3rd Stopping Place 4th Truth Lawful Provision Comes Through Weakness And Trust İn Allah

Now the trees require a certain form of sustenance but have neither power nor will. They remain therefore in their places, trusting in Allah, and their provision comes hastening to them. So too the sustenance of infants flows to their mouths from wondrous small pumps, aided by the solicitude and tenderness of their mothers. Then when the infants acquire a little power and will, the milk ceases. These various instances clearly prove that licit sustenance is not proportionate to will and power, but comes in relation to weakness and impotence, which induce trust in Allah.

Will, power and cleverness frequently incite greed, which is a source of loss, and often push certain learned men toward a form of beggary, whereas by contrast the trusting weakness of the boorish, crude and common man may cause him to attain riches.

كَمْ عَالِمٍ عَالِمٍ اَعْيَتْ مَذَاهِبُهُ وَ جَاهِلٍ جَاهِلٍ تَلْقَٓاهُ مَرْزُوقًا

The proverb, "How many a learned man has striven in vain, and how many an ignoramus gained rich provision," establishes that licit provision is not won by power and will, but by a mercy that finds working and striving acceptable; it is bestowed by a tenderness that takes pity on need.

Now provision and sustenance is of two kinds:

The First is true and natural provision, that required for life; this is guaranteed by the Sustainer. It is indeed so regular and well-ordered that this natural provision, stored in the body in the form of fat and other things, is enough to ensure survival for at least twenty days, even if nothing is eaten. Those who apparently die of hunger before the twenty or thirty days are up and before the provision stored up in their body is exhausted, die in reality not from a lack of provision, but from a disease arising from lack of caution and the disturbance of fixed habit.