The Quran

Preface

وَأَصبَحَ الَّذينَ تَمَنَّوا مَكانَهُ بِالأَمسِ يَقولونَ وَيكَأَنَّ اللَّهَ يَبسُطُ الرِّزقَ لِمَن يَشاءُ مِن عِبادِهِ وَيَقدِرُ ۖ لَولا أَن مَنَّ اللَّهُ عَلَينا لَخَسَفَ بِنا ۖ وَيكَأَنَّهُ لا يُفلِحُ الكافِرونَ

Yusuf Ali

And those who had envied his position the day before began to say on the morrow: “Ah! it is indeed God Who enlarges the provision¹ or restricts it, to any of His servants He pleases! had it not been that God was gracious to us, He could have caused the earth to swallow us up! Ah! those who reject God will assuredly never prosper.”

Provision or Sustenance, both literally and figuratively: wealth and material things in life as well as the things that sustain our higher and spiritual faculties. The rabble, that admired Qarun’s wealth when he was in worldly prosperity, now sees the other side of the question and understands that there are other gifts more precious and desirable, and that these may actually be withheld from men who enjoy wealth and worldly prosperity. In fact it is false prosperity, or no prosperity in the real sense of the word, which is without spiritual well-being (Cf. 29:17, 30:37, and 39:52).