An-Nisa 122: Those who believe and do righteous deeds, We will admit them to Gardens beneath which rivers flow and they will remain there eternally. This, Allah has promised is the Truth. Who could be more truthful than Allah with regard to making promises and keeping them?

Those who believe and do good deeds, We will place in gardens beneath which rivers flow, to abide therein forever, says Allah Almighty.

Allah has promised these things as a true word. Allah. Who is more faithful to his word than Allah? He says. Yes. Allah has promised these things as a true word. O man! Who is more faithful to his word than Allah? So would Allah Almighty be unfaithful to His word? Look what He says in His verse. Who buys Paradise with their lives and their wealth? With their lives the martyrs, with their wealth the generous. Allah gives the life, Allah gives the wealth, Allah creates these, Allah creates Paradise. If you can surrender to Allah these things He created, Allah Almighty offers you the eternal, endless life of His creation. Such a Lord I have.

Such a Lord I have, who does not go back on His promise — who is as faithful to his word as Allah, and who speaks the truth as Allah does? I have such a Lord. Yes. Allah has promised these words as a true word. But can you explain this to your nafs? He promised it as a true word to your nafs, but what did He ask of me as a true word? He doesn't say: work and give to Me. Five times (?) — so that I can take you as a witness over other people — pray, He says. Then once in twelve months, He says, fast. And that, He says, is for your body.

Then the wealth you take, He says — you cannot know, there is unlawful in it, He says. Let Me purify it, He says. Give zakat, He says. Give zakat. Then you, to save your own self, affirm the testimony of faith and your faith. And if you have money, come on Hajj, He says.

What did He ask of you? Next to the blessings He gave you, is this so much then? Is it much? Aren't we ashamed, next to so many blessings?

If a person takes another person by the hand and lifts him up, and he doesn't thank him — whereas Allah Almighty says: when you exchange gifts with one another, thank one another, He says. That increases sincerity. To your Lord who gave you so many blessings, who created you, who brought you from nothing into being — are you ashamed to perform your duty of servanthood? Do you feel shy? Do you feel helpless to ask Him for forgiveness and pardon? This is man's honor. It honors man. It honors man. Yes.

Pay attention to these.

Those who believe and obey Allah and His Messenger —

Allah Almighty will admit them into His gardens in the hereafter with rewards from Himself, He says.

Yes, in Surah An-Nisa, verse 122: those who believe and do good deeds, We will place in gardens beneath which rivers flow, to abide therein forever. Allah has promised these things as a true word. In giving one's word and keeping it, who could be more truthful than Allah?

Yes. In giving one's word and keeping it, no created being can be more truthful in word than Allah. This is not possible. Because man does not know the (?) either. However truthful he may be, because man was created from the group of the forgetful, he may be unfaithful to the word he gave, because he forgot.

In this case, in this case, man, however hard he tries, cannot, as Allah does, keep faith with his word.

When the Prophet (peace be upon him) passed on to the hereafter, they come to our mother Aisha and ask about the character of the Messenger of Allah. And she says, wait here a moment, takes the Quran, and says: this was his character.

In this case, both — however much this was the character of the Messenger of Allah, however much it was the Quran — in Surah Al-Fath, in Surah Al-Fath, what does Allah Almighty say? 12 — the, verse 2, Surah Al-Fath: "Thus Allah forgives your past and future sins," you say.

What is it? Past and future sins. So however much his character was this, that is, however much it was the Quran, because he was created, no created being can be as faithful to his word as Allah.

Why do I say this? The Prophet (peace be upon him) says: give me as much value as is due, he says. That is, don't you ever hold me equal to Allah, he says. That's why I say it. Toward the worlds he is complete; toward Allah Almighty he is deficient and fallible. In this respect, toward the worlds, "Ve mâ erselnâke illâ rahmeten li'l-âlemîn" he became.

So my speaking in this way is not, God forbid, Allah protect us, to belittle the Messenger of Allah, but to raise his glory. Now look, according to this verse, how Allah Almighty raises his glory.

