An-Nisa 170: Oh people! The Messenger has brought to you the Truth from your Lord, so believe in him for your own good. If you deny, all the things in the heavens and on the earth, surely belong to Allah (Allah does not need you to believe). Allah is All-Knowing (Aleem) and All-Wise (Hakeem).

Surah An-Nisa, verse 170.

O people!

The Messenger has brought you the truth from your Lord, it says. The Messenger has brought you the truth from your Lord. There is no doubt in this. If there were doubt, you would leave Islam anyway. The prophets, the messengers, so believe in him, for your own good, it says. For your own good. We are not asking for money either. To the Messenger He sent for your good: yes, there is no god but Allah. And you are His Messenger. Because we were created in helplessness, and our Lord, out of mercy to us, sent the (?) verses of light before us through your person, praise and glory be to our Lord, we will say.

We will say this. What has happened? In this way we will have believed. Yes.

If you deny: if I see the person in front of me as just like myself, and out of my pride and arrogance or my sense of self look down on him, (?) (?) will have denied Allah. And I would be denying the one Allah sent, Allah forbid, and then the path to eternal Hell would be open to me.

If you deny, whatever is in the heavens and on earth surely all belongs to Allah; whatever is in the heavens and on earth — you too, it says, belong to Allah; you too Allah created; the heavens and the earth and whatever is between them; there is no other god, it says. All of it was created by your Lord, the one and only God, says Allah Almighty. Yes. He has no need of your believing. Whether I believe or not, I can do Him no harm. I have no need of my believing. He has no need of my believing. He has no need of whether the worlds believe or not. So our believing is conduct that is in our own favour.

That is, for us to find life, for us to secure a good life in the hereafter, it is for our own benefit. Here the story of Rabia Hatun and Dhun-Nun al-Misri comes to my mind. Dhun-Nun al-Misri visits Rabia Hatun together with a friend.

Rabia Hatun asks Dhun-Nun al-Misri's friend: Why do you worship? she says. He says: Because I long for Paradise, I love Paradise very much, he says. She asks Dhun-Nun al-Misri: Why do you worship Allah? He says: Because I fear Allah's wrath, I worship.

To Dhun-Nun al-Misri's friend she says: You are like a labourer who takes on work to earn a reward or to get a good wage, she says. You know, you are like a labourer who takes on work to get a good reward in return for something, she says. And to Dhun-Nun al-Misri she says: you, she says, in the face of a beating, in the face of fear, are like a labourer who takes on work, she says. Rabia Hatun says: these are great (?). This time Dhun-Nun al-Misri says: Well, why do you worship? Because I long for my Lord, she says, I worship. His fire is true, His light is true, His (?) is true. But I worship Him because I love my Lord, she says.

Yes, those who long for Allah. Allah has no need of our worship. These acts of worship are for our own needs. They are for ourselves. Otherwise, what would it matter if I worship? What would it matter if I don't? (?) But because Allah loves His servant so much, to save you He says to you: please, He says. You know: worship, say 'Allah', He says. Let Me give you these places, He says. That is, He loves this because He loves us. Not because He Himself has any need. Because Allah has the attribute al-Hayy. He is ever-living, and all His creatures stand in need of Allah. Why does Allah Almighty care for us so much?

Because He is so merciful, to save us from torment, to save us from disasters, He cares for us. That is, for our own selves. Otherwise, even if mankind and jinn came together, they still could not harm Allah. And Allah has no need of our worship either.

Yes.

The Prophet sent by Allah, it being made known by Allah, through Allah's verses, that he is true, Allah, the Most Merciful, declares that He has sent to people, through the prophets, the Quran as truth, and together with the Quran its Sharia rulings, and the religion of Islam. Since He sent last of all the Seal of the Prophets, Muhammad (peace be upon him), last of all, this means that, for people's salvation through Allah Almighty, Muhammad (peace be upon him), the Seal of the Prophets, as a prophet they will know. Along with this, people will know that all the prophets are true. That the Holy Quran was sent down by Allah and that there has never been any change in it, why? How do you know, Hodja?

