Ebrahim Bham – Tawakkul- Relying on Allah
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AI: Transcript ©
My dear respected elders and brothers, we begin
by placing almighty Allah
sending salutations upon our beloved Nabiya Kareem.
The
topic that we have at hand today is
relying upon almighty Allah
and adopting means. What is the balance between
the 2?
First, let us understand that
in the holy Quran
has emphasized upon us to rely upon almighty
Allah.
This is known in our terminology as
means to rely upon almighty Allah. The original
word means
comes from the word
means
making someone your representative,
someone whom you trust upon.
That is what
the original word
means. And Allah tells us,
The believers,
they place their trust in Allah.
And in Surat Alak in the 28 Jews,
Allah
for who are husband.
He who relies upon almighty Allah, Subhanahu wa
ta'ala,
Allah ta'ala is sufficient for him. So this
is something that you and I,
from the Quran, we have been told to
rely upon almighty
Allah. Says about the phrase,
is
sufficient for us.
And he is the best disposer of affairs.
This is a phrase that Ibrahim, alayhi, salatu,
wa sallam, used
when he was thrown into the fire by
Namrud.
This is a phrase that our beloved Nabiya
Kareem, saha sallam,
used when
the
the disbelievers of the time they told unto
our beloved Nabiya Kareem saw a salam The
people have gathered around you to come and
destroy you,
and Allah increased the iman.
Allah is sufficient for me, and he's the
best disposer of all affairs.
What is the and the benefits of the
Tawakkul is having complete trust in the plans
of Allah.
So you rely upon almighty Allah, and
you put your trust in Allah ta'ala.
One of the great scholars of the past
had said, save yourself from worrying
because somebody else has taken
control and has taken care
of your affairs.
Now when you put your affairs into someone,
there are different stages.
Imam Ghazalir has written there are 3 stages.
Three stages of putting your trust in someone.
One stage is the lowest stage where you
have
confidence in someone,
and you rely upon that person in whom
you have confidence in with regard to him
giving you sound advice,
so you put it to him. So he
is the one that you put forward to
him. So that in particular way is like,
for example, a person consult with an alim,
and he reposes his trust in him with
regard to the advice the alim will give
him. Or in a legal matter, he puts
his trust in a lawyer That in this
particular matter, I put my trust in you
because I have confidence in you. So that
is one of the aspects of putting trust
in another person. One example, one level.
The second level is
the infant
completely
dependent upon the mother with regard to all
the needs of the infant.
That is the second level of putting your
trust in someone.
So that is the next level with regard
to putting your trust in someone.
And the highest form of
the highest form and this is used by
the sufia,
like the corpse
in the hand of the person who is
giving.
Now that particular corpse has absolutely no say
whatsoever with regard to the. It is completely
at the mercy at the at what the
person who is giving me is doing. So
ulama have written there are 3 stages of
putting your trust. And the highest stage with
regard to tawakul
is now this is with regard to putting
your trust to a human being's competence.
Can you imagine the competence of Allah ta'ala?
So our reliance upon almighty Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala is supposed to be within the three
levels or even the the highest level, which
is a third level.
Allah in the holy Quran says, in what
regard to this, where you and one of
the benefits of is you connect yourself with
someone who is great,
someone
who is
you know, you have full power in his
or you have full trust in his power
in his authority to do things.
Right? So in the holy Quran says a
very amazing verse.
Rely upon the one
who is always alive,
and death will never overtake him.
Rely upon the one who is ever alive.
When we completed bukhari sharif, at the end
of the bukhari sharif, the person
gives you final parting advice. So, ma'am, Ustad,
gave us this advice. Amongst the advices he
gave us, he said put your trust
in someone
whose power and authority
is all embracing,
all powerful,
and it is perpetual.
All other relationship that you put your trust
in, they are not
completely
steadfast.
Right? So you for for example, a wife
put the trust, my husband will care for
my needs. How many times you see Allah
takes the husband away before the wife upon
whom she's putting a trust?
Sometimes the father and the son, sometimes the
son and the father. May Allah never ever
let us see the day of the difficulty
of our children, but we see what actually
happens.
So all the relationship that you put trust
in,
they are not permanent.
