Yaser Birjas – What Is Sustenance In Islam
![Yaser Birjas](https://artwork.muslimcentral.com/yaser-birjas-150x150.jpg)
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
My dear brothers and sisters,
if someone hears the word of Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala in the Quran
and you shall find your provision written in
heavens
and all what you've been promised.
If you see the words of Allah
clearly in the Quran
saying that your provision has already been written
and you shall see it when the time
comes for it. Why would any worry about
the risk under provision in this dunya? Why
do we keep worrying about that stuff?
Why do we keep worrying if we know
the one who is providing is a razzab,
the one who provides
Al Wahhab, the one who gifts you, Al
Ghani, the ultimate, the absolute rich Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala.
Now, if you know all of this, why
do we worry so much about that? Because
we're human beings.
Because we are human beings.
And uncertainty
and anxiety is part of the structure of
human beings because we need that to depend
on Him
Lately, people, they're worrying about the prospect of
their jobs,
of their professions,
and the concern about what's happening around the
world, and everybody's asking, you know, about the
risk.
Well, again, if Allah
is the one who
guaranteed that to you, why you worry about
sustenance then?
See brothers and sisters, when it comes to
the subject of sustenance and risk in Islam,
it's not just about finding a job or
qualify yourself for specific, you know,
degrees and so on. That's part of the
process, That's part of the asbaab, the means
to it. But at the end of the
day, a risk and sustenance
is way beyond just what you do.
A lot of it had to do to
be barakah, a blessing from Allah
Our ulama, speaking on the subject of risk
for Islam and for Muslims,
said look, a risk for Muslims is not
just money.
Risk or provision or sustenance comes in different
forms.
Peace of mind is risk as well.
Love that you have between your family and
your spouse and your children, that risk as
well. Having kids is risk as well. Many,
many things that we live, that we see
around us is part of your risk, part
of your provision.
So don't just focus on money as your
risk only. It's bigger than that.
You might some people might not have as
much in terms of their financial provision,
but subhanAllah, they have little of that, but
they have so much barakah in their life.
They're peaceful,
they're happy, they're excited,
Allah bless them with families, MashaAllah is patient
with them and they deal with things in
an amazing way, And others being given so
much wealth, alhamdulillah,
that risk has been covered for them, but
they have other challenges they have to deal
with because that risk was not to the
extent of others.
So, if you look at sustenance and risk,
it's much more than just money, much more
than just that job that you worry about
all the time.
I want to share with you inshaAllah
here about the meaning of being of having
wealth from the Quran and the sun of
the prophet and the means by which you
can collect that wealth. See, Imam Maham
because some people, they think that being wealthy,
contradicts being righteous or spiritual,
that's not true. Imam
Ahmad
was asked this question, he says, is
it possible for someone to be zahid
Like, is it possible for someone to be
zahid, means acidic,
and has all, all this wealth in their
hand to have a 1,000
dinar, which means like saying like 100 of
1,000 of dollars in overtime.
Can someone who owns so much money still
be zahid, which means have that piety
and that spirituality
and ascetic life?
He says absolutely,
He
said,
As long as this dunya
is in your hand, not in your heart.
As long as this wealth is in your
hand and is not in your heart.
How do we know?
How does someone know that this dunya is
not in his in his heart, it's in
his hand?
So, if it increases,
it doesn't doesn't change you, it doesn't make
you any happier because of hamdulillah you've already
been covered,
and if it decreases,
it doesn't make you sad
because you know all comes from Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala and all goes back to Allah
And the one who gave you in the
first place, he's the one who's taken it
back, and the one who took it back,
he's going to give it back to
you So you're not pursuing that dunya, you're
pursuing the one who's given it to you
and taking it back from you.
Brothers and sisters, there are so many ways
of collecting the rizq from Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala and here are some of these methods
that we'll find in the Quran and the
sun of the prophet
You need to increase your rizq.
The number one thing that you need to
focus on when everybody is worrying about the
financial
aspects of their life and and and money
and economy,
the first thing he says,
being conscious of Allah
connected with
Allah at all times. Then he says,
Whoever has that taqwa of Allah, if you
have that righteousness and that piety and consciousness
of Allah
He will give you an exit out of
every difficulty.
And
shall provide for them from sources they don't
even account for. Like you can't even imagine.
You'll find that risk comes from different ways.
Remember, we talk about risk, it doesn't have
to be money, doesn't have to be increase
in the money,
the count itself.
It could increase in the money value itself
that you have in your hand. The purchase
power that you have in your dollar increases
by the blessings of Allah
There are different ways of doing
that. The second thing, says
Always repent to Allah
seeking his forgiveness.
