You Can Only Rely On Allah

You Can Only Rely On Allah

Lecture by Imam Mohamed Magid - MSA National

Opening

(بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ - bismillahir-rahmanir-rahim)

In the name of Allah, and praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah, the Merciful, the Guiding, and the Bestower of Blessings. I seek refuge with Allah from the evil of the hearts, and from the evils of deeds. He who is guided by Allah is the one who is guided, and he who is misguided will not find a guide.

The Integration of Virtues

You know, as Muslims, we have to believe in integration of values and virtues. Because Islam is a religion that teaches holistic approach to life. Therefore, when a person speaks about the issue of tawakkul, relying on God Almighty, have to see that virtue in connections with other virtues.

Because when the Messenger of Allah said, I was sent to perfect human character. And you have to see what are those values and virtues that make us, both of us, all of us, men and women, children and adults, strive to achieve that high moral character. And in order for me to, just to show you that connection, let me take the virtue of tawakkul, relying on God Himself.

A person who is in a state of reliance on God, mutawakkil, is a person who is brave. Tawakkul makes you very brave, makes you have courage. Because sometimes, you over-calculate things.

Because you rely on your aptitude. Or you rely on your money, or rely on your social relationship. And sometimes, because you're worried about losing those, you make decisions that you should not have made.

The Hadith of the Birds

Our Messenger of Allah said, If you rely on Allah, absolutely and completely. He will provide you provision. He will give you sustenance, as He gives to the birds.

The birds fly every day out of their nest with empty stomachs. And they come back with full stomach. What are the virtues you just learned from this hadith in tawakkul? Four virtues, very quickly.

Number one, the birds, they do fly to seek the sustenance. Therefore, the concept of tawakkul here is not to stay home. And not to make effort.

The Example of Hijrah

I give an example from a human perspective. Allah asked Rasul sallallahu alayhi wa sallam to do hijrah, to migrate from Mecca to where? Are you sleeping? Mecca to where? To Chicago? Mecca to Medina? Good. Allah could have taken him as He had taken Rasul sallallahu alayhi wa sallam in something called the night journey.

You heard of night journey? He went to seven heavens and came back in the same night with no problems. He penetrated seven heavens. Is seven heavens closer or Medina is closer to Mecca? Is Al-Aqsa mosque closer to Mecca or Medina closer to Mecca? Are you guys sleeping? Medina close, closer to Mecca.

But yet, Allah when He made him, asked him to migrate, which is other people were migrating, doing emigration after him. When to come to follow him, He made it a human effort. Made it ordinary effort.

When it was a night journey, it was extraordinary because not all of us are going to go to Isra and Mi'raj. Only Rasul sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Now, Rasul sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, does he rely on Allah or not? He relies on Allah.

But he hired somebody who knew the route that people of Mecca did not know. You should have said, I'm talking to Allah. I'm just going to take the same highway.

No, he hired somebody to take him the route that no one had known. He asked his cousin, Ali, to sleep on his bed. He asked Asma to be in charge of the food.

He asked the shepherd to clean or to wipe out the footprints. He has tawakkul, but he used what they call asbab, the means. He used the means.

The Misuse of Tawakkul

The concept of tawakkul is a concept that has been misused and abused. People say, I tawakkul to Allah. But he does not do his homework.

That's not tawakkul. That's tawakkul. You claim that you rely on Allah, but you are not.

And Umar, I don't know if the sheikh mentioned that, he comes to the masjid and five people sitting in the masjid hanging around all day long. He said, what are you doing here? What kind of job do you have? He said, we are mutawakkilun, we rely on God. Umar kicked them out.

He said, get out of the masjid. You are mutawakkilun. You claim that you rely on Allah, but you are not.

Because Rasulallah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, if you rely on Allah, he will give you as a gift to the bird. But he says, they fly. The bird, they fly.

And sometimes they fly so long. Do you know that? Have you seen the community of birds flying? Have you seen them? How they fly? V-shaped. Am I correct? There's a bird in the front.

