Al-Ankaboot (The Spider)

60. “And how many a moving creature that does not carry its own provision, (but) Allah sustains it and you! And He is the Hearing, the knowing.”

The Arabic word /tahmil/ is derived from /himalah/ in the sense of ‘suretyship’ and ‘to undertake’, and the purpose of ‘carrying provision’ may be used in the sense of: ‘storing up things for the future’.

Emigration was recommended through verse 56, now the abovementioned verse indicates that the knowledge of Allah provides the sustenance of all creatures:

“And how many a moving creature that does not carry its own provision, (but) Allah sustains it and you!…”

However, the Qur’an says that you should not be worried about your sustenance, and do not accept any shame, disgrace, and captivity for it, because He Who gives sustenance is Allah.

He sustains not only you but also many of the creatures that cannot even carry their provision, and have no food stored in their nests while every new day they need a new provision and Allah does not let them be hungry. He sustains them and you, too.

Among moving creatures, animals, and insects, besides man, there are a few kinds that, like ants and bees, carry their own foodstuff from fields and deserts toward their dwelling places and store it up, and concerning their provision most of them are like sparrow, that is, every new day they must seek for the provision of that day.

There are millions of millions of them around us, far and near, in deserts, in the depth of valleys, on the top of mountains, and inside the seas that are sustained at the table of His endless bounties.

And you, O’ man! who are cleverer and more capable than them for earning and storing up your provision, why do you clasp the pollute and shameful life because of the fear of cease of sustenance and admit any injustice, cruelty, disgrace and abjectness for it?

You, too, can come out from inside of this narrow, limited and dark life of yours and sit at the stretched table of your Lord and do not care for sustenance.

On that day when you were prisoner in the womb of mother as a weak and feeble embryo, and nobody, even your kind parents, had the chance to reach you, your Lord did not forsake you and whatever you needed He gave you properly, it is the same today that you are a capable and strong being.

And in view of the fact that giving provision to the needy is in the secondary of the awareness of their existence and their need, at the end of the verse, the Qur’an says:

“…And He is the Hearing, the knowing.”

He hears the words of you all, and He even knows the mute tongue of you and all moving creatures. He knows the needs of all of you, and nothing is hidden from the realm of His infinite knowledge.