Ali 'Imran 159: By a mercy from Allah, you treated them with kindness. If you were rude and hard hearted towards them, they certainly would have scattered away from your side. So, forgive them, make supplication for their forgiveness and consult them in your matters. And once you have made your decision, trust Allah, because Allah likes those who do.

In the verse Allah Almighty, regarding the units that scattered in the Battle of Uhud, when they later gathered, when they gathered beside the Prophet, describes the Prophet's way of behaving toward his Companions (?), and wants us to be the same way. Since the verses, sir, will keep their ruling until the Day of Judgment, the actions of people in the past are shown to us as examples. Examples. What does it say? Then by a mercy from Allah you were gentle with them. You were gentle. To whom was he gentle? His Companions scattered. They did not obey the order. While winning, they were defeated. Ruin seized them by the collar.

Sir, in this situation, when they gathered again beside the Prophet, He says to them: By a mercy from Allah you were gentle with them. Had you been rough and hard-hearted, they would no doubt have scattered from around you and gone. Had you been hard and rough-hearted. Now, as you are aware, questions are put to us too, intentionally or unintentionally. Sometimes intentionally. Even if they are asked intentionally, although we explain with knowledge and with the verses, to those who, with a stubborn attitude, want to (?) falsehood over the truth, with patience we answer. With patience. We must. How beautiful the verses are.

The verses are like that.

A person, especially if he is a hodja, if he is a father, will see the children as a child and will try to explain to them with patience. With patience. Indeed, if people cannot show that patience, they can teach nothing. Look at first-graders — can you imagine that teacher's patience with the first class? The child knows nothing. He knows nothing. With patience, with patience he explains, with patience; yes, that child learns to read for you and goes. Then by a mercy from Allah I was gentle with them. Had you been rough and hard-hearted, they would no doubt have scattered from around you and gone.

So forgive them, He says. Forgiving is greatness anyway. That is greatness. Seeing them, as I said a moment ago, as children. Or, even if they had knowledge, since those people too know the mistakes they made, if you did not forgive them you would have no greatness. What is Allah's greatness? With the attribute At-Tawwab. He accepts repentance abundantly, it says — the greatest of the great, Allah Almighty. And what does He say about them? Forgive. And pray for them to be forgiven, He says. Pray to Allah for them to be forgiven too. Because the prayer of a prophet for his people — or a father's prayer for his child, it says, is like the prayer of a prophet for his people, it says.

Consult them in the matter. And when you have made your decision, then rely and trust in Allah. Consult them in the matter. That is, hold consultation. Don't say, I am the Prophet, I am the elder. (?) Win their hearts too. But, but the benefit of consultation is this, anyway. While consulting, a person's thinking develops better. He sees his own shortcomings better. And he finds the work he will do, the goal. That is the good side of consultations. And there, He says, once you have made the decision, do not go back. Don't take up Ahmet's and Mehmet's words any more. Then, He says, rely on Allah.

I do it like this. I consult when doing a job. I talk. Should I do it this way or that way — it is already clear in my head. I take your opinion. While you explain something, those ideas of mine develop. Or better ideas develop in other directions. Then it settles in my head as a plan, as a project. Now it has settled. Done. After that I start the work. First this, this. (?) That is the side of consulting. That is its good side. It also wins people's hearts. What happened? The Prophet consulted us too. Our Hodja consulted us too. We told him our ideas. Of course. Look how nice. There is no superiority between us.

That is, there is no being in egoistic pride, in arrogance, in haughtiness.

What does it say? And when you have made your decision, then rely and trust in Allah. For Allah loves those who rely and trust in Him. Allah Almighty loves them. Because there is no one great besides Him. And there is no one besides Him to help us. If you rely on Him and trust in Him, you have fulfilled Allah Almighty's purpose of creation. What was it? He would create a being that knows His Being. A being close to His Being, who says Allah, who by his own will knows his Lord — that is what He would create. So that being knew his Lord and relied on Him, trusted Him. Of course He will love him; he has matched the purpose of creation.