Always saying subhanahu. So you think I ask
for Allah
I
seek forgiveness from Allah and I repent to
Allah
It is extremely important because Allah
he said that in the Quran in Surat
Nuh, when Nuh was speaking to his people,
what did he say?
William
did
He said to his people, my people seek
forgiveness from Allah. I'm telling you seek forgiveness
from Allah
Says it's not just beneficial to you in
the akhira, it also benefits you in this
in this dunya,
in this world as well.
He says,
because Allah is often forgiving
and
he will send the rain in abundance upon
you.
And rain back then was everything for these
people because they lived off agricultural society.
If the rain comes, they will have vegetation,
they have crops, and they will be able
to survive and trade and many things for
them. But Allah will send rain, not necessarily
rain from the heavens, but rain in everything
around you.
He will provide for you family
and children.
And he will give you rivers of khairat
from Allah
All of this because we always say
I seek forgiveness from Allah
and I repent back to Allah
Provided my dear brothers and sisters,
this all comes sincerely from the heart,
not just from the tongue.
You don't say astaghfirullah, but your actions are
completely contradictory to it.
You all need to do that.
The third thing that we should focus on
to increase our risk and our sustenance in
this dunya
is
the truthful
reliance
and tawakkul on Allah
You're being truthful about it. Many of us
will say hamtawakkull to Allah. Okay, kalastaukkal to
Allah. But what does that really mean to
you? What does that even mean? What if
the outcome didn't come in the way that
you like?
You still put your trust in Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala and you rely on Allah
Is that tawakul conditional
that you only do that if you get
what you wish for or you just trust
Allah Subha'an judgment no matter what outcome comes
from it? And my job is to do
my part. You see, when it comes to
the tawakkul,
you put the in,
like the means to acquire that result, I
put it there. What is that education? I'll
take that education. Training? I'll do it.
Talking to people, doing this, doing whatever that
is required for me to get that, to
have that good business, alhamdulillah, biamin. So I
did my part. But then what comes after
that, the results from Allah
No matter what the outcome is, I trust
Allah's judgment and I accept that. The prophet
says,
If you truly
depend on Allah
with your affairs, if you truly have your
trust in Allah
he would have provided for you like he
does to the birds.
They go their life is on daily aspects.
They don't live month to month, they live
day to day.
So, they go at the beginning of the
day, they go out seeking the risk of
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and they come back
full stomach.
Every single day. They don't worry about anything
besides one day. Us humans worry about years
to come.
We're looking for generational wealth,
like why do I want to live for
my children? You're not even married yet.
And you're still worrying about the generational wealth
that you think about.
But still, that's a human that's the nature
of human beings. If we truly trust Allah
that He will provide, we will just do
the right thing and you put our trust
in Him
Another thing that Allah
promised that will give you rizq, which is
very paradoxical to us here, is giving,
being charitable.
Look, you're spending your money, you're sending it
out.
It's going out all over the place, but
Allah promised that if you give, I'll give
you back. As he said in the Quran,
Whatever you spend for the sake of Allah
He shall replace that for you.
He shall give it back.
And he's the best to provide. What does
that mean? He's not gonna give it back
equally.
He would not give it back equally. You
give charity, he multiply that for you. Again,
might not be in number
but in the expanding meaning of risk.
In the other aspects of your life that
Allah will provide for you health,
family, good life, many other things that other
people are complaining about probably.
But that's risk, so give and Allah
will give you back.
Brothers and sisters,
part of it as well too, some of
the ibaydat that increase our risk as well.
Minha, the prophet
mentioned, tawbein
al Hajjul Umrah, like keep doing as many
times. Do Hajj do Umrah, he said,
because they repel poverty and fakr. Like, Allah
provide risk.
Sometimes we worry about the expenses of going
for Hajj, expenses of going for Umrah, but
we don't know but SubhanAllah will provide so
much khair as a barakah of doing that
hibad and that ta'a.
So if you haven't done it yet, what
are you waiting for?
Make sure
they dedicate that time, that that time, insha
Allahu Ta'ala, of the year to go for
Hajj. Make sure to try to go to
Umrah if you can, inshaAllah,
Tabarakah Wa Ta'ala.
Another way Allah subhanahu provides risk,
which is one thing that many people worry
about these days, is really is believe it
or not, is actually marriage.
Unfortunately, we live in a time that getting
married and sustaining marriage is becoming financially a
burden. Difficult.
Although the prophet
he mentioned that the less the burden, the
more the barakah in our in our marriages.
And that's what Allah promised in the Quran.
