Hazrat Qudratullah Shahab RA on Trusting in God

A summary of Hazrat QU Shahab sayings on Tawakkul [trust in God], excerpted from the Shahabnama.

Hazrat Shahab says, that Tawakkul is of 2 kinds, that with regards to knowledge and that with regards to actions.

Where knowledge is concerned, trust in God is to know that He is isn charge of all things and the cause of all causes.

In the case of actions, there are two kinds of 'causes' or 'means':
1. Means in Religion
2. Worldly means.

The former are absolutely necessary [e.g. prayer etc.] and it is a sin to leave these or attempt to do without them.

Of the latter, they can be further divided into 2 types: lawful and unlawful. It is of course essential to leave unlawful means!

Where lawful means are concerned they are of 3 types:
1. Necessary means [e.g. water is necessary to quench thirst]
2. False,supposed means [e.g.that coke in a nice glass is necessary to quench my thirst, or an air-conditioner is required to stay cool. These means are false suppositions]
3. Inferred, 'sometimes' means [e.g. that this particular medicine will help cure me. These means may or may not be true]


For Sufi aspirants and indeed 'ordinary' Muslims, Hazrat Shahab says that it is essential to eliminate no.2 above from one's life. For number 3., one should start gradually doing without such means. Advanced Sufis are supposed to leave the third category too, as Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddiq did, may God be pleased with him!


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Cyclewala adds:
For instance, advanced Sufis often do without medication: one common practice for them is to get an estimate of how much the 'cure' will cost, and then give that amount in charity.

For us beginner Sufis, a good practice is to spend on our cure, [altho' avoiding expensive systems of medicine] but to give a similar amount in charity at the same time.

If one cannot afford to give in charity, then one can do some other act of charity at some stage, such as clearing a road, sweeping a mosque etc.

For