There's only one relationship that is permanent.
Now we start all us, keep relationship with
that particular being whose relationship
and the trust that we have in him
is permanent. And Allah puts it in the
Quran,
and rely upon the one who is ever
living,
and more than death will never overtake him.
The second reason with regard to and the
benefit of tawakkul is
we attribute everything to the will and pleasure
of almighty Allah by fully trusting and relying
upon almighty Allah. What does that do? What
is the benefit of that? You will never
be depressed upon the challenges that come upon
you.
And the second thing is you will never
be proud and arrogant with regard to your
achievements.
So because you are relying upon almighty Allah,
you do not become depressed with regard to
challenges, and you do not become proud and
arrogant with regard to your achievements.
So, Allah,
in the 28th super power of the holy
Quran, how Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah,
Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah,
Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah,
Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah,
Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah,
Allah,
Allah,
So you do not get regret over anything
that befalls you, and you are not proud
and arrogant with regard to your achievements. That
comes because of tawakkul.
Tawakkul does not make you depressed, and tawakkul
does not make you proud and arrogant because
you're relying upon almighty Allah and you say
whatever Allah
was.
The third benefit with regard
to which is also a very amazing benefit
is
that
we come to face the challenges of the
time.
So no one's life is always going to
be a bed of roses.
We have the good and the bad. We
have the positive and the negative. So human
being, Allah Ta'ala, has taught us.
Amazingly, the affairs of the and the believers.
For everything is fair for him. If anything
good befalls him, he make, he gets reward.
Any difficulty, challenges come upon him, he makes
he perseveres. The word we normally use is
patience. And in Gujarat and Urdu, the word
sabar is a very passive type of attribute.
In Arabic, the word sabar is a much
more positive attribute.
It means
persevere
and you remain steadfast despite the challenges.
So in that particular way, when you make
the,
you will be able to, you know, face
the world with greater confidence.
You face the world with greater confidence,
and that is something that we see. See
the difference between a person who is a
believer in Allah
and one who does not believe in Allah,
how they face the challenges, and what better
example in today's time can we give than
the people of Gaza?
Brothers, we we we have to,
we have to thank the people of Gaza.
They have taught us so many things.
You know, look at how they are facing
wallahiil asim, the difficulties that have come upon
him. If it was upon a mountain, perhaps
the mountain would have been tumbled by now.
But those people, because of their and
because of their trust in Allah, they believe
in Allah. Look at how they are. 6
year old children
are telling their elders and their siblings who
are elderly, them who are wounded, say
before you die.
6 year old children are telling their older
siblings and telling their parents, may we be
sacrificed upon them? We thank them because they
have taught us new lessons.
And forget us I mean, non Muslims are
becoming Muslims by the patience and the perseverance
of the people of Gaza.
The only people who sometimes don't take lessons
is with regard to them, the whole have
a holier than thou attitude, who are still
criticizing them for to be Farsiks and Fajils.
But other people are taking lessons from them.
Non Muslims
Muslims.
We thank the mothers of that that Ummat
that they gave us another way that they
they send their children. They've given tarbiyat to
their children. Such a tarbiyat that when their
children become martyrs,
you know, those particular mothers,
they they they they show happiness and joy
that my child has become sacrifice in the
path of Allah. Allah never put a difficulty
like this upon us because I don't think
we will be able to bear that. It
is only upon them, and we thank them
for giving us lessons with regard to tawakkul,
with regard to believe in Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala.
So that is that is the benefit with
regard to, you know, tawakkul. And we can
go on making mention with regard to many
of the benefits of tawakkul.
For example, Hazrat Ibrahim alayhi salatu wasalam is
known with regard to his faith in Allah
Taala. You
know, when we were studying, now we start
to say Hanif.
Hanif means
Allah
uses the word Hanif for Ibrahim alayhi salatu
wa sallam. Now he said, do you know
what is Hanif? Hanif is the one who
does not look at anyone besides Allah.
He leaves everyone aside, and he only casts
his his gaze upon almighty Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala. That is alanif,
and Allah Ta'ala uses the word alanif. So
when Ibrahim
was being thrown into the fire, the angels
became very perturbed, anxious.
