anyone else. For this reason, the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said in an authentic hadith:
“Whatever of this wealth comes to you without your asking for it or looking expectantly for it, take it. Whatever does not, do not set your heart on it.”
The one who looks expectantly does so in his heart, while the one who asks does so with his tongue. In the hadith recorded in the two authentic collections, Abū Sa‘īd al-Khudrī said:
“We fell into poverty, so I went to the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) to ask him for help. I found him addressing the people, saying: ‘O people, by Allah, whatever good we have, we will never withhold from you. Whoever seeks independence from others, Allah will make him independent; whoever refrains from asking, Allah will enable him to refrain; and whoever strives to be patient, Allah will grant him patience. No one has been given a gift better or more abundant than patience.’”
“Seeking independence” means not placing one’s hope in anyone in one’s heart and looking expectantly to him. “Refraining from asking” means not asking anyone with one’s tongue.
Thus, when Ahmad ibn Hanbal was asked about trusting in Allah, he replied: “Ceasing to look expectantly to created beings”—meaning that you should not harbour in your heart the expectation that someone will bring you something. He was asked: “What is the evidence for that?” He replied: “The words of Allah’s intimate friend when Gabriel asked him, ‘Do you need anything?’ and he answered, ‘From you, no.’”
This and similar accounts make clear that, in seeking what benefits him and warding off what harms him, the servant must direct his heart to Allah alone. Hence the distressed man said:
“There is no god but You.”
Similar to this is the report in the two authentic collections from Ibn ‘Abbās that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) would say at times of distress:
“There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah, the Magnificent, the Forbearing. There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah, Lord of the Mighty Throne.