At-Tawbah 14: Fight them so that Allah will punish them by your hands and humiliate them, so that Allah will make you victorious over them and relieve the hearts of the mu’min.

Fight them so that Allah may punish them by your hands. Who are they? The non-Muslims? Fight them so that Allah may punish them by your hands. May He disgrace them, make you victorious over them and ease the hearts of the believing community, He says. Yes, there are great, very great meanings here. The first meaning: when Allah Almighty created our souls in the realm of Lahut, at the address Elestü bi-Rabbiküm, when He said "I am your Lord", when the covenant was made, since He gave each person their wish and desire, their intention, as their destiny, destiny: what they will do in the worldly realm, Allah Almighty knows. In this case, since Allah Almighty leaves people free in their own will, in this realm of mulk, in an unseen realm, according to the verse "Did you think you would die without proving what kind of person you are?", every person, using their own partial will, will have the good deeds and sins they committed recorded for themselves.

In this case, although Allah Almighty knows what their end will be, each person's good deeds and sins, done through their actions, He will show them on the Day of Judgment, and so, with everyone's place prepared by the deeds they did, He will send them to their place. In this case Allah Almighty, in this verse, especially emphasizes the following to us. One: that Allah Almighty, over none of the people He has brought into the realm of mulk, uses the partial will; He leaves them free in their own will. This is the first, in this verse. Look what He says: Fight them so that Allah may punish them by your hands.

Could Allah Almighty not punish them? So Allah Almighty, having created us, (?) and as Lord, when we made the covenant, leaving people alone with their own partial will, to prove to them how they stand in the test, Allah Almighty gives people a reminder. Two: that people, the wars they won by their actions and efforts, celebrate as a festival in their joy, and since, of each person's own deeds, the good and evil from which they earned rewards or sins, within their partial will, belong to them, with the martyrs in that war and with the glory and fame of that war that was won, into the person's heart, that is, into the hearts of those believers, peace enters.

I have fulfilled my Lord's command. Even if I gave martyrs, I actually won, and those non-Muslims, by Allah's command, our Lord punished them by our hands. And He broke their pride and arrogance. Had it broken. By whom? By me. By me. Well, since He had their pride broken by me, since He granted it to me, that is, that victory, since by our hands He had the non-Muslims' pride broken and granted us this victory, those people say, praise and glory be to Allah Almighty, and celebrate that festival. So what does Allah Almighty say? May He disgrace them, that is, may the believers break their pride and arrogance, may He make you victorious over them, so that we prevail, and may He ease the hearts of the believing community.

In this way Allah Almighty beautifully praises the believers here. So in wars, those who are with Allah Almighty, those who do not flee from war, who stand firm, like whom? Like our ancestors. I told this a moment ago, I told it in the other lesson too. Like our ancestors. The Ottoman Empire fell to 10 million. To 10 million. Not 10 million; even if it had fallen to 10 people, even to 1 person, it would not have surrendered. And so Allah Almighty, this nation, against those rabid dogs of Europe, against rabid dogs, as Europe's United States in their rabid state attacked the wounded lion, the dying lion, this Turkish nation, standing firm, them disgraced, had their pride and arrogance broken, and sent them back.

Look, now the time has come, now I can tell it. He asks: our enemies, through Atatürk, what is the aim of the game they played? he asks. What is the aim of the game they played? Now the answer to that question has come too. Let us explain this to you, and the question too.

We read the verse again. Then let us open our tafsir. Fight them so that Allah may punish them by your hands. May He disgrace them. May He make you victorious over them and ease the hearts of the believing community. The question comes at exactly the right place. What is the aim of the game our enemies played over Atatürk? he asks. The question is done too. Yes.

If Allah Almighty wished, could He not have destroyed them? He decrees: Fight them. May Allah punish them by your hands. Allah Almighty of course carries out what He wills. He is Allah. For Him nothing is lacking. For Allah nothing is lacking.

The subtlety here: since everyone made a covenant with Allah at Qalu Bala, those who came into the realm of mulk and gave their covenants, within a lifetime He granted them to live their word, so that He may give these people the recompense of what they earned with their two hands, He addresses them in this way.

What you earn is the recompense of your own two hands, He says. So if you fight with these two hands of yours, if you stand against them, since Allah will continue His light until the Day of Judgment, do not be afraid at all, He says. I am behind you. Allah Almighty. Do not be afraid at all, He says. I am behind you. They fight only from behind fortified castles, He says. Yes.

Every nafs, (?), has characters. People who live these characters earn rewards and sins by what they do. So if people heed Allah's command and are with Allah, among Allah's close ones they enter. And those who oppose Allah Almighty's commands, if by those who carry out Allah's command they are killed, those who go as rebels against Allah, both in this world and in the hereafter, find their punishment. Yes.

When a Muslim is killed by unbelievers during battle, he too passes on to the hereafter as a martyr. According to the verse in which He says "Allah wishes to take martyrs from among you", Allah Almighty, these people, to give them high ranks, raises them to Himself. He takes those He loves first from among them. Yes. Allah Almighty takes those He loves first from among them. Then, in the realm of the hereafter, from ways you do not know, even in this world from ways you do not know, they are given provision. Do not call them dead. They are alive, He says. They are alive. Yes.

With the title of martyrdom, Allah (?) receives them and shows them favors. When Muslims fight, they stand firm. If they fight for Allah's pleasure and the religion of Islam, to remove oppression, to spread Allah's justice over the earth, Allah Almighty helps such communities. He helps. He routs and humiliates the armies of unbelief facing them. Making the Muslims victorious over the unbelievers, He grants brilliant victories. Yes.

Believing communities that cannot join the war against the oppression and treachery of the unbelievers, that are far away or ill, since their hearts do not accept what is done to their brothers in Islam or the oppression on earth, are filled against the oppressors with anger and a thirst for revenge. For example, the Muslims martyred in Afghanistan: towards those who oppress them, of course our hearts ache, but when we hear the news of their victories our hearts are at ease. Allah Almighty knows what the believer will experience; He informs us of these situations.

So with the victory of Islam these believing communities attain peace and tranquility. Their hearts are relieved, their love for their brothers in Islam grows even more. If Muslims engage in battle and surrender as soon as they meet some hardship, and give up fighting, Allah does not help such a Muslim community. The clearest example of this is that in the wars waged against Muslims in our time the Muslims immediately give up. Yet in our recent past, in the wars fought at Çanakkale and in the Caucasus, not one Muslim left his trench; they gave their lives and, drinking the sherbet of martyrdom, did not move from their places even an ant's length.

So, behind our martyrs, Allah helped such a nation and in history had epics written, and scattering the armies of unbelief, had "Çanakkale cannot be passed" written into the history of the unbelievers, and by fulfilling Allah's command "fight", He had this fighting nation given its independence, and the oppression of the unbelievers He removed. Yes.