An-Nisa 155: Because they broke their covenant and due to their denial of Allah’s verses, due to their unjust killing of Prophets and their saying; “Our hearts are veiled.” To the contrary, they wanted from Allah to seal their hearts (by their covenant with Allah). (We have cursed them) Because of their denial, they suffered great calamities. Except for a few (who made a faithful covenant with Allah), they will not believe.

Surah An-Nisa, verse 155. Surah An-Nisa, verse 155. The verse, that is, the explanation of the verse they have written wrongly here. 155. Because they broke their word, it says. Because they denied Allah's verses.

Because they killed the prophets unjustly. And because they said, our hearts are wrapped, We cursed them. We gave them all kinds of afflictions. Their hearts are not wrapped. On the contrary, because of your disbelief Allah has set a seal on those hearts. Except for a very few, they no longer believe. Yes. Now here it says, because they broke their word.

And what does it say? Mîsâkahum. Binding a covenant. Not breaking one's word. Binding a covenant. Except for a few. We are reading the right one. Except for a few. Their giving the covenant as deniers. Deniers. That is, people, except for a few. Their giving the covenant as deniers. The rest is right. Because they denied Allah's verses, unjustly killed the prophets and said, our hearts are wrapped, We cursed them. We gave all kinds of afflictions. Their hearts are not wrapped. On the contrary, because of their disbelief, there it starts wrong. Here it says, because of their disbelief Allah has set a seal on those hearts.

Whereas, because of their disbelief, they made Allah set a seal on their hearts. They themselves.

If Allah had set the seal on the heart of everyone who commits disbelief, no disbeliever, no one who commits disbelief could ever return to Islam. So it is those who have their hearts sealed. Those who have a seal set on it. Except. Now, does a person have a seal set? No offence in the comparison.

This one says, I am your Lord.

And this one says, how are you my Lord? Look, we resemble each other, it says. It awaits the creator in its own imagination. There is a mind in it. It knows that it was created. Look, the mind in it. (?) That is, this spirit. Spirit. Still in the realm of lahut. So when Allah Almighty made the covenant with it, if it gives this as denial, denying its Lord, awaiting the Lord in its own imagination, then according to the verse that they will not see their Lord, did Allah set the seal? Or did this one have the seal set? One must know the verses well.

Yes.

The meaning in their breaking their word, they explained it wrongly, we corrected it here: their giving the covenant as deniers, except for a few. The Jewish people, who denied all of Allah Almighty's blessings that give people life, while living the worldly life, whether when in distress or for their own interests, thinking they would deceive Allah, promised to worship and obey Allah. My Allah, You do this for us, then we will do that, we will give that, we will do that, they say. But since no power and might other than Allah can change the covenant one gave at Kalubela, Allah creates events for these people who come to the world to bring out the intentions in their hearts.

And they act out their intentions according to these events. You say so, but here you are, He says. Here. This one immediately returns to its own nature. If he is a liar, a liar; if a hypocrite, a hypocrite. If he is a munafiq, a munafiq; if he associates partners, the shirk will come out at once. Or if he is obedient, obedient.

And they act out their intentions according to these events. They make both those around them and themselves and Allah witnesses against themselves.

While Allah Almighty explains with His verses what kind of people they are, with the Holy Quran, which will rule over the people to come until the Day of Judgment, He declares to people that such people too will come until the Day of Judgment. Because they denied Allah's verses, unjustly killed the prophets and said, our hearts are wrapped, We cursed them, it says. We gave all kinds of afflictions; their hearts are not wrapped, it says. That is, here they blame Allah. Just look at that. Our hearts are wrapped. That is, You created us like this. You bound our hearts, as a people who cannot understand in this way.

