[Ramzan, 11] Welcome to Day 11 of the Ramzan Writing Series.

Today’s topic is “taqdeer, tawakkal & dua”, or in other words, handing it all over to Allah.

This topic is an extension from yesterday’s topic which was on trials and tribulations. We talked about when to plan and when to leave it to Allah.

The truth of the matter is, everything is already in Allah’s hand. A question that was always in mind was that: if Allah knows everything, and everything in my life is pre determined, how does the concept of “free will” fit in? And how to compose myself if things don’t seem to be going my way?

If I was meant to have failed at something, or if I was meant to have gained something, it is by the Will of Allah. This is called “taqdeer”.

Where is my free thinking and humanly abilities in action?

The answer is simple: you will get that morsel of food in any way because it was written in your rizq; but the way you get it is in your hands. You can take the halal route or the haram route. When faced with a problem, you can choose to wait it out with sabr till you find the halal means to solve it, or you can find an Islamically wrong way to do it. Think about everything major that happened in your life. You will find out that there were options to go about most of them.

Are you wondering where am I leading with this? Tawakkal.

To remain steadfast through trying times you need tawakkal to stay on the right path. Some people are faced with very big trials in their life yet they stay firm in their trust on Allah. When faced with a choice between halal and haram, you require tawakkal to believe that indeed what is yours will come rightfully to you, and what isn’t yours, will never be yours.

Since we are only humans, it is easy to get impatient when we badly need something in our lives. A single woman might be waiting for a good life partner, a childless woman who is tired of taunts might be yearning for a child, a sick person who is in constant might be longing for health. In many such cases, patience and trust becomes tough on us.

What to do in such cases? DUA.

Dua is a powerful tool that can change Allah’s decree for you (in shaa Allah!). If you are finding it hard to trust Allah’s plan while you wait, make dua. Ask Him to make tawakkal easier for you as you wait for your ‘taqdeer’ to unfold.

In short, whatever you get in life will come from the taqdeer Allah gave you, and while you wait for it to unfold, practice tawakkal. If any time, it becomes difficult, use dua to help you stay patient and to ask Allah for the things you want.

May Allah keep us patient and give us the ‘toufeeq’ of asking Him everything by dua and not let us fall prey to the whispers of shytaan. Ameen!