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The Shaykh continued:
POINT 3: Lack of provision is caused by oppression of men not because there are insufficient resources on earth.
For example, when some governments impose taxation to service their debts, this has an effect on the economy. The prices rise and farmers cannot afford to plant seed for harvesting as it is not profitable for them. So famine may take place due to this, not because there are insufficient resources. Also, some countries like America destroy grain harvests because there is too much so they throw it in the ocean to manipulate prices.
The issue returns back to oppression. Sustenance is present, but there is oppression, fighting and killing among people over this sustenance. This affects provision, but Allāh created the earth sufficient and full of provision for everyone. So each person should have taqwa and Allāh will bring him his provision.
It is greed, oppression, tyranny and the desire for accumulation of wealth, goods, power and authority among men that is the cause of scarcity and impoverishment. This can also happen at the level of nations, whereby some nations colonize or wage war against others. However, these things in turn have a more fundamental cause and that is sin and disobedience at the level of the individual servant. These affairs of oppression and injustice at the level of entire nations, populations and societies arise because of the deeds of individuals. So while there is indeed plenty on Allāh’s spacious earth, deprivation and lack of blessings occur through the deeds of men.
Ibn al-Qayyim (رحمه الله) said:[1]
For Allāh, the Sublime, with His wisdom (ḥikmah) and justice (ʾadl) makes the (consequences) of the actions of the servants to appear to them in forms (ṣūwar) that are appropriate to (their actions). So sometimes it is in the form of a drought or barrenness (of land). Other times it is by way of an enemy. Other times by way of tyrannical rulers. Other times by way of general diseases (that spread). Other times it is by anxiety, grief and worry that reside in their souls and do not leave them. Other times it is by preventing the blessings from the sky and the Earth from them. Other times it is by unleashing the devils upon them to incite them to the causes of their destruction, so that His word can be established upon them and so that each of them arrives at the outcome destined for him. The intelligent (ʿāqil) traverses with his insight (baṣīrah) in all regions of the world and witnesses this, and he sees the occurrence (of these instances) of Allāh’s justice and wisdom taking place.