As you all know there are a number of forms of worship that each and every individual of us may perform either by the actions he does or by the words he says or by the things that go in his heart. And among the greatest forms of worship that we do with our hearts is what is known as at-tawaqqul- it is depending on Allaah. Allaah the Almighty says in the Quran, “And to Allaah belong the unseen [aspects] of the heavens and the earth and to Him will be returned the matter, all of it, so worship Him and rely upon Him.” [English interpretation of the meaning, surah Hud:123] Your belief is not complete without completing at-tawaqqul. Allaah The Almighty says:
“And put your trust in Allaah if you are believers indeed.” [Sura Al-Ma’idah:23] which means that if you do not have full trust and reliance on Allaah, then you are not a true believer. And the beautiful words we usually say:
A lot of us may say it without understanding the meaning of it. A lot of us would say it when someone does wrong to you and you’d say “Hasbi Allah ‘alayk”. And thinking that this is a supplication against someone else and it is not. It is the beautiful word that Ibrahim, peace be upon him, said when the Pagans threw him into the fire. It was narrated that Jibril, the arch Angel, came to him and said, “Do you want anything from me?” whilst he was about to be thrown into the fire that burns everything, dead or alive. Ibrahim (peace be upon him) said, “from you, I need nothing. All what I need is from Allaah.” And he said, when they threw him in the fire: “Hasbi Allah wa ni’mal wa keel”. And Allaah instructed the thing that naturally would burn and kill to become cold- not only that, and peaceful. Because if Allaah said become cold, he would have frozen to death. Allaah said be cold, but at the same time be peaceful to Ibrahim (peace be upon him). And he stayed there for a couple of days and the people thought that he was gone forever. It’s the same word that the Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him said after the battle of ‘Uhud when seventy of his close companions were martyred. When he himself, may peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him was injured with one of his tooth broken and he was bleeding, someone came and said that the pagans thought that they did not do enough harm to you, they’re coming back to annihilate the whole Muslim Ummah. This did not throw any fear in his heart, nor in the hearts of his companions, because they had full reliance on Allaah. What did they say?
“Sufficient for us is Allah , and [He is] the best Disposer of affairs.” [Surah ‘Ali-‘Imran:173]. He is when we have our full trust and reliance. This is what a true believer believes, not only says. And to have tawaqqul actually you have to truthfully rely on Allaah on attaining the benefits and preventing the harm from reaching you. Not only in this life, but also on the Day of Judgement where it is needed most. Allaah Almighty says in the Qur’an:
“And whoever fears Allah – He will make for him a way out And will provide for him from where he does not expect. And whoever relies upon Allah – then He is sufficient for him.” [Surah At-Talaq:2-3] Subhan Allah. Any calamity you’re in, any distress, any tribulation that you go through, Allaah promises you, if you have an atom weight of belief in your heart- Allaah tells you that He will make a way out for you. Not only that, “He will provide for him sources he never could imagine”. You have your monthly allowance, you have your benefits, you have your salary and still if you are in need, Allaah will provide you from sources you could never had imagined. Not only that, Allaah Almighty says, “And whosoever puts his trust in Allaah then He will suffice him”. Always in times of trouble, put your trust in Allaah, do what Allah wants you to do and Allah will suffice. By Allaah, no one on Earth can cure your illness. No one on Earth can pay off your debt. No one on Earth can make you happy except Allaah. Put your trust in Him and He has everything in His hands. And that is why some of the salaf used to say it has been decreed, Allah mandated upon Himself that whomsoever relies on Him, Allah will suffice him. And whoever believes in Him, Allaah will guide Him and whomsoever lends Allah Glorified and Exalted the ever rich, if you ever “lend” Allah, does Allah ever need you? Does what you have belong to you? It belongs to Allah! But Allah is asking you, Allah is telling you if you lend Allah if you pay for the means of charity Allah the Almighty will make you rich. And whoever trusts Allaah, Allaah will save him and whoever calls Allah- if you call Allah, don’t call others, don’t call awliyaa’, don’t call the Prophet (may peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), in the middle of the night when everybody’s asleep raise your hands and say “Ya Allah” Wallahi He will answer your call. You have to believe in Him.
