Provision is from Allah!

Today my aunt told me a story which completely shattered my heart so I thought I would share it. Recently she traveled back home to Africa to go visit her family there, she said when she got there she would go around driving and on the middle of the road there would be little kids begging for some change, little kids who were around the ages of 11 and whatnot, she said the sad part was everyone who lived there was completely used to this so it being the norm the wouldn’t even notice it, only the people from different places seemed to notice. She said there was one lady and man in particular that affected her forever. The lady was living under a staircase, she had 3 kids all whom had no shoes plus a husband. Her kids were running around playing, and she was sitting there happy. She said she was shocked because most of the people who lived like that would jump at anyone walking by and beg for money, but she said that lady was just sitting there paying attention to her kids. She went to a man that was close by and asked him where did the lady live, and he told her right there under the stairs. She said my heart automatically broke so I ran to the bank and took out money for her and came to her and gave it to her, while I was giving it to her she said “laa uhkti haraam” (no sister it’s haram) and I told her no she had to take it and she told me “laa Provision is from Allah, Alhamdulilah Allah has given me enough, Allah will provide further.” The lady did end up taking the money but my aunt said it was her reliance upon Allah which stunned me, her tawakul, her strength. The fact that she was happy and content with what she had, the beauty of her Iman that although she needed the money she would not ask anyone for it except for Allah, lord of all the worlds. The brother, he had a family and wife. He cleaned for a building so in exchange for cleaning they let him live in the parking lot, and not the whole parking lot just the space allowed for one car to park, and in that space all that could fit was a bed, nothing more then there cooking supplies would be outside. Because they let him live there for free they wouldn’t pay him they would just gather up whatever they had and give it to him, which sometimes wouldn’t be enough for his families food. But subhanaAllah these are people who struggle day in and out but manage to stay thankful to Allah, people whom keep a smile on there face although you would assume they had no reason too, people who are content with what they are given.. This is real Iman (faith) this is the beauty of Islam in its natural sense. This is success being pleased with what you have that is success.

We draw from all this the lesson that wealth and poverty, satiation and hunger, are like all the other afflictions that Allah tests human beings with. This emphasizes to us that the life of this world is not the end. It is not the final goal of existence. It is only the beginning. The world is provided as a test to distinguish those who obey Allah from those who do not – to set the righteous apart from the sinful and to give those grateful a chance to excel those who are thankless.

“There is no creature on Earth except that its sustenance is upon Allah. He knows its habitation and its repository. All is in a clear Record.” [Sûrah Hûd: 6]