Al-Ma'idah 14: We have also made a covenant with those who say; “We are Christians” and told them, but they have abandoned an important part of the Dhikr (Book) that was given to them. For this reason, there is animosity and hatred among them until the Day of Judgment. Soon, Allah will inform them about what they have done.

has listened to us.

Yes, Surah Al-Ma'idah, verse 14. From those who say "We are Christians" too, We had taken their firm promise. But they too, of the admonitions mentioned and given to them, or of the book, forgot an important part. For this reason there is enmity and hatred among them until the Day of Judgement.

Soon Allah will inform them of what they did, it says. Now, in this case all the verses, the verses rest on the Elestü bi-Rabbiküm (?).

What do we say here? In many verses Allah Almighty says: from such a people We took a promise. That is, We said, I am your Lord. In that world of Lahut, where We created the souls, to them, when He gave life to all of them at once, in an instant, to the address "I created you" they are left (?). I am your Lord. Surah Al-A'raf, verse 172. That is the crux. Yes. That crux must be known very well. What does it say? We bound the covenant from this (?). In this verse too it says: From those who say "We are Christians" too, We had taken their firm promise, it says. That is, Allah Almighty made a covenant with every (?).

We need to know this matter of the covenant well, we say, we need to know it well so that a person understands the verses better. We said: let us open up the details of the covenant matter a little more for you, so that this matter is understood. Although we have spoken of this covenant in many verses, in this verse too there is benefit in repeating it, we said. In repeating it. We are going back again to the expression Elestü bi-Rabbiküm. That is, this is the crux. Unless one sees this point too, as I said a moment ago, a person's questions never end. But with its wrong and its right, whatever one has understood in one's mind, every time we explain it, the understanding in one's mind develops a little more.

At least there is a difference between someone hearing it for the first time and someone who has heard it several times. We say Allah Almighty is free from deficient attributes. He is free from deficient attributes. We will use this phrase, "free from deficient attributes", often too. Often. Because people can in no way attribute deficiency to Allah Almighty. Deficiency is in people's nafs. Allah has the attribute of being Allah. Allah's attribute of being Allah: no one will be able to question Him. All the questions one would ask will have become manifest, and the person will be left without a question.

This is Allah Almighty's being free from deficient attributes.

Yes. Although we have explained this subject, here too, sir, there is benefit in explaining it again. Allah does not fit into people's minds. We cannot comprehend Allah. Why can we not comprehend Him? Because our mental capacity, our mind, compared to our Lord's universal mind, is 12 percent at most, and that is in inventors. This 12% mind, the 100% mind, its whole, cannot comprehend; this mind (?) cannot (?) this. Because He has the attribute of Creator, the attribute of knowledge, the attribute of All-Knowing; that is, He has a creative power wrapped in attributes. In that case we cannot perceive Allah; we cannot perceive His whole.

But, in proportion to our minds, that Allah Almighty is the Creator, that He created the worlds, from the atom to the vastest, the heavens and the earth and what is between them, that creating is not hard for Him, that He is free from all deficiencies, this we know. We know that the created are in need of the Creator. In that case we put our trust in Him and obey His command. Yes. Because, let us say the Whole, Tehür-i İtma-ül Hüsna, the most beautiful attributes, and the Whole and the Mind is Allah. People cannot comprehend Allah with the power of the mind. For this reason Allah is complete and perfect.

No one can ascribe any deficiency to Him. From whatever direction a person enters, they see their own deficiency. No deficiency is found in Him. If there is deficiency, it is the deficiency of a person's own mind.

His saying "We created you flawed and deficient": with Allah Almighty's saying "We created you flawed and deficient", man, before his Creator, is deficient and flawed. Allah the Creator, however, is complete and perfect. For this reason He is also free from deficient attributes.

