Lesson 6 of 6 · Where to go, and who the right help is
If one thing stays with you
Let it be this.
The money problem and the worry about the money problem are two different things, and only one of them is fixed by information. The loop runs both ways, which means being stuck in it is not a verdict on your character.
Nobody can read your standing with Allah off your bank balance, including you. The bird is provided for and the bird goes out, and tawakkul is placed after the deciding rather than instead of it.
And the not knowing is the fuel. One number, once, chosen by you, stays with you, and it is a fixed object rather than whatever your worst hour can imagine.
Qur’an and Sunnah
Nobody can read your standing with Allah off your bank balance, including you. This is the half of the passage that says it about wealth.
فَأَمَّا ٱلۡإِنسَٰنُ إِذَا مَا ٱبۡتَلَىٰهُ رَبُّهُۥ فَأَكۡرَمَهُۥ وَنَعَّمَهُۥ فَيَقُولُ رَبِّيٓ أَكۡرَمَنِ
[The nature of] man is that, when his Lord tries him through honour and blessings, he says, ‘My Lord has honoured me,’
Qur’an 89:15
The half of the passage aimed at you, where restriction is read as humiliation, and the Qur'an refuses it in the next verse.
وَأَمَّآ إِذَا مَا ٱبۡتَلَىٰهُ فَقَدَرَ عَلَيۡهِ رِزۡقَهُۥ فَيَقُولُ رَبِّيٓ أَهَٰنَنِ
but when He tries him through the restriction of his provision, he says, ‘My Lord has humiliated me.’
Qur’an 89:16
No indeed. Both readings are refused, the one that treats wealth as honour and the one that treats restriction as humiliation. Nobody can read your standing with Allah off your bank balance, including you.
كَلَّاۖ بَل لَّا تُكۡرِمُونَ ٱلۡيَتِيمَ
No indeed! You [people] do not honour orphans
Qur’an 89:17
Consult them, and when you have decided, then rely upon Allah. Tawakkul is placed after the deciding rather than instead of it, which is why getting the actual figures is not a failure of trust.
فَبِمَا رَحۡمَةࣲ مِّنَ ٱللَّهِ لِنتَ لَهُمۡۖ وَلَوۡ كُنتَ فَظًّا غَلِيظَ ٱلۡقَلۡبِ لَٱنفَضُّواْ مِنۡ حَوۡلِكَۖ فَٱعۡفُ عَنۡهُمۡ وَٱسۡتَغۡفِرۡ لَهُمۡ وَشَاوِرۡهُمۡ فِي ٱلۡأَمۡرِۖ فَإِذَا عَزَمۡتَ فَتَوَكَّلۡ عَلَى ٱللَّهِۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يُحِبُّ ٱلۡمُتَوَكِّلِينَ
By an act of mercy from God, you [Prophet] were gentle in your dealings with them- had you been harsh, or hard-hearted, they would have dispersed and left you- so pardon them and ask forgiveness for them. Consult with them about matters, then, when you have decided on a course of action, put your trust in God: God loves those who put their trust in Him
Qur’an 3:159
The bird is provided for, and the bird goes out, and it goes out hungry. That is the sentence to end on, because the reliance in the report contains the leaving of the nest.
‘Umar said:“I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say: ‘If you were to rely upon Allah with the reliance He is due, you would be given provision like the birds: They go out hungry in the morning and come back with full bellies in the evening.”
Sunan Ibn Majah 4164graded sound, albanithe Arabic and its grading
Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2004.