God's sovereignty and human ownership (al-mulk wal-tamalluk)

In the series Al Naba Al Safi, Sheikh Omar Abdelkafy treats the oneness of sovereignty: all sovereignty belongs to God, and what people hold of wealth, authority and health is in His hand. He says that people speak of owning land, cars and wealth as though it were theirs, and that this is a manner of speech. ^{1 2}

The Sheikh says that God is the true owner of sovereignty, and that people think power and wealth are theirs for ever. ¹ He distinguishes between reigning and owning: a ruler may reign without owning a thing, and an owner may own without ruling, but God both owns and rules. ³ He recounts an Arab who, asked whose camels he was driving, said they belonged to God. The Sheikh concludes that a person's wealth is only entrusted to him. ⁴ He refers to a verse, without naming its sura, which states that God gives sovereignty to whom He wills and takes it away, and that good is in His hand. ⁵ In another lesson he says that a person must know God as the owner of sovereignty, who gives and takes it. ⁶

The speaker's view is that a person's ownership in this world is partial and temporary, that on the Day of Judgment sovereignty belongs to God alone, and that this resembles intellectual property. ⁷ He says that God owns a person's health and wealth and keeps them with him for a term, and that one who truly believes in God's ownership says so. ⁸ He recounts that Abu al-Dahdah, when a verse was recited asking who would lend God a goodly loan, gave his garden and moved his family out of it (needs_source: the story is not sourced in the recording). ⁹

The Sheikh says that God's treasuries are full: He gives by night and by day, openly and secretly, and is not asked how much He has given. ¹⁰ He says that God could have made everyone rich, that trials test people through one another, and he cites a saying that patience is half of faith. ¹¹ He cites a saying that God's dominion lasts and His treasuries are never exhausted, and says one should ask God for His bounty. ^{12 13} On envy, he says it comes from thinking that God gave to someone else and not to me, though God's treasuries are full. Wealth may come without happiness, health or peace in the family. ¹⁴ He advises the envious to ask God for what He gave others, since His treasures do not run out. ¹⁵

He says that God bought the believers' selves and their wealth and returned them as a trust, so the believer must use them only in ways that please God. ¹⁶ When the owner of money cannot be found or has died, its value is given in charity on his behalf, with a prayer that the reward reaches him. ¹⁷

He cites scholars who say that the best a person can own is himself, with a will of his own and not as a passive follower. He reads Yusuf's words on sovereignty as self-command. ¹⁸ He criticises those who credit their eyes, reason, degrees and businesses to themselves and forget that God gave them. ¹⁹ He says that the real giver is God and that provision is in the heavens. One may thank a boss or an official, but the thanks begin with God. ²⁰ He says that a person takes the means to earn, but sustenance is fixed by God, and that blessing differs between people according to their conduct. ²¹ He says that provision comes as decreed, but a person must still strive and not expect results without effort. ²² He says that the student's duty is effort, not success, and that God sets the fruit at the time He wills. ²³ He cites a verse about one who takes his own desire as his god, and says that people follow their desires. ²⁴

The Sheikh says that the grateful person praises God when he is denied what the soul loves, such as wealth, children or grand houses, and holds that the denial may hold good. ²⁵