The verses: Surah Al-A'raf, 172nd verse: the Turkish explanatory translation of the verse is not the equivalent of the verse; the Turkish explanation is not the equivalent of the verse. All people too, knowing this verse by its Turkish explanatory equivalent and giving meaning to the verses according to that, according to their own minds, fall into errors and mistakes. Into mistakes. What does it say? We, from the loins of the children of Adam, brought forth their offspring. We made a covenant with them. (?) not "brought forth", (?) saying duties come like this, if one writes it that way: from their hands, from their backs they will come out, but how will they come out?

With those who will emerge, it says, with those who will emerge. They remove "those who will emerge"; "with those who will emerge from the loins of the son of Adam", that they remove.

From the loins of the children of Adam, from their (?), it says, He brought forth their offspring, with them made a covenant. And then it says: whether at Qalu Bala, in the mother's womb, or at the age of reason is not clear, it says. Yes, in some book or other of Elmalılı Hamdi Yazır there are extensive details, it says; that too is a story. Because they will write once they know, they will write once they see. This is Arabic. It does not happen in the Word. Yes. A wrongly explained verse. With those emerging from the offspring of the children of Adam, it says. We made a covenant with those who emerge.

From their hands, sir, bringing out those who emerge, from them We made a covenant. And We said: your Lord, it says. In Surah Al-A'raf: So that on the Day of Judgement you do not say "we were unaware of this", so that you do not say it, your Lord, from the children of Adam, from their loins brought forth their offspring. From their loins He brought forth their offspring. He made a covenant with them. To say this, if we know these parts well, let us read it to you like this so that it is understood better. Yes. Let us read from, um... So that on the Day of Judgement you do not say "we were unaware of this": your Lord brought forth from the children of Adam, from their loins, their offspring.

From the children of Adam, from their loins, He brought them out of the offspring. He made them witnesses over themselves and said: Am I not your Lord? There it is not even "Am I not your Lord", (?) an "elest", it says there. Sir, and they said: yes, we have witnessed this, it says. About the (?) mentioned in this verse, whether this was in pre-eternity, in the mother's womb, or at puberty, there are various views, it says. For this reason, for detailed information, Muhammed Hamdi Yazır's work Hak Dini Kur'an Dili should be consulted, it says. And he wrote the same thing. Whereas here its exact equivalent text is: so that on the Day of Judgement you do not say "we were unaware of this", your Lord, the offspring that would emerge from the children of Adam, made them witnesses over themselves and said: I am your Lord.

And they said: yes, we have witnessed this. Where? The address Elestü bi-Rabbiküm. At Qalu Bala. At Qalu Bala. Yes.

Allah Almighty says that all the pairs, that is, the generations coming from one another, are in three groups, and all the pairs coming from one another are three classes, it says. Fe ashâbu'l-meymeneti mâ ashâbu'l-meymeneh: those of the right. Ve ashâbu'l-meş'emeti mâ ashâbu'l-meş'emeh: those of the left. Ve's-sâbikûne's-sâbikûn, ülâike'l-mukarrabûn, who are worthy of Paradise. And this, it says, is the (?) sentence.

Yes. Why was the Quran revealed in Arabic, he asks right away. He will ask, of course, because it is related to our lesson. When they ask things related to the lesson, I answer right away.

Why was the Quran revealed in Arabic? So that it would be understood better. What did He say? We revealed the Quran in Arabic so that it would be better understood. Can you understand the Word? The verse is exactly like that. We revealed the Quran in Arabic so that it would be better understood. Can you grasp this better? It is not "We revealed the Quran in Arabic so that it is understood with its full text". Pay attention. Even so, Allah Almighty's Word rests on the letters. On the letters. Now, I came across it in one place. In a verse. Look what it says. They have (?) the Arabic. Do not take other gods along with Allah, it says.

Do not take other gods along with Allah. Allah, Allah! Along with Allah. Does one take another god with Allah? Do not take another god along with Allah. Now, according to the Arabic (?), the explanatory wording, look at it. In this case the Quran: 400-odd; we found over 400 of these now. Wrongly explained. Wrong.