And whenever you recite the Qur’an, you will find a lot of verses encouraging us, instructing us to have tawaqqul on Allaah. And also, if you go through the hadith of the Prophet (may peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) you will find a lot of ahadith determining that this is one of the essence of our religion to depend to rely to have tawaqqul on Allaah. The Prophet (may peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) told his companions that there will be 70,000- and I pray to Allaah that He makes me and you among them- there will be 70,000 of the ummah of the Prophet (may peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) who will enter Paradise without any accountability or punishment. So all what you have to do is be resurrected and you’ll go to Paradise. So the companions differed among themselves, who are they. Are they the ones that were born in Islam? Are they the ones who are martyred? Are they this or that? And the Prophet (may peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) came out and heard them disputing and he said, “they are those who do not categorise” and this is a form of medication in Arabia. Maybe it’s here, but if certain illnesses are difficult to be cured they break a piece of metal and they heat it until it’s red and then they put it on certain areas of the body. And this is one of the forms of medication in Islam, but the Prophet (may peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) does not recommend it. He did not like it because it included forms of torture. But it is an approved way of medication. Yet those who avoid this, though it’s an illness, it has to be cured but the Prophet (may peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) says, among the 70,000 their characteristic is that they do not categorise and they do not ask others for ruqiyya. You don’t go to righteous people and say “give ruqiyya to me, I have a jinn, I’m possessed, I have an evil eye, I have black magic, can you give ruqiyya to me” because this shows that their reliance- though it’s permissible, yet their reliance is not on Allaah, it’s rather on that individual because “I believe that he is the only one by the Grace of Allaah who can cure me“. And this is wrong. A true believer who relies on Allah does not go even that way. The Prophet (may peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) also says “and those who do not believe in bad omens”. So if I’m going to university in the morning and there is a car accident in front of me, I will not go back and say, “today is a bad day, it‘s not my day, I‘m not going, something bad or evil is going to happen to me”. They do not believe in bad omens. The Prophet (may peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) also concludes this and says, “and they have their full trust in Allaah”. And how would we achieve this beautiful level of worshipping Allah and having our full trust on Him? You have to do two things: you have to connect your heart to Allaah and you have to follow the steps that Allaah has made permissible over you to do. So if you depend and rely on Allaah without doing the necessary means, you are insane. If someone sits at home and says, “O Allah grant me children, offspring of my own” and he’s not married and he’s not doing the means to do so, he’s insane. He sits and says, “O Allaah prepare a good meal for me” then he is insane unless he goes to the kitchen and cooks. Likewise, those who depend entirely on the means and neglect Allaah. So they say, “no, I’m not going to ask Allaah to do anything for me. I’m not going to depend on Allaah on anything, I’m going to do it myself. It is I who does things” this would be considered shirk and a form of blasphemy because you’re not depending on Allaah you’re depending on someone else even if that person was you. Shaytaan has managed to fool a number of Muslims, groups of Muslims who depend so they claim on Allaah. So you’ll find them in the masajid not working, not being active, not benefiting themselves nor their communities. And whenever you tell them “brother you have to work you have to do something”, he’ll say, “no, no, no I have full trust in Allaah. I have the tawaqqul on Allaah and if I work this means I do not trust Allaah”. The Prophet s(may peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said, “If you put your trust in Allaah in the true sense He will grant you provisions” and how is that? He says, “as He grants to the birds who go out in the morning hungry and come back full.” The birds don’t have degrees in university, they don’t have physical capability above us, yet they go out they look for food, Allaah grants them, they come back full. So in this hadith the Prophet (may peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) is telling us if you want Allaah to grant you, you have to have full trust and tawaqqul on Allah. And this does not come without you going out of your home to work and to bring food and put it on the table. And this is why you will find always in the Qur’an and the Sunnah a lot of examples on this. Depend on Allaah but you have to do some work. You know Maryam (peace be upon her)? The guardian of Maryam was Zakariyya (peace be upon them both). Every time Zakariyya would enter the mihrab, which is the place designated for worship in the old nations. Every time he would enter to bring her food, he would find a lot of food that he did not bring as he was the only one aloud in. “Maryam, where did you get this from?” She said, “From Allah”. When she was healthy, when she was capable, when she was young, food came to her without her asking or doing anything. But when she got pregnant (Jesus alayhis salam), when she was weak and vulnerable, Allaah told her to shake the trunk of the palm tree so that dates would fall upon you and you would eat from it. SubhanAllah. Now she’s needy, Allah is telling her to do work and if any one of you are strong people would go and get hold of the trunk of a palm tree- if 10 of us try to shake it, it will not shake. Yet this pregnant, poor woman, Allaah tells her that listen you have to work, though I can give you dates without you working. But this is to show us that Allaah wants us to work.
