Continuation of the explanation of the previous hadith, the hadith of Ibn 'Umar, number (388): (The believer who mixes with the people...)

The Shaykh : One of the effects of this inversion in the heart is that they understand reliance upon Allah (tawakkul) contrary to its legal meaning; for they understand reliance upon Allah to mean laziness (tawakkul), and how great is the difference between reliance upon Allah and laziness!
Reliance upon Allah is mentioned in many noble verses, among them His saying, Blessed and Exalted is He: . So reliance upon Allah comes after the Muslim takes the means that usually lead him to what he seeks, such as the one who wants his land to bear ripe fruit and grow abundant grain; he must serve it with all the services that land usually requires, such as plowing, planting, clearing, watering, and the like. If he does this, he relies upon Allah, Mighty and Majestic, and does not rely upon his means; for these means may be delayed, so he must combine them with reliance upon Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He. As for the person who says, "If Allah, Mighty and Majestic, has decreed for me to eat from the fruit and grain of this land, I will eat, whether I serve it or not," he is in reality deceiving himself and interpreting reliance upon Allah contrary to its true intended meaning.
And because of this inversion they fall into, when they interpret reliance upon Allah in this sense, they do not fail to rely on some texts to support their interpretation. But at the same time, when they support their interpretation of reliance upon Allah as laziness, they are also afflicted with an inversion in their understanding of some of those texts. Among this is that they argue with his saying, peace and blessings be upon him: . They understood the hadith inverted, saying: "This is Allah providing for the birds." But they overlooked the text and what it contains of a distinction between going out in the morning and returning in the evening; for he said, peace and blessings be upon him: . He did not say: "They become hungry in their nests in the morning and then become full in the evening—meaning their bellies are full—while they are in their nests." Rather, he said, peace be upon him: ; meaning: they set out early in pursuit of seeking provision, so they return with their bellies full.
So this hadith does not support these Sufis who interpret reliance upon Allah to mean laziness and not taking the means. Rather, this hadith supports the meaning of the previous verse: . "Resolve and rely," as he said: . This was when a Bedouin came to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, while he was on his camel and said: "O Messenger of Allah, should I tie it up? Should I tether it and bind it, or should I rely upon Allah?" He said: ; meaning: combine the means with reliance upon Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He. And this position—meaning the combination of taking the means and relying upon Allah—is the position of the Muslim. Its opposite is at the two extremes: these Sufis, for example, leave off taking the means and rely upon Allah, as they claim. So these people took one thing and turned away from another. Their opposite today is the masses of Muslims due to their ignorance. As for the Sufis, it is due to their deviation in their methodology. As for the masses of Muslims today, they rely upon the means, influenced in this by the European materialist school. We know with certainty today that the Europeans today hardly mention Allah at all, but their reliance is on their sciences, their minds, their bodies, and their taking of the means. So these are at one end, and the lazy Sufis are at the other end, and both are at the two extremes, and the truth is between them. The truth is combining the taking of every part of the two sides, each of which took one side and turned away from the other; that is, we take the means and rely upon the Lord of lords. All of this is what we draw from this hadith which we are in the process of commenting on.