An-Nisa 136: Oh you believers! Be firm in your faith, in Allah, Allah’s Messenger, the Book Allah has sent to Allah’s Messenger and the Book Allah has sent before. Those who deny Allah, Allah’s angels, Allah’s books, Allah’s Messengers and the Day of Judgment have truly gone astray.

We continue with verse 136 of Surah An-Nisa.

O you who believe! In Allah, His Messenger, the Book He sent down to His Messenger and the Book He sent down before — be steadfast in faith, He says. Whoever denies Allah, His angels, His Books, His messengers and the Day of Judgment has gone utterly astray, He says. Who are these? Non-Muslims. Branches within non-Muslims. That is, polytheists, as I say, hypocrites, unbelievers, non-Muslims.

When a Muslim recites the testimony of faith, Eşhedü en lâ ilâhe illallah ve eşhedü enne Muhammeden abdühû ve resûlüh when he affirms it with his tongue and confirms it with his heart, even if his faith has weak points, this person — pay attention — even if his faith has weak points, as long as he does not deny these, is a Muslim. The sins he commits are written to him, the good deeds are written to him. (?), at that Supreme Court he gives his account in the presence of Allah Almighty, if his sins outweigh his good deeds, he is temporarily subjected to a Hell punishment or to Hell — temporarily, but then, then he comes out of there and attains Paradise.

Even if faith is weak. They, the Muslims — Allah, the Messenger, and the messengers He sent, His Books, the hereafter — they do not deny these. Muslims. Even if faith is weak, I say, look. But only as long as he does not go to the hereafter without faith. If he goes without faith, there Allah Almighty's mercy is lifted from him. There he is left alone. He has neither an intercessor nor a saviour. Yes. For those from whom Allah Almighty has lifted His mercy, no Muslim intercedes. Yes.

O you who believe! In Allah and His Messenger, and the Book Allah sent down to His Messenger, and His Books He sent down before — be steadfast in faith. Why does Allah Almighty address people like this? 'Be steadfast.' Look, they say, 'We are Muslims.' Many of them do not pray. But if you said to one of them, 'Are you an unbeliever?' 'God forbid, I am a Muslim,' he says. He will even recite the testimony of faith for you. So, within the religion of Islam, this one — our prayer, which renews our faith and brings us closer to our Lord, the head of all worship — by being made to abandon it, is heading toward weakness of faith.

But he does not leave Islam. Now, in this case Allah Almighty says: be steadfast in faith. Why 'be steadfast'? Every passing day it shows itself before our eyes. Uncovering, following fashion — this year the fashion is wearing short shorts. Well, does that befit a Muslim? Wasn't a Muslim woman to cover her adornments — Allah's command? Wasn't she to be covered — eyebrows to chin, down to the wrist bones and the shin bones? Wasn't she to dress so that her contours would not show? Now they have given this up; covering is being set aside, it is heading toward shorts fashions, toward exposure; outside, in stark-naked nightgowns, they walk around. Now, the nafs toward Allah's command has an enormous antipathy; let it not hear Allah's command, and whatever happens, happens. That is the human nafs. It works together with Satan and the world.

In this case, since this exposure pleases the human nafs, the worship he is to do for Allah becomes hard for him. Since Allah Almighty addresses every age, in this age, against those exposures that please the nafs: O you who believe, on Allah's way, He says, be steadfast, be patient, He says. How beautifully Allah Almighty says it. He addresses this to our time as well. What does He say? In the Book Allah sent down to His messengers and the Books He sent down before — be steadfast in faith. Obey Allah's commands. Allah's command. Today you obey the command of your state.

Today you obey the command of your superior. For a few (?), for worldly desire, you do not hold back from scheming intrigues. But toward the Owner of the worlds, your Lord who created you — His commands you turn a deaf ear to. Allah, Allah. Now, if we put this to our reason, can such a mind be called a mind? Is this what a sensible person does? Yes, our Lord brought us into the world, made us dependent on eating and drinking to live, and placed responsibilities on us. Certainly we will also work for this world. Now, while working for the world, while obtaining the blessings of this world — is it from the lawful or the unlawful?

