“And Allah is powerful over everything.” [2:20]
This phrase above occurs 33 times in the Quran.
I was reading about hoarding during the coronavirus pandemic. The first item to go was toilet paper.
Of alllll the things… it was toilet paper!
Psychologists say that at times of uncertainty, human beings are likely to want certainty in SOMETHING. So they chose the cheapest thing that anybody could buy in bulk to prepare for societal breakdown. Toilet paper.
Everyone cannot hoard food and other expensive items. But everyone can hoard toilet paper – so it became the first thing to go. And as others found out, it became a true craze and even more supply was bought out.
What we have to realize is… Yes we can prepare for such a situation. But we must always keep in mind that Allah is in control – we can never, ever have complete control. We can try. We can attempt.
But we will never be in complete control.
And that concept is not suffocating – it is liberating to not be in control. It means we can de-stress (stress reduces our immune system’s power anyway) and take the precautions that are within our reach.
Then leave the rest to Allah.
What do you think? Share your reflections below!
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Macha’Allah it is liberating indeed knowing ALLAH is in control. THE most liberating thing.
Maybe that’s why I never hoarded the tp ?
Also bcs when you have the spray nozzle you don’t have to hoard it ?
Assalamu alaikum brother
What you said is absolutely right. We cannot have total control of anything as everything is in Allah SWT hands.
I think people who hoard know that they can’t control the situation. They feel they need some sort of security so they fill their homes with things they are used to something they can see, something they think they have control over.
I believe we should do our very best we can and have Tawakkul in Allah SWT that everything will be ok.
“As what is meant for us will reach us even if it’s between two mountains and what’s not meant for us will not reach us even if it’s between your two lips.”
So why worry about what’s out of your control. That’s my thought anyway.
Jazak Allah khair.
Of course, knowing that Allah is in control of all things is a primary element of faith. But the cause of the run on toilet paper was not hoarding; rather, it was because there are actually two different markets in the US for this: business, which was shut down for the pandemic; and home, where ppl then began to use more toilet paper bc they were no longer using it at work for 8 hrs. Biz toilet paper is manufactured by different companies in large rolls of lesser quality, whereas the home market offers smaller rolls of softer quality. The sudden shift in demand from business tp to home tp upended the market & it takes time to adjust a whole system of manufacturing/ marketing and retail vs wholesale shift. That caused the problem; only when they found stores running out of product did ppl start hoarding. Even now many are still working online, but markets have adjusted to the change.
Regarding Allah’s control, don’t forget that sometimes He tests us, things don’t always go as we want, and therefore patience is a highly valued virtue in His sight.
Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh
Thank you for your valuable insight. Indeed, the pandemic really shook a lot of things up. May Allah (swT) grant us patience.
For sure there are some economics behind it as well. But people also over purchased in a panic ??