God’s declaration

On the authority of Abu Dharr al-Ghifaree (may Allah be pleased with him) from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) from his Lord, that He said: O My servants! I have forbidden dhulm (oppression) for Myself, and I have made it forbidden amongst you, so do not oppress one another. O My servants, all of you are astray except those whom I have guided, so seek guidance from Me and I shall guide you. O My servants, all of you are hungry except those whom I have fed, so seek food from Me and I shall feed you. O My servants, all of you are naked except those whom I have clothed, so seek clothing from Me and I shall clothe you. O My servants, you commit sins by day and by night, and I forgive all sins, so seek forgiveness from Me and I shall forgive you. O My servants, you will not attain harming Me so as to harm Me, and you will not attain benefiting Me so as to benefit Me. O My servants, if the first of you and the last of you, and the humans of you and the jinn of you, were all as pious as the most pious heart of any individual amongst you, then this would not increase My Kingdom an iota. O My servants, if the first of you and the last of you, and the humans of you and the jinn of you, were all as wicked as the most wicked heart of any individual amongst you, then this would not decrease My Kingdom an iota. O My servants, if the first of you and the last of you, and the humans of you and the jinn of you, were all to stand together in one place and ask of Me, and I were to give everyone what he requested, then that would not decrease what I Possess, except what is decreased of the ocean when a needle is dipped into it. O My servants, it is but your deeds that I account for you, and then recompense you for. So he who finds good, let him praise Allah, and he who finds other than that, let him blame no one but himself. [Muslim]

O slaves of Allah, indeed, belief will not be complete in the soul of the Jama’ah of the Muslims
until the Jama’ah is exposed to – and makes preparations for – jihad against mankind over the
matter of this faith and confronting the people of falsehood with all their strength, while
exposing itself in that jihad and struggle to the hammers of tribulation and the bitterness of
hardship, being patient in both victory and defeat, and being shaken and afflicted with fear. Then
it remains firm and does not doubt, remains upright and does not bend, and persists upon the
rightly guided path of its faith, inshaallah. And if not for these parties and this jihad, faith would
have weakened and not increased, the hearts would have become corrupt and not upright, and we
would have seen the people’s souls becoming stagnant, ambitions sagging, and faith shriveling,
and this is how the situation becomes when we are afflicted with luxury. “If it were not for Allah
checking [some] people by means of others, the earth would have been corrupted, but Allah is
full of bounty to the creation” (Al-Baqarah 251).