Tafseer of The Spider · Al-Ankaboot · 29:60
And how many a creature carries not its [own] provision. Allah provides for it and for you. And He is the Hearing, the Knowing.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The explanation of the words of the Exalted: وَكَأَيِّنْ مِنْ دَابَّةٍ لا تَحْمِلُ رِزْقَهَا اللَّهُ يَرْزُقُهَا وَإِيَّاكُمْ وَهُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْعَلِيمُ ("And how many a creature does not carry its own provision with it; Allah provides for it and for you, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing") (29:60).
The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, says to those who believe in Him and in His Messenger, from among the Companions of Muḥammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace: emigrate and strive for the sake of Allah, O believers, against His enemies, and fear neither poverty nor neediness. For how many a creature has need of food, eating, and drinking, لا تَحْمِلُ رِزْقَهَا ("does not carry its own provision with it"), that is to say: it does not carry its food with it so as to store it on one day for the next, on account of its incapacity to do so. اللَّهُ يَرْزُقُهَا وَإِيَّاكُمْ ("Allah provides for it and for you") day after day. وَهُوَ السَّمِيعُ ("and He is the All-Hearing") of your words: "we fear poverty through leaving our dwelling-places," الْعَلِيمُ ("the All-Knowing") of what is within yourselves, and toward which your affair is directed, and that of your enemy, with regard to the humiliation that Allah will inflict upon them, and your victory over them, and other matters that concern you. Nothing of the affairs of His creatures remains hidden from Him.
And in the spirit of what we have said in the explanation of this, the exegetes of the Qurʾān have spoken.
* The mention of who said this:
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both of them — on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His words: وَكَأَيِّنْ مِنْ دَابَّةٍ لا تَحْمِلُ رِزْقَهَا اللَّهُ ("And how many a creature does not carry its own provision with it; Allah..."), he said: the birds and the beasts do not carry their provision with them.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: al-Muʿtamir ibn Sulaymān related to us, saying: I heard ʿImrān, on the authority of Abū Mijlaz, concerning this verse: وَكَأَيِّنْ مِنْ دَابَّةٍ لا تَحْمِلُ رِزْقَهَا اللَّهُ يَرْزُقُهَا وَإِيَّاكُمْ ("And how many a creature does not carry its own provision with it; Allah provides for it and for you"), he said: among the animals there are those that are not able to store up anything for the following day; each day it is led to its provision, until it dies.
Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Yamān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn al-Aqmar: وَكَأَيِّنْ مِنْ دَابَّةٍ لا تَحْمِلُ رِزْقَهَا ("And how many a creature does not carry its own provision with it"), he said: it stores up nothing for the following day.
