At-Tawbah 65: If you ask them (about their mockery), they will say; “Surely we only were conversing and were joking.” Say; “Were you mocking about Allah, Allah’s verses and Allah’s Messenger?”

Surah At-Tawbah, verse 65. If you ask them why they mocked, they will surely say, We were only engaged in idle talk and joking. Look at the reason; if these aren't hypocrites, what are they? If not liars, what are they? Of people whose hearts are full of (?) and hatred feelings — these are the words such people would say.

At the same time, words that base people who don't know themselves would say.

Why am I insulting them in this way? Man was created honourable. How beautifully Mevlana says it.

Either be as you appear, or appear as you are.

Approaching people for worldly gain, approaching with your tongue, do not look at those people with hatred in your heart. Feelings of hatred both make you restless and wreck you, and before your Lord you become a sinner. Feelings of hatred.

So then, those Muslims you mock — if the Muslims ask them, they will surely say, We were only engaged in idle talk and joking. Say: Was it Allah, His verses and His Prophet you were mocking? Yes. Such dishonourable people. I have come across such people.

With the same words they answer, with the same words. Just as our Lord says here. But we gave them a thorough dressing-down. They could find no words to say.

Do you, I said, believe that there is an Allah? He stands there, looking like this. Well, I said, this object in your hand — did it come about all of a sudden, or does it have a maker? Well, of course it has a maker. Well, you are equipped with so many feelings; is there no one who created you, I say. Then there is, he says, there is. There is an Allah, he says, there is one who created me. Well, did the one who created you send you to this world to irresponsibly indulge in pleasure, to eat and drink, have intercourse and multiply? Have you no duty at all? You talk with mockery like this about this Creator, or about His Prophet. Would you mock your mother and father, I said.

If you truly mock your mother and father, you are a real scoundrel, I said. I speak to him with insults anyway.

These people used to invite me to church, to the rabbi. Then the rabbi didn't want me. Don't bring this one to me, that man said. After I had brought him into line somewhat, that hypocrite, that non-Muslim. Well, upon this I said: your mother and father — you don't mock them, (?), sometimes if they have money, if they have property, if you (?), then how can you talk like this about your Owner who created these worlds, I said. Have you no shame at all, no manners? Have you no honour at all, I said. And he turned bright red. He never came to me again.

Nor did he speak in my presence. Even if we happened to meet.

Therefore these people, since they are enemies of Allah, if they are with a Muslim who cannot answer them, make fun of him.

They try to anger that Muslim about Allah and His Messenger.

And Muslim, if you have no knowledge, either a fight breaks out there, or an argument arises. That is why Allah Almighty, so that this is removed, says: when they start talking like this, move away from them, He says. If you have nowhere to go, He says, if you have nowhere to go, stop your ears, He says. That is, try not to hear. Yes.

What does it say? If you ask them why they mocked, if you ask them why they mocked, they will surely say, We were only engaged in idle talk and joking. Say: Is it Allah, His verses and His Prophet you are mocking? For hypocritical people, making fun among themselves of people they dislike gives them endless pleasure. Yes, since in Allah and His Messenger they do not believe, for the sake of their interests, people who appear to have (?), whenever they find the chance, never stop mocking the Muslims. Yes, even if they have benefited from you, now and then they slip in barbed remarks. According to narrations, while the Prophet was setting out on the Tabuk campaign, a group of the hypocrites, about the Prophet, said: Look at this man's state, he wants to conquer the palaces of Damascus. Where is he, and where is conquering the palaces of Damascus? — and so they belittled him and gossiped about him.

The matter was made known to the Prophet (peace be upon him) by revelation. When the hypocrites were summoned and asked why they had said this, they denied it and said, We were joking to forget the hardship of the journey — a false statement. And this verse, they say, was revealed upon this. It was revealed, they say. But Allah Almighty creates causes. Since there will be such people until the Day of Judgment, since they will come, the state of these people, of such people, He also declares to us and makes clear. Yes.

