Assalamu’alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh
Bismillahir- Rahmanir-Rahim
1. Opening
Beloved friends whom Allah has blessed, often without realizing it we feel that our worship, our prayers, and our charity are done to “help” Allah, or we assume that our obedience somehow benefits Him. Truly, that is a mistaken perspective. Allah SWT is _Al-Ghanī_—the All-Rich, the Self-Sufficient, who has absolutely no need of anything from His creation. From the standpoint of faith, the obedience of all inhabitants of the earth would never benefit Allah, and the collective disobedience of the entire universe would never harm Him in the least. Allah created beings purely not out of loneliness or need for service, but out of His attribute of mercy—to pour happiness upon those beings.
This is powerfully depicted in a lengthy ḥadīth qudsī:
يَا عِبَادِي لَوْ أَنَّ أَوَّلَكُمْ وَآخِرَكُمْ وَإِنْسَكُمْ وَجِنَّكُمْ كَانُوا عَلَى أَتْقَى قَلْبِ رَجُلٍ وَاحِدٍ مِنْكُمْ مَا زَادَ ذَلِكَ فِي مُلْكِي شَيْئًا، يَا عِبَادِي لَوْ أَنَّ أَوَّلَكُمْ وَآخِرَكُمْ وَإِنْسَكُمْ وَجِنَّكُمْ كَانُوا عَلَى أَفْجَرِ قَلْبِ رَجُلٍ وَاحِدٍ مَا نَقَصَ ذَلِكَ مِنْ مُلْكِي شَيْئًا
“O My servants, if the first of you and the last of you, the human of you and the jinn of you, were all as pious as the most pious heart of any one of you, that would not increase My kingdom in the least. O My servants, if the first of you and the last of you, the human of you and the jinn of you, were all as wicked as the most wicked heart of any one of you, that would not decrease My kingdom in the least.”[HR. Muslim No. 2577] Moreover, Allah’s richness is absolute and boundless. Imagine: if every creature from the beginning of creation until the Day of Judgment were to stand in one open plain, then all of them asked for whatever they desired, and Allah granted every request at once—Allah’s wealth would not diminish.
The Messenger ﷺ continued in the same ḥadīth qudsī
مَا نَقَصَ ذَلِكَ مِمَّا عِنْدِي إِلَّا كَمَا يَنْقُصُ الْمِخْيَطُ إِذَا أُدْخِلَ الْبَحْرَ
“…that would not decrease what I have, any more than a needle decreases the ocean when dipped into it [and taken out].”[HR. Muslim]
2. Lessons and Message
Awareness of the attribute Al-Ghanī demands that we eradicate all arrogance and any sense of doing Allah a favor through our worship. When we worship, realize that we are helping ourselves, not helping Allah. Live with complete submission and a sense of utter need [faqr] toward Him alone, because in truth we possess nothing without His giving. Let us reflect on the heartbreaking story of a child who dared to yell at and drive away his mother because he felt he was successful, wealthy, and able to fund his own life. The child arrogantly said, “Mother, stop running my life! I’m an adult, I’m independent, I have plenty of money to live!” Hearing that, the mother wept uncontrollably—not because she feared losing her child’s money, but because of the pain of seeing her child’s arrogance, forgetting that he was once born naked, weak, and nursed from her body.
That is our analogy with Allah SWT. How sorrowful when a servant, newly given abundant wealth or a high position, suddenly becomes lazy in prayer, reluctant to prostrate, and feels he can run his life without involving Allah’s rules. We forget that every heartbeat and every breath we take is a “free subsidy” from Allah, the All-Rich.
Let us make a humorous yet profound analogy. There was a tiny ant living in the corner of a rice warehouse owned by the wealthiest merchant in a city. One day, with a very formal and confident demeanor, the ant went to the warehouse manager and said, “Sir, please take note. Starting today, I will eat two grains of rice from this warehouse every day. I hope my enormous consumption doesn’t cause your company to go bankrupt and collapse!” What do you think the manager’s reaction was? Of course he would burst out laughing. Let alone two grains of rice—even if the ant brought millions of its colony to eat to their fill in that warehouse for ten years, the owner would not become destitute. He wouldn’t even notice the rice had decreased! The lesson: We are far smaller before Allah than that ant is before the rice warehouse. So if you have a huge problem, need a large amount, or hold a lofty dream, never hesitate to ask Allah. To us it is a gigantic matter, but for Allah the All-Rich, granting all our prayers is far lighter than the loss of two grains of rice to a rice merchant eaten by an ant!
3. Conclusion and Closing
Allah is _Al-Ghanī_—the Self-Sufficient who has no need of our obedience. The worship we perform is a means Allah provides so we can live happily and safely in this world and the Hereafter. On the other hand, Allah’s wealth is an ocean without shores, so ask Him for anything with full conviction and humility. Let us rectify our intention in worship today. We step to the mosque, give charity, and recite the Qur’an because we are poor in reward and desperately in need of His mercy. May Allah SWT always grant us richness of heart so that we always feel sufficient with what He gives.
. والله أعلم بالصواب
الحمد لله رب العالمين
Wassalamu’alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh.
Abu Sultan Al-Qadrie
