Trust Allah with What’s Out of Your Hands | Surah Al-Muzzammil | Nouman Ali Khan

The Nature of True Love and Devotion to Allah

Allah is not just the object of worship, He's the object of devotion. He's the object of fulfilling love. Like the love that doesn't leave you in pain, that love doesn't leave you wanting more.

How many romantic poetries, ghazal, qasida, shair about your love is only pain. But since it's you, I'll accept the pain. I love how it hurts and all that stuff.

Because love is always associated with some kind of pain. But with Allah, it's filled with fulfillment, contentment, سكينة, right? And that's what Allah is describing His name with. I recognize that I am not able to control everything in a situation.

Handing Over What's Beyond Your Control

So whatever is out of my control, I'm handing it over to Allah. Allah who controls the east and the west. Allah who there's no إله, no one to turn to except Him.

Therefore, Allah says, now take Him as your وكيل. Everything that is out of your control, leave it to Him. Your صباح is in your control.

Your standing in the night is in your control. Isn't it? But there are things, Allah is now by saying, فَاتَّخِذْهُ وَكِيلًا, Allah is actually saying there are other things that are completely out of your control. How will someone react to the da'wah of the Prophet ﷺ? Is that in his control? No.

Will someone become violent with him? Will someone accept and then reject later? Or someone reject and accept later? None of that is under his control. The thing that's being taught, the first lesson that's being taught in تَوَكُّل to Allah is that human beings can never control other human beings. And we can never control anybody else's hearts or their minds. Accept that fact.

The Master of East and West: Theory and Practice

Then we get to the next ayah.

The Master of the East and the West. Allah just mentioned night and day, right? Remember Allah at night? In the daytime you have all kinds of صباح? Remember Allah? And cut yourself off? And by the way, cutting yourself off even in the day? Now Allah will actually put that to the test.

There's gonna be these two ayahs, 8 and 9, are the lesson. And then the test, whether you have really learned that lesson, is gonna be 10 and 11. So you know how you have theory and practical in science? You study the scientific theory and then you study the practical? So 8 and 9 are kind of the theory.

And then 10 and 11 are going to be the first practical. Like, did you really embody these? Here's how you know. But anyway, رَبُّ الْمَشْرِقِ وَالْمَغْرِبِ The Master of the East and the Master of the West.

Day and Night Under Allah's Dominion

The east and west are important to mention because the east is the start of the day and the west is the sunset, so it's the start of the night. And the entire reference before was day and night. So رَبُّ الْمَشْرِقِ وَالْمَغْرِبِ The Master of the East and the Master of the West.

The change in how your life looks in the day and how your life looks at the night. And doesn't matter if it's day or night, they may be different. But both of them have one thing in common, the ذكر of Allah.

The ذكر of Allah looks different in the day. The ذكر of Allah looks different in the night. But He's the رب of the East and the رب of the West, the رب of the sunrise and the رب of the Master of the sunset.

مشرق means east and west, مشرق also means sunrise and sunset. So He's Master of night and day. It can also mean, east and west means the entire land.

Like if the king says, I am the king of the east to the west. What's he saying? I'm king of the entire land, right? So Allah is saying, Allah is the Master of the east and the west as if to say that this entire region is going to be under the dominion of Allah, is going to be under the rule of Allah's religion. It's coming, the victory of Allah is coming, don't worry about it.

It's gonna happen, you'll see. Because right now the east to west in Hijaz is filled with أرباب, different gods. But time is coming, and how will you know that? لا إله إلا هو, there's no one to be worshipped, loved, adored, obeyed in any way, shape or form except He.

Understanding the Meaning of Ilah

We're all familiar with لا إله إلا الله, but I'm just gonna give you a quick note on the word إله that you may not be familiar with. إله comes from the word ولا, and ولا actually means an object of intense love. And a kind of love, when you have it, you don't feel the need for anything else.

When a love is fully self-sufficient, it's actually called ولا or ولوه in Arabic. And from it we get the idea of the إله or the مألوه also in some readings of this word in Arabic. And that suggests that Allah is not just the object of worship, He's the object of devotion.

He's the object of fulfilling love. Like the love that doesn't leave you in pain, that love doesn't leave you wanting more. How many romantic poetry about your love is only pain, but since it's you, I'll accept the pain.

I love how it hurts and all that stuff. Because love is always associated with some kind of pain. But with Allah, it's filled with fulfillment, contentment, سكينة, right? And that's what Allah is describing His name with.

إله is also فزع إليه in Arabic. When you run towards somebody when you're desperate. Like I want you to think of it as whenever you have a problem, there's someone comes in your mind that you want to talk to immediately.

Or something great happens and immediately you want to text somebody. Guess what just happened, right? This is the person you ran to. One of the meanings of إله is the one you turn to in any situation.

