Lesson 3 of 6 · The ummah is not automatic, and isolation is not piety
The sentence you have probably been told
Allah is enough for me. I do not need people.
It is said with real sincerity, and it is usually said by someone who is hurting. It gets returned to a lonely person as though it settles the matter, and what it actually does is make a normal human need sound like a defect in your tawakkul.
The tradition does not read that way. Musa asked Allah for a specific named person to be with him in the work. The Prophet, peace be upon him, had companions, and in the cave the consolation was spoken to one man beside him, and the calm was sent down in a scene containing exactly two people.
It goes further than that. When a Companion proposed to live in permanent celibacy as a form of devotion, it was refused. The subject there is marriage rather than friendship, so the transferable part is narrow, and it is this: a devotional argument for cutting yourself off from ordinary human attachment was put, and it was not accepted. And the Qur'an names withdrawal from communal life as something people invented rather than something ordained, while conceding in the same clause that they invented it only to seek Allah's pleasure. The motive was sincere. It was still not the instruction.
Qur’an and Sunnah
In the cave the consolation was spoken to one man beside him, and the calm was sent down in a scene containing exactly two people. That runs against the idea that needing people is a defect in your tawakkul.
إِلَّا تَنصُرُوهُ فَقَدۡ نَصَرَهُ ٱللَّهُ إِذۡ أَخۡرَجَهُ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ ثَانِيَ ٱثۡنَيۡنِ إِذۡ هُمَا فِي ٱلۡغَارِ إِذۡ يَقُولُ لِصَٰحِبِهِۦ لَا تَحۡزَنۡ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ مَعَنَاۖ فَأَنزَلَ ٱللَّهُ سَكِينَتَهُۥ عَلَيۡهِ وَأَيَّدَهُۥ بِجُنُودࣲ لَّمۡ تَرَوۡهَا وَجَعَلَ كَلِمَةَ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ ٱلسُّفۡلَىٰۗ وَكَلِمَةُ ٱللَّهِ هِيَ ٱلۡعُلۡيَاۗ وَٱللَّهُ عَزِيزٌ حَكِيمٌ
Even if you do not help the Prophet, God helped him when the disbelievers drove him out: when the two of them were in the cave, he [Muhammad] said to his companion, ‘Do not worry, God is with us,’ and God sent His calm down to him, aided him with forces invisible to you, and brought down the disbelievers’ plan. God’s plan is higher: God is almighty and wise
Qur’an 9:40
And the Qur'an names withdrawal from communal life as something people invented rather than something ordained, while conceding in the same clause that they invented it only to seek Allah's pleasure. The motive was sincere and it was still not the instruction.
ثُمَّ قَفَّيۡنَا عَلَىٰٓ ءَاثَٰرِهِم بِرُسُلِنَا وَقَفَّيۡنَا بِعِيسَى ٱبۡنِ مَرۡيَمَ وَءَاتَيۡنَٰهُ ٱلۡإِنجِيلَۖ وَجَعَلۡنَا فِي قُلُوبِ ٱلَّذِينَ ٱتَّبَعُوهُ رَأۡفَةࣰ وَرَحۡمَةࣰۚ وَرَهۡبَانِيَّةً ٱبۡتَدَعُوهَا مَا كَتَبۡنَٰهَا عَلَيۡهِمۡ إِلَّا ٱبۡتِغَآءَ رِضۡوَٰنِ ٱللَّهِ فَمَا رَعَوۡهَا حَقَّ رِعَايَتِهَاۖ فَـَٔاتَيۡنَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ مِنۡهُمۡ أَجۡرَهُمۡۖ وَكَثِيرࣱ مِّنۡهُمۡ فَٰسِقُونَ
We sent other messengers to follow in their footsteps. After those We sent Jesus, son of Mary: We gave him the Gospel and put compassion and mercy into the hearts of his followers. But monasticism was something they invented- We did not ordain it for them- only to seek God’s pleasure, and even so, they did not observe it properly. So We gave a reward to those of them who believed, but many of them were lawbreakers
Qur’an 57:27
When a Companion proposed to live in permanent celibacy as a form of devotion, it was refused. Be exact about how narrow the transferable part is. A devotional argument for cutting yourself off from ordinary human attachment was put, and it was not accepted.
Sa'id b. al-Musayyib reported:I heard Sa'd (b. Abi Waqqas) saying that the idea of 'Uthman b. Maz'un for living in celibacy was rejected (by the Holy Prophet), and if he had been given permission they would have got themselves castrated
Sahih Muslim 1402graded sound, sahihaynthe Arabic and its grading
Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2004.