Assalamualaikum.
Peace be with you and Ramadan Mubarak.
Welcome to the University of Sufism's reading of Rosina Fawzia Al-Rawi's book,
The Call of Allah,
A Companion to the Holy Month of Ramadan.
Today I am sharing day number 29,
Tawakkul,
Trust.
Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim.
In the name of the One,
The Most Merciful,
Singularly Compassionate.
Indeed,
Allah has 99 names.
Whoever drinks from them will enter Paradise.
Allah has bestowed upon us His divine names so that we may experience Him through them and see His traces in creation.
May the divine name Al-Waqi'u grow within us,
Especially in the blessed month of Ramadan,
And accompany us through all times.
Indeed,
Ramadan is the month for the purification of the soul and for spiritual evolution.
Trust is the horse we ride on the path to the divine light.
The divine name Al-Waqi'u means the protector,
The one who has been authorized and never deserts,
The guardian.
It opens a space in the heart which never draws to a close,
Because this is the place of certainty and silence.
Ya Waqi'u,
You who take care of me,
My protector.
You are the one to whom I leave all my concerns.
You are the one to whom I entrust everything.
You are the one in whom I trust absolutely.
All the atoms circle through the hand of Allah.
Infinity joins with the finite,
And eternity touches time.
This divine name spreads its light over the shadows of the mind,
Giving it the strength to be honest and preventing it from going where it does not belong.
Gently,
It deters the mind from circling thoughts of worries about the past and wishes for the future.
Al-Waqi'u comes from the root Wa-Qaf-Lam,
Which carries the following meanings,
To entrust,
To assign,
To commission,
To put someone in charge,
To authorize,
To empower,
To appoint as representative or agent,
To invest someone with full power,
To be on a confidential basis,
To be in a position of mutual trust,
To trust,
To be responsible,
Lawyer,
Attorney,
To rely,
To depend,
Indifference,
And reliance.
Al-Waqi'u transforms the storms of worries,
Sorrow,
And dejection into a wind of confidence.
It lets the ghosts of illusions and their insinuations bow in front of the serenity of the heart,
Opening a space which enables us to find solutions and thus find rest from tiring,
Ceaseless thinking.
Quran 3,
Ayat 159.
Then,
When thou hast decided upon a course of action,
Place thy trust in God,
For verily God loves those who place their trust in him.
For Al-Waqi'u means to abandon ourselves without hesitation to the divine,
Knowing in our hearts that he is trustworthy and that he is the one who knows best.
Al-Waqi'u is to admit consciously Allah's authority and to consent to it.
Yet,
Al-Waqi'u does not mean,
Yes,
I have now understood that all power is in Allah's hands.
Al-Waqi'u is to invoke consciously his help.
Quran 5,
Ayat 23.
And in God you must place your trust if you are truly believers.
Al-Waqi'u is the one in whom we can unreservedly put our trust.
He grants us the capacity to take all things and possibilities that come to us in an open and flexible way,
Without getting restless or lacking enthusiasm,
Because we know about Allah's wise,
Caring,
And protective power.
This knowledge,
This confidence,
Makes room in the heart for transformation.
Al-Waqi'u gives us the strength to relinquish the qualities of our wounded self,
Which lead to separation,
And to take on more and more of the colors of the divine qualities.
It gives us the strength to accept life when it is easy and when it is difficult,
And enables us to transform despair into confidence.
So know that everything between heaven and earth lies in his hands.
From one standpoint,
We have the capacity to act,
And we are responsible.
Yet from the other,
He is the one who acts and wills.
There is no negation,
But if we only hold to one aspect,
We lose the other.
Yet only he exists.
People who are in the quality of trusting surrender,
Tawakkul,
Do not see what happens to them as a result of their mistakes,
Neither do they see mistakes as a punishment.
So trust in Allah and do what needs doing,
So that goodness,
Kindness,
And compassion may grow and thrive,
And what is bad and unjust may be averted.
Those who carry fears,
Such as the fear of drowning or of burning,
Should recite this name time and again.
Know that Allah always chooses the best for you,
Even if your ego does not always perceive it as such,
For his compassion and his mercy for you are endless,
Beyond anything you can imagine.
When a problem appears in your life,
Focus on it with the energy of your surrender,
Your love,
And your longing for Allah.
Immerse in that energy,
The problem,
The situation into which you have been thrown,
And leave it there.
That is tawakkul,
Trust.
Raise your head and soak your eyes,
Fill your breast with divine light before looking down at the facts again.
If you trust in God,
He looks after you in the same way as he looks after the birds in the sky,
The beetles in the fields,
The fish in the depths of the ocean,
All of them busy doing and free from worry.
The divine name Al-Waqeel frees our spirit from the illusion that we have been forgotten by God.
It frees our hurt and wounded heart from believing that it does not deserve to be held in God's mercy and love.
It frees us from the deep pain of being overlooked.
This divine name contains the quality of service,
And to serve always means to be a protector of life.
Be aware that everything is connected.
The aim of serving,
The aim of healing,
Is always unity.
To truly help someone means to support them so that the feeling of separation,
The illusion of separation,
Can dissolve and they can start to walk on the path and unveil their perfection.
When we discover our perfection,
Our illusion of separation dies.
The three main obstacles on the path of service are stinginess,
Anger,
And revenge.
Connect your senses to your heart.
The more intensively your senses,
And thus your deeds and your serving,
Are connected to your heart,
The stronger the fire that burns there will destroy everything that stands in your way to become whole.
Look at your life with the eye of your heart.
Recognize that you are blessed and entrust yourself more and more to him because life is an evolutionary process of trust.
For what is trust but surrendering to Allah's love which dwells in the innermost part of the soul?
The practice suggested for today.
When you find yourself in a situation which is difficult for you and you cannot see any way out,
I trust fully in you and you are truly my confidant.
May this sentence also accompany you in times of ease for it will bring balance into your life and a sweet liberating joy.
Thank you for joining us for this reading of the call of Allah,
A companion to the holy month of Ramadan,
With permission of Rosina Fauzia Alrawi.
Ramadan Mubarak.
