the earth, it would have rotted, the air would have been polluted, the livestock would have died, and even human beings would have perished from its stench and foulness. Yet, in His wisdom and mercy, Allah caused the ground to drink it in and turn it into subterranean springs until people are in need of it—then they dig down and reach it.

It was Allah Who sent that water down; were all humanity to band together to bring down a single drop from the sky, they would never be able. Allah alone sends it by His power and mercy. Therefore, we can covet no food, no edible thing, and no drink except by Allah’s leave, and for this reason He said, “All of you are hungry except those I feed, so ask Me for food and I shall feed you.”

Seeking provision from Allah is done both in word and in deed. Verbally: one asks Allah to feed and sustain us. Practically, it has two facets:

1. Righteous action. Good deeds are a cause of abundant and ample provision. Allah says, “If the people of the towns had believed and been God-fearing, We would indeed have opened to them blessings from the heaven and the earth; but they denied, so We seized them for what they used to earn” (al-Aʿrāf 96). And He says, “If the People of the Book had believed and been God-fearing, We would surely have remitted their sins and admitted them to gardens of bliss. Had they upheld the Torah, the Gospel, and what was sent down to them from their Lord, they would have eaten from above them and from beneath their feet” (al-Māʾidah 65–66)—“from above them” meaning the fruits of the trees, and “from beneath their feet” meaning the produce of the fields. This is one of the means through which Allah feeds His servants.

2. The second practical means of seeking provision is to till the land and to dig