Human aspect of sustenance: Relatioship between human willpower and sunnatullah

Human is both the subject and the addressee of the Qur'anic curriculum. According to the Qur'an, man is a purposeful being, and the realm of existence gains meaning through the purpose of man's creation. The Qur'an, which addresses man's creation and nature, weaknesses and virtues, and the values and mission he undertakes, evaluates the realm of existence as a ground where the purpose of man's creation will emerge. The continuation of man's existence, whose purpose of creation is determined as servitude, is possible through sustenance (rizq). Sustenance, which forms the main axis of our study, in its broadest definition as a phenomenon, expresses all kinds of material and spiritual/worldly and otherworldly needs of man. In the Islamic intellectual tradition, sustenance is discussed in connection with many concepts such as fate (qadar), creation, the end of life (ajal), freedom, and the fundamental values on which the individual relies in obtaining sustenance. Therefore, the phenomenon of sustenance is not merely a biological or economic issue; it is a multi-layered phenomenon with metaphysical, ethical, and social dimensions. However, at the center of the discussions on the subject of sustenance lies the following fundamental question: Does the acquisition of sustenance occur entirely under the disposition of divine will, or what role does human will play in this process? The discussions shaped around this fundamental question deepen, especially over the issue of which will the processes of creation, distribution, and sharing are based on. In this context, it is observed that various schools of thought and scholars in the Islamic intellectual tradition have displayed different approaches regarding the nature of sustenance, its source, the ways it reaches man, and the formation of prices. The main purpose of this study, on the other hand, is to address the phenomenon of sustenance within the framework of sunnatullah, to reveal the role of human will in this process, and thus to try to understand man's relationship with sustenance in the context of the continuity of divine laws and the functioning of nature. The study consists of an introduction and three chapters. In the introduction, the subject, scope, purpose, significance, method, and literature review of the research are discussed. In the first chapter, a theoretical framework of the concept of sustenance is established, and the nature of sustenance in the Qur'an and hadiths, as well as the approaches of the theological schools (kalām) to the concept of sustenance, are examined. In the second chapter, the theological foundations of human responsibility and the concept of sunnatullah are evaluated within the context of the human dimension of sustenance. In the third chapter, the relationship between religion and economics in the context of sustenance, the interaction between divine will and human effort within the framework of sunnatullah, the attempts to disregard human will, and the issue of "prices," which is one of the reasons why the topic of sustenance was addressed within the discipline of kalām, are discussed.