A word delivered by the Shaykh regarding the meaning of the saying of Allah the Exalted: "And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me. I do not want from them any provision, nor do I want them to feed Me," the verse.

The Shaykh : I wish to deliver a word before the questions, hoping that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) will make it beneficial, but we ask for your attention and listening. All praise is due to Allah; we praise Him, seek His help, and seek His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evils of our own souls and from the badness of our deeds. Whom Allah guides, none can mislead, and whom He leaves to mislead, none can guide. And I bear witness that there is no deity but Allah alone, with no partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and His Messenger.

As for what follows, the best of speech is the speech of Allah, the best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), and the worst of matters are their innovations, every innovation is a religious innovation, every religious innovation is misguidance, and every misguidance is in the Fire. After that, my word now is an answer to a question that people are not accustomed to raising, and in reality, they are in need of being reminded of its answer, which is: Why did Allah create the creation of the angels, mankind, and the jinn? The answer is in the Noble Qur'an, and by the nature of reality, I am not presenting to you something unknown in my opinion to all Muslims, but rather, first, it is a reminder, and the reminder benefits the believers. And second, I want to link to this reminder a matter that many people may be heedless of.
So the answer to that question is in the saying of (Blessed and Exalted is He) in the Noble Qur'an: Thus, this verse gives us the purpose and the wisdom for which Allah (Mighty and Majestic) created mankind and the jinn, and a fortiori the angels, whom our Lord (Mighty and Majestic) described in the Noble Qur'an by His saying: This wisdom is that they worship Allah alone, with no partner. Why were mankind and the jinn created? To worship Him alone, with no partner. But Allah (Mighty and Majestic) added to this wisdom, which His saying (Blessed and Exalted is He) explains:
Why did our Lord, Mighty and Majestic, mention ? It is so that the Muslim does not concern himself with his provision to the same extent that he concerns himself with worshipping his Lord. In other words, he must focus on the purpose for which he was created, rather than focusing on his provision, because Allah, Mighty and Majestic, has guaranteed the provision for His servants and decreed it since they were embryos in their mothers' wombs. As you know from the authentic hadiths, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) mentioned that Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, sends an angel to the embryo in the womb. After it passes four months, the angel breathes the soul into it and asks its Lord about its lifespan, its provision, its term, and whether it will be happy or wretched. All of this has been recorded. As also comes in the saying of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, according to one of the interpretations of the exegetes regarding His saying, Mighty and Majestic, . So Allah, Mighty and Majestic, has decreed provision from ancient times. Therefore, the Muslim should not be overly concerned with his provision. I hope you pay attention! I am not saying that he should not strive to earn his provision. No. Rather, I mean, and I state explicitly, that the Muslim should not be concerned with acquiring his provision to the same degree that he is concerned with worshipping his Lord, Blessed and Exalted is He. This is because provision is certain and guaranteed. And although this statement does not mean that the Muslim should not strive for his provision, we mean that he should not make the goal of his life the pursuit of provision. For the goal, as you know, is to worship Allah alone, with no partner. And so that no one might think, when we draw attention to the importance of achieving the Shari'ah purpose for which Allah, Mighty and Majestic, created the jinn and mankind, that we are commanding what some people consider to be reliance on Allah when one does not strive for provision. I say that turning away from striving for provision is not reliance on Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He. Rather, it is reliance on the servant or on servants upon whom the Muslim should not rely in acquiring his provision other than his Lord, Blessed and Exalted is He. This is because striving for provision to the extent required by the Shari'ah, and to a degree that does not involve exaggeration in seeking provision—and exaggeration in seeking provision includes what I will dwell on, which is seeking provision by any means, not caring whether the provision comes through a forbidden or lawful cause—what we want is that striving to acquire provision to the prescribed degree is considered by the Wise Lawgiver as jihad in the path of Allah, Mighty and Majestic. Striving to acquire provision through lawful means, and to the prescribed degree that does not make it the goal of his life, as I hinted at earlier, this striving for provision is considered by the Wise Lawgiver as jihad in the path of Allah, Mighty and Majestic. It has come in the authentic hadith , meaning if this youth, this strength, and this vigor were in the path of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, one of those present would wish that this young man passing by with such strength and vigor would strive in the path of Allah, Mighty and Majestic. So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) drew the attention of those around him first, and then of those who would convey this hadith to others second, to the fact that striving for provision, as I said earlier, is from the jihad in the path of Allah, Mighty and Majestic. He said, peace and blessings be upon him, in response to that Companion who wished that the youth and strength of the passing man were in the path of Allah, Mighty and Majestic: he said, peace and blessings be upon him, . So striving for provision is one of the desirable matters, and the Wise Lawgiver has encouraged it, but on the condition that it is a means and not the goal of the Muslim in this life. His goal is to worship Allah, Mighty and Majestic, alone, with no partner. And his striving for provision is so that he may have the ability and strength to perform what Allah, Mighty and Majestic, has obligated upon him of jihad. Not only in fighting the enemies, from which, unfortunately, we have been deprived in our time, but at least in the jihad of the self that commands evil, which requires performing many obligations and duties. Among these, for example, is prayer, which is the second pillar after the testimonies in Islam. So whoever is weak, and whoever is sick and does not strive to strengthen his body with the provision Allah has bestowed upon him, may not be able to perform the jihad that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, has obligated upon him, whether this jihad is the general internal jihad, which the Messenger (peace be upon him) referred to in the authentic hadith when he said , and in another narration . This jihad requires, as I hinted at earlier, that the Muslim be strong in his body, just as he is strong in his creed and in the meanings of his Islamic faith. And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) pointed to the obligation of the Muslim maintaining his activity and strength in his body when it was reported to him that a man among the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was exaggerating in obeying Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He. He used to pray the whole night, fast the whole year, and not approach his wives. When that reached the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), he called him in a story that is somewhat long, and there is no room now to mention it in its entirety. The purpose now is to remind you of Islam's concern for the Muslim's health and the necessity of him maintaining his body. So he called him and said to him, peace and blessings be upon him, . In another hadith or in another story, he added . And in this story, this worshipper who was ascetic in this world, whose asceticism was such that when his father married him off, it was as if he had not married, for he did not approach his wife due to his preoccupation and absorption in his entire time in worshipping Allah, Mighty and Majestic. This ascetic worshipper asked the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) to fast more than what was permitted to him at first. And the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) kept increasing the days he fasted, more than what was permitted to him at first, until he said to him in the end , meaning the opposite. So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) admonished that ascetic Companion not to exceed fasting half the year, fasting one day and breaking the fast the next. And he explained this, peace and blessings be upon him, by saying . Why did he, peace and blessings be upon him, say ? Because it came in a hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari . The most worshipful of the people was Dawud, the Prophet of Allah, and the father of Sulayman. He was the most worshipful of the people, and yet he used to fast one day and break the fast the next. What is the wisdom of this fasting? He said . That is, he combined giving his soul its right of worshipping its Lord on one hand, and giving his body its strength on the other hand, so that he could use this strength to fight the enemies of Allah, Mighty and Majestic. And therefore, it came in the Noble Qur'an, the saying of Allah, the Exalted, . If Dawud (peace be upon him) had fasted the whole year, he would not have been able to defeat that disbelieving, denying, and rejecting disbeliever. So striving to strengthen the body to seek lawful provision is a desirable matter, and the Wise Lawgiver considered it, as you heard in the story of the vigorous young man, as jihad in the path of Allah, Mighty and Majestic.