Khutba on Requirements for Receiving Allah’s Help
الحمد لله، الحمد لله القوي العزيز، الذي ينصر لعباده المسلمين في الوقت والمكان الذي هو يريد، نحمده تعالى ونستعينه، ونشكره تعالى ونستغفره ونستغيثه، نعوذ بالله من شرور أنفسنا ومن سيئات أعمالنا، من يهد الله فهو المهتد ومن يضلل فلن تجد له وليا مرشدا، ونشهد أن لا إله إلا الله وحده لا شريك له، له الملك و له الحمد، يحيي ويميت، بيده الخير، وهو على كل شيء قدير، ونشهد أن سيدنا و مولانا محمداً عبده ورسوله، وحبيبه وصفيه، بلغ الرسالة وأدى الأمانة ونصح الأمة، النبي الأمي الذي أرسله الله بالهدى والدين الحق، بشيرا ونذيرا بين يدي الساعة، صلى الله عليه وسلم وعلى آله وأصحابه ومن تبعهم بإحسان إلى يوم الدين.
أما بعد! فيا عباد الله اتقوا الله حق تقاته ولا تموتن إلا وأنتم مسلمون. يأيها الذين ءامنوا اتقوا الله وقولوا قولا سديدا يصلح لكم أعمالكم ويغفر لكم ذنوبكم. ومن يطع الله ورسوله فقد فاز فوزا عظيما. اتقوا الله فيما أمر وانتهوا عما نها عنه وزجر.
To make a success of ones life is something that ever human being aspires to, but the definition of what constitutes success has morphed and been turned almost completely on its head. Success has come to be measured in worldly possessions and worldly status and reputation, and it has always been thus in societies that view this world as the be all and end all of existence. The richer you are or the more famous and powerful you become or, in some cultures, the more children you have, the more you have gotten out of your life. But such success is meaningless in the wider scheme of things. Great wealth only benefits you if it has been used and spent in the way of Allah, power, reputation and influence only help if you have used them to further the cause of the deen. Children only avail you if you have raised them well and passed on to them the deen of Allah. Otherwise, all of the things we consider as markers of success are the complete opposite, they are heavy weights around our necks – they are more things we will have to answer for to our Lord. We will be responsible for all who follow us and emulate us without diminishing from their own personal responsibility in any way. The Prophet said,
ومن سَنَّ في الإِسلام سُنَّة سيِّئة كان عليه وِزْرُها وَوِزْرُ مَنْ عمل بها من بعده، من غير أن ينقُصَ من أوزارهم شيء
“Anyone who introduces a bad sunna into the deen of Islam will bear the wrong action for doing it and the wrong action of everyone who puts that sunna into practice without lessening from their wrong action in any way.” And everything we have spent our lives accumulating will be as empty and as worthless as the froth on the sea. It is truly without substance, not one part of it can we take with us into the grave. We cannot use any of it to influence our judgement on the Day of Judgement. Allah says,
وَمَا أَمْوَالُكُمْ وَلَا أَوْلَادُكُمْ بِالَّتِي تُقَرِّبُكُمْ عِنْدَنَا زُلْفَى
the translation of which is, “It is not your wealth or your children that will bring you near to Us.” And He says, a couple of ayats later,
وَمَا أَنْفَقْتُمْ مِنْ شَيْءٍ فَهُوَ يُخْلِفُهُ
the translation of which is, “Anything you spend out [i.e. in His Way], He will recompense you for it.” He will reward you for it and give it back to you many times over. He will make that transient thing you had in your hands and gave away into something lasting and permanent. For the only wealth that has influence over our place in the Next world is what we have spent out in the way of Allah, not what we have accumulated and stored in our treasure houses. And even the power and status that we work hard to achieve in this world is empty and inherently unsatisfying, because we know at some level of our being that it is not real. Far from quenching our thirst, it accentuates it. The more we get, the more we need, but we never truly feel we have achieved it. And that is because power does not reside in the nations, instruments or institutions of this world but only with Allah and His Messenger and the believers. Allah says,
وَلِلَّهِ الْعِزَّةُ وَلِرَسُولِهِ وَلِلْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَلَكِنَّ الْمُنَافِقِينَ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ
the translation of which is, “Might is Allah’s and His Messenger’s and the believers’ but the hypocrites do not know it.” And the sooner we realise that, the sooner we will once again have the upper hand, the sooner we will be recipients of that nasr that has been promised to us by our Lord, that nasr that is always within touching distance if we but meet the basic requirements for receiving it. Allah says,
أَلاَ إِنَّ نَصْرَ اللهِ قَرِيبٌ
the translation of which is, “Indeed, the help of Allah is close at hand.” The first is iman. Allah says,
وَكَانَ حَقًّا عَلَيْنَا نَصْرُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ
the translation of which is, “It is Our duty to help the believers.” A believer is one who believes in Allah and in His Messenger, and affirms that belief on his tongue and acts on it with his limbs. Otherwise his belief is but a false claim, hollow words without meaning or substance. Allah helps His people, His hizb. And that help can come indirectly or in the most direct way possible, such as at Badr where our Lord sent down ranks of angels to aid the believers and filled the hearts of the enemy with fear and terror. Allah says,
يُمْدِدْكُمْ رَبُّكُمْ بِخَمْسَةِ آَلَافٍ مِنَ الْمَلَائِكَةِ مُسَوِّمِينَ
the translation of which is, “Your Lord will support you with five thousand angels, clearly marked.” And He says,
إِذْ يُوحِي رَبُّكَ إِلَى الْمَلَائِكَةِ أَنِّي مَعَكُمْ فَثَبِّتُوا الَّذِينَ آَمَنُوا سَأُلْقِي فِي قُلُوبِ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا الرُّعْبَ
the translation of which is, “And when your Lord revealed to the angels, ‘I am with you so make those who have iman firm. I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve.” If we turn back to Allah and trust only in Him, He will be with us.
