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No One Can Eat Some Other Person's SustenanceQuestion: What is the death-rizq(sustenance, provision) relationship?ANSWERLife of a living being does not end before the sustenance assigned for it is finished. That is, it does notdie as long as it has sustenance to consume. No one can consume some other person's sustenance.

Acts of worship do not increase a person's sustenance, yet they add barakahto it. (Lexically, barakahmeans abundance, blessing, fruitfulness. When something has barakah, it is somehow more nutritiousand more healthful than it would have been otherwise, although barakah does not materially add to its

amount.) Allahu ta'ala foreordained and allotted everybody's sustenance in the eternal past. Its amountdoes not increase or decrease.We should not stretch out our hands towards forbidden things for fear of sustenance and should notbecome the object of the following hadith-i sharifs:(A time will come when people will only care about the coming of property and money. They willnot care whether they are halalorharam.) [Bukhari]

(A time will come when man's only concern will be his stomach. His honor will be wealth; hisdirection [qiblah], women; his religion, money. Such people are the bad ones of the public.)[Sulami]

Allahu ta'ala foreordained and allotted everybody's sustenance in the eternal past. It does not change.Nor does it increase or decrease. No one can eat some other person's sustenance. One of the 99

Names of Allahu ta'ala is Ar-Razzaq. He is the One who provides every being with sustenance. Hesays, Everybody's sustenance is on Me. For sustenance, one must rely on Allahu ta'ala's promise.

It is declared in the Qur'an al-karim:(The sustenance of every living being on earth is on Allah.) [Hud 6](There is many a living being that cannot provide itself with sustenance. It is Allah who givessustenance both to you and to it.) [Al-'Ankabut 60](Your Lord enlarges sustenance for whom He wills and straitens it for whom He wills.) [Al-Isra'30]Besides, it is declared in hadith-i sharifs:(Do not worry about sustenance; the sustenance reserved for you in the eternal past will findyou.) [Isfahani]

(Just as yourajal[death] pursues you, so does your sustenance.) [Tabarani](It is Allah alone who enlarges, straitens, and sends sustenance.) [Radd-ulmukhtar](Fear Allahu ta'ala and seek your sustenance through good means. Take what is permitted andabandon what is prohibited.) [Ibn Majah](Do not think that your sustenance has delayed. No one dies before receiving his sustenance.)[Hakim](No one can obtain more sustenance than the amount allotted for him. No one dies unless hereceives his sustenance and consumes it, either. His sustenance will be given to him even if hedoes not want it.) [Hakim](If you put your trust in Allahu ta'ala thoroughly, He would provide sustenance for you the wayHe provides it for birds, which go out with empty, hungry stomachs in the morning and comeback with their stomachs filled, satiated in the evening.) [Tirmidhi]

(Allahu ta'ala taught Hadrat Adam a thousand arts and craftworks and ordered him:Let yourchildren seek their sustenance through one of these arts and craftworks. Let them not make the

religion a means for earning their livelihood.) [Hakim](The best dhikr[remembrance of Allah] is that which is silent, and the best sustenance is thatwhich is sufficient.) [Bayhaqi](Whomever Allahu ta'ala loves, He gives his sustenance as much as it suffices.) [Abu ash-Shaikh](A Believer who is satisfied with the sustenance Allahu ta'ala gives him has been saved.)[Muslim](He who suffers hardships to earn through halalways deserves Paradise.) [Imam-i Ghazali](The best sustenance is the one that is earned by being careful about halaland haram.) [Nasai]

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The Prophet stated, If you adopt the fear of Allah as your capital, your sustenance will comewithout trade or capital, and recited the following Qur'anic verse:(Whoever fears Allah, He will grant a way out for him and send him sustenance from where hedoes not expect.) [Tabarani, At-Talaq 2-3]If a person works because Allahu ta'ala commands him to, and looks for his sustenance in ways thatare permitted, he will obtain the sustenance that was reserved for him in the eternal past. Thissustenance will come with barakah to him. In addition, he will earn rewards for his work. If he looks forhis sustenance at places forbidden by Allahu ta'ala, he will, again, obtain that certain sustenance

reserved for him in the eternal past. Yet this sustenance will not bring him any barakah or good. Inaddition, the sins he perpetrates for the purpose of obtaining his sustenance will carry him away towarddisasters.The following was written on the gold plate that was under the building done up by Hadrat Khidr:(He who laughs and makes merry though death is a reality, who worries though he believes inqadar, who goes to a lot of trouble though Allahu ta'ala guarantees sustenance, who actsnegligently though there are questioning and reckoning on the Day of Resurrection, who relieson the world though he knows that it is ephemeral, how astonishing such a person's situationis!) Seeking halalsustenance

Question: Some people earn through permitted means, but some others earn through forbiddenmeans. Is earning a livelihood through forbidden means easier than earning it through

permitted means?ANSWERIt is declared in a hadith-i sharif:(Whatever was foreordained for a person from worldly things, it is facilitated for him.) [Hakim]If a person tries to earn his livelihood by means of gambling, his dexterity in gambling will improvegradually. If a person wants to take up a halaljob, like carpentry or tailoring, his activities leading to itwill be facilitated. For this reason, one must always seek means of halalearnings. As a matter of fact, itis stated in hadith-i sharifs:(O people, fear Allah and seek your sustenance in a good way because no one dies until heobtains his sustenance. So fear Allah and seek your sustenance in good ways. Take that whichis permitted and leave that which is forbidden.) [Ibn Majah](Do not think that your sustenance has delayed. No one dies before receiving his sustenance

that was foreordained. So seek your sustenance in a good way. Take what is permitted, andabstain from what is forbidden.) [Hakim]