Al-Ma'idah 16: For those who seek Allah’s contentedness, Allah shows the paths of salvation with it (Qur’an). And they (people) leave darkness, attain enlightenment by their own will, and enter a straight path.

In verse 16 too, look how they wrote it: Whoever seeks His pleasure, Allah with it to the paths of salvation leads. Allah leads to the paths of salvation. Whoever seeks His pleasure, He leads with it to the paths of salvation. And by His will He brings them out of darkness into light. And Allah Almighty by His will brings them out of darkness into light. Brings them out. He guides them to a straight path, it says. Here, with word games, look, here to Muslims it speaks. Sir, in this case Muslims, if they say obey Allah, of course Allah too will guide them, it says, will lead them there, to the right path.

The verse does not come to Muslims; it is for all, for the world, for all the people of the world. So you will make it address them well. For those people too you will (?) a good book. Under the work of the verses, you will not make Allah Almighty do (?). What do we say here now? To whoever seeks His pleasure, Allah with it, that is, with the Quran, shows the paths of salvation. He does not lead. With the Quran He shows the paths of salvation. Since He treats people equally, since people, in their will, free He leaves, since He will treat people in the universe with His mercy, because He leaves people free in their own will, Allah with it, with the Quran, the paths of salvation shows. And they, that is, people, by their own will come out of darkness into light.

Because they held fast to Allah's verses. By their own will they come out of darkness into light. They enter a straight path, it says. They enter a straight path. So, here now, since, "did you think, without proving what kind of person you are, you would die", according to the verse, since, according to the verse saying "what you earn is the return of your two hands", "Allah Almighty wrongs no one; you, to your own selves, wrong you do, torment you do", according to the verse that says this, according to many (?), is it Allah who uses His will over us, or we who our will use? Yes, if the verses had been opened correctly, these people would not have come to this state.

So the knowledge of the Quran is an entirely different knowledge, an entirely different knowledge. But those who do not (?) it, those who judge according to their own minds, have ascribed attributes to Allah this way. Even though one sees the truth, this time the desire of the nafs erupts. The nafs erupts. Alas! We opened it this way. Instead of saying "truly this is right like this", before you he stands like a fortress, like armour. But Allah's verses: not just (?), not granite rock; even if it were harder than that, they would still pierce it. Because, according to the verse "truth has come, falsehood has vanished", if all the verses one another support, he finds no word to say and in the end is left having to bow his head. Yes.

The aim, bowing one's head, a claim against you, it is not. The aim is to learn the truth, to know, to know what is right, to attain our Lord's mercy. "The believers are brothers", says Allah Almighty. If we are brothers, on the wrong path you have taken, where with the verses you are not governed, on those wrong paths, saying "I am seeking your Lord's mercy", His punishment you would meet; (?) at the Judgement, on that day you will be called to account, before that day comes, the scholars (?) you. He tells the truth. There is nothing here to be stubborn about.

Where you told me incompletely, where you told me wrongly, if someone came forward and said: Hodja, you said this like this; look, this verse, this contradicts that verse, if he said so and it truly did contradict it, my heart would embrace that person. My heart, my heart would embrace him and I would carry him on my back. Instead of this, unfortunately the desire of the nafs, pride and arrogance, the claim "I know something", sets a person against the truth. Taking what is governed by falsehood as if it were the truth, and although learning the truth, although his mind too knows it to be the truth, that desire of the nafs sets the person against the truth.

So no one, in the world of the hereafter, on that day of Judgement, at the great court, in the presence of our Lord, "O Allah, if they had shown me the truth, I would surely have been with that truth": he will not be able to say that. He will not be able to. Because Allah knows the secrets of His rights. That person, through his own deeds, proves so well what kind of person he is, and, by Allah's attribute of being Allah, without anyone being able to question Him, those people go, heads bowed to the ground, to the places they deserve. So, in worldly life, why do we one another listen to, why do we spend so much time here, why in Allah's way do we spend our time, why do we worship, and why, to win Allah's pleasure, do we do good deeds? We have a belief, we have faith.

Within this faith and belief we do it to win Allah's pleasure. That is, we know there is a world of the hereafter. There is resurrection after death. And there is the great court. There is being called to account in the presence of Allah Almighty. We do these to earn the reward of that place. Well, while doing these, with the desire of the nafs, when you take what they know is wrong as right, when they explain the truth to you, why do you stand against it? Instead of submitting to it, instead of to the truth, to that verse of Allah submitting, why do you try to spread superstition over the truth?