The first one you want to just... And by the way, the Muslims have this naturally, right? Something amazing happens, الحمد لله. Something bad happens, استغفر الله, سبحان الله. لا حول ولا قوة إلا بالله.

Like naturally, we just turn to Allah immediately and that's actually our acknowledgement of Allah is إله. And even in our culture. It's a very beautiful thing that we do that.

That in any occasion, we have an easy way to just turn to Allah and to remember Allah in that way. So anyway, رَبُّ الْمَشْرِقِ وَالْمَغْرِبِ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ فَاتَّخِذْهُ وَكِيلًا. Now the second lesson.

The Meaning of Wakeel: Taking Allah as Your Guardian

The first one, must cut yourself off. The second lesson is take him as your وكيل. Take him as a... Now the word in Arabic is وكيل.

So let me explain what وكيل means. It comes from the word وكل. وكل means a person who's very weak.

Can't do anything themselves. عاجز. And they're ليس بنافذ.

If you tell them to finish a task, they can't finish the task. Like some of your kids. Clean the room. My back hurts. So they're وكل at that time. And يَكِلُ أَمْرَهُ إِلَى غَيْرِهِ What that means is when you say, I can't do it.

Could you do it for me? I'm incapable of doing this. I'm just going to leave it to you. I'm relying on you to do it.

The word وكل was used for a person that is slow. Or too dumb to do something. Or too weak to do something.

They're doing it too slowly so it didn't get done. They're too dumb so they didn't do it right. Or they're too weak to do it.

وَكَلَتِ النَّاقَةِ When a camel is not performing. Then the camel is وكل. From it comes the idea of تَوَكُّل.

Recognizing Your Limits and Allah's Control

I recognize that I am not able to control everything in a situation. So whatever is out of my control, I'm handing it over to Allah. Allah who controls the east and the west.

There's no إله, no one to turn to except Him. Therefore Allah says, Now take Him as your وكيل. Everything that is out of your control, leave it to Him.

Your صبح is in your control. Your standing in the night is in your control. Isn't it? But there are things, Allah is now by saying, فَاتَّخِذُوهُ وَكِيلًا Allah is actually saying there are other things that are completely out of your control.

How will someone react to the da'wah of the Prophet ﷺ? Is that in his control? No. Will someone become violent with him? Will someone accept and then reject later? Or someone reject and accept later? None of that is under his control. The thing that's being taught, the first lesson that's being taught in تَوَكُّل is that human beings can never control other human beings.

And we can never control anybody else's hearts or their minds. Accept that fact. Just internalize, I don't have control.

I don't have control. I don't have control over my son. I don't have control over my daughter.

I don't have control over my wife. I don't have control over my husband. I have control over myself.

Allah will ask me how I use that control. And everything else Allah... I'm handing control over to who? فَاتَّخِذْهُ وَكِيلًا You do your mission, you're not seeing any results. Rasul ﷺ may be doing his da'wah and everyday things are getting more aggressive like I was mentioning before and he's not seeing any results and Allah is saying that's not under your control anyway.

That's not what I'm asking you to do. Results are not up to you. Control is not up to you.

You're not in charge of them, you're not controlling them. Hand that over. This is where human beings have to accept their weakness, their inability.

Declaring Allah's Ability and Our Inability

فَاتَّخِذْهُ وَكِيلًا It's just like تسبيح. In تسبيح we declare the perfection of Allah and our imperfection. In تَوَكُّل we declare Allah's ability to do something and our inability.

We have to accept our lack of control and Allah's complete control. فَاتَّخِذْهُ وَكِيلًا Take him as someone who you leave your matters to. اتَّكَلَ When you surrender your matter to someone.

التَّوْكِيل أَن تَعْتَمِدَ عَلَى غَيْرِكَ وَتَجْعَلُهُ نَائِبًا عَنْكَ When you completely leave something in somebody's hands and you don't even think about it anymore. One of my favorite examples of تَوَكُّل in the Qur'an, practical examples of تَوَكُّل in the Qur'an is in surah an-Nur. I'll share that briefly with you.

Practical Example: The Slander Against Aisha

In surah an-Nur there was a rumor about Aisha رضي الله عنها, you guys remember. Now the thing with rumors is maybe one person started it. But does it stay with one person? It goes to two people.

Two to seven people. Seven to fifty people. Fifty to a thousand people.

Keeps going, keeps going, keeps going. And by the time you hear it, by the way, somebody is saying this, this, this about you. You're like, who told you? I don't want to talk about it.

No, tell me who told you? Well, I was at this party and this guy was saying, what did he look like? Oh, he was wearing a t-shirt. Okay, I'm going to find him. And then you find that guy.

Hey, so you said something. I didn't say anything. You did, you did.

I found out you said it. Yeah, I did say it. Who told you? And you have in your basement, you've got a picture board and you've got a hit list of who told who, who told who, who told who.