Keeping our Lord's verses in mind, listening to Him with all our heart, obeying Him in the heart — do we take these worldly blessings for His pleasure, or to increase our own selfish feelings, our fame and renown, to give in to pride and arrogance, to lord it over people and show off? A person must hold himself to account in this. Yes.

Obey Allah's command. Keep your prayer, your Hajj, your zakat, your fast. Fulfil the commands of Islam. If you do so, the desire of your nafs is broken, and Satan's temptation stays away from you. You stand firm on Allah's way and find peace. Fasting today is a struggle against the nafs. From morning till evening, fine foods pass before me. Especially on this summer day, how thirsty you get; your lips crack to pieces, the heat overwhelms you. But your Lord's command weighs more with you. And, fulfilling your Lord's command, you wait for the evening iftar table. And at that iftar table, when your Lord offers you those blessings, even as they go down your throat He forgives your sins.

Your Lord is such a Lord. The Lord of the worlds is such a Lord. A forgiving Lord. Forgiving. Yes. Now, either side with your nafs, or side with the two-legged taghut, or side with Satan, or side with your Lord. (?), even if you do not decide, (?), with the free will, by the actual deeds you will do, your Lord holds you, you, as a witness to yourself — a witness. You hold those around and Allah as witnesses. Yes.

You stand firm on Allah's way and find peace. You become a servant Allah loves, and you will have built up both your world and your hereafter. Yes.

Allah Almighty makes Himself known to people without any lack. Without any lack. Allah Almighty has made Himself known to everyone with reason. To everyone with reason. Today on earth, let's say, there is no place that has never heard. But let us assume such a place: a few years ago, or 50–60 years ago, some natives — people who had never heard of Allah's Book — had, in their own way, things they worshipped. They had temples of their own. That is, they too know that we were created by someone. And they worship Him. Now, in this case, since Allah Almighty will call none of you to account (?), today even at the poles there are those who have heard of Islam.

Islam at the poles. There are noble Companions buried at the poles. Those who went to make Islam heard there. Yes.

Allah is such that the world, in His sight, is like a speck. A speck, the world. Think of the people inside this speck, this world like a speck in His sight. Think of these billions of people.

For Him, making His religion heard is like child's play. Making His religion heard. That is why He says He calls no one to account for what He has not made known. So, had Allah Almighty been free of deficient attributes and had there been people He could not reach, they would have lived in their own state. And since Allah Almighty is true to His promise, He would have said: I call no one to account for what I have not made known. These worshipped idols. I could not reach them. You worshipped idols, but since I did not make it known to you — to Paradise; and you, because you worshipped idols — to Hell.

Would this not be injustice? Yes. It would be a great injustice. That is Allah's — Allah's attribute. There is nothing He does not make known. And He calls no one to account for what He has not made known. And Allah Almighty is free of deficient attributes. He makes His verses known to all beings on earth. Do you suppose that if there were a person in the remotest corner of the world, living all alone — believe this, Allah will have it made known to him too.

This is no tale — He will have it made known to him too. Do you know how He makes it heard? Say a person ended up on a desert island; there Allah Almighty — one of His unknown beings, in human form — He sends there; it enters there as if a castaway, and keeps him company and makes the truth known to him. People who will come until the Day of Judgment will hear this. What does Allah Almighty say in His verse? Pay attention: Did they think they would extinguish Allah's light with the blowing of their mouths? Allah will complete His light until the Day of Judgment. Through whom will He complete it? With people He will complete it. Through whom? Just as He completes it with people, He will also make it heard by those people. Otherwise, if they did not hear it, since he would enter Paradise for the crime he committed, while on the other side those committing the same crime would be in Hell forever, a gulf of imbalance would arise. Yes. This is Allah's justice: He calls no one to account for what He has not made known.