So when they are asked why they mocked, they say: We were only (?) — they say, making a false statement. Say: Was it Allah, His verses and His Prophet you were mocking? People who carry the light of faith in their hearts, who believe in Allah and His Messenger, when the names of Allah and His Messenger are mentioned, treat them with reverence and respect. For example, when one says Muhammad, immediately (peace be upon him), our master — a salawat is recited at once. Allahümme salli ala seyyidina Muhammedin ve ala alihi ve sahbihi ve sellim — together with the noble Companions he is mentioned. Whoever says a salawat anywhere on earth, it is conveyed to me by an appointed angel.

If they say it in Medina, they will have said it in my very presence. So says the Prophet in his hadiths. It is a hadith. Why is it a hadith? Because according to the hadith "I made you alive", in Medina, at the pure Rawda, whoever, he says, says such a thing, in my presence has said it, he says. Yes.

Say: Was it Allah, His verses and His Prophet you were mocking? So people who carry the light of faith in their hearts, who believe in Allah and His Messenger, when the names of Allah and His Messenger are mentioned, treat them with reverence and respect. When the glorious name of Allah Almighty is mentioned, we say Celle Celaluhu. Allah Almighty, Celle Celaluhu. Well, we say: our Lord who is self-subsistent. Yes. Muslims never overstep propriety. People who do not believe in Allah and His Messenger, however, unaware of Allah's majesty and power, ignorantly and insolently, and with pride and arrogance, mocking Allah and His Messenger, (?) to their own nafs.

and as if that were not enough, they want to drag people along behind them. Yes.

Our time is truly like a ring of fire.

All around is fire. In this fire, happy is he who keeps himself from burning.

In the midst of so much filth, right within it, beside those who, people's carnal feelings to whip up, so disgracefully and shamelessly undress to a wretched state and go around naked — so that people do not go about like this, for them to master their nafs, and for men, too, to master themselves and, without looking at such people, to walk among them remembering the Truth, doing dhikr — since legally you cannot say anything to them.

Even if we (?) them as far as our tongue allows — if, without carnal feelings soiling him with such filth, a person can protect himself within this ring of fire, how happy that person is.

It is acts of worship that will protect us from this filth. If the worship you perform does not keep you from evil, it is (?) to you, it says. Why have we come to this state? Why? I always say it. Always. And I will always say it. We did not teach our religion. We did not teach about Allah and His Messenger. We always told stories. Stories. Ahmet passed by there, Mehmet did this, Hasan went there, Mehmet went here, we said, and we brought these people to this state. If Allah's verses had been taught to people, if the hadiths of the Prophet had been taught to people, if fabricated hadiths had not been called hadith and people led astray from their path, these people would not have come to this state.

No one mentioned the name of Allah and His Messenger.

And if they did, they mentioned it with superstitions. They called things hadith that are not hadith and slandered the Prophet. They slandered Allah Almighty too. Because hadith corresponds to the verses; because hadith also corresponds to this verse: he does not speak idly. So whoever, calling it hadith, slanders the Prophet (peace be upon him) has also slandered Allah Almighty. I say: O man, calling it religion, understanding religion so cheaply, amid these superstitions, do not see yourself as a scholar.

If you feared Allah and His Messenger, this tongue in your mouth would tremble; that tongue in your mouth would tremble and hold back.

You couldn't speak, you'd be struck dumb.

If you feared Allah and His Messenger.

Those who practise what I am about to say know it very well.

Let's give an example from fasting. Let's take someone who fasts continually. He fasts continually.

This person, on a day he isn't fasting, as he puts a morsel in his mouth, his hand stops at once: am I fasting or not? Am I fasting or not? He remembers, says, oh, I'm not fasting today, and then he eats. Those who live it know it.

If people feared Allah and His Messenger, if they did, then when saying "this is a hadith", that tongue would stop, trembling.

Like a radar sweeping around, he would at once look for proof of the words he speaks in the light of the verses and hadiths. If there were no proof, he would not say it.

Who did this? Who behaved like this?

