As Muslims we believe in Allāh and all those matters upon which it is required to bring belief in a committed sense or when asked but true belief develops tawakkul. Tawakkul with regards to Islam is to entrust your affairs to Allāh, to trust Him. in essence to rely upon Him.
How many of us can truly say we trust Him in our worldly matters or even that we completely rely upon Him?
Let me attempt to exemplify this with a mundane example.
Imagine ‘that guy’ the one you call ‘my guy’ or the equivalent for the sisters (‘my gal’?). So you need to sort your car out as it’s having problems, who do you call (no don’t go there) – of course ‘my guy’ – you can rely upon him to pick your car up, fix it and return it! You are short of a couple of quid and need to borrow until pay day – who do you call!? Of course ‘my guy’ who always comes good and bank transfers it to you before the call ends.
But the Favours of Allāh?
Where is our true reliance upon Him?
Why do we lack the same level of confidence in Him delivering?
Is it the state of our faith?
I was at the gym this week (wanted to squeeze that in) on the treadmill (who’s to say that I had switched it on) and they have big screens in front of you; one was showing a nature program. On there a camera man had set up some nuts in a metal net container to entice the birds in feeding so he could film them. It was amazing to see that even though there was lots of nuts, they only ate a few and left – possibly ate their fill. They did not overeat, they didn’t take any back for laters, or in case they need munchies. They didn’t hoard and out of greed take more than they needed for the next few hours. What trust they had that there would be food tomorrow and the day after. And clearly their ‘belief’ is not misplaced otherwise you would see dead birds scattered everywhere.
In fact a ṣaḥīḥ ḥadīth in Sunan Tirmidhi mentions just that:
عَنْ عُمَرَ بْنِ الْخَطَّابِ قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ لَوْ أَنَّكُمْ كُنْتُمْ تَوَكَّلُونَ عَلَى اللَّهِ حَقَّ تَوَكُّلِهِ لَرُزِقْتُمْ كَمَا يُرْزَقُ الطَّيْرُ تَغْدُو خِمَاصًا وَتَرُوحُ بِطَانًا
Sayyidunaā ʿUmar ibn al-Khattāb reported, the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “If you were to rely upon Allāh with reliance due to Him, He would provide for you just as He provides for the birds. They go out in the morning with empty stomachs and return full.”
So let’s try to trust Allāh more, He has fulfilled all the promises He has made to date and will fulfil those we are yet to experience. This not only develops your faith but makes you worry and stress less.
May Allāh increase our trust in Him.
Mufti Amjad Mohammed