Episode Details

Don’t Give Up: Hope in Bleak Times

Bismillah.

The past few weeks have been incredibly difficult for the Ummah — especially for our brothers and sisters in Gaza.

And it’s not just these few weeks. It’s been 23 months. Almost two years of relentless destruction. Every time we think we’ve seen the worst, we’re proven wrong. Every time we think we’ve hit rock bottom, Israel and the powers that support her prove that evil has no limit.

We are now witnessing full-blown famine. Starvation. Infants with nothing between their skin and bones. And on top of that — we hear of America burning 500 tonnes of food rather than allowing it to reach Palestine.

At times like this, it’s tempting to throw in the towel. To say:

“We’ve done everything we can.”

“We’ve shouted, we’ve protested, we’ve boycotted, we’ve flooded social media.”

And yet, the powers that be… remain.

But when that sense of despair starts creeping in, we must pause. We must take a step back and remember:

We are looking through the lens of our short lives.

We live 60, 70 years — maybe 50 as adults — and from that narrow perspective, it feels like there’s no hope. But history tells a different story. When we zoom out, we see a sunnah of Allah unfold:

Evil never wins in the end.

No matter how powerful. Fir’aun claimed he was God Most High — Allah destroyed him. Yet many lived and died under his tyranny and may have thought:

“Where is Allah’s help?”

“Where is our du‘a?”

Allah addresses this feeling directly in the Qur’an — in the verse I opened with. He speaks of previous nations, believers who were so shaken by hardship that even their Prophets asked, “When will the help of Allah come?”

And Allah replies:

“Indeed, the help of Allah is near.”

But near from whose perspective? Not always ours.

That’s why in Surah Ibrahim, Allah reminds us:

“Do not think that Allah is unaware of the actions of the oppressors. He is merely delaying them for a Day when eyes will stare in horror.”

We are people of hope. We do not despair when times get tough. And in this brief khutbah, I want to share three points in history to remind us: we carry the torch of hope.

1. The Trench in the Cold of Medina

Year 5 after Hijrah.

The Battle of the Trench.

After the losses at Uhud, Quraysh saw an opportunity to wipe out Islam. They gathered the largest army Arabia had ever seen: 10,000 strong. They were backed by Banu Ghatafan from the north, and allied with Jews from Khaybar, including Banu Qurayzah from within Medina.

Rasulullah ﷺ had only 3,000 companions to defend the city. It was winter. The Sahaba were hungry, cold, and exhausted. Salman al-Farisi suggested digging a trench — a Persian military tactic. And they did. Day and night. Starving, shivering, digging non-stop.

Then they hit a boulder they couldn’t break. They called the Prophet ﷺ. He struck it once — a spark flew.

“Allahu Akbar!” he cried.

A second strike — another spark.

“Allahu Akbar!”

Third strike — the boulder shattered.

“Allahu Akbar!”

The companions asked: What was the takbir about?

Rasulullah ﷺ said:

* With the first spark, I saw Persia falling to the Muslims.

* With the second, Rome.

* With the third, Yemen.

In the darkest moment, he gave them light. He gave them vision.

He didn’t just say “Have hope.”

He gave them reasons to hope.

And history proved him right. Islam triumphed. Not through numbers, but through divine help — a storm that forced the enemy to retreat. A month-long siege broken without a single full-scale battle.

2. The Fall of Baghdad (1258 CE)