سورة الذاريات

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): When any of you finishes the prayer, let him raise his hands towards the sky and strive in supplication. Abdullah ibn Saba said: "O Amir al-Muminin (peace be upon him)! Is not Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, present in every place?" His Eminence (peace be upon him) said: "Indeed yes!" He said: "Then why does the servant raise his hands towards the sky at the time of supplication?" His Eminence (peace be upon him) said: "Do you not recite this verse in the Quran: وَ فِی السَّماءِ رِزْقُکُمْ وَ ما تُوعَدُونَ [And in the heaven is your sustenance and what you are promised]? So accordingly, from where should sustenance be sought except from the place where it is located, and the place of sustenance and what Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, has promised are all in the heaven."

Imam Sajjad (peace be upon him): Make the promise and glad tiding that You have made clear and stated in Your revelation [what You have sent to Your Prophet], and to which You have appended Your oath in Your Book [the Noble Quran], a means of severing our concern and preoccupation with the sustenance that You Yourself have taken responsibility for and guaranteed. For You have said — and Your word is the truth and the most truthful [of statements, in which falsehood has no place] — and You have sworn, and Your oath is the most truthful and most fulfilling [of all oaths]: وَ فِی السَّماءِ رِزْقُکُمْ وَ ما تُوعَدُونَ [And in the heaven is your sustenance and what you are threatened with], meaning [the causes thereof]; then You said: فَوَ رَبِّ السَّماءِ وَ الْأَرْضِ إِنَّهُ لَحَقٌّ مِثْلَ ما أَنَّکُمْ تَنْطِقُونَ [So by the Lord of the heaven and the earth, indeed it is the truth, just as [the fact] that you speak].

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Seek sustenance, for it is guaranteed for the one who seeks it, and no one is given sustenance without effort.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Hisham ibn al-Hakam said: ... [the heretic] asked: "What is the difference between raising your hands towards the heaven and lowering them towards the earth?" Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) said: In His knowledge, encompassment and power these are equal and the same, but Allah the Mighty and Majestic has commanded His friends and servants to raise their hands towards the heaven, in the direction of the Throne, because Allah has made it the source of sustenance.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): By the One who sent my grandfather (peace be upon him and his family) as a Prophet with the truth, Allah gives sustenance to the servant according to the measure of his chivalry, and help and aid descend according to the severity of the affliction.

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): O Ali (peace be upon him)! Indeed certainty is that you do not please anyone through Allah's displeasure, and you do not praise anyone for what Allah has given you, and you do not blame anyone for what Allah has not given you. For sustenance is not drawn to the one who is greedy for it, nor turned away by the reluctance of the one who dislikes it.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): If Allah the Exalted is the guarantor of sustenance, then why grieve?! If sustenance has already been apportioned, then why greed and avarice?!

Imam Sajjad (peace be upon him): Abu Hamza al-Thumali narrates from Imam Sajjad (peace be upon him) that he said: Why do I see you sorrowful and grief-stricken? Are you grieving over the world, when the world has no grief or sorrow? For Allah has decreed sustenance for the wicked and the righteous alike.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Refraining from harming [others] and speaking little [avoiding clamor] increase one's sustenance.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Allah the Mighty and Majestic has placed the sustenance of the believers from where they do not reckon, and that is because when a servant does not know the source of his sustenance, his supplication increases.

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Bring down sustenance through charity.