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Meaning Of Tawakul
What is the meaning of tawakul? Is it basiacally making yourself satisfied with whatever God ordains? What is its purpose? Once I tie my camel- what is the purpose and meaning of then having tawakul?
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42 Replies
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Meaning Of Tawakul
updated 4 years, 2 months ago
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42
Replies
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so tawakkul is the name of being satisfied with the outcome? if you dont mind could you answer the above analogy i asked about?
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There are two things that need to be taken into consideration here. Firstly, all the narrations will be interpreted in light of the Quran. Secondly, we should understand the context and the underlying message of a certain narration.
So in light of these principles, Tawakkul would be the next step after you establish Tauheed and that there is a God and only one God. Now, you have the choice. Either you live for Him (your efforts, your goals etc) are all directed towards Him. Or you live for anything/anyone else other than Him. There are only two options. Either its His way or not His way.
Once you have chosen to take His path (your living and dying is all for Him) then know that nothing that happens to you, no choices that you make etc could be wrong. Because you have willingly submitted to His will regarding you.
So for what Prophet Muhammad pbuh is saying in the Hadith means, that you do your part and then put your Tawakkul in Allah. Its a general attitude. You tie your camel (you learn about God, read His book, make the effort to submit yourself to Him) and the. Just trust Him. Whatever happens will be good.
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Thanks so much sister. So it’s like I believe God and trust that whatever he will do- even if my camel runs away after I wanted it to be secure- is for my benefit and I trust that I will be compensated for it somehow whether in this life or the next.
And a corollary is that because it’s my God’s decision I will be satisfied with it
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But isn’t it a bit arrogant to say that whatever God will do for me will be good? What if he is actually punishing me for something
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And that punishing you will also become good for you, because you will ‘consider’ the possiblity of a punishment to begin with. You will know when you need to go through a trial and what that taught you. You repented, or learnt something out of it. Either way, a God fearing person will come out better just because He was introspective.
That same punishment could leave another person, not on the path of God or not ‘fully’ on the path of God, even more rebellious and disappointed and even away from Him than before.
So this is what the book of God teaches us. To be introspective, to look beyond the unseen of events. In the Quran, I will give you the reference, there is something very profound related to what you asked that what if its a punishment. The background is, the hypocrites started making fun of the believers that now where is the help of Allah that came in Badr? So they reply, even if we win this time that is also good and even if we lose (as a punishment for what some weak Muslims among us did) that is also good. Because in either case we are getting a chance to improve ourselves and get closer to Him.
So its all about perception. A believer can look at and take lessons from a same event very differently than a worldly person.
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You need Him and His pleasure, for that you need to first realise the path, the rope that takes you to His pleasure and obedience. And then after that, holding onto that rope in every circumstances till you’re alive. And THEN whatever happens is khayr. So you need to tie your camel i.e play your part and then leave the rest to Him because you remember Him, He will remember you.
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So when does doing my part end? I could take my camel with me into the masjid or not go into the masjid and pray outside? When does the tawakul start?
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And even when we believe and are sincere it doesn’t mean that we can’t be punished for any wrongdoing surely?
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Sister I mean an actual punishment not a trial or tribulation to promote goodness. How is it right to say God will never punish us as a retribution for our evils not for reformation
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No that isnt right to say and im not saying that bhai. But in either case, whether he me for the retribution of my evils or for reformation, isnt the outcome, i mean the end goal same in both these cases? For a believer
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Even then we will make mistakes. We aren’t perfect? So he will punish even then.
But what i mean is, lets say He punished me for something i did wrong as im human. But after facing the consequences of that punishment, wouldn’t i be coming out better?
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Yes you would with the correct mindset. So the tawakul is to do with that if I strong through this loss of wealth I will have learnt that it means I should obey God . And then if I lose wealth even after being pious I will be satisfied that my God has a better plan for me and this is where the trust lies
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Yes!! Exactly. Its like the verse 2:38) We said: “Get you down from here,53 all of you, and guidance shall come to you from Me: then, whoever will follow My guidance need have no fear, nor shall they grieve.
