What does it mean to be content with what God has given?

It means living within what God has given, without envy, without wrongdoing and without debts one cannot repay. It does not mean standing still, because we should keep striving for a better life.

The English word “content” does not fully capture what Islam means. The Arabic word is qana’ah. It describes a person who lives within their means. They do not spend more than God has given them, neither on themselves nor on those they love.

An example makes this clear. A poor man has only one simple meal a day. Even so, he does not steal, he does not rob, and he does not borrow money he knows he cannot pay back. He does not complain against God or look with envy at others. That is qana’ah. The first verse above warns against exactly this envious gaze.

Yet qana’ah does not mean standing still. A state in which you want nothing more and no longer move is closer to death than to life. The Holy Qur’an asks for the opposite. We should work and improve our lives in every way we can. The second verse above makes clear that effort is rewarded.

Sometimes a person works hard and still stays poor because the economic system around them is unjust. That is why the Holy Qur’an does not speak to the individual alone. It also urges society as a whole to care for the poor and needy who stand at the very bottom and are easily forgotten.

So gratitude, honest living within one’s means and the effort to improve all belong together. According to the hadith above, whoever lives like this is truly rich, even if they own little.