By reason, it will emerge from their loins. Of course that's right. He will bring them out of their loins. But where? Before that. (?), it says. Look, "will emerge". In fact they skip that part. According to their minds, their perception, they throw them out that way. According to their minds. Yet Allah Almighty says it. Those who will emerge. That is, He created our souls in the world of Lahut. He created our souls in the world of Lahut. We made a covenant there. We made a covenant there. Do you know this? What do I know? If my Lord did not show me, these, definitely, in this way I could not explain. Nor could they be opened up.

What does it say? Look. Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. Ve iz ehaze. Ehaze: He made a covenant, it says. Rabbüke min benî Âdeme: your Lord, with Adam's offspring that would emerge, with his offspring. What does it say? Your Lord, with those who would emerge with Adam's offspring, made a covenant. Ve eşhedehüm: He made them witnesses. Alâ enfüsihim: against their own selves. Elestü bi-Rabbiküm: I am your Lord, He said. That is the verse. If there is, apart from this verse, apart from how I opened it, if you can open it, well done.

If there is such Arabic, if there is such Arabic too, now, He revealed it so that we understand Arabic better, but if they distort it, it is not understanding Arabic well, they go outside Arabic. They go outside Arabic. And how do you open it, Hodja, who doesn't know Arabic? This is a wisdom of my Lord to me. My Lord's wisdom to me. You say: whomever We give knowledge, We give wisdom. Yes. And as was said a moment ago, I am charged with a duty. I am charged with a duty by my Lord. In this duty, if my Lord had (?) trained me, though I have received no knowledge from any human being, I could not have told you the essence of the Quran with its text.

This is not possible. So this is what is meant by "the scholars are (?)", the equivalent of the hadith, what is meant by "our scholars' passing to the hereafter is like the sun going and darkness coming". Now, we leave this matter. From here we move on to our lesson. What does it say? Allah Almighty creates us, creates us in the state of souls; the soul, the nafs and the life are one, the bodies are separate; it is not the lives that die, it is the bodies that die. Yunus Emre says so too. So we will not enter Paradise and Hell, as people say, with bodies. They, if you remember, will enter with bodies, but now we are teaching.

And they are slowly starting to support us. Slowly. Because we understand it from their talks. Those who used to go to Paradise and Hell with bodies are now separating from that. According to what? Because we explain the verses. We will raise you twice and make you die twice, it says. We raise you twice, make you die twice. If there is no death for souls and if Paradise and Hell are eternal, how will we die twice? So the first resurrection is in the world, the first death is on the body in the world, the second resurrection is in the hereafter, when (?) is loaded, there; after the body bears witness to the soul, the second death too is on the body, there.

So the soul, the nafs and the life are one, the bodies are separate. Apart from my (?), you can read my book. It will guide you in understanding the verses of the Quran. Yes. In this case, in this case, Surah Al-A'raf, verse 172: in the book too, its writing as the Turkish equivalent I give, we said. We did this; there is no need to read it again. The way it is written in the books is wrong: "Your Lord, from Adam, from their loins, brought out their offspring and made a covenant with them." Let's skip this too, because we have explained it.

"So that on the Day of Judgement you do not say we were unaware of this", your Lord, the children of Adam. He brought them out of the offspring from their loins. He made them witnesses over themselves and said: Am I not your Lord? In all Quran translations and commentaries this verse is explained this way. Well, now I ask you, I say. I ask. Now I will ask. Can Allah be seen with the eye? Allah Almighty: if He made a covenant after one reached the age of reason, can Allah be seen with the eye? He cannot be seen. Because no eye can encompass and perceive Him. No one can see Him and say this is the Lord.

Sir, second: can Allah fit into the material realm, into time and space? Because outside time and space He fits. How does He fit? His manifestation is present and watching everywhere. Yes, now I ask my third question. Did you see Allah in the material realm and make a covenant? As the answer, I speak for myself, we said. In the material realm I neither saw Allah nor made a covenant. If one goes beyond this, (?), if he says the opposite, he is either astray or mad. That is the answer. Yes.

