Continuation of the explanation of the hadith of Abu Dharr (may Allah be pleased with him), in which he said: (… O My servants, you are all hungry to the One who feeds you, so ask Me for food and I will feed you)

The Shaykh : This is like some of the previous verses, especially the one immediately preceding it, which is His saying, the Exalted: . Just as Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, in that verse informs us that it is the nature of humans to make mistakes and commit sins, and that they must follow that by seeking forgiveness from Allah, Mighty and Majestic, until He forgives them, so here our Lord, Mighty and Majestic, says: In terms of their capacity, their power, and the severing of the sustenance of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, from them, they are hungry; they cannot feed themselves, nor support themselves, nor provide for themselves. Therefore, our Lord, Mighty and Majestic, in this verse, just as in the previous one, commands us to take the means, just as He commanded us in the previous verse to take the means by which we deserve the forgiveness of Allah, Mighty and Majestic. Here He says: , meaning: So ask Me for sustenance and I will provide it for you. In reality, this verse of this Holy Hadith, "so ask Me for food and I will feed you," has a direct connection to that authentic Prophetic Hadith in which the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . This hadith contains, like this Holy Hadith, the taking of means, contrary to what some people imagine when they say: "Our Lord, Mighty and Majestic, provides for the birds," and they say, in a way of exaggeration and they are wrong: "Our Lord, Mighty and Majestic, provides for the birds in their nests." This is an error. Our Lord, Mighty and Majestic, even inspired the birds to set out in the morning in pursuit of their sustenance so that they would return to their nests with their bellies full. Therefore, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said in this hadith: in the morning, hungry, in the evening with full bellies.
So the comparison here is not because the birds remain attached to their nests and Allah, Mighty and Majestic, provides for them while they are in them without leaving them. It is not so. Rather, if you rely upon Allah with true reliance, in heart and in action by setting out in pursuit of sustenance, then Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, will provide for you. So the hadith does not encourage laziness in reliance, as some people imagine, but rather it encourages reliance upon Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He. Its example is exactly like the example of the farmer who plows the land and then sows it, casting the seed in it and dealing with it by watering, digging, and the like, while relying upon Allah, Mighty and Majestic. He does not say what 'Umar forbade when he said: "Let none of you sit in the mosque saying: 'Allah provides for me,' for you know that the sky does not rain gold or silver." So the matter is as He said, Blessed and Exalted is He: . He did not say: "Eat from His provision" and stop; rather, He said: . Thus, our Lord, Mighty and Majestic, in this Holy Hadith also encourages His servants to take the means of being fed by Allah for His servant, but before that, He reminds this servant that he has nothing in his hand, and that the whole matter is in the hand of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He. Therefore He says: . So do we remain like this, opening our mouths and receiving sustenance from our Lord above the sky? No. Rather, He said: , meaning: Ask Me for food, ask Me for sustenance so that I may provide it for you. That is: seeking sustenance is by two means. The first means is one shared between the Muslim and the disbeliever, and between the righteous Muslim and the wicked one, which is taking the material means that we mentioned earlier. But the believer is distinguished from the disbeliever, and especially the righteous believer, in that he does not be deceived by himself as the disbeliever does, relying only on material means and not turning to the Creator of these means and the One who disposes of them as He wills. The believer is not like that; rather, he takes the means and turns to Allah, Mighty and Majestic, asking Him to bless his earnings and expand his sustenance. So he is not like the disbeliever, for whom everything is the material means, and these disbelievers have forgotten their Lord, Blessed and Exalted is He. It is like the one whose dialogue Allah, Mighty and Majestic, related with the believer when he said: . This is the example of the disbeliever who relies only on material means. As for the believer, he differs from him. He does not disbelieve in taking material means and the natural cosmic laws that Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, made as causes for effects. The Muslim does not disbelieve in these means, but at the same time, he does not forget that behind them is the Lord of Lords, Blessed and Exalted is He. And when this believer takes the means, if these means were primitive or simple and easy, Allah, Mighty and Majestic, because of the faith of this believer who took the means that Allah prescribed for him, our Lord, Mighty and Majestic, facilitates for him means that the hands of disbelievers cannot reach, no matter how prominent they are, no matter how much they think and invent.
I mentioned earlier, but among what I mentioned is the story of that man which the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) related to us, as in "Sahih Muslim." He said: . So this man walking on the earth, who heard the voice from the sky addressing the rain-laden cloud, saying: "Go to the land of so-and-so, so-and-so the son of so-and-so," was amazed, especially when he saw the cloud turning to the right or to the left. So he followed the cloud until he reached a land, a humble orchard, and behold, the cloud emptied its load of water onto this land, this orchard. He looked in and found a man working in his land with his pickaxe or his spade. He greeted him by the name he had heard from the sky. The man was amazed and returned the greeting (peace be upon him) and asked him, since he was a stranger, how he knew his name? So he told him that he had heard a voice from the cloud saying: . So that his sustenance would be completed, he was walking with its cause. . By this, he earned that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, subjected the sky to him specifically. So this Holy Hadith, when it says, Blessed and Exalted is He: , draws attention to two matters, one of which is more important than the other. I will summarize what I said earlier: The first matter is that the Muslim must rely upon Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, in everything: in that He guides him, in that He forgives him, in that He feeds him. This first matter is reliance upon Allah, Mighty and Majestic, with total reliance.
The second matter is that this reliance and this trust in Allah do not contradict taking the means. Taking the means is from the Shari'ah; therefore He said, Blessed and Exalted is He, in the well-known verse: . And if you resolve, meaning you determine and plan to carry out a matter, then rely upon Allah. Reliance upon Allah does not mean laziness and not taking the means. No, rather take the means and rely upon the Lord of Lords. I will stop now from commenting on this verse, considering that we have a question from the previous lesson, and I think it will take a sufficient amount of time, because it needs some elaboration and explanation.