Trusting in Allah (SWT)

“Say: ‘My servants, you who have transgressed against yourselves, do not despair of the mercy of Allah. Truly Allah forgives all wrong actions. He is the Ever-Forgiving, the Most Merciful.’”–The Holy Quran 39:53

“It is You we worship, and You we ask for help.”–The Holy Quran 1:5

Trusting in Allah means that you trust and believe in His Mercy, His Help, His Wisdom, His Love, and His Goodness. Trusting in Allah means that you actually believe the Hadith Qudsi (recorded in Bukhari and Muslim) that says:

“I am to my servant as he expects of Me. I am with him when he remembers Me. If he remembers Me in his heart, I remember him to Myself, and if he remembers me in an assembly, I mention him in an assembly better than his, and if he draws nearer to Me a hand’s span, I draw nearer to him an arm’s length, and if he draws nearer to Me an arm’s length, I draw nearer to him a fathom’s length, and if he comes to me walking, I rush to him at (great) speed.”

Allah is on your side! If you take 1 step towards Him, he takes many “steps” towards you! Yes, life is hard and unfortunate things happen to us, and we often don’t know why they happen. But if you trust in the mercy and grace of Allah, you know that He wants good for you! Why else would He “rush” to you at great speed if He didn’t want you to succeed?

And all of the teachings of Islam are meant to bring us eternal happiness! How often do we contemplate the last phrase of the verse about hijab and modesty (24:31)? The final phrase says, “O you believers turn you all together towards Allah, so that you may attain Bliss.”

If we reflect on the 5th verse of Surah Al-Fatihah, we will discover a surefire way to feel connected with Allah all the time. “It is You we worship, and You we ask for help.” Whenever you receive “help” of any kind, be assured that such “help” is always from Allah. All help is from Him. All good is from Him. Help and goodness coming into your life is a sign of Allah. And when you are going through a tough time, you are supposed to be learning or gaining something. Even our tough times are good for us:

“How excellent the affairs of the believer! His affair, all of it, is good for him, and this is not the case with anyone except the believer. If prosperity comes to him, he is thankful, and if adversity falls on him, he perseveres patiently. So it is all good for him.” (Muslim, Ahmad)

HAPPINESS HINT: Believe in the hadith that says, “It is all good for the believer.” Everything that happens to a believer is good in some way.

Also contemplate these verses:

“And your Lord said, ‘Call upon Me, I will respond to you…’” (40:60)

“Is not He (best) who listens to the (soul) distressed when it calls on Him, and who relieves its suffering?” (27:62)

Trusting in Allah means that you believe Allah’s promise that if you call on Him, He will respond to you. He will relieve your suffering. He will help you, in His time and His way.
Trusting in Allah does not mean that we neglect common sense and precautionary measures. Remember the hadith:

A man said to the Prophet, “Should I tie up the legs of my camel and then rely upon God, or should I leave it free, and then rely upon God to take care of it?” The Prophet said, “Tie up its legs, and then rely upon God.” (Tirmidthi)

Trusting in Allah also means that we trust that His commandments are really for our own good. When Allah commands us to stay away from fornication and alcohol and to get married–these are actually for our own benefit. We must trust that the teachings of Islam are good for us, although at times they can be challenging.

The following two stories were contributed by Sis. Amal Darwiche:

The first is a famous story that illustrates one man’s trust in Allah (swt):

A student of religion was living in Damascus a couple of hundred of years ago. Being from a remote village and dedicating his life to religious studies, he fell on very hard times and his money ran out. One day, while he was studying he could not focus well because hunger became so severe and he remembered that he had not had a meal in 3 days. He decided to go for a walk to take his mind off the hunger. He went on the roof of the building in which he was renting a small room. The buildings in those days were so close that he could easily jump from one roof to the next. While doing so, a very appetizing smell of food suddenly filled his nostrils. He could tell the smell was coming from a nearby open window. He went closer to the window, which was open and he saw a bubbling pot of stew on a stove in an empty kitchen. His stomach was rumbling. He just could not resist. He jumped into the kitchen, lifted the lid and saw that it was the famous damascene eggplant stew. He was just about to raise a tasty morsel to his mouth when he suddenly remembered that Allah was watching him and that he would be stealing something that did not belong to him. He put the lid back, got out the window and rushed to the masjid to pray for forgiveness. While at the masjid, he saw a beautiful young woman enter, accompanied by an older one. They went and talked with the Imam. Soon, the imam was signaling him to come forward. He did. The imam explained that the younger woman accompanied by her mom was a recent widow and her mom wanted her to remarry as soon as possible since her idda had just expired and she did not wish to be alone. Her only condition was that she wanted a righteous husband. The imam told the young man: You are the most righteous of the single men that I know so marry her. The man answered that he had no money to offer as a bride-gift and for marriage expenses. The imam replied that the young woman had inherited a nice fortune from her late husband and did not need anything except another righteous husband. The man then agreed to marry her. The imam performed the nikah immediately. The bride then led her new husband back to her home where she offered him food she had just cooked earlier: it was the same pot of food he had been tempted by in that empty kitchen, which was now his very own family kitchen. Allah gave him in a halal way what he had been tempted to acquire by way of haram.

This second story is a personal story about Sis. Amal’s brother:

My brother lives in Europe. He is single and has a pet Brazilian sun parakeet (also called sun conure) that he has named Marivo. Marivo’s species is that of highly intelligent colorful birds about 12 inches long who thrive on companionship and can develop very strong bonds with their human owners. They need a lot of room so they must be able to fly freely inside one’s house for at least part of the day. My brother lives in a tiny apartment so he lets her fly out the window every day and he assures me that, without fail, she always comes back to him after one or two hours. One morning recently, he was going through his morning routine when he heard her making shrill noises outside the window. It sounded like she was screaming. My brother got dressed and went outside where he found her perched on a tree branch near his apartment building. A falcon swooped down and knocked her to the ground. My brother immediately jumped to try and protect her, but before her could reach her he tripped and fell face down. In that same instant the falcon swooped down again and grabbed her with his talons and took off with his prey. My brother was very distraught and struggled to calm himself down. He loved that bird so much; it pained him that she would soon become the lunch of this ruthless falcon. Despite the futility of going after them, he decided to comb the nearby wooded area looking for any trace of blood or colorful feathers, anything to bury and get some sense of closure. He returned home two hours later empty handed. Just as he was about to enter the building, the brilliant, colorful Marivo came to perch on that same branch where the falcon attacked her earlier. She began singing very happily all the while eyeing my brother. She sang for about 10 minutes, and then she came down to perch on his shoulder like she normally did. He examined her for any sign of injury–a broken wing, a missing tail–but none could be found. He told me: “Not a single feather was amiss”. Then he realized that this was a direct result of the duaas he made for her every Friday when he went to Jumuah prayer. He would say:”O Allah, I entrust you with Marivo and I leave her in your care, protection, kindness and mercy”. Moral of the story: If you love someone or something, don’t panic about what might befall them. Just give them in trust to Allah and He will protect them far better than you can. This should eliminate many a source of anxiety in your life. I should add that I told him that her singing on the branch before rejoining him was probably her way of making tasbeeh and thanking Allah for protecting her.