If we cannot understand this, is it our fault, they say. And Allah Almighty says, their hearts are not wrapped. We created them so as to understand, so as to know their Lord, He says. Out of their stubbornness they drowned the light of faith in the darkness of shirk and knowingly rebelled against Allah, He says. Their hearts are not wrapped. Although Allah Almighty proved His existence to people with many miracles, these people still denied Allah and the prophets He sent. And as an even greater sin, besides knowing Allah, their saying, our hearts are wrapped. They ascribed attributes to Allah by attributing guilt to Allah.

That is, You created us like this. Our hearts are wrapped. That is, we cannot understand, it says. We cannot understand. If we cannot understand, is it our fault? Is it our fault? Yet Allah Almighty says, We do not load on your back what you cannot bear. If Allah Almighty, what we cannot bear, if He sent His verses to teach us what we do not know, if He sent them to make the truth known to us, and if He has also given us this ability, within this ability whom are you deceiving? Are you deceiving Allah? Does Allah not know what He created? Then you are knowingly leaving your own self subject to torment.

As if Allah Almighty had deliberately created this people this way, they blamed Allah. Because of their slander against Allah, it caused this people to be cursed. And Allah Almighty cursed them.

What is a curse? Allah forbid.

Let us say, no offence in the comparison. This part is training that part. Although this part is trained, it denies this.

It denies its Creator. In this situation, knowingly, it also slanders Allah. Although it is trained, living the whims of its own self, bringing about its own wishes and desires, not knowing its Lord amid its own pleasures, not knowing its Lord and slandering Him, slandering Him, as it thinks, with that limited mind; and Allah Almighty says, within your lifetime We granted you a term, a term. Until that term We granted you the right to live, but from now on you are cursed. That is, your hope in Me is now cut off. You will not turn to Allah either. Forever, because He knows its longing, forever you drove yourself out of His mercy, He says.

Cursed like Iblis. The same situation. That is what a curse is. Just as Iblis was cursed and driven out. He was driven out although he knew Allah. And these too, although they knew Allah, were cursed like this, driven out of His presence. Just as Iblis played a game of logic and did not carry out Allah's command, saying: You created Adam from clay and me from fire, clay does not purify fire, fire purifies clay; with a game of logic he tried to mislead Allah. And in this situation he rebelled against Allah's command and was cursed. Although he knew Allah, although he had risen to be the teacher of the angels.

So this people too, although they knew Allah, in the face of so many miracles, playing a game of logic just like Iblis, tried to blame Allah. So Allah Almighty says: within a lifetime given to you, you will live a promised lifetime. But from now on you are far from My mercy. That is, you are cursed. Allah forbid. May Allah not let anyone fall into this state. May Allah protect our families and the ummah of Muhammad from such thoughts. Yes.

Our hearts are wrapped (?). You, as Allah, with Your attribute of Creator, created us like this. No one can go beyond what You willed and created. Just as I explained a moment ago. If You had not wrapped our hearts against Your essence like this, that is, if You had given our hearts feelings to perceive You, we would have known You. Their saying, You created us like this, veiled from Your essence, and their knowingly attributing guilt to Allah caused them to be cursed. Yes.

First of all,

as we explained in our lessons, now that it comes up here, we see benefit in a small reminder, we said; we see benefit. So that His essence would be known, Allah created the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). He gave him of His spirit, and from his spirit He created the spirits of all people. Then, when He said to them at Kalubela, I am your Lord, the spirit of each person created there either obeyed Allah Almighty by saying yes, or by denial, saying no, gave its covenant as a rebel against Allah. So man had the covenant he gave there written for himself as destiny. This person never changes again.

The Prophet, in one of his hadiths, referring to this realm, said that a child, while a child is in the mother's womb, it is already clear whether it is wretched or God-fearing; he said this hadith based on the covenant these people gave before. That is, for this hadith, a child in the mother's womb, wretched or God-fearing, the corresponding verse is Surah Al-A'raf, verse 172.