Because you want to get to the, who started this? Can you ever get there? No. And some people didn't say that much bad stuff about you. Some people said a lot about you.

Some people spoke little, some people spoke much. And you're trying to make this fire stop. And the only way you'll make it stop is you're going to go after everyone who said something.

You're going to screenshot everybody. I have a hit list, right? Is that possible? No.

Is the situation any longer in your control? No. It's not in your control. What does Allah say?

The ones who started this rumor, every one of them will get however much sin they did from this.

Some people said a lot, some people said a little. Some people just sat there and listened and said, Oh, really? And the people who said, Oh, really? They got a little bit sin too. Other people, really, tell me more.

They got a little bit more sin. The guy who started the whole thing, وَالَّذِي تَوَلَّىٰ كِبْرَهُ He's going to get the biggest. But did Allah say, this is the guy who's getting the biggest.

This one's going to get 97%. This one's going to get 50%. This one's going to get 5%.

Did Allah tell the believers who did what? No. Basically Allah is telling us, Leave that to me. Leave it alone.

That's not for you. That's تَوَكُّل. The word تَوَكُّل is not used in that ayah.

But تَوَكُّل is being taught in that ayah. Practically. This is the concept we have to understand.

There's a theory, I trust in Allah. I rely on Allah. And people say these things easily.

But when it's put to the test, they don't want to lose control. They want to hold on to that control. So, لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ فَاتَّخِذْهُ وَكِيلًا

Letting Go of the Need for Revenge

And one of the most important aspects of really leaving things to Allah, is when someone hurts you, and you want to see them in pain. Like you want to see them pay the price for hurting you. Because this is one of the most common questions I get.

Ustadh, how come bad people are still happy? Why are you stalking them on Instagram? This person hurt my feelings, and look. Look at the picture they just posted of themselves. It burns us.

How come Allah lets them be happy even though they're terrible people? And then people have an even bigger crisis. Ustadh, there are some people that are really bad, but then they just do توبة. And then they start taking care of orphans.

And they memorize the whole Quran. But they were really bad! Is Allah just going to forgive them? And I have to be with them in Jannah? I'm like, so, how are you sure you're going? No, I'm just saying in case I make it, I don't want to see them. You know what that is? A desire to control the outcome.

You know, if you say, Allah is more fair than my concept of fairness. Allah is more wise than my concept of wisdom. Allah knows my feelings better than I even know my feelings.

Allah cares for my heart more than I care for my heart. Then it's easier for me to let Allah handle that without Allah explaining it to me. Allah will do it.

Ya Allah, I know you're going to do it. Can you tell me exactly how are you going to do it? Is she going to fall off the stairs? Is there a bus that's going to accidentally... How is it going to... I just want to feel better. If you trust Allah, then let it go.

The Analogy of Trusting Someone's Cooking

I like to give you silly examples so you can understand the concept. If you trust someone's cooking, don't stand over their shoulder and say, are you going to add more salt? That's it. Just walk away.

You trust it. If you're trusting Allah with something, then no longer concern yourself with it. It's in someone's control who will handle this better than anybody else could handle it.

Then you should be completely content. Now you're not worried about who said what, who's doing this, is Allah going to do justice with these people or those people or those people. No, no, no.

Are people who thinking they did wrong, you think they got away from us? What a terrible decision they made. So he's saying one of the biggest aspects of تَوَكُّل to Allah is letting it go. Letting the need for revenge or vengeance or justice go.

When Rasul ﷺ heard what the مشركين were saying about him — And that's why he was wrapping himself in a blanket if you remember the beginning of the surah. So Allah told him, don't let this worry you because who's handling that situation? Allah, let them talk. That's Allah to deal with.

That should not worry you. رَبُّ الْمَشْرِقِ وَالْمَغْرِبِ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ فَاتَّخِذُوهُ After Maghrib, you're turning to Allah. In the مشرق, they're talking about you.

And even when you're talking to Allah, they're holding their meetings on how to kill you or how to hurt you or how to end your mission. Don't worry about it. That's not your concern.

The Connection Between Worship and Tawakkul

In this ayah, we see, لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ Which is a statement of our declaration of worship of Allah. Everybody knows that. And immediately after, it's followed by فَاتَّخِذُوهُ وَكِيلًا And other places in the Qur'an.

Worship Him and rely on Him. Even in the Fatiha. إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ is about worship.

إِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ Seeking His help is about تَوَكُّل, isn't it? So what are we learning? The first element of worship. Once you enter into the worship of Allah. One of the first manifestations that you've truly entered.

I've truly entered into the worship of Allah. Is I learned to let some things be handled by Allah that are out of my control. And I just say, I completely have trust in Him.

He's the only one, الله المستعان. That's it. It's good enough for me.