"Thus Allah forgives your past and future sins, completes His blessing upon you, and guides you to a straight path." Guides you to a straight path. Apart from the Prophet (peace be upon him), all the prophets who came to this world will be called to account. They will be called to account. All the prophets.

Only the Prophet (peace be upon him) will be called to account.

If He were going to call him to account, He would not have said: I have forgiven your future sins too. Those forgiven do not face reckoning. In this case, since no such verse was revealed to any prophet, all the prophets will be called to account. From this one understands the glorious loftiness of the Messenger of Allah.

Yes.

He completes His blessing upon you. By gathering the Torah, the Psalms and the Gospel in the Quran — Allah's light until the Day of Judgment — Allah Almighty, His religion which will complete it, through you bestows on people. And He completes His blessing upon you. He gathers the Torah, the Psalms and the Gospel in the Quran and presents the Quran before you as a mercy and a guidance. Allah. Yes.

So don't you — in what he says — the Prophet's (peace be upon him) character, you know, above all characters, even if it is the character of the Quran, is not held equal to Allah Almighty. I say it to protect the Messenger of Allah from slanders. I say it to exalt his glory.

He (?) our Lord, and is the one who bows most to our Lord, who worships most, who fears most and who loves most. Yes. No one, no created being, fears Allah Almighty as much as the Prophet (peace be upon him), and no created being can love Allah Almighty as much as he loves Him. For this reason too he became the Beloved of the Almighty. The Almighty. An unmatched, precious beloved, a mirror to His essence, a mirror. Yes. Were it not for you, I would not have created the worlds.

Is there a verse for this? he says.

Is there a verse? Such a verse. Allah Almighty willed that His essence be known. From His light, Muhammad; then He gave him of His spirit. From his light He created the worlds. So had he not been, these worlds would not have been created. Because they were created from his light. It is quoted as "Levlake levlak," isn't it. Were it not for you, I would not have created these worlds, He says. So He willed it. He wanted to see His essence as in a mirror. He gave him of His spirit.

And from his light these worlds were created. So, had he not been, these worlds would not exist. This precious. That's why he became the Beloved of the Almighty. That's why, above the seven Paradises, he attained another station. The Praised Station. Yes.

We read the verse once more. We have explained a good deal, more or less. And we'll read the commentary. "Those who believe and do good deeds, We will place in gardens beneath which rivers flow, to abide therein forever. Allah has promised these things as a true word. In giving one's word and keeping it, who could be more truthful than Allah?

Those who believe and obey Allah and His Messenger, Allah Almighty will admit in the hereafter into gardens with rewards from Himself." With rewards from Himself.

Doesn't this contradict the verse? With rewards from Himself. Those who believe and do good deeds, to abide therein forever, We will admit into gardens beneath which rivers flow. I earned that from faith, from my faith. What then was the reward from my Lord Himself? For one good deed we did, three, five, seven, seventy, a hundred, perhaps even a thousand. Allah knows best. According to our Lord's verse that deeds depend on intention, the gifts He gives from His essence — aren't they from Himself? If He gives three, five, a hundred rewards for one good deed you did — let's say you were going to build a hut on earth with your three pennies of money: with our Lord giving to you from Himself, I built a building.

If you were going to build a building, you built a mansion. If you were going to build a mansion, you built a palace. Isn't it from Himself? Aren't these our Lord's wisdoms? More, He says: you will meet many (?) that you do not know.

How will this come about? By being patient with the afflictions He gives in the world, by showing contentment with what comes from Him, and by His not giving us what we longed for in worldly life, because it was outside our destiny. Our Lord will bring this before us in the hereafter as reward. What does it say in the verse? People are very hasty. I asked, and my Lord didn't give it to me, he says. They accuse Allah of stinginess, it says. Allah is Self-Sufficient, it says, Self-Sufficient.

