Ali 'Imran 111: They (the People of the Book) cannot harm you except for giving you annoyance. If they were to fight you, they would turn back and flee. Then there would be no help for them.

We had stopped at verse 111 of Surah Al Imran. From there, we continue where we left off.

They, He says, the People of the Book, can do you no harm beyond hurting you. Yes, because they try to disparage the Muslim only with their tongues. With their words they try to run them down, the non-Muslims. Because they cannot stand up to them and measure themselves against them with that courage, and with love of the world, with love of their own lives, they cannot stand up to Islam and easily start a fight with Islam. The reason: because they are very attached to the world, because they love their lives very much. They fight only from behind fortified strongholds. Yes.

If they were to go to war with you, they would turn their backs on you and flee. What is the reason for this? Not from behind solid strongholds — they stay behind solid strongholds and fight them from there. But when it comes face to face like this, they turn their backs and flee. Why do they flee? Because they are in doubt about whether there will be resurrection after death. Their whole life and existence is the world. Even the most faithful of them, that is, the believers, we call doubtful, meaning they do not believe. Their whole world and existence, their lives, is the world. For this reason they live a life that leans on matter, on matter.

Their gods are matter; all the beings they worship are matter. They draw strength from that matter, not from Allah. The Muslim, though, knows this world is temporary; he leans his back not on matter but on Allah. What does he say? Hasbunallahu wa ni'ma'l-wakil, ni'ma'l-mawla wa ni'ma'n-nasir. What a fine support He is, what a fine friend. What a fine Master He is, he says. Yes. Then, they will not be helped either. That is, because they do not say Allah, because they do not say Allah, because they act with the aim of putting out the light of Islam, according to this verse, they are not helped. What is that verse? Did they think they would put out the light of Allah with the (?) of their mouths?

Allah will complete His light until the Day of Judgement. According to this verse, Allah Almighty never helps those who want to put out that light. Yes.

The People of the Book, that is, non-Muslims, can do no harm to people honoured with Islam other than hurting them. Islam. They harm Islam only with their tongues. That is, they try to harm it. And their talk, their jibes at Islam, are just like the example our Lord gives in a verse: they, He says, are like the dog, He says. If you go at it, it lolls its tongue; if you leave it, it lolls its tongue, He says. Yes, even when fighting they fight only from behind solid strongholds, hiding. They cannot come face to face and fight. Because their world is their living. Their whole world is living there within their lifetime.

The other side is unknown. If they had believed, they would have bowed to Allah anyway. Would people who do not believe in resurrection after death ever throw themselves into the arms of death and give up their world?

That is how it is. An idolater, a non-Muslim, will give up comfort? Sir, will he give up living? What is it to me? Let whoever fights go fight, he says. He turns his back and flees. His life, his life is to spend his years in the world, sir, within the material. He thinks of nothing else. Whereas a Muslim knows that his world is a dungeon and a prison for him. He knows that with death he will attain freedom and Allah's mercy, and be saved from hardships. The world is a toil. Here we are all travellers, wayfarers. We will all move on from this world anyway. Every soul will taste death. And in the end, according to the verse "your return is to Me", everyone will give account in their Lord's presence, in the Supreme Court.

In that case the Muslim, within this faith, to become a martyr as soon as possible, or to reach his Lord, or, knowing that he is in a test within his existence in the world, tries to fulfil his duties towards Allah Almighty. They are people who know the hereafter with certainty. For this reason non-Muslims prevailing over Muslims, or harming their property and possessions, only hurts the Muslims a little. A little. They suffer a loss, that is all. Because they know the world is temporary. The Muslim finds peace when he is with his Lord. He finds it when he lives in his Lord. He knows that these worlds and this universe were created by our Lord.

He also knows that these people, each of them, in the covenant of Alastu bi-Rabbikum, in return for the pledge they gave Allah Almighty, their wishes and desires became their destiny, and people play that destiny as actors in this world — people who know and reflect that a person will pass on to the hereafter by fulfilling Allah's command in this world in the finest way: they are the Muslims. Those Muslims lean on Allah with the light of faith, and what do they say? Hasbunallahu wa ni'ma'l-wakil, ni'ma'l-mawla wa ni'ma'n-nasir. This world is temporary, and Allah Almighty is such a fine friend, such a fine support, such a fine Master. In that case that person's heart is full of peace.

Without looking at the material state of this world, he tries to earn Allah Almighty's mercy.

Because Muslims are people who do not look at property and possessions. But a non-Muslim's world, life and soul are his property and possessions. He cannot live without them. Why can't he live? Because in a world of fantasy, within certain wishes and desires, he will spend his life. But in order to live that fantasy world he needs matter. That matter pushes that person both into want and into wretchedness, into poverty; it pushes him into want amid plenty, and he becomes a porter of the world. As that porter of the world, writhing in want, he spends his life that way.

He cannot live without property and possessions. For this reason, because they long for the world, they live with love of the world in their hearts. Yes, had they longed for Allah, they would have bowed to Allah and carried out Allah's commands. They would not have behaved like four-legged animals roaming the earth. Indeed, what does He say? They are even more astray in their course, He says. In that case they are people who push Allah's limits and roam the earth in misfortune, people who are struck by Allah's afflictions.

Even a non-Muslim who has no worldly goods, in the fantasy of the worldly goods he will attain and longs for, lives. even if he has no worldly goods. He is living, and because he is living he will one day own some wealth, and he lives within that wealth, within that fantasy world. And these, mind you, those non-Muslims, their poor bow very low to those who have money. They flatter them greatly. But their hearts are also full of hatred towards the people in front of them. If he finds a weak spot, (?). If it is a place where the man is alone, he takes his life. That is how fiercely hostile they are even among themselves.

Allah Almighty says so in a verse. They are, among themselves, very fierce towards one another, He says. This is where this comes from.

Even a non-Muslim who has no worldly goods lives in the fantasy of the worldly goods he will attain and longs for, and when he finds the chance, those people, without asking whether it is halal or haram, without regard for right or law, without regard for anyone's feelings, cling to those worldly goods, give their lives, cling on and do not let go of their worldly goods. Because he finds life in it. He will find life in it. As if it will save him. In the end, as a porter of the world, he will set out on the journey to the hereafter to be called to account for the wealth about which he never asked whether it was halal or haram.

These states of theirs are what prevent them from waging war. In the face of the forces of Islam, when Islam stands firm, they turn their backs and flee. Then they are not helped either. Those who rebel against Allah, who are hostile to those who say Allah and to the religion Allah sent, people who struggle to wipe out the religion of Islam — Allah Almighty does not grant them His mercy and does not help them. And none of those who say Allah rush to help them either. They are condemned to loneliness. These states of non-Muslim people increase their own disbelief; they prepare their own destruction. They trade the brief, little pleasure of this world for the torment of the hereafter. Because they are fools.

Why fools? They are such clever people. If you say so — a clever person is one who prepares a good place for himself in his future, who prepares a good home. A person who builds up where he lives and then puts dynamite under its foundation and blows it up is not clever.

They are fools. Yes.