Surrendering to God's Protection

Think about the things you do, the precautions you take for instance, to feel secure. Doing sport and eating properly for your health or studying for a good career are among the major ones.

Everyone, not just you, wishes to feel secure. Wishing to be successful at work, to have a home and a family, to have a car, to maintain one’s lifestyle and to have a lifetime of health and tranquility are all wishes meant to provide this feeling of security.

But what would you do if someone were to place you under his protection and say that he would take care of and meet all your needs?

That would of course be quite astonishing: Yet it is a fact, and it is God’s promise to us. In the Qur'an, God reveals us that human beings are entrusted to Him and that they can live easy if they place their trust in Him with the following verse: "And put your trust in God. God suffices as a Guardian." (Surat al-Ahzab, 3) 

God reveals that He wished people to take Him as their Guide in all matters, to have no concerns, to never be worried, not to fear and not to be troubled. However, people's lower-selves are full of evils and unruliness. They are never satisfied, despite all the guarantees God gives. They always demand more, grow selfish, wild and disobedient.

God commands us in the Qur’an to take Him as our Guide. People must fear God alone and have no expectations from anyone else. God is the One Who meets our needs and Who creates all that happens. God is All-mighty and Omnipotent.

Someone who submits to God, in other words, someone who knows that everything is under His control, will live a metaphysical life full of wonders. As he submits himself to God, he enjoys the special protection of God. God draws our attention to this fact in the Qur’an. One example of this is the way that God prevented Mecca and Haram Ash-Sharif from being destroyed because there are Muslims in it. In the Qur'an this miraculous event is revealed as follows:

Do they not see that We have established a safe haven while people all round them are violently dispossessed? So why do they believe in falsehood and reject the blessing of God? (Surat Al-Ankabut; 67)

The polytheists were behaving fanatically at that time and were attacking everywhere and at every opportunity but they never harmed Mecca. Although that city was in the middle of the desert, with no defensive measures such as city walls or ditches, it was under God’s special protection and was saved from all harm. The Qur’an contains many examples of how Muslims are under the protection of God.

The following question may arise at this point; since Muslims are under the protection of God, why do they sometimes encounter difficulties? Why do they fall ill, or become poor or suffer similar troubles?

The reason why Muslims suffer various troubles and difficulties in their daily lives is of course because this world is a place of testing. Muslims will be tested by sickness and poverty as well, and will thus be trained and grow in moral virtue. Through the troubles they face they will acquire superior virtues that make them deserving of Heaven.

It must not be forgotten that everything that happens to us, great or small, is in our destiny. Muslims must always be on their guard against satan’s whisperings saying ‘These things have nothing to do with destiny.’  Therefore, always remembering and never forgetting this is a great means for achieving spiritual profundity because one will then experience the love of God with greater intensity and thus look at everything that happens and all that is created by God with love and see the goodness in it. And that will make one more peaceful, tolerant, joyful and healthy.

The fact is that looking at every incident and everything that occurs through the eyes of wisdom, and knowing that everything is created for the best by God in destiny, is a crucial necessity for one's peace of mind in this world. Entrusting oneself  to God and surrendering their whole souls to Him is a great blessing and a source of tranquility and happiness for believers.