Can falsehood ever cover the truth? Can darkness ever pierce light? Is it possible, I mean? Look, in the darkness, even if only the moon comes out, even a star, it still pierces that darkness. When the sun rises, the darkness disappears. So, according to the verse "truth has come, falsehood has vanished". Allah Almighty, in His verse: your scholars' passing to the hereafter is like the sun going and darkness coming, He says; according to this verse, those scholars those darknesses pierce. So they cannot spread falsehood over the truth. If people had knowledge of the verses, they would break this obstinacy and submit to Allah.

That is why our advice is this. Our advice: wherever you see the truth, take it. Wherever you see what is right, take it. What is right. How beautifully the Prophet (peace be upon him) says: if knowledge is in China, he says, if knowledge is in China, go and take it. Go and take it. Yes. Yunus Emre also says it best: knowledge is knowing knowledge, he says, knowledge is knowing oneself. If you do not know yourself, what kind of knowledge is this, he says.

That is why, if we want to win Allah's pleasure, in return for the acts of worship we have done,

if we want to receive the reward of acts of worship, we will know our nafs. If we cannot know our nafs, the acts of worship we have done become a burden on us. The Messenger of Allah says so in a hadith. If the acts of worship you have done (?) keep you from evil, they are a burden to you, he says. You earn in one place, you go spending in another. When your nafs, against these spendings, spends the mercy that comes, that mercy has become a burden to you. You won't even want to get up for worship. But if you break your nafs in the face of those acts of worship, you begin to take pleasure in that worship.

So why did Allah Almighty send us His verses? 1. Because we were created (?), so that we find what is right. 2. So that we come out of darkness into light. Three: so that we know our helplessness and submit to our Lord. Yes. So we know these three points. If we cannot live these in our hearts, each one of us, within carnal pride and arrogance, of the verse that says "have you not seen the one who deifies his nafs", we become the people it describes. We do harm to our own selves.

Yes.

To whoever seeks His pleasure, Allah with it, with the Quran, shows the paths of salvation. And they, people, by their own will come out of darkness into light. They enter a straight path.

To people who seek Allah's pleasure, Allah with it, that is, with the verses of the Quran, leads to the paths of salvation. He shows the paths of salvation. Yes. Over on this side it says "leads", you see. He shows the paths of salvation. Because Allah is free from deficient attributes. Every path He shows is a path of salvation. Every path. Whatever part He shows. He shows nothing bad. He never shows you the bad. But He says, do not go to the bad.

Shall I tell you a verse that He never shows you the bad? The verse.

We always show the truth, it says.

For those who would go to the bad, too, (?) is needed. Someone was needed to show evil, to show those paths. That is why We permitted this to Satan, it says. That is why We permitted it to Satan. Yes. Probably, Allah knows best, He says this in Surah Saba. Saba. Let's look at the verse. Sir.

Yes, it's called (?), but it could also be a Sajdah near here, in the word of a sajdah verse. Now, (?), it says, Satan, over them, any influence he did not have. But so that We know the one who believes in the hereafter (?) the one who remains in doubt, We gave him this opportunity, it says. Your Lord is truly the guardian of everything. In the verse above it, even more so, Iblis his estimate about them proved right. Except a group of believers, all followed him, it says. Here, apart from this, the verse we mentioned is more explicit.

yes so in this case Allah Almighty never, never shows people crooked paths; the crooked path is shown by a person's own nafs and by the (?) Satan gives. Yes.

And we say: to people who seek Allah's pleasure, Allah with it, that is, the Quran's verses, shows to the paths of salvation. Allah is free from deficient attributes. Every path He shows is a path of salvation. does not compromise Allah's path and the verses for carnal interests, and with Allah does not compromise Allah's path and the verses for carnal interests, and with Allah is together, Allah too is together with him. He is with those people. If you come to Me one step, it says, I come to you running. If you mention Me, it says, in a good community, in a gathering, I mention you in a finer community, a better gathering, it says.

If you remember Me to yourselves, it says, I too remember you in My essence, I mention you. That is, He comes that close to a person, (?). In this case, if a person does not compromise on Allah,

does what He says, acts on what he knows, I become his seeing eye, his holding hand, his walking foot, He says. Do you know what the meaning of this is? That person then neither looks at the forbidden, nor commits anything forbidden or evil with his hand, nor goes to evil with his feet. Now he has established intimacy with Me, it says. He has established intimacy with Me. He has surrendered his own being to Me. And I, it says, have accepted him in My essence. That person. Allah Almighty already says in His verse: of such people I become the seeing eye, the holding hand, the walking foot. He says.

