Tawakkul : How Trusting Allah Changes Everything

A Dark Night in Egypt

I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan.

It's a dark and starry night in Egypt. The door of one of the houses in Egypt starts to be knocked. The knocks turn into banging, into thundering. Somebody — no, a group — is smashing this door down. Inside this house, a woman cowering away in the corner, huddling a little baby to her chest.

The mother of the Prophet Musa (alayhi al-salam). Hiding in the corner, worried, scared — no, terrified — that this group of men are going to come in, snatch away her child. Because of the dream that was had one night by the Pharaoh of Egypt, that a small baby from the Israelites will one day rise up and snatch his seat of power. Bang. Smash. They knock the door and she's terrified.

And it is in this moment Allah inspires this woman, this mother, this honorable lady. He says to her: hold this baby to your chest and nurse him so that they don't hear the crying sounds of the baby. They shouldn't know that you're harboring this baby in the house. She quickly begins to feed him.

But then another instruction comes from Allah. A more audacious instruction, a strange instruction, a commandment that no woman in her sane mind would ever obey. Allah tells the mother of Moses: take this child who you hold so dear, who you are so terrified for — and chuck him in the sea. Don't throw him, don't place him. I want you to completely chuck him into the sea. And I'm going to ask you one more thing. Don't be scared and don't be sad, because I'm going to make you a promise. I promise you that this young baby is going to return back into your arms very, very soon.

The mother of Moses is terrified. She's unsure. She's uncertain. She's trembling as she approaches the lake, the Nile, the river. She's thinking — how is it possible? What is the mechanism? What is the way in which Allah will return this baby to my arms? I'm saying farewell to my most beloved one. She places him into the Nile and the baby floats away. In this way, the story of the Prophet Musa (alayhi al-salam) begins.

The Women Behind Musa's Story

One of the most remarkable things about the story of Musa (alayhi al-salam) is how many women Allah mentions in the story. The story does not begin with Musa himself. The story starts with the mother of Musa, because everybody's story begins with their mother. The sister of Musa. The two women he meets in Madyan. His wife that he marries. The story of Musa (alayhi al-salam) is filled with female figures who shaped his life.

And this is so crucial when we think about the momentous nature of this day — the 10th of Muharram — and we think about the events that unfold in the world around us. The terror, the tyranny, the genocide, and the oppression. And we think: where's the solution? How is Allah going to help in this situation?

And one of the most crucial things that we don't appreciate is that sometimes the solution from Allah takes decades and centuries of struggle. And sometimes we don't realize that the most crucial piece in the puzzle, the most crucial piece of the solution, might not be anything but a mother harboring a baby and raising this child in the most true way that she's been instructed and commanded to — and that she finds natural.

The story of Musa starts with the mother of Musa. And how does Allah describe the mother of Musa (alayhi al-salam)? What is it about this woman that gives her prime time spot in the Quran?

The mother of Moses — she was going to give up in that moment of fear and uncertainty and terror. But I strengthened her heart. She drew her strength from me, and that is what made her certain and allowed her to do the impossible, which is dropping her son into this basket in the middle of the night.

And then Allah says:

I returned this baby to his mother after a very short period. And I wanted her to know that when I make a promise, it will always come true. But most people — they don't have that confidence in me.

The story of Musa (alayhi al-salam) starts with a mother. And if you were to get a list of what it is that makes this woman so special, it is one thing and one thing only: her willingness to trust Allah and to trust His promise, and to sacrifice for His sake, and to obey His will — regardless of the odds.

Standing Before the Sea

Now this is really important. Many, many, many years later — decades and decades and decades later — just as this mother was standing in front of the Nile and told to do the impossible, told to give up her most beloved child, told to blindly trust Allah in this moment — decades and decades and decades later, the Prophet Musa (alayhi al-salam) stands in front of the sea.

Behind him, mountains of sand as the clamoring hooves of the Pharaoh's army draw near. Behind him, an army as far as the eyes can see. The clashing of swords, the roaring noise of an army that has never been seen the like before. Slowly but surely dawning on him. And in this moment, he stands in front of the sea the same way his mother stood in front of the Nile many years ago. And just like his mother, he decides: even if everybody in my camp gives up, I am going to trust Allah.

When they approached and they saw the size of the army of the Pharaoh, all the Israelites said: we are finished. But Moses, standing in front of the sea, exclaims:

He says: I will not give up. My Lord was with me when I was with my mother. My Lord was with me when I grew up in the palace of the Pharaoh. My Lord was with me when I was exiled from Egypt. My Lord was with me when I was in Madyan. My Lord was with me every step of my life. Is He going to abandon me now? Really? No. Allah is going to show me the way.

You see, it is the mothers that shape the civilization. And it is the work of this mother that shaped the man who eventually brought the oppressor and the tyrant down and ground him — by the will of Allah — in the sea. The unsung hero in the story of Musa (alayhi al-salam) is actually his mother, his sister, the woman he met in Madyan, his wife. The women that shaped him, that nurtured him.

