The Boy from the Tomato Farm

There is the account of a family met in Shepparton, in Tuura — a moment never forgotten. The only son of the family, eighteen years old, worked with his parents on a tomato farm, picking tomatoes, earning some money. A beautiful child, known to keep his prayers five times a day, a light on his face,^** eighteen years old. It was Jumuʿah. His parents were ready to go, already in a state of wuḍūʾ, but the boy asked to go back to the house first, to take a quick shower and prepare himself for Jumuʿah, and said he would either meet them there or come and pick them up. They agreed. He went home, made wuḍūʾ, put on his beautiful white clothes, and set out by car to come to Jumuʿah. An elderly woman who failed to stop at a red light struck his car directly on the driver's side, and he was killed instantly. He had been wearing his seatbelt; the car had what is called an airbag; the car was mechanically sound; he held a licence; he was on the right path, doing nothing wrong, having taken every proper precaution — but the taqdīr of Allah (swt) caught up with him regardless, and he died, inshāʾAllāh as a shahīd, it is hoped.

The attitude of his parents afterward was one of the greatest lessons ever learned. They said: "he was a gift from Allah (swt); we have smelled his sweet fragrance since he was a baby, and he grew up with the Qurʾān, with a clock,^*** with Islam — māshāʾAllāh, a gorgeous person — and yet Allah (swt), in His infinite wisdom, decided it was time for him to leave. Who are we to argue? We are mutawakkilūn, we have tawakkul." Nothing changes for a true Muslim: if a thing is written for a person, nothing can bring him benefit beyond it; if a thing is written for a person, nothing can bring him harm beyond it; if it is written, it is all from Allah (swt).

There is the account, by contrast, of another Muslim, known through years working with an Islamic Council, whose secretary in those years — a very good Muslim, Allāhu arḥamuh — passed away. His mother, on seeing the ambulance take him away, went into shock, and remained in denial for four, five, six years, insisting that her son was not dead, could not be dead, that God was not that cruel. This is a different attitude altogether — some Muslims carry it — and she went for treatment, so great was her love for him. Allah (swt) is the one who gives, and Allah (swt) is the one who takes away. Look at the difference between a person of tawakkul and a person without it: does it change the law of Allah (swt)? It does not. Does it change anything in the decree of Allah (swt)? Nothing. One will be held accountable for a failure of proper belief; the other will receive great reward. This is tawakkul in Allah (swt).