Is it permissible to place reliance on a person while believing that benefit and harm are in the hand of Allah?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
May Allah reward you with good. Is it permissible to place reliance on a person while believing that benefit and harm are in the hand of Allah?
Answer:
Reliance (tawakkul) is a type of worship, indeed it is the greatest type of worship. Therefore, a person does not place reliance on a created being, but rather places reliance on Allah,[Al-Ma'idah 5:23]. However, it is permissible for a person to appoint someone, not to place reliance on them, but to appoint a person to fulfill a need for him. This is called appointment (tawkil), not reliance (tawakkul). Reliance is placing one's heart in dependence on a person, and this is only done with Allah (Mighty and Majestic). As for appointment, which is entrusting and delegating, this is permissible with created beings and is not shirk (associating partners with Allah).
May Allah reward you with good. Is it permissible to place reliance on a person while believing that benefit and harm are in the hand of Allah?
Answer:
Reliance (tawakkul) is a type of worship, indeed it is the greatest type of worship. Therefore, a person does not place reliance on a created being, but rather places reliance on Allah,
And upon Allah rely, if you should be believers."
وَعَلَى اللَّهِ فَتَوَكَّلُوا إِن كُنتُم مُّؤْمِنِينَ
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، هل يجوز التوكل على الإنسان مع اعتقاد أن الله بيده النفع والضر؟ للشيخ الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.