Ash-Shu'ara 140: And verily, your Lord is Azeez (Exalted) and Raheem (the One Who very generously accepts repentance).

Surely your Lord, He is the Absolutely Prevailing and the Possessor of boundless mercy, it says. Absolutely prevailing. Why absolutely prevailing? Now, it doesn't say prevailing, but look: absolutely prevailing. One must pay attention to the words. Ve inne rabbeke lehüve'l-azîzü'r-rahîm. He, indeed He, your Lord is absolutely prevailing. Now, people can prevail. Later, another person may defeat that person. What happened? He is no longer the victor. Now, when it says absolutely prevailing, in no way lacking, flawless, ruler over the worlds, prevailing over the worlds — how does that come about?

Because He created everything He created under His own rule, He is absolutely prevailing. Because He created everything He created within His own rule. Is there a verse about this? Of course there is. How could there not be? If mankind and jinn gathered together, they could not harm Allah, it says. Think of billions of people, however many were created, jinn (?) with their own will; it doesn't count the others. Why doesn't it count them? Because He programmed the others Himself; they are all obedient. But since it counts mankind and jinn, it means those who are free in their own will, it says. If they gathered, they could not harm Allah.

Why? Because the command over all of them is in Allah's hand. Yes. That is why it says He is absolutely prevailing. Absolutely prevailing. But it says the Possessor of boundless mercy. It also says He is the Possessor of boundless mercy. For example, it doesn't say possessor of mercy, but possessor of boundless mercy. This too is thought-provoking. Now, we are merciful too. We have mercy. But up to a point; then one is no longer merciful.

No matter how much you reform your nafs. But Allah Almighty sent His prophets. Aren't they more merciful than people? Even they sometimes complained about people to Allah Almighty. For example Noah, right? They don't listen to me anymore, he says. Salih, sir, he too complains about his people. In this situation many — for example Lot, how hard he struggles with his people. Now, when it says boundless — boundless: all the prophets, people included — Allah Almighty, who created mankind and jinn, limited the mind. From a limited mind, people make mistakes. But Allah is the Creator, the all-encompassing Mind.

Now when I say this, they say about me that I ascribe attributes to Allah.

They say this. Yet the (?), the all-encompassing Mind, endowed with the attributes of the all-encompassing Essence, is Allah Almighty. Sir,

why does He create people with an incomplete mind? If He had given people too a mind in such a way that they would reach the aim of creating, Allah Almighty, people too would each become a Lord. Lord means Creator. They would become creators, one would say. So the absolute Owner of the worlds, the absolute Prevailer over the worlds, the absolute Sovereign, Allah Almighty, is Allah who holds the innermost nature of all His creatures in His own knowledge, in His own hand. In this case, since He created them incomplete, when they turn to Allah Almighty over their mistakes and ask for pardon and forgiveness, however sinful they may be, Allah Almighty forgives.

A hadith. Even if your sins reached the clouds in the sky, when you repent with the heart in you, Allah Almighty changes those bad deeds of yours into good deeds, it says. Yes. How beautifully it says it. Because Allah is the Creator. The Creator loves His creation very much. Now, we are human.

Take a father. Let him have a hundred, two hundred children.

Among these children let there be some who betray the father.

And among those who betray the father, let's say a few in the end come to the father and say, "Father, all this time I betrayed you, and I have understood I was on the wrong path. Forgive me" — when he says that, that father will not refuse to forgive him. He forgives him. And when a servant whom Allah Almighty created returns to his Lord in this way, it is impossible that He would not forgive him. To give an example: Wahshi. Although he killed Hamza, he ends up repenting. All his life tears flow. Some say: him too? A Companion. Yes, he too is a Companion. But the Prophet said, "O Wahshi, just don't appear before my eyes." Yes.

And he wept all his life.

This is what boundless mercy is.

Allah Almighty is the One who brought the universe into being from nothing and created it in proportion to His will.

Allah keeps everything He created under His own rule.

He is able to do all things and is the Sovereign in His judgment. There is no created being or entity that could render Allah helpless. Therefore Allah Almighty is absolutely prevailing. He is the Creator. He is the Possessor of boundless mercy. Just as He holds no one accountable for what He has not made known, through people's repentance He changes their sins into rewards. He feeds people, gives them drink, lets them live a certain life, meets all their needs and watches over and protects what He has created. Now, while I say this here, another incident comes to my mind.

While the Prophet (peace be upon him) was returning from a campaign, our mother Aisha falls behind at times. A soldier coming behind picks her up and brings her to the troop. They gossip. They spread rumors. Thereupon Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) decides never again to give anything to his freed slave. He had fed his freed slave, freed him, and the man has nothing; he had fed him. And he turned out to be the ringleader of the gossip. You know how they say, feed the crow and it will peck out your eye; thereupon a verse is revealed, a verse. Even if, it says, he is an enemy, if he is in need, give to him too, it says, give to him too. And after that Abu Bakr starts giving to him again, starts feeding him, even though he is (?).

See how boundless Allah's mercy is. Yes. So because Allah is the Possessor of boundless mercy, people who take refuge in Allah Almighty, even if their hands are empty and their faces black, Allah both gives their hands treasures of reward and makes their faces white. Allah is such a merciful Allah. As long as a person knows Allah and turns to Him. Yes. As long as you say Allah.