Thirty Years, Six Lessons
بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمـَنِ الرَّحِيمِ وَمَا مِن دَآبَّةٍۢ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ إِلَّا عَلَى ٱللَّهِ رِزْقُهَا وَيَعْلَمُ مُسْتَقَرَّهَا وَمُسْتَوْدَعَهَا ۚ كُلٌّۭ فِى كِتَـٰبٍۢ مُّبِينٍۢ Wa mā min dābbatin fil-arḍi illā ʿalallāhi rizquhā wa yaʿlamu mustaqarrahā wa mustawdaʿahā; kullun fī kitābin mubīn. Hūd 11:6 —There is no moving creature on earth whose provision is not guaranteed by Allah. And He knows where it lives and where it is laid to rest. All is written in a clear Record. There is an old report about Ḥātim al-Aṣamm and his teacher Shaqīq al-Balkhī. Before entering the story in detail, it is useful to place two transmitted forms of the report side by side. In the six-lesson version, Shaqīq asked Ḥātim, “Since you have accompanied me, what have you learned?” Ḥātim replied, “Six things. I saw people uncertain about their provision, so I trusted in Allah, because He has said that the provision of every creature on earth is upon Him. I saw that every person has a frie...