Submission to Allah
Submitting to Allah means obeying His commands, accepting His decrees, and surrendering to His will. It is submitting to His choice, discretion, and control over all things, both present and future.
When one surrenders to Allah, they are relieved of the burdens and troubles of life. Allah is the owner of the universe, the master of all affairs, and the ruler of the hereafter. As a servant of Allah, it is our duty to obey and surrender to Him completely. Allah is the only source of true power and strength in the universe, and surrendering to Him means accepting this truth. It is the ultimate act of submission.
Surrendering to Allah means not just submission, but also finding peace, seeking refuge and finding shelter in His mercy through obedience, and reaching a state of calm and contentment. It is to willingly consent to what is predestined and to show patience in times of difficulty. And above all, it is being thankful for the blessings that Allah has bestowed upon us.
Islam means submission, and a Muslim is one who submits to Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala). In verse 131 of Surah Al-Baqarah, Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala) reminds us of the words of Ibrahim (alayhissalam), "I have submitted myself to the Lord of the worlds," and also mentions Ismail (alayhissalam), saying that "both of them submitted to the command of Allah" (As-Saffat, 103). These verses illustrate the unwavering submission of Ibrahim and Ismail (alayhissalam) to Allah and His commands.
In this regard, there is a beautiful story about Abdul Qadir Gilani (quddisa sirruhu):
Abdul Qadir Gilani (quddisa sirruhu) was given a slave as a gift, and he took the slave home to show him around. He showed him the rooms, the furniture, and the food. "My son, here are the rooms. Where would you like to sleep?" he asked. The slave replied, "Wherever you see fit." When Abdul Qadir Gilani (quddisa sirruhu) asked him which clothes he would like, the slave replied, "Whichever you see fit." When he asked him which food he preferred, the slave said, "Whatever you give me."
Upon hearing these responses, Abdul Qadir Gilani (quddisa sirruhu) was moved to tears. The slave, seeing his master's emotional state, became upset and wondered if he had given the wrong answers. He apologized, but Abdul Qadir Gilani (quddisa sirruhu) reassured him that he had not erred. Instead, he said, "You hit the nail on the head. I wish I could obey my Rabb with the same level of obedience as you. If only I could say, 'O My Rabb! I will sleep wherever you see fit. I will wear whatever clothes you see fit. Whatever food you give me, I will eat it. My Allah, I surrender to you, and I have no other demands from you.' I am crying for this."
In this story, Abdul Qadir Gilani (quddisa sirruhu) recognizes the slave's complete submission to his will as a reflection of the kind of submission that all Muslims should have towards Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala). He laments that he himself is not as obedient to his Rabb as the slave is to him, and he aspires to be like him. This story presents us with a beautiful example of the concept of surrender and submission that is at the heart of Islam.
Surrendering to the One everything surrenders to
In the vast expanse of the universe, every element is in a state of constant submission to Allah the Almighty. The sun, the moon, the stars, the earth, and the angels obediently follow His divine commands, fulfilling their designated roles without faltering. Their submission is complete, unwavering, and unconditional.
In contrast, human beings and jinn are bestowed with free will and have the freedom of choice during their existence on earth. Unlike the rest of the universe, their submission to Allah is not ensured or forced through divine ordainment. Instead, they are afforded the ability to make a most critical choice. They can submit willingly to the will of Allah, realizing that everything He ordains, commands, and adjudicates is a blessing from his infinite, eternal wisdom. Or they can question and resist, refusing to surrender to Him and unwittingly pushing their only chance at salvation aside. However, this freedom is temporary, for in the end, all souls must yield to Allah's will. Those who persist in rejecting the warnings, advice, and threats issued by Allah and His Messenger (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) will find that they have robbed themselves of the gift of submission to the One Who deserves submission the most.
Since Adam (alayhissalam), many people have put up a futile resistance and refused to surrender to Allah in this world. However, all of them were born with a gift of natural tendency towards and affinity for Islam. Led astray by the shaytan, they surrendered to their desires and became slaves to their own nafs instead. They could not preserve the unsullied nature ingrained in them as part of their creation. They sipped from the poison chalice that is the temptation of this world and met a bitter end that still serves as a cautionary tale for all of humanity.
To help guide humanity back to the path of submission, Allah sent Prophets who urged people to surrender to Him. Likewise, sincere believers, following the Prophet's (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) perfect example in moral virtues, worship and submission, must invite the disbelievers to embrace Islam and the sinful to repent, guiding them to surrender to Allah's divine will. By doing so, they can be instrumental in leading others to hidayah, enlightenment, and the ultimate salvation.
