69 - To have faith and to seek a livelihood

1. Reliance on God is an aspect of mental worship that requires placing our trust in God and depending on Him along with taking the necessary measures for whatever we intend to do. The Prophet (peace be upon him) tells us that if we do so, God will give us our provisions as he gives theirs to the birds.

2. Birds start hungry in the morning, with their bellies empty, but finish the day with full stomachs. To be in the same position as birds, we need to be true in placing our trust in God and relying on him fully. However, most of us resort to cheating, lying or deception in our transactions, or are complacent, taking no measures, or simply rely on our efforts, thinking that by doing so, we will inevitably get what we need.

True reliance on God requires that man takes the necessary measures and does what should be done, placing his trust in God and knowing that all matters are accomplished by His will and everything is in His hand. It is not right for a person not to take measures to earn his living and instead wait for his sustenance to reach him. This is not the required reliance on God; rather, it is utter laziness and ineptitude. When he went to war, the Prophet (peace be upon him) put on his body armour. When the confederate tribes marched to attack Madinah, he dug a moat to stop their advance. When he migrated, he left his home under the cover of darkness, stayed in hiding in a cave and hired a guide to take him along unfamiliar routes. For every battle, he devised a strategic plan. Yet he was exemplary in his trust in God. It is God’s order that reliance on God should be coupled with resolve and taking the necessary measures.

Implementation

1. A Muslim who is worried about his provisions only needs to place his trust in God and be satisfied with what God gives him. He should be absolutely certain that God, his Lord, takes care of him. He must then take the necessary measures.

2. Many are those who frequently say: ‘In God I trust’, but they are not really relying on God. Such reliance is not a mere word uttered; it rather constitutes true submission to God, acceptance of His will and true belief in Him. 

3. A person who truly relies on God is one who is successful in what he intends, protected against Satan’s whisperings and temptations. God says: ‘Whenever you read the Qur'an, seek refuge with God from Satan, the accursed. (98) He certainly has no power over those who believe and place their trust in their Lord’. (16: 98-99) Whoever hopes that God will protect him from Satan and keep Satan away from him must place his trust fully in God.

4. Whoever likes that God will protect him in all his affairs, and look after him in all matters of this present life and the life to come, should turn to God and hand over his affairs to Him. God says: ‘God will be sufficient for everyone who puts his trust in Him’. (65: 3) The Prophet said: ‘Whoever says when leaving home, “In the name of God. In God I trust. No power ever operates except by God’s will”, shall receive the response, “You are spared and protected”, and Satan will be removed from his way’. [1]

5. To truly place one’s trust in God means that one is happy with whatever God does, and that one fully trusts in God and submits one’s affairs to Him. Bishr al-Ḥāfī said that a person may say, ‘In God I trust’, but he is lying to God. Had he really placed his trust in God, he would have been happy with what God does with him. Yaḥyā ibn Mu‘ādh was asked: ‘When is a person truly relying on God?’ He said: ‘When he is satisfied that God is his guardian’. [2]

6. When God wanted to give Mary something to eat as she was giving birth, He commanded her to shake the trunk of a date tree. Can we imagine that a woman going through the pains of childbirth has the strength to shake the trunk of a date tree so that she can obtain some dates to eat? Even if a strong young man were to shake a date tree, he could not hope to receive one date. Mighty and Exalted, God loves that His servant takes the necessary measures and leaves the result to Him.

7. ‘Umar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb met a group of Yemeni people who did not take any measures to achieve their purpose. He asked them who they were. They said: ‘We are the ones relying on God’. He said: ‘Not really! You are only waiting for things to happen. A person who truly relies on God will plant his seeds and place his trust in God’. [3]

8. Advocates of Islam and educators should always use figures of speech and comparisons that illustrate meanings and drive one’s point home.

9. ‘Abdullāh ibn Sallām and Salmān, who were companions of the Prophet, once met and one of them said to the other: ‘If you die before me, come and tell me what God has done to you. If I die before you, I will come and tell you the same’. The other said: ‘Do dead people meet with the living?’ He said: ‘Yes. Their souls are free to roam wherever they wish in Heaven’. When the first of them died, he met the other in his dream and told him: ‘Place your trust in God and rejoice. I have seen nothing like placing trust in God. Place your trust in God and rejoice. I have seen nothing like placing trust in God’.

10. Luqmān said to his son: ‘Son, the life of this world is a sea in which countless numbers have drowned. If you can make your boat in it your faith in God, its oars your obedience of God, and its sails your trust in God, I hope you will be safe’.

1. Related by al-Tirmidhī, 3426.

2. Ibn al-Qayyim, Madārij al-Sālikīn, Vol. 2, p. 114.

3. Related by al-Bukhari, 1523.