Yes. We made a covenant with those to be brought forth from the offspring of the children of Adam. We said to you, We are your Lord, it says. Those who gave their covenant well there, those who said yes, or else those who knew the Lord in their imagination and rebelled. So what he said, that while a child is in the womb it is clear whether it is wretched or God-fearing, corresponds to the verse of the address Elestü bi-Rabbiküm.

What does it say? Imam al-Ghazali says, whoever knows three verses is a scholar who knows three hadiths. He even says, even one who knows one hadith is a scholar. People carry hadiths around. Are they scholars? It is not like that. Which hadith corresponds to which verse?

So, if a person (?) a hadith to me and it does not correspond to the verses, it is not from me, he says. Look, these are from the hadith. How beautiful! Yes.

Yes, this person never changes again. The Prophet, in one of his hadiths, referring to this realm, said that while a child is in the mother's womb it is clear whether it is wretched or God-fearing; he said this hadith based on the covenant these people gave before. People being disbelievers in this world and becoming Muslims, or being Muslims and becoming disbelievers, depends on their covenant in the first barzakh. Allah Almighty is free of deficient attributes.

He places a disbeliever's soul in a Muslim's loins and a Muslim's soul in a disbeliever's loins. When they come to the world, everyone, after a certain time, returns to his covenant. So that people do not say, I was born in a land of disbelievers; had I been born in a Muslim land I would have been a Muslim. The disbelieving soul born in a Muslim land, too, after a certain time returns according to its covenant and becomes a disbeliever. So Allah Almighty is free of deficient attributes. Today, in the loins of non-Muslims in the lands of disbelief, how many Muslim souls lie, and they become Muslims.

So that you do not say, had we been born in a Muslim land we would have been Muslims, He will show that person who came in the land of those non-Muslims from those Muslim loins, that is, who came from a disbeliever's loins as a Muslim soul, as an example to those disbelievers, those non-Muslims. Look, this one too was among your people. These were the ones who knew Me in pre-eternity and in essence. And you were rebellious people. You did not know Me. Your own wishes and desires became your destiny. Destiny. This destiny of yours, within your wishes and desires, We placed in you the characters to live this destiny of yours. And today, He says, how nicely you proved yourselves in this way.

Yes. They will be shown to them as examples.

After this lesson of ours, in this respect no one can say, You created me like this. Because Allah values man so highly, He gave man's partial will into his own hand. Without any pressure or coercion on anyone in any way, it was willed that by his own will man know his Lord. Of course Allah says, had We wished, We would have created you as a single ummah. Allah Almighty created all beings other than humans as His essence willed. Every created thing continues its duty as Allah willed. In this respect Allah says in His verse that the heavens and the earth (?) submitted to Allah willingly or unwillingly.

That is, man, within his own will, is the exception; even his body too, not his spirit in this respect. His body is remembering Allah; what did we say? While the atoms and nuclei of all matter, magnetic or antimagnetic, turn around their own axes, they make a sound, and that sound remembers its Lord. Since our bodies are created from matter, in our bodies, you see, although (?) to Allah, we cannot know it. Whether what is inside us, that is, our spirit that uses that body, is rebellious or obedient becomes clear anyway through the deeds we do. Yes. In this respect no one can say, You created me like this.

Because Allah values man so highly, He gave the will into man's hand, gave man into his own hand. It was willed that, without any pressure or coercion on any person in any way, by his own will, his Lord be known. Of course Allah says, had We wished, We would have created you as a single ummah. Allah Almighty created all beings other than humans as His essence willed, so that all beings know what they will do. Lions, tigers, cheetahs, cats, dogs, crabs, fish, whatever He created, the seventeen thousand worlds, He created them for the duties they will do; He filtered the world with those animals as a filter, cleaned it, and around its own (?) created it firm until the Day of Judgment.

