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. قال الله تعالى في كتابه الكريم: إِذَا جَاءَ نَصْرُ اللهِ والْفَتْحُ وَرَأَيتَ النَّاسَ يَدْخُلُونَ فِي دِينِ اللهِ أَفْوَاجاً فَسَبِّحْ بِحَمْدِ رَبِّكَ وَاسْتَغْفِرْهُ

 

Allah says in His Noble Quran, the translation of which is, “When Allah’s help and victory have arrived and you have seen people entering Allah’s deen in droves, then glorify your Lord’s praise and ask His forgiveness.”

Last Saturday, in Durban, many of us witnessed one of the great signs of the help which Allah gives this community. In an age when the deen of Islam is badmouthed in every media outlet and by the majority of statesmen and politicians, where all one hears in conjunction with it are terms such as terrorism or barbarism or the apologism of so-called mouthpieces for the Muslim umma, despite all this still people enter Islam in large numbers, still the light of Islam spreads and the guidance enters more and more people's hearts, just as it always has done. For Islam is the deen of truth, and there is no standing in the path of truth.

Once truth comes, it washes away all falsehood. Allah says,

 

جَاءَ الْحَقُّ وَزَهَقَ الْبَاطِلُ إِنَّ الْبَاطِلَ كَانَ زَهُوقًا

 

the translation of which is, “'Truth has come and falsehood has vanished. Falsehood is always bound to vanish.” For kufr has no reality and no substance - it is simply the scum that floats to the surface, as Allah makes clear in a famous metaphor in surat ar-Ra'd,

 

أَنْزَلَ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ مَاءً فَسَالَتْ أَوْدِيَةٌ بِقَدَرِهَا فَاحْتَمَلَ السَّيْلُ زَبَدًا رَابِيًا وَمِمَّا يُوقِدُونَ عَلَيْهِ فِي النَّارِ ابْتِغَاءَ حِلْيَةٍ أَوْ مَتَاعٍ زَبَدٌ مِثْلُهُ كَذَلِكَ يَضْرِبُ اللَّهُ الْحَقَّ وَالْبَاطِلَ

 

the translation of which is, “He sends down water from the sky and river-beds fill up and flow according to their size, and the floodwater carries with it an increasing layer of scum; a similar kind of scum comes from what you heat up in the fire, when you desire to make jewellery or other things. That is how Allah depicts the true and the false.”

And as Allah makes clear: 

 

فَأَمَّا الزَّبَدُ فَيَذْهَبُ جُفَاءً وَأَمَّا مَا يَنْفَعُ النَّاسَ فَيَمْكُثُ فِي الْأَرْضِ كَذَلِكَ يَضْرِبُ اللَّهُ الْأَمْثَالَ

 

“As for the scum, it is quickly swept away. But as for that which is of use to people, it remains behind in the ground. That is a metaphor which Allah has made.” It does not take much to sweep the scum away - a simple breeze or wave and it is gone and all that remains is the truth. Thus, the progress of the deen of Allah is inevitable and nothing can stand in its way. And every attempt that our enemies make to quash it invariably has the opposite result - the Mongols sought to wipe out Islam and the muslims, killing all who came in their path and massacring entire cities (more than a million, it is said, were killed at the sacking of Baghdad). And yet they became the main protectors of the deen and the cause of Islam conquering large swathes of the Asian continent. And, in more recent times, the Colonialists sought to enslave the Muslim lands and gain ascendency over them, and yet what they did instead was to bring Islam to their own shores and start the inevitable process of Europe becoming Muslim. It has already reached the stage today where the favourite food of France is the traditional Moroccan dish of couscous. And as we all know about the French - where their stomach leads, the rest of them will follow.

And now it is happening in South Africa. The great nation of the Zulus are coming into the deen of Allah. Last Saturday, it was seventy young Zulu men in a single morning. Seventy more people worshipping Allah, seventy more people moving from the darkness to the light with the veil lifted from their hearts and eyes.

And for all of us there, it was a tremendous affirmation - it was a tremendous affirmation that we are on the right path and that Allah is with us, granting us His help and aid. For we witnessed a fawj, a drove of people entering into Islam. But we want to see more - we want to see that fawj turn into afwaj, droves upon droves of people entering into Islam. We want to see the deen become uppermost in this land and that aid to turn into victory. We want the nasr and fath that Allah has promised us. And we will see them if we continue to fulfil their preconditions, for they are not granted unconditionally.

Firstly, we must continue to be people of iman. Allah says:

 

وَكَانَ حَقًّا عَلَيْنَا نَصْرُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ

 

the translation of which is, “It is Our duty to help the believers/ the people of iman” But by iman, we do not simply mean that action of the heart, but rather all that it entails, In other words, we must obey Allah and His Messenger to the best of our ability, keeping within the boundaries that He has set us. For belief is not truly belief until it is backed up by corresponding action - it is not for nothing that it is paired throughout the Quran with ‘amalun salih - right action.

Then there is keeping with company and not going it alone. The Prophet said,

 

يَدُ اللهِ مع الجماعة

 

“The hand of Allah is with the group.” In other words, Allah will grant victory to the the ones who keep together, work together and travel together. As for the sheep who stray from the flock and seek to go it alone, they become prey to the wolves. Not even the Prophets, the very best of Allah’s creation, worked alone. They took Companions. When the Prophet wanted to make hijra, he did not go alone, but rather took Abu Bakr with him.

