An-Nisa 140: Allah has already revealed to you in the Book that when you hear Allah’s verses being denied and ridiculed, you must not sit with them until they change the subject. Otherwise, you will become like them. Indeed, Allah will gather the infidels and the hypocrites.

We now move on to verse 140 of Surah An-Nisa. What does Allah Almighty say? Allah has sent down to you in the Book that when you hear that Allah's verses are being denied or mocked, until they plunge into some other talk, until they move on from the subject, do not sit with the disbelievers; otherwise you too will become like them. Surely Allah will gather the hypocrites and the disbelievers in hell together. In our commentary it says: Allah, sending down the Book as guidance to His servants, decreed thus. Allah, as guidance to His servants. Because Allah Almighty created man deficient in reason.

Because man is created deficient in reason, he can do deficient things. He can take what is wrong for right. So, since Allah Almighty is the great one, the guide, the proof of the people He created, in the Book — the truth and guidance, that is, so as to raise them to a level where their carnal feelings are perfected and they can weigh things with reason — His words, or rather the religion's legal rulings and people's shortcomings, to people He tries to make known. Well, why didn't Allah create man complete, without flaw, create him without deficiency — and if those who err had come to do it only to themselves, wouldn't that have worked?

Allah Almighty gave man of His spirit. Man is the exact likeness of his Lord. Man. So it is for man to make mistakes, and, in making mistakes, to know his helplessness and ask Allah Almighty for pardon and forgiveness — His creating his reason deficient. If, He says, you had never committed a mistake on earth, He says, if you had never committed a mistake, We would have destroyed you and created servants who commit mistakes, He says. So there is Allah's greatness: man will know his helplessness through his deficiency, and ask the Great One who created him, his Lord, for pardon and forgiveness.

So Allah Almighty, so that people can reach guidance, in the Book makes His command known. What does He say? He decreed thus. When you come across a disbelieving community that denies or mocks Allah's verses, do not stay with them. Until they move on from this subject or plunge into some other talk, do not be with them. Listening in silence where kufr is spoken, consenting to kufr — that is what it means, as I said earlier.

As he speaks that falsehood, as long as you stay silent, look — the person who says he is a Muslim, who presents himself as one — if he had knowledge in the religion of Islam superior to ours, he would have told us. So what we say is true; he knows it to be true too, he says, and it causes their kufr to increase, or their religion's — that is, their belief's, for it is not a religion but a belief — that falsehood's being true becomes proven to them; so in that case he must leave that place (?). Since he has no knowledge either, of course.

Listening in silence where kufr is spoken means consenting to kufr. In this respect Allah shows people the ways of His mercy. The ways of His mercy. What are they? Not staying with people who speak ill against the religion of Islam, against Allah, is necessary. When people without knowledge answer the talk of the people of kufr, either they will stir up fitna there, fitna — they have no knowledge — I mean, a commotion will arise, or unpleasant incidents will result. That is, lacking knowledge, the person will resort to the law of the jungle; because of his faith he will (?) them, or else they will get the better of him and give him a beating. Unpleasant incidents will occur.

So, to leave no room for this, the people of faith should distance themselves from this disbelieving community until it plunges into other talk, and not consent to kufr; in this respect Allah removes His light from the community of disbelievers. Who is the light? The people there. Islam. So that no harm comes to that light, to the light of Islam on that person, He removes His servants from there.

Otherwise, He says, you too will become like them. If you have no knowledge either — the carnal feelings, and especially the two-legged taghuts around you, and a little (?) (?) — do not incline, do not be deceived by worldly desire. It draws you to their talk, it steals your heart. And so you too will have inclined toward evil.

Otherwise you too will become like them. The meaning of this: either your silence toward them destroys your light of faith, and you will have affirmed what they say; or, for lack of Islamic knowledge, the kufr they relate pleases your nafs and you incline toward them. Or you are carried away by them and you too become like them, you resemble them, He decrees. So Allah Almighty, to His servants whom He sent (?), with His verses, to people, by telling the truth, shedding light on their paths, teaches people what they do not know. People always think what they see is right.

