Leaving the House in Allah's Name

As a Muslim leaves his house, left foot going first, he says: bismillāhi tawakkaltu ʿalā Allāh, lā ḥawla wa lā quwwata illā billāh. What does this mean? In the name of Allah, I put my full trust in Allah to take care of my needs and my cares for the day; there is no strength and no power except that which comes from Allah (swt). Bismillāhi alladhī lā yaḍurru maʿa ismihi shayʾun fī al-arḍi wa lā fī al-samāʾi wa huwa al-samīʿu al-ʿalīm — when the name of Allah (swt) is mentioned in this way, nothing in the universe can ever harm a Muslim, nor indeed any being at all, if Allah (swt) does not will it. This is trust in Allah (swt).

There is another trust, perhaps the most important trust a believer must show Allah (swt), set out in a hadith of the Prophet (peace be upon him): lā yamūtanna aḥadukum illā wa huwa yuḥsinu al-ẓanna billāh — none should die, so far as it is possible, except while holding a good opinion of Allah (swt) in the heart. What does this mean? Allah (swt) says in the Qurʾān that there is one thing He will not forgive: shirk, associating partners with Him. Whoever dies in a state of shirk, Allah (swt) does not forgive; but anything short of that, Allah (swt) says He will forgive if He wills — He is Ghaffār al-Dhunūb, the forgiver of sins, Sattār al-ʿUyūb, the coverer of faults; He is the most merciful, the most compassionate, the most forgiving. This should be a person's ẓann, his good opinion, of Allah (swt) before death: "Yā Rabbal ʿālamīn, I have done so many silly and stupid things in my life, and I am so ashamed of them — I know what they are, and You know what they are too. I have nothing to show for myself, but I have full belief, full īmān and full yaqīn in You, that I did not commit shirk, did not associate any partner with You; therefore I believe, inshāʾAllāh, that You are most forgiving, and that You will forgive me." This too is tawakkul in Allah (swt) — tawakkul in His mercy in the hereafter.