Al-An'am 11: Say; “Wander on earth and see the end of those who went into denial (about their Prophets).”

Say: travel through the earth, then see what the end of those who belied the prophets was like. What does Allah Almighty do? He surrounds them from directions they do not know. From unknown directions. If they have crossed the limits, He destroys them. Destruction. Allah Almighty, to those who cross the limits, that is, how do they cross the limits? They ask the prophet for a miracle. And the prophet prays to our Lord for that miracle to be shown. When, by Allah Almighty's leave, that prophet shows the miracle, if that people does not believe in that miracle, Allah Almighty destroys that people. Those who belied their prophets, who said it is sorcery, who said it is magic, and did not believe them, He says.

Did they never travel about the earth?

They did not see the disasters that befell them.

Those disasters, He says, are along the roads. Disasters. Of some, He says, there are traces; of some, He says, there is no trace at all. Yes. Say: travel through the earth, then see what the end of those who belied the prophets was like.

Allah Almighty, by addressing our Prophet, is actually addressing people; you know, there is a proverb. I am telling you, my daughter; understand it, my daughter-in-law. That is what the old folk say. In this case too, for Allah Almighty's fine address to people, for His harmonious and fine address, so that people are not hurt, it looks as if He is saying it to the Prophet (peace be upon him), but in fact it is His address to all people.

He is making known to people the disasters that befell people in the past in return for their belying Allah. Tomorrow, tomorrow on the Day of Judgment, so that people do not say: my Allah, had You warned us, had You left us signs, marks showing that some peoples were destroyed, we would have known You better through them, Allah Almighty sent this verse. What does it say? Say: travel through the earth, then see what the end of those who belied the prophets was like. In some verses He says: do they never travel about the earth? That is, those who see still continue their denial and rebellion. Their denial and rebellion.

Allah Almighty does not destroy a people without giving that people many warnings first. In one verse our Lord says: as long as a people does not change what is in itself, We are never unjust to them, He says. In another verse: after We have not sent to a people announcers, conveyors, that is, guides, men to announce the truth to them, He says, as long as He has not sent men, We do not destroy them, He says. So if Allah Almighty will call no one to account from a generation He has not informed, here too He gives people every kind of example. Did they not roam about the earth? Did they not see? Did they not see with their own eyes the traces of those destroyed, He says.

Yes, I too, in Medina, from what's-it, at Tabuk, once in '78, when I went on Hajj in my own car, in '78, we entered from Tabuk. On the way, I no longer know where exactly that place was. Black stones shaped like this, like a watermelon, like small watermelons. It is impossible that they were made. It is impossible for it to be like that. There is no factory, after all, to have placed those stones like that. The destruction of the people of Lot. He says so anyway: it is along that road, He says. Along that road. I saw it. And then, from those verses, I said to my late mother: look, mother dear, (?), I said, these are the clay stones marked for the people of Lot, it says.

Those stones of clay that were marked, sir; just as we find each other with phones, with those signals, Allah Almighty too, with those marked stones, destroyed that people there. Whichever frequency was on whichever person's frequency, it found him, and they were destroyed. Yes, Allah Almighty does not destroy a people without giving many warnings to this people.

But if the people do not listen and exceed the bounds in disbelief and rebellion, Allah does not love those who exceed the bounds, who cross the limit, and He destroys them on the earth. Although people today, with their excesses, cross the limit in rebellion and immorality in a way that leaves the old peoples nothing to envy, Allah Almighty, because Muhammad (peace be upon him) is alive and among us, because he was sent as a mercy to the worlds, does not destroy people. Destruction. For the sake of the Prophet, destructions have been lifted. So what happens? Instead, Allah Almighty says this. We give them two or three calamities every year, He says.

We see it. The calamities every year. Hurricanes, storms, fires, disasters, earthquakes. It goes on. It goes on. Yes.

I say, it will come to us too, it will come to us too, it will come to us too. In the old days our fathers used to say so.

In the countries abroad, a man died of the heart. Well, what was the heart, they would say, what is this heart disease; they did not know the heart.

Those fathers of ours would say, it will come to us too, it will come to us too. It will come to us too. If you live like they live, of course it will come to us too. Well now, if Allah Almighty has the attribute of justice, if the attribute of justice gives it to them, and if we live in a way that leaves them nothing to envy, it will come to us too. It will come to us too. Allah is the Owner of justice. Hodja, are you cursing? God forbid, Allah protect us. Allah protect us. I do not curse anyone. Know this. I only warn. Do not leave Allah's path. Do not go outside Allah's commands. To our ladies and daughters I say: wrap yourselves in tesettür.

You will protect your own pride, your glory and honor better. You will not be bothered by anyone. As for the men: never, in a (?) way, harass our ladies and daughters, our ladies. Do not make additional marriages outside your wives. Do not commit adultery. These are acts that Allah does not want, that go outside His command. Since the adultery of a married woman with a married man is given the punishment of stoning, remember how great its punishment is. Never take Allah's verses lightly, says our Lord. Never take Our verses lightly, He says. But today everyone lives this as if it had become a custom.

One is saddened. I personally am saddened.