Those who do not surrender to the will of Allah in this world will ultimately surrender in the hereafter. On Judgment Day, when humankind is told to rise, everyone will rise and when called to stop, everyone will halt in submission. On that day, each person will be held accountable for all their hollow acts of submission to anyone or anything other than Allah. Allah alone will judge on the Day of Judgment, and there will be no victor but Him. Victory will belong solely to Allah, and those who surrender to His will shall triumph.The temporary victories of evil in this world will be seen for what they are, and the followers of Shaytan will face a crushing defeat.
Those who deny the existence of Allah, forget their purpose of creation, and rebel against His will, will be condemned to Jahannam forever. They will live in torment, imprisoned for all eternity in a place of suffering. Muslims who have committed sins will be subjected to punishment if Allah does not forgive them. They will suffer in Jahannam for a period corresponding to the extent of their transgressions, and they will long for the end of their suffering and yearn for entry into Jannah.
But those who surrender to Allah with humility and sincerity will receive the ultimate reward: eternal life in Jannah, where they will bask in the pleasures of paradise in freedom, contentment, and perfect bliss. On that day, all beings will willingly submit to the judgment of Allah, without objection or dispute. The truth of the ayah, "The judgment belongs only to Allah" (Yusuf, 40) will be undeniably and fully realized by all, and it will be clear to all that Allah alone is the Lord of all creation.
When one doesn’t surrender to Allah
Submission to Allah is the ultimate source of peace and salvation. As the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) once said, "Surrender and find peace." (Bukhari, Bidu'l-Vahy, 6) This surrendering to Allah is the only true and everlasting freedom. In contrast, surrendering to shaytan may provide temporary pleasure and freedom in this world but will lead to eternal captivity in the hereafter. It is a catastrophic loss, a tragedy that will bring nothing but ruin in this life or the next.
When an individual rejects Islam, Allah, and His Messenger, they inevitably submit to things that Allah does not approve of. Instead of devoting themselves to worshiping Allah, they may become slaves to their desires, greed, lust, and wealth. They might serve as servants or guards watching over their assets with more devotion than their wealth and properties are devoted to them or end up being prisoners or slaves of the very desires they gave themselves to in a bid to lay claim to some form of freedom; to wrest the illusion of freedom from the clenched fists of this world, they became its servant, waiting on its whims hand and foot. The tortuous dilemma coiled up at the heart of this issue is that people have no qualms about submitting themselves to slavery for the feigned benefit of unrestricted, unhindered enjoyment the world lures them in with and yet submitting to Allah, the only one who can grant true freedom, feels as onerous as carrying a millstone around their necks.
We must not sell ourselves to shaytan for this worthless world. Our allegiance is worth more than this world because it has eternal ramifications and should not be pledged lightly, least of all, to shaytan and the vices he dangles before us. Today, shaytan’s traps, the tools he uses to take people over, direct the lives of the masses and determine their agenda. Those who fall for shaytan's cunning tactics are being drowned in a sea of temporary pleasures. Such people, who consider the deception that robs them of sensible thought, foresight, and genuine wisdom a victory, and promptly fall for the illusion of the bright-colored packaging that shaytan’s false goods come in, are prisoners who think they have found freedom in shaytan's twisted playground.
If the world’s glittering distractions take up most of a person's time, he is a prisoner whose true freedom is held captive behind a layer of alluring mirages. Those who spend the majority of their time online have become enslaved to it. They have surrendered themselves to the internet. Similarly, those who spend most of their time in the streets and dirty squares have become prisoners of those places, surrendering themselves to their allure. However, if one conforms to falsehood, they surrender to it as well. Yet, Islam begins with the rejection of falsehood, and the affirmation of the truth. The Muslim says "La ilaha illallah" and in doing so, surrenders themselves to the concept of tawhid, the Oneness of Allah.
For this surrender to be genuine and lasting, a Muslim must follow Allah and His Messenger, live by the Quranic teachings they read, and strive to lead a life in accordance with the principles of tawhid. They must not allow themselves to be distracted by the worldly pleasures and attractions that are not essential, but instead must focus on fulfilling their obligations to their Creator and living a righteous life."
True freedom
There is a great struggle in the world between surrender and resistance, between right and wrong. To break free from the bondage of falsehood and slavery, the path towards Allah’s divine guidance and submission is the only way. True freedom lies in servitude to Allah.
