Ali 'Imran 144: Muhammad (PBUH) is only a Prophet. Prophets have also come and have gone before him. If he dies now or if he is killed, will you revert? Whoever turns back will not be able to harm Allah. Allah will give those who are grateful their rewards.

Yes, Muhammad is only a prophet. 'Ve mâ Muhammedün illâ resûl,' it says. Muhammad is only a prophet. Prophets came and went before him as well. Now, if he dies or is killed, will you turn back on your heels? Whoever turns back cannot harm Allah in any way. Allah will reward those who are grateful, those who are grateful.

Allah Almighty says in a verse that even if mankind and jinn gathered together, they could not harm Allah, He says. No one can do Allah Almighty any harm, nor hurt Him. Because Allah does not create any being that He could not overcome and that is not under His power. That is why He is powerful over all things (küllü şey), it says. He is powerful over everything. He is the knower of all things. He is the knower of all the beings He created. That is why Allah Almighty gives people very fine examples. For whoever uses their reason.

At the Battle of Uhud, the polytheist Abdullah bin Kamie, with a stone he threw at the Prophet (peace be upon him), broke his tooth and wounded his face. When this polytheist said 'I killed Muhammad', and someone who heard it shouted 'Muhammad (peace be upon him) has been killed', this false news began to spread among the Muslims, and the soldiers panicked. The Prophet was shouting: 'No, I am alive, I am here, come here!' A group of about thirty surrounded him, and among them Abu Bakr, Ali, Abbas, Talha and Sa'd, such brave men, were defending the Prophet (peace be upon him). Although the verse describes that time, the verses address the past, the present and the future.

If such a situation arose, if the commander at your head were killed on the battlefield, would you immediately abandon the battlefield? Or would you go back on your word because an unbeliever takes you captive? As a Muslim, I say it again, it must be in my blood: as a Muslim, I would not surrender to an unbeliever; I would fight until I die, until I am martyred. And I am not just saying this, I would prove it. May Allah not show us those days. While we have such a life of roses; but when it befalls us, it is a duty for every Muslim to do this. No running away. And no surrendering to an unbeliever.

We took part in some operations. In operations. In the Cyprus operations. They gave us pistols. And 25 bullets. And their advice to us was: 'Never surrender; rather than surrender, choose death,' they used to say. They were right; I already knew this anyway. But they said it too.

If you stayed alive and surrendered, or if they took you captive, the torment and cruelty he inflicts on you is a thousand times better than death. Death is a thousand times better than that. Death.

Every soul will taste death anyway. One day earlier or one day later makes no difference. There is going before Allah with honour. And there is going before Allah Almighty guilty. So a person must act thinking of the future.

Yes.

What are we saying? Whenever, although the verse describes that time, the verses address the past, the present and the future. Allah Almighty also tells it reproachfully, as a lesson to Islam. Reproachfully. That is: you did not obey the command, and so you were defeated in a battle you had won. Now, having tasted this defeat, if the prophet at your head dies or passes on to the hereafter, will you turn back from your religion? I mean, is this Allah Almighty's command? To flee from battle? Yes.

Muhammad is only a prophet, a human being; before him prophets came and went too. Now, its saying 'if he dies or is killed': in this verse, 'if he is killed' addresses, at the Battle of Uhud or in the time of Muhammad (peace be upon him), those living then, the Companions or the Muslims, with respect to the Prophet (peace be upon him) being killed during battle; 'if he dies', in the verse where it says that, addresses both that time and, with the Prophet's passing to the hereafter, the Muslims after him. So with this address, Allah Almighty calls out to all Muslims through the verse: Will you turn back on your heels?

That is, will you compromise on Islam and turn your faces away from Allah again?

If he dies or is killed, if he is killed, in that battle if he is killed, it addresses the Companions; or if he dies within his appointed time, within his own lifespan, it addresses Islam. It addresses all of Islam. If he dies or is killed. Will you then turn back on your heels, compromise on Islam and return to the old age of ignorance? Whoever turns back on their heels to the age of ignorance, let them know they can never harm Allah.

Whom do they harm? If they cannot harm Allah, whom do they harm? They harm their own self. Because with the verse that says every soul will taste death and your return is to Me, a person will prove in this world what kind of person he is, and on that day of judgement, at that great court, he will give account before Allah Almighty. That is when he will have wronged his own self.

Because Allah, eternally, with His pre-eternal knowledge, decreed that the religion of Islam will live until the Day of Judgement. Why? Until the Day of Judgement. Because there are our souls waiting in the barzakh. They have their covenants. Among them are those who are Muslim. They too will come into the world, hear of Islam and live Islam. According to the verse 'We do not (?) anyone to account whom we have not informed (?)', Allah Almighty says in the verse: 'Do they think they will put out Allah's light by blowing with their mouths? Allah will complete His light until the Day of Judgement,' and by that verse they too will live the religion of Islam. So with His pre-eternal knowledge Allah Almighty has thus decreed that the religion of Islam will live until the Day of Judgement. No power is capable of destroying it.

No one will be able to prevent this. Whoever turns back, attaches himself to the age of ignorance and turns away from Allah has wronged his own self and dragged himself to ruin. As I said, whom does he wrong? He wrongs only himself. Even if mankind and jinn gathered, they could not do Allah any harm. And whoever is grateful, in hardship and in plenty, in every event that occurs accepts what comes from Allah and submits, and is grateful for his state, Allah loves such people. Allah will give them their rewards. Honouring them both in this world and in the hereafter, He will not let them grieve. Yes.

'Just talk, Hodja.' 'Say it and let it pass.' Don't ever say that. Look what the verse says. 'Would We ever diminish the wealth of one who is grateful?' it says. What we are talking about is what the verses mean. Not just talk. Not like what people tell, the superstitions they tell from their own heads, not like what people believe. I always explain the meaning of the verses in everyday language. What are we saying? Allah will give them their rewards. Honouring them both in this world and in the hereafter, He will not let them grieve. When they enter among the (?) righteous servants, He will give them the right of intercession.