الحمد لله رب العالمين
و الصلاة و السلام على سيد المرسلين
An Outstanding Model
In the book, Dīwān Ḥassān ibn Thābiṭ, it is mentioned that the ṣaḥābi, Ḥassān ibn Thābiṭ (May Allāh be pleased with him), once praised our Prophet ﷺ in the following words:
وَ أَحْسَنَ مِنْكَ لَمْ تَرَ قَطّ عَيْنِيْ وَ أَجْمَلَ مِنْكَ لَمْ تَلِدِ النِّسَاءُ
خلقت مبرأ من كل عيب كأنك قد خلقت كما تَشَاءُ
My eyes have never seen anyone handsomer than you
Nor has any woman given birth to someone more beautiful than you
You were created free from every defect
As though you were created the way you wanted
Allāh Most High says about him (May the best of peace and blessings be upon him, his family, companions and followers):
لَقَدْ كَانَ لَكُمْ فِيْ رَسُوْلِ اللِه أُسْوَةََ حَسَنَة
“You have the best example in the Messenger of Allāh.”
This individual who was the greatest of creation, the one with the most ṭaqwā and ṭawakkul, sold the dates of Banū Nadhīr and stored a years worth of provision for his family. When he ﷺ died, his armor was being held as collateral for barley which he had gotten as provision for his family. He ﷺ once said:
لو انكم كنتم توكلون علي الله حق توكله لرزقتم كما يرزق الطير تغدوا خماصا و تروح بطانا
“If you all put your reliance in Allāh as you ought to, you will be given sustenance like the birds. They go out in the morning hungry and return in the evening with full bellies.”
This ḥadith is not to prevent one from earning a living because ṭawakkul is something that resides in the heart […] rather it is to alert one to the fact that effort is not the sustainer. Allāh [alone] is the Sustainer.
One should know with certainty that there is no doer in existence except Allāh, and that all of the creations and sustenance that exist, anything that is given or withheld, harm and benefit, poverty and riches, sickness and health, death and life, in short everything that exists is from Allāh. Then, after knowing this, one should make effort in a beautiful manner and Allāh will sustain them like He does the birds “who go out seeking provisions and come back with full bellies”.
Allāh, Pure is He from every imperfection, mentioned in the Qurān:
و توكل علي الحي الذي لا يموت
“And put your trust in the Ever-Living Who will not die,”
and
و من يتوكل علي الله فهو حسبه
“Whoever puts their trust in Allāh, then He is enough for him.”
The Andalusian scholar, Imām Qurtubī (May Allāh have mercy on him), a master of Qurānic exegesis and an ascetic, described ṭawakkul as being: “…the heart’s reliance on Allāh to put its affairs in order and bring together what it needs, then utilizing the means because it is what was commanded by Allāh.”
We generally assume that ṭawakkul (relying on Allāh) means not to utilize material means or make effort. The past scholars have refuted this view using very strong words.
Strong words of past scholars
In Mirqāt al-Mafāṭīḥ, Mullā Ali al-Qāri (May Allāh have mercy on him) quotes the following from Sheikh Abū Ḥāmid (May Allāh have mercy on him):
“Some people think that ṭawakkul means to abandon earning a livelihood and planning, and to drop down on the earth like a flung cloth or piece of meat on the butcher’s block. This is the assumption of ignoramuses, because that is ḥarām in the shariah whereas the people of ṭawakkul have been praised by it. How can one achieve any lofty status in Dīn by means of what it has prohibited?
We will disclose the truth of this. The fruits of ṭawakkul only become evident in the movement and striving of the slave to reach their objectives.”
Imām Qurtubī (May Allāh have mercy on him) relates a discussion between himself and another individual in his ṭafsīr book. The individual had made the claim that the prophets were only sent to prescribe the usage of means for the people who were weak. This is Imām Qurtubī’s response:
“This statement could only emanate from a complete ignoramus, a mob of fools, or someone who is challenging the book of Allāh and the sunnah, when Allāh, Most High has informed us in His book about His pure ones, messengers and prophets [upon whom be peace and blessings] that they used to use worldly means and have professions.”
Allāmah Munāwī (May Allāh have mercy on him) writes in his commentary on Jalāluddīn al-Suyūtī’s Jāmi al-Saghīr:
“…A man’s sitting free of any occupation, or busying himself with that which does not concern him is due to foolishness, lack of good sense, and being overcome by heedlessness.
Ibn Mihrān used to encourage his companions to earn a living, saying to them, ‘Acquire your provisions, then secure your houses.’
Once they said to him, ‘There are some people who say: We will sit in our houses until our rizq comes to us.’
He responded, ‘These are people who are fools. This is only correct for that individual who has yaqīn like that of [Prophet] Ibrāhīm.’”
Imām Ibn Rajab al-Ḥanbali writes in his ṭafsīr that al-Khallāl reports through a chain of narrators connecting him to Fudhail ibn ‘Iyādh that Fudhail said, “The Prophet ﷺ, Abū Bakr, and Umar did not say, ‘We will sit until Allāh gives us sustenance,’ and Allāh, Mighty and Exalted is He, said:
و ابتغوا من فضل لله
‘Seek from the bounty of Allāh.’
[Therefore,] one must seek a livelihood.”