Sincere Muslims who surrender their hearts, minds, and actions to Allah find liberation from all things except Him. They find true freedom and inner peace. Therefore, it is a foregone conclusion that submission to Allah and His Messenger is the true path to freedom, the only means of attaining salvation in this world and in the hereafter. One who misplaces their trust in another has lost their way by surrendering to that person. Those who surrender to Allah have complete trust in Him. Unfaltering submission to Allah is the key to strengthening one’s tawakkul.
Prophet Ibrahim (alayhissalam), who was tested with his step-father, the Pharaoh, and even by being catapulted into a colossal pyre, faced all his tests with unwavering faith and succeeded. He is an example of submission to Allah’s will. His son, Prophet Ismail (alayhissalam), who willingly surrendered to the knife, is a symbol of ultimate devotion to Allah. Our mother Hajar (rahmatullahi alayha), who was a living monument of faithful submission, surrendered to Allah’s test of thirst in the desert and uttered the immortal words, "If Allah has ordered us, He will not waste us." Her surrender led to the miraculous emergence of the zamzam well, which has been a source of healing and nourishment for Muslims for almost four thousand years. Muslims should follow the example of this blessed family and learn from their steadfast trust in and submission to Allah.
A Muslim with tawakkul and submission is patient. He is successful when being tested. He does not act in defiance or go off on a seditious tangent. He does not complain in the face of challenging situations, but rather meets life’s predicaments calmly and with composure. He doesn't allow his heart to fall into despair.
Submission saves a person from being a servant to the causes, which are merely creations of Allah, and makes him a servant to Allah. Those who show submission to Him do not speak in modals of lost opportunities and abandon phrases such as “if only things had turned out differently.” They don't long for the past or worry about the future. Thus, they are at peace in this world and blissful in the hereafter.
To whom should we show obedience?
In the Quran, Allah the Exalted commands believers, "O believers! Obey Allah and obey the Messenger and ulul-amr (those in authority among you)" (An-Nisa, 59), clearly indicating to whom we should submit. Many verses in the Quran emphasize the importance of obedience. The sign of our obedience to Allah is our obedience to the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam). Our obedience to the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) is manifested in our obedience to those in positions of authority. In the state, the head of state is ulu’l-amr, and other leaders of the governing bodies of the state also hold this title in varying degrees in different administrative divisions of one’s country. It is obligatory to obey them as long as they themselves obey Allah and do not command us to disobey Him.
In tasawwuf, the murshid is the ulu’l-amr for the Sufi in spiritual and otherworldly matters. The murshid is the friend of Allah and the heir of Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam). He is an imam of taqwa and holds authority. His words are a source of enlightenment and are like guardrails that keep travelers on the straight and narrow. Yet advice and guidance only affect those who surrender. Attempting to reason with someone with rigid opinions and beliefs who refuses to concede is like trying to forge using cold iron. Surrender to the murshid is also essential for spiritual healing. Just as a sick person cannot heal themselves with their own knowledge, but rather requires medical assistance from a doctor and needs to submit to their expertise, so too must the seeker of spiritual healing trust and surrender to the murshid.
People who suffer from spiritual ailments and know enough to surrender to the expertise of those who are the competent authority in the treatment of such conditions consult the “heart doctors” who specialize in these areas for the salvation of their eternal lives. This is because those who surrender to things Allah is not pleased with are indisposed with a serious internal disorder that takes a very specific and particularly keen understanding of the human psyche to cure—an understanding that exists only in murshids. To put it briefly, either the afflicted person gets the specialized treatment or the disease takes root within them and inflicts serious harm.
Prophets were spiritual doctors who, by the permission of Allah, saved people from submission to shaytan and the world with the treatment that only Islam can provide. The friends of Allah perform this duty as the heir of Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam). Therefore, the shortest way to get rid of the bondage of the shaytans with the help of Allah is to follow in the footsteps of the awliya by entering into their discipline.
The Way of the Sufis
In Sufism, surrendering to a Kamil Murshid, a perfected spiritual guide, is essential to becoming a friend of Allah. This is because submitting to the Murshid is implicitly submitting to the Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam). Submission to the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) is submission to Allah. Therefore, those who surrender themselves to a friend of Allah have in fact surrendered to Allah.
Surrendering to the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) means submitting to a human being in appearance, but in reality, it is an act of obedience to Allah. Likewise, surrendering to a kamil (perfected)and mukammil (one who enables perfection in others)murshid requires trust in the guidance of an enlightened soul, as it is difficult for an individual to maintain their faith alone. Claiming to live a life of faith alone and free from the dangers of waswasa, temptations, and many, various pitfalls that come with having a nafs is unrealistic, for without the guidance of a spiritual guide, one will be susceptible to the threats lurking along the path, much like a sheep without a shepherd is at risk of falling prey to a wolf.
