وكلReliance on / entrusting one's affair to another. (root wkl)

You say: wakaltuhu ilayka akiluhu kilatan (وكلته إليك أكله كلة) — i.e., I entrusted him to you. And a man is wakil (وكل) and wakalah (وكلة); this is al-muwākil (المواكل), one who relies upon another and so neglects his affair. And you say: wakaltu bi-llāh (وكلت بالله) and tawakkaltu ʿalā llāh (توكلت على الله). He said: 'Except that he hears what I say... and if I relied (wakaltu) upon Him, He sufficed me.' And you say: wakaltu fulānan ilā llāh (وكلت فلانا إلى الله) — I entrusted him (akiluhu) to Him. And al-wikāl (الوكال) in a riding beast is that it likes to lag behind the other animals. And al-wakīl's (الوكيل) verb is al-tawakkul (التوكل), and its verbal noun (maṣdar) is al-wakālah (الوكالة). And Mawkil (موكل) is the name of a mountain. And Mīkāl (ميكال) is the name of an angel.

A man is wakil (وكل) — with the fatḥa — and wakalah (وكلة) also, on the pattern of hamzah (همزة), and takilah (تكلة) [by substitution]. It is said: 'so-and-so is wakalah takilah (وكلة تكلة)' — i.e., incapable, one who hands his affair over to another and relies upon him. A woman said: 'and do not be like a kahlūf, a wakil (وكل)...' And Mawkil (موكل), with fatḥa, is the name of a place. Labīd said, describing the nights: 'And they overcame Abraha, whom they found had long remained above the chamber of Mawkil.' And this [form] is anomalous, like muwaḥḥad (موحد). And wākalat al-dābbah (واكلت الدابة): when the riding beast went badly in its gait. And a horse is wākil (واكل): it relies upon its rider in running and needs to be struck [urged on]. It is said: 'a riding beast has strong wikāl or wakāl (وكال),' with both fatḥa and kasrah [vocalizations]. And al-wakīl (الوكيل) is well known. It is said: wakkaltuhu bi-amri kadhā tawkīlan (وكلته بأمر كذا توكيلا), and the noun is al-wakālah and al-wikālah (الوكالة، الوكالة) [both vocalizations]. And al-tawakkul (التوكل) is showing incapacity and relying upon another, and the noun is al-tuklān (التكلان). And ittakaltu ʿalā fulān (اتكلت على فلان) in my affair means: I relied upon him. Its origin is awtakaltu (اوتكلت); the wāw was changed to yāʾ because of the breaking [kasrah] of what precedes it, then the tāʾ was substituted for it and assimilated into the tāʾ of the ifti'āl-pattern. Then, on the basis of this assimilation, nouns were built on this pattern even though that [phonetic] cause was not present in them, on the supposition that the tāʾ was original — because this assimilation cannot be undone under any circumstance. Among such nouns are al-tuklah (التكلة), al-tuklān (التكلان), al-tukhmah (التخمة), al-tuhmah (التهمة), al-tujāh (التجاة), al-turāth (التراث), and al-taqwā (التقوى). And when you form the diminutive, you say tukaylah and tukhaymah, and you do not restore the wāw, because these are letters that became a fixed substitute, and so they remain so in the diminutive and the plural. And wakalahu ilā nafsihi wakl-an, kawl-an (وكله إلى نفسه وكلا كولا) [he entrusted him to himself]. And 'this matter is entrusted (mawkūl) to your judgment.' And his verse: 'Leave me (kilīnī) to them, O Umaymah Nāṣib, and a night I endure, slow of stars.' i.e., 'leave me alone.' And wākaltu fulānan muwākalatan (واكلت فلانا مواكلة): when I relied upon him and he relied upon me.