I know it from here. We sent down the Quran. We are its guardian until the Last Day. Not a single letter of it, it says, will suffer any damage, any damage at all, it says. Yes. That in the very word of the Holy Quran, whose guardian is Allah, there has been no change, that it is entirely the word of Allah, and that, had it been a human fabrication, we would have found in it many (?) words — according to that verse, believing that no verse of His contradicts any other, knowing that apart from Allah there is no other being, and to believe in this. Well, Hodja, I read the verses. In the interpretations of these verses there are many errors.

For example, (?) there are words that contradict each other. If you put it to me like this, we will tell you this: That is not Allah's word. These are words that the people who interpreted that word, either deliberately or unknowingly, interpreted by ascribing attributes to Allah. Because Arabic grammar runs this way, according to that grammar, or according to some deliberate words — there are more than 400 such words. You cannot pin this on Allah. These are writings these people wrote either for their own interests, or to serve dark aims, or to cast people into doubt in their (?) — writings they wrote.

Very dangerous. Writing a translation like that is not for just anyone. Truly dangerous. Yes. These people interpreting, interpreting the Quran in this way and misleading people, and in this way presenting this to people as the verses of the Quran — this is those people (?) their own ruin. But Allah Almighty has tied people's actual deeds to their intentions. To their intentions — if he did it deliberately, you know how some people tell a story, and in the end, to the guilty one, they say: forty cleavers or forty mules? Yes. That's it for them: forty cleavers or forty mules?

Isn't that so? (?)

so it means The Prophet sent by Allah, it being made known by Allah, through Allah's verses, that he is true, Allah, the Most Merciful, declares that He has sent to people, through the Prophet, as truth, the Quran, together with the Quran its Sharia rulings, and the religion of Islam. He declares it. The religion of Islam.

Yes.

Allah, who bears witness to this, to His prophets, both as witness and as guardian, I am sufficient for you, He declares. What does He say? Allah and His angels are witnesses, but Allah's witness is enough for you, He says. Allah's witness — in order that we may all together on earth be brothers we must answer this call of Allah, become Muslim, and so attain Allah's mercy. If we are to make the earth breathe like a festival, then those governed by the religion of Islam and those who strive to live Islam live on earth as if in a festive air.

We are Muslims, but we do not do what Islam requires of us.

A Muslim's property (?) that is, his life and honour are haram to Islam. And today a Muslim, though a brother, casts eyes on his brother's wife, so that we hear: a man stabbed, threw someone off the balcony the other day. He killed his wife too; his wife was wounded. He killed the man too, lifted him and threw him down out of the window. Now, is this fitting for us? Today, if we take it as 100, 60-70% of people are like this. Allah forbid, we have become corrupt, that is. Plus, his property too is haram. If you cheat a person, if you mix it up, mix up your goods, show the good ones and slip the rotten ones in between, is that fitting for Islam?

If you kill a man for a few pennies, what kind of being a Muslim is that?

We are Muslims, but this does not fit with being a Muslim. This is not Islam. What does Allah say in Islam? If his property, life and honour are haram to him, he will not swindle him. He will not deceive a person. He will tell a person the truth. And if his brother is (?), he will carry him on his back. (?) We were created in a state in which people constantly stand in need of one another. If I am in need today, tomorrow perhaps Allah Almighty will give it to me through unknown doors. We will take others by the hand and help them up too. That is exactly why Allah Almighty established zakat. To raise the level of social life in Islam.

