The Subject of Yashāʼ and Yaqdir in Rizq/Provision Verses
Abstract
This article looks into some Qurʼānic verses that feature the verbs yashāʼ and yaqdir in relation to the concept of “giving rizq/provision” or “providing sustenance.” Yashāʼ means “to will”/“to wish” and yaqdir is traditionally understood to mean “to give limited provision,” but I argue that it means “to be able to.” These verses are traditionally interpreted to mean that Allah decides on whom to give abundant provision and whom to give limited provision. The article examines the linguistic structure and properties of these verses and argues that while Allah makes it possible for people to seek rizq (i.e., Allāhu yabsuṭu al-rizqa), He does not decide on whom to give abundant provision and whom to give limited provision; that is, the human being decides on the amount of rizq/provision that he/she earns. Linguistically speaking, I argue that while Allah is the subject of the verb yabsuṭ, which means “to provide in abundance” or “to make easy,” the human being is the subject of both yashāʼ and yaqdir; traditional exegesis sources analyze Allah as the subject of all three verbs. Evidence from the Qur’ān and sunnah is provided to make the case for this new understanding.
References
ALAC, [Arabic Language Academy in Cairo]. Al-Mu‘jam al-Wasīṭ. Cairo: International Sunrise Press, 2004.
Al-Alūsī, Maḥmūd b. ‘Abd Allāh. Rūḥ al-Ma‘ānī fī Tafsīr al-Qurʼān al-‘Aẓīm wa ’l-Sab‘ al-Mathānī. Beirut: Muʼassasat al-Risālah, 2010.
Al-Andalusī, Muḥammad b. Yūsuf. Tafsīr al-Baḥr al-Muḥīṭ. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyyah, 1993).
Al-Baghawī, Al-Ḥusayn b. Mas‘ūd. Tafsīr al-Baghawī: Ma‘ālim al-Tanzīl. Riyadh: Dār Ṭaybah li ’l-Nashr wa ’l-Tawzī‘, 1989.
Al-Balushi, Rashid. “Belief in Allah is the Researcher’s Natural Path.” AlJumuah Online Magazine, February 8, 2020. https://aljumuah.com/belief-in-allah-is-the-researchers-natural-path/.
Al-Balushi, Rashid. “On the Subject of ‘Yashāʼ’ in Some Qurʼanic Verses.” Journal of Islamic Research 33, no. 2 (2022): 596-616.
Almansour, Sana. “The Crisis of Research and Global Recognition in Arab Universities.” Near and Middle Eastern Journal of Research in Education 1 (2016): 1-13. http://dx.doi.org/10.5339/ nmejre.2016.1.
Al-Qurṭubī, Muḥammad b. Aḥmad. Al-Jāmi‘ li Aḥkām al-Qurʼān. Beirut: Muʼassasat al-Risālah, 2006.
Al-Sa‘dī, ‘Abd al-Raḥmān b. Nāṣir. Taysīr al-Karīm al-Raḥmān fī Tafsīr Kalām al-Mannān. Riyadh: Darussalam for Publication and Distribution, 2002.
Al-Sha‘rāwī, Muḥammad Mitwallī. Tafsīr al-Sha‘rāwī. Cairo: Dār Akhbār al-Yawm, 1991.
Al-Ṭabarī, Muḥammad b. Jarīr. Tafsīr al-Ṭabarī. Beirut: Muʼassasat al-Risālah, 1994.
Al-Ṭanṭāwī, ‘Alī Muṣṭafā. “Al-Rizq Maqsūm lākin al-‘Amal lahu Wājib.” February 25, 2012, 5-16. https://ar.islamway.net/book/4235/الرزق-مقسوم-ولكن-العمل-له-واجب.
Al-ʻUmrānī, Yaḥyā b. Abī ’l-Khayr. Al-Intiṣār fī ’l-Radd ʻalā ’l-Muʻtazilah al-Qadariyyah al-Ashrār. Riyadh: Maktabat Aḍwā’ al-Salaf, 1999.
