Adh-Dhariyat · Makki · ayah 22 of 60

Adh-Dhariyat 51:22

وَفِى ٱلسَّمَآءِ رِزْقُكُمْ وَمَا تُوعَدُونَ

“And in the heaven is your provision and whatever you are promised.”

Saheeh International

Essence

What keeps you alive and what waits for you both hang above your head, held by the One who hands out every ration on time.

A reflection

Rations handed down, not wages taken

The first hearers knew rizq from army life. A commander razaqa his troops: he handed out their rations, month by month, on the day they were due. One such payment was a razqa. A bird razaqa its chick when it dropped food into its open beak. The lexicons state this picture plainly. Rizq is a gift that keeps arriving at its appointed time, from someone above you.

Now hear the ayah: in the sky is your rizq. Not in your office, your field or your bank. Above you.

Picture a young solicitor who screenshots her first payslip and sends it to her group chat: 'All me.' She did work hard. But think of the mind that passed the exams, and the health that got her through the nights. Think of the client who walked in. None of those were hers to switch on. One classical reading says the measuring of all provision comes from the sky. Without it, not one grain of food would appear on earth.

This is where pride takes a quiet knock. The ego likes to think of provision as a wage it extracted from the world. The ayah calls it a ration, handed down. You are in the queue with everyone else, the chick with its beak open.

Someone may object: 'So God takes the credit for what I earned?' But the ayah does not cancel your effort. It places it. Effort is how you stand in the line; the giving is still His. And He gains nothing by being acknowledged. He is free of all need (35:15). The acknowledgement is for you. A person who knows where the ration comes from is harder to frighten and harder to make arrogant.

One modern commentary widens the word to provision for this world and for the faith. Understanding, guidance and a softened heart arrive from the same sky.

The full entry has 6 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.