Yes. So Allah Almighty (?) makes Himself known to people without any lack. He shows people the way with His verses, and if people still deny Allah, His Messenger, His Books, His angels and the Day of Judgment, they have gone astray in the middle of the straight road. In the middle of the straight road. What is the straight road?

The straight road is a person's reason.

What is the straight road? The straight road is a person's reason.

Had a person had a mind with which he could not know his Lord, Allah would be (?). He would say: with the mind You gave me, I could not know You. Today all people on earth know with their reason that they were created by a Lord. So the straight road is a person's reason. Going astray in the middle of the straight road — deifying one's own nafs, following the two-legged taghut or Satan, and by deifying one's own nafs plunging into the world's pleasures — so, in the middle of that straight road, although his reason showed him the truth, by turning his back on it he went astray in the middle of the straight road, gentlemen.

He went astray in the middle of the straight road. Yes.

Such people are those who associate partners with Allah, or who, deifying their nafs, out of obstinacy and rebellion follow Satan's footsteps, and who at the same time, out of hatred for Allah, deny. Such people. Yes. When people are told 'the straight road', sirat al-mustaqim, the straight path, He says, the straight path — but how will I see this straight path? I will see it with my reason, with my reason. So the source is reason. What that reason gives a person — (?), governing oneself and, as one governs oneself, making judgments, and with this judgment the aim one desires (?) desiring, and the person desiring it from his Lord, repentances being (?), and that person, through reason, through actual deeds, carrying it out.

Yes. And so receiving reward and sin.

There is the right path, there is the crooked path.

Although you see (?) with your reason, if in the middle of the straight road you go astray — that is, although you see the straight path, you turn your back on Allah and follow Satan's (?), then you become the very one of those astray. That is, they are like four-legged animals roaming the earth. Even more astray (?), declares Allah Almighty.

People like these, when the soul reaches the throat, at the moment the nafs is to taste death, when the hereafter appears, when they understand that Allah's word is true, want to return to the world and serve Allah.

Allah Almighty in Surah Al-Waqi'ah: when the soul reaches the throat, come on, turn it back, He says. All the relatives, He says, have gathered and wait for his soul to depart, He says. In Our power, are you closer to him, or are We closer? He says. Then the door of repentance has closed. Our Lord is a sovereign abundant in mercy; until the door of repentance closes, He accepts repentance. That door of repentance closes when the soul reaches this (?) or this rooster bone — then the door of repentance closes. Why does it close? Because at that moment the hereafter is seen. That is, having proof in our memory, the moment we lived that (?) judgment in our memory, the moment He said 'I am your Lord' — it is shown to him.

Those worlds open up. The person says, 'Send me back once more — how I will worship!' In fact, (?). Even if We sent you back, He says, not once but several more times, you would do the same thing again. Why? That place will be closed to you again. Again, with the whims of your nafs, with deifying the aim of your desires and wishes in yourself, you will again return to your own whims, He says. Now there is no return anymore. Yes. What are we saying? People like these, when the soul reaches the throat, at the moment the nafs is to taste death, when they see the hereafter and that Allah's word is true — when they understand it, they want to return to the world and serve Allah.

But this wish of theirs is nothing but self-deception, we say.

Why a deception? Perhaps there are some listening to us for the first time. Why a deception? Having seen that place, would that person really do this again? When you ask that: at the address Elest-i Rabbiküm, when our Lord created us in the realm of lahut — and küntüm ezvâcen selâseh. (?) three classes. Fe ashâbü'l-meymeneti mâ ashâbü'l-meymeneh. Those on the right. Ve ashâbü'l-meş'emeti mâ ashâbü'l-meş'emeh. Those on the left. Ve's-sâbikûne's-sâbikûn — this third, the group of the foremost, standing before us; with our standing before our Lord, when He said 'I am your Lord', those who denied Him there and the lord of their own imagination awaited — and, according to the verse in which Allah Almighty says they will not see their Lord, since there is no god other than Allah — those who, the lord they (?) in their imagination awaiting, made him a god; and when they came to the world, those who made the shape of that lord of their imagination, put its spirit inside and worshipped it, those who associate partners with Allah — right there (?), of their own will and desire, had their hearts sealed.

