that, reliance upon Allah—that is, seeking Allah’s help. Whoever confines himself to either one has disobeyed one of the two commands. He also forbade inaction, which is the opposite of resourcefulness, as he said in the other hadith:

“Allah censures inaction, but you must be resourceful.”

Likewise, the Syrian hadith states:

“The resourceful person is one who calls himself to account and works for what comes after death. The ineffectual person is one who follows his desires and entertains vain hopes concerning Allah.”

In this hadith, the ineffectual person is contrasted with the resourceful person. Whoever says that the ineffectual person is contrasted with the righteous person has distorted the hadith and failed to understand its meaning. Another example is the hadith:

“Everything is by divine decree, even inaction and resourcefulness.”

Another example is what al-Bukhārī narrated in his Sahīh from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said:

“The people of Yemen used to perform Hajj without taking provisions, saying, ‘We are those who rely upon Allah.’ Yet when they arrived, they would beg from people. So Allah Most High said:

‘And take provisions, but indeed, the best provision is fear of Allah.’”

Whoever obeys the command to take provisions, uses them to help him obey Allah, and gives some of them to those in need is obeying Allah in both these matters. This is unlike someone who neglects to take provisions, looking instead to the pilgrims’ supplies and becoming a burden on others. Even if his heart is not looking to any particular person, it is nevertheless looking to people collectively. However, if the person who takes provisions fails to fulfil his obligations of relying upon Allah and sharing with those in need, then his neglect of what he has been commanded to do may be of the same kind as that of the person who neglects the command to take provisions.