Trust in Allah
The following are my brief notes from a talk given at JIMAS by Sheikh Suhaib Hasan. Any typos, mistakes, misunderstanding are purely my own and not the sheikh’s.
Truly, We did offer AlAmânah (the trust or moral responsibility or honesty and all the duties which Allâh has ordained) to the heavens and the earth, and the mountains, but they declined to bear it and were afraid of it (i.e. afraid of Allâh’s Torment). But man bore it. Verily, he was unjust (to himself) and ignorant (of its results).
Surat-ul-Ahzab (The Confederates) – [33:7]
al-Amanah - Allaah’s trust in us – the deen of Islam, ie. To carry out the commandments of Allaah, e.g. prayer, deen, how you bring up your children, finance et al., all those things.
at-Tawakkul - Our trust in Allaah (swt)
ar-Ridha - to be completely pleased with Allaah’s commandment – any calamity happens to you, don’t say “why has this happened to me? Why me?” and complain and show dissatisfaction and moan.
Whatever you do, you are surrounded by two things: (ref: Ibn Taymiyyah)
Trust (Tawakkul) < —— > ar-Ridha
Whenever you want to do something, you do two things:
1. isthishara - you consult your elders
2. isthikhara - you consult Allaah
If you say your family is/will be displeased/don’t approve with you if you wear hijab etc. e.g. because of family pressures/expectations.
In that case, you are being very courageous – are you going to jump into the fire with them? Ask them to jump first! They won’t jump into the fire for you – why you?. You are heading towards the fire just to please your family. Just try to please Allaah.
If you try to please Allaah, Allaah will make all these people pleased with you in the end.
But if you displease Allaah, nobody is going to be pleased with you.
People won’t ever be happy or be pleased no matter what you do, e.g. the story of the two men – the father, his son and the donkey and what people said.
“One day an old man was travelling with his son. They had a donkey and when the old man was riding it, people complained that he was making his son walk while he was taking it easy. When he put his son on the donkey and he walked, people complained how his son was allowing his elderly father to walk while he rode on the donkey. If they both tried getting on, people would complain how cruel they were to the donkey, and when neither of them rode the donkey, people would comment on why they were walking on they could’ve ridden on the donkey…”
Work for al-Jannah. People strive for this world, but they can’t get it. Even if people have millions, they can’t enjoy it – they are too old by then. If you please Allaah, all types of enjoyment are waiting for you in Jannah