Let us read our commentary. In the Battle of Uhud, when those who had moved away from the battlefield gathered again, the Prophet (peace be upon him), by the mercy of Allah, behaved very gently toward them. He behaved very gently. Because the Prophet (peace be upon him) is, among all created beings, the gentlest in nature, the most emotional and the most generous prophet.

Very gentle in nature, very emotional. Because he was very emotional, his eyes would fill with tears at the slightest thing. Yes. His eyes would water. From that feeling.

Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is very gentle in nature, of delicate feeling, a mercy to the worlds, the best of created beings; there is no more merciful person than him — he is a compassionate prophet. Compassionate.

Because of these traits he treats those around him with a smiling face. He breaks no one's heart. He treats them with a smiling face. How do we know he breaks no one's heart? What does it say? Then by a mercy from Allah you were gentle with them. Not only to them. What does it say to all people too? Had you been hard-hearted — which means he was not. They would no doubt have scattered from around you, it says. If all people (?) around him, that means he is a prophet very gentle in nature, very feeling, emotional, sensitive, and sent as a mercy to the worlds, a prophet who never cursed people. If someone says, as a hadith from the Prophet (peace be upon him), that he cursed these people, never believe it; that is not a hadith.

Yes. This is not a hadith; we see many people saying 'if he doesn't slaughter the sacrifice he is not one of us', or 'when it was so, he cursed him like this' — these are people in ignorance, people more bound by these words. But if you ask them, they yield Islam to no one, they are the scholars of Islam. Prophet Muhammad is very gentle in nature, of delicate feeling, a mercy to the worlds, the best of created beings; there is no more merciful person than him — he is a compassionate prophet. Because of these traits he treats those around him with a smiling face, he forgives people's faults, he loved all of Allah's creatures for Allah's sake. Why does he love Allah's creatures for Allah's sake? Because Allah Almighty creates nothing in vain, he knows this.

And Allah Almighty created this universe as 18,000 worlds, and completed them all with one another like the gears of a (?) clock; the world's (?) and the events that will happen until the Day of Judgment He prepared with these creations, and placed them in the world. For this reason the Prophet loved Allah's creatures for Allah's sake. Never cursing anyone, and never complaining about people to Allah, inviting them to salvation until the last moment, and wa ma arsalnaka illa rahmatan li'l-'alamin. He came as a mercy to the worlds anyway, didn't he — he came as a mercy to the worlds. He did not come as a calamity.

If he had cursed, Allah Almighty would not have let his word fall to the ground. If he had cursed. According to what? He would not have let it. He does not speak idly. According to the verse, had he cursed, the people he cursed could not have stayed alive. They would have perished. So when they say 'he is not one of us', 'he cursed this one, he cursed that one' and so on, when they attribute it to the Prophet — these are the work of ignorance, those ruled by superstitions. As I said a moment ago, they are such scholars that they yield neither scholarship nor being a hodja to anyone. With those superstitions.

For this reason, to those who came back and gathered beside him, despite the mistakes they made, not throwing their disobedience of the order in their faces, he embraced his Companions. The Prophet. Yes. So Allah, in this verse, explains beautifully how to treat people, it says. How to treat them. 'Well, Hodja, am I a prophet?' you will say. 'I get angry,' you will say.

Of course you will get angry. You will get angry, but you will take care not to.

Of course we cannot be a prophet. Or we may not have reached the state of a perfected nafs. But even if we are not, we will strive. Strive. In our striving, in what we do, in our regret, it will again make us cover some distance on Allah's path. Yes.

By a mercy from Allah you were gentle with them. Had you been rough and hard-hearted, they would no doubt have scattered from around you and gone. By the way people are created, the human nafs does not like being insulted. The human nafs. By creation, in man there is fame, renown, pride, arrogance, ego, haughtiness and egotism. In that case, if you throw a person's mistake straight in his face, if you say 'you are such-and-such', he, knowingly and out of stubbornness, even if he says you are right, (?) (?). Now, if you pay attention, I do not say to people, 'you are such-and-such'. And I say, what you say is the opposite of this verse, I say.

