Lesson 3 of 6 · What rizq actually means, and what those verses do not promise
Where tawakkul sits in the sentence
The clearest statement of the order is in one verse about consultation. Consult them in the matter, and when you have decided, then rely upon Allah.
Look at the sequence. Consultation. Then a decision. Then reliance. Tawakkul is placed after the deliberating and the deciding, not instead of them.
So taking advice is not a failure of trust. Getting the actual figures is not a failure of trust. Speaking to a debt adviser is not a failure of trust, any more than seeing a doctor is.
Nobody in this tradition ever said that reliance means doing nothing. That reading is not a text at all. It is an inference, and every text above cuts against it.
Ibn al-Qayyim reports the opposite as agreed. In Madarij as-Salikin he writes: وأجمع القوم على أن التوكل لا ينافي القيام بالأسباب فلا يصح التوكل إلا مع القيام بها وإلا فهو بطالة وتوكل فاسد. The English is ours, a rendering rather than a stored translation: the people are agreed that tawakkul does not contradict taking the means, so tawakkul is not sound except together with taking them, and otherwise it is idleness and a corrupt tawakkul. The word he uses for the alternative is bataalah, idleness.
Qur’an and Sunnah
The clearest statement of the order. Consultation, then a decision, then reliance. Tawakkul is placed after the deliberating and the deciding rather than instead of them.
فَبِمَا رَحۡمَةࣲ مِّنَ ٱللَّهِ لِنتَ لَهُمۡۖ وَلَوۡ كُنتَ فَظًّا غَلِيظَ ٱلۡقَلۡبِ لَٱنفَضُّواْ مِنۡ حَوۡلِكَۖ فَٱعۡفُ عَنۡهُمۡ وَٱسۡتَغۡفِرۡ لَهُمۡ وَشَاوِرۡهُمۡ فِي ٱلۡأَمۡرِۖ فَإِذَا عَزَمۡتَ فَتَوَكَّلۡ عَلَى ٱللَّهِۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يُحِبُّ ٱلۡمُتَوَكِّلِينَ
By an act of mercy from God, you [Prophet] were gentle in your dealings with them- had you been harsh, or hard-hearted, they would have dispersed and left you- so pardon them and ask forgiveness for them. Consult with them about matters, then, when you have decided on a course of action, put your trust in God: God loves those who put their trust in Him
Qur’an 3:159
Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2004.