It was said to be an ishāra (spiritual allusion) to remain distant from power and strength.
Abū ʿAbd Allāh Quraishī was asked about the nature of tawakkul (reliance upon God), and he replied: It is to attach oneself to Allah Most High in every state. When the questioner asked for further clarification, he said: It is to abandon reliance on all causes that would lead you to another cause, and to expect the effect of causes only from the Real (al-Ḥaqq) Most High. The first answer is a general definition encompassing all three maqām (spiritual stations); the second refers specifically to the third station. (Iḥyāʾ, IV, 327)
The mutawakkil (one who relies upon God) is a person whose qalb (heart) is strong, whose nafs (lower self) is satisfied by Allah's grace, and who can trust in Allah's management even without apparent causes. (Iḥyāʾ, IV, 343)
To overcome four obstacles, four things are needed: in matters of provision, tawakkul upon Allah, in times of danger, tafwīḍ (entrusting affairs) to Him, in times of distress, sabr (patient endurance), and when qadar (divine decree) is enacted, riḍā (contentment with God's decree). (Minhāj, 4)
Tawakkul is a term used for three situations: The first is provision (qisma). Here, tawakkul is to trust in Allah, for what He has apportioned for you will not be withheld (your provision will reach you, your allotted share is what it is). His decree never changes. This is obligatory according to the revealed texts.
The second is help and victory. Here, tawakkul is to rely on Allah's help when you strive and seek assistance. Allah Most High says: "When you have decided, then rely upon Allah" (Āl ʿImrān 3:159).
The third is provision and need. For Allah Most High has undertaken to maintain your body for His service and to enable you to worship Him. (Minhāj, 47)
Some of our shaykhs have said that tawakkul is for the qalb (heart) to rely on Allah, cutting off attachment and hope from others.
Others have said: According to what is beneficial, it is for the qalb to sever its attachment to others and turn to Allah.
Shaykh Imām Abū ʿAmr said regarding tawakkul: Tawakkul is to cut off attachment. Attachment is attributing support in your intention to other than Allah.
My shaykh, Imām Abū ʿAlī Fārmadī, also said: Tawakkul and taʿalluq (attachment) are two forms of dhikr (remembrance): tawakkul is to say that Allah is the supporter of your intention, while taʿalluq is to express that it is other than Allah.
In my view, these statements return to a single principle: Tawakkul is for the qalb to believe that the one who maintains your body and fulfills your needs is Allah, and that there is no worldly possession or other cause besides Him. Yet, if Allah wills, He may make a servant or a worldly means the cause; if He wills, He suffices by His power without any intermediary. If you believe this with your qalb, implant this belief in your qalb, and sever attachment to creatures and causes, relying on the One Allah Most High, then true tawakkul is realized—this is the definition of tawakkul.
Ḥiṣn al-tawakkul (the fortress of tawakkul) is that which leads to tawakkul. This is to remember Allah's guarantee. It is the fortress of fortresses: to remember Allah's majesty, His ʿilm (knowledge) in its perfection, His power, His being free from change, and to reflect on one's own error, incapacity, and deficiency. If the servant persists in such dhikr, it will lead him to tawakkul upon Allah regarding provision. (Minhāj, 48)
Among the foremost qualities that aid in struggling with Shayṭān and repelling him is ikhlas (sincerity)... In addition: istiġnāʾ billāh (being content with Allah), trusting and relying on Him, turning to Him in all states and actions, exercising waraʿ (scrupulousness) in avoiding doubtful and forbidden matters, abandoning dependence on people, reducing permissible and lawful worldly matters, and not eating greedily or indiscriminately like someone who gathers firewood at night without investigation. Whoever does not care where his food and drink come from, Allah does not care from which gate of Hell he will be cast. The servant must show the necessary care in this matter, so that Shayṭān loses hope in him and he is saved by Allah's mercy and help. If he is not careful, Shayṭān will dominate his qalb and soul. (Ghunyalī, II, 98-99)
They asked, "What is the key to intention?" I replied, "It is yaqīn (certainty)." When they asked about the key to yaqīn, I said, "It is tawakkul." Then they asked about the key to tawakkul, and I answered, "It is khawf (fear)." (Ghunyalī, II, 125)
Tawakkul is to entrust affairs to Allah, to choose, and to be delivered from the darkness of planning, rising to the station of witnessing the divine decree and judgment. Such a servant knows with certainty that what has been apportioned to him cannot be taken away, and what has not been allotted to him can never be attained. He believes in his Lord's promise and receives his share from Him.
There are three degrees of tawakkul: tawakkul, taslīm (surrender), and tafwīḍ (complete entrustment). The one who practices tawakkul finds peace in Allah's promise. The one who surrenders is content with Allah's knowledge of his state. The one who practices tafwīḍ is content with Allah's decree.
Some say tawakkul is at the beginning, taslīm in the middle, and tafwīḍ at the end. It is also said: tawakkul is the attribute of the believers (muʾminūn), taslīm of the awliyāʾ (friends of God), and tafwīḍ of the muwaḥḥidūn (those who realize tawhid). Others say tawakkul is for the common people, taslīm for the elite (khawāṣṣ), and tafwīḍ for the elite of the elite. Some say tawakkul is the attribute of the prophets, taslīm that of Abraham (peace be upon him), and tafwīḍ that of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). (Ghunyalī, II, 189)
(Among the stations...) ...tawakkul is to trust in Allah, not to covet what is with others, and to rely solely on Him. (Ādāb, 20)
The servant advances through the stations by increasing his spiritual states. Thus, until he reaches tawba (repentance), states and stations are intertwined. There is no virtue without both a ḥāl (spiritual state) and a maqām (spiritual station). Zuhd (asceticism) has its state and station, tawakkul has its state and station, and riḍā has its state and station. (ʿAwārif, 275)
According to Sari Saqatī, tawakkul is to divest oneself of one's own power and strength. Junayd said: The ḥaqīqa (inner reality) of tawakkul is for the servant to be as he was before he existed before Allah, and for Allah to be as He was before He created the servant.
