Your Ally Is Only Allah, His Messenger and Those Who Believe

Occasion: A Fajr khatira delivered on 22 October 2025 Source: A transcription of a video khatira by Dr. Ahmed Abouseif — [Watch the original video on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0Flqd9ev2g)

The Doctor opened his khatira with a comprehensive supplication: that Allah make life an increase for us in every good, and death a relief for us from every evil, that He turn to us in mercy, answer our supplication, guide us in our paths and prepare for us right guidance in our affair. And he asked Allah, by His mercy and pardon, to bring the affair of the oppressed among the Muslims everywhere to a good end, to ward off calamities from them, keep their steps safe, bless what they have, preserve their covering, their security, their blood and their honor, protect them from the evil of the punishment of this world, take them into His care among those of His righteous servants whom He has taken into His care, and forgive us our shortcomings.

The map of the Muslim community

Then he said: in the words of Allah, blessed and exalted, ﴿إِنَّمَا وَلِيُّكُمُ اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا الَّذِينَ يُقِيمُونَ الصَّلَاةَ وَيُؤْتُونَ الزَّكَاةَ وَهُمْ رَاكِعُونَ﴾ (Your ally is only Allah, His Messenger and those who believe, who establish prayer and give zakāh while they bow), we pause to see that the Lord of Might, glorified be He, has laid down a very clear map for the Muslim community to walk by, and that any flaw in the steps of the Muslim community means nothing other than failing to follow the divine guidance.^[1]

When we throw ourselves into the arms of others

In the context of this verse of the Qur'an, our Lord says: ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تَتَّخِذُوا الْيَهُودَ وَالنَّصَارَىٰ أَوْلِيَاءَ بَعْضُهُمْ أَوْلِيَاءُ بَعْضٍ﴾ (O you who believe, do not take the Jews and the Christians as allies; they are allies of one another). (He said that he did not wish here to go into the matter of the Jews and the Christians, as that was not his purpose.) Then Allah tells us that ﴿مَن يَتَوَلَّهُم مِّنكُمْ فَإِنَّهُ مِنْهُمْ﴾ (whoever among you takes them as allies is one of them), and that Allah does not guide the wrongdoing people; it is as though He, glorified be He, is telling us that they wronged themselves by taking this path, and we wrong ourselves when we throw ourselves into their arms.^[2]

And where do we go? One of two things: either we hasten to them, going to them and always appealing to them for help, and placing the solutions with them because they are the people of standing and stature, or we stand on an equal footing. Then the Lord of the worlds tells us about those who hasten to them: ﴿يُسَارِعُونَ فِيهِمْ يَقُولُونَ نَخْشَىٰ أَن تُصِيبَنَا دَائِرَةٌ﴾ (they hasten to them, saying: We fear that a turn of fortune may strike us). The talk here is about the believing community: many of those who claim faith, many people who say "There is no god but Allah, Muḥammad is the Messenger of Allah" and raise the slogans, and then one of them goes and throws himself into the arms of an enemy whom he knows wishes him no good.

And their justifications? "We fear that a turn of fortune may strike us." How so? They are the people of power, the people of civilization, the people of advanced societies, the people of refinement. If we were to look back, we would find that these slogans have come out in every situation; in the time of the Prophet ﷺ you saw individuals who claimed to belong to the Muslim nation going off to the Jews, appealing to them for help and seeking their support, and those were hypocrites in that time; we ask Allah for well-being.

Ḥāṭib ibn Abī Baltaʿah: a situation to be studied in detail

He said that we may perhaps see something similar to this situation, but that he did not wish to specify it. Then he mentioned Ḥāṭib ibn Abī Baltaʿah, may Allah be pleased with him, when he wrote to the disbelievers in the year of the conquest of Mecca. Why did he write to them? So that he would have a favor with them; as if he were saying: I have done you a kindness, so if the Muslim community is defeated, and the Messenger of Allah and those with him are defeated, I will be with you, and you will take me to your side and say, "This one is of our group," and you will not harm me as you harm the rest of the people.

