Ali 'Imran 102: Oh you believers! Fear Allah as due appropriate manner, and only die being Muslims.

In verse 102 of Surah Al-Imran, look what Allah Almighty says.

O you who believe! Fear Allah as He deserves to be feared. And die only as Muslims.

Yes. Fear Allah as He deserves to be feared. What does this mean? How should I fear Him?

For example, let's say I'm afraid of Ahmet, of Mehmet.

I'm even trembling with fear. So what will happen? At the very worst he kills you.

With death it's over. Fear doesn't help against the appointed hour. You know, a fear for one's life. A fear for one's life. This fear was given to you by your Lord to protect your life. It was given to all creatures too. So they protect their life. To protect it. To produce offspring. To cling to life. That is this fear. In the end, however much you fear, your enemy kills you. What else can he do? 'That's enough then, Hodja.' No, it isn't. You have reached salvation. How? If your rank with Allah is good, you have won the abode of eternal bliss. If your place is the fire of Hell, if you have turned your back on Allah, the fear in this world is nothing next to the fear there.

Because here is passing, while there is lasting. Keeping in view the punishment of that lasting realm, knowing that Allah's promise is true — fear Allah like this, He says. Fear like this.

Not: I fear Allah, so I pray. No. Pray. Don't pray. What will happen? You will be called to account. Punishment for not praying. Or here I am afraid of Ahmet, of Mehmet. Or for worldly things, to win his favor, I look like I'm praying. What then? Or I pray because someone will beat me. I pray out of fear. Fearing Allah is not like this. Fearing Allah is not like the fear of human beings either.

Nor is it like the fear of fearing human beings. If you are of sound mind, if you think a little — what am I to think about? Surely every soul shall taste death. So no one is lasting in this world.

Everyone has a destiny, and a lifespan to live within that destiny. No one can kill anyone before they have completed their lifespan. Or that person doesn't die. In that case, if a person knows these things and acts accordingly, he does not fear death either. So the true fear is: how will I give account before Allah? What if, within that eternal life, He leaves me (?) — how will I be saved from this? That fear. That is the fear befitting Allah. If you fear like this, you will have turned to Allah with your heart and soul. Yes. O you who believe! Fear Allah as He deserves to be feared. Allah Almighty's will in this life: O you who believe — Allah, by His attribute of being the Judge of judges, wills no injustice to any soul; you wrong your own selves.

By the verse where He says 'you wrong your own selves', whoever does not follow Allah's Sharia, whoever turns away from Allah — Allah does not wrong him; he wrongs his own self. So — Allah's glory is very exalted; injustice does not befit Allah; every soul will receive from Allah, as the return for what it earned, its reward. Some for good, some for evil. Yes. Normally we write our text like this, but these are the meanings of what we've explained anyway. So do not fear Allah by blaming Allah. Fear your own selves. Fear your own selves. Because Allah will not wrong you. Your own nafs will wrong you.

How will you fear Allah? You will fear His justice, His justice. Yes, fearing Him as He deserves means fearing His justice. If I live outside Allah's commands, I wrong my own self, and surely Allah, by His attribute of being the Judge of judges, will send me where I belong. O my self! While in this world you cannot bear a (?), while in this world you whimper when a tiny splinter pricks your flesh, while you cannot bear this pain, how will you bear the punishment of the Hereafter — he will say to his own self. Then, however much the things the self desires, outside Allah's commands, (?) the person, if the person is beside reason, his friend, he gets away safely.

Yes.

So do not fear Allah by blaming Allah. Fear your own selves. As the Judge of judges, He will decide between us. Accordingly, the fear a person feels when taking exams does not come from injustice done to students by the teachers giving the exam. Isn't that so? You take an exam, you sit a test, there is a fear there. Is the teacher wronging you? No, (?) be able to pass. It's exactly like that. You too, toward the commands of Allah Almighty, you yourself will fear all of them.

Accordingly, the fear a person feels when taking exams does not come from injustices the examining teachers do to students. It is the fear of whether he himself will pass the exam or not. No one can blame these teachers. The students cannot say they acted unjustly either. From the verse where He says 'fear Allah as befits His glory', let no one doubt Allah's justice. On the reckoning of a day of which He says 'no ransom will be taken from anyone', every soul will receive the return for its own earnings, He decrees. No ransom will be accepted from anyone, He says. Not this world, He says — even if there were another world the size of this one, filled up, no ransom will ever be accepted from anyone.

The reason? He is the Creator, the One who creates. We, however, are humbly owners of what the Creator has created, within His command. So however much you own of what the Creator created, it is just like this. I have five or ten kuruş of money. We tell our brother, our friend: keep this money until I come back. That person says: fine, I'll hand it to you when you come. You give the person the money and leave.

That person is the trustee of your money. Likewise we are trustees of these possessions that are in Allah's possession. It will pass on after us. Are there verses about it? Of course there are. The inheritance of the heavens and the earth belongs to Allah, He says. Every soul shall taste death, and the inheritance of the heavens and the earth will remain with Allah, He says. He created it; He is its owner. What ransom are you talking about? What large family line are you talking about? And you say Paradise is my right. How beautifully Allah Almighty answers you. Do you have in hand a proof that came from Me? He says.

Die only as Muslims. Here Allah Almighty gives the key. O people! You are all My servants whom I created. I do no injustice among any of you. So hold fast to the religion of Islam that I sent, so that you find salvation. Only those who heed My command will be saved from the punishment of that day. My mercy in this world covers all of you. But only those who die in Islam and listen to My command will, in the Hereafter, attain My mercy, He says. Yes.

Now another example comes to my mind.

A father gives his children money. He gives the money to his three or four children. Go and trade, my sons, he says. And bring here what you earn from trade, he says.

Some of the children trade well. The others, instead of trading, spend the money on pleasure.

The odd thing is, their father says: look, I have a camera, wherever you go I will follow you. Upon this, those who traded joyfully come before their father. And those who spent their money on pleasure instead of trade fear that father and want to get away from him. They don't want to come there. In the Hereafter, those who go before Allah Almighty, those who are bound by their Lord's commands — they themselves will attain peace and attain Allah's mercy. Just as those who spent the money on pleasure would suffer harshness from their father, would suffer hurt — so too Allah Almighty, there, to those who defy His command will show their place: your place is here, He will say. Justice.

Yes.