Indeed a Promise of Victory from Allah !

From the Seerah we know that during the Caliphate of Umar ibn Khattab, he once set out for ash-Sham (Damascus) and with him was Abu Ubaydah. They came upon a deep creek which they needed to cross. So Umar took off his sandals and carried them on his shoulders. Then he took the reign of the camel and began ploughing through the water. Abu Ubaydah - seeing the Leader of the Muslims in this state - felt saddened and said, "I fear that the people of the village will think you without any honour." Umar said, "Oh Abu Ubaydah, if only someone less knowledgeable then you made such a statement. We were of the most disgraced of people and Allah granted us honour with this Islam. Now, whenever we seek honour in other than that which Allah honoured us with, Allah shall disgrace us (once again)."

Ya Muslimeen, we hear often that the victory of Allah is something promised and very near. However, some of us do not really believe in our hearts that Allah will grant victory to Islam. Some of us may think that this victory that Allah speaks about is only for a certain 'star-status' group of believers, or that the victory was only for a certain time in history, or that it's not a promised victory, just a miraculous will of God...

We must understand that it is not anyone who is promising this - it is Allah the Lord of the Heavens and the Earth. And it is not just a promise of the Hereafter, but it is promised in this life as well.

"Indeed, we will grant victory to Our Messengers and those who believe in this life of the world and on the day when the witnesses will stand." [40:51]

We can only hope for victory when we surrender our loyalty to Allah and His Messenger (saws) and to the believers - and no one else!

"And whoever is an ally of Allah and His Messenger and those who have believed - indeed the party of Allah will be the victors." [5:56]   

Honour and victory come only from Allah. Whoever seeks it from other than Allah, nothing awaits them but disgrace.

"Give glad tidings to the hypocrites (munafiqeen) that there is for them a painful punishment - those that take disbelievers as allies instead of the believers. Do they seek with them honour ('izzah)? Rather, to Allah indeed belongs all honour!" [4:138-139]   

And when someone thinks that this victory and honour that was promised to the righteous is only a delusion, they are in fact recycling the statements of the hypocrites before them. Allah recorded their scoffing:

"And (remember) when the hypocrites and those in whose hearts is disease said, 'Allah and His Messenger did not promise us anything more then delusion.'" [33:12]

Was the promise of victory just a delusion? Let the Qur'an speak to us the outcome of that battle of al-Ahzab! Allah tells us:

"And Allah repelled those who disbelieved, in their rage, not having accomplished any good. And enough was Allah for the believers in battle, and ever is Allah Powerful and Exalted in Might." [33:25]
Ibn Kathir said, "Whoever wants a place of honour in this life and the next, let him hold firmly to the obedience of Allah - his goal will be realized. This is because to Allah belongs this life and next and all honour is His. Allah says:

Say, 'O Allah, Owner of Sovereignty, You give sovereignty to whom You will and You take sovereignty away from whom You will. You honour whom You will and You humble whom You will. In Your hand is (all) good. Indeed, You are over all things competent.'" [3:26]

King, prince, duke, marquise, earl, viscount, baron, baronet, and knight - these were the names the English used to appropriate nobility amongst themselves. Humans want to be honoured in this life and so they set out in search of things that will grant them this honour.

Some search for it in money - but when a stock market crashes and they lose everything, they commit suicide or live in humility. Some search for it in degrees - but those same degrees may be their citation for arrogance over others. Some search for it in military might or leadership position - but when the tables turn on them they become the most humiliated.

Only in the worship of Allah is true honour found, because all honour belongs to Allah.
"And to Allah belongs all honour, and to His Messenger, and to the believers, but the hypocrites know not." [63:8]

Al-Hasan al-Basri said concerning the people of sin, "They - even though their riding beasts pitter patter with them atop, and their mules carry them ever so gracefully, upon them at all times is the hovering disgrace of sin. Allah shall never allow for those who disobey Him anything more then disgrace."

"And whoever Allah humiliates - for him there is no one to give him honour." [22:18]

The people of Prophet Noah ran out to see if the news was true! Was he really building a boat in the desert? Um-hmm, there he was indeed, building a huge boat without a drop of water in sight.

Allah tells us:
"And he constructed the ark - whenever a group of the eminent of his people passed him they mocked him." [11:38]
They couldn't help themselves but to ridicule him. "Hey Noah, you were a Prophet yesterday; Have you now become a carpenter?"

What happened ya Muslimeen to those devilish people who disbelieved in Allah's Messenger for 950 years - where are they now? And who was the winner in the end?

Certainly, in the end Allah granted a decisive victory to Prophet Noah. More so, Allah tells His Prophet, at the conclusion of Prophet Noah's story how victory will always be for the believers:
"So be patient, indeed, the (best) outcome is (and will always be) for the righteous." [11:49] 

The Prophet (saws) said, "This affair (Islam) will reach what is reached by the night and the day; and Allah will not leave a dwelling of brick, nor fur, except that Allah will cause this Din to enter it - bringing honour or humiliation. Honour which Allah gives to Islam and humiliation which Allah will give to disbelief." [Sahih: Related by Ahmad (4/103), Ibn Hibban in his Sahih (no. 1631) and others]   

The narrator of the Hadith, Tamim ad-Dari said, "Certainly, I saw this in my own family. Those that become Muslim amongst them found prosperity and nobility and honour. And those that turned to kuffr found nothing but disgrace and humility and the jizyah tax." 

There are different ways in which Allah grants victory to His righteous servants: Allah may grant victory through martyrdom. We read in the Qur'an Allah telling us to not think that those who were killed in the way of Allah as dead. Nay, they are alive with Allah, well provided for.
Allah may grant victory through the huge success in spreading one's Da'wah. The Messenger of Allah (saws) taught us this in the story of the boy and the king. In the end, the only way the king could kill the boy was to shoot the arrow pronouncing the statement, 'In the Name of the Lord of this boy.' When he did so, although the boy was martyred, the entire village believed in Allah, alone, the Lord of the boy.
Allah may grant victory through the trials that distinguish the believers from the hypocrites. As a sage once said, "All thanks are to Allah who places a hardship on me through which I distinguish my friends from my enemies."Or victory may come through Allah assisting his servant with clear and decisive arguments. An example of this is how Allah supported Prophet Ibraheem against the tyrant Namrud when he said that he too gives life and death. Prophet Ibraheem replied that verily Allah brings the sun from the east so bring it ye from the west. Namrud was dumbfounded and had no reply. 

In conclusion ya Muslimeen, we all know that the Messenger of Allah (saws) started this mission of Islam at the Mountain of Safa. After telling his people about Allah and the Final Day, Abu Jahl - his own uncle - turned his back on him and said aloud, "May you perish O Muhammad! Is this why you have gathered us?" On his heels he turned and everyone followed him, leaving our Prophet (saws) standing alone. [see Sahih Bukhari Volume 6, Book 60, Number 495 for entire Hadith]

Two decades later, in the farewell Hajj, he (saws) stood on that very same mountain. At this time, the victory of Allah had come true as Allah had promised. All of Makkah was now Muslim, a sea of believers memorizing their Prophet's (saws) every move. The Messenger of Allah (saws) stood there on Mount Safa and faced the Ka'bah and recited:
"There is no god but Allah. Only One. He was true to His promise. He granted victory to His servant. He granted honour and nobility to his army. And the confederates did He - alone - defeat." [Narrated by Abu Huraira - Tafseer Ibn Kathir, Surah 33:25]