The Meaning of Tawakkul: Do Your Part, Then Trust in Allah - Maulana Syed Muhammad Rizvi

I seek refuge with Allah from Satan, the accursed and the impure. In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, Lord of all the worlds. All praise is due to Allah, we praise Him, we ask His forgiveness, we forgive Him, we repent of Him. And I seek refuge with Allah from the evil of our deeds. Who guides Allah, and so does he who misguides him, and so does he who misguides him. We are being celebrated the days of milad-ul-Nabih. We have been celebrated the days of Milad el Nabi, the birth of the most important prophet of Allah SWT. He is known as the first among them in status, and the last one because Allah chose him for the last and final message that he wanted to send to the human society. And I thought maybe it's important to remember his story from his life, especially this concept of Tawakkel and the trust that we put into Allah SWT. Just as a concept, we trust in God, not in the sense that we then would not do anything. There's two parts of this process. We are supposed to do what we are supposed to do. Once we have done our part, then we pray to Allah SWT that he should not let our hard work go in vain. There is no guarantee. You know everything about an issue. You put your best efforts into it, but the results are not in your hands. And that is where you have to do everything that you are supposed to do and then pray to Allah SWT that it reaches to a conclusion that you are looking for. You know the famous example is the example where the prophet says, you know, tie your camel and then pray that it's still there when you go back because they are all different scenarios which can happen. So you have to do that part. You can't just say, okay I'll leave my camel in the name of Allah. Tawakkel Tawala Allah. No, it doesn't happen. And that is something we have to keep in mind. But remember all the time, many times we forget this element that Allah is the ultimate power. Sometimes this arrogance comes in. I know everything. I know all the resources how to do this, how can you access it. But this is where we have to realize that the result and the end is not in our hands. You know even the doctors when they do the treatment or operation they said, you know, we have done our part. You pray that you know because the cure comes from Allah SWT. The story I want to mention is in a way of combination of you know the prophet's mercy as well as his Tawakkel. Of course there are two different versions of it, not exactly the same. Even the locations are different in the versions. But let me you know go with the narration which is there from Jabir bin Abdullah Ansari which is also in the Sunni sources that in the battle of Zat-ur-Riqa the Muslim army stopped in a valley and according to another version rain started and because they were in the valley area it became kind of a flood. Majority of the army was on one side and Rasulullah was on the other side. And then he decided to you know go under a tree and rest and he had left his sword you know leaning to the trunk of the tree. According to another version it was not an issue of flood you know but they're tired and they wanted to give some privacy to Rasulullah to you know rest under that shadow of that tree. So the other companions have moved away. One of the enemies who were monitoring the Muslim army they saw the prophet to be alone. And you know and he was one of the leaders of this other you know tribe who were planning to take Madina. And so he sought this opportunity. This is you know the prophet is alone I can go and kill him. So he goes there and you know he took that sword of Rasulullah and then stood by his head where Rasulullah got up and sat down and then he says to the prophet he says are you afraid of me Rasulullah said no I'm not afraid of you. Then he asked him he says mania minuqa minni. You know who will protect you from me. He wasn't expecting that answer. Rasulullah said Allah Allah Allah. You know the way he was expecting some other answer maybe a plead and this and that you know he was taken in surprise there. According to another version he felt that somebody's you know hitting on his chest. It is supposed to be the you know Jabrayu and in that state he basically you know his hand opened and this sword fall on the ground. Rasulullah quickly you know took it up stood up and then Rasulullah asked him the same question you know mania minuqa minni. Who will protect you you know from me. And so he says you know please let me go. Now he's pleading to Rasulullah. So Rasulullah said you know do you testify that there is no God but Allah and I am the messenger of Allah. In this version it's interesting that he says no. No. No. I don't accept your faith and your religion but I make a pledge to you that I will not fight you ever again nor will I join any group who will be fighting you. And you know Rasulullah let him go and when he goes to his own people they said what happened. He said well you know jaytukum minuqa minna khayrin nas. I will come to you from the person who was the best of the people. We see this sense of you know tabakku ala Allah that when he is asked you know who will protect you from me. Immediately he says Allah. And the element of mercy here is that he asked him to become Muslim but he did not force him to become Muslim. You know this whole propaganda that we hear about Islam you know sprayed by sword. No this is one you know specific example that we see that Rasulullah did not force him. You know he let him go and this person made a pledge that I will not fight against you anymore. And this is where we have to realize you know this element of tabakku ala with the beauty of the prophet being as Allah says rahmatun li ala min. He is the mercy for the whole world. Salawat minuqa Allah. May Allah give us the tawfiq to understand this element of