Continuation of the explanation of the statement of Imam al-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) regarding what he quoted: "."

The Shaykh : Then the author said: "And the saying of Allah the Exalted:

And seek help through patience and prayer

واستعينوا بالصبر والصلاة

" is a command from Allah the Exalted to seek assistance in matters through patience with them, because when a person is patient and awaits relief from Allah, matters become easy for him. So if you are afflicted with something that requires patience, be patient, endure, and know that victory is with patience, that relief is with distress, and that with hardship there is ease. As for prayer, it assists in matters, assisting in both religious and worldly affairs. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was mentioned as saying that when a matter distressed him, he would turn to prayer. And Allah made clear in His Book that prayer forbids from immorality and wrongdoing. So when a person seeks assistance through prayer in his affairs, Allah makes that easy for him, because prayer is a connection between the servant and his Lord. A person stands in it before Allah, converses with Him, supplicates to Him, and draws near to Him through the types of nearness that occur in this prayer. Thus, it became a cause for assistance. And Allah is the One who grants success.
The author (may Allah have mercy on him) mentioned from the verses of patience that indicate its obligation and its virtue the saying of Allah the Exalted: , , : So Allah the Mighty and Majestic mentioned the command to seek assistance through patience, and the discussion of this has already taken place in the previous lesson. Likewise, the command to seek assistance through prayer, and the discussion of that has also already taken place.
Then He the Exalted said: , , meaning thereby the specific presence, because the presence of Allah the Exalted and Majestic is divided into two categories: a general presence that encompasses everyone, which is mentioned in the saying of Allah the Exalted: , and in His saying: . This general presence encompasses all of creation, so there is no created being except that Allah the Exalted is with him, knowing him and encompassing him with authority, power, hearing, sight, and the like. As for the specific presence, it is the presence that necessitates victory and support, and this is specific to the messengers and their followers, not for everyone. So Allah , , and the like of the verses indicating this specific presence. However, both presences do not indicate that Allah the Mighty and Majestic is with people in their locations; rather, He is with people while He the Mighty and Majestic is above His heavens, upon His Throne, and there is no impediment to that. For a thing can be above and yet be with you. The Arabs say: "We kept traveling and the moon was with us", and everyone knows that the moon is in the sky. And they say: "We kept traveling and Suhail was with us", meaning the well-known star, which is in the sky. So what can be said about the Creator the Mighty and Majestic? He is above everything, having risen above His Throne, and yet He encompasses everything and is with everyone. However much you may be alone, Allah the Exalted encompasses you with knowledge, power, authority, hearing, sight, and the like.
And in the saying of Allah the Exalted: , there is proof that the patient is aided by Allah, and that Allah the Exalted assists the patient, supports him, and protects him until his patience is completed in what Allah the Mighty and Majestic loves.
Then the author (may Allah have mercy on him) mentioned the last verse he cited, which is the saying of Allah the Exalted: : "And We will surely test you" means: We will surely try you. So the trial means the testing, or the affliction means the testing. This means that Allah tested the servants by making jihad obligatory upon them, so that He would know who is patient and who is not patient. For this reason, He the Exalted said in another verse: . And His saying the Exalted: : Some people with limited knowledge may imagine that Allah the Mighty and Majestic does not know a thing until it happens, and this is incorrect. Allah the Exalted knows things before they happen, as He the Exalted said: . And whoever claims that Allah does not know a thing except after it happens, he is denying this verse and the like of the verses indicating that Allah the Exalted has known things before they happen. But the knowledge mentioned in this verse: is the knowledge upon which reward or punishment follows. This is because Allah's knowledge of a thing before it exists does not result in anything from the side of the servant's action, because the servant has not been tested with it until the matter becomes clear. So when the servant is tested with it and tried with it, it becomes clear at that time that he has earned reward or punishment. Thus, the meaning of His saying: is: knowledge upon which recompense follows. And some of the scholars of knowledge said: "The meaning is 'until We know the mujahideen,' i.e., knowledge of manifestation", meaning until the thing becomes manifest. Because Allah's knowledge of a thing before it exists is knowledge that it will be, and His knowledge after its existence is knowledge that it was. And there is a difference between the two knowledges: the first knowledge is knowledge that it will be, and the second is knowledge that it was.
The difference becomes apparent to you if a person said to you: "I will do such and such tomorrow," for example. Now you have knowledge of what he informed you of, but when he does it tomorrow, you have another knowledge, i.e., knowledge that the thing he told you he would do has actually been done. So these are two aspects in explaining the saying of Allah the Exalted: : The first aspect is that the intended meaning is the knowledge upon which reward or punishment follows, and this does not occur except after the trial, after Allah tests the servant and tries him. Or the intended meaning, which is the second possibility, is the knowledge of manifestation, because Allah's knowledge of a thing before it exists is knowledge that it will be, so when it becomes, His knowledge of it becomes knowledge of what was. And His saying: : The mujahid is the one who exerted his effort to raise the word of Allah. This includes the mujahid with his knowledge and the mujahid with the weapon; both are mujahideen in the path of Allah. The mujahid with his knowledge, who learns knowledge, acts upon it, spreads it among people, and makes this a means to implement the Shari'ah of Allah, is a mujahid. And the one who carries the weapon to fight the enemies is also a mujahid.