Ali 'Imran 163: In the sight of Allah, they are ranked by degrees. Allah sees it all what they do.

We have come to verse 163 of Surah Al Imran. They are in ranks upon ranks with Allah. Allah sees what they do. Who are they? Good people, rank upon rank, seven Paradises; in the seven Paradises, the counterpart of nafs-i ammara, the counterpart of nafs-i lawwama, the counterpart of nafs-i mulhima, the counterpart of nafs-i mutmainna, the counterpart of nafs-i radiya, the counterpart of nafs-i mardiyya, the counterpart of nafs-i safiya; people's rulings, sir, regarding their nafs, their becoming a perfected nafs, their reaching the state of righteous people — of course these too, with Allah, rank upon rank, people will be ranked rank upon rank.

Good people obey Allah, and they have separate ranks with Allah. Separate. Now, I pray and you pray too. After I pray, sir, or while praying I wander around the bazaar, and you pray in the presence of Allah with reverence. Is the prayer I pray the same as yours? I pray and I tell lies. Allah forbid. I'm giving an example. Sir, I eat what is haram. You pay attention to these things. Well now, compared with your life lived in fear of Allah and within His noble ruling, my praying, or carrying out a few of Allah's commands and ignoring the others, with my nafs — can mine be equal to the worship you do?

So of course Allah will rank these like this. Yes.

We have already said it. What did we say? They have separate ranks. The human nafs has seven states. And corresponding to them there are seven Paradises. The eighth Paradise belongs to Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Since we say 7 Paradises, we add this too, so they don't say, how do you know, isn't it 8 Paradises? We add it. 'I have given him the Praised Station (Maqam Mahmud),' He says. Maqam Mahmud. 'They, people, cannot even imagine it,' He says. Yes. This station, this station is Maqam Mahmud. In the verse, Allah Almighty says that people cannot even imagine this Paradise. So people reform their nafs in the way of Allah, for Allah.

When they bring their nafs to perfection, a person rises rank by rank in the state of his nafs. In the state of his nafs. These ascents are in fact by Allah's leave, and in return for each nafs, whichever Paradise Allah Almighty deemed fitting, He will send these obedient servants to the Paradises corresponding to the state of their nafs. Allah Almighty — a-laysa Allahu bi-ahkami'l-hakimin. (?) the one who works and the one who doesn't, or among those who work, the sincere or the insincere, or among the sincere those with love and devotion, and among them those whose hearts catch fire with love and burn — (?) Allah will separate them rank by rank.

The seven states of the human nafs are nafs-i ammara, nafs-i lawwama, nafs-i mulhima, nafs-i mutmainna, nafs-i radiya, nafs-i mardiyya, nafs-i safiya. Let us explain these very briefly, in detail, (?), we said. The person at nafs-i ammara is a Muslim. He has said the testimony of faith. He does not pray, does not fast, does not go on Hajj, does not give zakat, drinks alcohol, gambles, commits adultery. When he starts talking, he yields Islam to no one, by his own understanding. 'Look at my heart,' he says. With his own (?) he throws himself into the middle of Paradise. This is nafs-i ammara.

Nafs-i lawwama, however, prays, fasts, goes on Hajj, gives zakat. If this person turns to taqwa, he rises to nafs-i mulhima. If the person at nafs-i mulhima has adorned himself with taqwa, he enters through the door of karamat. At nafs-i mulhima the karamat begin. People think these are great saints. Whereas these are people who have only just taken a step on Allah's path. And Allah Almighty shows them some karamat to encourage them. He shows them events. As I said a moment ago, people think they are great saints and are mistaken. They believe in this kind of state. If they are captivated by the beauty there, that is, by the desire the karamat give them, they stay there. They even turn back, they even go as far as kufr.

Like Rumi's father going inside, shutting himself in and not coming out. Rumi asks his mother: why doesn't father come out? 'I don't know, my son,' she says, 'he has been inside for a week. He has locked himself up,' she says, 'he doesn't come out.' When he goes in, he learns the situation. 'My son,' he says, '(?)' (?). That is the cage of karamat. 'A friend I loved very much, I used to consider him above myself,' he says. 'He died. They said he went as an unbeliever. They said, don't pray his funeral prayer, don't pray it. So I thought to myself,' he said, 'although he was above me, if he goes as an unbeliever — my child, how will we go?' 'In this fear,' he says, 'in (?) panic, I locked myself in here.' Yes, those at that door of karamat are thought to be great saints, and people also value them very highly.