We ask our fourth question. Allah says: I took a promise from you, I made a covenant. God forbid, is Allah lying in this case? Is He lying? The answer: Allah speaks the truth. But the verse is not as people explain it. And the side on which they err in the verse is this last question. For example, Allah Almighty has us bear the testimony of faith. What does He say? Now we are asking questions. You won't always be the ones asking; let me ask you too. You say: La ilahe illallah. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah. Ve eşhedü enne Muhammeden abdühü ve resulühü. Again I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and messenger, you say.

Well, does Allah Almighty make you bear false witness?

One must pay attention to this. How, when you have not seen? I bear witness that there is no god but Allah. And that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger. How can you say it when you have not seen? When you do not know? In that case, wouldn't you be lying?

Allah Almighty never leads people to lies, nor makes a person say something that cannot be. At the very beginning, when Allah Almighty, at that Elestü bi-Rabbiküm, said "I am your Lord", each one of us saw Him. We saw Him. And the Prophet (peace be upon him), beside Him, as a confirmer: yes, this is our Lord, bear witness and confirm, he rushes at people, he rushes. How does he know? (?) my Lord's grace. I can't explain its (?) anyway.

Yes. This shows how our Lord made a covenant with us and how He had us bear witness, that there is no god but Him, that all created souls, in three classes, stand before Him, that no other god came forward besides Him; of course, if there Allah Almighty says "I created you", if truly He had not created, and someone else had created, would that one let our souls there come to know Him, if another god had created us? Would he let them? He would destroy Him. He would say, it is not Him, it's me. That is, no one comes forward. So He created us. Yes, the Messenger of Allah confirms it too. Eşhedü en lâ ilâhe illallah: there is no god but Him.

Ve eşhedü enne Muhammeden abdühü ve resulühü: and he, (?), is His servant and Messenger.

The testimony of faith is not for nothing.

In this case, in this case, Allah Almighty, being free from deficient attributes, made a covenant with people. Yes. We said: the side on which they err when explaining the verse. That He brought out the offspring of the children of Adam from (?) and made them witnesses against their selves is not it; rather, with those who will come from the offspring of the children of Adam, these He made witnesses against their selves; that is how it must be, we said. We have written the correct one anyway.

There is one more side where people err here. When it says nafs, they mean the bodies and understand it that way. That is, they understand this body of ours created from flesh and bone. Whereas bodies were given to people as their mounts. That is, they were given as a trust. Is there a verse that bodies were given as a trust? There is. What does it say? For how you used these bodies I gave you, I will call you to account, it says. These bodies are a trust. That body will bear witness for us, you know, in (?). When you come with a driver and into My presence, it says. Yes. What is the driver? The body, the driver, drives.

That's it. Then, it says, We will silence your mouths, bind your feet, make your hands speak, it says. Our Lord says: We will make your feet bear witness. This body: wherever you go, even if you go seven thousand layers beneath the earth, even if you go to the remotest corner of the heavens, it is with you. You are with such a driver, with such a witness, that you are never alone. Never. So watch your movements. Watch what you say. Watch what you do too. Yes.

In this case, in this case,

we said the soul, the nafs and the life are one, the bodies are separate. My explaining the subjects to you repeatedly like this since the beginning of the book is so that they can be understood well. Because the souls gave their covenant at Qalu Bala and were taken to the waiting places, the world of barzakh. Each soul awaits its future time according to the era it chose itself. The covenant ended there, the promises were given there. As for those who will come from the loins of the son of Adam, having given their covenant there, in the worldly realm, in flesh and bone they are clothed, they take on the appearance of a human, so that the covenant they gave to Allah, within their bodily lot, in the unseen world, they make themselves witnessed before Allah.

It will make itself witnessed before Allah. Yes.

Did you think you would die without proving what kind of person you are, says Allah Almighty. He speaks the truth. So, man, to this world, why did he come? He came for Allah Almighty's being free from deficient attributes. What is it? He is free from deficient attributes.