Yes. Whoever to the path Allah has shown holds fast, is governed by the verses, does not compromise Allah's path and the verses for worldly and carnal interests, and with Allah is together, Allah too is together with him. He becomes the walking foot, holding hand, seeing eye of such people. In the hearts of people who trust in Allah, Allah places (?).

It also occurs in Surah An-Nur: Allahu nûru's-semâvâti ve'l-arz.

That person, because he fears Allah and loves Him very much, does not go to evil. He does not reach for the forbidden with his hands and does not undertake evil deeds. And that person does not look at the forbidden with his eyes. To do forbidden things, even to think, for thinking, time he does not find. From contemplating his Lord, from love for Him, from affection. Yes. So with Allah's verses, through various paths, people attain salvation. With various verses. Allah Almighty says (?). Allah never ceases to give parables. That is, in a way every person will understand, in a way even the most ignorant will understand, and the scholar too will understand, He gives them examples and parables.

Yes.

So with Allah's verses, through various paths, people attain salvation. He brings them out of darkness into light by His will. By His will. Those who submit to Allah Almighty, trusting in Him, Allah by His will brings out of darkness into light. Not by Allah's will, by our own will. If we submit to Allah by our own will, Allah Almighty too with His verses brings us out of darkness into light. What is darkness? What we did outside Allah's verses when we did not know; the forbidden undertaking; within carnal feelings, (?), pride, (?), being caught by a grandeur, by a desire, by a love of showing off being caught, a complex, being caught by a superiority complex; with such behaviours people take on traits Allah Almighty does not want.

But when one is governed by the verses, by the verses when governed, look, a verse we will now say, a verse, yes.

In Surah Al-Fath, verse 10: Indeed, those who pledge allegiance to you only to Allah pledge allegiance. The hand of Allah is over their hands, it says. The hand of Allah is over their hands. So people too know their helplessness. If one (?) his neck, submits to Allah, that person knows that the Owner of the worlds, Allah, is my owner. Yes. And in this case, Allah Almighty's verses bring those people out of darkness into light. That is, he attains Allah's mercy. Why were we doing worship? To win our Lord's pleasure, to break the evils in our nafs, worship we were doing. Yes.

So with Allah's verses, through various paths, people to salvation, to salvation attain. He brings them out of darkness into light by His will. We are both reading, and here there are some missing (?). We correct them. It becomes better.

For example, here you said "salvation", of course. To salvation. Yes.

They attain salvation.

Them, by His will He brings out of darkness into light. He brings them out of darkness into light by people's own will. Those who submit to Allah Almighty, trusting in Him, Allah, that is, by those people's will, come out of darkness into light. Whoever submits to Allah and does what Allah says, that person under Allah's mercy has entered. And since Allah is free from deficient attributes, to those under His own mercy absolutely neither a deficiency nor an injustice is (?). They are not wronged either.

Yes, whoever by his own will the path Allah Almighty has shown enters, by his own will, because Allah Almighty shows the paths, in this case, when people enter the path Allah Almighty has shown, they attain our Lord's mercy, they attain that salvation.

Who? Whoever submits to Allah and does what Allah says, that person under Allah's mercy has entered. And since Allah is free from deficient attributes, to those under His own mercy absolutely neither a deficiency nor a humiliation is (?). They are not wronged either, it says. In the verse it says, on their faces neither a stain nor sorrow (?). Who are these? Those to whom Allah Almighty has given the right of intercession for people. To whom He has given the right of intercession. Human, after all; don't we make mistakes? We may have done someone a (?). Their right remains with us. And we forget it.

On the other side, what will he say to Allah Almighty? I have a right in this. Isn't that a stain on him? A stain. Allah Almighty says: come here, My servant. What right did you have in this? Three pennies' worth, (?) five pennies' worth; that person is glad. Allah Almighty removes that stain from him. That person: I wish it had been a bit more, from this elder brother of mine, from this brother of mine, I wish I had benefited a bit more, he says. The one on him is lifted like that. And what is sorrow? His mother or father or his beloved aunt, aunt, (?), friends, whoever, has died a Muslim but will enter Hell.