The second is jama’a, keeping in company and holding to the group. And by company, of course, I mean the company of other believers. Allah never intended for us to accomplish this task alone. To every Prophet, He gave companions. To Musa, He gave Haroon, to Isa, the Hawariyun and to our own Messenger, his Sahaba. No matter how strong your belief, you will accomplish little by cutting yourself off from other people and seeking to do everything on your own. The Prophet said,
يَدُ اللهِ مع الجماعة
“The hand of Allah is with the group.” What one cannot carry can be borne easily by the group. Stay with them and make sure they are the right sort of people, people who remind you of Allah and do not cause you to forget Him. And that brings us to the third which is dhikr of Allah. The remembrance of Allah. Filling our moments with His mention. It is the fuel that keeps us going, the bond and link to our Lord that ties us ever closer to Him until He becomes the ears with which we hear, the eyes with which we see, the hands with which we strike, and the feet with which we walk. When Sa’ad ibn abi Waqqas was inspecting his troops at al-Qadisiyya, the night before the battle with the Persian forces, he passed by one group of men remembering Allah and standing the night in prayer and said, ‘It is from these people that victory will come.’ And then he passed by another group who were sleeping, and he said, ‘It is from these that defeat might come.’ At al-Qadisiyyah, the Muslims were vastly outnumbered and dangerously under-equipped, but none of that mattered when the nasr of Allah was theirs. Allah’s nasr can be ours too, but only if we give Him our nasr in the way that these Sahaba did. Then we will be unstoppable, and the primacy of the deen in the lands will be inevitable. Allah says,
وَلَيَنْصُرَنَّ اللَّهُ مَنْ يَنْصُرُهُ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَقَوِيٌّ عَزِيزٌ
the translation of which is, “Allah will certainly help those who help Him. Allah is All-Strong, Almighty.”
أقول قولي هذا وأستغفر الله لي ولكم ولسائر المسلمين من كل ذنب فاستغفروه إنه هو الغفور الرَّحيم
الحمد لله الحمد لله رب العالمين، وأشهد أن لا إله إلا الله وحده لا شريك له وأشهد أن محمداً عبده ورسوله، صلى الله وسلم وبارك عليه وعلى آله وصحبه، والتابعين وتابعي التابعين ومن تبعهم بإحسان إلى يوم الدين.
أما بعد! فيأيها الذين ءامنوا اتقوا الله ما استطعتم واسمعوا وأطيعوا وأنفقوا خيرا لأنفسكم. يا عباد الله أوصيكم وإياي بتقوى الله وطاعته وأحذركم وإياي عن معصيته ومخالفته.
As we have mentioned, Allah’s Help and Aid is available to those who believe in Him and remember Him, and keep the company of the believers, but a portion of it is held back until we turn to Him in our duas and ask Him for it. That is the correct adab with our Lord. This is the sunna of our own Messenger and all the Messengers before Him, even when help and victory had already been promised and confirmed. A striking example of this was before the battle of Badr when Sayyidina Abu Bakr entered the tent of the Messenger of Allah and found him making earnest supplication to Allah for a victory that already been promised to him. We must never take Allah’s help for granted or forget that it is Him who grants it to us. Our constant dua is an open acknowledgement of our own weakness and incapacity and reminds us that the affair is not in our hands, it is solely and completely in the hands of Allah and nothing comes to pass unless He wills. Do not worry about outcomes – they will take care of themselves if you turn to your Lord and ask Him for His help. Sayyidina Umar said,
أنا لا أحمل همّ الإجابة ولكن أحمل همّ الدعاء فمتى ألهمت الدعاء عرفت الاجابة معه
“I have no concern for the answer, my only concern is with making supplication. For I know that when I make supplication, the answer will come with it.” The answer to the dua/ the help is imminent, but only our Lord knows when and where it will come, only our Lord knows the form that it shall take. Sometimes the greatest victories are cloaked in the shape of what appears to be a defeat, such as the treaty of Hudaybiyyah, which appeared to many of the Muslims at the time to be a major concession and compromise. But Allah declared it a clear-cut victory, saying,
