THE CHARACTERISTICS & CONDITIONS FOR SUCCESS

Shaykh Rabīʿ bin Hādī al-Madkhalī رحمه الله said:

Honestly speaking, given our state today, we do not deserve victory. This is why we are consistently defeated without any victory at all. The conditions of victory have not been met. Allah promised victory for the one who fulfilled these conditions and possessed these attributes. These attributes are not present in us today, and they must be.

How can we obtain these characteristics? This is done by cultivating Muslims upon the true tawḥīd and adhering to the Book of Allah and the Sunnah. This is what going back to the religion is.

"Until you go back to your religion."

Your religion is not the religion of the Rawāfiḍ; or of Ṣūfism; or of the Muʿtazilah; nor the religion of the Khawārij and Murjiʾah. Nor is your religion that of Sayyid Quṭb, which is a mixture of all types of deviances. Your religion is returning back to the religion of Muḥammad ﷺ. That religion about which Allah said:

"This day I have perfected your religion for you, completed My favor upon you, and have chosen Islam as your religion."
— Al-Māʾidah: 3

Returning to this true religion that Muḥammad ﷺ came with and complying with it completely — then, and only then, will we deserve Allah to give us victory. We equip ourselves as much as we are able, and Allah will make us victorious over all the disbelieving states. This victory will come from Allah — the Mighty and Majestic.

"We shall cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve, because they joined others in worship with Allah, for which He had sent no authority. Their abode will be the Fire, and how evil is the abode of the polytheists and wrongdoers!"
— Āl ʿImrān: 151

Allah will place fear and weakness in their hearts, and then Allah will make that Jihād — which is done in order to exalt His word — victorious. Allah's word is the Book of Allah, the Sunnah of His Messenger ﷺ, and the word of tawḥīd: there is no deity that deserves to be worshipped in reality except Allah.

So have knowledge of this, acknowledge it, and understand it. Strive to implement and act upon it, and do not let these futile banners, slogans, and mottos of deviant groups and parties deceive you. These slogans for the past seventy years have done nothing but bring humiliation and weakness to this nation.

By Allah, if it were not for these deviant slogans and mottos that stood in opposition to the manhaj of the Salaf; and if it were not for the relentless war that the proprietors of these slogans and mottos wage against the manhaj of the Salaf without respite; and if it were not for these people striving to corrupt the Salafī institutes and universities; and if it were not for these deviant groups attacking the Salafī methodology, harming and waylaying communities and their youth, deviating them from the true methodology of Allah; and if it were not for the repugnant attacks that have swept across the lands; and if it were not for Jamāʿat al-Tablīgh and the Muslim Brotherhood waging war against the lands of tawḥīd — then it would be possible for people to start working in the correct manner for the word of Allah to be paramount, in order to return the Muslims to the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Messenger ﷺ.

Instead, these individuals plague this nation like mites, playing with the minds of the youth. They place a barrier that prevents the Salafī daʿwah and the spreading of this light throughout the world. By Allah, if it were not for these plots, trickery, and treachery, the Islamic world would not be in the state it is in right now. People began to be receptive to the Salafī daʿwah; they began eradicating deviances, myths, and fanaticism, along with particular schools of thought. After a while, the people began accepting and submitting to the Book and the Sunnah.

I believe that there is an undercover force behind these deviant groups with the intent of fighting and opposing true Islam — because they know that true Islam is the Salafī daʿwah.

— Wujūb al-Ittibāʿ li-Fahm al-Salaf pg. 56-60

THE HISTORY OF THE ISLAMIC CREED

Shaykh Muḥammad Amān al-Jāmī said:

As for the history of the Islamic creed, then it goes back to the earliest of times and eras, since there was not a Prophet that was sent except that his call began with ʿAqīdah and he made it the essence of his message.

Allah سبحانه وتعالى says to His Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ, the last of His Messengers:

"And We have not sent before you any messenger except that We have revealed to him that there is no deity except Me, so worship Me."
— Al-Anbiyāʾ: 25

Also He سبحانه وتعالى says:

"And certainly We have sent to every nation a messenger declaring: Worship Allah alone and avoid anything which is worshipped besides Allah."
— Al-Naḥl: 36

This means that all the Prophets began their call to Allah with the correction of the ʿAqīdah before addressing anything else from the good actions that they called to.

For this reason, we find in Sūrat Hūd the mention of several Messengers who began their call to Allah by appealing to their respective peoples and calling them to the Islamic ʿAqīdah and its rectification — in addition to the meaning of Īmān and Islam, as well as the foundation of the Islamic ʿAqīdah: that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah سبحانه وتعالى. This started from Nūḥ عليه السلام, who was the first Messenger sent to the people of the earth after shirk occurred among his people.

Allah سبحانه وتعالى says:

"And surely We sent Nūḥ to his people, proclaiming: 'Indeed, I am for you a clear warner, so that you would not worship except Allah — surely I fear punishment for you on a day of great pain'."
— Hūd: 25–26

Also in the same context and in the same manner, Allah سبحانه وتعالى says regarding Ṣāliḥ عليه السلام and his people:

"And to Thamūd We sent their brother Ṣāliḥ. He said: 'O my people, worship Allah; there is no deity for you besides Him'."
— Hūd: 61

Then Allah continues in the same noble context to say about Shuʿayb عليه السلام and his people:

"And to Madyan We sent their brother Shuʿayb. He said: 'O my people, worship Allah; there is no deity for you besides Him. And do not decrease from what is weighed and the scale. Truly, I see you upon goodness, but I surely fear for you the punishment of an all-encompassing Day'."
— Hūd: 84

Also Allah says in another context and in another chapter of the Qurʾān regarding Yūsuf's عليه السلام debate with his two companions in prison:

"O my two companions in prison, are separate different lords better or is Allah — the One, the Irresistible? Those whom you worship other than Him are merely names which you and your forefathers have invented, for which Allah has not sent down any authority. The judgment is for none but Allah. He has commanded that you worship none except Him — that is the correct religion, but most of the people do not know."
— Yūsuf: 39–40

This is how the Book of Allah clarifies the history of the Islamic ʿAqīdah throughout the long history of the Prophets and Messengers, and how this ʿAqīdah used to be the key to their call. This means the religion of the Prophets was one, and that it was Islam.

"Truly, the religion with Allah is Islam."
— Āl ʿImrān: 19

It was Islam with its ʿAqīdah and fundamentals, even if their legislations and methodologies may have differed — since Allah سبحانه وتعالى did this out of wisdom. As a result, every Prophet had a legislation and methodology suitable for his people, their situations, circumstances, and times. Allah سبحانه وتعالى says:

"And do not follow their vain desires away from the truth that has come to you. To each among you, We have prescribed a law and a clear methodology."
— Al-Māʾidah: 48

Thus, the issue of Islamic ʿAqīdah has been connected to mankind ever since the father of mankind, Ādam عليه السلام, descended to earth — and therefore it has been linked to mankind throughout its history, as we have just seen.

— al-ʿAqīdah al-Islāmiyyah wa Tārīkhuhā pg. 64-69