But if a man tries to cut a bit here and a bit there even when giving zakat, if he carries out none of Allah's commands, if, naturally, our way of life becomes just like that of non-Muslims, the air of Islam on earth disappears too. Muslims are brothers. They should trust one another. Look and see: do we still have any trust in one another? (?) our confidence — is any of it left in one another? Non-Muslims, who slowly turn the way of life of Islam into their own way of life — and as long as a person distances himself from Allah, seeing the world through rose-tinted glasses, feeling more desire for the world than for Allah and clinging to it, and with Satan frightening him with stinginess and poverty, people have put Allah, or their faith, in second place.

If a person examines himself today in this situation, he will act from his conscience. Do I love the world more, this life, or my Lord? If such and such a situation came before me, would I kick this gain away in the face of Allah's verses, or would I take it? This is you; this is your test. If you really found trillions on the road, trillions, and you were also in need, would you in that case hand them over to their owner? Or would you fear Allah, or else not hand them over, and feed them to your own nafs? That is what your test is. If he feared Allah and handed them over to their owner, (?) You are truly a Muslim of Islam and a person who fears Allah.

Satan's (?) on you then stays weak. Because the nafs has seven heads. Seven heads. Let's count them. Fame, renown, pride, arrogance, egoism. Grandeur and love of the world. If you leave love of the world alone and fight the six heads, breaking them in your own nafs, as long as love of the world remains in you those heads sprout again. Again, just the same, they appear in you. But if you tear down love of the world in your own nafs, those six heads too (?) by themselves. By themselves. One must pay great attention to this. To the desires of the nafs, to love of the world. You will weigh yourself, the world, against your faith.

Am I turned to my Lord with my faith? Or do I love the world more? This shows where you stand. Yes.

So that we may all together be brothers on earth, answering this call of Allah and becoming Muslim, so as to attain Allah's mercy. All together, in a festive air, let us reach salvation and victory. Reaching victory. Like this.

I protected my brother, I respected his rights, with the commands Allah decreed I carried him as much as I could, or he carried me, and I took his honour as my own honour, his life as my own life, and with him I became like a brother. Now, once upon a time, two bosom friends, bosom friends, mind you, one friend says to the other: divorce your wife, divorce her, he says. And he immediately applies to the court and files for divorce. The judge asks: What is wrong between you? Nothing. Why are you divorcing her? My friend told me to divorce her, that's why I am divorcing her, he says. Son, does a man divorce his wife just because his friend told him to?

My friend would never do anything against me. He would not say this for nothing. Because I believe this, I am divorcing my wife, he says. Well then, if a needle pricked your friend, he says, would you feel that pain too? he says. Yes, he says. Bring another needle. He pricks his friend. Blood comes out there. He sees that blood comes out of him too. His friend (?). He says: Sir, to the judge. After seeing this, I now have to say it. I saw this woman committing adultery with someone else, that's why I said it, he says.

And the judge, after seeing this miracle, immediately (?) them. Now, have you seen the brotherhood of Islam? But brothers like this. Not just so-so. Brothers like that.

This is a Muslim. If people lived Islam, with the peace Islam gives a person, people on earth would truly live in a festive air. And a person is cut off from all desires and wishes. Even though he would still approach the world as he wished, he would love Allah very much. His eye would never see anything at all besides Allah. So he will both work for the world and spread a festive air among people. Why? With his faith, his uprightness, his honesty, his compassion, yes, his generosity, that's how — this is Islam and being a Muslim. Islam never harbours (?) against anyone. It does not prepare plans and projects to torment anyone.

It always racks its brain for people's good, for their salvation, and says: by what means can I save this brother of mine, how can I help him get through this hardship? — and tries to help him. That is a Muslim.

Yes.

Let us strip away the stubbornness found in the desires of the nafs, the grudges, hatred, fame, renown, pride, arrogance, grandeur and egoism and such feelings, and be servants as Allah wants, we say.

It is not hard. Satan makes it look hard to a person. The nafs makes it look hard to a person.