You know what happens when a bird gets sick from the V? You know what happens? Two birds go down with it, until either it becomes okay or it dies, and then it flies back again. Therefore, relying on Allah in collective effort, in community effort, means that you take care of one another. And when you rely on Allah, you believe absolutely, completely, with no doubt, that Allah is the one who provides.

Who Truly Provides?

Not the company you work at. You see, one of the problems of the issue of tawakkul, that many people get paid through what? What? Checks or direct deposits. Sometimes we don't see the money.

And not only that, when you shop, you usually use what? Plastic things. Therefore, even the money, you don't touch it that much. And many people, when you buy fruit, do you go to the farm, or do you buy it from the grocery store? Therefore, your concept of tawakkul is not completely connected to the chain, the chain of sustenance.

Therefore, you rely always on what? On the Shabbat food warehouse, you rely on Jan and Safeway. What happens if it does not rain for one year in the United States? If there is no rain for one year in the entire United States, what will happen? Do you know what will happen, young people? No electronic will benefit you and I. This iPhone will become obsolete. It does not bring rain.

The President of the United States will come out and will announce a state of emergency in the entire country. Do you know that? Trust me. If it does not rain a drop of rain for one year in the United States, the President of the United States will come out and will declare the state of emergency in the entire country.

Do you know what I mean? Do you hear what I'm saying? I saw the state of emergency in Maryland. Who is from Maryland here? In 1989, it did not rain that summer and that fall that much. There was a state of emergency in Maryland.

If you wash your car, you get a fine. And the neighbors started telling their neighbors. Tawakkul, it means the following.

You have to believe the ultimate power in the hand of Allah. And you have to believe that you have to do your best to do what you can do to change your conditions. But you have to know, sometimes medicine does not

work.

Am I correct? But you have to use medicine. Sometimes the effectiveness of medicine doesn't work.

It doesn't work on somebody. It works on the other person. But it doesn't mean that you cannot take medicine. You have to seek medication and treatment all the time.

Nothing is Reliable Except Allah

Allah teaches you and I lessons. Everything you rely on, it becomes unreliable. But you know, my sister passed away last Thursday.

Not this Thursday. Last Thursday. And I went to Sudan for her funeral.

I just came yesterday. She's 56 years old. How she died is an accident of electric shock.

Electric shock. She held something and had electric, you know, things on it and she died. Which teaches me a lesson.

And you, sometimes, in the peak of our health, life can go like this. Nothing is reliable. The only one that is reliable is Allah.

"Rely on the Ever-Living who never dies."

When you rely on Allah, your perspective of life changes.

The Four Steps of Decision Making

You might calculate things in life. You know, one of the problems that I see sometimes people hesitating getting married, there's some people they go to pre-marital counseling and they pull out. Second person, you ask the person, why? He said, I'm afraid of getting married.

Scared. I tell people, there's four ways to make decisions. And by the way, if I start to say I'm going to tell you four things I didn't tell you, you can ask me later.

Fourth way to make decisions. Number one, you must do istikhara, consultation. You ask.

Like Rasul sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he asked people, which is the best road to take to Medina that Quraysh does not know. He hired a non-Muslim actually. Number two, you do istikhara.

Istikhara. You ask Allah for guidance. That's in decision making.

Number three, you have to have a azima, determination to do things. It cannot be wishy-washy.

And the last one is you do tawakkul.

Leave the Outcome to Allah

You rely on Allah. You jump, leave it in the hands of Allah. You cannot control the outcome.

You have to do your best of the input. Do all of the things and leave the outcome to Allah. But you have to do all of that need that needs to be done and the outcome is Allah's decision.

Because sometimes you might plan things so perfectly and Allah takes your plan and what? Throw it away. He tells you what? Nothing is reliable. Only him.

You cannot rely on him.

Closing

(السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ - Salaam alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh)

Salaam alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh