Tawakkul Part 1
Section 14 of 14 · Faraid in Islam · Ustadh Mahmud Kurkcu
Tawakkul, Taslīm and the Station of the Prophet
A related question is what distinguishes waraʿ from taqwā. Taqwā is taqwā: avoiding what is clearly unlawful. Waraʿ is a higher form still: avoiding even what is merely doubtful, being overcautious, so that where any doubt attaches to a thing, it is simply left — even where others call it lawful, the heart itself is not at ease with it. This is called waraʿ, and it is a fine quality in a Muslim.
The ʿulamāʾ explain that reliance on Allah (swt) is of three types. The minimum accepted level is tawakkul itself, the reliance every Muslim must have, already set out at length here: trust placed in Allah (swt). The second is called the level of taslīm, submission — said to be the station, the maqām, of Ibrāhīm (peace be upon him), when Nimrod had him flung into the fire by a sling. Midair, Jibrīl (peace be upon him) came to him and asked whether he wished to be saved. He answered no, he had full trust in Allah (swt):
فَإِن تَوَلَّوْا۟ فَقُلْ حَسْبِىَ ٱللَّهُ لَآ إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ ۖ عَلَيْهِ تَوَكَّلْتُ ۖ وَهُوَ رَبُّ ٱلْعَرْشِ ٱلْعَظِيمِ
“So, if they turn away, say (O Messenger,) “Enough for me is Allah. There is no god but He. In Him I have placed my trust, and He is the Lord of the Great Throne.”” (9:129)
Allah is sufficient for me; there is no god but He; upon Him I rely, and He is the Lord of the mighty Throne. Absolute taslīmiyyah, submission to Allah (swt), to His decree, entire and complete. Because of this full submission, Allah (swt) changed the law governing fire for him: rather than burning, it became, as it is described, cool and safe — a rose garden, some say. This is the station of Ibrāhīm (peace be upon him). The third level, still higher, is said to be the station of the Prophet Muḥammad al-Muṣṭafā (peace be upon him): leaving everything entirely to Allah (swt), never once complaining, never questioning the ḥikmah of Allah (swt), whatever comes from Him and whatever is withheld — all of it from Him — with a heart fully content, full īmān, a hundred per cent tawakkul left to Allah (swt), questioning nothing at all. This is the station of the Prophet (peace be upon him).
Tawakkul, in sum, is one of the obligations a Muslim must cultivate and develop in the heart, and it is not merely laziness dressed up as reliance on Allah (swt) for everything, in the literal sense of the word. A person must first fulfil his own part, and only then leave the rest to Allah (swt). Allah (swt) could, were He to will it, change the laws of the universe and give a person anything at all without any need to fulfil a single condition, because He is capable of it, able to do it — but Allah (swt) will never do this: not that He cannot, but that He will not, exactly as in the case of Ibrāhīm (peace be upon him), where fire burns, yet Allah (swt) changed the law so that it became cool. Sitting at home doing nothing at all, could Allah (swt) still feed a person? It is possible, but Allah (swt) will never do this either, because He wants the means to be sought first, the work to be done first — yet no one dies purely of hunger, because everyone's rizq is fixed, and no harm or benefit can ever reach a person outside of it. So it must be believed, in the heart, that no human being can harm another human being without Allah's (swt) permission; He is the one true mover behind every cause. Being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or the right place at the right time, as it is put — these are only appearances; the real mover of everything, in every literal sense, is Allah (swt).*****
Time itself is sworn by in closing:
وَٱلْعَصْرِ
“(I swear) by the Time,” (103:1)
إِنَّ ٱلْإِنسَـٰنَ لَفِى خُسْرٍ
“man is in a state of loss indeed,” (103:2)
إِلَّا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ وَعَمِلُوا۟ ٱلصَّـٰلِحَـٰتِ وَتَوَاصَوْا۟ بِٱلْحَقِّ وَتَوَاصَوْا۟ بِٱلصَّبْرِ
“except those who believed and did righteous deeds, and exhorted each other to follow truth, and exhorted each other to observe patience.” (103:3)
*****
* Kept as said. Sūrat al-Māʾidah's command to rely on Allah after belief — wa ʿalā Allāhi fa-tawakkalū in kuntum muʾminīn — is given as "verse thirty-three"; the verse carrying these words is 5:23.
** Kept as heard, with a probable reading. In the account of the boy from the tomato farm, what is heard is "the key place five times a day, Lord on his face"; "keep [the prayer]" and "noor" (light), a common description of a pious face in this idiom, are the likeliest originals, but this is not certain.
*** Kept as heard. In the same account, what is heard is "he grew up with the Qurʾān, with a clock, with Islam"; the middle item could not be determined with certainty.
**** Kept as heard. In the account of the needle and thread, it is unclear whether the item named alongside the needle, thread and cutting tool is a "book" or a "bottle"; the explanation that follows — that it was needed for wuḍūʾ — fits a bottle, and it is rendered as such here.
***** Kept as heard, with a probable reading. What is heard at this point in the closing stretch is badly garbled ("the real mover and shaker is a loss of hello of everything literally"); the identification of Allah (swt) as that mover is not read off this fragment itself but off the unbroken run of the two sentences immediately before it, which twice already name Allah (swt) as sole mover of every cause.