Likewise, Musa (peace be upon him) was fleeing Pharaoh and the enemies. He reaches the sea, if Allaah wanted, it would have split open and he could have walked. No, Allaah tells him strike it with your stick. Strike it with this bow you have in your hand. And SubhanAllah, it opens. If Allaah wanted it, it could have happened without him doing this. All of this is to show us that we must do things in order to have full reliance and tawaqqul on Allaah. Our Prophet (may peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) himself on the battle of Badr, 300 men against 1000 fully armed men. It is not fair and they have no chance, yet the Prophet (may peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) takes a handful of dust and he throws it in the face of the army. And Allaah tells him in the Qur’an, it was not you who threw when you threw that, it was Allaah who threw it. Allaah could have guided them with His grace without the Prophet (may peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) throwing anything yet He wants His prophet to have a say in it and to follow the proper means while having the full concentration and the full reliance and the trust in Allaah.
People nowadays, and when I say people we should look into ourselves, don’t look at the one that’s sitting next to you because Allaah will only question you about your own deeds. So we have splitted into a number of divisions. Some of the Muslims as stated earlier, they depend on Allaah so they claim without doing the necessary means that Allaah instructed us to do. And this is not logical this is not of the Sunnah. When the Prophet (may peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) was in an expedition once, half the expeditionary were fasting the other were not. So at the middle of the day those who were fasting were completely exhausted so for those who did not fast, they’re travelling, they’re aloud not to fast, they started to serve them, to bring them their needs. And the Prophet (may peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) looked at them and said, “those who did not fast took all the reward” because they are serving those who did. Which means that you have to do things in Islam in order for you to get rewarded. And on the opposite side you find Muslims that do not rely on Allaah. Some of them even refuse to supplicate to Allaah. “I have a business transaction tomorrow, I need Allaah to help me complete it yet I will not supplicate to Allaah“. Why? He says, “I’m relying on myself”. And most of the Muslims are like this. Most of the Muslims rely on their ability, not on Allaah. So many times, in business meetings when I go, I find Muslim brothers, some of them practicing brothers, when they make a presentation they say, “I managed last year in the third quarter to achieve my target and I exceeded that and I did so and so and my plans were so and so” and he attributes all the success to his own knowledge and ability and this is part of the shirk. Ibn Abbaas (may Allaah be pleased with him) the cousin of the Prophet (may peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) told us about the scenario when a person at night, a burglar came to break in but the duck that belongs to his neighbour quacked. So, the burglar felt afraid and ran away. Ibn Abbaas says, “whoever says in the morning, if it were not for my neighbours duck the burglar would have broke in, he committed shirk”. Because he attributed this to the duck rather than saying it’s the grace of Allaah, it’s a blessing of Allaah. In everything you enjoy at the moment, it is from Allaah. Your health, your wealth, every single favour and blessing it is from Allaah. If you attributed to someone else, you are committing an act of shirk. Therefore, those who say, “no, we depend on ourselves. We‘re not going to call Allaah, we‘re not making any du‘aa‘, we‘re not going to have any tawaqqul” they are not proper Muslims. And unfortunately, a lot of us are like this. The Prophet (may peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) himself when he fought he had full trust and reliance on Allaah. Is that true? Nobody doubts this, yet he fought in his armour. He