Explanation of the author's statement: "And His saying: 'So seek provision from Allah and worship Him'" (the verse).

The Shaykh : Then he said: "And his saying:

So seek from Allah provision and worship Him and be grateful to Him. To Him you will be returned."

فابتغوا عند الله الرزق واعبدوه واشكروه له إليه ترجعون

[Al-'Ankabut 29:17]

" The truth is that I wish the author (may Allah have mercy on him) had included the beginning of the verse: "Indeed, those whom you call upon besides Allah do not possess for you any provision, so seek provision from Allah."
The student: This verse is present...

The Shaykh : What is it?
The student: This verse is present

The Shaykh : Read
The student: Those whom you worship besides Allah

The Shaykh : You worship besides Allah
The student: Yes, you worship

The Shaykh : Yes, I have it. In any case, its presence is preferable. The copies in which it is present are better. Yes. Correct. What do they worship? They worship idols made of wood, stone, and other things. Do these possess provision for them? Never. Even if they called upon them until the Day of Resurrection, they would not bring them a single grape, a single grain of barley, nor would they remove the slightest illness from them or benefit them against the slightest harm. Therefore, they do not possess provision. If these idols that are worshipped besides Allah do not possess provision, then who possesses it?
The student: Allah, Mighty and Majestic.

The Shaykh : Allah, Mighty and Majestic. And for this reason He said: So if you want to seek provision, seek it from Allah. As for these idols, they do not benefit you, but provision is with Allah, Mighty and Majestic. And for this reason He said: Placing what is normally delayed serves to indicate exclusivity. Do you say this with conviction, or are you just a parrot?
Now, "from Allah" is in the accusative case as a circumstantial phrase describing the provision. The position of the circumstantial phrase is normally after the noun it describes, but here it was placed before it. Placing what is normally delayed serves to indicate exclusivity, as if He is saying: "Seek provision from Allah, not from anyone else." Yes, good. When He, Blessed and Exalted is He, commanded us to seek provision from Him, He said: Meaning: "Humble yourselves to Him through obedience," because worship (‘ibadah) is derived from making a slave (ta‘bid), which means subjugation. From this comes their saying: "A trodden path." What does "a trodden path" mean? It is a path made easy for travelers; the stones and harmful trees have been removed from it, and so on. So humble yourselves to Him through obedience, because if you humble yourselves to Him through obedience, that is one of the causes of provision. It is one of the causes of provision. Allah the Exalted said: So He commanded us to seek provision from Him, then He followed it with His saying: indicating that the realization of worship is part of seeking provision, because the worshipper, as long as he believes that his worship includes seeking by the language of his state, for what? For provision. Yes. Yes.
The student: You return

The Shaykh : You return, and give thanks to Him. If Allah adds the preposition "to" (lam) to the word "thanks," does it take the preposition "to" or not? Do you remember a verse from the Qur'an where "thanks" is attributed to Allah without the preposition "to"?
The student: .

The Shaykh : To Allah. He did not say "give thanks to Allah." Do not be like the Bedouin. The Bedouin, when he did not find a verse... I do not recall it...
The student: And whoever is grateful, such is for his own benefit. He gives thanks to Allah.