Let us continue with the words in our commentary. Some people too, in explaining the Quran as commentary, the following expressions use. Was this covenant in the mother's womb, in pre-eternity, or after reaching the age of reason? There are various views on this, it is said. If it had been in the mother's womb, can there be a covenant of a fetus, unaware of itself, we say. That is, is religion, is Allah, only this much? With us, in a negative way, without our knowing ourselves, He makes a covenant? That is, does this befit Allah's glory? He would make a covenant with that fetus. In the mother's womb? You know, since until one reaches the age of reason Allah Almighty reward and sin does not give, since before the age of reason one does not receive reward and sin, if He made a covenant with one in the state of a fetus, in the womb, would not Allah's words contradict one another?

Yes.

If we made a covenant with Allah upon reaching the age of reason, one would have to see Allah so that I would be aware of it. Nothing like that has happened. So one must understand the verses well and translate accordingly. People today growing up unaware of themselves comes from such people explaining the verses wrongly and taking on these people's burden of sin. Yes.

Also, in Surah Al-A'raf, verse 173, as translation: Or our fathers had associated partners with Allah before. We were a generation that came after them. We followed in their footsteps; will You destroy us because of those who did falsehood, so that you do not say this, We did so, it says; that is, with you We made the covenant earlier. "O my Lord, You call me to account, but I saw my mother and father on this path; what do You want from me? I could not believe them": could one say that? One would. To remove these, in that Elestü bi-Rabbiküm address, Allah Almighty made a covenant with our souls one by one.

Our Lord, who penetrates our souls, whatever feelings we have, those feelings He worked into us as character traits. So within those feelings we have wishes and desires, and Allah Almighty, so that those feelings, our wishes and desires, can turn into actual deeds, creates events, and by carrying out those events we earn reward and sin. And we make ourselves witnessed before our Lord, before ourselves and those around. Yes.

In this verse too, if one thinks with a sound mind, Allah Almighty, regarding the covenant, does not take worldly life into account; in the world of the hereafter, in the state of souls, at the time we were created, that He made a covenant with us: this He wants to remind us of. In a hadith the Prophet says: Allah created the souls in twilight. He scattered something of His light upon them. Whoever received from it found his way. Whoever could not receive from it lost his way. This hadith is about Elestü bi-Rabbiküm, yes, Elestü bi-Rabbiküm; that is what it describes. And some explain this hadith: Allah fired a cannonball, fired a cannon; whomever that cannon hit received it from Allah.

Each one recognised Allah. I mean, such superstition; this man, although the most intelligent of the religion of Islam, than those mindless people, in greater ignorance, how can he say this? That is, I am trying to connect this talk of mine to these verses. This talk of mine: one Muslim is worth three non-Muslims, it says. Worth three unbelievers. So how can a person this intelligent, more intelligent than a non-Muslim, in this ignorance, fall into a more ridiculous state than that non-Muslim and explain it this way? Allah fired a cannonball, sent a light. Whomever it struck became a Muslim. Look at that then.

Yes. Something astonishing.

Later on, from time to time, dwelling on these hadiths and verses, Allah's Word to you we will explain in more detail and more meaningfully, we say. We continue explaining it in many verses anyway. Also, Surah Al-A'raf, verse 172, we will explain to you in detail there too, and the covenant verses we will try to understand better. These covenants.

Having tried, we say, to explain the matter of the verse here at least a little, to this verse's commentary we return. His saying "From those who say We are Christians too, We had taken a firm promise" shows the promises were before; as in this Surah's 12th verse, as we opened it: people being divided into peoples, people by people, according to the covenant they gave, so that each person can get along with their peers, being divided into peoples, and these peoples being divided part by part within their own understandings, and, so that they are recognised more quickly, being sent to the material realm.

Let us open up these words here a little. What do we mean here? We divided you into peoples so that you may quickly be recognised. Now, even though people made a covenant with Allah Almighty, they are not robots. They did not all give their covenant to Allah Almighty in the same frame of mind. Among Muslims there is nafs-i ammara, nafs-i lawwama, nafs-i mulhima, there is, nafs-i mutmainna, nafs-i radiya, nafs-i mardiyya, nafs-i safiya. Their states are each different. Today a nafs-i ammara and a nafs-i lawwama cannot get along. Why can't they? They are Muslims. One drinks, gambles, commits adultery.

