The Steps to Rizq

The Steps to Rizq

Opening and Praise

All praise due to Allah and His praise and blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad his family, his companions and his followers until the day of judgment. I bear witness that Allah is the only one worthy of worship and Muhammad his last and final messenger.

The Divine Decree of Rizq

My brothers and sisters, one of the things that we're very familiar with as Muslims is that Allah have already decreed for each and every one of us his rizq or her provision. So whatever rizq and provision that it is decided for you, you will have it. And that's something already connected to you before even you come to this dunya.

(Source Name)

And the Prophet said: When you're still in your mother's womb, Allah already took care of your rizq that he will send an angel to write down what kind of provision that you will receive in this life. يُؤْمَرُ بِأَرْبَعِ كَلِمَاتٍ بِأَجَلِهِ وَرِزْقِهِ وَشَقِيٌّ هُوَ أَمْ سَعِيدٌ So we were written what exactly is your provision in this life.

(Source Name)

And also the Prophet said in the hadith which is authentic: If a son of Adam runs away from the provision that Allah has decided for him like the way you run from death, your provision will catch up with you like the death will catch up with you as well. In another word, you will never die and there is one cent that was decided for you that you didn't receive yet.

You will not die and there is one cent Allah never decided that you will have that you will be able to get. So what Allah has decided for you, you will receive it. As the scholars said:

If you don't know the address where you find your provision, provision knows exactly where you are and it will come.

The Necessity of Taking Means

But it's a unique concept. This rizq will not come without you taking the means and taking the steps that will lead you to receive that provision that Allah has promised and made for you. That's why Allah said:

Walk in the earth seeking the provision. So you walk and you travel seeking the provision and consume what Allah has provided to you and don't forget the end - Allah said that you will return to Him.

When the salah finishes, which is Jumu'ah, you go and you start seeking the provision and what Allah has provided for you.

Trusting in Allah's Promise

(Bukhari 844)

Whatever, ya Allah, you promised to give or you're giving, nobody can prevent it. And whatever you hold back, nobody can give.

So our rizq, as Allah said is saying that your provision is in the heavens - it is written or Allah has it in the safe tablet what exactly your provision is. Then Allah said: "By the Lord of the heavens and the earth, it is absolutely true!" When a person heard that, he said: "Who made Allah angry that He needed to make an oath and to swear by saying 'By Allah it is true'?"

The Balance Between Dunya and Akhirah

Al-Hasan al-Basri commented on this verse by saying:

Al-Hasan al-Basri said: "Always we found those who seek the akhirah, the dunya comes to them, but we never heard of someone who was seeking dunya and the akhirah came to them - it is the other way around."

That is why the Prophet said:

(Ibn Majah 4105)

The Prophet said: "In the morning, if their akhirah is biggest concern..." You know when you wake up late, your biggest concern is that you were late for fajr, your biggest concern is that you missed sunnah al-fajr, your biggest concern is that you don't have enough time to read your Quran today - versus you wake up in the morning: "I'm late for a job" and this is your biggest concern. You wake up in the morning and the biggest concern is "what's the update, what's the email, what's my boss said, what's the report said?" It's a big difference between the two attitudes.

And the Prophet said if the one who the akhirah is his biggest concern, the dunya will come to him and Allah will make the dunya come to him. But that, as I said, does not mean that we don't seek the means that will bring provision for us. Allah wants us to be strong, wants us to be rich. The Prophet used to make du'a in Sahih Muslim on a constant basis. He said constantly, on a regular basis, the Prophet used to say:

(Muslim 2721) - part of his du'a: "Ya Allah, make me rich so I'm not in need of anyone." It is the best thing that you will be the upper hand, the giver, not just the taker. There is no doubt about that.

Beyond Material Means

So many times when we talk about the means that increase your rizq and provision, we only focus on materialistic means. And I'm not denying that this is natural - you think about materialistic things or very clear points. You know, economists and people who have background in business will tell you: if you want to improve your income, do 1, 2, 3. But also Sharia told us that there are other reasons that bring blessings to your income, bring blessings to your rizq, increase your rizq. And that's something Allah decided for you. When you do that, Allah puts more barakah in whatever Allah is giving you.

And nothing can bless the wealth and the money that is in your hand like being among ahl al-tawheed, like being among the people who worship Allah alone, and their hearts are always attached to Allah alone. They never look to any other than Allah, they never depend on a creation, they never feel that their provision is in the hand of any human being or any creation... But the Quran is a book of guidance, not a book of finance, not a book of business. He wants to connect you to Allah while you are seeking that thing that is very materialistic, which is money and wealth.

