Surat al Nasr starts off with Bismillāhir Raḥmānir Raḥīm بِسمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحمٰنِ الرَّحيمِ إِذا جاءَ نَصرُ اللَّهِ وَالفَتحُ idhā jā-a naṣrul-lāhi wal-fatḥ When the help and victory comes from Allah, This verse is referring to when the Holy Prophet (s) and his followers were kicked out of Mecca to are far place for many long years. After years and years of struggle, hardship and pain, Allah (swt) is telling them that help and victory is definitely coming and you will be returning back to Mecca very soon. The next verse says وَرَأَيتَ النّاسَ يَدخُلونَ في دينِ اللَّهِ أَفواجًا wara aytan- nāsa yadkhulūna fī dīnil-lāhi afwājā and when you see the people entering the Religion of Allah in large crowds, And that is exactly what happened, the Prophet (s) and his followers returned to Mecca with help and victory, they saw groups and groups of people entering the Religion of Allah by their own free will without any battle. There were many victories for Islam, but no victory was as important as the conquest of Mecca with no bloodshed, especially for the Arabs who believed, that if the Prophet of Islam (S) could conquer and capture Mecca, then, it was a sign of him being a true prophet. Why? Because they believed if he was a fake prophet, Allah would not let him be victorious in Mecca, just as Allah did not allow Ashab al fil become victories in Mecca. abraha And now that you see these thousands of people enter the religion of Islam, Allah says in the next verse فَسَبِّح بِحَمدِ رَبِّكَ وَاستَغفِرهُ ۚ إِنَّهُ كانَ تَوّابًا fasabbiḥ biḥamdi rabbika was'taghfirh, innahu kāna tawwābā then glorify and praise your Lord, and seek His forgiveness. Indeed, He is the one who accepts repentance. So Allah swt is saying, once He makes you victorious and you see groups and groups of crowds of people entering into Islam with their own free will, and instead of showing pride and taking revenge on what the people of Mecca had done, Allah is giving 3 important instructions. Sabbih, Hamd and Istighfar. What do these three special instructions mean? First when we say Sabbih, it is to acknowledge and glorify Allah as completely pure and free from any fault or weakness. Tasbih, Subhan, Sabbih all come from the same root word. Then once we acknowledge that Allah is the most perfect and free from any fault, we praise and thank Allah. Alhamdulillah. Then we do istighfar, seeking forgiveness because, I am the weak, Allah is the All Powerful, I am ignorant and Allah is the all Knowledgeable. I am cruel; Allah is the All Compassionate and so on. The word Tawba means to return, the word tawwab means to always return or return alot. Indeed Allah is al Tawwaab, the one who always returns. We may abandon Allah many times in our life but Allah never abandons us. He accepts our repentance over and over again. Some have said that the word tawab in this verse indicates that just as Allah has accepted your repentance, you, too should accept the repentance of the guilty after victory of Mecca. Just as the Prophet (s) did, by showing mercy and forgiveness to his enemies at its highest standard. When the Prophet (s) does istighfar or repents, it doesn’t mean he has committed a sin and is seeking forgiveness. It means he is seeking help and protection from Allah, for himself and his followers against forces of evil and seeks forgiveness of behalf of his followers. Some have said that when this chapter was revealed and the Prophet recited it to the followers, they all became happy except for Abbas the uncle of the Prophet (s), who began shedding tears. The holy Prophet (S) asked him why he was crying. He answered that this Surah indicated about the Prophet’s death. And the Prophet said: It is so, my uncle. So this Surah is telling us that Allah’s help comes first and then victory. And the help and victory influenced groups and groups of people to enter the Religion of Allah by their own free will. All of these are causes and effects for each other. So in other words, people do not enter Islam in thousands and thousands by their own free will unless there is victory. There is no real victory without the help of Allah. And along all these stages comes the stage of being thankful and praiseworthy to Allah. What we can learn from this Surah in our lives is that victory always comes from Allah through struggle. And have patience from the struggles as some struggles may take years. What you have to know is that Allah can bring you out of any difficulty you are in and always turn to Him and be grateful. Don’t look at your acts of worship as something to boast about by being overly proud and arrogant over it. These things may be victorious but you would not have done them without the blessing and help of Allah swt. And once you recognise the blessing and victory from Allah that you have, which is a blessing it itself, you will sincerely thank Allah and seek forgiveness for your doings.