Everyone gave Ahmet and Mehmet as examples. He did this, this one did that, they said. No one mentioned Allah, nor His Messenger. Of Allah they made no one wary. They didn't teach Allah Almighty's attribute of being the Judge. They didn't teach Allah Almighty's attribute of mercy either. They didn't teach Allah's attribute of wrath either. They let people live unaware of the Great Court.

Those who are raised with the light of faith in the Hereafter, into a world of fantasy they led astray. They lowered the glory of Allah and His Messenger so much that they tied every matter to Gabriel. Soon they will say Gabriel created the worlds too.

Well, of course: if they tie it to him, if he takes Allah's place, then the worlds too he has created. That is how they fall into shirk. People unaware of themselves.

They've gone off on their own.

Is this religion? What is religion? Religion — I am telling my own understanding.

Religion is: the commands that Allah Almighty Himself — who is self-subsistent, besides whom there is no god — has made known to us, that is religion. Shall I say it once more, as I understand it? Which has no (?) anyway. The commands, the laws that our Lord — self-subsistent, besides whom there is no god, our Lord who is self-subsistent — has made known to people: that is religion. If there is no god but Allah,

according to the verse Inne'd-dîne inda'llâhi'l-İslâm, those who know Allah as one but do not submit to Him, or who associate partners with Allah — you cannot call the words they have invented religion; they are without religion.

So then, being a Muslim, a Muslim — under this cloak of being a Muslim, people leading astray from their path,

without mentioning Allah and His Messengers, and even, even without knowing Allah, if you go and tie all of Allah's works, the Messenger's works, to Gabriel, what is the difference between you and other people?

You people who say I'm a scholar, I'm a Hodja, take heed.

The foundation is rotten from the start. The foundation, the foundation is rotten from the start. They set us on a building without a foundation. They made Allah into attributes, they did away with Allah, they did away with His Messenger. They went and tied it to Gabriel. The one who went as far as the Sidrat al-Muntaha and said, if I went one ant's length further I would burn — on the highest horizon they had him meet Gabriel. According to the verse "when the Lote Tree was covered by what covered it", the one who said, if I went one ant's length further I would burn, they made the one covering the Lote Tree.

They took Gabriel (?) outside of space. They made him give revelation to the Prophet. The foundation is broken, the foundation. The foundation was broken. They made people forget Allah and His Messenger.

That's why people came to be governed by such superstitions. They lived their fantasy worlds. What Ahmet and Mehmet did (?), they took that for religion. That is not religion. My way of life is not religion.

My way of life is, for me, a form of worship.

And that worship is my Lord's religion upon me, but what if I do it deficiently — if you accept what I do as religion, then with my deficiency you would have accepted that religion as deficient, which Allah forbid.

We would wrong our own selves. (?). It is only the commands our Lord has made known to us. And our carrying out these commands as far as we know them, we call worship. We say we are worshipping. And what do we say? If we made mistakes in the worship we performed, if we did it deficiently, if we fell short, if our minds weren't up to it and we performed our worship unknowingly, deficiently and faultily, forgive us, we say to Allah. Yes. We need to change the root.

As long as we do not teach people about Allah and His Messenger, unless we make them love Allah and His Messenger, we cannot root this religion of Islam.

And to be able to root it, we must be governed by the verses. We must return to the verses. We will learn from one who knows, and try to lay a new, deep-rooted foundation. But sadly, no one cares.

That's how it has always been, that's how it goes, they say.

Tomorrow, at that Great Court, giving account before Allah Almighty, when you say, that's how it has always been, or when, not caring, you are governed by these superstitions though you heard the truth, how will you answer for this? Yes.

So then, when the names of Allah and His Messenger are mentioned, they treat them with reverence and respect. Believers are governed by Allah's verses. They do not fall short in reverence, obedience and worship. So Muslims never overstep propriety.

People who do not believe in Allah and His Messenger, however, being unaware of Allah's majesty and power, ignorantly and insolently, and with pride and arrogance, mocking Allah and His Messenger, drag their own selves to ruin. As if that weren't enough, they try to drag people along behind them.