But Ḥāṭib's situation is different, because the Prophet ﷺ said that he had witnessed Badr and that Allah had forgiven those who witnessed Badr, and he did not let the Muslim community reproach him. It is a situation we need to study in detail.^[3]

Betrayal from within

Then he said: if we look at all the events in which the Muslim nation was defeated, their direct cause was nothing other than betrayal from within the Muslim community; in every situation you see someone ingratiating himself with the enemy until he reaches him.

Then he moved to the expression of today's reality and asked: Why do we fear the West so much? And what do people possess? They are human beings like us.

What does this faith signify?

The Lord of the worlds, glorified be He, addresses us, saying: ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا﴾ (O you who believe), and they did indeed believe; so what does this faith signify? It signifies that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, alone does what He wills, that none can overcome His command, that no one has authority over Him, and that He gives victory to His messengers and to those who believe, and supports the believers.

And in terms of history: it is He who gave Mūsā victory over Pharaoh, and how severe was Pharaoh's might in those days! It is He who saved ʿĪsā, upon our Prophet and upon him be blessings and peace, from the plotting of the plotters around him. It is He who brought Yūnus out of the belly of the whale, and that is a miracle in itself. And it is He, glorified be He, who saved Nūḥ and those with him from the hardship they were in. On the opposite side, it is He who destroyed the people of ʿĀd and the people of Thamūd and destroyed those wrongdoers. So in rescuing the people of faith there is a very great history that bears witness to it, and in destroying the wrongdoers and aggressors there is a very long history that bears witness to it. So what is it that frightens the people of faith? What casts terror into their hearts? Our Lord says: ﴿إِنَّمَا وَلِيُّكُمُ اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا﴾ (Your ally is only Allah, His Messenger and those who believe).

Fragmentation and lack of cohesion

He said: we are in a great predicament, one that has perhaps lasted a long period of time: the predicament of fragmentation, division, lack of cohesion among ourselves, and lack of cooperation. The slightest kind of disagreement dissolves relationships between people, and drives one of us to accuse his fellow of disbelief, sinfulness, transgression and misguidance, until it is as though a devil were casting accusations into people's minds so that they come out on their tongues.

And he wished to pause briefly at this verse: the Lord of Might, glorified be He, defines the relationships of the community and draws a very complete map, entirely complete; whoever follows it is guided and never goes astray. Allah said: ﴿إِنَّمَا وَلِيُّكُمُ اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا الَّذِينَ يُقِيمُونَ الصَّلَاةَ وَيُؤْتُونَ الزَّكَاةَ وَهُمْ رَاكِعُونَ﴾ (Your ally is only Allah, His Messenger and those who believe, who establish prayer and give zakāh while they bow).

And he asked Allah, glorified be He, to return us to His Book in memorization, understanding, practice, reflection and following.

--- ^[1]: Editor's documentation: al-Māʾidah 55. ^[2]: Editor's documentation: al-Māʾidah 51, which concludes ﴿إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الظَّالِمِينَ﴾ (Indeed, Allah does not guide the wrongdoing people); the transcript has «لا يحي القوم الظالمين», probably a mishearing of «لا يهدي» (does not guide). The following verse (al-Māʾidah 52) contains ﴿فَتَرَى الَّذِينَ فِي قُلُوبِهِم مَّرَضٌ يُسَارِعُونَ فِيهِمْ يَقُولُونَ نَخشَىٰ أَن تُصِيبَنَا دَائِرَةٌ﴾ (So you see those in whose hearts is a disease hastening to them, saying: We fear that a turn of fortune may strike us). ^[3]: Editor's documentation: The story of Ḥāṭib is in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī (3007) and Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim (2494), from the ḥadīth of ʿAlī, may Allah be pleased with him, and in it the Prophet ﷺ said to ʿUmar, may Allah be pleased with him: «إِنَّهُ قَدْ شَهِدَ بَدْرًا، وَمَا يُدْرِيكَ لَعَلَّ اللَّهَ أَنْ يَكُونَ قَدِ اطَّلَعَ عَلَى أَهْلِ بَدْرٍ فَقَالَ: اعْمَلُوا مَا شِئْتُمْ، فَقَدْ غَفَرْتُ لَكُمْ» ("He witnessed Badr, and what do you know? Perhaps Allah has looked upon the people of Badr and said: Do what you will, for I have forgiven you") (in the wording of al-Bukhārī). What appears in the body follows what the speaker said.