Tawakkul - Absolute Trust in Allah

﴿قُل لَّن يُصِيبَنَا إِلاَّ مَا كَتَبَ اللّهُ لَنَا هُوَ مَوْلاَنَا وَعَلَى اللّهِ فَلْيَتَوَكَّلِ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ﴾

“Say, "Never will we be struck except by what Allah has decreed for us; He is our protector." And upon Allah let the believers rely.” [Tawbah 51]

﴿وَتَوَكَّلْ عَلَى الْعَزِيزِ الرَّحِيمِ﴾

“And rely upon the Exalted in Might, the Merciful.” [Shu'ara 217]

﴿فَإِذَا عَزَمْتَ فَتَوَكَّلْ عَلَى اللّهِ إِنَّ اللّهَ يُحِبُّ الْمُتَوَكِّلِينَ﴾

“And when you have decided, then rely upon Allah . Indeed, Allah loves those who rely [upon Him].” [Al'i Imran 159]

Tawakkul is the cornerstone of the Islamic Aqeedah. Tawakkul is a matter of faith and shapes our view of life. Tawakkul is absolute trust and unconditional submission to Allah. Tawakkul is obeying and fulfilling His commands, and trusting the outcomes/success of our undertakings to Allah (swt)’s hands.

The first Muslims understood the matter of Tawakkul - absolute trust in Allah - correctly, and they relied on Allah in every sense. And consequently they achieved great things, despite their initial small number and limited opportunities. They did not run away from a difficult situation. In contrary they hurled themselves into it and triumphed over it. When Rasulallah (saw) passed by Ammar ibn Yasir and his family, while they were being tortured due to their belief in Allah the Exalted, he said,«صبرا آل ياسر فإن موعدكم الجنة»“Receive glad tidings, O family of Yasir, for you have an appointment in Paradise.” This strengthened their Iman and increased their determination. It was this pure faith and unconditional trust in Allah which made them triumph over a three times bigger army than their own during the Battle of Badr. During the Battle of the Trench (al-Khandaq), when Rasulallah (saw) took the sledgehammer in his blessed hands and heralded them future victories with every hit at the hard rocks, the Sahabah believed these glad tidings with all their hearts. No real-political analysis could penetrate their pure faith and trust.

Of course, the history of Islam is full of thousands of these honourable scenes. The kind of Tawakkul displayed by Tariq ibn Ziyad, made him to burn his ships in order to conquer Spain and the kind of Tawakkul displayed by Muhammed the Conqueror, who transported his ships over hills in order to conquer Constantinople, are only two examples of these. These scenes of glory generated through their faith and trust in Allah repeated countless times throughout history.

Without doubt Tawakkul in Allah is an obligation and inseparably linked to a command. In other words, Tawakkul materializes directly through fulfilling the commanded order. This means, that firstly the cause of initiating any action is to fulfil a command, or prevent a prohibition, and thus to fulfil the will of Allah; and secondly to trust the success of our efforts to Allah alone, while accepting the result in contentedness. In short, Tawakkul is trusting in Allah without fear and worry about the rest.

Scholars of Islam described Tawakkul as "leaving the COMMANDS to Allah and NOT the DUTIES" and said, "Understanding Tawakkul as leaving the duties is not Tawakkul and reliance in Allah, but it is mistrust in His command, and thus Kufr..."

Especially today, a servant who objects to please Allah and who takes on the task of carrying the Dawah of Islam and who aims at crowning this duty with the establishment of the Khilafah "Caliphate" Rashidah, has only one source of motivation; and that is Tawakkul in Allah. In fact, in the moment when the Dawah carrier proceeds to fulfil a righteous deed on the path of establishing the Khilafah "Caliphate", he has already girded himself with Tawakkul. This unconditional and absolute trust in Allah is what strengthens the determination and commitment of a Dawah carrier and intensifies his/her efforts. It fills him/her with an active and dynamic state of mind which surrounds him/her with a clearly visible and sensible extraordinary will to performance and excitement. And this is how the Lord of the Worlds honours His relying (mutewakkil) servant:

﴿إِنَّمَا الْمُؤْمِنُونَ الَّذِينَ إِذَا ذُكِرَ اللّهُ وَجِلَتْ قُلُوبُهُمْ وَإِذَا تُلِيَتْ عَلَيْهِمْ آيَاتُهُ زَادَتْهُمْ إِيمَانًا وَعَلَى رَبِّهِمْ يَتَوَكَّلُونَ﴾

“The believers are only those who, when Allah is mentioned, their hearts become fearful, and when His verses are recited to them, it increases them in faith; and upon their Lord they rely” [al-Anfal: 2]

﴿إِنَّ اللّهَ يُحِبُّ الْمُتَوَكِّلِينَ﴾

“Indeed, Allah loves those who rely [upon Him].” [Al'i-Imran 159]

This must be clear in our minds as Muslims: "The essence of Tawakkul is to rely on the command and to love the duty." The one who relies on Allah, who submits to the commands, and who hopes for the success from Allah, is able to achieve huge things by performing even the seemingly most impossible duties. He is not affected by the power, the number or unity of the Kuffar and continues to struggle with all his means to reunite the Ummah under one single roof as commanded by Allah (swt). Therefore having Tawakkul in Allah, is one of the principles that keeps the Muslim Ummah alive and active, and thus is one of the most substantial concepts.

 ﴿قَالَ لَهُمُ النَّاسُ إِنَّ النَّاسَ قَدْ جَمَعُواْ لَكُمْ فَاخْشَوْهُمْ فَزَادَهُمْ إِيمَاناً وَقَالُواْ حَسْبُنَا اللّهُ وَنِعْمَ الْوَكِيلُ﴾

“Those to whom hypocrites said, "Indeed, the people have gathered against you, so fear them." But it [merely] increased them in faith, and they said, "Sufficient for us is Allah, and [He is] the best Disposer of affairs.” [Al'i-Imran: 173]

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Zehra Malik