Reliance on Allah

There are some people in this world. They think they can do everything because of themselves. "I'm really intelligent."

"I have a really reliable car. I'm a really good driver. I know the best way to get there before I get late."

"I, I, I, I, I—all the reliance is on myself."

"The reason I have a successful business is because I have a really good business plan."

"The reason I have a good job is because I went to a good school, and I got a good GPA, and I have a good"

"resume." So it's all about relying on yourself. And they have these—it's actually a multi-hundreds

of millions of dollars of industry of this: the self-help and self-motivational

industry, which the beginning and the end of it is, "You can do anything. You're amazing."

"You don't even realize your own power and your own potential." And people pay thousands of dollars

to go for a weekend to hear them say, "You can brush your own teeth," and, "You can take your own flights," or whatever.

And they get fired up because there's this idea of the self—the power of the self—which has some validity.

But on the other hand, there are people on the other extreme. There are people who say, "I can't do anything. I'm just a miskeen."

"I'm just a **servant** of Allah. What am I? I'm not worth the, you know, the dust of somebody's feet."

"You know, I'm nothing. I'm made of **turāb**, you know, I'm made of a **nuṭfah**."

So, as Allah describes this humble, pathetic creature,

"then I can't really do anything at all." They have no self-confidence at all. "I say Allah does everything, I do nothing."

"Allah does everything, I do nothing." And these people, you know, what ends up happening?

They do nothing in life, and when nothing happens, they say, "Well, Allah decided nothing should happen."

So they blame everything on Allah. On the one hand,

you have people that rely **not** on Allah, entirely on themselves, and on the other extreme,

you have people who rely only on Allah and put no effort themselves.

This **āyah**, among many in the Quran, is an **āyah** of balance. You have to make commitment,

you have to take action: **Fa-idhā ʿazamta fatawakkal ʿalā Allāh**.

But you are the same one who has to understand that your commitment and your action and your

capability is in the hands of your **Rabb**, and He will only grant it to you when you make that—when you try to fulfill

it—when you make the best of your efforts.

Sometimes your plans and Allah's plans are the same.

Sometimes.

Sometimes you decide to go somewhere, and Allah decides to let you go also.

Sometimes you decide to go to a college, and Allah gives you admission into that college

also. You decide to graduate early, and Allah lets you graduate early also.

So things go according to your plan.

All that means is your plan and Allah's plan was the same for that one thing.

But sometimes your plan and Allah's plan are not the same.

Sometimes you want to stay in that job for 10 years, but you get fired after six months.

Sometimes you apply to this school, and you had the best application,

but you still didn't get in, and people with a worse application than you got in.

It happens. Sometimes your plans and Allah's plans are not the same.

These **āyāt** are recognizing that not everything will go according to my plan. I will still have to make a plan.

I will still have to put in the effort.

But at the end of the day, it is Allah Who will decide whether this plan will come through or not.