Ammar Alshukry – Tips for Steadfastness in Encampments

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