Allah the Exalted said: “And prepare against them whatever power you can”; how is the preparation to be done in the first place?

The questioner : The second question: Regarding the saying of the Exalted: , or how is the preparation to be done in the first place? And are there conditions and specifications that must be considered in this preparation?

The Shaykh : There is no doubt that the preparation mentioned here in the noble verse is material preparation. As came in the hadith of 'Uqbah ibn 'Amir in "Sahih Muslim," the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) explained his saying in this verse, saying: ; so part of the power here is material power. However, it is not permissible for us to overlook a reality latent in the address of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) to the believers in this verse, where He said: . The address here is undoubtedly directed directly to those who truly believe in Allah and His Messenger. If we observe this—and it is obligatory and necessary—then we arrive at the following result: this command for material preparation is preceded by spiritual or moral preparation, if that expression is correct. And by that, the difference is achieved between the believing Muslim nation and the disbelieving, sinful nation. All disbelieving nations are always and forever concerned with material preparation, and they do not think about this preparation to which we have drawn attention in our consideration of the saying of the Blessed and Exalted: . The address here is to the believers, and we find the realization of this meaning in the guidance of the Messenger (peace be upon him), his Sunnah, and the starting point of his call. We all know that when Allah sent the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) as a Prophet and Messenger, the first things he focused on were two:
The first thing: establishing or correcting the beliefs in the hearts of those being called to Islam.
And the second thing: raising these Muslims with Islamic morals. This is a very obvious and natural matter; and I mean that it is necessary to correct the belief and care for the upbringing.

Another questioner: Peace be upon you.

The Shaykh : And upon you be peace and the mercy of Allah and His blessings. Please, go ahead.
So we say: The verse commands the believers who have prepared themselves psychologically or spiritually that it is obligatory for them to add to this preparation another preparation, which is material and military preparation. There is no doubt that Muslims do not achieve victory over their enemies merely by taking material means to meet force with force; for there is a great difference between Muslims and disbelievers. The victory of Muslims does not require that their material preparation be equal to the material preparation of the disbelievers. Rather, what is required for the victory of Allah for His believing servants is that, along with their material preparation, they have advanced in psychological, spiritual, or educational preparation; we may call it whatever we wish, the expression varies but the meaning is one.
So the disbeliever does not believe in Allah and His Messenger, nor does he practice the Shari'ah of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), nor does he adopt the morals of our Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). As for the Muslim, if we assume that a Muslim nation in a certain time is stronger in preparation and has more powerful weapons than a disbelieving nation, that is something they do not deserve victory from Allah (Mighty and Majestic) for unless they have prepared for that preparation which disbelievers do not prepare for; which is the spiritual preparation, as we said.
In brief and in short: the matter is as the Exalted said: . So the victory of Allah does not come by merely achieving one matter as came in that verse: to its end, but rather it comes by taking and executing and applying all the necessary commands, until the Muslims are prepared and become deserving of the victory of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) for them over their enemy.
So it is necessary that we present the psychological preparation before the material preparation. This is what we call in some of our words or lectures that Muslims must have "purification and upbringing." Purification is purifying Islam from what has entered it that is foreign to it, and upbringing is acting upon this purified Islam. If the Muslims do not act upon purified Islam as it is today, unfortunately, and they take all means of material power, that is something that does not qualify them to deserve the victory of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) over...