it possesses true, genuine tawakkul from Allah (swt). There are leaves on certain trees, over almost three hundred metres from the ground, and the water and nourishment that comes up from the soil travels all the way up to them; birds nest there, and Allah (swt) does not forget them either. A worm that lives beneath a rock constantly makes dhikr of Allah (swt), makes tawakkul in Allah (swt). The eagle that soars in the heavens finds its rizq exactly suited to its own particular design, nothing less and nothing more, and none of them ever complain.

One of the friends of Allah (swt), one of His great servants, was given by Allah (swt) the ability to hear the dhikr and the tasbīḥāt of everything in creation, and he asked to hear the tasbīḥ of a particular falcon. When he heard it for the first time, he fainted; he could not handle it, it was so overwhelming — the dhikr of Allah (swt) in that creature. Every part of creation other than the jinn and mankind shows full tawakkul in Allah (swt). There are billions upon billions of species of animals, and not one of them dies of hunger, and not one of them ever complains to Allah (swt) about a lack of sustenance, because they trust in Allah (swt), purely and simply — the moment their own tasbīḥāt is finished, their life comes to its end. The human being, by contrast, is the worry pot: thinking himself in control of his own destiny, and so making, at times, a great many mistakes — one of which is this constant worry: what is going to happen to me, is somebody going to hurt me, is somebody going to sack me, is somebody going to do this to me. Nothing can do anything to anybody without the permission of Allah (swt).