The Messenger of Allah, SallAllahu Alaihi Wa Sallam, said,
“When you seek aid, turn to Allah.”
After ordering us to safeguard Allah and to know Him in times of ease – this being the very essence of worship, he directed us to ask Allah alone and to invoke Him: “Du’a is worship,” as is mentioned in the hadith of Nu’man ibn Bashir, and after staying this, the Prophet, SallAllahu Alaihi Wa Sallam, recited,
“Your Lord says, ‘Call on Me and I will answer you.’”
(Ghafir 40:60)
This was recorded by the authors of the Four Sunans. (Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi, Nasai, ibn Majah)
After all this, he directed us to seek aid of Allah Alone, and this is derived from His saying,
“You alone we worship and You alone we ask for help.”
(al-Fatihah 1:5)
This verse lays out a comprehensive principle and it is said that the essential message of all revealed scripture revolves around it.
There are two benefits in seeking the aid of Allah Alone:
The servant does not have the strength to perform actions of obedience without Allah’s help.
There is none who can aid him in the betterment of his worldly and religious life except for Allah, Mighty and Magnificent. Whoever Allah helps is truly aided and whoever Allah forsakes is truly forsaken.
The authentic hadith mentions that the Prophet, SallAllahu Alaihi Wa Sallam, said,
“Be desirous of all that would benefit you and seek Allah’s aid and do not despair.”
[Muslim]
He, SallAllahu Alaihi Wa Sallam, would say in his sermons, and teach his Companions to say,
“All praise is due to Allah, we ask for His aid and seek His guidance…”
(Shafi’i Musnad)
He ordered Muadh to never leave saying, “O Allah! Aid me in remembering You, being grateful to You and making good my worship of You” at the end of every prayer. (Ahmad)
One of his supplications was,
“My Lord! Aid me and do not aid others against me!” (Ahmad)
The supplication of Qunut which was employed by Umar and others mentioned, “O Allah! We seek Your aid!” (Tahawi Ma’ani al-Athar)
A famous narration mentions that, after striking the sea to make it split, Musa, peace be upon him, said:
“O Allah! To You belongs all praise, to You does one complain, You are the One whose aid is sought, and to You does one turn for relief, in You does one place his trust, and there is no might or motion except with You.”
[Tabarani]
The servant is in need of seeking Allah’s aid in performing the prescribed and abandoning the proscribed, and in bearing the vicissitudes of decree with patience. Yaqub, peace be upon him, said,
“… but beauty lies in showing patience and it is Allah alone who is my Help in the face of what you describe.”
(Yusuf 12:18)
It is for this reason that Aishah, RadhiAllahu Anha, said this same statement in the incident of the Lie and Allah cleared her of the false accusation.
Musa, Alaihis Salaam, said to his people,
“So seek help in Allah and be patient”
(al-Araf 7:128)
Allah said to his Prophet, SallAllahu Alaihi Wa Sallam,
“Say: ‘Lord, judge with truth! Our Lord is the All-Merciful and the One whose help is sought in the face of what you describe!”
(al-Anbiya 21:112)
When the Prophet, SallAllahu Alaihi Wa Sallam, gave Uthman the good news that he would enter Paradise after going through tribulation, he said, “Allah’s aid is sought!” [Muslim] When they entered on Uthman and beat him, with blood pouring down his body, he was saying, “None has the right to be worshipped save You, Glory be to You, I have been one of the wrong-doers. O Allah! I take refuge with You against them, I seek Your aid in all my affairs, and I ask You for the patience to bear what You have tested me with!”
It is reported on the authority of Abu Talhah that the Prophet, SallAllahu Alaihi Wa Sallam, said in one of his battles when encountering the enemy,
“O Master of the Day of Judgment, it is You we worship and Your aid we seek!”
Abu Talhah said, ‘I saw the men falling down in fits!’
[Tabarani]
The servant is in need of seeking Allah’s aid in acquiring good in his religious and wordily life as Zubayr said in his final advice to his son, Abdullah, asking him to pay off his debts, ‘If you are unable, seek the help of my Master.’ He asked, ‘Father, who is your master?’ He replied, ‘Allah.’ He said, ‘Whenever I found it difficult to pay off his debts, I said, ‘Master of Zubayr, pay off his debt!’ and it would be paid off.’
In the first sermon that Umar ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, delivered off the pulpit he said, “The Arabs are like a long suffering camel [enduring any pain and doing what they have to do] whose muzzle I have taken hold of, I will take it across the great plain and I seek the aid of Allah in doing so.”
The servant will also need Allah’s help to get him through the terrors of the Day of Rising: from the point of his death onwards.
When Khalid ibn al-Walid was one his death bed, one of the men around him said, “It is something terribly hard,” i.e. death. Khalid said, “Certainly! But I seek the aid of Allah, Mighty and Magnificent.”
When Amir ibn Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr was on his death bed, he cried and said, “I am only crying at (losing) the heat of the day and the coolness of the standing,” i.e. fasting during the day and praying at night. He said, “I seek Allah’s aid in bearing this fatal injury of mine.”
One of the early people said, “My Lord! I am amazed at how someone who knows You could hope in another! I am amazed at how someone who knows You could seek help from another.”
Al-Hassan wrote to Umar ibn Abdul Aziz, may Allah have mercy on him, “Do not seek the aid of any besides Allah or Allah may leave you to him.”
One of them said, “Seek the aid of Allah, seek His aid for He is the best of those whose aid is sought.”