Tie Your Camel, and Then Put Your Trust in Allah

The other extreme is somebody who is suffering from the limited vision of this world, and is surrounded from every side with the material world, and can only believe what he sees with his eyes, and has no understanding of the unseen, al-ghayb. He follows the laws of nature in this world, and is completely keeping out the issue of tawakkul and ghayb. He believes that if he has one more child, he's going to go broke. Why? Because who's going to feed that child? That is somebody who doesn't understand that there's an unseen. There's Allah (swt), who is controlling all events. And Allah (swt) has already written down the rizq of everyone 50,000 years before the heavens and earth were created. You are not the one who is providing rizq for your children; it's Allah (swt).

Somebody who is missing ṣalāt al-jumuʿah — you tell them: why? I have to work. We have to work, that's true. But Allah (swt) says: idhā nūdiya li-l-ṣalāti min yawmi al-jumuʿati fa-sʿaw ilā dhikri Allāh. If you hear the call of prayer on the day of Jumuʿah, go, and fulfil the order of Allah (swt). So this person would disobey Allah (swt) to follow his ration of this materialistic world.

So we have to have tawakkul. Tawakkul, simply put, is these two aḥādīth. One hadith is iʿqilhā wa tawakkal. A companion came to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) and asked him about his camel. He said: when I come, should I leave my camel untied, and go in and pray? Is that tawakkul? The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: no. Tie your camel first, and then have tawakkul ʿalā Allāh.

This hadith is two words, but look at the deep meaning that it gives of tawakkul. Tie your camel, and then tawakkul on Allah: and then put your trust in Allah. In other words, you fulfil the means possible in this world. You do your best. You tie the camel, because that is something in your control; you can control tying the camel. But then the other things that are not under your control, you leave them to Allah (swt), and you put your trust in Allah. You do not control the other factors. You do not control the weather; you do not control if somebody will come and steal the camel; you do not control those things. But you don't live in terror and paranoia because of those things. No — you are confident, because you did your part. But you leave the rest on Allah.