ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAbbās said that the words “God is enough for us, and He is the best One to trust” were said twice in history at moments of great danger.
The first time, he said, was by Abraham (peace be upon him), when his people built a great fire and threw him into it for breaking their idols. His last words before the flames were: Ḥasbiya llāhu wa niʿma l-wakīl, “God is enough for me, and He is the best One to trust.” The Qur'an says the fire was told: “We said: O fire, be coolness and peace for Abraham.” (21:69, Pickthall).
The second time was after the battle of Uḥud. The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ (peace be upon him) and his companions were wounded and exhausted when someone came to warn them: “The people have gathered against you, so fear them.” The Qur'an says it only increased their faith, and they said: “Those unto whom men said: Lo! the people have gathered against you, therefor fear them. (The threat of danger) but increased the faith of them and they cried: Allah is Sufficient for us! Most Excellent is He in Whom we trust!” (3:173, Pickthall (1930); Bukhari 4563).
Muslims still say these words, ḥasbunā llāhu wa niʿma l-wakīl, when they are frightened, overwhelmed or wronged. They hold both meanings of al-Ḥasīb at once: He keeps the true account of what is happening, and He is enough.
Judaism
“So teach us to number our days, that we may get us a heart of wisdom.”
Psalm 90:12 · JPS 1917
Jewish tradition is full of reckoning. On Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, God is pictured opening the books in which every deed is written, and the prayer Unetaneh Tokef asks who will be written for life.
The Psalms ask God to teach people to count rightly: not money or years for their own sake, but days, so that they grow wise.
Pirkei Avot gives the reckoning a human scale: know where you came from, where you are going, and before whom you will one day give account (3:1). At the Passover Seder, families sing Dayenu, ‘It would have been enough for us’. They count fifteen of God's gifts one by one, and say after each that it alone would have been enough.
Christianity
“My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:19 · WEB
In Christianity both meanings are present. Jesus told parables about servants called to give account of what they were entrusted with. And Paul wrote from prison, thanking a church for its gifts, that God would supply everything they needed.
Christians often pray in hard times with the confidence that God's grace is sufficient (2 Corinthians 12:9).
Teresa of Ávila, the sixteenth-century Spanish Carmelite, left a short prayer, Nada te turbe, ‘Let nothing disturb you’. It ends Solo Dios basta, ‘God alone is enough’, and is sung today as a chant in the Taizé community and in churches of many traditions.
Islam
“When ye are greeted with a greeting, greet ye with a better than it or return it. Lo! Allah taketh count of all things.”
Qur'an 4:86 · Pickthall (1930)
Al-Ḥasīb appears in the Qur'an in the phrase “Allah sufficeth as a Reckoner.” (4:6, Pickthall (1930); 33:39) and “When ye are greeted with a greeting, greet ye with a better than it or return it. Lo! Allah taketh count of all things.” (4:86, Pickthall). The first of these comes at the end of a verse about guardians handling orphans' money: be scrupulously fair with what belongs to others, because God is keeping the account.
The other meaning, sufficer, is in ḥasbunā llāh, ‘God is enough for us’. The Qur'an also ties reckoning to courtesy: when someone greets you, greet them back with something better, or at least the same, because God keeps account of everything (4:86).
Same and different
All three faiths teach that God keeps account of every deed, and all three trust that He is enough for those who rely on Him. Judaism opens the books on the High Holy Days. Christianity speaks of giving account and of grace that is sufficient. Islam names God al-Ḥasīb, Reckoner and Sufficer, and puts ‘God is enough for us’ on believers' lips. None of them treats God's reckoning as cold bookkeeping: in all three it goes with mercy.
schoolsCheck the numbersGive pupils a simple problem worked out by a calculator and ask them to check it by hand, as Katherine Johnson did. Talk about trust: when do we need someone to check our sums, and who checks the checker?
neighbours / familiesGreet betterTry Qur'an 4:86 for a week: whenever someone greets you, answer with something a little warmer than they gave. Notice what happens.
familiesDayenuSing or say Dayenu, the Passover song that counts gifts and says ‘it would have been enough’ after each. Write your own verse: ten things in your life, each followed by ‘that would have been enough’.
faith groups / choirsNada te turbeLearn the Taizé chant of Teresa of Ávila's prayer, ‘Let nothing disturb you… God alone is enough’. Sing it slowly together at the end of a hard week.
Episode 1
