Hold on to Allah - Nouman Ali Khan
And so Allah says,
(QS. 22:78) فَأَقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَآتُوا الزَّكَاةَ وَاعْتَصِمُوا بِاللَّهِ
He says, "Established a prayer and give zakat."
Establish the prayer and give zakat
is actually a beautiful expression in the Quran
for many things.
But actually, they're connected to each other.
When you establish the prayer,
that means you pray together.
And when you pray together,
you get to know each other.
And when you get to know each other,
you find the ones among you who have needs.
You figure out who's in need,
and who's not doing well,
and who's sick,
and who's unwell,
and who's having difficulty in life.
And then you find out
who should you give the zakat to.
They're connected to each other:
establish prayer and give zakat.
Because establishing prayer
builds the hearts closer to each other
before Allah.
And then you purify your wealth
by taking care of those in need among you.
(QS. 22:78) فَأَقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَآتُوا الزَّكَاةَ وَاعْتَصِمُوا بِاللَّهِ
"Hold on to Allah."
That amazing phrase at the end, "Hold on to Allah"
is the last thing I'll explain and I'm done.
When Allah says, "Hold on to Allah."
(اِعْتِصَام) actually means
to hold on to something that if you let go you'll die.
Hold on tight for (عِصْمَة).
(عِصْمَة) means protection.
(اِعْتِصَام) is to hold on for protection,
like imagine if you fell off of a boat,
or a ship, or something,
and the only thing you're holding on
is the rope or the anchor.
If you let go of it, you're done.
Allah says, "Hold on to Allah for dear life."
You know what that means, right?
That means if the people around me abandon me,
if the people that were around you,
that you were practicing deen
because your friends were religious,
and you're in a good environment.
Now you're in college,
and you're the only Muslim there.
You're like, "Oh man, my friends aren't there anymore,
so I don't feel so inclined towards Islam anymore."
"I don't really feel like praying anymore."
"I don't really feel like, you know,
I don't have that connection anymore."
No, no, no.
Whether people hold on to you or not,
whether the support system is there or not,
this is why we are the legacy of Ibrahim (عليه السلام).
He hold, he, that young man held on to his religion,
and he was the only one holding on to his religion.
There was no support around him.
His family didn't support him,
his society didn't support him.
He's a one-man nation,
that's why Allah calls him an ummah by himself,
a nation by himself,
and we are his following.
You know what that means?
That we don't make the excuse
that the environment around us is bad,
and that's why we don't submit to Allah.
That our friends are messed up,
and that's why we're messed up.
That, "Man, you don't know what my crowd is like."
Who cares what your crowd is like?
You're the legacy of Ibrahim (عليه السلام).
You're the only light
in the middle of all the darkness.
You don't make the excuse,
you're there to get rid of darkness,
not to be part of it.
That's your function.
(QS. 22:78) وَاعْتَصِمُوا بِاللَّهِ هُوَ مَوْلَاكُمْ
He's your protective friend.
He's your security.
He's the one that's going to guard you.
(QS. 22:78) فَنِعْمَ الْمَوْلَىٰ وَنِعْمَ النَّصِيرُ
What an incredible protection He is!
What an amazing protective guardian He is!
And what an amazing aid He is!
But the word (نصير) comes from the Arabic word (نُصْرَة).
Some of you are familiar.
(QS. 110: 1) إِذَا جَاءَ نَصْرُ اللَّهِ وَالْفَتْحُ
The word (نَصْر) in the Arabic language isn't just help.
It's actually massive aid.
If I help you outside because you have a flat tire,
I don't say, (نَصَرْتُكَ). I say, (سَاعَدْتُكَ).
I helped you.
(نُصْرَة) is like an aid package.
Billions of dollars are being given
to some country in aid, that's (نُصْرَة).
A huge army came to help a country
that's been invaded, that's (نُصْرَة).
(نُصْرَة) is not a small kind of help.
It's massive legions of help.
It's like when Allah will send armies of angels,
that's called (نُصْرَة).
That's (نُصْرَة).
That's the aid of Allah, the massive aid of Allah.
Allah is saying He (نصير), the fa'il form,
actually means how amazing is Allah
that He's always there ready to aid you
in the most massive ways.
When you have held on to Allah,
you've held on to the strongest possible support
you could have that is constant.
(QS. 22:78) فَنِعْمَ الْمَوْلَىٰ وَنِعْمَ النَّصِيرُ
You have nothing left to worry about.
This is the mentality of someone
who accepts the legacy of the religion
of their father Ibrahim (عليه السلام).
And when you accept that,
then struggling for Allah becomes easy,
then He opens up those doors.
(QS. 22:78) وَجَاهِدُوا فِي اللَّهِ
Allah (عز و جل) says,
(QS. 29:69) وَالَّذِينَ جَاهَدُوا فِينَا لَنَهْدِيَنَّهُمْ سُبُلَنَا
"Those who struggle in our path,
We open up Our pathways for them."
We guide them to Our multiple pathways absolutely.
Allah will make it a way out for you.
This struggle that I keep referring to
is different for each one of you.
Some of you have struggles inside the family;
Some of you have struggles at work,
or having to do with money;
Some of you are struggling with your health;
Some of you are struggling with religion itself,
barely holding on to your religion itself,
barely holding on to Allah himself;
Some of you are struggling to get away from haram.
When you decide to struggle
away from the way of shaytan and towards Allah,
Allah's help is constantly there.
He does not abandon you.
We think He abandons us.
Shaytan comes and tells us,
"You're so messed up. Allah doesn't like you."
"He's gonna burn you in hell," etc.
He wants you to lose connection with Allah.
And Allah comes along and says,
"No. Allah is there when you turn to Him."
He's going to be there
and He's going to constantly be there
to provide His support.