Wāw, kāf, and lām (و ك ل): a sound root indicating relying on someone else in one's affair. From this comes al-wiklah (الوكلة). And al-wakal (الوكل) is the weak man — they say wakalahu, takilahu (وكله تكله) [he entrusts him, he relies (in turn)], and al-tawakkul (التوكل) derives from it, which is showing incapacity in a matter and relying on another. And wākala fulān (واكل فلان) is said when a man neglects his affair, relying upon someone else. And al-wakīl (الوكيل) is so named because the matter is entrusted (yūkalu) to him. And al-wikāl (الوكال) in a riding beast is that it always lags behind the other animals, as if it hands over (yakilu) the matter of running to another. In the poetry of Imruʾ al-Qays: 'lā yuwākilu nahzahā' (لا يواكل نهزها) — i.e., 'it does not lag behind' — and this derives from al-muwākalah (المواكلة). And wākaltu al-rajul (واكلت الرجل) means: I relied upon him and he relied upon me. And they say: al-wikāl (الوكال) in a riding beast is that it moves at the pace of the other [animal].

Al-tawkīl (التوكيل) is that you rely upon another and make him a deputy in your place, and al-wakīl (الوكيل) is [morphologically] of the pattern faʿīl in the sense of mafʿūl [i.e., 'the one entrusted-to']. God Almighty said: 'And sufficient is God as a Guardian (wakīlan)' (Q. al-Nisāʾ 4:81) — meaning: be content with Him to take charge of your affair and act as guardian on your behalf. And on this basis: 'God is sufficient for us, and He is the best Guardian (wakīl)' (Q. Āl ʿImrān 3:173); and 'you are not a guardian (wakīl) over them' (Q. al-Anʿām 6:107) — meaning: entrusted over them and their keeper, like His saying: 'You are not over them a controller — except him who turns away' (Q. al-Ghāshiyah 88:22–23). On this basis, understand His saying: 'Say: I am not a guardian (wakīl) over you' (Q. al-Anʿām 6:66), and His saying: 'Have you seen him who takes his own desire as his god — will you then be a guardian (wakīlan) over him?' (Q. al-Furqān 25:43), and 'or who will be a guardian (wakīlan) over them?' (Q. al-Nisāʾ 4:109) — meaning: who will take responsibility (yatawakkalu) for them? And al-tawakkul (التوكل) is used in two senses: one says tawakkaltu li-fulān (توكلت لفلان), meaning 'I took charge on his behalf,' and one says wakkaltuhu fa-tawakkala lī (وكلته فتوكل لي) [I entrusted him, and he took charge for me]; and tawakkaltu ʿalayhi (توكلت عليه) means 'I relied upon him.' He, Mighty and Exalted, said: 'So let the believers rely (fal-yatawakkal)' (Q. al-Tawbah 9:51); 'and whoever relies (yatawakkal) on God, He is sufficient for him' (Q. al-Ṭalāq 65:3); 'Our Lord, upon You we rely (tawakkalnā)' (Q. al-Mumtaḥanah 60:4); 'and upon God rely (fa-tawakkalū)' (Q. al-Māʾidah 5:23); 'and rely (tawakkal) upon God, and sufficient is God as Guardian' (Q. al-Nisāʾ 4:81); 'and rely (tawakkal) upon Him' (Q. Hūd 11:123); 'and rely (tawakkal) upon the Living One who does not die' (Q. al-Furqān 25:58). And wākala fulān (واكل فلان): when he neglected his affair, relying upon another; and tawākala al-qawm (تواكل القوم): when each of the people relied upon the other; and a man is wakalah takilah (وكلة تكلة): when he relies upon another in his affair; and al-wikāl (الوكال) in a riding beast is that it does not walk except by [following] the walking of another. Al-wakīl (الوكيل) is sometimes explained as al-kafīl (الكفيل, guarantor), but al-wakīl is more general, for every guarantor (kafīl) is a wakīl, but not every wakīl is a guarantor (kafīl).

