Ash-Shu'ara 139: And as such, they accused him of lying and We destroyed them. Verily, there is a great lesson in this, but most don’t believe.

So they accused him of lying; his people accused Hud (peace be upon him) of lying, and We destroyed them, it says. Truly there is a great lesson in this, but most of them do not believe. How well they put it. There is a lesson. Come on, one was a tale of the ancients, gone; the other was a tale of the ancients, gone. You said it too, and you are gone too. So if the One who created the worlds shows us people from hundreds of years or thousands of years back as an example, Allah is immortal; from that time to this time, and from this time, from the time of the Prophet to our time, and from our time to the Hereafter, until the end of the world, all the events that will happen, if He has written them in the Quran as (?), and if some of those (?), as far as He has made them known through knowledge of the unseen, people see, for example the two seas meeting each other.

He tells of it. He describes the depths of the oceans, of the darknesses.

He tells us of many events. And if we find these with technology, then that Creator, having made these, did not disappear.

Look what that Creator says. If such a thing comes to your mind: Hüve'l- evvelü. I am the First. First before what? Before the worlds were created, I existed by My own essence. I existed, that is, He says. Hüve'l-âhiru. I am the Last. That is, all creations, I will destroy what I have created. Again I will remain, He says.

I am the Owner of both the outward world and the inward world, He says. One day you will come into My presence, and I will call you to account at the Great Court. As a result of the reckoning, so that no one is wronged, what everyone's own two hands earned will be given to them in full, and to the place you deserve you will be sent.

Don't ever think it far off. Look, don't ever see your life as far off. Satan shows you that you have more life ahead of you. Don't believe it. Death is at the tip of a person's nose.

Let me show myself to you as an example.

I have turned 80. 80. Today 80 is a very long age, isn't it? It truly is a long age. Eighty years. Sir, if death came today, how old is the man? Eighty. Well, we've already filled out the rest.

As children we saw sixty, sixty-five, seventy-year-olds as a very long life. A long life. Well, I've reached eighty, and it's still like yesterday. Still like yesterday. So if I see eighty as yesterday, in the world of the Hereafter, a thousand years here is like an hour, an hour and a half in the Hereafter. Like one day of it, one day. And if a person lives sixty, seventy years here in this world, he lives one, one and a half hours. So Satan shows a person that he has a long life ahead of him, shows it. And then you find that the life he showed as long, you have caught up with it. When you look behind you, you've left a swamp, a thicket of thorns, a, sir, precipices behind you.

So what shall we do?

You will come along building up the roads from behind you to the front. When you look behind you: "I did evil to that man. I did this and that. I stole this from him. I violated his rights. I did evil to him. I, let me say, slandered him" — you won't say that. What will you say? No. (?) a man was heading toward suicide.

He has debts. He can't pay. His debt (?). He was saved from suicide. I did this. What a beautiful world.

I helped many people. If they all saw me, perhaps they would (?).

When I look back, I don't remember doing evil to any of them. Could I never have done any? No. Surely I may have done evil, but it was beyond me, I don't know of it. You know the sins we have committed knowingly or unknowingly — these, yes. Unknowingly. Otherwise I didn't do it knowingly. When you look behind, I see such a beautiful world of faith.

Yes. This is what life is. This is beauty.

Otherwise, coming out of a swamp and spending your life, in a final state, in a world where it's unclear how one will go, before Allah Almighty, before our Owner, how will we give account?

So they accused him of lying. Surah Ash-Shu'ara, verse 139. And We destroyed them. Truly there is a great lesson in this, but most of them do not believe. The people of 'Ad did not stop at denying the prophethood of Hud (peace be upon him). They also denied the existence of Allah Almighty. Thus this unjust people themselves asked for their own destruction. This people, who did not heed their Prophet's advice, despite so many warnings of mine did not return to the truth. Indeed, even though Hud (peace be upon him) said, "I fear for you the torment of a great day," his people said to Hud (peace be upon him), "These things you say are tales of the ancients." And Allah Almighty saved Hud (peace be upon him) and those with him, and this people He destroyed. There is a great lesson in these events.

Allah Almighty constantly speaks of peoples who were destroyed. Although He makes His existence so clear among people and speaks to people in every language in a way they can understand, people did not give up denying Allah Almighty and, gladly committing every wickedness that would increase their own transgression, defying the One who brought the worlds into being from nothing, they prepared their own destruction.

Here something else comes to my mind. Well, Allah Almighty has lifted the destructions.

Well, these peoples deny too. What will happen?

İnne'd-dîne indallâhi'l-İslâm.

With Allah, the religion is Islam.

The Prophet (peace be upon him) — the Torah, the Psalms and the Gospel, Allah Almighty gathered them in the Quran for the Prophet (peace be upon him) and sent the four books as the Quran to the worlds. People who are carried away by the desires of the nafs and deny the Prophet, in this situation, within their own mindset, ascribing attributes to Allah, saying Allah is three, opposing Allah, saying "I am Hebrew, I am Christian", and being fit for that religion and living it — actually they are not fit for that religion. There is no such religion; he follows his nafs. So in this situation, the one who follows his nafs and says "I am Christian", because it pleases his nafs; the one who follows his nafs and says "I am Hebrew"; those who follow their nafs and follow other religions — which are not religion; those who follow fabrications — and among these the rabbis and priests — I always said, except for the exceptions; Allah Almighty says that among them upright ones exist.

On what basis, serving which mind, do the popes, ascribing attributes to Allah, show people, instead of the true path, the false path and the path of Hell? The path of Hell. In this case, however many people there are outside the religion of Islam, if they go to the Hereafter as disbelievers, all of them are destined for Hell forever. All of them destined for Hell forever. However, people who pass to the Hereafter having said the testimony of faith at their last breath, even if they are sinners, just as when people commit a crime in this world they go to prison, he does not stay in that prison forever.

There is a sentence. After serving the sentence, he gets out. So they too stay in Hell as long as their punishment. That is, they stay in its prison in return for their torment. Then they attain Allah's mercy. A person who passes to the Hereafter having said the testimony of faith at the last moment will surely enter Paradise in the end. But all people who pass to the Hereafter without saying the testimony of faith and, without living Islam, deny Allah, His Messenger or a verse deliberately and depart to the Hereafter this way, all of them are for the fire; ready for Hell, each one a fire log. What does Allah Almighty say in the verse?

"Beware of the fire whose fire is stones and people," He says. Right? Where is it, though? Its fire. 131. verse. Al-Baqarah 24. No. 131. It's also in Surah Al Imran. Let's see now. Do not go toward it, He says.

Surah Al Imran.

"Beware of the fire prepared for the disbelievers."

In one verse — I don't know which one right now — it says its fuel, its fuel. "Beware of the fire whose fuel is stones and people." Yes. Its fuel.

So fear Allah. Obey Allah. Live by Allah's commands. Keep away from what Allah has forbidden. Reform your nafs. Which verse is it? Al-Baqarah 24. Al-Baqarah 24? 24? Yes. Verse 24. You cannot do this, (?) you will not be able to do. "Beware of the fire of Hell whose fuel is people and stones. For that fire has been prepared for the disbelievers." So then, the blessing of this world, our life is a treasure for us, gentlemen, ladies, our life is a treasure for us. A treasure for preparing for the Hereafter. Eşhedü en la ilahe illallah ve eşhedü enne Muhammeden abdühü ve resulühü. Look, my life, affirming the oneness of my Creator, my Lord, bore witness.

Eşhedü en la ilahe illallah: I bear witness that there is no god but Allah. "But Hodja, I haven't seen Him." Well, is Allah making you believe in the unseen? Yes. Here He makes you believe in the unseen. But even though you have believed in the unseen, it tells you the truth. The truth. How is this the truth? I didn't see. In the world of souls, when He said "Elestü bi rabbiküm", when He said "I am your Lord", all people saw our Lord. So the Muslims, those who said "Yes, You are my Lord": Eşhedü en la ilahe illallah. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah. Muhammad is His servant and messenger.

I didn't see him. I swear by Allah, he was with Allah Almighty. He too was telling people, "Yes, this is our Lord." Yes. He was saying, "This is He." So that testimony of faith: Eşhedü en la ilahe illallah, there is no god but Allah. ve eşhedü enne Muhammeden abdühü ve resulühü: Muhammad is His servant and messenger. We all saw. We all saw. All people. All people, from Adam (peace be upon him) to the Last Day, saw. In this situation they split into three groups. So we have no way out. You are hearing it this clearly and truly from the one who has seen that world. Others are not in a position to tell you this.

Yes, we open up the meanings of the testimony of faith this far too. May Allah grant us all a good awakening.