God grants sustenance to whomever he wills without reckoning. (Quran 2:212)

This expression or variations of it appear in a number of contexts in the Quran.

Sometimes this sustenance or provision comes in the context of worldly provision as was the case when Mary mother of Jesus (peace be upon them) was serving in the holy cemetery at Jerusalem until her uncle the Prophet Zachariah (peace be upon him) used to come and check on her and find that she has amazing provisions already with her.

He asked her where did you get this? She said:

It is from Allah. Indeed Allah provides whomever He wills without reckoning. (3:37)

It maybe even connected contextually to earthly power and dominion as we find in (3:27).

But also that rizq and provision is something that we will be given in the Day of Judgment and the Hereafter as in chapter (2:212)

The life of this world is made to seem glamorous to disbelievers. And they laugh at those who believe, but those who are mindful of God will be above them on the Day of Resurrection. God provides sustenance from whomever he wills without reckoning.

And this context already takes us beyond immediate sense of rizq and provision from being about food and about material possessions to be also about divine support, pleasure and reward.

God provides sustenance to whomever He wills without reckoning.

What we want to turn our focus towards now is the impact of this particular expression, especially for the last few words:

{without reckoning}

One of the 21^st century Azhari scholars, Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah Draz, spoke about this in his book which is entitled in English “The Quran: An Eternal Challenge”.

He expanded on how a few words in the Quran can be packed with so much meaning and this is been considered one of the key features of the Quran’s miracle, as the Quran came, not only as a message but as a sign and proof of that message of being true.

So we will expand now on five meanings in which are packed in this expression: “God provides sustenance to whomever He wills without reckoning”:

1- God answers to nobody concerning those whom He gives and how much each receives. It is not for anyone to question God why did He give more to this person or less to that person? Why did He choose this people for His favor and why did He apportion His provisions. This meaning is affirmed in other verses such (17:30):

You Lord gives abundantly to whomever He wills and spilingly to whoever He wills.

2- A second meaning is that the Almighty God does not need to take stock to His provisions before giving, during giving, or after giving. As He has no need to fear their depletion and this is in contrast to human beings. A meaning which is affirmed in (17:100):

Say, if you possess the very stores of my Lord’s bounty, you would hold on back in your fear of giving.

3- A third meaning pertains to those who receive God’s bounties; they do so very often without any sense of aware that provision was going to come from.

They receive it in ways they could never have reckoned or imagined or accounted for and this meaning is affirmed in (65:2-3):

God will find out those who are aware of Him I will provide for them from unexpected source.

4- A fourth meaning of this expression {without reckoning} is that God gives His provision before holding to account, meaning that He doesn’t carry out judgment on people as a precondition before giving to them; and this is a meaning which is affirmed in (18:58):

Your Lord in the Most Forgiving and fill of Mercy. If it took them to task for the wrongs they had done, He would hasten their punishment on but they have an appointed time in which they have and no escape.

5- A fifth meaning of this expression and the last one that we should mention is one which, along with all the others, should fill the believers’ heart with hope, love and awe of God.

And that is that God’s provision can not by any means be encompassed and quantified. And this is a meaning which is affirmed throughout the Quran especially in (16:18):

If you try to count God’s blessings you could never take them all. He is truly Most Forgiving and Most Merciful.

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(This article is from Reading Islam’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.)