Tafsir of Surah Yunus - Verse 84

Musa encouraged His People to put Their Trust in Allah

Allah told us that Musa said to the Children of Israel:

يقَوْمِ إِن كُنتُمْ ءامَنْتُمْ بِاللَّهِ فَعَلَيْهِ تَوَكَّلُواْ إِن كُنْتُم مُّسْلِمِينَ

(O my people! If you have believed in Allah, then put your trust in Him if you are Muslims.) Allah is sufficient for those who put their trust in Him.

أَلَيْسَ اللَّهُ بِكَافٍ عَبْدَهُ

(Is not Allah sufficient for His servant)(39:36)

وَمَن يَتَوَكَّلْ عَلَى اللَّهِ فَهُوَ حَسْبُهُ

(And whosoever puts his trust in Allah, then He will suffice him.)(65:3) Allah combines worship and reliance in many places. He said:

فَاعْبُدْهُ وَتَوَكَّلْ عَلَيْهِ

(So worship Him and put your trust in Him.)(11:123)

قُلْ هُوَ الرَّحْمَـنُ ءَامَنَّا بِهِ وَعَلَيْهِ تَوَكَّلْنَا

(Say: "He is the Most Gracious (Allah), in Him we believe, and in Him we put our trust..)(67:29) and

رَّبُّ الْمَشْرِقِ وَالْمَغْرِبِ لاَ إِلَـهَ إِلاَّ هُوَ فَاتَّخِذْهُ وَكِيلاً

((He alone is) the Lord of the east and the west; none has the right to be worshipped but He. So take Him (alone) as a protector.)(73:9) And Allah commanded the believers to say many times in their Salah:

إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ

(You (Alone) we worship, and You (Alone) we ask for help (for each and everything).)(1:5) The Children of Israel complied with this command and said:

عَلَى اللَّهِ تَوَكَّلْنَا رَبَّنَا لاَ تَجْعَلْنَا فِتْنَةً لِّلْقَوْمِ الظَّـلِمِينَ

(In Allah we put our trust. Our Lord! Make us not a trial for the folk who are wrongdoers.) This means don't give them victory over us so that they rule us. So they might not think that they have authority over us because they were following the truth and we were falsehood. This might be a deceiving trial for them. This meaning was reported from Abu Mijliz and Abu Ad-Duha, `Abdur-Razzaq, in a narration from Mujahid, said,

رَبَّنَا لاَ تَجْعَلْنَا فِتْنَةً لِّلْقَوْمِ الظَّـلِمِينَ

(Our Lord! Make us not a trial for the folk who are wrongdoers) meaning, "Do not give them authority over us so they might make us fall into Fitnah." Allah's statement:

وَنَجِّنَا بِرَحْمَتِكَ

(And save us by Your mercy) means save us through Your mercy and beneficence

مِنَ الْقَوْمِ الْكَـفِرِينَ

(from the disbelieving folk. ) meaning, from those who denied the truth and covered it. We truly have believed in You and put our trust in You.

It was said in the last verse (64) that, for the friends of Allah, there is the good news in the worldly life and in the Hereafter. As for the good news of the Hereafter, it will come at the time of death when the spirit of the deceased will be taken to Allah. At that time, he will hear the good news of Paradise being for him. Then, on the day of Qiyamah, when he rises from his grave, he will receive the good news of being welcome to Paradise. This is similar to what al-Tabarani has reported from Sayyidna Ibn ` Umar ؓ narrates that the Holy Prophet ﷺ said: ` People who recite: لا إلہ إلا اللہ (la ilaha illallah: There is no god but Allah) will not experience any fright at the time of death, nor inside the grave, nor at the time they rise from it. This is as if my eyes are seeing the scenario of that time when these people will, shaking the dust off, rise from their graves, saying: الْحَمْدُ لِلَّـهِ الَّذِي أَذْهَبَ عَنَّا الْحَزَنَ (Praised is Allah who has removed from us [ all ] grief - 35:34) '

As for the good news in this world, the Holy Prophet ﷺ said, `(they are) the true dreams one sees himself or are seen by someone else with him in it and, in which, there is good news for them. (Reported by al-Bukhri from Sayyidna Abu Hurairah ؓ .

Another basharah (good news) of this world unfolds in the form that Muslims at large love someone and take him to be good without any personal motive or interest. About it, the Holy Prophet ﷺ said: تِلکَ عَاجِلُ بشرَی المؤمِن that is, ` being taken as good and praiseworthy is, for a true Muslim, good news in ready cash.' (Muslim and al-Baghawi)

Acceptance of thinking which breaks fresh ground is always at the cost of the individual having to face numerous unforeseen problems in his society. That is why elderly people exercise caution in accepting any new idea. For a number of reasons elderly people are overwhelmed by a variety of considerations. In spite of admitting the correctness of a new idea, they are unable to proceed further and support it. But the younger generation are generally free from such considerations. So it has always happened throughout history that only those who have not yet attained old age have gone ahead and accepted a new and revolutionary call. This happened likewise in the case of Moses. The youth supporting Moses, on the one hand, risked the retribution of Pharaoh. On the other, they received no encouragement from the elders of their own community. Though these elders accepted the prophethood of Moses, they looked to their own interests, and did not want their sons and daughters to give enthusiastic support to Moses and thus incur the wrath of Pharaoh as a result. However, the existence of such a state of affairs does not call for people to sit quietly, without taking any counter measures. They should keep in view God’s support and favour, rather than human opposition. Relying on God, they should rise in defence of that Truth which they personally found impossible to support.