I show the verse, I set it up before us. If he has faith in Allah, he will submit. If he has faith. If not, if he is still stubborn, you will not go after him. But perhaps you will give him a slap or two. I mean not with the hand — you will give him a slap or two with the verses. So that he comes to his senses. If he doesn't, you will leave him.

What fine lessons these are. We do not say, you did this like this, you did that like that. This word you have said is superstition. According to this verse. I never speak without setting the verses against the superstitions. I don't call it his superstition either. I don't say, you are ignorant, you have no knowledge, you are like a bird flying on one wing, either. Only if he is still stubborn after I have shown the verse do I speak that way. How fine. Because it is not my own word, it is Allah's word. If he still opposes Allah's word, and with his own superstitions cannot show me a verse and prove with verses that what I said, saying it is the verse, is superstition, then we slap him like this.

Quite rightly. So, for a person to be able to reform his nafs, the finest word is to set Allah Almighty's verses before him. If someone set a verse of Allah before me, I would rub my face in the soil, in the mud like this, before the verse. If it is right, of course — if what they explain is right and I explained it wrongly, I would kiss their hand, saying, you guided me. Now something comes to my mind — Imam Ghazali comes to mind, Imam Ghazali, um, sorry, Imam Azam comes to my mind. Imam Azam one day sets out on the road with his friend. After a certain journey, even Imam Azam needs to relieve himself, and he relieves himself in a secluded place.

He sees that his friend is gone. He has left. While looking around, did he go that way, did he go this way, he sees that up ahead a person is praying. He comes to him at once. After he gives the salam ending the prayer, he says to the one praying: Did someone pass by here, he says. Did you notice at all while you were praying? Sir, he says. He doesn't even know of a prayer of mine. Sir, he says, I was praying. Well, I saw that too, he says. That you were praying — I mean, while praying, doesn't a person sense someone passing here, he says. Well, sir, he says, I was praying, praying, he says. When he says that, Imam Azam is as if struck on the head, it is said.

Continuing on the road with tears flowing from his eyes, he catches up with his friend up ahead. A shepherd, he says — it was a shepherd — a shepherd guided me, he says. Guided me. Imam Azam. Look, I am in Allah's presence. That is, I am in no state to see my surroundings. In the presence of my Lord, from shame, from (?), from contemplating Him and from standing in His presence I (?) of myself, let alone know of who passes around me.

So Imam Azam, weeping, says, a shepherd guided me. So the human nafs, as I said, when someone says something against it, even if he spoke the truth, does not obey him. Instead of rudeness, brute force and insult toward people, good treatment with sweet words conquers people's hearts. It keeps them from the evils they would do. Sweet words. Our ancestors say so too. A sweet word draws the snake out of its hole, they say. Because the human nafs, since it cannot reach perfection, likes such nice words.

So the unbelievers, to degenerate the religion of Islam, bring out all the dirty things there are that appeal to the human nafs. And the person honoured with the religion of Islam, who says I am a Muslim, falls for this trick of the unbelievers, and today the religion of Islam has degenerated, it falls into (?). What is this side that the nafs likes? Nakedness, women being stripped. Here is the verse: let Satan never, it says, those who will come from Adam's loins (?) strip them and leave them stark naked, it says. O Allah, how beautifully Allah says it. Well, you know that tomorrow you will go before our Lord. In that case, with which nafs, which haughtiness, which feeling do you today go about outside stark naked, with (?) uncovered?

