Helplessness should not be taken as a sign of tawaakul, nor should tawakkul make a person helpless.”
Al ‘Allaamah ‘Abd al-‘Azeez Ibn Baaz (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Tawaakul (putting one’s trust in Allah) involves two things:
(i) Depending on Allah and believing that He is the One Who causes measures to be effective; His decree comes to pass; He has decreed all things, counted them out and ordained them, may He be glorified and exalted.
(ii) Taking appropriate measures; putting one’s trust in Allah does not mean refraining from taking measures; rather part of putting one’s trust in Allah is taking appropriate measures and striving to do so. The one who refrains from doing so has gone against the laws and decree of Allah. Allah has commanded us to take appropriate measures and He encourages us to do so; He commanded His Messenger (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) to do that.
So it is not permissible for the believer to refrain from taking appropriate measures; in fact he is not truly putting his trust in Allah unless he takes appropriate measures. Hence it is prescribed to get married in order to have a child, and it is enjoined to have intercourse. If someone were to say: I shall not get married and I shall wait to have a child without getting married, he would be regarded as insane; this is not the way of those who are wise and rational. Similarly, he should not sit in his house or in the mosque seeking charity and waiting for provision to come to him; rather he should strive hard and work to seek to earn halal provision.
Maryam (may Allah have mercy on her) did not forgo taking measures:
Allah said to her (interpretation of the meaning):
“And shake the trunk of date-palm towards you; it will let fall fresh ripe-dates upon you” [Maryam 19:25]
So she shook the palm tree and took appropriate measures until the dates fell.