Hatemallâhu alâ kulûbihim ve alâ sem'ihim ve alâ ebsârihim ğışâveh ve lehüm azâbün azîm. People who had this sealed there — even if they came to the world ten thousand times, a hundred thousand times, endlessly many times — they would do the same. Yes. Wake up! This world has an end; human life too has an end. Before the world ends, human life will end.

And the end of human life will conclude with the Judgment. With the Judgment. So, our Lord who created these worlds has been calling to us since our father Adam. Through many prophets, many books, and finally, gathering all the books in the Quran and sending the Holy Quran as a mercy to all the worlds; sending the Seal of the Prophets, the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) too, as a mercy to the worlds; and finally, with the verse in which He says 'Every soul shall taste death; your return is to Me', all people must know that on earth they are staying in a temporary guesthouse. According to the verse in which He says 'All people (?) death, your return is to Me', one must remember the day of being called to account before Allah Almighty.

Those heedless of this, those who do not want to remember Allah, those who, drawn by the allure of worldly life, turn their back on Allah, those who, coveting a few hours of life in this passing world, turn their eternal, endless life into the fire of Hell. In that case, if you call these people sensible — are they really sensible?

That is why Allah Almighty says one Muslim is equal to two unbelievers. With such a mind. Yes. He is their equal by his mind. So, regard the life of this world as a precious gain. A gain. Your lifetime, too, is a gain from worldly life. The passing seconds and minutes do not come back. They do not come back. You are building a building; as long as you work, the building progresses; if you do not work, the building stays where it is; if you take a hammer, or a mallet, and the building's walls break, what do you do to it? You drag it to ruin. So the building of your body, or of your time, is your faith.

Strengthening your faith — the good deeds and kindnesses you will do over time, your actual deeds — your faith they will strengthen, and raise the foundations of the building of your hereafter. Yes. So try to spend every passing moment, every passing second, with good and beautiful deeds. The Prophet (peace be upon him) in his hadith: When you commit an evil, he says, do a good deed right after it, he says, so that it takes it away. That is, when someone (?) breaks something at the foundation of your building, he says, you right away repair it, he says. Repair it. Yes.

So those who indulge in their own pleasures in worldly life, those who had their destiny written this way, those who gave their covenant this way,

those who live outside the religion of Islam — they will never return to Islam. Of course, if their destiny is so, if their covenant is so. What are we saying? Because he had his destiny written so and had himself programmed so. Himself. Yes.

Those people,

whatever they did in this world, if they returned they would again do the same thing; they do not change. Allah Almighty is a Lord of such mercy that 'if only,' He says, 'they could understand,' He says — if only. That is, unwillingly He will manifest His justice; His justice — because He manifests His justice, because Allah is just, unwillingly He will still put them into Hell. And there, He says, after they have burned for many thousands of years, after suffering torment, We make them unable to feel or taste, He says. Even there His mercy will reach them. After many thousands of years. His mercy will reach them.

When their nerve senses are gone, they will neither feel nor taste. And so they will remain there as eternal logs of Hell.

Well, now I too call out to you. O human being! (?)

This worldly life? This life of ours.

Our way of living, our pleasures — are they worth that torment? Even if you lived like kings in this world, beyond kings, enjoying the pleasures of the world, even if you lived as the king of the world, is this lifetime worth suffering that eternal, endless torment? Is it worth it? So a person must be wise.

Yes.

(?) such people are people who are (?) to their own nafs. In the hereafter they have neither a helper nor an intercessor. There, in eternal life, they remain far from Allah's mercy.