No fear, and no grief. Even after we are punished, we will have words of Allah in His book, that by reading we can earn hIs forgiveness that might end up closer to Him than we were before.
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So we can try and do what we want and do our part in trying to get what we want but we will have no fear or grief when we don’t get it as we TRUST God. The trust comes after the outcome it seems. If I have understood incorrectly please let me know
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And obviously this trying to do what you want and trying to get what you want, all this trying will be for something that pleases Allah? Say for example you are trying to get married and then specifically trying to get married to someone. So its the act of marriage that youre trying for. Which in and of itself a command of Allah. Now you tried with the person you wanted, you put in your efforts in the boundaries set out by Him with the mindset that God only makes it happen if it is better for me. So this is the Tawakkul before. That im making this decision, but you know if going ahead with it is better or whether staying away.
So in the end when it doesn’t happen eventually, you still have no grief because you started out with the trust in Him. And now you’re trusting Him with whatever the outcome is cause you know you out your trust in Him and He gave you what is better.
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Again sister I don’t think this comes under the definition of trust rather it is just God – consciousness or Taqwa. Tying a camel has no religious significance
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@UmerQureshi bhai, maybe you can help us?
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Your part begins before taking the decision for every circumstance that you face. The beauty is, for the one who has put his full faith in Allah, Allah will make him take the right/best choice (one that has more khayr in it). And your part ends after the outcome for your decision comes in front of you and THEN what you do about it. Believe that this outcome has the most khayr for me as i initially put my trust in Allah before doing it. So now the outcome is better than all the outcomes ever. This is where it will end.
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So the tawakul is not trusting before the outcome arises. Rather it is the trust that the outcome here is good for me
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Its also before, in your attitude. Like Yaqub (as) when he advised the brothers to divide before they enter the gates of the city, knowing fully well, that it is only something he deems to be better but in the end it is Allah’s decision whatever happens. So the brothers did as he said but it didnt work out we know in the story of Yusuf (as). And Yaqub (as) didn’t complain of the outcome as he knew before implementing it that ultimately that is better what happened, by Allah’s will.
So Tawakkul is an inner feeling/attitude that reflects in your actions.
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But that’s not tawakul is it? That’s just you trying to do what you want in accordance to what YOU think is right. From your explanation it seems tawakul is understanding that what actually happens is what GOD thinks is right
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What I think is right ‘according to the guidance and within the limits set out by Allah for me.’ And once my decision is based on this trust on God and honest attitude before Him, then whatever He does in the end will be right for me and then i will be capable of accepting and realizing it to be right for me.
Makes sense?
Im sorry, im trying my best to explain!!
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Sorry sister for not understanding and thanks so much for your help.
But what does that have to do with trust. That’s just being God-conscious.
Trust in common language means this:
I tie my camel and say please look after it as I go and pray. Now I am trusting you that you don’t steal my camel.
Once I have given this person my camel to look after to what end will I place my trust in God? If God sees fit he will cause an earthquake and kill my camel. So what am I trusting him for?
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Speaking in broad terms, I think as umer bhai pointed out Tawakkul has a much deeper meaning to it. This life was given to us to make us recognize who God is through His attributes and names and getting to experience those every instance. Then, purifying your knowledge first, and then actions making Him your everything. Your end goal then becomes His Radhaa ( His pleasure). You want Him hence your efforts for Jannah, which of course you will fall short time and time again. But once you decide and make the effort till your last breath to achieve that then Hes not going to let you fail. He’ll be guiding you through it and you’ll see it manifesting inside of you. So in broad terms Tawakkul would be to first know that you want Him, the ultimate success, the ultimate pleasure. And then also realise that in order to reach there you also need Him. Once this is established, then you know that whatever happens will be for good, will be to take you to Him, to Jannah. For the juzziaat like the example you mentioned you could then put it under this broad category of Tawakkul on Your Lord.