In a time when the role of women has been challenged, when the role of women has been reshaped in society as a unit to contribute to the GDP, as an economic worker — and this is the only possible role a woman can play — the story of Musa (alayhi al-salam) reminds us that the primary and the greatest role of our mothers, of our sisters, is to nurture the greatest generations of all time.

The greatest trait of his mother was her ability to trust Allah despite the odds. And the greatest trait of Musa (alayhi al-salam) was to trust Allah despite the odds. He exclaims: Allah will show me the way, even though it looks completely impossible to do so.

Why We Struggle to Trust Allah

Now you may ask the question: where did he learn this trust? Many of us hearing this have completely lost trust in Allah. Maybe somebody scammed you when you were trying to buy something online. Maybe you were trying to sell your car and somebody paid you the wrong price. Maybe you got married and you realized the person you married was not what you expected and you got divorced. Maybe someone in your life broke your trust and you're thinking to yourself: I can't trust anybody anymore. How am I going to trust the Lord of the worlds?

There are people right now thinking: where is my Lord when it comes to what's happening in Gaza? Where is my Lord when it comes to what's happening with the Uyghurs? Where is my Lord? Why isn't He intervening? Why is He observing? Why isn't He behaving as I want Him to behave? Many of us listening to this, we have become desensitized to the carnage, desensitized to the genocide. We've given up, we've lost hope, and we're sitting back thinking nothing can be done. We're useless. There is no way out of our situation.

Many of us have come to the point where in small day-to-day life, we've lost trust in Allah. You're driving on the motorway — you're driving on the M6, on the M9, on the M1 — and as you're driving, a car, a lorry sways into your car, right into you, and scrapes the side of your window. You survive. It was a close shave. And in that moment you think: perhaps Allah saved me. In the small things in our day-to-day lives, we realize that Allah protects us, Allah looks after us, Allah helps us.

The Training of Musa: The Valley of Tuwa

But what was it that shaped Musa (alayhi al-salam)? What training did he receive such that he was ready to face the Pharaoh of Egypt? If you want to know the training he received, it's got something to do with a stick.

When Musa (alayhi al-salam) is around the age of 40, returning from exile in the distant land of Madyan back to Egypt, he sees in the distance a light — not a light, but a fire. Musa (alayhi al-salam) says to his family: stay here, let me go, let me see what's going on with this light. Something seems to be up.

As he approaches the light, Musa (alayhi al-salam) is suddenly being spoken to. Allah says:

When he arrives at the tree, he is called: Oh Moses! It is me, I am your Lord, so take off your shoes. You have come to the sacred valley of Tuwa. I selected you — now listen to what I have to say. It is I, I am Allah.

Pause for a second. Doesn't Musa (alayhi al-salam) know who Allah is? His whole life, he believes in Allah. He's been speaking to Allah. Why is Allah introducing Himself? When He is giving Musa the mission of going and facing the Pharaoh of Egypt, He is about to reintroduce Himself to Musa. It's as though He's saying: you might think you know me, but I'm going to tell you again who I am, because it's super important. So listen carefully.

It is I, Allah — none worthy of worship but me. So worship me, be obedient to me, and establish the prayer for my constant remembrance.

Why does Allah reintroduce Himself to Musa? Because the flame that will drive Musa (alayhi al-salam) to topple the tyrants, to travel through the desert, to face the armies — is only one thing. There is only one secret, only one fuel, only one way that a person like Musa (alayhi al-salam) — who doubts himself, who's terrified of the mission — there's only one way for him to have the internal strength to do what he's about to do. That is for him to know Allah.

Many of us in this very moment — if you were asked to describe Allah, we wouldn't know where to start. We wouldn't know how to describe our Maker: the one who designed the snowflake, the one who produced the beautiful baby that exits its mother's womb, the one who sends the rain from the sky, the one who raises the souls from this earth, the one who makes the glaciers melt and who created the beautiful sand dunes that filled the horizon on end, the one who created the rolling hills, the rising mountains, the one who created the heavens and the earth. We don't know Him, and that is why we don't trust Him. We don't trust Allah because we have never really understood who He is.

And so when Allah prepares Musa, when Allah trains Musa (alayhi al-salam), the first thing He does is: you need to know me if you're going to be ready for this mission.

Lesson One: Let Go of the Stick

And the second thing He does — He asks Musa a question:

What's that in your right hand, oh Musa? He replies: this is my stick. I lean on it. I use it for so many things. You depend on the stick. You use it every day. You need it. You're relying on it. Now I'm going to ask you to do something:

Chuck the stick away. Get rid of the thing that you depend on, because I'm about to teach you a lesson. You need to stop depending on the stick and you need to start depending on me.

He throws the stick — and it turns into a vicious snake. Allah just taught Musa (alayhi al-salam): stop relying on tools, stop relying on processes, stop relying on people, stop relying on organizations, stop relying on the sticks. Get rid of it all. Trust me. I am the one who's going to show you the way.