You Allah. Your khalil is gonna be thrown
into the fire. What must we do? Can
we take that fire and throw it to
the people who have burned and who have
created that fire so that we can take
revenge with regard to the people who are
intent harming him? So let that I said,
go to him. If he asked you for
assistance, help him. And they came to him
and said, Ibrahim, if you allow us, we'll
take this fire and we'll throw it to
the people who have made this fire for
you. And he said,
Oh, Ibrahim, what did he say? Oh, from
you. Oh, from you angels. I need no
assistance.
Allah is sufficient for me.
I have dedicated myself
and have resigned myself to whatever Allah
has decided.
Now the very important after understanding
the benefits of tawakkul.
What is tawakkul?
Does it mean that we dismiss the needs
for taking precaution
and mitigating risk from harm?
Is this the meaning of the wakkut?
That we take no precaution,
we take no means, we don't adopt no
means?
So person came to Nabiya Karim's presence, and
he had a camel. And he said,
should I leave the camel and Allah will
take care of it, or should I tie
the camel?
And what did Nabi Karim
say? This is a hadith
in.
Oh, my oh, my Sahabi, oh, my companion,
tie your camel first and then put your
trust in Allah.
Allah in the holy Quran tells
us,
take all your precautions.
Allah tells us,
consult in your affairs. This is first to
our beloved Nabi Karim was given this command.
Consult.
And this is for us also
that when you have any particular matter, take
the necessary means, consult the experts, consult people
who are in the know. Right? This is
a common thing. Nabi Karim had
said that consult with people who are Hakim,
who are wise.
You know? So then you will get the
wisdom on your side. So consult
after you have consulted
after you have consulted,
now
you take a firm resolution to carry things
out, and then you put your trust in
Allah. Allah didn't say put your trust in
Allah, then go and consult.
What did he say? Consult.
After you have consulted, resolve. This is what
I'm gonna do. And then you put your
trust in Allah
This is the balance. This is the right
way
that we first put all we take all
our precautions.
And that precautions and that means is not
something that we do a simple effort that
is close to mediocrity.
The the means that we adopt is the
best of means.
We don't take any shortcuts with regard to
means.
We take the best means, and then we
put our trust in Allah
This is something that we have to keep
and we have to understand.
This is the balance.
You first create and you adopt the means.
And after you adopt the means, you put
your trust in Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. You
have become sick. You have become ill. Nabi'at
Karim salallahu alayhi wasalam was asked by the
companions. You Rasulullah,
If everything is written by Allah, if we
get sick, should we go to the doctor?
Should we take medicine? And he said, yes.
Go to the doctor.
Go and take medicines. After you have taken
medicines, can you put your trust in Allah?
Because Allah is Muslim people.
Allah is the one who created Asbaab. Allah
is the one that is beyond Asbaab.
Allah is beyond means. So we put the
means after we take the medicine. Allah
Allah is the one who cures. Allah is
the one who is sufficient. Allah is the
one who is enough. The medicine will not
give you cure.
Allah will give you cure, but he will
give it via the medicine.
The means are the gateway.
Let me say it again. The means are
the gateway
through which Allah gives
you results.
The means now let me explain to you
in a big way, in a very big
example that everyone will understand. Each and every
one of us will understand this example.
Now you say, no, I only rely upon
almighty Allah. I don't rely on means.
Just say I'm saying, for example, someone says
that, we challenge that person.
Go and say, oh, Allah, make whole night
Make whole night Hajjood. You Allah, give me
pious children. You Allah, give me pious children.
Allah, give me pious children. You don't get
married. Where is Allah gonna give you pious
children from? From your stomach.
You can make the you can make the
dwarf whole night into Hajjood. Allah will not
give you the time until you get married
and you become intimate. Now look at the
balance. After after getting married, you become intimate.
But then to Allah does not guarantee.
Allah creates whatever he and wants. He gives
children to whomsoever he wants.
He give some children female children.
And he give some people male children.
Oh, you so which whom the Quran.
He give some people twins, and he keep
people some some people barren.
Now what is the balance?
The balance is you have to get married,
be intimate for you to get children.
And
after getting married, be intimate, you say, Allah,
you grant us pious children. You are the
one who gives.