When we say these things like this, those whose nafs is touched leave this place and go. But in the Hereafter they will say, ah Hodja, ah, they will say. We did it. As they say in the world too, you know, when they see their faults: we did it, don't you do it; we did it, don't you do it. I mean, instead of coming to this state — you are a being created honourable, created superior to the worlds. Couldn't you act in ways that match that purpose of creation? Instead of degrading yourself like this — with men consuming haram and committing adultery, busying themselves, let me say, with things like interest, stepping outside Allah's command — tomorrow in the Divine Presence, in the presence of Allah Almighty, how will you give account?

So it is this nafs. But to that nafs, instead of that interest, if you say, 'you are doing well, friend, go ahead, secure yourself', there is no one better than you. He clings to you. Why? He knows you are lying too. But he is looking for a branch to cling to. Our ancestors have a saying for this too: one who falls into the sea clings to a snake.

Yes. Every person knows good and bad. Within this good and bad, isn't there the game this nafs plays on man? And isn't there the temptation Satan gives man? And isn't there this man's, this man's attachment to the world? He just cannot break them and return to his Lord.

Yes.

We continue our lesson.

So even at the hardest moment the Prophet (peace be upon him) was gentle with his Companions — the hardest moment. Because no battle had been lost until then; even his tooth was broken. In the Battle of Uhud — I went to that place, I went to the place where his tooth was broken, in Medina, at Uhud, a cave. Gentlemen, ladies, my children, it smells of roses — of roses, believe me, it smells of roses. There was another student of mine with me. He was amazed at that scent of roses. He even goes down below it, below the cave. He looks: where is this scent coming from? Where is it coming from? But it smells of roses.

Where is it coming from? I examined it too. He must have leaned his blessed cheek against that rock. I smelled that rock and found it. I found that spot that smells of roses. That's it, he says, that smells of roses too. And one truly loses oneself. So at that hard moment, even at the hard moment, he presses his Companions to his heart. Allah Almighty says: had you done the opposite of this behaviour, they would have scattered from around you and gone. That is, had you reproached them, shouted, insulted them, since the human nafs cannot bear insult well, they would have scattered from around you and gone.

Perhaps they would have regretted it later, but soft (?) is better; since he came to people, to the worlds, as a mercy, even at our moments when (?), it truly shows us to treat people well. Allah, who created

the worlds, since He knew with His eternal knowledge what would happen, by making these situations known to us, says: you too, treat people with a sweet tongue, be gentle with them and be forgiving toward them. He says. And above all, much duty falls on us. Much duty falls on us to explain the religion of Islam to people and keep it alive. That we do not get angry with people,

that we do not insult them and that we explain to them with patience, that we make them love the religion of Islam with patience.

Besides this, there is a point we must be very careful about. The point to be most careful about. Not with the passion to be the leader.

To explain the truth in the light of Allah's verses. People sit down with the passion to be the leader. They start explaining with superstitions from Ahmet's and Mehmet's books. And they say whatever their minds can grasp.

Some of them even try to show a verse, though the verse they show by no means fits the words they explain.

In fact he says it as if he has said a verse.

That is how we have always been ruined. That is, we came to not know our religion. We filled up with superstitions. With these superstitions.

God willing, we will separate them. Because we must separate them. Allah Almighty will complete His religion, His light, until the Day of Judgment. If, He says, you turn your backs on the noble rulings Allah has made known to you, that is, if you (?) from the religion of Islam, We will create, in another land, beings, people, who will live the religion of Islam, He says. Don't we see this verse this way too? He destroyed many peoples, and after them raised new generations in their place.

That is why we must live the religion of Islam and keep it alive. But with the truth. A true person never says what he does not know. And when he knows something wrongly, he should never, never insist stubbornly that he knows it rightly and present the wrong as truth. Again, a true person, the moment he knows his mistake, should say: yes, this was wrong. That is a great person. That great person. He accepted his mistake for Allah's sake, and through the other person's showing him the truth he came to know the truth. He saw the truth. And he owes that person thanks.

That is what guiding one another is, anyway. Guiding one another. The best of you is the one who teaches one another, who helps one another, it says. Yes.

