The Shaykh’s remarks on the correct meaning of reliance upon Allah in Islam.

The Shaykh : They understand reliance upon Allah in a way that contradicts its legal meaning, for they understand it to mean passivity, and there is a vast difference between reliance upon Allah and passivity.
Reliance upon Allah is mentioned in many verses, including the saying of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He: Thus, reliance upon Allah comes after the Muslim takes the means that usually lead him to what he seeks. For example, one who wants the earth to bear ripe fruit and grow abundant grain must serve it with all the services the earth usually requires, such as plowing, planting, clearing, and watering. If he does that, he relies upon Allah, Mighty and Majestic, and does not rely upon his means, for these means may be delayed; therefore, he must combine them with reliance upon Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He. As for a person who says, “If Allah, Mighty and Majestic, has decreed that I will eat from the fruit and grain of this earth, I will eat whether I serve it or not,” he is in reality deceiving himself, and he interprets reliance upon Allah in a way that contradicts its true intended meaning. And because of this reversal in which they fall, when they interpret reliance upon Allah in this sense, they do not fail to rely on certain texts to support their interpretation. But at the same time, when they support their interpretation of reliance upon Allah as passivity, they are also afflicted with a reversal 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. 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. 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, “They go out in the morning,” 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 passivity, that is, laziness and not taking the means. Rather, this hadith supports the meaning of the previous verse: When a Bedouin came to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him and his family, while he was on his camel, he said, “O Messenger of Allah, should I tie it up, or should I rely upon Allah?” He said: Meaning, combine the means with reliance upon Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He. This position, that is, combining the means with reliance upon Allah, is the position of the Muslim, and its opposite is at the other extreme. These Sufis, for example, claim to take the means and rely upon Allah, as they claim. 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, their deviation is in their methodology. As for the masses of Muslims today, they rely upon the means, influenced in this by the European materialist methodology. We know for certain today that the Europeans today hardly mention Allah at all, and their reliance is upon their sciences, their minds, their bodies, and their taking of the means. These are at one end, and the passive Sufis are at the other end, and both are at opposite extremes. The truth is between them, and the truth is combining the taking of every aspect of the two ends that each of them took 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 upon.