Imām Ibn al-Jawzi (May Allāh have mercy on him) wrote the following in his book The Devil’s Deception:
“They wouldn’t have said this had they understood that the meaning of ṭawakkul is the heart’s reliance on Allāh, Most exalted, not the expulsion of wealth. But their comprehension is little. The leaders amongst the Companions and the Tabi’īn had businesses, collected wealth, and none of them said anything like this.
We already mentioned that when Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq was ordered to abandon earning a living because of his occupation with the Khalifah he asked, ‘How are my dependents going to be fed?’”
The Prophet’s ﷺ directive
A companion once came to the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ and asked him if he should tie his camel and put his trust in Allāh, or leave it untied and put his trust in Allāh.
One may liken this to the modern example of an individual parking their car on a steep incline and wondering whether they should put their trust in Allāh and engage the hand brake to prevent the car from rolling away or put their trust in Allāh and leave the car as it is.
In any case, the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ replied:
اعقِلْها و توكَّل
“Tie it and put your trust in Allāh.”
This ḥadīth clearly shows that utilizing the means, in this case tying the camel up so it couldn’t get away, is not contrary to ṭawakkul. In fact, Ibn Rajab al-Ḥanbalī (May Allāh have mercy on him) writes that one must seek help through the means, especially those who have dependents who cannot be patient. Furthermore, the Prophet ﷺ has directed us to seek our sustenance through lawful means:
فاتقوا الله و أجملوا في الطلب
“Have the ṭaqwā of Allāh and go about seeking [your sustenance] in a beautiful manner.”
Imām Tiybi explains that it means to [obtain] wealth in a beautiful manner by seeking it in a way [condoned] by the shari’ah. He further mentions that when one seeks one’s sustenance in a manner that is contrary to the shari’ah then [that sustenance] is dubbed as ḥarām, but when it is done in accordance with the shari’ah it is labeled ḥalāl.
The sunnah of the Prophets (Peace be upon them)
The Prophet ﷺ said:
ما أكل أحد طعاما قط خيرا من أن يأكل من عمل يديه و إن نبي الله داود عليه السلام كان يأكل من عمل يديه
“No one ever ate any food that was better than [that gotten] from his own efforts. Indeed, the prophet of Allāh, Dawud (Peace be upon him), used to eat from the work of his own hands.”
The statement “Dawud (Peace be upon him) used to” is emphatic encouragement to earn a ḥalāl living. This is the sunnah of the prophets. Dawud (peace be upon him) used to make armor and sell it to get provisions, so follow his way.
Imām Ibn Ḥajar (May Allāh have mercy on him) writes:
“The prophet Dawud (Peace be upon him) is specifically mentioned because he didn’t confine himself to eating from his own efforts due to any need. He was, as Allāh mentions, a vicegerent in the earth. The only reason for this was his choosing the superior course, and this is why the prophet (Peace and blessings be upon him) used his story as proof for what he had said about the best livelihood being from one’s own efforts.
Furthermore, it is established that the divine law of those who preceded us is also our law, especially when our divine law has praised it and considered it something good.[1] In addition to this there is the general nature of the statement of Allāh:
فَبِهُدَاهُمُ اقْتَدِه
‘…so be led by their guidance,’
And finally, this ḥadīth shows that earning a living does not detract from one’s ṭawakkul.”[2]
Notes:
[1] As is mentioned in Faṭawā Shāmī: The Divine Law of those before us is our Divine Law when Allah, Most High, and His Messenger have mentioned it without any dislike, nor has its abrogation been made apparent. [See: Rad al-Mukhṭār ‘Alā al-Dur al-Mukhṭār. Dār al-Kuṭub al-ʼIlmiyyah. 1:199] Take for example the incident of Adam’s (Peace be upon him) sons. The law mentioned at the end of the incident still stands in our Shari’ah: Murdering one is like murdering all.
[2] This is not a literal translation, but the gist of what was written.
Bibliography:
Dīwān Ḥassān ibn Thābiṭ. Electronic. Page: 21
Sunan Ṭirmidhī. Qadīmī kutub Khānah. 1:230
Sunan Ṭirmidhī. Dār al-Gharb al-Islāmī. 4:166.
Mirqāt al-Mafātīḥ. Dār al-Kuṭub al-ʼIlmiyyah. 9:485
Ibid.
Ṣūrah Furqān, Āyah: 58
Ṣūrah Talāq, Āyah: 3
al-Jāmī’ Li Ahkām al-Qurān. Dār ʼĀlim al-Kuṭub. 13:16
al-Jāmī’ Li Ahkām al-Qurān. Dār ʼĀlim al-Kuṭub. 13:14
Faidh al-Qadīr. Dār al-Maʼrifah. 2:290
Sūrah Al-Jum’ah, Āyah: 10
Ṭafsīr Ibn Rajab al-Ḥanbalī. Dār al-‘Āṣimah. 1:149
Ṭalbīs Iblīs. N.p. Page: 1098
Sunan Ṭirmidhī. Qadīmī Kutub Khānah. 2:78
Jāmi’a al-‘Ulūm Wal-Ḥikm. Dār Ibn Kathīr. Page: 923
Sunan Ibn Mājah. Qadīmī Kutub Khānah. Page: 155
Sharh Tiybi. Maktabah Naẓār Mustafā al-Bāẓ. Page: 3337
Mirqāt al-Mafātīḥ. Dār al-Kuṭub al-ʼIlmiyyah. 6:4
Ṣūrah al-An’ām, Āyah: 90
Faṭḥul Bāri. Dār Taybah. 5:529.