Has a person struggled with his nafs? With his nafs. In this struggle, because a person's will is very strong, there is nothing he cannot achieve. He will surely attain the mercy of his Lord. He lives the spiritual realms. Allah Almighty opens his inner vision. If he lives Islam, if he carries out Allah's command, that is, Allah (?) him there. He draws him even closer to Himself, raises him to the rank of nearness, and (?) As long as a person is with Allah. As long as he is upright. Let him remove the evils in his heart. Yes. What are the evils in a person's heart like?

Into a bucket put some substances. Leave it there. Stir it. And do nothing with it. do nothing with the stuff in that bucket, or with food, let's say; in time it gets maggots. In time.

The inside of that bucket is called filthy. It becomes filthy. It's got maggots, they say. But if you keep renewing the food in that bucket, or keep renewing its contents, wash it, clean it, that bucket becomes spotless, sparkling. The human heart is just like this. If in your heart you prepare discord, wickedness and projects of oppression against people, and in that way, with a rotten heart, with the blackness of that heart, the shape of your face changes too. You know how they say the blackness of a person's heart shows on his face. You take on such a state. But if you struggle with your nafs over the evils in your heart and throw them out, if you place Allah's commands, that truth, into that heart, worldly attachments leave it, and goodness, good deeds, the light of Allah fill it, and that heart shines brightly.

A house to which a guest will come. Who will come? The President. He will visit your house. And you do the cleaning. And you put things in order. If, to receive that President, (?), you go into debt and spend, you buy sofa sets and so on for your house, because you will host him, the President. Allah Almighty, without leaving you any (?) expense, if you break those evils in your own nafs, in your heart, then Allah manifests Himself in that heart. Allah Almighty, who does not fit into the heavens and the earth, fits into the human heart. He manifests Himself in that direction. Isn't this a festival?

Yes. And do you know what kind of festival? This is the festival of the heart. What does it say? In a couplet it says: it held a festival, held a festival, again the heart held a festival. Not from weddings and parties; it celebrated with Allah's beauty.

So if we as Muslims live Islam, we will attain both in this world and in the hereafter very great ranks with Allah. But if we turn a deaf ear to the commands of Islam, if we remain Muslims only in word, if we try to solve every matter with our own reason, what happens?

We suffer injustices.

One man put it very well. Someone who solves every matter with his own reason is like legless people who have put on (?) legs. Since Allah Almighty created our reason deficient, with these deficient minds we will hold fast to Allah Almighty's verses so that we (?). We need His guidance, His leadership. So let us never turn our backs on Allah's commands.

Allah Almighty, for our believing, Allah, in return for these, asks of us no wage or service. Of course, He asks no wage of us, nor service.

On the contrary, He promises very great rewards. Such as? There is Paradise, Paradise. On the path of eternal bliss there is Paradise. Plus, in this world too there is peace, peace. Yes. In this world too there is peace.

What do we say? For our believing in Allah, Allah, in return for these, asks of us no wage or service. On the contrary, He promises very great rewards. So, for their own benefit, people should hold tightly to the Seal of the Prophets sent by Allah, the Prophet, and to the Book. In order to carry out Allah Almighty's command.

If we deny — Allah has no need of our believing in Him. If we deny, Allah Almighty has no need of our believing. Whatever is on the earth and in the heavens, all belongs to Allah. If whatever is on the earth and in the heavens all belongs to Allah, then since we too are on the earth, our Creator too is Allah. So where would we run to? Would we leave the realm of the Creator, then? There is no such place; Allah Almighty says in His verse: even if you left your world to flee from death, even if you went to the remotest corner of the universe, We (?) would find you there, He says. So there is nowhere to run.

Allah Almighty is free of all needs. Because He is the Creator. He has no need of anything. Need belongs to the created. To us, it belongs to us. Every moment we are in need. For example, right now I don't need anything. But in a little while, what then? For what? For food. Allah Almighty will give it to us, we will eat. Otherwise, like the calamities He gives people, if He says drought, if He says thirst, what will we do? In the people of Moses, against Pharaoh, you know, He brings about the event of the blood. When Pharaoh's people, to take that water from the hands of the Israelites, take the bowl, that water turns into blood.

