“Tawakkul Is To Plan And Put One’s Trust In Allah Ta’ala.

Hazrat Thanwi (Rahmatullahi alaih) says:

“Tawakkul is to plan and put one’s trust in Allah Ta’ala. The condition, however, is that the strategy should be lawful, and one should not become preoccupied with it.

It is Fardh [obligatory] to turn one’s gaze away from an agency which is not the Real Cause, as a matter of belief. In practice, it is Mustahab [desirable] to omit presumptive causes on the proviso that one can bear this.

Those means and agencies which are absolute or close to absolute, it is a sin to omit them. However, the Ahl-e-Haal (the theopathetics/those Sufiya who are uncontrollably lost in emotional love or fear for Allah Ta’ala) are exempt from this.

All this pertains to means and agencies of the world. To omit the means and agencies of Deen is not Tawakkul.” (Kamaalaat-e-Ashrafiyyah)

The entire life of Hazrat Thanwi was a manifestation of this reality. His monetary tawakkul [that is, his trust in Allah Ta’ala with regard to sustenance] shall appear in detail in the Chapter on Livelihood.

His personal tawakkul [that is, his trust in Allah Ta’ala with regard to his life] was such that once in Bombay [Mumbai] there was an attempt on his life at night. In spite of close ones urging him, he did not hand in any report, etc. at the police station. The next morning, he freely walked the marketplace without any precaution or security measure.

Similarly, he freely moved about in Bareilly the stronghold of his adversaries [the Bid’ati Qabar Pujari sect]. He was completely unconcerned of any trepidation encroaching his heart.

In this regard he says: “In Bombay there are many antagonists. But there too, people persisted that I give a bayaan. I spoke openly in my bayaan and I went everywhere unhindered and freely, on my own and in a group.

Similarly, some close friends tried to restrain me in Bareilly saying that antagonists and the opposition here are in huge numbers. ‘Some security measures should be taken when moving about here. You should not go around just like that.’

I responded that all these concerns are futile thoughts. Nothing happens without the Command of Allah. And if Allah wishes [for my harm] then a thousand preventive measures cannot thwart the Divine Decree.”