That is, will suffer punishment there. Allah Almighty, so that he (?), gives him the right of intercession. Take it, He says. Can you imagine Allah Almighty's mercy here? You know He says: I sent 1% to the world, I kept 99% for Myself, My servants to judge there. That person, if he has gone in Islam, a person, a Muslim, does not easily take that road to Hell. Not easily. So those given the right of intercession: prophets, how shall I put it, scholars. To these, by way of interceding; those who are very cruel are another matter, or those who are very sinful are another matter, for whom anyway those to whom Allah gave the right of intercession do not intercede either.

Who were those who receive the right of intercession? Allah's saintly servants, and not all of them, some, because of closeness. Sorrow, (?), because of closeness. Sir, in this case most people will have attained salvation. Allah (?) like this. We are servants of such a sovereign abundant in mercy. Just think: if He were not so full of mercy, and, just as some cruel people take pleasure from their cruelty, us against one another making us destroy, (?) us with torment, if we had such a Lord, what would we do, I wonder? We would find no place to flee. Because there is no death either. So, to such a sovereign abundant in mercy, to our Lord, to our Owner, worshipping Him, carrying out what He says, is that heavy for us?

Although He offers us every kind of blessing, and in the hereafter the finest places He gives us, (?), let us say: to the one who knows Allah. Although He gives to the one who knows Allah, does worshipping Him feel heavy to us? To whom is it heavy? To those who turn their backs on Allah, to those who deify their own nafs, it is heavy. May Allah separate us from all of them, make us (?). Yes.

For this reason these people reach from darkness to light. They taste the delight of the spiritual worlds; the worlds beyond death, as far as Allah Almighty permits, they behold. Now what has happened? He has reached the state of a saint. He has passed nafs-i ammara. He has passed nafs-i lawwama. He has passed nafs-i mulhima. He has entered nafs-i mutmainna. He has become acquainted with the manifestations. If he rises even higher, he sees many worlds, spiritual worlds. That people cannot imagine; when we say "for Allah nothing is impossible", you accept it too, everyone accepts it. Yes, for Allah nothing is impossible.

Well, these people break such carnal feelings through worship, attain Allah's mercy, and, when they attain these spiritual worlds of our Lord, why do they oppose them and say no such thing can be? He still says for Allah nothing is impossible. You did it yourself; you ascribed attributes to Allah. For Allah nothing is impossible. Break your nafs. Your nafs. Be worthy of the worship you do. Allah is just. He shows them to you too. If you are worshipping, if you are trying to break your nafs, and still cannot see those worlds, then in your heart, in the full sense, you have not yet removed those (?), the salary, the wealth.

So there is still more. Just as when a president, a prime minister, a sovereign is coming to visit you, your house you wash, you clean, you prepare the finest mattresses, your armchairs you change; to host him, (?), you show him the required regard, if you do, to Allah, the Owner of the worlds, you will show even greater regard. He has no need of your house or your armchair in the world. In that heart of yours, for your Lord who will manifest in that heart, to remove the (?) there, it is you yourself who has the need. Sins, good deeds you will (?) there, good deeds you will (?), sins you will remove, you will make it spotless, sparkling.

You will first place your Lord's light there, that light will shine, and then for that guest you will have prepared the ground. Otherwise: lie down, get up, lie down, get up, worship, and in return from your own carnal desire give nothing up, for worldly interests ignore lawful and forbidden, and then say: I worship this much, so why can I not attain what I want? So there is still more. There are suspicions. Suspicions, suspicions, suspicions. Hesitations, doubts. All these will be removed from the heart. A person must be sincere. Yes.

So for this reason these people reach from darkness to light. They taste the delight of the spiritual worlds. They behold the worlds beyond death as far as Allah Almighty permits. People's traits, with Allah's commands over people, and toward Allah Almighty people's behaviour and attitude, the distinction between this world and the hereafter they can make.

Let's open this up a bit for you. It needs opening up. People's traits, with Allah's commands over people, people's behaviour and attitude toward Allah Almighty, of this world and the hereafter the distinction they can make, it says. Now we take this sentence from the beginning. People's traits. That is, when it says "beware the insight of the believer, he sees with Allah's light", when it says "you recognise them by their faces", or when you say "you recognise them by their speech", when it says, with the verses, the people before them, their traits, at once, by the verses of the Quran, they recognise.

The shape of a person's face when he speaks. When he speaks, the words in his mouth at once where he is, to you tell. For whom? For a person who has reached spirituality, though. When it says "beware the insight of the believer, he sees with Allah's light". Yes. What does His Holiness (?) say? Say a word to me, I'll tell you where you stand, he says. How beautifully he says it. So these are people's traits. We continue.

