At-Tawbah 34: Oh you believers! (Know that) most rabbis and priests consume people’s possessions by unjust means and prevent (people) from Allah’s path. To those who stack gold and silver and do not spend it on Allah’s path, give them the news about a severe punishment.

We left off at verse 34 of Surah At-Tawbah.

O you who believe!

Know that many of the rabbis and monks devour people's wealth by unjust means and bar people from the way of Allah. Yes, many of them devour people's wealth by unjust means and also bar them from the way of Allah. And those who hoard gold and silver and do not spend it in the way of Allah? Give them the tidings of a painful punishment. Yes.

The goods, property, wealth, gold, rubies, emeralds of the world, whatever created adornment comes to our mind, with the verse in which He says every soul will taste death and (?) your return is to Me, plus with the verse in which He says the inheritance of the heavens and the earth belongs to Allah, leaving all of it again to the Creator, with the deeds we have done, with our actions, we will go before Allah Almighty. In this case one inclines toward the creations of Allah Almighty.

Piling up gold and silver in heaps, sir, being stingy with it, worshipping it by deifying it in our nafs, by turning people away from Allah, (?) on the Day of Judgment Allah Almighty says to those people: here is the gold you piled up, and today's torment is this.

Because of the cravings they feel for gold and silver, even barring people from the way of Allah, by presenting these things to people as if they were the truth, by presenting them as the truth, that is, by presenting falsehood as the truth, these people, these monks, exploiting people's consciences, by taking from them gold and silver, sir, for their own interest and gain, acquire a fortune. A fortune. And they worship that fortune as if it were a god. Those who worship the creations of Allah Almighty, stepping outside Allah's commands and prohibitions, living their lives outside the religion of Islam, and pass on to the hereafter in that state, they are the ones whose places in the fire are being prepared.

By sending the religion of Islam, Allah Almighty, about those who did not enter Islam, those who rebel against Allah, who hold worldly interests above everything, informing of the state of the monks and priests, says that they, deceiving people toward their own interests, will tell every kind of lie to gain worldly things; this is what Allah Almighty makes known. They tell every kind of lie. Never holding back from lying in any way, without Allah and His Messenger coming to his mind, the punishment he will suffer in the hereafter not caring about, as long as he can get those worldly goods, he spins every kind of intrigue, carries out every lie, trick and ruse, and finally, deifying themselves, they make people worship them.

Hodja, you are explaining it wrongly. Today there are monks too who speak of Allah. They too speak of Allah. Which of them says I am a god?

If you say so: by selling the keys to paradise, by absolving sins in churches, if they are not deifying themselves, what are they doing?

No, what are they doing?

Forgiving sins belongs to Allah alone. If a priest absolves a person's sins for a few pennies, that person commits every kind of sin, lives outside Allah's command, and does not recognize Allah and His Messenger, and in the end comes and gets his sin forgiven by giving the priest a few pennies. So in this case, since the priest decides in Allah's place, hasn't he deified his own nafs, has he not?

Yes. When saying this, when speaking of the rabbis and monks, of course, not all of them. If we put all of them in this, we would deny this verse, Allah forbid. It says many of the monks. Yes. What does it say? Many of the rabbis and monks. What does it say in another verse? Among them are those who cannot show themselves openly but secretly pray, fast and give zakat, it says. That is, there are some who are Muslim, it says. Yes. After this part has been (?) like this, we move on to our second paragraph.

Although passing judgment on people belongs to Allah alone, the monks' and rabbis' absolving of sins, selling the keys to paradise, disregarding Allah Almighty and in Allah's place making decisions, although in their books the appearance of Muhammad (peace be upon him) is described, distorting it and, in line with their own interests, changing it; through these acts they will be subjected to a bitter punishment, Allah Almighty declares. Whoever does such a thing, and among them, to such people, people too, if people who stand against these words I have said appear, give them, it says, the tidings in the hereafter of a painful punishment. Yes.

Also, those who, toward the gold and silver, money or goods people have consumed, (?) and love them dearly. Those who hold them above Allah's command. Yes. Those who, as if they would never die, consider the blessings in their hands their own property. People who forget that it is a blessing Allah has granted them. A blessing of Allah to people. Means of livelihood. Yes.

Those who hold the substances Allah created above Allah and do not give zakat and charity, who do not look after those in need in the way of Allah and help them, who for Allah's religion and for those who strive in jihad do not give charity from their wealth and money: give them the tidings that in the hereafter a painful punishment awaits them. Painful, He decrees. From such wealth and behavior may Allah protect us. Now let us pay close attention to the verses. Let us also pay close attention to the words we say. These sentences I have explained to you, perhaps you understood, but I will assume you did not, and try to explain to you some of the subtleties here.

What does it say? Those who devour by unjust means and bar people from the way of Allah, they bar them. And those who hoard gold and silver and spend it in the way of Allah? Those who do not spend it? Give them the tidings of a painful punishment, we say. A painful punishment. What do we say here? The disbelievers:

for them a painful punishment. For these disbelievers a painful punishment, it may also be fire. It may also be other tortures. Now, among Muslims too, separately: those who in this way consume gold and silver, who consume gold and silver and do not spend this money in the way of Allah — their passing into the hereafter, their passing as Muslims, is very doubtful. Suppose, let us say, they passed into the hereafter as Muslims, for them too there is a painful punishment in the hereafter, but within that painful punishment they are not burning in the fire. For whom was the fire prepared? It was prepared for the disbelievers.

Here, when it says a painful punishment: painful. That is, humiliating, tortures, pain, like events that will cause a person pain, punishments. But when it comes to the fire, the fire, they are the disbelievers. It is divided into two parts for the disbelievers anyway.

Let us read this part once more. Although passing judgment on people belongs to Allah alone, the monks' and rabbis' absolving of sins, selling the keys to paradise, disregarding Allah Almighty and deciding in Allah's place, although in their books the appearance of Muhammad (peace be upon him) is described, distorting it and changing it in line with their own interests; through these acts they will be subjected to a bitter punishment, Allah Almighty declares. Also, those who, toward the gold and silver, money or goods they have consumed from people, (?) and love them dearly, those who hold them above Allah, above Allah's command, those who, as if they would never die, consider the blessings in their hands their own property, people who forget that it is a blessing Allah has granted them, those who hold the substances Allah created above Allah and do not give zakat and charity, who do not look after those in need in the way of Allah and help them, who for Allah's religion and for those who strive in jihad do not give charity from their wealth and money: give them the tidings that in the hereafter a painful punishment awaits them.

Yes. Among these there may also be Muslims. But in this painful punishment there is no fire. Sir, for the disbelievers, though, every kind of punishment exists.