God is Sufficient in Disposing of Affairs

Transcript

I was thinking about this phrase, God is sufficient in disposing of affairs.

The day I finished my interview with Nathan Fallau he told me this story about being in Morocco and he happened to see a young man in front of him walking down the street. This fellow in a hoodie and he thought “I think I recognize that man”.

As he got closer it dawned on Nathan that he was actually seeing in the flesh the great poet Yasiin Bey more popularly known by his stage name Mos Def. Nathan thought, how am I going to greet this fellow, I don’t want to seem like a fanboy.

So he said to him “Assalamu-alaikum” and Mos Def responded Alaikum-assalam and Nathan started rapping one of his most favorite most def versus.

There is a certain part of the verse from Fear Not of Man. Its an interesting song because its mostly intro and the same verse pretty much repeated.

The world is overrun with the wealthy and the wicked
But God is sufficient in disposing of affairs
Gunmen and stockholders try to merit my fear
But God is sufficient over plans they prepared

As Nathan rapped that verse he realized the next line was actually true. Perhaps for the first time that he ever rapped that verse:
Mos Def in the flesh, where you at, right here
On this place called Earth, holding down my square

He was indeed. There in Medina. And I thought about this, I hadn’t heard this song before but its kind of interesting that the phrasing Mos Def uses this is a quite unusual hip hop song.

Fortunately when I looked it up on Youtube someone pointed out when they uploaded it that Yasiin Bey is actually referring to a passage from the Holy Quran. Passage 33 verse 3: “Wa tawakkal ‘alal laah; wa kafaa billaahi Wakeelaa”

Which is to say, put thy trust in Allah, Allah is sufficient of disposing of affairs. I wondered about that today sitting there at breakfast thinking about well as Mos Def talks about in the song and as I was discussing briefly with Nathan yesterday, talking about the things that are happening in the world and the kind of plans that strange people have in this world, god is sufficient in disposing of affairs.

We don’t need to worry too much about what happens and about what plans men make as Yasiin Bey reminds us we need not fear human beings.

As another verse in the Quran goes, I am going to try to find it in the comments here because someone posted it. From the Holy Quran, Passage 2, Verse 250 therefore fear not men but fear me if you are indeed believers.

As I continued to breakfast this morning I thought more about it and so I was doing my morning journaling thinking about interactions I have had with other people, wondering about their motivations and my own motivations.

If I really understood myself and if I was really acting congruently and I have many doubts about the motivations of others and many doubts about the motivations of myself and my own congruence but God is sufficient in disposing of affairs. That goes for the affairs of wicked men, for plans they have prepared. It also goes to my own plans, my own affairs.

I don’t need to worry too much about them, I do what I can and take my action carefully and thoughtfully and ultimately all of these things are out of my control. I submit, I surrender, I have no cause for worry because those things are in the hands of the divine.

Fate or various impersonal forces, whatever happens, we are in those hands.

For me, I believe strongly that yes, god is sufficient in disposing of affairs.