Ali 'Imran 162: Could be the one who seeks the contentedness of Allah, same as the one who will be facing the wrath of Allah and whose place will be hell? How wretched a destination the hell is.

We are at verse 162.

The one who seeks Allah's pleasure and Allah's (?) — can they ever be the same? says Allah Almighty.

The latter's place is Hell. And Hell is an evil destination, He says. Now, if we make a comparison: we are in a state, the state has laws.

Can the one who obeys these laws and those who step outside them and commit crimes ever be the same? What will it do? The state will punish those who commit crimes with the penalty they deserve. That is the state's duty, and the laws work this way anyway. In that case, can the one who knows Allah Almighty and the one who rebels against Allah be the same? Allah Almighty sent man to the world of possession, here He left everyone free. But He did not send them, as people wrongly interpret the verses, to put whomever He wills into Paradise and whomever He wills into Hell. In return for the covenant those people gave to Allah Almighty at Qalu Bala, the people's own wishes became their destiny. So that the people who saw His Being there would not say to Allah Almighty, 'If You had sent me to an unseen world, if You had made Your Being known, I would have worshipped You well there', Allah Almighty, being free of any deficient attribute, and with the attribute of Allah, whom no one can call to account, sends man to this world of possession, which is unseen.

Now, when I say this, when I say He sends him to the unseen world of possession, like a first-grade schoolchild: this is the world of possession. It is a world in which our Lord is not seen. I mean, is it not such a world, as Bekiroğlu says? Don't try to twist the words; understand the words this way. When I say 'to the unseen world', which is the unseen world? The world of possession. Isn't the world a realm, isn't it a realm? An unseen realm. A realm in which our Lord is not seen. 'We are standing on the road, how can we stand in an unseen place?' I mean, making contradictions like this, as if calling a person to account, or as if asking a child a question, please — the world of possession.

In this world of possession we will believe in the unseen. What is belief in the unseen? A world in which Allah Almighty is not seen. A world in which He is not known — no, we will not say not known, a world in which He is not seen. If we said not known, He would not have made His Being known. In any case, what does Allah Almighty say? 'We never cease to give examples,' He says. That is, He proves His existence by giving examples to the most ignorant and the most learned. So if Allah Almighty (?) makes His manifest existence known to people from the universe, open that place for me from here. Verse 38 from Surah Al-A'raf.

Look, what does it say here?

Allah will say: 'Among the communities of jinn and men who passed before you, you too enter the Fire.' Correct, correct. Every time a nation enters, it will curse its companions. This is correct too. When they have all gathered there in Hell one after another, the later ones will say of the earlier ones: 'Our Lord, it is these who led us astray, so give them a double punishment of the Fire.' This is correct too. Now we have come to the wrong part. Listen carefully. The wrong part: 'And Allah: there is already a double punishment for everyone, but you do not know,' they will say. What does Allah Almighty supposedly say?

'And Allah: there is already a double punishment for everyone.' And yet everyone was to be given in full what he earned, the return of his own two hands. So that no one is wronged on that Day, everyone was to be given in full what he earned. Then how is it that this time Allah Almighty says there is a double punishment for everyone? Doesn't it contradict His verse in which He says, 'If this were man-made, you would find many words in it that do not agree with each other'? Here, in the Quran we have opened — our new book has come out, here it is. Asr-ı Saadet. Very nice, gold-leafed. Sir, it is a very beautiful book.

What did we say? Look, we read to the end. 'So give them a double punishment of the Fire,' they will say. 'Allah already has manifold punishments in return for what each has done.' He said: they have manifold punishments in return for what they did. 'But you do not know,' they will say. Yes, what is the difference between the two? Look, let me tell you the difference between the two now. What does one say? 'There is already a double punishment for everyone.' For everyone. There is supposedly one more layer of punishment. Whereas manifold punishment in return for what they did: for example, I usurped a right — its punishment. I slapped a man — his right.

I seized someone's right — his right. These will be added up layer upon layer. And if this world is a likeness and shadow of the Hereafter: if a person committed 5, 6, 7, 8 crimes, when he comes before the judge these crimes are added up, and the penalties for all of them are summed and a sentence is passed on him. And Allah Almighty too will add up people's punishments in return for what they did and punish them. Now here, when He says one more layer of punishment in return for a person's deeds, out of the sum of all of them one more layer of punishment comes about. In what they say here too: they have manifold punishments in return for what they did, they will be added up.

Now how do they describe Allah? And when we tell the truth to those in whose minds these superstitions have settled like this, who think illogically, they say: what is your basis for interpreting it this way? Well, we interpreted it according to Allah's knowledge. Look, at the very beginning of the commentary we wrote, in the translation section, something like this is written. Let me show you this here. What does it say? The author of the Asr-ı Saadet translation, Metin, but if we worked in a government office, one who does his duty gets his salary. The other, if he does a duty beyond his duty, gets a letter of commendation.

He gets a certificate, he is rewarded. And someone who acts against the orders is punished. That is while in this world. So if the world is a likeness and shadow of the Hereafter, how nicely they make the distinction. Allah Almighty too.

He warns us, He warns us. What does He say? O people! Look, do not forget that this world is a guesthouse. Do not forget that you are travelling in a temporary caravan. Your journey will one day come to an end. And finally, at the place where it ends, before the one who is the owner of your true dwelling, the owner of that existence, you will be called to account for that time of travel. So never take that time of travel for reality and never forget that at the end of this journey you will be called to account before the owner of that end, the owner of that place's existence. If you forget, tomorrow on the Day of Judgment the punishment will seize you by the collar, He says.

Yes, so if in this world we fatten our nafs, if we follow in Satan's footsteps, if we run after the taghut, if we turn our backs on those who say Allah, and if we embrace those who do un-Islamic things, if we support superstitions, if we forget the truth, if we take our place on the side of our nafs, is this what is rewarded in the sight of Allah? Or is it the person who submitted to his Lord, consented to His halal and haram, did not step outside what He said, and continued in that worship to be a servant of his Lord, who is rewarded in the sight of Allah? Both of them live in this world. Both of them have a lifetime.

Both of them, in a body, eating and drinking in that body, try to prove what kind of person they are. So, if we are wise, we will both live in our world and make our world prosperous, and work for the Hereafter without forgetting our Hereafter, so that we carry both neck and neck and attain the mercy of our Lord. Otherwise, if we turn our backs on the Hereafter and turn to the world, tomorrow at that Supreme Court, on the Day of Recompense, in the presence of Allah Almighty, our faces will be black — what an evil destination and what an evil resting place that is. Yes.