There can be no doubt that human beings need each other. We all need other people. Likewise, many other people depend on each one of us. People in society assist each other and serve each other’s needs, even in ways that we are often unaware of.
However, we do not rely on others in the same way that we rely on Allah. We know that He alone is Self-Subsisting, Self-Sufficient. All the sustenance we have and all the success we enjoy ultimately stems from Him.
Being aware of this fact is crucial. Someone who understands this and believes this will always retain his or her dignity.
There is a great difference between helping one another in a dignified manner as part of the natural course of social existence – the best manifestation of which is to help one another in righteousness and piety – and the ignoble state of debasing oneself before other than Allah in an unseemly fashion where one’s dignity is compromised. A believer who is assured that Allah is Self-Subsisting, upon who all others depend for their existence and their needs, will be safeguarded from such ignobility.
When misfortune befalls us and we cry out to Allah, we know with certainty and assurance that we call upon one who will not fail us. When we appeal to other people, they may or may not be willing or able to help us. We know they are people like ourselves. Allah calls upon us to ask of Him. He wants us to turn to Him with our needs, and to submit ourselves to His greatness and His honor.
Ibn `Abbas relates the following advice that Allah’s Messenger gave him when he was still a youth:
Young man, I will teach you something: Remember Allah and He will remember you. Keep Him in your heart and you will find Him with you. If you beg of someone, beg of Allah. If you rely on someone, rely on Allah.
Know that if the whole world united in order to provide you with some benefit, they could only benefit you with what Allah has already decreed for you. And know that if the whole world united in order to bring you harm, they could only harm you with what Allah had already decreed to befall you.
The pens have been lifted from the pages and the ink has dried. [Sunan al-Tirmidhī (2516)]
Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) gave this advice to a young man who was at the brink of adulthood, but it is good advice for anyone. Whatever need we have, we should turn to Allah to fulfill that need, beseeching Him in our prayers and supplications.
We should turn to Him with our hopes and fears, with our worldly concerns as well as our spiritual aspirations, in all matters great and small.