you know rahma especially his designation as rahmatun li ala min that even in the situations where we are in power and we are able to inflict harm to the opponent we still restrain and basically take the higher ground as far as akhlaq and morality is concerned. In the name of Allah the Merciful. Wa la'asra inda al insana la fi khusra illa al ladhi namin wa amal al salihat wa tawasub al haqq wa tawasub al sabah. Awzub Allahi min al shaytan al la'in wa rajim. Bismillahir rahmanir raheem. Alhamdulillahi al ladhi la ilaha illa hu al halim al kareem. Ghafur dhambi wa qaabul al tawbih wa hu al ghafur rarheem. Wa nashhadu an la ilaha illa hu al atuf al al ibad bi judihi wal awad al al muzunibin bi hulmi. Wa nashhadu anna muhammad an nabiyeh wa habiba. Sayyid al mursaleen wa shafi al muzunibin wa rahmatun li al alameen. Aswallallahu alayhi wa alih. Adda'in al ila sabilillahi bil hikm al tawaw al muwazat al hasana. Qadat al umam wa awliya an n'ima wa ma'adina rahma. Hu wa suqiyy bada Allah bi tawba ma salafa min dunubikum. Talking about the concept of, you know, rahma is, you know, Rasulullah, when we talk about it, you had to realize that this element of forgiving is actually even higher than the element of justice. You know, if you look at the, when it comes to retaliation, you know, Qasas, if somebody has, let's say, physically harmed you, you know, according to the law in the Sharia, you're allowed to respond in the same manner. But if you look at the progression of how this concept has come in, it's interesting. You look at tawrat, which is the first, most comprehensive laws that Allah swt sent. And there the rulings which are there in tawrat, which has been preserved in the Qur'an also, is the issue, you know, and nafs have been nafs. If somebody takes a life of someone, you know, the air of that person have a right to take the life of the killer. Wal-ayn bil-ayn, if it was hurt in the eyes, they can do the same thing, you know, and, you know, similar when it comes to the issue of physical harm. So that's one perspective. And there justice is prevailing. You have a right to take the revenge if it was done on the basis of zulm. But then you come to the example of Isb Namaria, who did not come really to cancel the laws of Musa al-Isra, but modify it, especially the changes which have been brought in it. But he goes a step further and he looks at this element of, you know, mercy that if somebody smites you in the New Testament, he says, if somebody, you know, smites you on your cheek once, you know, slip on your cheek, turn the other. You know, this is what the Christian teachings is there. But we don't see it anywhere. We haven't seen a Christian who is willing to turn the other cheek. They will just chop the head of that fellow. You know, whether it's the nation or individuals. But that's another, you know, the basis of, I would say, you know, Rahmat and mercy. So Musa al-Isra'lam's law says that if somebody does something, you had a right to, you know, he's talking about from the perspective of justice. Then when it comes to the issue of Prophet Isa, he's talking from the perspective of mercy. Islam actually combines both. You will see in the Ayat of Quran, what Allah says, that when a katabna, we have written in the Torah, and then the entire statement, life for a life, you know, eye for an eye, this is there. But then the beauty is that on one hand, Allah is saying justice is important so that the evil people do not think that they are, you know, okay, we can do whatever, nothing will happen to me. But immediately then the Ayat goes on. And this is where we see the combination of justice and mercy. The Ayat goes on to say that, waman tasaddaqa, very beautiful term, but those who have a right to retaliate, if they are willing to be charitable, saddaqa is used in a very different sense there, you know, by either forgiving the criminal, or settling for, you know, monetary compensation, rather than physical revenge, khusas, retaliation. And then Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala says, if you do this, you have a right to take the retaliation because justice demands that. But then Allah says, I'm asking you to exercise your own higher ground by forgiving this person. If you do this, I will forgive your sins on the Day of Qiyamah. And so that beauty of Islam is there in that way, where we have not totally been told that khusas and retaliation is, you know, not applicable at all. We still need to have that sense of, you know, justice in the society. But on case-to-case basis, if people can find that willingness to forgive, you know, that will be one thing to ponder from the Islamic point of view. Salam alaikum. Because justice is the foundation of what we call peace in the society. You can't hear, you can talk about peace in all different conferences and everything. But if you are not able to maintain justice on an individual level, on communal and national levels, there will be no justice at all. Especially when it comes to the powerful people, powerful nations, you know, who really don't bother about justice, they blatantly go around committing crimes against humanity. But then we see all these international laws are only applied on those who are weak and who don't know the line of the superpowers. You know, even if you look at the International Court of Justice, you know, most of the cases come from the countries and the leaders who are not really in good books of the superpowers, whether it is Russia or America. But when it comes to the big shots themselves, no. You know, America actually signs the deal with you, and wherever they go, the main issue is that if an American soldier does something wrong in your country, you have no jurisdiction on him. We will take it and we will then, you know, go through the process of seeing whether he did right or wrong, and we will just, you know, punish him if it's