With Allah's commands over people, those people Allah's command over people, the sharia ruling, how much they apply, how much they do, how much they don't. In that case what are their states? That is, he goes to the mosque, prays, but on the other side he gossips, stirs strife and sins. That is, he observes Allah's commands on these people. He sees. Their traits, those bad traits, their good deeds he sees. If he lacks the good deeds that person does, he takes examples from him. He takes examples. Yes.

Now we continue again. With Allah's commands of people, people's behaviour and attitude toward Allah Almighty; people's behaviour and attitude toward Allah Almighty. Look, we are explaining. People, by watching one another, you know: the grape, looking at the grape, darkens, as they say. Today so-and-so went about in a singlet. I'll go about like that too. So-and-so, sir, they've brought out a shorts fashion. What's wrong with fashion? I'll wear them too. Of course you'd wear them too.

Well, is Allah's command like that? He created you as something rare. He created you as a flower. He created you as a (?), and to prevent every kind of evil that may come to you He told you how to dress. If you oppose Allah's command, with your own mind deifying your nafs, if your own honour and dignity you trample underfoot, in any injustice you suffer tomorrow, in tears, your regret will be of no use to you. Yes, what do we say here? Sir, people's behaviour and attitude toward Allah Almighty, that is, how far, by which verses is he governed? In which verses, sir; he says he is a Muslim but doesn't do what Allah says.

Yes, people's behaviour and attitude toward Allah Almighty, of this world and the hereafter they can make the distinction. The distinction between this world and the hereafter. How does the distinction between this world and the hereafter come about?

(?) you own a (?) of the world, He says. If so, to you a seed, He says, down to the seed of a fruit, nothing would be given. You would create your own needs yourselves and would not need Me, He says. So the inheritance of the heavens and the earth and what is between them will remain to Allah, He says. Every soul will taste death; the heavens and the earth, the inheritance of what is between them, to Allah will remain. In that case: that man can take nothing from the world. But in the world Allah Almighty created us such that (?). He made us needy in the world. And whatever we need, He placed it all in the world.

So man in the world, in a way that meets his needs, through the actions they do, through their deeds, earn reward and sin. So these people know they can take not one atom from the world. They know that everything, from the atom to the vastest, belongs to our Lord. But they know that, so that in giving and taking these, in this trade of ours, we prove what kind of person we are, He set up this order in this world. With the order here, just as in the world one can earn and secure a good life, to earn the life of the hereafter, by holding fast to Allah's commands, the hereafter that with worldly matter he cannot buy, by reforming his own nafs, by worshipping his Lord, he becomes a master of the hereafter, one of its rich, one of its lords.

Yes. He makes this distinction. He makes the distinction between this world and the hereafter.

Seeing the difference between them, to Allah even more firmly holding fast, those who attain salvation through it. With those actions of theirs. With the help he gives people through his deeds, the helpless, by the hand of the helpless taking them, by looking after the poor and needy, by protecting them, that in the world we are each in a guesthouse and are each travellers by knowing, by embracing one another on this journey, by helping Allah's servants, not him, a person has helped Allah. Allah. Does Allah need help? No. Allah needs nothing. So: when you give to that servant of Mine, you have given to Me, He says.

To Me. And I will make you one of the rich of the hereafter, He says. If you give: who buys Paradise with his life and property? According to the verse. Yes. He knows it like this. When from the wealth you earned you give to that needy person, "I gave him from my wealth" you don't say, but if you say "I gave this to Allah", then among the masters of the hereafter you enter. Our Lord raises you to those ranks.

The giver is Allah too. In return, the one who sells you Paradise in return for what you gave is Allah too.

Just be able to give in the world. Satan frightens you with stinginess, with poverty, it says; he drives you to stinginess. And Imam Ghazali says: even if it is little, to the poor and needy charity give. Even if it is little, he says. Because, he says, don't let your hand get used to stinginess. To stinginess.

Yes.

Allah Almighty's verses: to those who observe them like this, Allah Almighty, a good view and understanding giving, them on a straight path; they will have entered a straight path. Yes.

For this reason the Prophet (peace be upon him) says: beware the insight of the believer, for he with Allah's light sees. They, distinguishing truth from falsehood, in Allah's way, reward and (?) show. Our sixteenth verse we have now completed.