Prayer and Family Obligations

Allah is saying: "Order your family to pray and be patient with that. It takes family members to commit themselves to pray on time." And He said: "We are not asking you for any provision. The provision comes from us to you. And the one who possesses taqwa will have the best end."

That if you basically have taqwa, you wouldn't even need to worry about your rizq that Allah will bring to you.

One of the scholars said: "We never heard of someone who committed himself to this verse who ever became poor."

Allah brings to them a provision from where they didn't expect.

Real-Life Example of Tawakkul

Here in this masjid, a young man came to me and he said: "Sheikh," he was about to do something haram, a business which is not allowed. And I told him: "Have taqwa of Allah, (اتَّقِ الله - Ittiqillah)" I said to him, "and fear Allah, and think twice about it. It is much better to please..." It was his wife actually, pushing him to buy a house in a way that he believed was absolutely haram and to involve in a business that he knew was absolutely haram. And he said: "She's putting so much pressure on me."

I said: "Who will you have taqwa from more? Allah or your wife?" And he said: "Allah." And I said: "Just tell your wife that both of us, if we fear Allah more than poverty, if we fear Allah more than anyone else, and we do what we know and believe is correct and right, Allah will never put us down."

In less than four months, he came back to me and told me that on Highway 10, where they were fixing the I-10, they came to his land - one of the contractors - and put a huge load of sand. And they offered him to put that sand on his land, and they offered to guarantee for 99 years that it is not contaminated. And guess what? They gave him about a quarter million dollars just to put that sand on his land.

And he said: "Sheikh, it didn't stop here. After they put that mountain of sand, which made my land very beautiful, in the area there was a developer who came and started purchasing the sand from me." He said: "Wallahi, the trucks will come from this door to basically unload the sand, and I will let it go from the other door, and this way it comes with money, goes out with another amount of money." And he made about a million dollars that year.

The Sincerity Factor

And this is just not a single story - there are so many. When Allah... even sometimes the 'ata (gift) is not necessarily money; it could be satisfaction in your heart. But if you do this because you do it for the sake of more money to come, you're not doing it for Allah, you're doing it for the reward. Someone said: "Sheikh, I tried it, I didn't get any money." Yeah, because you did it for the money, you didn't do it for Allah. And when you do it sincerely for Allah, Allah will never put you down.

Seeking Forgiveness

Also, one of the things that brings provision and increases our provision is what Allah said :

His people, Nooh, seek Allah's forgiveness. Say:

What will happen? Allah will send the rain which will bring basically... let your land grow. And He will provide you with wealth and children and gardens and rivers.

(Abu Dawud 1518)

Those who say a lot of istighfar, the Prophet said Allah will bring ease to them from every difficulty that they're going through and an exit from every situation that they feel they are stuck in, and will bring them a provision from where they never expected.

Trust in Allah

Also, one of the things that we found in the Quran is what Allah said:

Those who put their trust in Allah - Allah is their sufficient. He is the one who will solely take care of their affairs.

(Tirmidhi 2344)

The Prophet said: If you truly put your trust in Allah the way you should, He would provide for you like the birds - they leave in the morning with empty stomachs and return to their nests with their bellies filled.

Maintaining Family Ties

(Bukhari 2067)

Also, our Prophet told us something interesting. He said: Those who would like to increase their provision, have more income, and Allah increased their life that person should always be connected with his kinship or dutiful to his kinship.

Your family... unfortunately we live in a time - it's our culture in America here - that we only care for the nuclear family. We only know the brothers, the sisters, the parents, the grandparents and the uncles maybe. But we don't even go farther, especially those who have family overseas or live in another state. You will find that they don't know each other. They don't even know the names of their cousins.

You know, in my own experience, I ask a lot of kids: "Who are your grandparents?" They don't know. They don't know their names. And I'm telling you, I tried this. You try it with any of the kids around you and ask them about their distant relatives. They don't know any of them. What about the mother's side, the khala, the cousins from the mother's side, from the father's side? Unfortunately, there's no connection with the family members today.

Spending in Allah's Path

One of the things that increases your provision a lot is what Allah said in Surah Saba :

Whatever you spend for the sake of Allah, Allah not only... Allah will give you a replacement for it in the dunya and in the akhirah. And He is the best provider.

Minbar AI — The largest open library of Friday Khutbah transcripts.