So His saying to the Prophet (peace be upon him) 'you too forgive them' — how beautifully it (?) how much Allah Almighty loves people, and that with His attribute At-Tawwab there is no being closer to people than Allah and more forgiving of their sins, we say. You too forgive them. My Lord thought of it, then. How much He loves people.

That is one percent of the mercy Allah Almighty sent to the earth.

And the Prophet (peace be upon him), who came as wa ma arsalnaka illa rahmatan li'l-'alamin — (?) of all the worlds — if one percent of it was in him, the ninety-nine percent I kept for Myself, says Allah Almighty. Tomorrow, tomorrow on the Day of Judgment I will judge My servants with it, He says.

People hold a fine gratitude to Him anyway. Prophet (?), forgive them, He says. Indeed, had Allah not forgiven, the Prophet would have said so too. How beautifully He declares to us here how much He loves people. His saying 'forgive them and pray for them to be forgiven' shows people many subtle paths. And also: pray. I sent you as a mercy to the worlds. With My word I made you one who does not speak idly. So pray for them, so that you are raised, and so that I raise them with the (?) of your prayer. In fact I will raise them anyway, but to make the Prophet's rank exalted for you, pray for them, He says.

And He has made the Prophet alive. Alive. Through him, through his prayer and its blessing, Islam finds life. Yes. The worlds find life. A prophet's word not being heeded out of disobedience to the order hurts the prophet too. Of course! I told you to do it this way, why didn't you? Look, today's loss is because of this. Which of us wouldn't say it? Which of us wouldn't say it? For this reason, His saying 'pray for them, forgive them', and His winning His Messenger's heart too — Allah Almighty also wins the heart of the Prophet (peace be upon him), so that he says Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah. My Lord's saying 'forgive my Companions', my Lord's saying 'I forgive them' — shows that I am much loved by your Lord, he says, and the Prophet's complete submission to Him grows even more.

Allah Almighty speaks with him through verses. Yes.

Winning the Messenger's heart too, making known that disobeying the order is a crime, making known that these behaviours are also a fault against Allah Almighty; Allah, who created people fallible — people turning back to Him, repenting, Allah Almighty forgiving them as they take refuge in Allah, His being a (?) sovereign, making known that there is no forgiver of sins besides Him — as long as, we say, it makes known that people should turn to His Being and know Him. As long as they turn to His Being. There is no one besides Him who forgives sins, and no great sovereign besides Him. Allah? He does not wrong His creatures.

But see how, when interpreting the verses of the Quran, they make people wrong others with the verses. Who? Not Allah. With the verses as people interpret them. Their meanings are like that. Yes.

Consult them in the matter, that is, hold consultation, hold consultation, take their opinions too — I said it, didn't I — consultation is essential; and when a person consults the people before him, a confidence comes to them. The Prophet, or one's father, or elder, paternal uncle, maternal uncle, or teacher — 'look, he consulted me, he asked my opinion too' — saying this gives a person a sense of self. Beyond that, it binds people to one another. Binds them to one another. These are the sides of Islam that strengthen it. There is no haughtiness like ego and pride in Islam. There is no such nafs, such whim.

You know how people say 'I have a proud nafs, it gets angry' — we have no proud nafs.

We have sound characters. Sound characters. With those characters a person gains his selfhood. Not from a proud nafs. Look at those proud nafses. They all go about in swamps. Swamp flowers.

So never take the side of your nafs. What his nafs does to a person, two living beings together could not do. Consult them in the matter, that is, hold consultation, take their opinions too, because the outcome (?) all together; if it turned out that there was a loss — we had all decided together; here it is not loaded onto one person; one does not fall into division saying 'you did this, we had said so' — how beautifully it says it. Yes. Do not fall into division saying 'your opinion and mine'. In consultation there is unity and togetherness. The outcome of the matter, however, belongs to the community.