Does man think that everything he wishes will be given to him? it says in the verse. That is, shall We give him what is outside his destiny? He says. So if what you asked for is outside your destiny, if your Lord did not give it to you, then in the hereafter, because you showed patience with it and contentment with what comes from Him, you will attain your Lord's mercy. There, isn't this a blessing from our Lord Himself? Yes, a blessing from Himself.

"Those who believe and obey Allah and His Messenger, Allah Almighty will admit in the hereafter into gardens with rewards from Himself.

Those gardens where whatever a person imagines in his mind, he will find in the highest Paradise what is even above what he imagined." Every person has a capacity of reason, and every person has an imagination of Paradise. That, more or less, is his rank. Within the rank of his own imagination. More than that comes under this verse. In Paradise We will add something extra to you, He says. Look at the verse. In Paradise We will add something extra. By entering Paradise I have already reformed my self. Reforming the self will remove all the evils in one's self. So that you can never do that evil again, in its place He will always load you, with mercy, with good-minded thoughts.

There, in Paradise there is no (?) thought. In Paradise there is no idle word either. Yes.

How beautifully the verses — we always confirm one another. The verses.

Having said this much, we read that text again. "Those gardens where whatever a person imagines in his mind, he will find in the highest Paradise what is even above what he imagined. Unlike worldly life, constantly changing form and giving the self no weariness, he will find life with his Lord in an endless and eternal world." We said, you know, the human mind sometimes goes haywire and some fancies come to the self, but I will say these: I saw, I saw, I saw, and I write it. Yes. Paradise — this air, like when fireworks are shot, multicolored, like this, the rainbow, the sun's — sir, in rainy weather, when the sun's rays strike that cloud, it produces a filtering of colors, doesn't it — like that, as if something solid will hit your face, but it's not solid.

As if while breathing you were going to breathe in something solid, but it's air — you even see the air, multicolored. It changes form, vivid and lively. That scene you see constantly changes form. Because the human self grows weary of looking at one thing. Because everything there is luminous, luminous. Everything is luminous. We won't enter Paradise with our bodies, mind you. Spirit, self and soul are one; the bodies are separate. If we know these points well, we will comprehend our (?) better. Because we will enter the luminous Paradise as spirit, self and soul. That is our real being anyway.

And in Paradise all beings are luminous. He was going to fold up the world like a rag and throw it into hell, wasn't He — so there is no material world there. If you pick an olive from its branch, an olive comes in its place. When you put the olive in your mouth, it melts away. You get its taste. There is no (?) there. A (?) comes out. There is no sleep either. You'll say we were doing things in the world, but what were we doing? You won't be able to remember these. There is no empty time. Yes. Just as on a computer you give some shapes, and those shapes by themselves change into all kinds of multicolored, multicolored, multicolored shapes, exactly — programmed. Multicolored all around.

In such a way that the human self sees no weariness. In that air, with the air changing form like a rainbow, within those colors — now just think: a mansion, a palace, young (?) around you, wines in silver cups that don't make you drunk.

Let us not make people drunk.

You sit facing each other with your spouses. Pleasure and delight. A life that never ends. This is Paradise.

Yes. These are not a world of fantasy. Nor are they a product of imagination.

And what are we saying? "Constantly changing form and giving the self no weariness, he will find life with his Lord in an endless and eternal world." Pay great attention to this word too. He will find life with his Lord. Imagine you have no Lord. No Lord. You have no Creator. When you are laid low by a trouble, by a suffering, you moan and groan. But He is your Lord, He is constantly with you, your Creator, He will give you life. Life. Some will see Him once a year, some once in six months, some once a month, some once a week, some once a day, some once an hour. Take one hour there as a thousand years here.

Yes.

Such a Lord we have.

Such a God who loves us, such a Lord we have. So compassionate and merciful to us, accepting us in every bad state of ours, forgiving and pardoning. A Lord who forgives our sins whenever we ask and gives us great value — that is the Lord we have.

