A word on the psychological and material preparation for fighting the disbelievers.

The questioner : May you allow us, O Shaykh, we need to pray; we have not yet prayed Maghrib.

The Shaykh : Yes, ... are you in a state of wudu?

The questioner : If Allah wills.

The Shaykh : ... Perform wudu and we will continue the topic. We say that ... [the text] 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 the material, military preparation. There is no doubt and no ambiguity that Muslims do not achieve victory over their enemies merely by adopting material means to meet force with force. This is because 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, the condition for Allah’s victory for His believing servants is that, along with their material preparation, they have advanced in psychological, spiritual, or educational preparation—whatever we call it, the expressions vary but the meaning is one. The disbeliever does not believe in Allah and His Messenger, does not practice the religion of the Shari'ah of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), and does not adopt the morals of our Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). As for the Muslim, if we assume that a Muslim nation, at a certain time, is stronger in preparation and has more powerful weapons than a disbelieving nation, that does not entitle them to victory from Allah (Mighty and Majestic) unless they have prepared the preparation that disbelievers do not prepare, which is the spiritual preparation, as we said. In brief and concise terms, the matter is as Allah the Exalted said: . Therefore, Allah’s victory does not come about merely by fulfilling one matter, as mentioned in that verse to its end. Rather, it comes about by taking and implementing and applying all the necessary commands so that the Muslims are prepared and become worthy of the victory of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) for them over their enemy. Thus, it is necessary to present the psychological preparation before the material preparation. This is what we call in some of our words or lectures the necessity for Muslims of purification and education. Purification is purifying Islam from what has entered it that is foreign to it, and education is acting upon this purified Islam. If the Muslims do not act upon purified Islam as it is today, unfortunately, and they adopt all means of material strength, that does not qualify them to be worthy of the victory of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) over their enemies. And upon you be peace and the mercy of Allah and His blessings. Now, is there anything else?