Allah sustains man and feeds him from a source he never imagined.

Syed Sharfuddin

Ibn Jarir al-Tabari, may God have mercy on him, was in Mecca during the Hajj season when on one day he saw a man from Khorasan calling out and saying: “O community of pilgrims, O people of Mecca, from the front and back, I lost a bag containing one thousand dinars. Whoever returns it to me I will pray for him that God reward him well on the Day of Judgement and free him from hellfire.”

Then an old man from the people of Mecca came up to him and said to him: “O Khorasani! Our country is in a dire state; the days of Hajj are numbered, and its seasons are limited. After Hajj ends, the doors to earning are closed. The reward you are offering on behalf of God may stop a poor man or an elderly believer from returning it to you even though he may like you to pray to Allah for his deliverance from hellfire. So, you might wish to think of increasing the reward and make your lost money easily recoverable”.

The man from Khorasan said: “How much do you think a man who has found my 1000 dinars want in reward if he returned these to me”? The old man said: “He may want a tenth of a thousand which is a hundred dinars”. The Khorasani was not satisfied and said: “No, but I delegate his matter to God, and I will complain against him on the Day of Judgement that he knew I was the rightful owner of my money after I made the announcement about my loss, but he did not return it to me. Allah is sufficient for us, and He is the best disposer of affairs”.

It occurred to Ibn Jarir al-Tabari that the old man who asked this question was a poor man, and probably he had found the bag of dinars the Khorasani had lost but he was coveting a small portion for himself as reward for returning it to its owner! So, Ibn Jarir al-Tabari followed the old man to his house, and heard him calling his wife and saying: Oh Lubabah, where are you?”

The old man’s wife said to him: Here you are, Abu Ghayath. He said: I found the owner of the dinars, but he did not want to give anything to the one who found them, so I said to him: “Will you give 100 dinars as reward to the man for returning the bag, but he refused and left his matter to God. What should I do, Lubaba? I think must return him the bag because I fear my Lord.

Lubaba said to her husband: “O man, we have been suffering poverty with you for 50 years, and you have four daughters and two sisters, me, and my mother, and this makes us nine including you. We have no sheep and no pasture. Take all the money. Satisfy us with it and provide us with clothing to improve our situation and feed our family. May God Almighty enrich you with this bag and if you are left with any unspent dinars afterwards, you may give those to him. God will forgive you for doing so”.

The old man said to her: “Lubaba: Why should I eat what is forbidden after I have fully grown old, and my insides are in fire after I have been patient with my poverty. Why should I live in the fear of going to hell when I am close to my grave. No, by God, I will not do that”.

So, Ibn Jarir al-Tabari left and was amazed at what the old man was thinking. The next day when one hour left to the end of the day, Ibn Jarir al-Tabari heard the owner of the dinars calling out like yesterday. The old man approached him and said: “O Khorasani, I told you yesterday and advised you that in our country we have shortage of crops and udders. Think of some reward money for whoever finds it so that he does not have the temptation to keep it illegally. I told you to pay 100 dinars to whoever found it and returned it to you, but you refused!” Can you consider giving at least 10 dinars in reward as this will give him some means of protection, maintenance, subsistence, and security.” The man from Khorasan told the old man: “I will not do so, but I will seek my money from God, and I will complain to him until the day we meet him, and he is sufficient for us, and He is the best disposer of affairs”.

Then the next day came, and the owner of the dinars made that same call. The old man appeared before him and said: “O Khorasani, I told you day before yesterday that you give 100 dinars to the person who finds it, but you refused, then I told you to give him 10 dinars, but you still refused. Would you not give the person who found him just 1 dinar, with one half of which he can buy a cub of an eve to make a living, with the other half he will feed his children and buy some milk? The man from Khorasan replied: “I will not do so, but I will refer him to God and complain about him to his Lord on the day we meet him. God is sufficient for us, and He is the best disposer of affairs.”

So, the old man told the Khorasani: “Come with me and take your dinars which have not let me sleep for three nights. I have not been at ease since I found this money bag.”

The old man went with the owner of the dinars, and Ibn Jarir al-Tabari followed them until the old man stopped at a corner of his house and dug up the earth and took out the dinars and said: “Take your money. I ask God to pardon me and bless me with His grace.”

The Khorasani took the bag and wanted to leave, and when he reached the door of the house, he stopped and said to the old man: “I want to tell you something. My father died recently, may God have mercy on him, and left me three thousand dinars, and he said to me: Son distribute this fortune to the people most deserving of it. Only spend these on whoever deserves it. By God, since leaving my house from Khurasan to here, I have not seen a man more deserving of it than you, so take it. May Allah bless it for you and reward you well for your honesty and patience in your poverty. Then he went out and left the money.

The old man got up crying and praying to God and saying: “May God have mercy on the owner of the money in his grave and may God bless his son”.

In Surah Talaaq Verse 3 Allah talks about Rizq and says “Allah sustains (man) and feeds him from a source he never imagined.

From the book: Mirror of Time – Al-Jawzi