This saying is an ancient Arab phrase attributed to the Prophet Muhammad.
The Prophet one day saw a Bedouin leaving his camel without tethering it. The Prophet questioned him as to why he was doing this. The Bedouin replied that he was placing his trust in Allah and had no need to tie the camel. The Prophet then replied to him by saying, ‘tie your camel and place your trust in Allah.’
As the coronavirus news continues to awash the media with new confirmed and reported cases, it has now become common to hear people say ‘Mungu atatusaidia or Mungu tu ndio anaweza’ which easily translates to ‘Only God can help us with the coronavirus or Only God can save us.’
Government and privately sponsored commercials constantly run on screens or on the radio asking people to ‘wash their hands with soap/sanitizer, avoid crowded areas, use a disposable handkerchief or tissue when sneezing or coughing, avoid close contact with people’ among others. Measures and guidelines that should go a long way in tackling and ending the spread of the virus.
What the commercials are actually saying is simply ‘tie your camel’…
A section of believers have been made to believe, by their clergymen, that the novel and the locust invasion witnessed early in the year are tied to one – man has sinned and God is punishing.
While the truth to that may be true or not, there is much need for one to observe the measures. No fireman/woman ever walked into a burning house and said that he/she trusted a Supreme power to save them. No. They suit up in the required fire-fighting gear, then walk into the burning house.
Trust in God …but tie your camel
The phrase, in a nutshell, asks us to take stock of all our activities and establish control on them. Take an action that is required… then sit back and let faith work…
