At-Tawbah 79: In the matter of alms, Allah humiliated those who were mocking the mu’min who give voluntarily and who desired but didn’t have the means. And there is a severe punishment for them (those mockers).

Yes. We have come to verse seventy-nine of Surah At-Tawbah. Praise be to Allah, we are in the third volume. Those who find fault with the believers who give charity voluntarily, and with those who find nothing but what their strength allows, and mock them — Allah has made a laughingstock of them, and for them there is a painful punishment.

Non-Muslims, people who are non-Muslims, since they do not believe in the Hereafter, that life is here in this world, that they doubt the existence of Allah, toward one another only by appearing to be believers, appearing to be believers, getting along with one another in this way — pitiful people. One asks another. Do you believe in Allah, he says. Well, that's what they say, but I'm unsure, he says. My Allah, my Allah. We see it; they say this in some films too, in cinemas. You see. They say so, but, he says. I, he says — the other says, I don't believe at all, he says. The other one says, I don't believe.

These people, if they give their whole life to this world, if by the verse they are judged as lying disbelievers — liars, that is, they will deny Allah. In this case, if his life, his paradise, is this world, for this person, for such people — if the person opposite them, a person who believes in Allah, that believer, gives charity, gives zakat, takes pity on his believing brother, takes him by the hand and helps him, then that pitiful non-Muslim finds it strange. Because his god is that money, that matter; his god is money. In this case he says, look at the fool, he's spending his money. They mock them.

But Allah Almighty makes a laughingstock of them and humiliates them. What is a person's honour? Being true to his word, not lying, devotion to his chastity. These are a person's honour and dignity. When Allah says He humiliates them, when He says He makes a laughingstock of them, they have neither chastity and honour, nor truthfulness in the words they speak, nor conduct befitting that excellent human being whom Allah created. These are humiliated and a laughingstock. Yes, Allah says it, and we explain it here.

In this case they even confess it with their own mouths. How? I don't believe a word he says, he says. Because you're a liar, he says, you're telling lies, he says. And the other says to him: and you, are you truthful? You're lying too, he says. They never believe each other's words. They are liars anyway. It says "lying disbelievers", doesn't it. Yes, the hypocrites and disbelievers, the charity that is Islam's way of helping one another or the zakat — mocking the people who give charity for Allah, that is, the believers, saying they do it for riya or show, denying the verses of Allah, those who work to keep the believers who do good from the good they do — Allah has made a laughingstock of them.

Because everything they do is from the nafs, they live in evil deeds outside Allah's command and, with inhuman behaviour unbefitting their age and themselves, they are a laughingstock. Yes. Isn't that so? At their age. You say, look at what this grown man is doing. A grown man. Now, we are old; if someone said, look, a grown man is doing this, one would feel humiliated. But tell him, and he says it's raining from the sky, mercy is raining. He doesn't care. For him it's a very light word. Very light.

If you said to me, Hodja, you say these things like this, but have you lived among them?

I have. We go and see. We see their way of life too. We see what they talk about too. We see what they do too. Such as? A man comes and goes into partnership. A partnership. Very true. The man (?). The man splits hairs. You see that they are making progress. He has a target, up to a certain sum. When he reaches that sum, the man strikes and runs. Abroad. He leaves the other one there, wretched and ruined. Yes. Well, aren't these people, in these situations, without honour and decency? Would a person with honour and dignity do this?

Yes. Therefore, outside Allah's verse, non-Muslim people — if our Lord calls them lying disbelievers, they are lying disbelievers.

Hodja, the monks too? Hodja, are their priests liars too? If they weren't liars, they would enter the religion of Islam. They would say the testimony of faith. They wouldn't say Allah is three. They wouldn't push people out of Islam.

Yes.

In the Hereafter, a painful punishment is theirs. Because although they know Allah exists, they give their hearts to what Allah created. Forgetting Allah, they love property and possessions, children and family more than Allah.

They, it says, went so far in (?) that they began counting in the graves, it says. It's not me saying it; Allah says it. We write for them the meaning of the verses.

Allah Almighty will leave them (?) on the Day of Judgement subject to a painful punishment. A painful punishment.

Yes.

According to one narration, the Prophet (peace be upon him), in one of his sermons, urged the Muslims to give charity. To give charity. Thereupon Abdullah ibn Awf brought four thousand dirhams, half of his wealth, and handed it to the Messenger of Allah.

He said he had set aside four thousand dirhams for his family's livelihood. And the Prophet (peace be upon him) prayed: may Allah bless both what he gave and what he kept with him. He prayed that Allah bless both what he gave and what he kept, make it blessed, he prayed. Then the wealth of Hazrat Abdullah increased greatly. After his death, the share falling to his two wives came to one hundred and ninety thousand dirhams. Yes.

Among the Companions, men such as Hazrat Umar and Hazrat Uthman also gave much charity. The hypocrites, claiming that people gave this abundant charity for riya, that is, for show, mocked these men. The poor among the Companions also tried to give charity; indeed a man named Ukay worked for someone in return for two measures of dates, worked for two measures of dates, then one measure of it, to be given to the poor, he handed as charity to the Prophet (peace be upon him). The hypocrites mocked such men too. They said these give charity like this so that they are counted among the great. When people are deprived of the love of Allah, they turn to the world, and since they seek their love outside Allah, in what Allah created, they love their property and family very much.

In this case they cannot understand the Muslims giving charity, which is their helping one another. They evaluate everything by material things. For this reason they interpret the Muslims' mutual help within their own understanding. Yes.

I was new on the spiritual path. New. Our Lord, by inspiration into my heart: They will not understand what you say. They evaluate everything by material things, He had said. I never forget it. They will not understand what you say. They evaluate everything by material things. We have put that here too anyway. They evaluate everything by material things. Yes.