An-Nisa 9: Those who are afraid of what will happen to their children (after they die) who are weak and incapable; they should fear (being unjust towards the orphans). They should fear Allah and speak the truth.

Surah An-Nisa, verse 9: Those who, if they left behind helpless, powerless children, they leave behind, would fear what would become of them, let them fear and tremble at wronging the orphans.

Let them be wary of Allah and speak the right word. We said in our lesson before that orphans' hearts are broken, their heads bowed, their only refuge is Allah and those who are their guardians.

The guardian of an orphan, before the clothes he would buy for his own child, should buy for that orphan child first. Before the shoes he would buy his own child, he should buy shoes for that orphan child, so that he can treat that orphan with compassion. That orphan, in all his bareness, with an open heart, has taken refuge with his guardian. An insult, a harsh word, a sour face from his guardian pushes that child into loneliness in life. That is why, because Allah Almighty values man so highly, very fine responsibilities fall on the guardian here. And what does Allah Almighty say? Look, He says: let them be wary of Allah and speak the right word.

If they are to fear Allah, let them fear and tremble at wronging the orphans, He says, those who fear Allah.

A person, as he dies, thinks of his own child: oh, for this child of mine I could not leave anything while I was alive. What will become of these children of mine? Will they struggle in life? Will they suffer poverty? That person, who in his poverty has death knocking at his door, his thoughts, those thoughts about his children, how beautifully Allah Almighty expresses them. In that case, just as that person thinks of those children, that orphan's father has died, or his mother has died, he is left an orphan. They have taken refuge with the guardian; just as you think about how your children will fare in life, you must think of this child in the same way.

That is why you will take on his responsibility, and raise that child both for this world and the hereafter. Now, if we think about it in depth, we have children.

We have children of a certain form. We know them, we know them by that form. People come in various forms. Did you ask Allah for it, or, God forbid, did you create it, that you held on to him in that form, saying he is my child? Of course you will hold on to him. Allah Almighty entrusted him to you. You will hold on to him. But did you ask for him to be in this form, to be like this? By Allah Almighty's will, He deemed him fit for you in that form and gave him. It is so that you are tested with him.

Well, instead of the person in that form He gave you, that child entrusted to you as an orphan, could Allah Almighty not have given him to you? Could you not have had him as your child? Once our Lord had given him. In that case, what difference is there between your child and him?

If your nafs is perfected, you will see no difference at all. Because he too is entrusted to you, and your child is entrusted to you. Both are a trust. People are a trust to one another. Caring for what is entrusted in the best way, raising them, is gaining rank with Allah, is rising. In that case, a person cannot discriminate between people. How does he distinguish? Whoever is closer to Allah is described as the better person. But when it comes to rights and justice, he cannot discriminate. Because the Prophet says so. They ask the Prophet (peace be upon him): whom do they call a tyrant? The Prophet says: a father who discriminates between his children is a tyrant too.

So if you are an elder, the elders, the fathers of the people are the prophets. Who are they? The elders, the fathers of their peoples: the prophets. Did they ever act unjustly among their peoples? So their heirs, the inheritors, and their inheritors the scholars, are the fathers and elders of the people. They too cannot discriminate between people. How then can there be a distinction? The distinction is by Allah's laws, according to rights and justice: through inheritance, a share is allotted to them. Through inheritance. Yes. That much difference there is. Through inheritance. And because they are entrusted to him, the household, those from his own loins whose responsibility he has taken on, Sir, part by part, family by family, they form a whole, a state, a people, they form a state.

One person cannot rule a state, but family by family, everyone, by embracing one another in unity and togetherness, they represent a state. They represent an understanding, an ideology, or a religion, a culture they represent. So that we do not break our unity and togetherness, so that we do not say, this is an orphan, let us look down on him, let us eat up his property, so that we are not separated from Allah's justice, Allah Almighty, with His beautiful verses, shows us the way.

We said that Allah Almighty loves His servants very much. In this verse too, by commanding us to show compassion and love to orphans, and He does command it. What does He say? Where is the command? The command. Look what He says. Those who, if they left behind helpless, powerless children, would fear what would become of them, let them fear and tremble at wronging the orphans. What is this? This is a threat. A threat, a threat together with a command. Let them tremble, let them be wary of Allah and speak the right word, He says. Yes, in this verse too, by commanding us to show compassion and love to orphans, He tells us with His verses that just as we wish our own children to be treated after our death, these orphaned children should be treated the same way.

All people are servants of Allah.

No person created his own child himself; all these people have been entrusted by Allah to one another, to be raised and brought up until a certain age. In this case, the form and features of the child given to you as a trust, you did not ask for. Whatever Allah ordained for us, and (?) whichever of the souls raised to the realm He willed to give us as a child, within our own wish and our destiny, He has given us the suitable one as a child for us to look after. I suppose this is understood, as I explained a moment ago.

Instead of these children of our own given to us as a trust, the orphaned children could have been given not to those whose father died, but to us. Indeed, we just said so. And they could have been our very own children. If people could know this origin, without discriminating between children, they would treat people like their own children. So Allah says: just as you treat the children I have given you,

the orphans and the destitute, especially the children whose guardian you are, fearing Allah and trembling before Him, without distinguishing between your own child and the orphan you are guardian of, bring them up and raise them like your own children. Like your own children.

Orphans are in need of love.

In fact all children are like this. All children. For example, I said a moment ago that a father, before buying shoes for his own child, will buy shoes for that orphan child. Well then, won't his own child be jealous of this? He will be jealous. Won't he be cross with his father? He will be cross. But the moment the father senses this, he will call him to his side at once. Where the orphan is not present: my son, you are my son, he has no father; so that his heart is not broken, I am buying this for him first, he will say. And to please his heart, my son, I am buying this for him, he will say. He will win over his child's heart and, at that age, will have taught him how an orphan is to be treated.

Yes.

Is there anyone who does this?

It is indispensable. There are. It is indispensable anyway. Surely there are, but their numbers keep decreasing.

In fact all children are like this. Children who have a mother and father, because they are their mother and father, see themselves as a part of them and can become one with their mother and father. But orphans, when their mother and father have died, unlike other children, cannot feel this closeness to their guardians. These feelings of this orphaned child the person who is his guardian can remove by showing him closeness, by becoming one with him. Such conduct of the guardian gains worth with Allah, and perhaps the person through this conduct may attain Allah's mercy.

What Allah Almighty asks of us is that orphaned children be raised well and, so that they too can be at peace like other people, that kind words and good conduct be shown to them, and that, without distinguishing them from our own children, we become one with them, He commands.

By speaking kind words to children, by treating them gently, by nourishing them from a source of love, we can ensure they have a sound character in mind and spirit.

If we can become one with them, if we can raise them on sound words, that is, on religious words.

So Allah Almighty, for children to (?) like this, explains His verses to us in a way we can understand, invites people to guidance and declares that they should live together like brothers without stirring up discord on earth.

May Allah Almighty grant all of us an understanding to grasp the verses of the Holy Quran. Amen.