Al-Ma'idah 58: When you call for the prayer, they make this a matter of mockery and fun. (They act like) this, because they are a group that does not use its intellect.

We have come to verse 58. When you call to prayer, they make it an object of mockery and amusement. This behaviour comes from their being a people who do not think, He says. Yes. Now, when you call to prayer, they make it an object of mockery and amusement. This behaviour comes from their being a people who do not think. How do we call to prayer? With the adhan. The adhan.

The adhan — I explained it in our earlier lessons too. Perhaps I will explain it as its turn comes. It is, directly there, the counterpart of Elestü bi Rabbiküm — a word. The adhan.

You will say: Hodja, what does this have to do with Elestü bi Rabbiküm? Of course one who has not seen that place cannot (?) it. When Allah Almighty, before all His servants, said: I am your Lord, and the Prophet, as the one confirming, beside Him said: yes, this is our Lord — the people's state, when I compared it with the state of that adhan, — I said, the state of the people. Allah Almighty saying: I am your Lord, and the Prophet (peace be upon him) — when you say — saying: yes, this is our Lord, the moment he (?) people: when I think of it, it is the adhan itself. Every time the adhan is recited, it is as if I see this Elestü bi Rabbiküm before my eyes.

What is it? Saying Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar. Allah is great, Allah is great. Yes, it says. Because Allah Almighty on one side, the Prophet beside Him — He says: I created you. I. So: Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, Allah is great. Amenna ve saddakna. Our Lord is great. He is the Owner of the worlds.

Eşhedü en lâ ilâhe illallah, Eşhedü en lâ ilâhe illallah. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah. Because He created. He is before us. He is our great Lord. The Owner of the worlds. Eşhedü enne Muhammeden Resulullah. Yes. Muhammad, Hazrat Muhammad, is Your servant and Your Messenger, O Allah. Because beside You he says to all people: yes, this is our Lord. He is Your servant and Your Messenger. So: hayye ale's-salâh, that is, come to prayer, it says. If you obeyed this, if you knew this, come to prayer, it says. Then hayye ale'l-felâh: come, and find salvation in prayer, it says. Find salvation. That realm always comes alive before my eyes like this.

With every adhan. Then again Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar. Again, Allah is great. Lâ ilâhe illallah. There is no god but Him.

If only man, man would use his reason. Each of us, all of us saw that realm. All of us. Without exception. All people to come, from our father Adam until the Day of Judgement, saw it.

And Allah Almighty makes it heard to people in this way too. So: when you call to prayer, they make it an object of mockery and amusement, He says. O pitiful man, if you make the one calling you to prayer an object of mockery and amusement, then that is how you deny Allah who created you. Right there, right there, there they fall into the state of lying disbelievers. It comes from their, their being a people who do not think, He says. How beautifully our Lord's verses say it. Yes.

Let us see what we write in our tafsir. Our Lord informs us how (?) worship of Allah is. Prayer, at set times, five times a day, is worshipping Allah and, spiritually, in His presence standing, as a servant created by Allah, showing Him our duty, our obedience and our submission — a form of worship. According to the verse: the living and the lifeless knew the remembrance of their Lord. All created things, and all beings He created, as Allah Almighty's will and by His essence, without will in their own hands — to the being Allah wills, the Esmaü'l-Hüsna He wills, He makes them recite. Yes.

So the heavens and the earth, and what is between the two, knew the remembrance of their Lord.

This verse once more here — we are already giving the meaning of this verse here. Let us read once more what we wrote.

The living and the lifeless knew the remembrance of their Lord. The heavens and the earth and what is between the two knew the remembrance of their Lord. We wrote the verse (?) briefly. According to the verse, all created things, and as Allah Almighty's will and by His essence, all beings He created without will in their own hands — to the being Allah wills, He makes them recite the Esmaü'l-Hüsna He wills. Whatever He is to make a being recite, He makes it recite that. And its meaning: by making every image of the universe recite His essence, that there is no god but Allah — tawhid — is symbolised. La ilahe illallah.

Yes, in obeying or not obeying their Lord, in proportion to the covenant given to Allah, living out their own destinies, deeds of reward and sin they will have committed. Here we say it like this: people who have their will in their own hands are left free to worship their Lord or not — they have been left free. In obeying or not obeying their Lord, in proportion to the covenant given to Allah, living out their own destinies, deeds of reward and sin they will have committed.

Therefore prayer — one whose will is in his own hands, without anyone forcing him and without coercion, turning to his Creator, knowing Him as Lord, is the worship he performs toward Him in Allah's presence. Therefore prayer is very precious in the sight of Allah. That is, it is the Muslim's miraj, his ascent into his Lord's presence.

And the reason it is precious: in a hadith he says, if prayer does not keep you from evil, it is a burden to you. Through prayer a person, calling his own nafs to account, says to himself: I am standing in Allah's presence, I am praying; if I do this thing Allah does not want, I commit a sin, if I do that thing I earn reward — and so, his own nafs reforming, if he refrains from evil, he has reformed his nafs. Such people become perfect, mature and people of character.

As servants such as Allah wants, they become people useful to themselves and those around them. Allah Almighty too wants to see people as such people of character, who compete with one another in goodness and spread a festive air on earth. So why did Allah Almighty create people? For His essence to be known and for these people on earth to be able to live in a festive air, He makes acts of worship a condition. Whoever knows his Lord through these acts of worship and applies the bright paths his Lord showed him lives in the world as in a festive air, in safety and in peace, He says. Yes, so when non-Muslims are called into Allah's presence, to this sublime duty, they make fun of prayer and amuse themselves.

This behaviour of theirs comes from their being a people who do not think. If they had the ability to think, toward Allah who created the universe and us would they rebel, (?) Allah's loftiness and grandeur, and be able to disobey Him? Is that possible? So they are a people who do not think, a community.