Today’s topic concerns:
‘By Allah you have no one but Allah, so sufficient is He for you in all your affairs.’
If trials and tests have heightened upon you, and calamities have become more difficult, and [your] trials have become too much for you [to bear], and if your enemies have increased their effort to strike fear in you, and if life has been made difficult, and finding a job/rizq has been made difficult, or your illness has become more difficult [to bear].
And if there is a difficulty of deprivation in this life, scarcity of wealth, and a lack of a desire to live. If there is an abundance of stress and grief, and loss has encompassed you from every angle, and distress has surrounded you from all angles, and the world - in all its vastness - has become constrained upon you; What is the solution, treatment, and cure [for all this]?
It is finding refuge in, and relying on Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ). There is no solution except this.
O owner of distress, your stress will be put at ease. Rejoice, for the One who brings you relief is Allah. Desperation sometimes tears its owner apart. But despair not, for verily Allah is sufficient [for you]. Allah will decree after this hardship, a beautiful ease.
Do not be disheartened, for verily Allah is The Creator (i.e., The Creator of problems and their solutions). If you have been tested, put your trust in Allah and be pleased [with what He decreed for you]. For the one who will relieve you from it, is Allah. By Allah you have no one but Allah, so sufficient is He for you in all your affairs.
The one solution is [found] only through reliance upon Allah. Reliance upon Allah alone is not sufficient, one must also take into consideration the necessary means. A person must rely upon Allah after taking the necessary means.
Reliance (Tawakkul) upon Allah is having Husn Dhann in Allah (good thoughts concerning Allah), and having trust in Him in all your affairs. Reliance upon Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ), it is the only path [for you to take as a believer], at all times, in all catastrophes, in every difficult situation in front of you, there is no path except this.
However, it is upon you to take the necessary means. [It’s reported that] A man came to the Messenger (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) saying:
يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ أَعْقِلُهَا وَأَتَوَكَّلُ أَوْ أُطْلِقُهَا وَأَتَوَكَّلُ قَالَ " اعْقِلْهَا وَتَوَكَّلْ "
“O Messenger of Allah, should I tie my camel and trust in Allah, or should I
leave her untied and trust in Allah?” The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said: “Tie her and trust
in Allah.”
[Tirmidhī:2517]
Tie your camel, and then put your trust in Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ). The foundation for one achieving their goal consists of two matters, reliance upon Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ) and taking the necessary means. Reliance upon Allah is an action of the heart. We must exert our utmost effort to purify our heart from filth.
All matters of religion are attached to the heart. If the heart is aright the person and body follow suit. Reliance is casting oneself between Allah’s Hands, prostrating a long and deep prostration, in which you ask Allah - putting all your trust in Him, leaving your affairs to the King of all kings, asking him, after you’ve taken the necessary means.
Surrender to Allah all your affairs, surrender them to The One who controls all the affairs [of this world]. Nothing happens except with the Command, Permission, and Will of Allah. It is upon us to surrender to Allah and His Decree.
Ibn Al-Qayyim (رحمه الله) said: ‘Reliance upon Allah is half of one’s religion.’ This [means] it is a important matter. [Having] reliance upon Allah isfrom the character of a Muslim, and even a praiseworthy rank from the ranks of [having] Tawheed, for it’s a part of Tawheed and a condition of Emaan.
And Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ) commanded towards it in the Qur’an, not in one Ayah, but seven - in which He commands [His slaves] to have complete reliance on Him, and praises the ones who have complete reliance on Him (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ).
إِنَّمَا الْمُؤْمِنُونَ الَّذِينَ إِذَا ذُكِرَ اللَّهُ وَجِلَتْ قُلُوبُهُمْ وَإِذَا تُلِيَتْ عَلَيْهِمْ آيَاتُهُ زَادَتْهُمْ إِيمَانًا وَعَلَىٰ رَبِّهِمْ يَتَوَكَّلُونَ ﴿٢﴾
The believers are only those who, when Allah is mentioned, feel a fear in
their hearts and when His Verses (this Qur’an) are recited unto them, they (I.e.,
the Verses) increases their Faith; and they put their trust in their Lord (Alone).
[Surat Al-Anfal: 2]
And they put their trust in their Lord (Alone). These are the people who have true reliance upon Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ). They will have whatever they desire in this life, and in the hereafter they will enter Paradise with no accountability nor punishment. Rather, they will be resurrected from their graves and skip the horrors of the Day of Judgement, no scales, no books, nothing!
Again, those who have full reliance upon Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ) will enter Paradise with no accountability. O Allah make us of them! Ameen. Verily they will hastily go forth to Paradise. What bounty is greater than this? Indeed, this is a great bounty. This is all a result of one relying upon Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ), as well as taking the necessary means.
[It is reported that] The Messenger (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said:
" يَدْخُلُ الْجَنَّةَ مِنْ أُمَّتِي سَبْعُونَ أَلْفًا بِغَيْرِ حِسَابٍ " . قَالُوا مَنْ هُمْ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ قَالَ " هُمُ الَّذِينَ لاَ يَسْتَرْقُونَ وَلاَ يَتَطَيَّرُونَ وَلاَ يَكْتَوُونَ وَعَلَى رَبِّهِمْ يَتَوَكَّلُونَ "
Seventy thousand men of my Ummah would enter Paradise without rendering
account. They (the companions of the Holy Prophet) said: Who would be
those, Messenger of Allah? He (the Holy Prophet) said: They would be those
who neither practice charm, not take omens, nor do they cauterize, but they
repose their trust in their Lord.
[Muslim:218b]
The more a person relies upon Allah and puts their trust in Him, the sooner the relief, victory, and good will come - in this life and the next. This is the reward for one who truly relies upon Allah. There is no matter you desire in this life except that you should precede it with two things. Everything you want, marriage, applying for a job, children, everything you desire, must be preceded with,
- Taking the necessary means, &
- Having reliance upon Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ).
If you do so, then Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ) will answer your prayer. The Messenger (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said, in a Hadith narrated by Mu’adh ibn Jabal (رضي الله عنه):
لَوْ أَنَّكُمْ تَوَكَّلْتُمْ عَلَى اللَّهِ حَقَّ تَوَكُّلِهِ لَرَزَقَكُمْ كَمَا يَرْزُقُ الطَّيْرَ تَغْدُو خِمَاصًا وَتَرُوحُ بِطَانًا.
“If you truly put your trust in Allah, He would provide for you as He provides
for the birds; They go out with empty stomachs and come back with full
stomachs.”
[Ahmad:370]
In the morning the bird has no food, she leaves to a certain area to look for food, and she comes back at night full. Whoever wants something from Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ), anything, in this life or the next, then let him take the necessary means then put his trust in Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ).
O Allah make clear to us the truth, and grant us the ability in following it, and show us the falsehood for what it is, and grant us the ability to avoid it. O Allah make us guided guiders, and not misguided, nor of those who misguide others, and to close our Dua, All the Praises and Thanks be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds