The Means of Victory
His Eminence Sheikh Osama Ibn Abdullah Khayat –may Allah protect him– delivered
last Friday’s Khutbah titled “The Means of Victory” in which he talked about the means
which leadto victory and the necessity to arm the masses first with faith and tawheed
(monotheism) and then with sufficient armament andtroops to confront the enemy on the
battlefield. He told Muslims that they would be able to achieve victory despite the plights
and trials befalling them if they sought refuge in Allah, the Almighty, and adhered to the
Sunnah of His Prophet ().
Part one
Praise be to Allah Who grants victory to whomever He wishes. I praise Him ()in
rich and poor, and I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah
alone with no associate, equal or match. He is the Most Gracious, and the Most
Beneficent. I also bear witness that our Master Muhammad is the Servant and Messenger
of Allah; that he is the Imam of messengers and the Seal of prophets. May Allah send His
Salat(Grace, Honour, Mercy) Peace and Blessings onto His Servant and Messenger,
Muhammad, his chaste and honourable family, and may He be pleased with his faithful
and close Companions, thetabiʿīn, and those who follow them in righteousness till
Judgment and Account Day!
Nowthen,I urge you ‒servants of Allah‒ to fear Allah, to observe His Commands, to
return in repentance to Him and never disobey Him.
O Muslims!
Faith, piety and purity of belief help man achieve righteousness and guidance to reach
Allah’s satisfaction and His support to secure victory which He bestows upon whomever
He chooses. It is a victory that brightens the faces of the faithful, elevates their status,
straightens up their conditions, improves their lives, and reminds all that triumph is a gift
from Allah alone, as He told us in the Holy Quran, And there is no victory
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except from Allâh, the All-Mighty, the All-Wise.[Al-Imran: 126]. It is the
true victory that cannot be marred by loss or defeat; it is that divine support which Allah
grants to whomever He wishes as He () said, AndAllâh supports with His
Victory whom He wills.[Al-Imran: 13].
If He wills ‒as scholars of Qur’ān exegesis say‒ Allah can grant victory to whomever has
secured the means of material power in terms of troops and weapons as is ordinarily
known from the way He manages the fate of His servants. Likewise, if He wills, He
grants victory to the small group the outer condition of which bespeaks impossibility of
prevailing over their enemy. Quoting Talut’s soldiers who knew that they would meet
their Lord, Allah () says, But those who knew with certainty that they
were going to meet Allâh, said: "How often a small group overcame a
mighty host by Allâh’s Leave?" And Allâh is with As-Sâbirûn(the
patient).
Fewness, in this example, did not preclude victory, nor did numerousness and
overconfidence prevent His abandoning them. The same happened on the Day of
Hunain1when the believers pinned victory on their numerousness, but it could not replace
the will of Allah and was unable to guarantee them victory. It is all in Allah’s hands.
Allah () has made victory contingent on certain means towards which He guides His
servants and urges them to uphold. The first and foremost of these means is true belief in
Allah, the Almighty, in His oneness and in worshiping Him alone. The essence of all
religion is to worship Allah alone in the way that He has prescribed to the exclusion of
innovations and rites against which the Prophet () had warned.
1The Battle of Hunain was fought between the Prophet ()and his followers against the Bedouin
tribes, viz. Thaqif,Hawazin, Sa’dand Jasam who had mobilized a big army in the Valley of Hunain
to attack Makkah and undo the victory of Muslims there.The Battle took place in 630 in the valley
of Hunain on one of the roads leading fromMakkahto Al-Ta’if. Proud of their numerousness,
Muslims nearly faced a humiliating defeat at the beginning of the battle which caused havoc
among their ranks. As a result, many fled and only a handful stayed with the Prophet ().
However, the battle ended in a decisive victory for the Muslims, who captured enormous spoils.
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This calls for perfect confidence in Allah (), total reliance on Him, and
sincereresortto Him, as well as heartfelt supplication, and inevitable needof Him as the
Prophet did on the Day of Badr2when the two parties confronted each other.
Muslim reported in his Saheeh that Omar Ibn Al-Khattab() said:“on the Day of Badr,
the Prophet (), realizing the strength of the army of themushrikeen(polytheists,
infidels), which is composed of one thousand men, compared to just three hundred and
nineteen of his men,faced Al-Ka’bah, raised his hands and started supplicating Allah,‘O
Allah! Fulfil your promise to me. O Allah! O Allah!Fulfil your promise to me. Should
this group of Muslims perish, You will not be worshiped on earth.’He continued his
supplication with his hands raised and facing Al-Ka’bah until his cloak fell off his
shoulders.”
If the believers take side with Allah by upholding His religion and obeying Him and
His Messenger() and by following His commands and refraining from what He forbids,
shunning disputes, observing patience and steadfastness, and remembering Allah when
confronting the enemy –as He () has commanded– in the Holy Quran,O you who
believe! When you meet (an enemy) force, take a firm stand against
them and remember the Name of Allâh much (both with tongue and
mind), so that you may be successful. (45) And obey Allâh and His
Messenger, and do not dispute (with one another) lest you lose
courage and your strength departs, and be patient. Surely, Allâh is
with those who are As-Sâbirûn(the patient) (46).[Al-Anfal: 45, 46].
If the faithful heed these tenets, they may be assured of Allah’s promise for them –that
His victory is near after they, like those nations who preceded them, have been subjected
to close scrutiny through the divine rule of trial. Allah () says, Or think you that
you will enter Paradise without such (trials) as came to those who
passed away before you? They were afflicted with severe poverty and
2The Battle of Badr was the first major battle fought between the Muslims and the infidels of Quraish, the
most powerful tribe in Makkah. It took place at the wells of Badr, about 60 miles from Madinah to
Makkah. Although the Muslims were outnumbered by the infidels 3 to 1, they won the battle, by the will
of Allah, and inflicted on the Qurashis a humiliating defeat.
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ailments and were so shaken that even the Messenger and those who
believed along with him said, "When (will come) the Help of Allâh?"
Yes! Certainly, the Help of Allâh is near! [Al-Baqara: 214]
In his Saheeh, Al-Bukhari quotes KhabbabIbn Al-Arat () as saying, “We complained
to Allah's Messenger (about the persecution inflicted on us by the infidels) while he was
sitting in the shade of the Ka'ba, leaning over his Burda (i.e. an outer garment like a
covering sheet). We said to him, "Would you seek help for us? Would you pray Allah for
us?" He said, ‘Among the nations before you a (believing) man would be put in a ditch
that was dug for him, and a saw would be put over his head and he would be cut into
two pieces; yet that (torture) would not make him give up his religion. His body would
be combed with iron combs that would remove his flesh from the bones and nerves, yet
that would not make him abandon his religion. By Allah, this religion (i.e. Islam) will
prevail till a traveler from San’a (in Yemen) to Hadhramaut will fear none but Allah,
or a wolf as regards his sheep, but you (people) are hasty.’”
These are divine promises and prophetic annunciations in which the truly faithful
should trust, and should firmly believe that they are bound to take placeno matter how
many rounds of victory their enemies might score thanks to their weaponry, massive
numbers and armaments. Such triumphs are only momentary and transient; the final
victory will be accorded to the faithful whose support is an onus that Allah took upon
Himself, and (as for) the believers, it was incumbent upon Us to help
(them). [Ar-Room:47]
May Allah benefit me and you with the guidance of His Book and the Sunnah of His
Prophet (). I say this and ask Allah to forgive me, you and all Muslims! He is all
Forgiving, all Merciful!
Part two
Praise be to Allah! We praise Him, seek His help, and repent to Him. We seek refuge
in Allah from our evil deeds and sins. He whom Allah guides will not go astray; he whom
Allah misguides will have no one else to guide him. I bear witness that there is no deity
worth of worship except Allah with no associate; I also bear witness that Muhammad is
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His Servant and Messenger. O Allah! Send YourSalat (Graces, Honours, Mercy) Peace
and Blessing onto your Servant and Messenger Muhammad, his family and Companions.
Now then, servants of Allah,the realization by the faithful that victory is a favour from
Allah, and that what is in Allah’s possession may not be attained except through obeying
Him has set for them the balance of power on a premise that is entirely different from the
materially-based view held by others and that exclusively stipulates the primacy of
fighting power in terms of number of men and armament in the battle field.
To the pious and the faithful, though securing the means of victory (i.e. power), is
indispensable, obedience and piety remain the most important factors in this regard.
Confident that with their obedience they are supporting Allah and that their enemy is
disobeying Him, the faithful fear their own sinning more than they do their enemy.
When victory is out of reach, or when they are defeated, the faithful have only
themselves to blame, attributing this misfortune to the negligence of their duty towards
Allah, to their transgressing Allah’s limits, or contradicting His commands. This is an
express proof and indisputable evidence of the heartfelt faith and of tawheed
(monotheism) as a canon of life,a pivot of its movement, and the spirit which boosts it
and elevates its status.
