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Fatwa CenterAdvice One Whose Provision Is Strained
Question
I am twenty-five years old and of meagre financial status. What advice can you give me?
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
We would advise you to do a number of things:
1. You have to fear Allah and do righteous deeds, because Allah, the Almighty, says (what means): {…And whoever fears Allah – He will make for him a way out and will provide for him from where he does not expect. And whoever relies upon Allah – then He is sufficient for him…} [Quran 65:2-3]
2. Poverty and little provision may go back to doing much sins, or at least to doing sins publicly without repenting of them. Allah, the Exalted, told that righteousness brings about blessing, as He says (what means): {And if only the people of the cities had believed and feared Allah , We would have opened upon them blessings from the heaven and the earth; but they denied [the messengers], so We seized them for what they were earning.} [Quran 7:96]
Allah made unlawful for the Jews, because of their wrongness and transgression, good things which had already been lawful for them, as shown in His saying (what means): {For wrongdoing on the part of the Jews, We made unlawful for them [certain] good foods which had been lawful to them, and for their averting from the way of Allah many [people], and [for] their taking of usury while they had been forbidden from it, and their consuming of the people's wealth unjustly. And we have prepared for the disbelievers among them a painful punishment.} [Quran 4:160-161]
In reference to the Children of Israel Allah, the Almighty, says (what means): {And if only they upheld [the law of] the Torah, the Gospel, and what has been revealed to them from their Lord, they would have consumed [provision] from above them and from beneath their feet…} [Quran 5:66]
3. You have to maintain the kinship ties because the Messenger of Allah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said, “He who likes his provision to be expanded and his lifespan to be prolonged, let him maintain his ties of kinship.” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim] Verily, maintaining ties of kinship is one of the causes that bring about abundance of provision and blessing in life.
4. You have to utilize all available means for earning and do your best to find a suitable job. If you do so, refrain from the unlawful and suspicious jobs and follow the way of the righteous, perhaps Allah will expand your provision. But anyway, it is due to be contented with Allah’s fate, be it good or evil, because it is one of the six pillars of faith, according to the hadith of Jibreel (Gabriel) 
narrated on the authority of ‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, “Faith is to believe in Allah, His angels, Books, Messengers, the Last Day; and to believe in the fate, with its good and evil aspects.” [Muslim, At-Tirmithi and An-Nasaa’i]
It is narrated on the authority of Abu Hurayrah 
that the Messenger of Allah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said, “Avoid the forbidden acts so that you would be the strongest worshipper among all the people, and be satisfied with what Allah has decreed for you so that you would be the richest of all the people.” [Ahmad and At-Tirmithi with a weak chain of narrators]
The Messenger of Allah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, further said: “Verily, Allah, the Almighty, tries the servant with what He gives to him: if he is satisfied with what He has decreed for him, it will be blessed for him, and Allah will extend it for him; and if he is dissatisfied with it, it will not be blessed for him, nor will he take more than what has been decreed for him.” [Ahmad and others; As-Suyooti: authentic]
5. Finally, you claim that you are a young man in the blossom of youth, yet your financial status is meagre. That may be right. Nevertheless, you are still better off than those who are worse off than you. Perhaps you have good health, which others are missing. Doubtless, it is the greatest favor after the favor of guidance and faith. So hold fast to Allah, and stick to the guidance of the Quran and the Sunnah, despair not of Allah’s mercy, and ask Allah for blessing in life and the abundance of provision. May Allah make you and us successful in doing what He likes and is pleased with.
Allah knows best.
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