Your Sustenance Is in Heavens
But our humanity needs heavenly sustenance, which is beauty, knowledge and goodness. All three come from heavens.
The Quran says in Verse 22 of Surah Ad-Dhariyat: “In the heavens there is your sustenance and that which you were promised.”
Humanity has always been plagued with various kinds of social and moral corruptions, oppressions, aggressions, hypocrisy, lies, bullying, etc.
This short verse alone is a remedy and if people believe in it and benefit from it, all economic and consequently social problems disappear as darkness disappears with the coming of light.
All corruptions are for benefiting more from earthly sustenance. Everyone tries to get more of it in any way he can. Most people think, neglectfully, that they can add to their substance in any way they want, so they try lies, deceitfulness, and trampling on the rights of others to get more.
God in this verse swears by whatever has been promised to mankind that the substance of all people is in God’s hands.
This swearing is especially great because it includes the wishes of all people of all times. In other words, God swears by what people throughout history have sought, which is paradise.
And if we do what God has commanded us to do, it is not for more sustenance but it is fulfilling our duty. If we look around us, we see that we are indebted to thousands of thousands of phenomena and thousands of people. If we have clothes to wear, a house to live in, food to eat, books to read, music and arts to enjoy, all of the, have been prepared for us by others. One person is never able to meet all of his physical and spiritual needs alone. So one should feel indebted to others and try to reciprocate and do something that benefits others.
So the purpose of working and fulfilling duties is not increasing one’s sustenance although God gives us more substance for what we do. With such a perspective, all lies, deceits and violations of others’ rights disappear because one realizes that he cannot have more sustenance through such ways.
If this verse enters people’s hearts, they will be freed from trickery, cheating and dishonesty and try to do something for others based on kindness and pure intention and whatever sustenance God gives them use with pleasure.
Another interpretation one can have for this verse is that true sustenance is in heavens.
What is on earth is our animal-side substance so that we could move and continue living.
But our humanity needs heavenly sustenance, which is beauty, knowledge and goodness. And all three of them come from heavens.