Lesson Two: Grab the Snake

Musa trusts Allah. He throws the stick. But what happens? Allah told me to throw the stick. It should turn into a rainbow. It should turn into a pot of gold. Allah told me to do it — surely the ending is going to be lovely and sweet and rosy and red-carpeted. No. It turns into a snake.

Because sometimes Allah decrees for us the things that scare us the most. He sends us snakes in our lives — a divorce that we never expected, a debt that we have to pay, a criminal charge that we didn't know about. He sends us snakes in our lives: tests, trials, calamities, difficulties. And as the snake stares you in the face — as the test and the trial, the calamity stares you in the face — Allah is about to teach Musa (alayhi al-salam) a new lesson.

I wanted you to trust me and stop trusting everything else in this world. Lesson number two: when I send you a difficulty, when I send you a calamity, when you're staring death in the eye, when you're staring the snake with its hissing tongue in the eye — I want you to grab the snake.

Grab the snake and don't be scared. Trust me — I will get rid of the hissing, the venom, the viper. I'll get rid of it. But you need to embrace your challenges, embrace your pain, embrace your enemies, because you need to realize it's I who's in control, not you.

What did Musa (alayhi al-salam) do? Did he grab the snake? No — he turned and he ran.

He turned around, he ran. That's what we do when we're faced with calamities in our lives. We struggle to trust Allah so much that when a test comes into our life, when we see oppression, when we see difficulty — we run.

The Escapism of Our Time

And how do the people of the 21st century escape their tests? How do the people of the 21st century escape their difficulties? What is the most common form of escapism in the world today? Entertainment. The average person between the ages of 16 and 30 watches three hours of screen time on a daily basis. Why? Why are they having brain fog? Why are they scrolling? Why are they flicking video to video? Why are they watching episode after episode, binge-watching? Because it's scary to face life in the eye. So you know what's easier? Let me escape. Let me retreat into a world of imagination, into the world of entertainment. Let me scroll endlessly. Maybe my pains and troubles will be scrolled away. So we run for the mountains. We run for our devices.

And Musa (alayhi al-salam), when he was presented with the snake, he ran. And Allah says to him:

Come back and stop being scared. Messengers should never ever be scared in my presence.

Musa has learned two lessons. I have to let go of the things I trust and rely and depend on every day. I have to chuck them away and trust the One who created them, because He will find me a way. And the second lesson he learns is that Allah — on this journey towards removing the tyrant and removing the oppressor and fighting these wars and doing all these difficult things — Allah is going to send me snakes every step of the way. And I need to stare the snake in the eye and grab it by the neck and say: I'm ready. Come at me.

The Mission: Go to Firaun

Allah instills him with confidence, instills him with trust, instills him with courage — and then He gives him the mission:

You are now a messenger of mine. I want you to go to Firaun and give him the message. What's Musa's (alayhi al-salam) first reaction? You might think that a prophet of Allah is super confident — he's ready to go, he rolls up his sleeves and says: where do I start? That's not what he says. Musa (alayhi al-salam) is terrified:

Wallah, I'm scared. They might reject me. And I'm going to get stage fright and I'll become speechless when I go in front of him. Please send my brother Harun as a backup. And I committed a crime — I'm the most wanted person in Egypt. What if they kill me? Allah, I'm scared. I'm not ready. I have mental block. I don't know if I'm the man. Maybe I'm not the man for the job.

What does Allah reassure him with?

Musa, do you want to know the secret to victory? Do you want to know the secret to ending the tyrant, to ending the tyranny, to ending years of genocide, to ending centuries of apartheid? Do you want to know the secret, Musa? It's not in tools. It's not in weapons. It's not in strategies. It's not in processes. It's not in this, it's not in that. It's one thing: carry my ayat with you wherever you go. And do not stop remembering my name. I will get you through every step of the process.

The Greatest Weapon

This was the training given to Musa (alayhi al-salam). And it is this training that he received from Allah — that on the day he stood in front of the sea, with the army of the Pharaoh behind him and a sea as far as the eye could see in front of him — despite the odds, despite everything he faced, it was the nurturing of his mother and the training to trust Allah that made him exclaim in that moment:

Allah is with me. He will guide me.

There are moments in my life and your life in which we feel abandoned by Allah. We feel alone. We feel there are difficult things for us to deal with. We feel helpless. We feel useless. And it is in these moments we have to remember the crucial lesson that the mother of Musa (alayhi al-salam) teaches us — and Musa himself (alayhi al-salam) teaches us — that the greatest weapon to dismantle the greatest forms of oppression of our time is the constant remembrance of Allah and the blinding trust that come what may, no matter what happens and who stands in front of us — nobody, no human, no structure, no entity, no force can stop us if Allah wills it to be.

جزاكم الله خيراً for your patience.