That is why no created thing acts outside Allah's command. Now we said, man is the exception, because He gave his partial will into his hand. Yes. In this respect Allah says in His verse that the heavens and the earth and those between submitted to Allah willingly or unwillingly. So if man, created (?) like this, out of himself and his arrogance toward Allah, rebels against Allah, he says: our hearts are wrapped. That is, it is not our fault. You created us like this, he says. If, out of hatred and resentment, out of pride and arrogance, with his tiny mind he tries to attribute guilt to Allah, these too will be struck with the punishment they deserve.

That is, being cursed, turning the abode of eternal bliss into an abode of eternal torment, he makes Hell, of which He says, what an evil place of return, what an evil bed, his dwelling. Dwelling. Allah forbid.

Yes.

To these, Allah Almighty gave many ailments such as plague and the like, to these peoples. Against their saying, our hearts are wrapped, Allah Almighty says, their hearts are not wrapped; on the contrary, because of your disbelief Allah has set a seal on those hearts. With this verse, what we explained above, whether people knew Allah Almighty or not, that is, those who said to Allah, yes, You are our Lord, and those who rebelled there, it proves. The verse saying, on the contrary, because of their disbelief, means their rebelling against Allah Almighty within their own will. Because of their disbelief, it says.

It does not say, We set it, anyway. They had it set. Yes. And since they did not know Him, within their own will, with their own wishes, they had their hearts sealed by Allah Almighty. Again in a verse, Hatemallâhu alâ kulûbihim ve alâ sem'ihim ve alâ ebsârihim ğışâvetün ve lehüm azâbün azîm; its saying, they had their hearts sealed by Allah, means that they had their hearts sealed with their own wishes and desires. Allah does not discriminate among those He created.

I want to remind you of this. Of course there are new people listening to us. Every day new listeners appear. In this situation these people think our way of speaking is disbelief. Because they are new, unaware of the verses. How do you know, Hodja? I look. Some come in. They do not open their minds. Some leave. They come in and go out. If they had knowledge, they would listen wholeheartedly. They would understand what an error they are in. And they would find the truth. We are not angry with them. Or rather, we cannot be angry. The reason: that is how they were raised. Because they have faith too, because they are believers, faith meaning those who believe in Allah, His Messenger, His books, the hereafter, the angels, resurrection after death.

Believing people.

To them it seems as if we were insulting Allah. Because the truth of the matter was distorted for them, with completely opposite words they think we are in disbelief. For this reason they do not even want to listen. Or some listeners, because they see the truth, see that they are finished. For this reason too they do not want to listen. This is a bad thing too. Why did we become Muslims? To earn our Lord's mercy. Why do we strive in the way of Allah? To earn Allah's mercy. So, to clean the worldly attachments from our hearts, to be saved from errors, we must judge with the truth.

As I always say, if there are newcomers, let them listen to me. Let them keep listening. They too will see. They will see the truth. Yes.

Allah Almighty does not discriminate among those He created. Allah does not wrong His creatures even by a hair's breadth.

Since what everyone earns is for himself, He has left people within their free will, alone with their own will. According to the verse in which He says that what everyone earns is the return of his own story, everyone wrongs his own self. No one can blame Allah. Yes.

Except for a very few of them, they no longer believe. Among them there are also people who pray, who know the truth, who read the Quran. But among those who rebel against Allah, they cannot reveal themselves and they hide. These are very few. To Allah, who is free of deficient attributes, no one will be able to say, I was in the land of disbelief; had I been within Islam, I would have been a Muslim. Accordingly, He will show these people who found the truth, even in secret, as examples against the disbelievers.

In a verse Allah Almighty says, We divided you into peoples in the world so that you may quickly be recognised; in fact we were divided in the first barzakh. According to the verse in which He says this world is the likeness and shadow of that world, it is the reflection of the program there onto the realm of mulk. The difference is that, in the state of spirits, seeing Allah as Allah, whether one believed in Him as Allah or not. In the realm of mulk, however, it is believing in Him veiled from Allah, without seeing Him. That is the difference. Yes.