Can a person really not control his nafs this much, that, in what Allah has forbidden, his life, consenting to this filth in such a way that he will sacrifice his life by what he does, he goes after this thing; it is something my mind cannot grasp. A person should care about his honor, care about his dignity.

A man is one who, if a woman gives herself to you, He says, without a dowry, she is forbidden to you, according to the verse that says so;

never mind the dowry, to harass even a married woman outside and lead her astray, does it befit a human being? I do not know whether I have told you about something that happened to me.

The year was 1960-61, I was living in a house on Denizciler Avenue in Ankara.

A friend of mine divorced his wife. He was newly married. For some reasons they divorced after a short time. He said, I feel very low, he said.

Can I stay with you, with you? Sorry, the year '60. 1960, now I remember.

You can stay, I said.

(?). In the evenings he would keep me company, that is, chat. I was not around much anyway. I was going on duty. How do I know it was the year 1960? In Istanbul I was an aircraft technician, on helicopters. I was taking medicine to Menderes on Yassıada. I was picking it up from the (?) farm. I was taking medicine to him.

These trips back and forth of mine were a week apart. Meanwhile, he and a woman living in the flat behind mine had started a relationship. And apparently bad women kept coming there like this all the time. I knew nothing about it. One day the landlord said to me, your friend is doing such and such, he said. He complained to me.

I said, let me watch for a chance, I said, let me tell him, just then Allah, well, this made me catch, that is, made me catch him; from the back, when I saw him talking to them through the window, I pulled the young man away and said, off you go, farewell, go your own way; and on the other side I said to the woman, look, I came right up to your door, but because of your betraying your husband, I said, maybe your husband does not know about what you are doing. I will shoot you, I said, I will kill you. What you are doing, by your religion, I said, calls for your being killed, I said. Look, I will do this, I said.

She was so afraid of me; I was young then, of course. The year '60, how old am I? If I was born in '38-'39, then in '40 I am around 20-22. Right at the reckless age, that is.

(?) The woman was coming from the grocer too. She saw me standing there and turned pale. She was about to fall, nearly fainting from fear.

Years passed. I was posted to Diyarbakır. From Diyarbakır, in 1978, and in '68 I was posted to Diyarbakır. In '71 I was posted back to Ankara. I came to Ankara.

How many years had passed? 8 years.

While I was walking around the market, someone took hold of my arm. Do you recognize me, she said. I do not, I said. Aren't you from Samsun, she said? Yes. Isn't your mother's name such and such, she said. Yes. I see she is listing things to me. Well, how do you not recognize me, she said. How should I recognize you, I said. You know, she said, when I was in that house, she said. You came to me and shouted, remember, she said. Yes, may Allah be pleased with you, she said. I closed those (?) of mine, she said. And I will come to visit you, she said, at your home. Will you receive me, she said. Well, with pleasure, please come, I said.

I had married by then anyway. With pleasure, please come, I said. I had a student in Ankara, now deceased. Şahit Efendi; he had a grocery shop.

One day while I was there, this woman (?) was there, she came to the grocer. After the grocery, that is, after she left, he said to me, I have never seen a person as well-mannered and virtuous as this woman, he said. Şahit Efendi, my student, says so. Sir, her husband, he said, sir, is an old man. But very respectful. Like this, he said, a virtuous woman who knows her own accounts, her own books, he said. My (?).

When I saw that woman like that, when she showed me respect as (?), I was moved, truly. Thanks be to my Lord, I said. Thanks be to my Allah, I said. To bring a person to the right path. Of course it is in her nature too. For she came to that path. It is in her nature. This is how I want our men, the people Allah Almighty calls men, to be.

Allah Almighty has entrusted women to us. He created them (?) lacking toward men. A man is one who sees that lack and completes it. Even himself.

Yes.

You too be such people. If you want to earn Allah's mercy, do not run after your nafs.

Say: travel through the earth, and see what the end of those who belied the prophets was like.

But if the people do not listen and exceed the bounds in disbelief and rebellion, Allah does not love those who exceed the bounds, who cross the limit, and He destroys them on the earth. Although people today, with their excesses, cross the limit in rebellion and immorality in a way that leaves the old peoples nothing to envy, Allah Almighty, because Muhammad (peace be upon him) is alive and among us, because he was sent as a mercy to the worlds, does not destroy people.

Instead of destruction, those who exceed the bounds are given two or three calamities a year. It is so that, warned by these calamities, they return to Allah and His Messenger.

Although Allah Almighty has made His verses known to people clearly and plainly, people who still stubbornly deny Allah and continue in their disbelief, tomorrow on the Day of Gathering, when they remain far from Allah's mercy because of what they did, when the punishment of hell is brought near them, then their regret will be of no use. Before the eternal torment of a realm with no return surrounds a person, one must use the treasure of life well, and by faith in Allah and His Messenger, in the Holy Quran, enter the path of truth, reach salvation, and make both worlds flourish.

May Allah Almighty give us all a fine understanding and grant us to see the truth, to complete our lives going on the straight path, and to pass on to the hereafter attaining Allah Almighty's mercy, I have said.