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I read somewhere that tawakul means to make Someone the deputy. So then doesn’t tawakul just mean recognising God controls all? I see what you’re saying and understand but the Hadith about trusting in Allah raises these questions because it doesn’t go into these details
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That this person still has the capacity to steal it etc if God wills? And if God wills otherwise, nothing will happen to it despite that person’s ill intentions, plans etc. Wont this be tawakkul?
But even if the former happens, even then there is good in it. Because it might be to teach you something, make you humble etc. So again the Tawakkul factor comes in that Ya Rabb i know what happened is better for me ultimately.
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So I think the Crux of the issue is here:
The tawakul is not that Allah will protect my camel- it is that whatever happens there will be good.
My question is then- what is the evidence that whatever happens will be good
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Yes, exactly. Tawakkul is realising from within that whatever the outcome was; whether i found my camel after i returned or whether I lost it for whatever reasons. Considering all the best and worst possible scenarios, it was good for me whatever happened in the end. But all of this isn’t just an attitude rather, this Tawakkul comes after a lot of reflection, reading God’s book, learn to look beyond the manifest of events.
The above is also your answer for the second question. By knowing God. God is perfect. Even when He allows evil to exist that is also based on His perfect wisdom. An example of what you asked would be the entire Surah Yusuf. How did Yaqub (as) know that he will eventually meet Yusuf and that regardless of all that he has suffered, in the end he will find Yusuf eventually. Thats because he interpreted Yusuf (as)’s dream back in the day so he knew from Allah. That’s how you know that everything that happens is good for you. Only a true believer can see that because he looks at everything with the perspective of Quran i.e beyond the apparent.
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No sister I mean what is the proof that the word tawakul is the name for this concept
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Oh sorry Bhai!
Because of its linguistic meaning and its usage in the Quran, along with the context of the verses it is used in?
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Thanks so much sister and Umer bhai for all your help it’s a lot clearer for me now!
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JazakAllah to you to bhai. I always learn from both your questions and your answers. I myself get to learn and reflect more. So thanks to you too!
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👍
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Actually the term ‘Tawakkul’ goes much deeper than this, it is the whole foundation of our belief (iman). It means we believe that all the materialistic laws (cause and effect etc.) do not stand in parallel to God, rather they are all creation of God and can be intervened anytime by God, if He so wills. Whether he intervenes or not is subject to Allah’s mashiyat but tawakkul is an expression of this fact that it is God behind all these laws and it is only through His mashiyat that my camel runs away or got stolen after I tied him. Without His mashiyat, none of this could’ve happened but at the same time, I have to follow cause and effect to the best of my ability but under the premise and belief that this too is a God’s creation and can be and one day it will all be eventually intervened fully by Allah. Without ‘Tawakkul’ my whole Emaan collapses actually.
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Bhai this is a basic principle of belief that God can intervene in anything of course.
So am i correct in saying tawakkul is being satisfied that ‘this is from God’ and that ‘God will do good’?
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‘God will do good’ is to be seen in the broader perspective considering both this world and the world hereafter. Sometimes you will see the result of that apparent ibtila in this world (in terms of seeing the meaning behind that ibtila in this very world (in the hindsight), and sometimes you don’t; sometimes that ibtila is to test your emaan to see whether there is any loophole in your belief or not, and sometimes it befalls as a result of something wrong done by you. If you showed patience and resilience in those circumstances, that is the true test and results in true manifestation of Tawakkul based on your response. It is how you relate your intrinsic belief in God with extrinsic happenings of this world. You have to tie your camel first because if you don’t, that means you escaped from the ibtila from the very first stage. You have to tie you camel with this belief that whatever happens afterward will be based on Allah’s ilm-o-Hikmat according to His broader scheme of things. Ibtila will only happen once you tie your camel with a firm belief in God and that camel gets stolen from you, so what will be your reaction? This whole scheme of things when combined are actually a true manifestation of tawakkul.
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@AhmadShoaib an excellent explanation and example from the Quran. Do watch.
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Just did- very insightful
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Having total trust in Allah alone
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Beautiful article about Tawakkul
https://yaqeeninstitute.org/roohi-tahir/in-hardship-and-in-ease-how-to-rely-on-god/
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