Yes, they are good people of course, they (?) their nafs for Allah, very good people, they have come that far. But only that far; they have not yet attained the attribute of mu'min. What is the attribute of mu'min? What does Allah Almighty say? 'O soul at peace, enter, well pleased with your Lord, among My servants, go into My Paradise' — that is the person He says this to. The mu'min. There is no going back from this. In fact Allah Almighty, in the (?) verse: 'Tell the believing women to guard their eyes from the haram, to cover their heads, sir, not to show their adornments, their collars, their collars over their breasts — to draw their headscarves, their collars over their breasts.' Look how beautiful. Why does He say it?

To whom does He say it? He says, to the believing women. If Allah Almighty had not said 'believing women' and had begun with 'ya ayyuha'lladhina amanu', had begun with 'O you who believe', then if you did not cover your head and (?), you would have become an unbeliever by denying the verse. Because Allah Almighty knows that the believing woman will not (?) again, He gives her this admonition, shows this verse, because she will (?) Islam's head, because she will follow her nafs (?), because He knows she will not go into kufr, He counts them as sinners and does not push them into kufr. Counting them as sinners — how beautifully the verse explains it.

But to one who understands, a mosquito is music; to one who doesn't, drums and pipes are too little.

Yes.

If the person at nafs-i mulhima has adorned himself with taqwa, he enters through the door of karamat. In return for what he does for Allah, Allah gives him certain qualities. And here, if he attains love and devotion, he rises to nafs-i mutmainna. Nafs-i mutmainna is the door of manifestations. There is much to be said here. But it is not the subject of the lesson. Nafs-i mutmainna. Since the book is for the general public, it is better to be content with this much. We said: it is better. Because here, at mutmainna, manifestations, and after the manifestations many realms — that is, we enter entirely spiritual, inner realms — and since this is for the general public, the books we wrote are actually written in depth, but we did not want to go too deep and confuse people.

Here too, if one is careful, one rises to nafs-i radiya. That is, if you want to go further, if of course it is also in your destiny, nafs-i radiya. And in verse 7 of Surah Al Imran, in the verse where Allah Almighty says 'war-rasikhun', those kneaded with Allah's knowledge — he reaches the state of such people. He enters through the door of knowledge. He reaches the state of ilm al-yaqin. Nafs-i radiya is the state of ilm al-yaqin. Ilm al-yaqin. What does it mean? Taught and given by his Lord, by his Lord — not what Ahmet or Mehmet taught. Yes.

Nafs-i radiya is ilm al-yaqin. It is to become versed in His knowledge as far as Allah Almighty grants. In the verse: kneaded with Allah's knowledge. With the verse in which He says this, these people, through the door of this knowledge, the state will punish criminals with the penalty they deserve. 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 unseen world of possession. Now, when I say this, when I say He sends him to the unseen world of possession, like a first-grade schoolchild: He sends him to an unseen world in which Allah Almighty is not seen.

Sir, this is the world of possession, it is a world in which our Lord is not seen; I mean, as Bekiroğlu says, is it not such a world? I mean, to twist the words — don't do that, understand the words this way. When we 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. Or is the world in the unseen, have we come to the unseen, do we live in the unseen? How do we stand on this world that is unseen, how can we stand in an unseen place? Making contradictions like this, as if calling a person to account, or as if asking a child a question, please do not take these that way.

Yes, when we say an unseen world to you, we will understand the world of possession. 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 proves His existence by making His Being known. So if Allah Almighty makes His manifest existence known to people from the universe, and His Being is not seen, it is an unseen world. That is, a world in which His Being is not seen. (?) has opposed Allah Almighty, turned his face away from Him, considered halal what Allah called haram, opposed Allah, the Book and the prophets, did not recognize them, and passed on to the Hereafter in this state — can such a person ever be the same?

Does this even bear comparison?

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 the 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. 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 — never forget.

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 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 — is he (?) in the sight of Allah (?). Spend your life calculating accordingly. Your life is your capital. Don't forget, a treasure. A treasure that will not return. Yes.

Yes, the two are never the same: can the one who works and the one who doesn't, the one who knows and the one who doesn't know, be the same? Of course these are not the same either. So they are not the same before Allah, the judge of judges, either. One's place is Allah's pleasure and Paradise. The other's place is Hell, which is Allah's judgment and wrath. If their return is to Hell, what an evil destination and what an evil resting place that is. That too (?). That does not fit into your minds or ours. So with these tiny minds we cannot say 'these are Allah's verses' and describe Allah.