The other is at his prayer and supplication. They cannot agree. Nafs-i lawwama and nafs-i mulhima cannot agree either. Mulhima is the gate of wonders. Its perception is greater. As for a person who has matured by looking at manifestations, they cannot get along with him at all; they are (?) anyway. It can't be; it's not that kind of thing. Yes. Non-Muslims likewise; people are not robots, so people with mindsets close to one another were divided into peoples. French, English, Italians, Germans, Greeks, Americans: thus into peoples they were divided. Those who, within their own mindsets, in the best way are able to prove one another, such people formed a people. Allah Almighty, bringing them from that milk, among them they will better secure their lives, from their life they will take pleasure and prove themselves in the best way; so which people they will come from, which of them will get along better among peoples, this our Lord knows; He divides them into peoples and sends them from among themselves.

And on top of these, He places a Muslim soul. A Muslim soul. So that they cannot say: You created me here, I knew it this way, I did it this way. By placing that Muslim soul: look, this one was created there too. This one too was born and grew up there. But this one, as your opposite, turned to faith. From where? Way back at the start, you denied. Allah Almighty says in the verse, they are lying unbelievers, doesn't He; lying unbelievers. You had denied Me way back at the start, and here too you continued denying. But he, because he had confirmed Me at the start, though from within a denying people like you I brought him, returned to his confirmation, his covenant, He says.

Yes.

His sending to the material realm is Allah's creating everything in its proper place and ensuring there is no disharmony in the balance. The Christians too, to the covenanted ones they gave, yes, could you change this one for me?

The Christians too, coming to the material realm according to the covenant they gave, in accordance with their nature acting, and through the attempts to kill Jesus, the Gospel in their hands, because the Jews gave the Christians no respite and them into a wretched and scattered life pushed, as a result could not preserve it and lost it. You know it says they forgot much of it: they lost it. At the beginning of the third century, with the Roman Emperor Constantine becoming Christian, the Christians began to breathe and gather. After this they wrote the Gospel as much as remained in their memories.

In this way hundreds of Gospels that do not agree with one another came about. Among themselves, over whether or not to follow the book they themselves had written, they fell into division and began enmity with one another. For this reason, within their own creeds, toward one another, enmity they feel. This enmity will continue among them until the Day of Judgement. The reason for this is both their not holding on to Allah's book and, because they say Jesus is the Messiah, the son of Allah, they too are in kufr. Yes, out of kufr. And Allah will soon inform them of what they did. Soon: in the world of the hereafter.

For Him, two thousand years, five thousand years, ten thousand years of this world are like ten days. Soon, of course.

Allah, who rules over every atom of the universe and holds it under His power, since He knows what every person has done and what they will do, by saying We will soon inform them of what they did, within a few hours of the worldly realm, (?), with their passing on to the hereafter, the One who makes them witnesses against themselves, Allah will show them what they did, the deeds they carried out over a lifetime, like a video tape. Yes.

From this it is understood that not only the Christians but all people will be called to account for what they did. Allah's informing all people of what they did: people, from Allah's hand, an escape or sides they will not find. As a result of the reckoning, the good as good and the bad as bad will go to their places of separation. First, some to Paradise, some to Hell. Yes. This covenant must be known very well. The covenants were given before. You know people say "the writing on your forehead": "was it written on my forehead?" That is, it's my destiny; it isn't written on the forehead. It's destiny, this destiny. Where did it begin?

The origin of this destiny: in the Elestü bi-Rabbiküm address, where He said I am your Lord, there, within our feelings, within our wishes and desires, sir, whatever we intended, whatever we desired, with our own free will, our partial will, our Lord worked these into us. We are the persons resulting from those wishes and desires. That is, we are people living our destiny. This destiny of ours, through the deeds we carry out over time, we say: in my destiny there were such events. The future: you cannot tell even one second ahead. Because la gaybillah. Yes.