At-Tawbah 71: Mu’min men and mu’min women are also protectors/supporters of each other. They order the good, prevent the bad, establish the prayer, pay obligatory alm (Zakah) and obey Allah and Allah’s Messenger. And Allah will have mercy on them. Verily, Allah is Azeez (Exalted) and Hakeem (Ultimately-Wise).

Surah At-Tawbah, verse 71: The believing men and the believing women are one another's guardians. How beautifully Allah Almighty says it. What is a guardian? One under whose care one is, who protect one another, that is, who protect them. For the hypocrites, for the non-Muslims, He does not say "one another's guardians."

Because when they say "myself, myself," they will throw the blame on each other. Because they rebelled against Allah. The believing men and the believing women are guardians of one another. Because they obey Allah, Allah too is their Guardian. Yes, they enjoin good and forbid evil, He says. They enjoin good and forbid evil. They perform the prayer properly, give the zakat, obey Allah and His Messenger. It is these that Allah will have mercy on. Where? In the hereafter. In the world too His mercy is, in the universe, for everyone — in the universe for everyone, in the hereafter only for them, that is His mercy, He says. Sir, Allah will have mercy on them.

Where? In the hereafter. Surely Allah is Mighty, Wise. Allah is great. He knows why He does what He does. The believing men and the believing women are guardians of one another. Since these are obedient to Allah and His Messenger, for a wrong deed they did, the other believing woman or man — even a believing man — when they warn one another by enjoining good, with Allah's verses, they at once turn to what is right and, for their mistakes, ask Allah Almighty for pardon and forgiveness, and invite one another to guidance and salvation. What a fine guardian. Just as a guardian raises a child well, so the believing woman and the believing man are each other's guardian; for wrong actions they enjoin good upon each other.

That is, according to the verse "warn one another," at once, in the light of the verses, they show him his mistakes, and those persons at once repent before Allah Almighty and, asking pardon and forgiveness for the mistakes they made, shed their sins. In this case, the believing men and the believing women, since they invite people to the truth with Allah's true verses, are in the position of being guardians of one another. The believing men and the believing women, for Allah's sake, on Allah's paths of guidance, so that they may attain Allah's mercy, by listening to each other's words, are in the position of guardians of one another.

Yes. Just as a child listens to his father, his elder, or to someone who is his guardian, as he listens to his guardian. As we explained above, these believing men and believing women always enjoin good and try to prevent people from the evils they would do. They always speak the truth. Always the truth.

When you see an evil, with your hand; if your hand does not reach, with your tongue; if your tongue does not reach, with your heart (?), so that you do not compromise your faith. Yes, so that you do not incline toward them. As we explained above, we say, these believing men and believing women always enjoin good. They try to prevent people from the evils they would do, they always speak the truth.

They perform the prayer properly. The prayer: not as a habit, but with longing from their hearts, knowing that they come into Allah's presence, as if praying in the very presence of Allah Almighty, presenting all their desires and wishes to Allah, hoping for help from Allah and asking of Allah, they perform their prayer. The verse says: Be mindful of the middle prayer, it says.

We explained the middle prayer in earlier lessons too. Performed in the very presence of your Lord, in the manifestations, as a manifestation in His presence — the prayer. The middle prayer.

Because people do not know what the middle prayer is, they call the afternoon prayer the middle prayer. Yet none of the prayers with which one comes before Allah Almighty is superior to another. If one were superior — when one says "the prayer of this time is more valuable to me" — then it would be that the times of coming into Allah Almighty's presence, the times in Allah's presence, have values different from one another, and people too would pray minding those times, without valuing the other prayers, minding only those — and this, since the times of coming before Allah would differ from one another, a drop in level would come about.

Yet you are in the presence of your Lord; with Him there is no lowering of degree. Lowering of degree — and the lowering of degree is here: if you pray while roaming the market and bazaar. Yes, you will know that you are in the divine presence, you will pray reflecting on your Lord, you will present your wishes and affairs to your Lord, as if speaking with Him you will perform your prayer; this is the middle prayer. In later pages: the middle prayer is the prayer performed in the very presence of your Lord, in desire and (?), the prayer one performs in His presence, which is manifestation — yes, performed in the heart, the prayer, the realm of the heart.

The realm of unveiling. You know, they say "open to unveiling," they believe in it, but they do not know that they are in its unveiling. Yes. They perform the prayer properly. The prayer: not as a habit, but with longing from their hearts, knowing that they come into Allah's presence, as if praying in the very presence of Allah Almighty, presenting all their desires and wishes to Allah, hoping for help from Allah and asking of Allah, they pray.

They give the zakat. The zakat. And when giving zakat, without splitting hairs like those people: "Could we slip it past here too? Well, here it was like this — would zakat fall away for this too?" — without saying that, with (?) from the heart, avoiding doubtful things, accounting for those too, if it is three kuruş giving three and a half, four kuruş, they set about giving zakat. Yes, from the heart. They give the zakat. Because in giving zakat they both know Allah's cleanliness and, because they help Allah's servants, because they meet their needs, with the smiling faces of those in need they find peace. Peace. A person making a person's face smile, relieving his distress — nothing gives that person as much peace as that.

There is. There is one more peace: being with your Lord. And after that, serving people faithfully, which is your Lord's command, bringing them to peace, winning their hearts and inviting them to the Truth and steering them to salvation — nothing gives a person peace like this.