That is, its reward and its harm belong to all of us. No one can blame anyone, because we had consulted. For this reason, so that people do not fall into division and say 'you, me', so that no whim comes to the nafs, Allah, by making the result of all work done belong to the community, at the end of the matter both the reward and the misfortune belong to the community. Unity and togetherness are not broken, but again people support one another. Some events today show this. Allah Almighty gives people misfortunes, for example, gives disasters. We see that they all come out of that disaster together, they support one another. That is, helping one another, they go on with life again. No one blames anyone, asking why it happened this way or that.

Because it came from Allah, after all — the one who blames Allah, blames; that is another matter — but in that misfortune everyone supports one another. So when we too suffer a loss after consulting like this, we all accept that loss within ourselves. Or when we attain a good, we all benefit from that good within ourselves. Yes.

So that he does not say 'you, me', so that no whim comes to the nafs, by making the result of all work done belong to the community, at the end of the matter both the reward and the misfortune belong to the community. In that case, even if the result of the matter turns out badly, no one, by blaming anyone, will have caused division and resentment. Allah Almighty, who recommends consultation to people, shows people the Prophet (peace be upon him) — his conduct and actions — as an example. For example, when they said of Medina al-Munawwara, let us defend this place, his indicating 'let us go out', his putting on his armour and coming, their again doing (?), their taking up positions.

Sir, despite again gaining the victory, their (?) (?) the victory. Because our Lord — (?) — showing a part of it to people.

When you have made the decision after consultation, then rely on Allah and trust Him. Now you are the commander. You are the Prophet. You are their elder. You are their scholar, and you are in the position of their father. In that case, the moment you make the decision, do not go back; rely on Allah. Because your helper is Allah. Because among people you make the decision best, He says. Because with your Lord's wisdom that is in you, with your capacity to love, you make the decision in the best way. And because in that decision you rely on your Lord, because your Lord is behind you, you will reach victory, He says. So do not go back on your word, He says.

Do not go back. I do the same. Once I have decided, I never go back on my word. Let us carry it out. As long as you make that decision. Yes. Those who are with Allah always reach success. Whoever relies on Allah and trusts Him — Allah loves such people. Yes. Those who rely on Allah and trust Him know that whatever Allah willed for people with His eternal knowledge, that will appear. That is, whatever is in my destiny, that will appear. Whether misfortune or good. Whether evil or good. Whether death or madness. Whatever is in my destiny, I will live it. So I rely on Allah and trust Him. Whatever comes upon my destiny — just as Allah Almighty does not load on my back what I cannot bear, and since I cannot change my destiny myself, and since Allah will load nothing on me outside my destiny, the duty that falls to me is obedience.

To obey.

Yes.

Not what they say themselves — it will bring forth the destiny Allah has written for people. Now, when I say here 'not what they say themselves': since people do not know their destinies, they have some wishes outside their desires and wants. The verse says so, doesn't it: did you think that everything you want would come true, it says. They may misunderstand this part. You know, it is always our own wish and want. When we say our destiny: according to our wish there, our wish and want became our destiny. But in this world, with (?) reason, we may wish for some events outside our destiny. Allah Almighty's words about the load you cannot bear on your back, (?), correspond to this anyway.

It points to this. Those outside your destiny, (?) We do not lead you astray. Or We do not become a cause of your going astray. Sir, whatever is in your destiny, good and bad, I know it; within that load you will bear I give you misfortune (?) and good, says Allah Almighty. Yes.

What does Allah say with His eternal knowledge — that whatever Allah willed for people with His eternal knowledge, that will appear. Not what they say themselves, that is, not what people have prepared outside such destinies. The destiny Allah has written for people will come forth. So take precautions, and leave the decree to Allah. Such people are people who rely on Allah and trust Him. Yes.

(?) So people who take precautions and leave the decree to Allah are people who rely on Allah and trust Him. Those who consent to the good and evil that come from Allah — according to the verse 'Allah does not will wrong for His creatures' — who are patient with what comes from Allah and put their trust in Allah attain Allah's mercy, we said.