al-Tawakkul ala Allah li-Ibn Abi al-Dunya
- Author died
- 281 AH
- Editions
- Mu’assasat al-Kutub al-Thaqāfiyyah
al-Tawakkul ala Allah (Reliance upon God), also known as Kitab al-Tawakkul, is a short treatise on reliance upon God and trust in divine provision by the Baghdadi hadith scholar and tutor Ibn Abi al-Dunya (208–281 AH / 823–894 CE) .
Transmission
The work is arranged as a single part (juz') . Its primary line of transmission from Ibn Abi al-Dunya runs through his student Abu Ali al-Husayn ibn Safwan al-Bardha'i, from whom it was related by Abu al-Husayn Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Abd Allah ibn Bishran al-Sukkari .
From Ibn Bishran, the text passed to Abu al-Khattab Nasr ibn Ahmad ibn al-Batar, who transmitted it in Baghdad to students including the hadith scholar Abu Tahir al-Silafi and the female scholar Shuhdah bint Ahmad . In Alexandria, Abd Allah ibn Khalaf ibn Abd al-Wahhab al-Judhami (Abu Muhammad ibn al-Sawwaf, d. 724 AH) was the last transmitter to relate the book via direct audition (sama') from the grandson of al-Silafi (Sibt al-Silafi) . In al-Andalus, Ibn Khayr al-Ishbili documented his chain of transmission for the book through Abu Bakr Ibn al-Arabi, from Abu al-Husayn Ahmad ibn Abd al-Qadir, back through Ibn Bishran and al-Bardha'i to Ibn Abi al-Dunya .
Contents and Methodology
The work is compiled using Ibn Abi al-Dunya's standard method of transmitting narrative reports (riwayah), grouping together prophetic hadiths, traditions from the Companions and Successors, and sayings of early ascetics, with full chains of transmission (isnad) .
Among the prophetic reports included in the work are:
- The hadith of Umar ibn al-Khattab: لو أنكم توكلتم على الله حق توكله، لرزقكم كما يرزق الطير، تغدو خماصا، وتروح بطانا ("If you were to rely upon God with true reliance, He would provide for you just as He provides for birds; they go out early in the morning hungry and return in the evening full") .
- The hadith of Uthman ibn Affan concerning the supplication upon leaving the home for travel: من خرج من بيته يريد سفرا، فقال حين خرج: باسم الله، آمنت بالله، واعتصمت بالله، وتوكلت على الله، ولا حول ولا قوة إلا بالله، رزق خير ذلك المخرج، وصرف عنه شره ("Whoever leaves his home intending to travel and says: 'In the name of God, I believe in God, I cling to God, I place my trust in God, and there is no power nor strength except with God,' shall be granted the good of that departure and its evil shall be averted from him") .
- A supplication reported through al-Awza'i: اللهم إني أسألك التوفيق لمحابك من الأعمال، وصدق التوكل عليك، وحسن الظن بك ("O God, I ask You for the enabling grace to perform the deeds most pleasing to You, true reliance upon You, and good opinion of You") .
The book also records exegetical remarks and aphorisms defining the spiritual nature and levels of reliance:
- Abd Allah ibn Mas'ud observed that the verse demanding the fullest entrustment of matters (tafwid) in the Quran is: وَمَن يَتَوَكَّلْ عَلَى اللَّهِ فَهُوَ حَسْبُهُ ("And whoever relies upon God, then He is sufficient for him") .
- Definitions of tawakkul by early figures, such as al-Hasan al-Basri, who identified it as contentment with God (al-rida 'an Allah), and Abd Allah ibn Dawud, who defined it as having good expectations of Him (husn al-zann) .
- Al-Fudayl ibn Iyad's dialogue with al-Fayd ibn Ishaq, in which he explained that true reliance requires absolute acceptance of God's decree in both wellbeing and affliction .
- A classification related from early sages dividing reliance into three progressive degrees: the cessation of complaint (tark al-shikayah), which represents the station of patience; contentment (al-rida); and love (al-mahabbah) .
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