Sehl said: Every maqām (spiritual station) except tawakkul has a face and a back (it can increase, decrease, advance, or retreat). Tawakkul has a face but no back. Some say that by this, Sehl meant not kifāya tawakkul (sufficiency tawakkul), but ʿināya (divine care) tawakkul.
Allah Most High has mentioned tawakkul together with iman (faith): "If you are believers, then rely only upon Allah" (al-Māʾida 5:23).
(After zuhd comes tawakkul, which is one of the greatest pillars of this path. Shaykh Ibn ʿArabī said (Asfār):) Tawakkul is for the qalb to rely on Allah, and not to be distressed for failing to obtain things created in the world that the nafs desires and enjoys. If one is distressed or troubled, he is not a mutawakkil (one who practices tawakkul).
Tawakkul is the attribute of the believers (muʾminūn). What about the scholars among the believers? Tawakkul, as Allah Most High has expressed in His Book, is an attribute for a scholar only by virtue of his being a believer. Allah's expression is not without purpose.
If tawakkul were the attribute of scholars possessing only theoretical knowledge, Allah would not have mentioned tawakkul together with iman. In this state, regardless of the sharia, those outside the believers have no share in tawakkul.
The reason is that nothing is rationally obligatory upon Allah. He only obligates something upon Himself. This is accepted not by the attribute of knowledge, but by the attribute of iman. For when He guarantees something, in that matter He is faʿʿālun limā yurīd (He does what He wills). Thus He has informed us. (Futūḥāt, II, 196; Asfār, 95)
For example, tawakkul is for the qalb to rely on Allah, and not to be distressed for failing to obtain things created in the world that the nafs desires and enjoys. In this case, the inclination of the qalb is towards the ultimate cause (Allah). In this matter, one finds a trust in Allah greater than all other causes. For example, compare someone who is hungry and has no means to satisfy his hunger with someone who is hungry but has such means. The one with means may appear stronger, but the one who has nothing but Allah is in the same state of tranquility and peace. (Futūḥāt, IV, 222)
The stations of yaqīn (certainty) are nine: they are tawba, zuhd, sabr, shukr, khawf, riḍā, rajāʾ (hope), tawakkul, and maḥabba (love). It is not correct to consider any of these stations as resulting from the removal of Allah's management or choice. (Tanwīr, 8)
Tawakkul is for the one who relies on Allah to surrender his control to Allah and to depend on Him in all matters. Whoever does this abandons planning and submits to the flow of destiny. The connection between abandoning planning and the stations of tawakkul and riḍā is clearer than with other stations. This is in contrast with the station of maḥabba (love), for the lover is so absorbed in the beloved that his will is united with the beloved's will; the beloved has become his very desire.
For the lover, there is no time to make plans regarding Allah, for his love for Allah occupies him fully. Thus, some say: Whoever tastes the pleasure of something purely for Allah's sake, Allah will keep him away from all else.
(Tawakkul) also stands in contrast to the station of riḍā. This is clear and without confusion. The one who is content is satisfied with what Allah decreed for him in pre-eternity and is content with it. How, then, could he attempt to plan against what Allah has decreed for him? He does not, for he submits to Allah's decree. Do you not know that the light of riḍā cleanses all impurities from the qalb? For the one who is content with Allah, Allah sends the light of contentment with His judgments, so that such a person does not even consider planning. It suffices the servant that his Master has chosen good things for him. (Tanwīr, 14)
The existence of means in matters of provision does not contradict tawakkul upon Allah. (Tanwīr, 53)
Tawakkul is built upon tawhid (the oneness of God). Tawhid has several levels: The first is for the qalb to affirm Allah's oneness by saying, "There is no god but Allah, He is One, He has no partner, sovereignty belongs to Him, praise is due to Him alone, and He is powerful over all things," even without knowing the evidence. This is the faith of the common people.
The second is to see the multiplicity of existents but to know that all of them proceed only from the One Allah. This is the station of the muqarrabūn (those brought near).
The third is when one's baṣīra (spiritual insight) is opened so that he sees there is no agent but Allah. He fears only Him, hopes only in Him, and relies solely on Him. For in reality, He alone is the agent. He is exalted above all, and everything is under His command. Just as one does not rely on rain for the growth of crops, nor on clouds for rain, nor on the wind for the movement of ships, so too relying on causes for the occurrence of things is ignorance. Whoever has the doors of reality opened to him knows that the wind cannot blow by itself; there must be a power that makes it blow.
For a servant to attribute his safe arrival on a sea journey to the wind is like a man brought before a king to be executed, then pardoned, and then thanking the ink, paper, and pen with which the pardon was written, saying, "If not for these, I would not have been saved," seeing the pen but not the hand that held it. This is great ignorance. One who knows the pen has no role in this matter thanks the writer, not the pen. Allah's control over all creation is greater than the control of a scribe over his pen. Glory be to Allah, who creates causes and has the power to do as He wills. (Qudāma, 354)
The word tawakkul is derived from the verbal noun of wakāla (agency). When someone appoints another as his agent in his affairs, it means he has entrusted and relied upon him. Thus, tawakkul is for the qalb to rely and trust in the one appointed as agent, namely Allah. One only relies on someone who possesses the following qualities: compassion, strength, and ...