Lesson: 30- Reliance and Trust in Allah
Verses and Narrations about Reliance
And if you are slain in the way of Allah or you die, certainly forgiveness from Allah and mercy is better than what they amass.
And if indeed you die or you are slain, certainly to Allah shall you be gathered together.
Thus it is due to mercy from Allah that you deal with them gently, and had you been rough, hard hearted, they would certainly have dispersed from around you; pardon them therefore and ask pardon for them, and take counsel with them in the affair; so when you have decided, then place your trust in Allah; surely Allah loves those who trust If Allah assists you, then there is none that can overcome you, and if He forsakes you, who is there then that can assist you after Him? And on Allah should the believers rely.
And they say: Obedience. But when they go out from your presence, a party of them decide by night upon doing otherwise than what you say; and Allah writes down what they decide by night, therefore turn aside from them and trust in Allah, and Allah is sufficient as a protector.
Say; nothing will afflict us save what Allah has ordained for us; He is our patron; and on Allah let the believers rely.
Certainly an Apostle has come to you from among yourselves; grievous to him is your falling into distress, excessively solicitous respecting you; to the believers he is compassionate,
But if they turn back, say: Allah is sufficient for me, there is no god but He; on Him do I rely, and He is the Lord of mighty power.
And Moosa said: O my people! If you believe in Allah, then rely on Him alone if you submit to Allah.
So they said: On Allah we rely: O our Lord! Make us not subject to the persecution of the unjust people:
And do Thou deliver us by Thy mercy from the unbelieving people.
Their apostles said to them: We are nothing but mortals like yourselves, but Allah bestows His favours on whom He pleases of His servants, and it is not for us that we should bring you an authority except by Allah’s permission; and on Allah should the believers rely.
And what reason have we that we should not rely on Allah? And He has indeed guided us in our ways; and certainly we would bear with patience your persecution of us; and on Allah should the reliant rely.
And give him sustenance from whence he thinks not; and whoever trusts in Allah, He is sufficient for him; surely Allah attains His purpose; Allah indeed has appointed a measure for everything.
Traditions
1 - Imam Sadiq (a.s.) said: Needlessness and honour keep moving, when the palace of reliance on Allah is decorated they come to reside therein.
2 - Imam Sadiq (a.s.) is recorded to have said: Everyone had been given three things, from three things they have not been prevented: whoever is given prayer, he is given response; whoever is given thankfulness, is given more and whoever is given reliance on Allah has been given sufficiency. Then he said: Have you read in Allah Almighty’s Book: And whoever Trusts in Allah, He is sufficient for him and He has said: If you are grateful I would certainly give you more and He said: call upon Me, I will answer you.
3 - The Holy Prophet (s.a.w.s.) said: If you will rely on Allah in reality and fully. Allah will give you provision just as a bird flies out empty stomach in the morn and return full bellied at night.
4 - The Holy Prophet (s.a.w.s.) said: One who wants to be the strongest of all men must trust only in Allah.
5 - Amirul Mo-mineen (a.s.) is reported to have said: Whoever trusts Allah He gives him happiness and the one who relies on Allah, He suffices for all of his affairs.
6 - Imam Baqir (a.s.) said: One who puts his trust in Allah is never defeated and the one who relies on Allah never fails.
7 - It is recorded from Amirul Mo-mineen (a.s.): Faith has four pillars: Reliance on Allah, Entrusting affairs to Allah, being pleased with Allah’s decision and submission to commands of Allah.
Reliance and its meaning
Reliance originally is from WA KAA LAT means selecting a pleader and we know that a good pleader or advocate is he who has at least four qualities: enough awareness, honesty, ability, and sympathy.
And man’s reliance on Allah means his trust in Allah and his entrusting all of his affairs to the lord of the worlds.
In other words, man’s coming out of every might and power and his faith in the might and power of only one God and this perfect reliance is not achieved unless man reaches a station where he realises that there is operating force in the universe except only One God and he understands that there is no movement and strength but b the will of Allah and that He alone is knower of everything that takes place in the worlds and that he intends nothing but good of His slaves. And one who does not have such belief, surely cannot rely fully on Allah and those who are not such and are weak hearted or have inadequate certainty should endeavour to make these two qualities complete and as said by the wise and virtuous: Reliance is the direct fruit of active belief in the oneness of God because, as we have said, from the viewpoint of a believer in only One God each and every movement, effort, and struggle and so also each and every phenomenon which takes place in the world, finally is related to the first cause, that is Allah himself. Therefore a believer in the Oneness of Allah believes that every power and every victory is from only One Allah.
Question: Does not Tawassul contradict faith in the reality of Reliance?
Answer: Definitely no, because Reliance does not mean that man must ignore the ways and means created by god in this material world. It is mentioned in a tradition of the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.s.): When an Arab did not fasten the leg of his camel and left it unwatched, thinking it Reliance on Allah the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.s.) told him: First fasten it and then rely.