Can't it be right, though? Of course it can. So people will consult one another. He says: consult when you do something. And perhaps, even if what you know is right, when those around you guide you, even though your knowledge is more correct, while consulting you will see that your knowledge grows further, even better, higher than that; of which you say, there is nothing more right than this — you will attain that higher one. Because in consultation Allah's light roams in your heart, and your insight opens. With that opened insight you see what is better. Yes.

Surely Allah will gather the hypocrites and the disbelievers together in hell. Just as paradise has seven levels — the eighth, the station Mahmud, given to the Prophet (peace be upon him) — hell too has seven levels. Just as the human nafs is built on seven traits, the human nafs on these seven traits; what are the seven paradises? These seven traits: nafs-i ammara — let's say, nafs-i ammara: a person has said the shahada, has become Muslim, yet he drinks, gambles, commits adultery, does it all — this is nafs-i ammara. Then the person turns to prayer, to prayer; in that case to nafs-i lawwama he will have risen.

After that, if he turns to taqwa, he rises to nafs-i mulhima. He reaches the gate of karamat. Then, if he goes even further there than (?), he rises to nafs-i mutmainna, becomes aware of the divine manifestations (tajalliyat), attains the quality of a believer. The believer: O soul at peace, your Lord pleased with you and you with your Lord, enter among My servants, enter My paradise — you enter among the people of whom He says this. Then, in the fifth state, nafs-i radiya, through (?) you enter in. You attain our Lord's knowledge. These — following the whims of their nafs — cannot rise to these stations.

Even if they have swallowed the world's books. Even if they knew seven times, a hundred and twenty thousand times as much Arabic. One who cannot master his nafs cannot see these places. And does not wish for it. Here he becomes the recipient of his Lord's knowledge. He attains the state of ilm al-yaqin. He enters among the righteous servants. After that, nafs-i mardiyya. What is this? The state of ayn al-yaqin with my Lord. The state of ayn al-yaqin.

Let's pass over this part like that. This is the qutb. He comes once in a hundred years. Then nafs-i safiya. Qutb al-aqtab. He comes once in two hundred years. He becomes aware of the secret of secrets. Just as a Muslim has seven states of the nafs, its opposite in hell is seven levels; in the lowest level, the hypocrites. So, the non-Muslims and the hypocrites, He says — the disbelievers and the hypocrites We will gather in hell, He says, in hell.

Yes.

Every soul shall taste death. According to the verse, every soul will one day migrate from this world to the hereafter. Every soul shall taste death, and your return is to Me, says Allah Almighty. Your return will be to Me. In that case, the inheritance of the heavens and the earth will remain Allah's, He says. So man cannot transfer any of what he owns in this world as matter to the hereafter. What will he transfer? In return for the good deeds he did, Allah Almighty will grant him the hereafter. What does He say in the verse? Those who buy paradise with their lives and their wealth, generous with their wealth — so that you can transfer this matter there, you will go (?).

You will give to Allah's servants. You will help them. You will look after the poor and needy. You will give the orphan his due. You will help the stranded traveller.

Yes. You will give the zakat of your wealth. Otherwise — this matter, I have trillions. (?) will take it to the other side. What does He say? Every soul shall taste death. (?) verse. The inheritance of the heavens and the earth is Allah's, Allah's. The inheritance of the heavens and the earth will remain Allah's, He says. It will remain Allah's. So you cannot take a single atom. Nor are you able to create a single atom. Or are you able to create an atom? He says. If you were able to create that atom, He says, not even as much as a fruit's seed — nothing would be given to you, He says. Because then you would have the art of creating; your own (?) you would see to yourself, He says. So the heavens and the earth, and what is between the two, those encompassed by the Throne of Allah — all are Allah Almighty's creation and Allah's property.

What our Lord wants from us is to be good people, to reform our nafs and finally, in this world, to remember Allah consciously, to worship Him and, by carrying out His command, to turn the earth into a festive atmosphere. Yes. So people's being against the religion of Islam, their stirring up fitna, their acting selfishly, forgetting the hereafter and loading themselves with the world — this makes a person a porter of the world, and finally he goes to the hereafter bankrupt. What does the Prophet (peace be upon him) say in his hadith? The bankrupt one of my ummah is not the one bankrupt in this world, he says.

It is the one bankrupt in the hereafter. Yes.