This is the balance, my dear respected brothers.
Some people people don't realize this, and this
is the proper balance. And let me say
something.
And I want people to bear this in
mind. Islamic teachings
on relying upon almighty Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala,
Islamic teachings on Tawakkul,
it is a cure for anxiety and pessimism.
It is a it's a beautiful way of
strengthening our faith in Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
Tawakul is a beautiful way of strengthening our
faith in Allah.
Whoever relies upon almighty Allah complains.
Oh, human being, am I not sufficient for
you? But
it is not an excuse for inactivity and
idleness.
Let me repeat the stage again.
And relying upon almighty Allah is
a cure for anxiety and pessimism
and to increase our faith in Allah, but
it's not an excuse for idleness and inactivity.
Where we got this that we must become
inactive and not rely upon all and not
rely upon means.
And therefore, let me say 1 or 2
things with regard to pointers, with regard to
where we are supposed to use our means.
Firstly, individually,
everyone must strive to become better human beings,
to become better believers.
Allah in the holy Quran uses the word.
Means
perfection.
Allah loves
perfection in everything.
Hasan
is a Muslim's responsibility
to obtain perfections,
excellence,
and that is Hasan. Hasan in your
in your relationship with people. That is how
you have everyone
must be it's compulsory
for you to strive to become a better
human being, to become a better believer.
What is Hasan?
You worship Allah as if you are seeing
Allah.
And if you can't do that, at least
visualize Allah is seeing you.
A
and excellence in your.
Bring about that.
In your relationship with people.
Try and bring in your relationship with people.
My dear respected brothers, today,
I'm a firm believer of this. I'm a
firm believer of this, that you and I
have got a dean, have got values, have
got teachings that humanity is craving for.
And we are sitting with that particular values
that we're not showing people their values.
I was reading recently, and last night, I
made mention of,
one of our great scholars.
He came twice to once or twice, he
came to South Africa. Everyone regards him as
a saintly person.
He lives in a very rural area. He
lived in a very rural area in India.
And one day, he used to go and
buy goods from the Hindu shopkeeper,
a non Muslim. The Hindu shopkeeper passed away,
so he went to visit by the family.
So there he had the the Hindu shopkeeper
had some daughters. So the daughter said, Bawa
he used to call him out of respect,
Bawa. You know, our father is born. Who's
gonna take care of us? Who's gonna get
us married?
Because marriage of daughters is unfortunately
a burden in India
because they they have to pay the, the
dowry. So they call it jazz.
So Khari Sidiksa
said, I will take care of you.
I will get you married.
They got those that Muslim
daughters married.
Has made mention of it in Iskita.
You know, Muslim businessmen,
I plead with you that you increase
your business
not only for the sake of your own
comfort,
but for the sake of helping other people.
Allah Allah says with regard to Muslim people
who are wealthy, who have businesses.
Allah Allah says with regard to karoon, when
Allah Allah makes mention of the wealth of
karoon, Allah Allah puts the criteria and the
objectives of people who have wealth.
Seek
what's your wealth,
ahiret.
Who seeks
ahiret with our wealth in today's time?
Everyone today, the moment you got attacked, I'm
not saying he's wrong. I mean, Nabi al
Karim saw Salim had said in Allah, Jameel,
wihibul jamaal, Allah is beautiful. Allah loves beauty.
If you got something, Allah has given you
wealth. Wear good clothes, buy a nice car,
stay in a comfortable accommodation. Nothing wrong. It's
not haram. But is that the only reason
why you you you earn wealth?
Is that the only reason?
That these believers also enjoy themselves in this
world.
They eat the way animals eat.
And the fire of jahannam is there about.
When are you going to use your wealth
and your influence that come with business to
show people the beauty of Islam?
Throughout history, Malaysia and Indonesia today, Indonesia is
the biggest, in terms of population, Muslim country
in the world. They didn't come Muslim by
Muslims conquering that land.
They became Muslim by Muslim traders
who showed people the beauty
of Islamic teachings.
Where are the people? When I'm saying of
relying upon what are we doing with regard
to the means? And our means must not
be mediocre.
Our means must be equivalent to the vision
that you and I share.
Islam has taught us that we are people
who have vision.