Then there is dhikr Allah and nawafil. The more we remember Allah, the more He remembers us and the more nawafil we do the closer we become to the One to whom all power and all strength belong. The Prophet said, 

 

وما تقرب إلي عبدٌ بأحب إلي مما افترضته عليه و مايزال عبدي يتقرب إليَّ بالنوافل حتى أحبه فإذا أحببته كنت سمعه الذي يسمع به وبصره الذي يبصر به ويده التي يبطش بها ورجله التي يمشي بها

 

“My slave does not become closer to Me by anything more beloved than the things I have made obligatory on him. And My slave continues to get closer to Me by means of nafila acts until I love him. And when I love him, I become the ears with which he hears, the eyes with which he sees, the hand with which he strikes, and the foot with which he walks.” And when our actions become His, we cannot be defeated. 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 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.’ There is the truth of the matter. In that battle, as in the battle of Badr, the Muslims were vastly outnumbered and their enemy infinitely better-equipped. And yet the Muslims were victorious because they were with Allah and had turned fully to Him. And as 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.”

And then there is dua - if you want something from Allah, then you must ask Him for it. That is the sunna, and was the sunna of the Prophet even when things had been guaranteed for him. Like at the battle of Badr, when Abu Bakr came into his tent and found making earnest supplication to Allah for victory even after Allah had promised it 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 reminds us that the affair is not in our hands, it is solely and completely in the hands of Allah and nothing will come to pass unless He wants it to. We must see things like Umar who said,

 

أنا لا أحمل هم الإجابة ولكن أحمل هم الدعاء فمتى ألهمت الدعاء عرفت الاجابة معه

 

“I have no concern for the answer, my only concern is making supplication. But whenever I make supplication, I know that the answer will come with it.” So we ask Allah to make us people of the haqq and grant us the promised victory.

 

أقول قولي هذا و أستغفر الله لي و لكم و لسائر المسلمين من كل ذنب فاستغفروه إنه هو الغفور الرَّحيمالحمد 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. قال الله تعالى في كتابه العزيز: “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.“

Another important precondition for victory is sabr - there will be hardships and reversals - things will not always happen in the way that you expect or at the time that you expect. This world is a test - it is the dar al-bala - it sorts the wheat from the chaff. Life throws everything at you - happiness and sadness, love and hate, ease and hardship - it does not matter who you are. Indeed, the believers are tested more than most. Allah says,

 

أَحَسِبَ النَّاسُ أَنْ يُتْرَكُوا أَنْ يَقُولُوا آَمَنَّا وَهُمْ لَا يُفْتَنُونَ

 

the translation of which is, “Do people imagine that they will be left to say, ‘We have iman,’ and will not be tested?” And the Prophets were tested more than anyone - Nuh was rejected and reviled by his people for 950 years, Ayyub lost his entire family and was ravaged by illness continuously for years, and our own Prophet was orphaned as a boy, rejected and cast out by his people, and lost all of his children in his lifetime aside from Fatima Zahra. The more Allah loves someone, the more He tests him, for the truth of the matter is that the Garden is surrounded by makarih - hardship and hateful things, and it is those hardships that mould and refine a person’s character and make him worthy of being in the company of Allah. The role of hardship in refining a person has been recognised by human beings throughout history, with most cultures having a right of age passage involving some sort of physical hardship or trial.  It is the way that one responds to those trials and hardships that makes the man. If you are patient and see the good in it, then it will benefit you and your deen, but if you are impatient and resentful, then all it will bring you is harm. 

And in reality, that hardship that you experience is ease, as Allah says in surat al-inshirah,

إِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْراً إِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْراً

 

the translation of which is, “For truly with hardship comes ease; truly with hardship comes ease.” For it is much easier to see the value of something when you have gone through struggles to obtain it - look at the different value people place on money they have earned rather than money they have won or been given. And the greater the struggle, the more value you assign it. Allah could have granted the Messenger of Allah victory right at the start of his Prophethood, but instead delayed it for 22 years, for it was the process towards victory that shaped Islam and the Muslims as much as the victory itself. And the same is true for us - we must be patient when we suffer set-backs or find things slow in happening and remember that Allah works in His own time, and that He only subjects us to those hardships because of his love for us and because He wants us to become more firmly established in the deen and be better able to cope with that victory when He gives it to us. Because never fear, that victory is near.

أَلاَ إِنَّ نَصْرَ اللهِ قَرِيبٌ

 

So keep calling on Allah and keep calling to Allah and be patient, and that fawj will become afwaj, and the trickle of people entering Islam will become a flood. And that flood will engulf this land and make it Dar al-Islam. That is the reward of those who side with Allah, submit themselves to His Will and do what He asks of them. That is the reward of the believers.

 

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، 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 (3) 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. 

اللَّهُمَّ لاَ تَدَعْ فِي مَقَامِنَا هَذَا ذَنْباً إِلاَّ غَفَرْتَهُ، وَلاَ عَيْباً إِلاَّ سَتَرْتَهُ، وَلاَ مَرِيضاً إِلاَّ شَفَيْتَهُ وَعَافَيْتَهُ، وَلاَ مَسْجُوناً إِلاَّ طَلَقْتَ سَرَاحَهُ، وَلاَ مُسَافِراً فِي بَرِّكَ وَبَحْرِكَ إِلاَّ سَلِِمْتَهُ وَغَنِمْتَهُ.

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.