Among the names of God Almighty is al-Wakīl (الوكيل): He is the Sustainer, the Guarantor (al-kafīl) of the sustenance of His servants, and its true sense is that He alone suffices for the matter entrusted (al-mawkūl) to Him. In the Noble Revelation: 'that you take not, besides Me, any guardian (wakīlan)' (Q. al-Isrāʾ 17:2). Al-Farrāʾ said: it is said [to mean] 'Lord' (rabban), and it is said [to mean] 'sufficer' (kāfiyan). Ibn al-Anbārī said: and it is said that al-Wakīl means al-ḥāfiẕ (الحافظ, the Guardian/Protector). Abū Isḥāq said: al-Wakīl, as a description of God Almighty, is He who has undertaken (tawakkala) to carry out everything He has created. Some said: al-Wakīl means al-Kafīl — 'and how excellent a Guarantor of our sustenance!' And regarding their saying 'God suffices us, and how excellent is the Guardian (wakīl)', it was said: [it means] 'God is sufficient for us, and how excellent the Sufficer,' just as one says 'God is our Provider (rāziq), and how excellent the Provider.' And Abū al-Haytham cited [a verse] concerning al-Wakīl in the sense of 'Lord' (rabb): 'Entering the depths, and from the depths it was brought forth, and by water it was driven, when the time of its entry came; it dwelt therein a dark, flowing year for it, so it truly proceeded thereby, and its Wakīl (Owner) was pleased.' 'Entering the depths' means: the fetus of the she-camel sank into her womb; 'and from the depths it was brought forth' means: it was brought forth from the belly by way of the womb; 'by water it was driven' means: it was driven to the womb when [the mother] conceived it; 'it proceeded' refers to the mother, [proceeding] with the fetus; and 'its Wakīl was pleased' means: the owner of the she-camel was pleased by the fetus's emergence. And al-mutawakkil ʿalā Allāh (المتوكل على الله) is he who knows that God is the Guarantor of his sustenance and his affair, and so relies upon Him alone and does not rely (yatawakkal) upon anyone else. Ibn Sīdah [said]: wakila bi-llāh (وكل بالله), and tawakkala ʿalayhi (توكل عليه), and ittakala (اتكل) [all mean]: he submitted himself to Him. And mention of al-tawakkul (التوكل) recurs frequently in the Ḥadīth. It is said: tawakkala bi'l-amr (توكل بالأمر) when he undertook responsibility for carrying it out; and wakaltu amrī ilā fulān (وكلت أمري إلى فلان) means: I referred it to him and relied upon him in it; and wakala fulānun fulānan (وكل فلان فلانا) is said when he entrusted him with his affair, trusting in his competence, or out of his own incapacity to manage his affair. And wakala ilayhi al-amr (وكل إليه الأمر): he handed the matter over to him. And wakalahu ilā raʾyihi, wakl-an wa wukūl-an (وكله إلى رأيه وكلا ووكولا): he left it to him. Ibn Barrī cited, from a versifier: 'When I saw that I was a shepherd of sheep, and [the matter] was but entrusted upon some of the servants — [it was] incapacity and excuse-making, when the matter grew hard' — meaning that relying (al-tawakkul) upon some of the servants is [a sign of] incapacity. And a man is wakil (وكل), with the moving vowel, and wakalah (وكلة) like hamzah (همزة), and takilah (تكلة) by substitution, and muwākil (مواكل): incapable, much given to relying upon others. It is said: wakalah takilah (وكلة تكلة), i.e., incapable, one who entrusts his affair to another and relies upon him. A woman said: 'and do not be like a kahlūf, a wakil (وكل)...' Al-wakal (الوكل) is he who entrusts his affair to another. Ibn Barrī said: this woman is Manfūsah bint Zayd al-Khayl; he said: the verse (rajaz) is in fact by her husband Qays ibn ʿĀṣim, and it is: 'Resemble your mother's forefather, or resemble in deed, and do not be like a kahlūf, a wakil; he who rises from his sleeping-place has already collapsed, so climb up toward the good things, ascending steeply into the mountain.' As for what Manfūsah herself said, she said it concerning her son Ḥakīm: 'Resemble my brother, or resemble your father — but as for my father, you shall never attain to that.'