Al-Zamakhsharī, Maḥmuud b. ‘Umar. Tafsīr al-Kashshāf. Beirut: Dār al-Ma‘rifah, 2009.
Al-Zuhayrī, Ḥasan Abū ’l-Ashbāl. Sharḥ Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim. https://shamela.ws /book/37026.
Bāyindar, ‘Abd al-‘Azīz. “Dirāsah Qurʼāniyyah ḥawla Fi‘l Shāʼa wa Mā Yata‘allaq bihī.” March 24, 2014. https://www.hablullah.com/?p=2243.
Camacho, José. The Structure of Coordination: Conjunction and Agreement Phenomena in Spanish and Other Languages. Dordrecht: Springer, 2003.
Chomsky, Noam. Lectures on Government and Binding. Dordrecht: Foris, 1981.
Goodall, Grant. “Coordination in Syntax.” In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics, edited by Mark Aronoff. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017.
Holtzman, Livnat. “Debating the Doctrine of Jabr (Compulsion): Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya Reads Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī.” In Islamic Theology, Philosophy and Law: Debating Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, edited by Birgit Krawietz and Georges Tamer, 61-93. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2013.
Humaysah, Badr ‘Abd al-Ḥamīd. Fa Ibtaghū ʻind Allāh al-Rizq. October 23, 2010, 12-15. https://ketabpedia.com/فابتغوا-عند-الله-الرزق/تحميل/.
Ibn al-Ḥajjāj, Muslim. Ṣaḥīḥ. Cairo: Dār al-Ḥadīth, 1991. https://sunnah.com/muslim:2643a.
Ibn Kathīr, Ismā‘īl b. ‘Umar. Tafsīr al-Qurʼān al-‘Aẓīm. Riyadh: Dār Ṭaybah li ’l-Nashr wa ’l-Tawzī‘, 1999.
Ibn Taymiyyah, Aḥmad. Majmūʻ al-Fatāwā. Medina: King Fahd Complex for the Printing of the Holy Qur’an, 2004.
Ibn Zanjalah, ‘Abd al-Raḥmān b. Muḥammad. Ḥujjat al-Qirāʼāt. Beirut: Mu’assasat al-Risālah, 1997.
Kurdī, Rājiḥ ʻAbd al-Ḥamīd, and Sharīf al-Shaykh Ṣāliḥ al-Khaṭīb. “Mafhūm al-Rizq bayn al-Muʻtazilah wa Ahl al-Sunnah wa ʻIlāqatuhu bi ’l-Qadar.” ʻUlūm al-Sharīʻah wa ’l-Qānūn 32, no. 1 (2005): 140-55.
Mas‘ūd, Jubrān. Al-Rāʼid: Mu‘jam Lughawī ‘Aṣrī. 7th ed. Beirut: Dār al-‘Ilm li ’l-Malāyīn, 1992.
Oirsouw, Robert R. Van. The Syntax of Coordination. London: Routledge, 2019.
Ryding, Karin. A Reference Grammar of Modern Standard Arabic. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
Suaieh, Saadun Ismail. “Aspects of Arabic Relative Clauses: A Study of the Structure of Relative Clauses in Modern Written Arabic.” PhD Dissertation, Indiana University. 1980.
Vries, Mark de. “Relative Clauses in Syntax.” In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics, edited by Mark Aronoff. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018.
Zhang, Niina Ning. Coordination in Syntax. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009.
Publication of material in the journal means that the author assigns copyright to Islamic Studies including the rights to electronic publishing. This is, inter alia, to ensure the efficient handling of requests from third parties to reproduce articles as well as to enable wide dissemination of the published material. Authors may, however, use their material in other publications acknowledging Islamic Studies as the original place of publication. Requests by third parties for permission to reprint should be addressed to the Editor, Islamic Studies.
.jpg)
