Rizq
RIZQ
Provision — everything Allah has apportioned, wider than money and impossible to miss.
Rizq is provision — everything Allah has apportioned to His creation. But rizq in the Quran is far wider than its common translation as "sustenance" or "livelihood." Rizq includes food and money, yes — but also knowledge, children, health, time, relationships, opportunities, spiritual states, and any good that reaches a person. The Quran makes Allah's Raziq-hood (His being the Provider — Al-Razzaq) one of His most-repeated attributes, and the practical implication is radical: every good thing that reaches you comes from Allah, and nothing of your rizq can be prevented from reaching you.
The Quran states it plainly: "There is no creature on earth but that upon Allah is its rizq" (11:6). The scholars derived from this verse the doctrine that rizq is guaranteed — not in the sense that one will always have abundance, but in the sense that one will receive exactly what has been apportioned, no more, no less. This is not a license for passivity (the bird that sits in its nest receives no rizq; the bird that leaves its nest and seeks does) — it is a shield against anxiety. The fear that someone might "steal" your rizq, that you might work hard and still miss what is yours, that others' abundance diminishes what is available for you — the Quran's doctrine of rizq addresses all of these directly.
The deeper dimension of rizq in the Quran is spiritual: Allah is the source not only of material provision but of the most valuable things a person can receive. The hadith says the Prophet ﷺ asked: "Who among you has fasted today?" Abu Bakr replied: "I have." Then: "Who has followed a funeral procession?" Then: "Who has visited a sick person?" Abu Bakr had done all of these. The Prophet ﷺ said: "These things are not combined in a person on any day except that they enter jannah." This is rizq at its highest: the provision of guidance, of tawfiq (divine facilitation), of the opportunity to do what is good.
Root occurrence breakdown
The root r–z–q appears approximately 123 times in the Quran — in the verb form razaqa (He provided), the noun rizq (provision), and in the divine name Al-Razzaq. It appears in nearly every context of the Quran: the creation of the world, the stories of the prophets, legal injunctions, eschatological description.
Key ayahs
وَمَا مِن دَآبَّةٍ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ إِلَّا عَلَى ٱللَّهِ رِزْقُهَا
“And there is no creature on earth but that upon Allah is its provision.”
The most comprehensive statement of divine provision in the Quran. The word 'upon Allah' (ʿala Allah) carries a sense of committed obligation — not merely that Allah is generous but that He has undertaken the provision of every creature. The scholars say this verse makes rizq-anxiety a form of doubting Allah's commitment.
وَيَرْزُقْهُ مِنْ حَيْثُ لَا يَحْتَسِبُ
“And He provides for him from where he does not expect.”
One of the most hope-giving verses in the Quran for material life — rizq comes from unexpected directions. The scholars taught this verse to people in financial difficulty: when you have exhausted your known sources, remember that the Provider is not limited to the paths you can see. This verse has been called 'the verse of surprise rizq.'
إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ هُوَ ٱلرَّزَّاقُ ذُو ٱلْقُوَّةِ ٱلْمَتِينُ
“Indeed, it is Allah who is the continual Provider — the possessor of firm strength.”
Al-Razzaq (the continuous Provider) paired with two attributes of power: dhul-quwwa (possessor of power) and al-matin (the Firm). The pairing is important: the provision comes from a source of infinite power that cannot be depleted. Allah does not run out of rizq.
Go deeper — surah pages