Ammar Alshukry – Tips for Steadfastness in Encampments
AI: Summary ©
The success of universities in gaza is highlighted, including the importance of graduation and professional career. The success of sustainability is also emphasized, along with the importance of asking for others' input and making a lot of effort to pursue the right. The speaker also emphasizes the importance of effort, effort, and steadiness in achieving success, as it strengthens the body and spirit. The speaker encourages asking for sustainability and making a lot of effort to pursue the right, as it helps to win and be proud of the people who support and build the encampment.
AI: Summary ©
We've all been watching over the past couple
of weeks students set up encampments in universities
all over the country first and then all
over the world alhamdulillah and to say that
it's been you know something that we're proud
of or what have you I feel like
that would be too patronizing because they are
actually not a source of pride as much
as they're a source of inspiration you know
we aspire to be like them students have
become the leaders after watching for seven months
our politicians fail our community leaders fail the
adults so to speak fail and so students
took it upon themselves to risk their careers
to risk their graduations to risk their academic
futures and they said in one voice that
you know the our educations are not more
important than the education of the children of
gaza as we saw 12 universities all 12
universities in gaza be destroyed as we saw
their school systems their journalists their scholars be
killed and what's being called scholasticity and so
this is a beautiful effort and ask allah
azawajal to accept from all of us and
so in in line of that spirit of
just wanting to support this the students in
whatever way that we can I wanted to
share just a couple of quick points number
one the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam he
says he says that know that victory comes
with sabr victory comes with sabr what is
sabr sabr is generally translated as patience but
it's actually much more than just patience it's
a much bigger word than patience sabr is
resilience sabr is perseverance sabr is grit sabr
is is is fortitude all of that is
included in the word sabr and the prophet
sallallahu alayhi people who are successful in any
any field of human endeavor in anything whether
it's academics whether it's athletics whether it's business
you will find that they are different in
all of their qualities or they might be
different in all of their qualities but one
quality that is shared is the quality of
perseverance they persevere and so when you are
in an encampment one of the most important
qualities that you have is the ability to
just persevere to overcome obstacles that are going
to come your way and allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala says يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِصْبِرُوا
وَصَابِرُوا وَرَابِطُوا وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَفْرِهُونَ allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala says oh you who
believe have sabr and out sabr the others
be more patient than everybody else and hold
fast and then have taqwa of allah with
all of that have taqwa of allah and
in that you'll be successful so the first
thing is the importance of sabr and then
the issue of how is a person steadfast
upon the truth this is the truth that
we're upon that i mean it sounds silly
that this is a truth that needs to
be declared but that the children of gaza
deserve to live that the women of gaza
deserve to live that the men of gaza
deserve to live that the elderly of gaza
deserve to live and that they all deserve
to live with dignity but how is a
person steadfast and what do we see to
be the causes of steadfastness in the Qur
'an and I'll share with you four quick
points how can a person be steadfast in
a time when people are opposing them how
can a person be steadfast upon the truth
the first thing is to ask it from
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala because Allah is
the ultimate and the greatest cause of steadfastness
in fact Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says
about the Prophet ﷺ himself وَلَوْ لَا أَنْ
ثَبَّتْنَاكَ لَقَدْ كِتَّ تَرْكَنُوا إِلَيْهِمْ شَيْئًا قَلِيلًا Allah
says about the Prophet that if we did
not make you steadfast you might have been
inclined to the mushrikeen a little bit you
might have kind of just you know let
me just negotiate this and negotiate that and
let me you know but Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala says we made you steadfast and
so recognizing that a person isn't steadfast because
of their own integrity or their own values
or their own strength of character but rather
because it's from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
so when you're in an encampment like this
you need to be asking Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala and reminding each other to ask
Allah for steadfastness that's number one number two
is to actually make a lot of dhikr
of Allah.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala sent Musa and
Harun to one of the greatest pirates ever
and that is Fir'aun and he said
اِذْهَبْ أَنْتَ وَأَخُوكَ بِآيَاتِي وَلَا تَنِيَا فِي ذِكْرِي
Allah says you and your brother go with
my signs and do not be lax in
remembering me the dhikr of Allah strengthens the
body and it strengthens the spirit and so
while you're here لا إله إلا الله الله
أكبر سبحان الله الحمد لله اللهم صلي على
سيد محمد right it strengthens your body and
it strengthens your spirit so that's the second
and that's literally an ingredient that the Prophet
that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gave to
Musa and Harun you're going to a tyrant
what should you do make a lot of
dhikr remember me a lot number three is
to make istighfar to seek Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala's forgiveness مَا كَانَ قَوْلُهُمْ إِلَّا أَنْ
قَالُوا رَبَّنَا اغْفِرْ لَنَا ذُنُوبَنَا وَإِسْرَافَنَا فِي أَمْرِنَا
وَثَبِّتْ أَقْدَامَنَا وَانْصُرْنَا عَلَى الْقَوْمِ الْكَافِرِينَ they said
Oh Allah forgive us our sins and forgive
us our transgressions regarding your right and make
our feet steadfast and give us victory over
the disbelieving people and so making istighfar becomes
a source of steadfastness and success and if
you reflect on the last verse of Ali
Imran where Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says
وَعْفُوا عَنَّا وَإِغْفِرْ لَنَا وَإِرْحَمْنَا أَنْتَ مَوْلَانَ فَانْصُرْنَا
عَلَى الْقَوْمِ الْكَافِرِينَ I always used to remember
I always used to reflect on and question
why is it that Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala is asking us to seek forgiveness and
then says you are our protector so grant
us victory over the disbelieving people at the
end of Ali Imran no Ali Imran you're
right Al Baqarah you're right so at the
end of Al Baqarah why is that because
and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala knows best
there's nothing that causes defeat more than a
person sits there's nothing that causes defeat more
than a person says Omar Ibn Khattab used
to write all over the Muslim world and
he used to say that انما تنصرون من
السماء he would say to them you are
given victory in the frontiers of the Muslim
lands you say you're given victory because of
the heavens not because of your resources not
because of your strategy not because of your
wit you're given support because of your your
your support from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
and so securing support from Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala through istighfar is the greatest and
then the last thing that I'll mention is
by reflecting on the Quran a lot reflecting
on the Quran a lot Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala mentions that one of the reasons
why the stories of the Prophets in general
was revealed like why do we know the
story of Musa and why do we know
the story of Yunus and why do we
know the story of Yusuf why all of
these stories Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says
وَكُلًّا نَقُصُ عَلَيْكَ مِنْ أَنبَاءِ الرُّسُولِ مَا نُثَبِّتْ
بِهِ فُؤَادَكَ Allah says we have revealed to
you the stories of the Prophets that which
will give your heart firmness it gives you
resolve and so the stories of the Prophets
gives us resolve you see that Rasul Allah
ﷺ was expelled from his city the Prophet
ﷺ was outcasted Musa was outcasted Ibrahim ﷺ
was outcasted they stood upon the truth they
stood alone at times they were ostracized at
times they were mocked at times they were
belittled at time they were considered to be
insignificant at times you see how the wicked
maneuvered as well and so that gives the
person resolve that they know that I am
walking a path that was walked before me
and I know that at the end of
the day العاقب لجن التقير that the people
of taqwa are the ones who win and
so these are our four quick points may
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala bless you and
bless everybody who participated in building this encampment
and supporting it and may Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala give us all a reason to
be proud when we meet him inshallah