However much you claim, however much you boast, (?). Just as a person boasts of his father. My father is a minister, he says. My father is the prime minister, he says. My father is the president, he says. My father, he says, is a king, he says. My father is the big man of this town, he says. Because he's the town's steward, he says, its agha, he says. If he boasts of that, what does it say in the verse? Now listen well.

In the age of ignorance, it says, just as you boasted of your forefathers and your fathers, after coming to the House of Allah, circling it, and praying two rak'ahs at the Station of Abraham, now, it says, boast not of them but of Me, He says. Boast of Me. Why does Allah Almighty say so? You have come to know that Allah is the Creator of your mother, your father, your brother, your relatives, your order, all people, all created beings, of beings from the atom to the globe; you bowed your neck, surrendered to Him, and came into His presence. Now be not with what He created, but with your Creator.

There: he will find life with his Lord, it says, with his Lord. Allah spoke of these words as a true word, a true word. Allah Almighty saying that He promised true words from His essence — a true word from His essence. That there will be no deficiency in Allah's word — His saying in a verse, who is more faithful to his word than Allah — and also in another verse — let us add it. "If this had been the word of someone other than Allah, you would have found in it many words that do not agree with one another," with this verse. If He says of the Beloved of the Almighty, the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), that he does not speak idly — if what He created does not speak idly — who could be as faithful to a true word as He Himself?

It's not possible. No one but Allah can show it. Yes.

So that people do not say, Allah promises, but will He really give us what He promised — to people, with His words, assurance He gives. With His words. Allah Almighty: who, He says, is as faithful to his word as Allah? Who is more truthful in word than Allah? O people! Whoever said "I am God" — all of them have passed away. Their Lord has always addressed people since Adam, and still addresses them. How do we know He still addressed them?

Let me show you that He addresses you with verses. We, He says, to the polytheists two or three afflictions each year give. Don't you see? Every year two or three afflictions appear. Every year, every year two or three afflictions appear.

Well, in a whole lifetime, in no part of your life are you doomed to perish by chance. To an accident — before your life is complete, to fall victim you will not be able. There: with the verse "you are protected by many unknown beings too." You prove what kind of person you are, and then you go.

Many more miracles there are, but

since here our speaking according to human reason (?), and since they would be even heavier, we don't say them. That is why Allah is at every moment with every atom. You pray, you prostrate on the ground — you prostrate to your Lord's manifestation. You go into prostration in His presence; you don't prostrate to that stone and soil. That is why no one can, as Allah does, to his word, his promise, keep faith. Here He declares to you that the world of the hereafter is true, and that He has promised it as a true word to those who believe what He says.

In the continuation of the verse, as if confirming, confirming to people this assurance He gave, in giving one's word and keeping it, who could be more truthful than Allah? He says. A certified example: who could be more truthful in word?

He says. The meaning, the meaning: O people! That there is no other god but Allah — Allah who created the universe and you, who knows the states of all He created, flawless and perfect — who could, as Allah does, what He promised to His creation fulfill? Is this possible? Because Allah has programmed His creation until the Day of Judgment, and since He Himself knows what they can do and what will happen where, He created all these created beings with wisdom. No one among Allah's creation can know what Allah created, why, and what will happen where. There: I alone, Allah, have knowledge of these events.

So, since as Creator of the heavens and the earth and what is between them there is no god but Me, to those who make you promises pay no heed. Trust only in Allah, rely on Him, ask from Him. Allah is merciful and compassionate to His servants. Allah has no need of what He created. He created what He created for the needs of His servants. In this respect, He says, Allah has promised you these things as a true word.

How beautifully He says it.

We were going to open all these up against the verses, but sentence by sentence we got tired. And time has come. All of these are the counterparts of the verses. There- fore, may Allah Almighty give us a good lesson and understanding. May Allah Almighty join us all to the people who, while in the world, sinned, then later knew their helplessness and repented, and by that repentance showed faithfulness, entered among the righteous servants, and our Lord's mercy earned. Lillahi teâlâ el-Fâtiha.