Tawakkul: Reliance upon Allah;
“[He is] the Lord of the East and the West; there is no deity except Him, so take Him as Disposer of [your] affairs.”
(Surah Muzammil, 73:9)
But we do have that. This pill is called tawakkul. Like any pill, it’s sometimes hard to swallow. There are moments when we wonder whether this medicine even works, or if it is just some tool to make us simply believe we can be better. But Allah, the One – the only One – in control of this universe has said:
“As for your women past the age of menstruation, in case you do not know, their waiting period is three months, and those who have not menstruated as well. As for those who are pregnant, their waiting period ends with delivery.1 And whoever is mindful of Allah, He will make their matters easy for them."— Dr. Mustafa Khattab, The Clear Quran.”
(Surah At Talaq , 65:3)
It means to be firm in your heart. Ibn Ata’illah stated:
“Relieve yourself of worry after you have planned; do not concern yourself with what Allah has undertaken on your behalf.”
With tawakkul, our external burden or outward struggle is to plan, to use our means, and to work hard, but in our heart there is no longer the worry of this burden. If you are sick, you seek out the best option: a professional doctor. If you are applying to university, you take your time in preparing your application to meet the criteria. But also know that after you have done your daily work and faced struggles, you should feel a resounding rest in your heart. Why?
Allah is Al-Wakeel; this means that it is He who controls His worshipers’ affairs and takes care of them. He never abandons them nor leaves them to another source. He has given Himself this Name and made it known to us, so that we know this is an essential attribute of His; thus, we will never be let down, insha’Allah. Even if things do not go according to plan, we know that Allah will give us something that is better. We could not have entrusted our affairs to anyone better than Him. This is why, whenever the idea of relying on Allah is mentioned in the Qur’an, Allah reminds us of His power:
“[He is] the Lord of the East and the West; there is no deity except Him, so take Him as Disposer of [your] affairs.”
(Surah Muzammil , 73:9)
“Put your trust in the Ever-Living, Who never dies, and glorify His praises. Sufficient is He as All-Aware of the sins of His servants.
— Dr. Mustafa Khattab, The Clear Quran”
(Surah Al Furqan, 25:58)
But if the condition of tawakkul is that we use our provisions and resources, what if we lack the means?
Imam Ahmad said the happiest day of his life was when he woke up one morning only to find no food in his home, because he knew that on this day, he had to rely completely on Allah. Imam Ahmad was very, very poor since he didn’t have the means as we do to just go to the market and buy what his heart desired.
Tawakkul also requires training. We are human, and every now and then, we will feel this uncertainty, a loneliness, this knot in the stomach that maybe our situation won’t work out. And it’s ok to feel like this because it is about reminding ourselves to trust Allah at that precise moment. If we truly rely on Allah, in the way we rely on our doctor when we know we have the best one around, this trust can only give us the peace of mind and tranquility of heart, knowing that Allah is always doing the best for us. This tranquility is developed when we face situations of discomfort and uncertainty. When we truly have tawakkul, we will never seek haram means to escape our situation, because we believe it is only Allah who determines the result.
Whenever we feel uncertain, let’s take a dose of tawakkul. Do what you can, but have trust in the guarantee that Allah will give you the result you need.