Islam has taught us that we are people
who are supposed to leave behind a legacy.
What vision do we have in today's time?
Is our only vision that we are gonna
we're becoming so insular.
We are creating barriers all the time.
We're becoming so insular. We are not interacting
with the people. We are not showing people
the beauty of Islam. We have become creating
barriers to such an extent
that we are now creating barriers Forget from
other communities. We are creating barriers within our
own community
because that is the example of being insular.
Once you become insular, forget other people. You're
gonna create barriers within your own self.
And this is creating havoc in our communities
and societies.
And when you become broad and you become
accommodating and you go and, you know, become
more and you worry about the community, then
you will see how Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
puts barakah in your efforts.
Habib Najjar was an ordinary
carpenter,
an ordinary carpenter. Allah makes mention of him
in Surah Yassin. Every day we read Surah
Yassin, we read about Habib Najjar.
Why did Allah make mention of him?
If only you can show my people what
you have given me for bringing iman and
being righteous, oh, Allah, give them hidayat.
Do we have the same feeling for the
people we come into contact with on a
daily basis in our country?
My dear respected brothers, this is what this
is what Islam calls us with regard to
Tawakkul. Tawakkul doesn't mean idleness and inactivity.
Leave a legacy.
When a person dies,
his comes to an end besides 3 things.
Leave behind a charity that people will benefit
from after you have died.
What is your life that you have only
made? I'm not saying you bothered. It's not
important. You may be bothered and it's finished.
Leave behind a charity that people will benefit
from after you have passed on. What legacy
are you gonna leave behind?
Or, you know, knowledge which is beneficial or
virtual descendants will make dua for you. Just
give an example, and I will conclude with
this. We are living in this country.
Right? Many of us, we are we are
bound to live in this country. How many
people can migrate?
2% people can migrate. Despite the circumstances, 98%
are gonna stay in this country. It's our
duty to make ourselves indispensable
to the wealthy of this country.
That is our responsibility.
What are we doing with regard to making
ourselves indispensable to the wealthy of this country?
I would just give an example. Last week,
someone came and see me, and he said,
our other community people who are our detractors,
people who we know, they are opposed to
us, and they are also
making efforts
with regard to the gains done by Muslims
in this country.
They are identifying
individuals within the local community,
taking them abroad to indoctrinate
them. Taking them abroad to those same people
might come back in 10 years, and they
will become policy makers. They will become decision
makers. What decisions they are gonna make?
And I know that the way our community
think. I know. You know what we will
say?
Conspiracy.
It's not a conspiracy.
You have not done your work.
They are doing it. Why are you not
doing it?
Why are you not identifying talent? Why are
you not identifying people within the community? Why
are you not engaging?
We have made ourselves so isolated. Forget engaging
that we have created barriers amongst ourselves that
even the barriers, as I said, have now
come that our barriers in our own community
we have created.
What are we gonna do? Identify talent. This
is a sunnah of Nabi al Karim, and
let me give you an example and conclude.
You know, Nabi al Karim salallahu alaihi wa
sallam saw Khari bin
He looked at him and he identified this
man as what talent.
But
he was a non Muslim.
Not only a non Muslim, he caused the
setback in the battle of Wuhad, which led
to Nabiya Karim salaw al Islam becoming wounded.
Nabiya Karim salaw al Salam's uncle becoming martyred,
70 Sahaba becoming martyred.
Right? He saw that, but he realized that
this man has got talent.
And then he came to Makkah
at the time of, you know, umratul kadab,
and he asked Waleed. Waleed was a brother
of Khalib. Waleed, where is your brother Khalif?
Where is your brother?
He said, you Rasulullah,
he hates you so much
that he couldn't even bear you being in
Maktah while he while you're here, he couldn't
bear being here. He left the
Islam.
Tell him to come to us.
Tell him to come to us.
We
will give him
purpose
to his talents.
When he came and Khaled bin, when he
came,
Brothers, I plead with
you. Let us leave the labels.
This is something that we need to do.
Otherwise, our whole existence in this country that
what we have built can become jeopardized because
of our wrong understanding of the work. And
I applied in this short period to tell
us the benefits of the wakkul and what
it means. May Allah give another proof of
understanding.