Do Your Part

When they reached the other side, Mūsā struck the sea with the stick, because he wanted to close it. He struck the sea with his stick.

What divided the sea? The stick. But is it really the stick that divided the sea? It is Allah (swt). His stick — if you take a stick and you hit the water with it, what will happen? You will splash water; you will just wet your clothes. It is not the stick that divided the sea; it is the will of Allah (swt) that divided the sea. So why did Mūsā have to use the stick? Allah (swt) will not give you victory until you do your part. And if the most you can do is hit the water with your stick, then do it. The victory of Allah will not come until you do your part. Allah (swt) wants Mūsā to do his part.

And we are complaining that the victory is not here — and the reason is that we are not doing our part. Allah (swt) is going to perform miracles, and He is going to give His victory to the ones He loves, to the awliyāʾ of Allah. But they need to do their part.

At the battle of Badr, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) put the believers in ranks, he fixed them together, he did everything that is humanly possible — and then what did he do? He went up on a hill and started making duʿāʾ. He did everything he could do, and now it was time to ask help from Allah. Allah (swt) sent down two thousand angels^** to fight with them. They had to go out and take every preparation possible, everything humanly possible, and when they had fulfilled that, they made tawakkul, and Allah (swt) will give the victory. So Allah wants Mūsā to do his part, and the best he can do is hit the water with his stick.