didn’t go without any shields or armour and said I’m going to rely on Allaah, Allaah is going to protect me. When he migrated from Makkah to Medina, he didn’t have any GPS’s, he took a guy who was a mushrik to guide him to Medina and he didn’t say, “No, I’m going to go, in sha’ Allaah, Allaah will guide me”. So, this is the true tawaqqul and trust in Allaah the Almighty. And this is what we lack most. Our trust in Allaah. Look at our lives. What do we focus most on? On things that are important but they are not only Islam. We focus on growing the beard and this is of course for the gents, not for the sisters, and the sisters focus on the Hijab, this is good. We focus on having short thobes and not exceeding the ankles and this is good because this saves you from Hellfire. And that is it. And some of us, the good ones of us may focus entirely on prayer in the masjid and this is also a great part of Islam but is it only Islam? Without relying on Allaah, without tawaqqul on Allaah, everything will be in vain- even if you pray and you have a long beard, and you wear the hijab and everything ma sha’ Allaah looks perfect- without the full reliance on Allaah. Without believing that Allaah is our Creator and our Provider. Without believing that Allaah is the Giver of life and death. Without believing that Allaah is the Causer of harm and the Bringer of benefit. No one can do this except Allaah. Without believing that Allaah is the One Who Honours people and humiliates whom He wishes Glorified and Exalted be He. Without believing that Allaah is the One Who brings people down and He is the One Who exalts them when He wishes. Without believing that Allah is the Giver and the Constrictor- The One that gives and the One that Prevents. Without this, you cannot be a true believing Muslim. Because once you have this, once you know Allaah, once you believe in Him and trust Him, only then you would have performed the true and complete tawaqqul on Allaah. And this would show on your deeds. If you have full tawaqqul on Allaah, you will not find one single Muslim cheating in exams. Do Muslims cheat in exams? Big time. If you have full tawaqqul on Allaah you will not find anyone lying to get benefits from the government. They do this a lot. If you have full reliance and tawaqqul on Allaah, your heart would not be begging people for money. You heart will not be looking for a position in that company through that person. You will have full reliance on Allaah. If it comes, it comes. And that is why Haatim al assam was asked, “how do you have full tawaqqul on Allaah?” He said, “I only realise that my provision, my rizq, no one else can share it with me“. Is that true? Allaah is the Giver and Provider. Can anyone take something that Allaah has written for me? No. So, I went and rested because I know that only myself can take what Allaah has given and therefore nobody else can do this.
If we have full reliance on Allaah, you will not find Muslims knocking the doors of every sheikh or Imam of a masjid asking him to give ruqqya. “Sheikh my son is possessed, my wife has black magic, I have an evil eye I was kicked off my job. Sheikh, sheikh, sheikh” Why don’t you go to the Source? Why Don’t you raise your hands in humility in submissiveness in showing and expressing your poverty to The King of the Kings, to the Lord. Allahu musta’an. If you do this, wallahi Allah will answer you. But you have to go to Him. He promised us that if you call Him, He will answer you and if you rely on Him, He would suffice you. Nowadays, we depend on our knowledge. You depend on your tongue and the power of convincing, you depend on your money, someone else depends on his house, or strength or position or nationality, or origin or tribe. All of these will be in loss. The only true believer, the only successful among them all is the one who depends entirely on Allaah The Almighty.
I seek Allaah’s guidance and help that we all become among the mutawaqileen upon Him Glorified and Exalted be He. O Allaah, grant us the true tawaqqul on You and make our hearts connected with You. O Allaah, grant us the halal means to have a successful life in this world and the Hereafter.