In his true homeland, the hereafter, every soul, with what it did, in the divine presence of Allah Almighty is called to account, and without being wronged even an atom's weight, by the Judge of judges, Allah Almighty, its place will be determined.

We do not intend injustice to souls, He says. You wrong your own souls. What you have earned is the return for your two hands, they said. Yes.

Whoever opposes Allah's verses — is there no place in hell for the disbelievers, He says? Yes. The disbelievers and the hypocrites — in eternal hellish life Allah will bring them together. So, the places you did not count as real and that, mocking Allah's verses, you denied — were they real after all? He will say. The places you denied. Now, are we going to be resurrected again in the hereafter? Will these rotting bones of ours be brought to life again? What does He say? E ve lem yeral insânu ennâ halaknâhu min nutfetin fe izâ huve hasîmun mubîn. We created them from a lowly drop of water, He says.

Today they have become open, manifest rebels. Ve darabe lenâ meselen ve nesiye halkah. Kâle men yuhyi'l-izâme ve hiye ramîm. They say, He says: will these rotting bones of ours be brought to life again? You — the One who created first — creating again, He says, is not hard. He will bring you back to life again, He says. He will bring you back to life again. Yes. So is it harder to create the first time? Or to make what He created die and create it again? Of course creating the first time is harder. For example, if we give an example, let's take a grain of wheat. Is it harder to create a grain of wheat?

Or to produce this grain of wheat? That seed has now come into being. In that seed all the characteristics, the natures of the whole wheat are written. That wheat will become wheat. What does it say in the verse? We create you in the same form, down to your fingertips, He says. That is, that cell in our body which does not burn, does not decay — in that cell, down to our fingertips, all our characteristics are written. We will be resurrected again in the same form. In the same form. Then bodies and souls come face to face; our bodies will bear witness against our souls. Yes. What will He say? Hell, rising again, which you denied — today it turned out to be true, He will say.

Denying Allah and His Messenger, amusing yourselves as your nafs liked, those who warned you and told you your end would be bad — you called them liars; what they too told you — was it true after all? He will say. They were telling you the truth. Were these true too? Do you know the reason you are gathered here today? Allah Almighty will say. Although you heard of one another that your place in the hereafter would be hell, in the world you boasted in pride and arrogance, and by the whims of your nafs, when you put on airs that no one could do anything to you or overpower you, you said: paradise is our right.

So, so that today you bear witness to one another that the hell you were told of is true, We gathered you together here, He says. Did you have your (?) in your hand? Paradise, if anything, is my right. Because I have wealth. I have a family. They even went further (?) — so far that they began to count even the dead in the graves, He says.

Yes.

May Allah Almighty protect us from such pride, from such a mindset.

So, so that today you bear witness to one another that the hell you were told of is true, We gathered you here; each of you, in return for what you did, now taste this punishment, it will be said. God forbid — with no (?) again, the ruin and misery of an eternal life; death — you say death, there is no death, no running away and escaping, nor does the punishment cease. They, there — destruction, where are you, that is, annihilation, death, where are you — they will say, but there is no more death, because souls are immortal. Yes. Therefore, in paradise and in hell they are eternal. O man, be wise, do not wrong your nafs; from the way of Allah and His Messenger do not stray. From you, the world no one asks; that is, Allah does not say: work (?) and pay me so much upkeep in the world, because I gave you this much (?).

Take, He says, work as much as you want. Do not waste, He says. Do not waste. And give those who work for you their due too. The orphan, the motherless, the stranded traveller, the poor, the destitute — protect them. Give the zakat of your wealth, He says. Yes. That is, He makes us, one another with one another, help each other. That is, He raises the level of our social life. Yes. So as long as people act selfishly, not even two come together. A man, when giving the zakat of his wealth, looks for loopholes. Loopholes. Where from? Thinking: I'll find a way. Whereas if he gave it generously, Allah would give him more from His bounty.

Yes. No one asks them for a fee either. Nor is there anyone telling you: you will render some service to someone. The worship you do is for you. Your good deeds are for you. Everything is for you. So do not be heedless. Purify yourself from the mysterious, secret life of this world. Try to wake up. Do not let the treasure of life in your hands escape as a bird escapes from its cage. Once that bird flies from the cage, there is no coming back. Death is just like this. Once that moment comes to you, there is no coming back for you.