The Shaykh : Yes, to Allah. The wisdom behind "thanks" not taking the preposition "to" directly to Allah is to indicate sincerity. To Allah. So giving thanks for a blessing is for the person to be sincere in that thanks to Allah, Mighty and Majestic. The preposition "to" here serves to indicate sincerity, that your thanks to Allah, Mighty and Majestic, for His blessing is pure for Him. Because the one who gives thanks may give thanks not to Allah, but... to the blessing. And there is no doubt that this is... there is nothing wrong with it, but for him to give thanks to Allah and for the blessing to remain, that is what is required. To whom should the thanks for the blessing be? To Allah, who bestowed it upon you and gave it to you. And they explained that thanks is obedience to the Bestower. This is the thanks. And they said that it occurs in three places: in the heart, the tongue, and the limbs. As for the heart, it is for the person to acknowledge in his heart that this blessing is from whom? From Allah. He sees that Allah has a favor upon him with it. And the most important thing is the blessing of Islam that Allah has bestowed upon him, for it is the greatest blessing. As for the tongue, it is speaking about it in a way that praises Allah, not in a way of boasting, arrogance, or looking down upon the servants of Allah. He speaks about the blessing of wealth Allah has given you not to break the heart of the poor, or to rise above your fellow humans, but to praise Allah with it. Yes, you say, "Allah the Exalted gave me such and such, and gave me such and such," like the story of the blind man, who was the third of the three men from the Children of Israel. When the king mentioned the blessing of Allah, he said to him: "Yes, I used to be blind, but Allah restored my sight. And I used to be poor, so Allah gave me wealth." This is a case of what? Speaking about the blessing of Allah. And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) spoke about the blessing of Allah upon him regarding absolute sovereignty, and he said: So in this way, speaking about the blessing of Allah is in a way that praises Him with it and acknowledges it, and does not deny it. As for the third, what is the third place? The limbs, by using these limbs in obedience to the Bestower, according to what is specific to that blessing. For example, the blessing of knowledge: your thanks to Allah for it is that you act according to your knowledge and teach it to people. You act according to it and teach it to people. Your thanks to Allah for wealth is what? That you spend it in obedience to Allah and benefit people with it. This means that thanks for every blessing is by what is specific to it. Yes. Your thanks to Allah for strength and courage is what? That you strive in the path of Allah. So every blessing has a specific thanks, meaning it is more specific, or else all acts of obedience fall under thanks for the blessing. Your thanks to Allah for the blessing of food, for example, is that you use it for what Allah bestowed it upon you for, which is strengthening the body. Do you want to build a palace out of dough? No, it was not created for that. Yes, so the important thing is that the person uses thanks in every place in a way that suits it. This is regarding the actions of the limbs. To Him. It is a noun with a preposition, connected to what?
The student: You return

The Shaykh : You return. And its estimation indicates exclusivity, that our return is to Allah, Mighty and Majestic, and He is the One who will hold us accountable for what He charged us with regarding the command to worship, the command to give thanks, and seeking provision from Him. The point of this verse is His saying: If a poor person wants to call for aid from one who will save him from this poverty, from whom does he call for aid? From Allah, Mighty and Majestic. He is the One who... And there is a difficulty in this verse with His saying, the Exalted: And here it says:
Calling for aid (istighathah) is seeking help, and it can be done with Allah or with other than Allah. As for calling for aid with Allah, it is one of the categories of tawhid (the oneness of Allah) and worship. And calling for aid with other than Allah is divided into two categories: The first is in matters that the one called upon is capable of; this is permissible. The second is in matters that the one called upon is not capable of; this is not permissible, and it is a type of shirk (associating partners with Allah), and it may reach the level of major shirk. We have previously explained the evidence for the permissible part of this category, and the discussion of some of the verses cited by the author has preceded, which is His saying, the Exalted: And we explained that this restriction is to clarify the reality and that it does not have a legal implication (mafhum). It is like His saying: And the meaning is not that there is another god who is called upon and has proof. And we explained that the benefit of mentioning such a description, which some people call a "revealing attribute," is that the benefit of it is that it is like a reason for the ruling associated with it. And we explained that if this is the case regarding the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), and that he is described as unjust if he does that, then others are even more so. And we also explained that the condition does not necessitate the occurrence of the conditioned thing, which is His saying: So it does not mean that it is from the possible things; a thing may be conditioned upon an impossible matter, impossible to the utmost degree of impossibility. And all of this is a matter that is not possible. And we have previously explained the author's point of argumentation with this verse in his saying: And that if only Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, removes the harm, then it is not from wisdom or reason for a person to turn to other than Allah. And we also explained the meaning of His saying, the Exalted: "And those whom you worship besides Him do not possess for you any provision, so seek provision from Allah," and that it indicates that if they do not possess provision for us, how can we call upon them for aid?
Then the author said: "His statement:

And who is more astray than he who invokes besides Allah those who will not respond to him until the Day of Resurrection

ومن أضل ممن يدعو من دون الله من لا يستجيب له إلى يوم القيامة

[Al-Ahqaf 46:5]

" 'Who' is an interrogative noun, and it is the subject, and 'misguides' is the predicate of the subject. It is known that the interrogation here is intended to mean negation, i.e., no one misguides. And 'misguides' is a noun of superlative: no one is more misguided than this. And misguidance is that a person becomes lost from the correct path. This misguidance is becoming lost from the correct path.