#Sustenance

Once an old man was sitting in his usual place, dhikr of Almighty on his lips.
Slightly pre-occupied with the loaf of bread which was going to be his sustenance for the day.

Always the same..... One loaf of bread.

And  Moosaa happened to be walking past. The old man thought - "Here is my chance to send a message to Almighty...."

So he greeted Moosaa, and said somewhat falteringly:
"Oh Holy Man, when you are speaking to your Creator, can you ask Him to increase my (sustenance).... For so long now, all I have is a single loaf of bread per day.
I long for more.  Can I not have more than this....?    If you ask him Oh Moosaa, surely HE will grant me more....."

Without hesitation the reply he got from Moosaa, that his question would be put to Almighty.

And so it was, and the reply that Moosaa,  received was that the Old Man's lot in life was to receive one loaf of bread per day.  

That had been written for the Old Man for all his life.
The next time prophet saw the old man, and he passed on the message that 'one loaf of bread is all that he would receive, as it was written so, in his destiny'.

The old man was overjoyed.   He clapped his hands with glee. Surprised by this reaction Moosaa, asked him the reason for his joy.   The man replied, "If it is written, then so it shall be!!!! I have nothing to worry about. At least I will always receive one loaf of bread for the rest of my life......"   and with that he went back to his prayers.

Now as the months passed, the man's tranquility increased with the knowledge that he need not worry about his sustenance.    This enabled him to focus more on his remembrance of God, which led to him having less time to focus on food, and even less time to eat. So, from eating one loaf of bread, he barely managed to eat half a loaf.

What remained of the loaf of bread every day, was put in a corner.   Soon, the pile in the corner began to increase, until it became a huge heap.
One morning a herdsman was passing through the village and stopped to speak to the old man.   He was looking for hay for his livestock - but there was none to be found.  

The old man said to him : "Why don't you take the stale bread that is lying in that heap, soften it with water and give it to your animals....."   The herdsman did this and his herd happily ate every last crumb.   

The herdsman, to show his gratitude, gave the old man a nanny goat, and went on his way.

Days passed into months and a few years had gone by when  Moosaa, happened to be passing this way again.   To his astonishment he found the that the spot where the old man used to sit had been transformed into a garden.  

There were fruit trees growing nearby, and animals grazing not very far away.  There was a field with grain, and a general atmosphere of abundance and well being.   Moosa, found out that all this belonged to the old man. 

Puzzled, because he knew what was written in the old man's destiny - a single loaf of bread per day - prophet went on his way determined to find out what this was all about.

"How could this be?"   "A loaf a day is all that was written.........., yet he had so much more ..."

The answer .... "One loaf of bread was the sustenance that had been written for the old man. The fruit trees, the live stock and field of crops were the blessings which came from has acceptance of what had been written, as his lot in life."

It was his reward for  his complete trust in Almighty. The  (Abundance) was the result of his shift in focus from what he wanted, to enjoying what he had,  to such a degree, that even after eating as much as he wanted, he still had some left.  His needs had become so small. The abundance this created in the old man's life was compounded by his generosity and willingness to share what he had.

So Rizq is written. But, Barkat comes when we Trust in Almighty, when we are generous with what we  have , and are grateful.

Sonal Jain
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