Trust · a Light
Trust in God uses a word from commercial law
Tawakkul is usually translated as reliance on God. The root w k l is the ordinary vocabulary of agency. A wakil is the agent you appoint to act on your behalf, and in Arabic today a wakil is a lawyer or a proxy or a company representative, while a tawkil is a power of attorney. Tawakkul is appointing God as your agent in a matter, which assumes there is a matter and that you have done your part of the paperwork. The Qur'an puts it after an instruction to act: once you have decided, rely on Allah. And elsewhere, whoever relies on Allah, He is enough for him.
Root w k l, to appoint an agent
Source · Qur'an 3:159, 65:3
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