The Ninety-Nine Names · the 52nd name
الْوَكِيل
Al-Wakil
The Trustee, to whom affairs are handed
- The rootو ك ل
- From the rootwakala: to entrust an affair to someone; a wakil is an agent who acts on your behalf
The essay
A wakil in Arabic law is someone you appoint to handle a matter you cannot handle: with real authority, not advice. Tawakkul, the state the Book keeps commanding, is not passivity: you appoint the agent and then you do your part without carrying what is not yours. The Prophet's community said the sentence in this verse when a much larger force was reported to be marching on them, and the Book records that it increased them in faith, not in calm.
In the Qur'an
ٱلَّذِينَ قَالَ لَهُمُ ٱلنَّاسُ إِنَّ ٱلنَّاسَ قَدۡ جَمَعُواْ لَكُمۡ فَٱخۡشَوۡهُمۡ فَزَادَهُمۡ إِيمَٰنٗا وَقَالُواْ حَسۡبُنَا ٱللَّهُ وَنِعۡمَ ٱلۡوَكِيلُ
Those to whom people said: they have gathered against you, so fear them. It only increased them in faith, and they said: Allah is enough for us, and the best of trustees.
this Name is in the Qur’an
What it asks of you
Do your part fully, hand over the outcome completely, and stop taking the file back every few hours to check on it.
Read beside it
The words