إِنَّا فَتَحْنَا لَكَ فَتْحًا مُبِينً
the translation of which is, “Truly we have granted you a most manifest victory,” and so it proved to be, granting the Muslims the breathing room to consolidate and bring much of the rest of the region to Islam. We cannot force the issue – we do not have full control over the affair, only Allah does. So we must trust Him, and be patient when things do not seem to be going our way. That sabr will enable us to get the most even out of those difficult times and ensure that they are the source of greater victory, not woe and distress. Allah says,
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آَمَنُوا اسْتَعِينُوا بِالصَّبْرِ وَالصَّلَاةِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ مَعَ الصَّابِرِينَ”
Allah says, the translation of which is, “O you who believe, seek help by means of sabr and the prayer. Allah is with those who have sabr.” Whenever Allah says that He is with us in the Quran, it means that His support and help are ours, it means that He takes it upon Himself to bring about what He has promised us. And as we know and as our Lord tells us,
وَلَا يُخْلِفُ اللهُ الْمِيعَادَ
the translation of which is, “Allah does not break His promise.” Fulfil your contract with Him, and He will fulfil His contact with you, and you will get everything you could ever want out of life. Your life will be a true success story, and you will feel whole, satisfied and at peace. You will have fulfilled your potential as a human being, and more could you want than that. We ask our Lord to grant us His help at every juncture of our lives and grant us success in all our endeavours. And we ask that He grant us the necessary sabr to emerge through the trials and hardships that await us strengthened and unscathed, and the necessary insight and wisdom to realise that they might possibly be the source of our greatest success and victory. We ask that He make us sabiqin, that He place in the vanguard of the successful, and make us among the first to taste the fruits of His nasr. We ask that He join the hearts of His believers, safeguard them against their enemies and those who would do them harm and give victory to His deen.
إِنَّ اللهَ وَمَلَائِكَتَهُ يُصَلُّونَ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ، يَا أَيُهَا الذِينَ آمَنُواْ صَلُّواْ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلِّمُواْ تَسْلِيماً.
اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ وَسَلِّمْ وَبَارِكْ عَلَيْهِ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ أَجْمَعِينَ. وَارْضَ اللَّهُمَّ عَنِ الْخُلَفَاءِ الرَّاشِدِينَ أَبِي بَكْرٍ وَعُمَرَ وَعُثْمَانَ وَعَلِيٍّ، وعن أم المومنين عائشة التي أمرنا الله في سورة النور أن ندافع عنها، وَعَنْ سَائِرِ الصَّحَابَةِ أَجْمَعِينَ، خُصُوصاً اِلأَنْصَارَ مِنْهُمْ وَالمُهَاجِرِينَ، وَعَنِ التَّابِعِينَ وَتَابِعِي التَّابِعِينَ وَمَنْ تَبِعَهُمْ بِإِحْسَانٍ إِلَى يَوْمِ الدِّينِ.
اللَّهُمَّ اهْدِ وُلَاةَ أُمُورِ المُسْلِمِينَ لِمَا يُرْضِيكَ وَلِاتِّبَاعِ سُنَّةِ نَبِيِّكَ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ، وَثَبِّتْ أَقْدَامَهُمْ عَلَى الصِّرَاطِ المُسْتَقِيمِ، وَأَصْلِحْهُمْ يَا رَبَّ الْعَالَمِينَ.
اللَّهُمَّ بَارِكْ عَلَى شَيْخِنَا، وَعَلَى أَمِيرِنَا، وَعَلَى جَمِيعِ أُمَرَاءِ وَزُعَمَاءِ المُسْلِمِينَ.
اللَّهُمَّ بَارِكْ عَلَى المُسْلِمِينَ فِي هَذِهِ المَدِينَةِ، وَوَفِّقْهُمْ لِمَا تُحِبُّهُ وَتَرْضَاهُ يَا أَكْرَمَ الأَكْرَمِينَ.
اللَّهُمَّ أَعِزَّ الإِسْلَامَ وَالمُسِْلمِينَ، وَاخْذُلِ الْكُفْرَ وَالْكَافِرِينَ، وَانْصُرِ المُجَاهِدِينَ فِي سَبِيلِ اللهِ. وَاجْعَلْ كَلِمََتَكَ هِيَ العُلْيَا وَكَلِمَةَ الْكُفْرِ هِيَ السُّفْلَى.
رَبَّنَا ءَاتِنَا فِي الدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةً وَفِي الآخِرَةِ حَسَنَةً وَقَِنَا عَذَابَ النَّارِ.
إِنَّ اللهَ يَامُرُ بِالْعَدْلِ وَالإِحْسَانِ وَإِيتَاءِ ذِي الْقُرْبَى، وَيَنْهَى عَنِ الْفَحْشَاءِ وَالمُنكَرِ وَالْبَغْيِ، يَعِظُكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَذَّكَّرُونَ، وَلَذِكْرُ اللهِ أَكْبَرُ وَاللهُ يَعْلَمُ مَا تَصْنَعُونَ. وَقُومُواْ إِلَى صَلاتِكُمْ يَرْحَمُكُمُ اللهُ