Is Taking Means Contrary to Tawakkul (Reliance on Allah)?
Source: Fatāwā Ameenpuri by Shaykh Ghulam Mustafa Zaheer Ameenpuri
❖ Question:
Is adopting worldly means against the spirit of tawakkul (reliance on Allah)?
❖ Answer:
Allah ﷻ has commanded reliance upon Him. The meaning of tawakkul is to adopt the means while entrusting the outcome to Allah ﷻ.
✿ Statements of the Scholars
✔ Ḥāfiẓ Ibn al-Jawzī رحمه الله (597H) said:
إنما التوكل فعل القلب لإنزال السبب
“Tawakkul is in fact the action of the heart when taking up the means.”
(Kashf al-Mushkil: 1/14)
Thus, abandoning means is not tawakkul, unlike what some misguided Ṣūfīs claim. Allah ﷻ has commanded taking means, and all the Prophets practiced tawakkul while also adopting means. None of them abandoned means under the guise of reliance.
✿ Qur’anic Evidence
Allah ﷻ says:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا خُذُوا حِذْرَكُمْ
(Sūrah al-Nisāʾ: 71)
“O you who believe! Take your precaution.”
Allah ﷻ also says:
وَأَعِدُّوا لَهُمْ مَا اسْتَطَعْتُمْ مِنْ قُوَّةٍ
(Sūrah al-Anfāl: 60)
“And prepare against them all the strength you can muster.”
Preparing weapons and resources against the enemy is part of adopting means — and Allah ﷻ Himself commanded this. This proves that taking means is part of tawakkul.
✿ Prophetic Example
The actions of the Prophet ﷺ and Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه during the migration to Madinah — such as hiding in the cave to evade the Quraysh and preparing for the journey — are all examples of adopting means.
Likewise, in battles, preparing wealth, bodies, strategies, and weapons were all means adopted by the Prophet ﷺ, and none of these contradicted tawakkul.
✿ Further Clarification
Ḥāfiẓ Ibn al-Jawzī رحمه الله (597H) said:
اعلم – وفقك الله – أنه لو رفض الأسباب شخص يدعي التزهد، وقال: لا آكل، ولا أشرب، ولا أقوم من الشمس فى الحر، ولا أستدفئ من البرد كان عاصيا بالإجماع
“Know — may Allah grant you success — that if someone abandons means under the pretense of asceticism and says: I will not eat, I will not drink, I will not move from the sun in heat, nor seek warmth in cold, then such a person is sinful by consensus.”
(Ṣayd al-Khāṭir, p. 76)