On the journey towards Allah, the awliya or friends of Allah, who serve as exemplary models of spiritual virtue, act as the compass for humanity. Without a compass, a ship may sail into perilous waters, and without the guidance of the awliya, people may lose their way and drift into the unknown.
In this world, we are all travelers on a path of discovery. When two people set out on a journey, one may assume the role of leader, and the other must follow their lead. Similarly, the family is a journey of life, and the members of the family follow the guidance of the head of the household. Just as obedience and respect for parents and elders is a religious duty, showing deference, respect, and obedience to the murshid, who is the spiritual elder, is the duty of the murid, the spiritual son.
Tariqah, which is not an esoteric, outer concept but a keystone that is central to Islam, means the path leading to Allah. Obedience to the imam is a necessary duty on this path. Having a companion and guide is crucial for this journey. While one may err by acting alone, following the guidance of a leader brings ease and assurance. For instance, performing the tarawih prayer alone during Ramadan is not equal in worth or merit to performing it in congregation. By following a wise imam, the tarawih prayer may take longer, but it is performed with more fervor, security, and tranquility than when performed alone. Surrendering to the imam in prayer brings comfort and serenity. Tasawwuf is a lifelong journey under the guidance of a murshid, akin to following an imam in tarawih. It entails obedience to Allah, Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam), and the awliya, who are the heirs of the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam).
Submission not in words but in deeds
The test of submission is paramount for every being created with intellect. It is the first test that shaytan lost due to his pride and ego. The human nafs is also overly fond of itself. It is extremely disinclined to break down its castle walls around its pride and arrogance and show submission.
For a Muslim, it is not sufficient to merely proclaim, "I am a Muslim, I have surrendered." The true test of a Muslim's surrender lies in their faithfulness. Allah tests their surrender, and it is not only through their words but also their deeds. True surrender is proven through love and experience. It requires sincerity and loyalty in Islam.
It is narrated that our Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) warned a companion who was eating with his left hand, and said, "Eat with your right hand." The Companion said, "I have no power to eat with my right hand." When this person did this because of his arrogance, not because of his excuse, our Prophet said to that person because of his lie, "You will have no power after this!" The man became one-handed. He could no longer bring his right hand to his mouth (Muslim, Ashriba, 107). This is a striking lesson for all of us and as such, those who lack sincere submission to Allah and His Messenger (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam), and therefore to the Qur'an and Sunnah without any valid excuse, must take this hadith into account.
“Bismillah, alhamdulillah, inshallah, mashallah, may Allah give you success, may Allah raise the baby with his parents, may Allah give you a long-lasting marriage, may Allah heal you, may Allah rest his soul, and may Allah give you patience” - these are the phrases that roll off the tongue of many, yet sadly, some only remember Allah (subhanahu wa ta'ala) during special occasions such as exams, births, weddings, hospital visits, and funerals. It is at these times of need and desperation that they turn to Allah, seeking His help and mercy, only to forget about Him once their trials are over. This is a common phenomenon among those who claim to believe in Allah, but their actions contradict their beliefs.
They may think that surrendering to Allah during difficult times is sufficient, but true submission to Allah involves devoting one’s heart, mind, and soul, remembering Him in every moment of life, making a lifelong commitment to following His commands, and avoiding what He has prohibited. It means recognizing that we are entirely dependent on Allah for every aspect of our lives, and requires us to strive towards becoming better Muslims each day.
We must not be like those who believe in Allah but surrender to the whispers of Shaytan. Living our lives as if this world is all that matters, neglecting our preparations for the hereafter would be our greatest failure that would have grave consequences. To avoid such a regrettable fate, we must persevere in our efforts to read, and understand the Qur'an, and honor our duty to it as believers who profess their faith in it by applying its teachings to our lives. We must also honor our faith in the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) by embracing his Sunnah ardently and fully.
Let us strive to be among those who surrender to Allah, His Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam), and his heirs, the awliya, and follow their example and teachings. Let us show loyalty in our submission, seeking Allah's pleasure in all that we do. May Allah protect us from the deception of Shaytan and the ensnaring grasp of our own desires, and may He grant us the perfect submission of His prophets Ibrahim (alayhissalam) and Ismail (alayhissalam).
May Allah accept the following prayer taught by our Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) as our prayer:
“O Allah, I have surrendered myself over to You, I have turned my face towards You (your consent), and leave all my affairs to You. I rely on you. I believe in your Book that you revealed and the Prophet whom you sent." (Bukhari, Daawat, 6, 9; Muslim, Dhikr, 56)
Abdülhamid Eşmeli