And it is mentioned in the Holy Quran: O you who believe! Take your precaution, then go forth in detachments or go forth in a body.
Also: And when you are among them and keep up the prayer for them, let a party of them stand up with you, and let them take their arms; then when they have prostrated themselves let them go to your rear, and let another party who have not prayed come forward and pray with you, and let them take their precautions and their arms; for those who disbelieve desire that you may be careless of your arms and your luggage, so that they may then turn upon you with a sudden united attack.
But what is desired is that man must not encircle himself in the structure of the material world, relying totally on his physical strength and should keep his eye on the help and mercy of his lord. Such attention to Allah gives man peace of mind and an extraordinary spiritual strength that has profound effect while confronting troubles and difficulties. Secondly reliance on Allah has no other meaning except that when man faces hardships in his life and experience troubles from enemies and opponents and confronts confusions in his walk toward his aims for solving which he does not possesses required power he makes Allah his pleader or advocate and puts faith and reliance and trust in Him alone and, at the same time, does not give up his usual efforts, rather while doing so he also believes that the real effect is only with Allah because from the viewpoint of one who believes in Only One God all power and strength comes from Him alone. The point which is opposite to Reliance on God is relying on anyone or anything other than Him, that is, living dependently on others and being annexed to others and not standing by oneself. Hence we said: Reliance is the direct fruit result of Tawheed in action.
Philosophy of Reliance
From that has been mentioned above so far it can be derived that:
First: Reliance on Allah becomes the cause of man’s steadfastness during hard difficulties and serious events in his life. And it was due to the same that when Muslims, in the battle field of Uhud got a hard beating and the enemies, after leaving that field, again returned from halfway to attack Muslims with a final blow, and this news reached the Muslims, Quran says that those who were fully faithful, in this dangerous hour, when they had already lost one of their active and useful division, not only did not became frightened but, by resorting to Reliance and relying on power and assistance of faith, obtained an added firmness and victorious enemy, on hearing about this renewed readiness of Muslims withdrew speedily.
Examples of such firmness in the shade of Reliance are seen in a number of Quranic verses. One of them is ayat 122 of chapter Aale Imran which says: When two parties from among you had determined that they should show cowardice, and Allah was the guardian of them both, and in Allah should the believers trust.
And in ayat 12 of Surah Ibrahim there is a mention of Reliance accompanied by patience and forbearance in the face of enemy attacks.
And in the verse 159 of Aale Imran, for performing important tasks, first advice for consultation and then firm decision and then reliance on Allah has been advocated.
So much so that the Holy Quran says: at the moment of satanic doubt raising whisperings, only those can remain steadfast and be freed from the devils clutches are those who possess faith and Reliance: Surely he has no authority over those who believe and rely on their lord.
From these collection of verses it can be derived that what is meant by Reliance is that, when confronted by difficulties and their severity, man must not experience disdain and weakness but, relying on the endless power and might of Allah, consider himself victorious and successful. And thus Reliance and hope is the last energetic thing that causes increase in firmness and steadfastness.
Had Reliance meant hiding in a corner and keeping hand on hand hopelessly, then it would have been meaningless to relate these virtues to the Holy warriors and their like as has been done in Holy Quran.
And if somebody imagines that paying attention to the world of causes and to natural and physical causes and means is against the spirit of Reliance, then he is making a serious mistake because separating the effects of natural causes from the will of Allah is a kind of Shirk polytheism. Is it not a factual truth that natural whatever elements are there in nature are only from Him and everything happens as per and according to His will? Yes, if we think that the elements are independent of Allah’s will then that view is against the spirit of Reliance.
Secondly no doubt our fate, so far as it is related with our works and effort, it is in our hands and the Quranic verses have also mentioned this explicitly: And that man shall have nothing but what he strives for.
And also states: Every soul is held in pledge for what it earns.
But beyond the circle of our effort and striving, and when things are out of the bounds of our ability, only the hand of God is operative and so whatever has been destined as a demand of the law of causation which ends at the knowledge and wisdom of the Almighty Allah will happen. Ultimately, God worshipping and faithful people who believe in the knowledge and wisdom and mercy of Allah, consider all the destinies as according to Best order and in the interest of men and that everyone gets in proportion of the worthiness earned by him.
Grades of the Confidents (Mutawakkileen)
Just as real reliance depends upon certainty, the grades of reliance are also proportionate with the certainty. The more man’s certainty regarding the Almighty, the higher becomes his grade in reliance on Him. For more understanding we mention here some sayings:
1 - Ali bin Suwaid says: I asked Moosa bin Ja’far (a.s.) about Allah’s word: And whoever trusts in Allah, He is sufficient for him, he said: Reliance on Allah has grades. One of them is that you rely on Him in every matter and be pleased with whatever He decides for you and know that He never hesitates in providing you any good and grace and that every decision is from Him so leave every affair to His will and rely and put trust only in Him.
