Formula for Rain of Blessings

The Prophet (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said: “While a man was in the wilderness, he heard a voice in a cloud (saying), ‘Irrigate the garden of so-and-so.’ The cloud moved and sent its water onto stony ground, where there was one of these channels that absorbed all of that water. He followed the water, and found a man standing in his garden, and diverting that water with his shovel. He said to him, ‘O slave of Allah, what is your name?’ He said, ‘So-and-so’ – the same name that he had heard from the cloud. He said to him, ‘O slave of Allah, why did you ask me about my name?’ He said, ‘I heard a voice in the cloud from which this water came, saying, ‘Irrigate the garden of so-and-so,’ and it was your name. What will you do with it?’ He said, ‘As you have said this, I look at what it produces, and I give one-third in Sadaqah, my family and I eat one-third, and I use one-third as seeds for the next crop.” [Sahih Muslim]

This beautiful hadith tells us many things:

1. Rain does not fall randomly anywhere. Each drop of rain falls only where it is commanded to do so by Allah (subhana wa ta’ala). Natural or man-made causes may be offered as explanations, but if it floods anywhere, the real reason is that Allah (subhana wa ta’ala) ordered the angels of the clouds to have those clouds pour over there. If some areas are irrigated by rain while others are left dry, it is precisely because Allah (subhana wa ta’ala) commanded it to be so. Behind every drop of rain is Allah’s command and His wisdom why, where, when and how it should rain.

2. The angels don’t question Allah’s commands. They simply and efficiently act on them. Angels worship Allah (subhana wa ta’ala) as it is His right to be worshipped. Thus, they obey Him instantly.

3. The cloud was directed to rain in such-and-such place and so it moved to do so. The man did not hear a voice begin to question why it should go to the land of so-and-so. The clouds, rocks, trees, animals, plants, stars, i.e. all animate and inanimate objects, saving humans and Jinns, are 100% Muslims. Humans and Jinns choose to be Muslim or not, but everything else in the universe bows down humbly to Allah’s orders. He/she who chooses to live as a Muslim enters a wonderful and immense community. He/she is now in sync with the entire universe.

4. A person who spends in the Path of Allah is blessed by Allah (subhana wa ta’ala). As is promised by Him, a person who gives Sadaqah doesn’t have his riches decrease because of the Sadaqah he gives, instead, his wealth increases many fold. The rain was thus directed to the land of this man in order to increase his produce because of the Sadaqah that he would take out of it.

5. We also get a formula from this hadith on how to use our resources. The man whose distribution of wealth was liked and blessed by Allah (subhana wa ta’ala) would spend one-third of his income on himself and his family, one-third on keeping his livelihood going - investing it in his business again, and one-third in the Path of Allah as Sadaqah, hoping for no reward but that given by Allah (subhana wa ta’ala).

Let us also try to reach this level of piety and earmark one-third every month as Sadaqah.