Marry off the free singles among you, he
said, Subhanahu wa ta'ala, marry them all. If
you can, do it. And he said, Subhanahu
wa ta'ala,
If they're poor, Allah will provide for them.
You know, a lot of our young brothers
and sisters are singles. They worry about getting
married because they look at the financial burden.
You know, sometimes when you become hopefully responsible
after you get married, you start now calculating
your dollars very well
and saving them very well. But as long
as you don't have that much responsibility,
you don't know you don't know where your
money is going,
because you're spending on things that might not
be fruitful for you in that moment.
So Allah promised, if you do it, you
do it for the sake of Allah to
protect yourself from the fitna.
Allah promised, I will provide for you.
Finally, my dear brothers and sisters,
part of also getting that provision from Allah
is,
Ashukr, being grateful.
Being grateful for whatever you have.
Because Allah when He divided a risk,
he divided the provision,
it was by measure.
Everything goes down from Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
with measure.
Some Allah has given them more than others,
but doesn't mean that Allah preferred these people
over these people. That's not what it is.
Because some of those who who have more,
their fitna is really in having more.
And and others who have less, their fitna
will be patient with that situation.
So the fitna is always a test, is
always there, whether you have less or more.
But everything goes by measure. And Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala promised by saying,
And Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala,
He made it upon Himself as a promise
to you that if you're grateful to me,
I shall increase you in the rizq and
the provision.
And you give,
and you be grateful, and you accept,
and you be grateful. So always being grateful
to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and you will
be happy with that. Brothers and sisters, when
it comes to Allah I want to just
mention this very important thing.
The word the Arabic word for rich is
is we say, Gani.
And we know that one of the names
of Allah
is Al Gani,
but what does it mean exactly? There's another
word in Arabic called and
comes from
means abundance, that that talks about the abundance
of wealth.
But Allah did not call himself
He called himself
Why is that? Because Al Gani means self
sufficiency.
You
don't depend on anybody, independence from the need
to anybody, that's what the meaning of being
a need.
How much wealth you have, that's irrelevant.
So some of us some of us might
be 30,
which means we have abundance of wealth,
but we're still poor.
Poor because it's never enough for us
and you always worry about losing it. You
don't enjoy life because of that.
So yes, you have the money but you're
not
rich, you're only wealthy.
And that wealth has not given you that
peace of mind that you're hoping I will
give you.
But being rich, that's when it comes to
a rida, being grateful
and have that satisfaction
of Allah provision.
If you have that, you will be you'll
truly be rich.
Meaning even if you have not much, but
Alhamdulillah, you're very independent,
self sufficient.
You're very content with that and you will
find happiness and joy. May Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala provide us in the name of the
dunya and the akhirarbaalamin.
My dear brothers and sisters, one of the
ulema says a beautiful word called Arisku limansa'a,
which
means
a risk provision comes to those who take
the
steps, those who seek the means
to acquire that rizq,
not just for those who sit down and
make du'a and hope Allah will provide for
them.
A du'a is crucial to get the risk
of Allah, no doubt about it. But it
doesn't work unless you take that effort, as
Allah Subhanahu wa'ala described that to us in
many examples, one of them the example of
Miriam, the mother of Isa
She was a young lady, just gave birth
right now to a child, alone, no help,
no sust no nobody around to support her
except for Allah
And then she's hungry, exhausted, and tired,
and Allah still tells her,
Shake the palm tree,
and the fresh date will come down to
you so you can eat it.
Allah could have actually brought that date down
to her directly because we know he used
to provide for her when she was alone
in the Maghba in the in the place
of worship.
Provision was given to her without even question.
He could have provided for her at that
moment, but he wants to teach us a
lesson. I need to take that effort so
I can provide, and provide
from Allah
Also, Allah
could use you to be the source of
risk to somebody else.
And that's what is happening, Alhamdulillah. May Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala make it easy for our
brothers and sisters.
The
whole world abandoned them
and deliberately tried to starve them.
And everybody is trying Alhamdulillah from the ummah,
we're trying our best to go and deliver
as much as we can, to be the
carriers of that risk from Allah
to our brothers and sisters.
Allah is using us,
using us, using our effort,
our wealth to help and support.
Are you being part of this?
Are you worrying about this?
Like not just taking that risk, are you
sharing it right now?
I want you to think about this inshaAllah,
making this an opportunity
that the more you give inshaAllah sincerely for
the sake of Allah, Allah will give you
back.
That's our duty, our response, the least we
could do for our brothers and sisters to
support them in this difficult time.
So make sure to ask Allah for that
risk, work for that risk, and share it
with others and be grateful to Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala.