Ali 'Imran 104: There should be among you a group which calls to goodness, orders the good and forbids the wrong. They are the ones who find salvation.

Surah Al Imran, verse 104, to the verse: What if it does not, these must be about (?). Whatever anyone asks, the verse comes straight before us. In the verse. They ask here, and the verse comes before us. (?) What does it say? From among you a community that calls to good, enjoins what is right and forbids what is wrong, let there be. It is they who are the successful. So if you too take this (?) and make our talks known to people, you will be granted what this verse promises. Let there be among you a community that calls to good, enjoins what is right and forbids what is wrong. It is they who are the successful, it says.

Of course, if they take Allah's word, Allah's to the servants He created (?), a light (?) before them, with His verses that give them life and bring people peace, and guide people, (?) Allah, to such people who guide others and want to save their brothers from disasters, pours down His mercy.

O you who believe! Let there be among you a community that calls to good, enjoins what is right and forbids what is wrong. With this verse Allah Almighty wills that there be scholars among people, and addressing people says: O you who believe, stand firm for justice and judge among you with truth. Whom is it addressed to? To the scholars.

Not to those who sell Allah's word for material gain.

They will rule themselves by Allah's verses and generously tell people Allah's verses, show them the truth, make them love Allah and His Messenger, show that there is no hardship in the religion, and cleanse people of the desires of the nafs, and with words that do not feed them to Satan, with Allah's words, light the way before them. (?) these. O you who believe! Stand firm for justice and judge among you with truth. Observe people's rights and laws, He commands. Yes. People, by believing and holding fast to the rope of Allah, are protected from the calamities that would come from Allah. What does the previous verse say?

Hold fast to the rope of Allah. To the rope of Allah.

What did we say in the last lesson? In Kanlıca, in Istanbul, across the road, from one side to the other, across the street, from one side to the other, a rope (?). O people, this is the rope of Allah. Allah Almighty (?) the Quran: hold fast to the rope of Allah. If you hold on to this, you will have held on to the rope of Allah, they say, either out of ignorance or else the enemies of religion as if mocking doing this, and keeping Muslims in superstitions, in their ignorance, and so making fun of them, that is what seems to be happening to me. In this case, when people held on to that rope, they were supposedly holding on to the rope of Allah.

Everyone would grab it and pass by. Saying: I held on to His rope and passed.

Just think, then, of the place of Islam in people's minds. Islam is not a religion full of superstitions. Islam and superstition never go together.

It does not fit even in the mind of someone who says he is an Alevi. Because the verses will continue until the Day of Judgment, their rule will go on, and they will also address people after us who have more advanced technologies. So you understand the verse as far as you understand it, and I understand the verse as far as I understand it.

So the verses do not fit in your head or in mine.

In this case, in this case, when one says the rope of Allah, it is Allah's sharia laws. He sent those laws of His to people in a way every mind can grasp. Superstitions never come near people who find life through those laws.

But what does Allah Almighty say? Let there be scholars among you, scholars, and let these scholars tell people Allah's sharia rulings. Let them make people love Allah, love His Prophet. Yes.

O you who believe! Stand firm for justice and judge among you with truth. This sentence corresponds to this verse: Do not wrongfully hand your wealth to judges and let it be devoured. Wrongfully. Yes, stand firm for justice and judge among you with truth, observe people's rights and laws, He commands. People, by believing and holding fast to the rope of Allah, are protected from the calamities that would come from Allah. We are both helpless and in a strange world. We are in an unseen world. If Allah Almighty had not lit our way with His verses, the earth would be soaked in blood, in (?), and right and wrong would disappear.

Just like the law of the jungle, the strong would crush the weak and make people his captives. So Allah, by addressing consciences, by putting fear into their consciences, lights people's way. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil alamin. Praise be to the Lord of the worlds, it says. Why? Because He created me as the noblest of creatures. What else? Because He gave me of His spirit and created me close to Himself. What else? Because He created me as vicegerent on earth. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil alamin, all praise and thanks be to Allah for giving good health and well-being, for granting a good life; which blessing of His would you ask for, so that you could give thanks for His praise, fulfil the thanks owed for His praise.

Yes. So Allah Almighty holds a light before people with His verses.

For this reason people are protected if they rule themselves by Allah's verses. Allah lights people's way with His verses. People who step outside that are restless, their hearts are scattered, they cannot find peace.

In this passing world, within one lifetime, this world is not worth living restlessly.

Look at people, for the sake of love of wealth they kill each other. And rot in prisons. Look at people again, for the sake of love of wealth they swindle each other. And neither honour nor dignity remains; as long as he gets that money, let others say whatever they like.

For the sake of wealth, for the sake of loading that swamp of the world onto their backs, they pull every kind of intrigue.

Without even minding being despised among people, he tries to load up the world. In them there is neither peace, nor contentment, nor order. (?) this life. Look, the poor man eats and drinks, and the rich man eats and drinks. There is no difference between them. One eats a little richer food, another a little plainer. But they eat. Because Allah Almighty (?), Allah will give everyone their provision, He guarantees the provision of His creatures. Now a story comes to my mind. Since provision came up; I have probably told it, but there are new listeners, let them listen.

Once upon a time a junk dealer lives in a village with his wife. One day the junk dealer says: Let me go and look for Allah, and if I find Him, let me ask Allah; if my provision is always this much, why should I stay in this village, he says, I will go and live in a big city, he says.

He tells his wife too, such simple people; well then go, his wife says, and ask and see. Allah Almighty brings Khidr (peace be upon him) before him. The junk dealer has climbed the hill, he goes to the mountains, he is looking for Allah. Khidr (peace be upon him) appears before him. Hey fellow, where to? he says. Well, he says, I have a problem, he says. I have a problem. Tell me, he says. I, he says, am looking for Allah, he says. I, he says, live in such-and-such village, he says. If my provision is always this much, why should I stay here; let me go and live in another city, he says, in a big city.

You wait, I will ask and come back, he says. (?) where he left him, to the villager, to that junk dealer, he says: Your provision is always this much, it seems, he says. Then, he says, he goes back and tells his wife our provision is always this much, it seems, get ready, he says; they put the bedding and quilt on their backs and set off; in spring, in the summer season, they set out early in the morning. They get hungry, and so they sit by a stream and eat a good meal. And there husband and wife lie together, and wash in the stream. While washing, a bead catches on the man's foot, he takes the bead.

A bead catches on his wife's foot too, she also takes the bead. In the old days beads were worth money. The junk dealer said to his wife: give them to me, if we run out of bread where we are going, we can buy bread.

They come to a big city. Well, they finish the bread they had to eat. The money runs out too. He goes to a trinket and bead seller: Will you buy this bead of mine? he says. The bead seller turns it this way and that and says: Go to that jeweller, he says. He comes to the jeweller. He says to the jeweller: Will you buy this bead of mine? The jeweller looks and says: Let me give you twenty-five gold coins, he says. Twenty- five gold coins. to the junk dealer, (?). Hey, he says, (?) don't make fun of me, he says. Twenty-five gold coins, he says. Because, he says, he thought he would give me a quarter mecidiye or so.

But Allah makes him say it that way.

(?) he must know its value, he says. Let me give you 75 gold coins, he says. Hey, (?), he says. Give me its value and let me go, he says. If I gave you its value, he says, nobody here would buy it, he says. This is a precious object, he says. This, he says, is an object worth a full two hundred gold coins, he says. I will give you, he says, one hundred seventy-five gold coins. Only the palace can buy this, he says. Let twenty-five gold coins stay with me, he says. Well, give me the one hundred seventy-five gold coins, he says. He takes it. I also have, he says, a somewhat bigger one, shall I bring that too? he says.

Bring that too, he says. For that one too he gets two hundred fifty gold coins.

Houses and inns line up from corner to corner. They line up. Well, the junk dealer is astonished. I, he says, will look for Allah, he says. Allah told me, he says, your provision is this much. Well, what are these? he says. What are these? He sets out again. To look for Allah, going like this over the flat plain, he has climbed the mountain. Again Allah Almighty sends Khidr (peace be upon him). Khidr (peace be upon him) appears before him. He says: Old man, where to? And he says: Well, once, he says, I asked Allah, he says, I had Him asked. Your provision is this much, He says. Well, now I have an inn, I have a bathhouse, he says, all the houses from road to road are mine, he says, rents flow in, incomes, he says.

Well, what is this all about? he says. Khidr is astonished too.

After a while Khidr (peace be upon him) comes. He says: Old man, you ate a meal at such-and-such place, and there you lay with your wife, and there a child was conceived in the womb, he says. This provision is the child's, he says. If you are still living on dry bread and onions, your provision is that much, he says. And indeed the junk dealer sees that he is still eating dry bread and onions, he says.

That is provision. Allah guarantees everyone's provision. He will give it. Whatever is our lot. What is a person's provision? What he wears out, what he eats and drinks, that is his provision. The rest (?) inheritance. Inheritance. Yes. So if people are deceived by this, deceived by the swamp of this world, their hearts, restless and scattered, cling to the world more and more. Look what Allah Almighty says now. O world! Whoever leaves My path, make him work for you and wear him out. And whoever advances on My path, submit to him, He says. And the world submits to the friends of Allah. It submits so much that whatever he wants is fulfilled.

But those whose nafs is never satisfied, who have fallen into Satan's trap, with the stinginess of their nafs, with the desire in their nafs by which Satan frightens them into stinginess, cling to the world more and more. He thinks he has faith. With that stinginess, with that desire for the world he has weakened his faith, and he does not know it. His poor faith. Yes.

So they are protected from the calamities that would come from Allah, those who hold fast to the rope of Allah, to His sharia ruling. They are the friends of Allah. They are the ones firmly bound to Allah. For their sake the calamities that would come from Allah are lifted. For their sake Allah Almighty does not send some calamities. It would come to that town. It is within their destiny. But again within their destiny Allah Almighty has placed those persons over them. And for his sake He lifts the calamities there from it. The place where they are is safe. Safe. What was it? The places where those people are are safe.

What does safe mean? What does it mean? In the places where they are, there are no disasters.

When Allah Almighty is about to destroy a people, note that the prophets and those who follow them are taken out of those towns. They are brought to safety. After that He destroys that people. So the places where these people are are safe too. Allah does not send calamity to such a people or community. Allah Almighty loves those who are Muslim, who say Allah and who turn to Allah. In a verse: you the name Islam, I gave you the name Islam. I made you witnesses over the other nations. And I made your Prophet a witness over the other prophets; according to this verse Allah Almighty warns the believing Muslims: O you who believe, I am the Owner of justice, so be just too, that you may attain My mercy, He commands.

Hasn't Göktürk come? Give him a call, will you?

In one of His verses We send two or three calamities a year to the towns of the unbelievers, He says. Allah Almighty already proves what we said in these verses. What does He say? We send two or three calamities a year to the town of the unbelievers. Why? So that they do not say about those calamities: had You (?) us calamities, we would have turned to You; so that they do not say this. The destructions were lifted. Because the Prophet came as a mercy to the worlds, because of Wa ma arsalnaka illa rahmatan lil alamin, the destructions were lifted. Calamities began so that people would say yes, Allah exists, we deserved this, and my Allah, we erred, forgive us, and turn to Allah.

If there is no community among you that enjoins good and forbids evil, then, by His attribute of Judge of judges, you too will be subjected to the same calamities. We too. Now, in the old days our ancestors, our fathers would say: well, heart disease has started, he died of a heart attack; in the old days they did not know what the heart was. Now the elders said: it will come to us too, it will come to us too.

Has it come? It will come to us too, it will come to us too, they would say. Yes, of course it will come to us too. Why? If we follow them, of course it will come to us too. What does Allah Almighty say? Microbes are My soldiers. (?) the verse: We send them on whom We will. No. Not on whom He wills. He sends them on whoever wills it. On whoever wills it. On whoever wills it. Well, would a person want illness? No. If you are (?) stress, if you live without peace, if you live in depression, if you abandon Allah's commands and load all the wealth of the passing world onto your back and, as if you would live forever with it, desire it and are stingy with it, then in this case have you not opened every kind of door to illness for yourself?

In this case you get whatever you deserve. Yes. You get whatever you deserve.

Now I will give you an example from myself, but you may think like this, think as you like, exceptions do not break the rule, such people come up, there are such people too, for instance one says people, I am 72 years old, I have no sugar, no cholesterol, no heart, no blood pressure, nothing at all (?) maybe at 18 I was not (?), because I had stomach pain, now that is gone too, I am at ease, so in this case now, ever since (?) I have always said Allah. Always Allah. I never compromised on Allah. Yes. And look at the hodjas too, the hodjas. Saying they too are all right. However many superstitions they may have, with their pure (?) faith, by surrendering to Allah they live (?).

At least he finds peace in his own way. Yes, everyone has some superstition, but since deeds depend on intention, since it is bound to Allah, the hodjas too, look at the old hodjas. (?) like this. They have no stress, no depression. Well what? For what? You were deceived and stressed over the wealth of the world, you indulged desire. You usurped people's rights, and with those people's contempt for you, their despising you, without minding them, you went on living in that restless state. For what? Is the wealth of this world worth it? But if you ask them, it is worth everything; they would even give their lives for their wealth.

For this reason, because we are Muslim, because we say Allah, because we obey Allah's command, Allah Almighty declares the situation to us: if we hold fast to the verses, it is they who are the successful, He says. For this reason, according to this verse, in Islamic states there were Shaykh al-Islams, people with the authority to issue fatwas. Now in their place there are the muftiates attached to the Diyanet, which will issue fatwas. So we said. Yes.