Tawakkul In Allah: What Does It Mean?

So what are the weapons that we need for this war? We are going to remember one weapon today and one weapon tomorrow. The first weapon Tawakkul, 'to rely upon Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala, is a huge weapon in this war. This war against yourself, this war against the brainwash. This war, jihad an-Nafs [Combat against the Self], that we must feel, the struggle we must feel, to remove the Hubb ad-Dunya [love for the material world] from our hearts.

Tawakkul. Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala 'Ja'ala at-Tawakkul miftah al-Iman' [Reliance on Allah is the key to access belief/faith]. You know when we said Iman [faith] [Subhana Allah] takes away doubt? So Iman brings you yaqin [certainty] but before that, Tawakkul opens it.

Imam as-Sadiq, 'alayhi as-salam, he narrates: "at-Tawakkul ka'su al-makhtumun wa khitami Allah 'azza wa Jal. Fa la yashrabu biha, wa la yanfidhu khitamuha, illa al-mutawakkilun". He says that, Tawakkul, ka'sun, a sacred glass. It is a drink, he compares it to a drink Imam as-Sadiq, 'alayhi as-salam. He speaks metaphorically when it comes to spirituality. He is telling you that this is a spiritual drink. If you drink it, you will be completely transformed. It is that type of elixir. But you will never understand, unless you drink it. You will only understand it if you feel it. Only.

It is like saying to the blind man, asking him to tell you what red looks like. He has never seen red or explaining to him what it looks like. How would you explain it to him? Tawakkul is something you must feel. Something where when you let go completely and you hand over your affairs to Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala. 'A'udhu bil-Lahi, min al-Shaytan, al-rajim. "Rabbu al-mashriqi wa al-maghribi, la ilaha illa Huw, fa attakhidhu wakila"(73:9). Take Him as a Wakil, Lord of the East and the West, no Lord except Him.

Wakil, you could say it is like an attorney when you hand over all your affairs to him, he takes care of everything for you. You do your part. You don't say no, okay, I stay at home, Allahumma arzuqni [O Allah, sustain me] and I will get everything I need. You must do your part. The Prophet used to say, 'Rely upon Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala, but also tie your camel. You don't leave the camel and say, Allah will tie it for me. You do your part but you must know that everything that occurs is in the power of Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala.

La Hawla wa la quwwata illa bil-Lah [there is no power or might save that of Allah]. Knowing that, having that Tawakkul is so powerful within itself. You know, we spoke about connecting to infinity. This is one of the ways to connect to infinity.

When Nabi Musa, 'alayhi as-salam, was on that shore, and Fir'awn was coming with his army, and they were going to annihilate Musa and his people, and you would think anyone in that position would think it is over. But the Tawakkul that he had. "Kalla! Inna Rabbi ma'ay" (26:62). He stamps the stick on the floor, the sea split into two. Tawakkul! It is a very powerful weapon to have in this world.

And it is also very powerful for our own life, our own personal lives, in our journey. We have to know that God wants what's best for us more than we want what's best for us. To have that hope. There is an American philosopher from the 18th century, his name was Ralph Waldo Emerson. I recommend the brothers and sisters if you haven't read up on him, read his essay, it is very profound. And he has lots of really useful quotes and they come in line here. He says, 'Do the thing and you will have the power.' He says that, 'your actions speak so loudly, I don't hear what you say.' When someone keeps speaking about doing something, it is different than doing it.

He is saying, 'your actions do the talking'. I don't hear what you're saying. I listen to your actions. They speak so loudly, I don't hear what you say. And this is the emerald. He says, 'Do your work and I shall know you.' Do your work and I shall know you. Look at what you have right now. Don't get overwhelmed and stressed by what must happen in the future. This job, this degree, marriage. Look at what you have right now and perfect what you have right now. If you think about it, the people who are successful nowadays, who became famous, they didn't plan this themselves.

Look at YouTube. 15 years ago, there was no YouTube. Now a lot of successful people in the world are successful because of YouTube, but they didn't know that there was going to be a YouTube. All they did was perfect the skill that they had now and they moved forward with it. If we are to have a vision of where we want to go, this job, this degree, or coming forward to marry this spouse. We have a vision, we are going towards that vision.

On the way there, doors are going to open. You don't get attached to the vision itself, to the result itself. You do your work. On the way a door might open that you might like, you might go through that door, but you would never have attained the opportunity to go through that door if you didn't have the vision in the first place to go towards.

Your vision is going to change year in, year out. The important thing is have the vision and go forward. You have to work for it. Don't think about the result, just do your taklif [responsibility] at the time.

The Lebanese resistance, when Israel first took over in Lebanon, a group of them, a small group of them, they went and visited Imam Khomeini, the ones who started the resistance. And they thought that is it, that they were all going to attain Shahada [martyrdom]. They didn't really think they were going to change anything, but this is their taklif. This is what they had to do. This was the right thing to do, to fight against the injustice. So they went to Imam Khomeini. They are telling him but he told them, I see victory written in your foreheads. But they were not working for the result, they were working, doing their taklif.

The same way, Imam Khomeini in the beginning, in the early days, you wouldn't think that the Shah was going to be overthrown in Iran. There was no way. No one would have told you it would happen. He was doing his taklif. The man of God, the woman of God. They do their taklif, they leave the result to Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala.

In the same way, now in our personal lives. Now, we are not trying to make any revolution in here. We are not trying to overthrow an empire. We are just trying to live our lives. In living our lives, we have to have this Tawakkul, have that vision, go towards that vision, there are going to be opportunities on the way.

'Do your work, and I shall know you' [Ralph Waldo Emerson quote]. Sallu 'ala Muhammad wa 'aali Muhammad [Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa Aali Muhammad].