2 - The Holy Prophet (s.a.w.s.) said: I asked Jibraeel what is Reliance? He said: Knowledge of the truth that the creation neither gives profit or loss nor can provide or prevent. It is necessary to take away your eye from the creation. When a servant becomes such that he does not do anything for anyone but Allah and hopes from none but Allah, it is the reality of Reliance.
3 - A man asked Imam Reza (a.s.): What is the limit of Reliance? He replied: not to fear anyone except only one God relying on Him alone.
The Way to Gain Reliance needs two things
1- To look at the discussions, both intellectual and natural, about the creator of the universe and to delve deeper and deeper in the might and Height of the lord until, through it, enhances his spirit of seeking God and he gains certainty that, in the universe, none but He is effective and that all affairs depend on His will.
2- One should rise higher than the logical and natural debates and pursue his knowledge through spiritual journey until he reaches a station where he sees nothing but Allah. So a group of people from the viewpoint of logic or perhaps they did not know the philosophy of the known philosophers. Yet, with their knowledge of certainty they reached the stage of visible certainty. It is here that all the problems of man get solved and he sees nothing but God and it makes for him no difference whether he gets ease or difficulty and becomes sure that whatever happens to him is for his ultimate good.
Imam Moosa bin Ja’far (a.s.) said: For a faithful is provided every good. If they cut him into pieces by a scissors it is good for him; and if he becomes the owner of the east and the west then also it is good for him
Peace of Mind in the shade of Reliance on and Trust in Allah
If one perfects his faith and relies on and trusts in Allah, the source of unending strength, he never gets frightened and hence He says: Now surely the friends of Allah they shall have no fear nor shall they grieve.
Or that: Those who believe and do not mix up their faith with inequity, those are they who shall have the security and they are those who go aright.
And in a third verse says: Those who believe and whose hearts are set as rest by the remembrance of Allah; now surely by Allah’s remembrance are the hearts set at rest.
Hearts Get rest by Remembrance of Allah
Restlessness and worry has always been one of the biggest calamities of man and is and the tolls taken by them are fully noticeable in man’s individual as well as collective life.
The human history is full of the sorrowful scenes wherein man has done everything to get peace of mind and has traversed every valley for it and also submitted to all sorts of addictions.
But the Holy Quran, in one short yet meaningful verse, shown the most satisfactory and the nearest path to peace of mind and says: Surely, by Allah’s remembrance are the hearts set at rest. Surely, by Allah’s remembrance are the hearts set at rest.
How to Remove the Causes of Restlessness and Worry?
1 - Sometimes restlessness and worry is caused by the thought of a dark and unclear future. But faith in the lord of the universe and reliance of Him gives peace of mind.
2 - A sorrowful past also takes away rest from man or the worries about the sins committed by him in the past due to faults or mistakes. But by keeping in mind that Allah is the acceptor of repentance and pardoner of sins and merciful and kind gives man restfulness.
3 - Weakness and inability of man while facing natural causes and sometimes in front of hoards of inner and outer enemies makes man worry. But when he remembers Allah and takes resort to His might and mercy that is the biggest of al powers before which nothing can ever stand, his heart experiences peace.
4 - Sometimes the cause of worry is the feeling of ones life being hollow and aimless. But the one who has faith in Allah and who is aware of his road to perfection and who realises that the universe has not been created aimlessly acquires peace and tranquillity of mind and heart.
5 - Sometimes man bears hardships and offers services and yet nobody appreciated it that makes him sorrowful and restless. But when he knows and feels that all of his activities and services were and are for the One who is aware of each and every thing he gets satisfied.
Be Fearful of this State
Sometimes when man is in a dangerous situation he remembers Allah and puts his trust in Him but when the trouble is over he becomes neglectful.
So when they ride in the ships they call upon Allah, being sincerely obedient to Him, but when He brings them safe to the land, lo! They associated others with Him.
The Quran also says: And there are those of them who made a covenant with Allah: if He gives us out of His grace, we will certainly give alms and we will certainly be of the good. But when He gave them out of His grace, they became niggardly of it and they turned back and they withdrew. So He made hypocrisy to follow as consequence into their hearts till the day when they shall meet Him because they failed to perform towards Allah what they had promised with Him and because they told lies.
And this is the condition wherein man of us are found. When we suffer from an ailment or poverty or are being oppressed by tyrants and hypocrites we turn toward god but when the difficulty ends we forget Allah altogether just as the people of Moosa (a.s.) did, that whenever their trouble ended they indulged in their previous obstinacy. May God make us look at none but He Who alone is needless.
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Author: Gulam Reza Sultani
