Ali 'Imran 95: Say “Allah has said the Truth. So, turn towards Allah, obey the religion of Abraham. Because, he was not among the idolaters.”

Say: Allah has spoken the truth. He always speaks the truth anyway, says Allah Almighty. 'I always speak the truth anyway,' He says. Of course, He is our Lord. Say: Allah has spoken the truth. So follow the religion of Abraham, turning to the Truth. He was not one of the polytheists, it says. A verse comes to the Prophet (peace be upon him) about them. Allah has spoken the truth. That is, in the Torah everything that may and may not be eaten has been made known. This is written in your Torah. That is why the Prophet says: bring me the Torah.

O My Beloved, say: Allah has conveyed the truth to you through His verses. That is, He has made it known. He has explained everything clearly and plainly, as it is.

He has in no way forced the people He created. He forced them neither in religion nor by saying 'obey Me'. Why did He not force them? He was going to create a being that, by its own will, what do we call it, its own will, its partial will, would know its Creator and obey Him. For this reason He did not force people. Had He forced them, look what He says in His verse: had We wished, He says, from the clouds, descending with the angels, We made you prostrate. That is, through fear, by frightening you. Because Allah Almighty values the people He created so much, without frightening them, being very sincere towards them, in His address 'I am your Lord', He has left them alone with their own will.

From now on, you too follow the religion of Abraham. For Abraham is a prophet who held Allah to be One, obeyed Him, and out of longing for Allah sighed often. What does it say? Abraham? He used to sigh much, it says. 'Ah.' Yes.

Why did Abraham sigh so much?

However much a person did right, in that rightness he would see his own shortcoming. However right he did. However sincerely he turned to his Lord, saying 'I could not do this either', showing his helplessness before his Lord, because of his shortcoming he would constantly sigh. Why did he sigh so much? He had shown him so much grace, saved him from the fire, given him in old age Ishmael and Isaac, and Jacob besides. And so Jacob (peace be upon him), Abraham (peace be upon him), amid these blessings, however much he thanked Allah, because he still could not fulfil the thanks due, out of the love for his Lord within him and the pain of the services he could not do, he would sigh.

Yes. He used to sigh much, it says.

We too sometimes sigh a lot.

Through the openness of unveiling (kashf) that Allah gives to man, people sometimes lose their own self in the presence of Allah. That is, sometimes one loses oneself.

It is upon the fitrah of Islam.

That is, you too follow Islam. With this verse Allah invites all people to the religion of Islam and declares that with Allah there is no religion other than Islam. What does it say? Follow the religion of Abraham. Allah Almighty. For Abraham is a prophet who held Allah to be One, obeyed Him, and out of longing for Allah sighed often, He says. So if Allah Almighty has us say La ilaha illallah, if He says there is no god but Allah: since the universe was created, since our father Adam came into the world, however many dissonant voices said 'I am god', they vanished, perished and were mortal, but Allah, as the Everlasting, from the beginning to pre-eternity, as hüve'l-evvelü ve'l-âhiru ve'z-zâhiru ve'l-bâtın, makes His voice heard to us through His verses.

He makes His command heard to us. He, the Everlasting, is present and watching everywhere. Look how beautifully Abdulqadir Gilani puts this in one of his writings: He is hidden from the unseeing eye. He is manifest, manifest to the (?). But He is hidden from the unseeing eye. That is, He is veiled. To the unseeing eye. Reach such a rank, reach such a rank that at that rank you say 'I will go up to the moon', and you go up to the moon.

Whatever you say, your Lord carries out what you said. Then you say: my Lord is with me. Yes, He is with everyone. Allah is with all His creatures. But only if you can make your voice heard to Him. He hears all voices, He hears them, but that voice in Him its ruling to Him if you can have it spoken, if you can get it through. And for that ruling to reach Allah, in your heart there must be love for Him, and that love must outweigh all other loves. With that love of Allah you will be in constant company with Him. What does it say? Neither buying and selling nor trade keeps them from My remembrance: you will become like the people He describes so.

And the scholars and the angels bear witness to Allah's existence: you will reach the state He describes. 'When We created these worlds, We did not take Satan and his companions as witnesses': you will rise to the state He describes. Then the partial is lost in the whole.

Such people do not easily speak idly.

Abraham was not one of the polytheists. What is meant in this verse: O people, if you act against My command and oppose Me, if you rebel, Abraham is free of you. It is upon his faith. If you obey and act in obedience, you will attain salvation. Otherwise, in this state you wrong your own selves and in the end you are left facing an eternal punishment. So in the verse saying Abraham was not one of the polytheists, He holds Abraham up as an example to the polytheists. It was so that they would find Abraham's truth. That is why He shows him, Abraham, to the polytheists as an example. Yes.