Therefore, servants of Allah, fear Allah and seek His victory by obeying Him.
Send your salat and peace upon the seal of prophets as you have been ordered to in
Allah’s Book, Allâh sends His Salât(Graces, Honours, Blessings, Mercy)
on the Prophet (Muhammad صلى لله علیھ وسلم ), and also His angels (ask
Allâh to bless and forgive him). O you who believe! Send your Salât on
(ask Allâh to bless) him (Muhammad صلى لله علیھ وسلم ), and (you should)
greet (salute) him with the Islâmic way of greeting (salutation i.e. As-
Salâmu‘Alaikum). [Al-Ahzab:56]
O Allah! Send Your Salat (Graces, Honours, Mercy) and Peace upon Your Servant
and Messenger Muhammad ()! O Allah! Be pleased with the four Caliphs: Abu Bakr,
Omar, Othman and Ali, with the Prophet’s family, Companions, the tabi'in, and those
who follow them righteously until the Day of Resurrection! O Allah! Be also pleased
with us all, along with them, by Your forgiveness, Generosity and Bounty, O You, the
Most Forgiving!
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O Allah! Grant glory to Islam and Muslims! O Allah! Grant glory to Islam and
Muslims! O Allah! Grant glory to Islam and Muslims! Protect the unity of Your
Religion! Destroy the enemies of religion and all tyrants and corrupters! Unite the hearts
of Muslims, unify them, guide their leaders to righteousness and unite their word on the
Truth, O You, Lord of the Worlds!
O Allah! Grant victory to Your religion, Your Book, the Sunnahof Your Prophet
Muhammad () and Your truly-believing servants and Mujahideen!
O Allah! Grant us security in our homelands!Make good our leaders and those
responsible for our affairs!Support with truth our Imam and leader!Provide him with a
righteous retinue and guide him to do whatever you love and accept! O You, All-Hearing
of our prayers! O Allah! Guide him, his deputies and his brothers to do what is good for
Islam and Muslims, for the country and for the people! O You, the One to whom people
shall return on the Day of Resurrection!
O Allah! Grant us a good ending in all of our affairs and save us from the humiliation
of the worldly life and the punishment of the Hereafter!
O Allah! Make better our religion which is our bond and our Dunya(life in this world)
which is the source of our living, and make better our Hereafter towhich we are returning,
and make life for us an increase of all that is good, and death a relief from every evil!
O Allah! We beseechYou to guide us to do good deeds, forsake reprehensible actions
and love the needy! O Allah! We ask You to forgive us and have mercy upon us! O
Allah! If You want to send an affliction on a nation, we beseech You to take our lives
before your affliction is sent!
O Allah! We seek refuge in You against the cessation of Your blessing, the change in
the good health you granted us, the swiftness of Your vengeance, and all manifestations
of Your wrath!
O Allah! Protect us against Your enemies and ours in any way that pleases You, O
Lord of the Worlds! O Allah! Protect us against Your enemies and ours in any way that
pleases You, O Lord of the Worlds! O Allah! We leave Your enemies and ours to You (to
deal with them) and seek refuge in You from their evils!
O Allah! Grant us piety, and purify our souls! You are the best Who purifies them!O
Allah! Cure our sick, have mercy on our dead, fulfil our hopes in what pleases You, and
grant our last deeds good deeds!
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O Allah! Protect Muslims in their homeland! O Allah! Protect them in their homeland!
Protect them in Egypt, Burma, Palestine, and in Syria!
O Allah! Grant those who were killed in Syria martyrdom! O Allah! Grant those who
were killed in Syria martyrdom and spare them any further suffering! O Lord of the
Worlds! O Allah! Grant them victory! O Lord of the Worlds!
O Allah! Protect Muslims and spare them the evils of Fitnahs (trials), those of them
which are apparent and those which are concealed. O Lord of the Worlds!
They said: "Our Lord! We have wronged ourselves. If You forgive us
not, and bestow not upon us Your Mercy, we shall certainly be of the
losers." [Al-A’raf: 23] And of them there are some who say: "Our Lord!
Give us in this world that which is good and in the Hereafter that
which is good, and save us from the torment of the Fire!" [Al-Baqara:
201]
May Allah ()send His Salat(Graces, Honours, and Mercy) and Peace on His Servant
and Messenger, our Prophet, Muhammad, and on all of his family and Companions! All
praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds!
Translated by Al-Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University.