required. You know, even in the 60s, when the whole process of revolution started, you know, opposition to Shah's policies in 60s, this was the main point. You know, where Imam Khomeini was saying those days, you know, this is before even he formulates his idea of Velayat-e-Faqih in that way, he was saying his speech at that time was that an American officer, and he used the term, even the cook in the embassy of the United States of America in Tehran, if he kills a Marj-e-Takleed of Shias in Iran, we can't do anything. You know, his trial will happen in America back. He says, this is the humiliation for the nation, and we don't accept that. And this is how they go around. They don't want to be accountable in the international court for whatever they do. You know, and this is where we have to realize, if justice is not maintained for everyone, you can never have peace in the world. On the 1st of September, you know, American missiles slammed into a house in one of the small fishing towns by the Strait of Hormuz, where people actually had gathered to celebrate the wedding of a fisherman's daughter. You know, and this is where, you know, four people were killed and 67 were wounded. Interestingly, you know, many of the journalists have been going back into records to see in the last 20 years these kinds of so-called mistakes done by the Americans, attacking weddings. The problem is, you know, you're sitting there somewhere in an aircraft carrier or a submarine, you know, looking at the screens and you see people gathering. You assume this is a, you know, a group, you know, gathering to fight. And then you push the button for the missile. And according to a survey which was done by one of the English newspaper of UAE, the nation, between 2000 and basically they gave the numbers from 2001 to 2013, there were eight U.S. attacks on the wedding parties. In Afghanistan, you know, six cases. In Iraq one. In Yemen one case. And in total 300 people in these different cases died just because of their so-called, you know, mistake. According to one of the Yemeni survivors, he says, we were in a wedding, but all of us, you know, suddenly it became a funeral. And so, and then you look at the U.S., what happened in all these cases? The first, you know, response is, oh, no, no, it's not true. We don't accept the report. They basically refuse to accept any responsibility. Even now in this first September case, U.S. once President first said, you know, the United States never targets civilian in combat. We never will do that. We never have done that. But at the end of his statement, he says, unfortunately, obviously, sometimes things happen. But then who is responsible for it? Is there accountability for those things that happen? You know, there is nothing. You look at the case of this attack on bombing of the Minab girl's school. You know, even in the Congress, 46 Democrats, senators actually, you know, demanded from the defense secretary that we would like to see the report about this bombing of the girl's school in Minab. And they gave him a deadline of March 18th. He never responded. And the Congress or the Senate are also so weak. They can't even do much. Democrats, you know, the numbers are not in majority. And the Pentagon reportedly completed its own investigation in April. But still it's not available for public or even for Congress. And so, you know, this is where we see that there is no respect for the rights of others. You know, there is no sense of justice. This is where, you know, we are always reminded of this statement of Rasulallah, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, which has been quoted by other than Amir al-Mu'mineen in his, you know, document that he signed. He actually wrote for Malik Ashdarak. There he says, He says, that I have heard the Messenger of Allah saying in more than one occasion. So this is a repeated, you know, statement of the Prophet. What did he say? He says that no community can ever gain sanctity, taqaddus, you know, in which the weak does not get his right without being treated roughly. They don't get it, they're right unless they, you know, they have to go and do protests and things like that. In that case Rasulallah says that such a society doesn't have any sanctity or taqaddus. And this is where we go back to the issue of justice, that people talk about peace, but they have to realize that will never happen unless you, you know, implement the principles of justice for everyone equally. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala hastan the appearance of the Imam who is going to, inshallah, implement, you know, global justice on the world. Allahumma swalla ala sayyid al-mursaleen wa shafeeel mozunabin nabi'ina Muhammad, swalla Allah wa alaihi wa alaihi wa salam, wa ala imam al-muttaqeen wa amir al-mu'minina Ali ibn abitalib salawatullah alaihi wa ala sayyid al-nisa'il alamin, sayyiditina Fatimah bint rasulallah, salawatullah alaihi wa ala sayyid al-shababi, al-jannah al-hasan al-mujtaba wa al-ahusayn al-shahid al-Bakarbala, alaihim as-salatu al-salam. Allahumma swalla ala imam al-mursaleen alaihi wa ala hasayn wa Muhammad ibn al-Ali wa ja'far ibn Muhammad wa Musa ibn Ja'far wa Ali ibn Musa ibn Muhammad ibn Ali wa Ali ibn Muhammad wa ala hasan ibn Ali alaihim as-salatu wa salam. Allahumma swalla ala maulana al-hujjat ibn al-Hasan sahib al-Aasri wa al-zaman mawhi as-sar al-wadab wa thugianah adibi abniyat al-shirkab wa al-nifaq wa hasid al-furu al-baqiba al-shiqaq, salawat Allah wa al-salam wa alaihi wa la ba'il kiram mat tasalat al-iyali wa layyam Allahumma ajal faraj wa sahil maakhraja wa wakhu al-naaburana binnazratin minna ilayh wa ja'alna malal mashtin shaydeena bayna yadee Allahumma ja'alna minna jad-dakkur wa tanfa'ahu dhikra Inna Allah ya'amru bil-addu al-Hasan wa ita'idh al-qurba wa yana'an al-fahshai wa al-munkar wa al-baqih Ya'idhukum wa al-alakum tadakkarum