If droughts and famines like this broke out, what would we do? So the One who feeds us and gives us drink is Allah; we need our Lord at every moment. Every moment. Life without Him is unthinkable.

A life without Him is unthinkable. If... Allah forbid. Such a thing cannot happen, of course. Sometimes it crosses my mind: if there were no Allah.

If He abandoned us. If He abandoned us. Well, illness would come upon you, and you would not recover. Death — there is no death.

Wounds and sores cover you. Old age has come, you can no longer walk. You are left without a grave. You are dragged along the ground. No one looks after you, no one cares. You writhe in agony. Death, destruction, where are you? you say. There is none; (?). Allah forbid.

So in this case one must hold fast to Allah. Because the One who created you, who gives you life, who feeds you, gives you drink and sustains you, and who on the path of eternal bliss constantly provides you every kind of service — how could you not hold fast to Him? Serving what kind of reason would you turn your back on Him? Allah forbid.

Yes.

So if the human being is a creature, he is one who stands in need of Allah. So, when Allah, who meets our needs and created us, addresses people, would a person turn his back on this address? Would he turn his back? As I said a moment ago, would a person distance himself from Allah? Who? If he eats and drinks from Allah, the Creator, is given sustenance, and to His call, to His verses, turns his back and is ungrateful, then at the reckoning of that day, of which He says the Day of Resurrection, their account will be settled and they will be sent to the place they deserve. Never again to the world — in the hereafter, which is not visible, in eternal Hell, the place of torment, they will have prepared their own places.

Above all, faith. Above all, faith. Together with this faith, above all, Allah's commands. Look, now we look at those who believe. How many among those Muslims, in their trading, rip each other off, swindle each other — there are. One day I went to a bookshop; I'm buying something there. I saw that he quoted me an astronomical figure. I said: look, although the price of this is this — and they had sent me with a recommendation. I won't say his name either. A student of such-and-such a hodja. There.

He doesn't know me, of course. Although its price is this much, I quoted you a (?) figure. I said, well — to me he says: there's food, food. We have to (?) our stomachs too, he says. Our stomachs. You'll (?) your stomach too, but you didn't say, of course. And you went out without buying. You will (?) your stomach, but you will take every thing from what is halal. So if you got the chance, you would swindle your own father too. In our religion there is no black-marketeering. In our religion, even in trade, there are set rates of profit. For dry foods it starts at 15%. 20%, 30%, fresh foods up to 45%.

That is, (?) you can set a profit margin of up to 45%. Yes. So in Islam, people sometimes act ignorantly in their faith. They suffer harm in their faith. For example, he bought some goods for 50 kuruş. He sells them for 60 kuruş. He earns his money in a halal way, normally.

With the devaluations, buying those goods again at the market costs 75 kuruş. He has to sell them for 90 kuruş.

This citizen is a believer, you see; I bought this for 50, I'll sell it for 60, he says. You bought it for 50, you'll sell it for 60, but, my good man, when you go, you'll have to buy it for 75 kuruş. Look what the Prophet says. When a villager is coming to the market, do not cut him off and buy the goods in his hands, he says. What does this mean? Let him learn that day's going rate at the market. Let him learn that day's price. Don't cut him off, take his goods out of his hands and make the man suffer a loss. Buy at that day's price. Well, you too have been hit by devaluation. Yes, you are a believer. You bought the goods for 50 kuruş, you sell them for sixty.

Fine, but (?) it has become 75 kuruş. Well, if you sell this for 60 now, you have made a loss. And if you sell it for 75 kuruş, you'll put 15 kuruş in from your own pocket. Is this trade now? Is this buying and selling? Is this, again, the understanding of Islam? These are the sides of faith without knowledge. Of faith.

Yes.