Ash-Shu'ara 159: And verily, your Lord is Azeez (Exalted) and Raheem (the One Who very generously accepts repentance).

We have come to verse 159 of Surah Ash-Shu'ara. "Indeed, your Lord, He is," it says. So here it emphasizes: your Lord, He is. Besides whom there is no god, that is, the Owner of the worlds. He is the absolutely Mighty and the Possessor of vast mercy. "Do not think Me unjust," says Allah Almighty. "As the Owner of the worlds, I take pride in being merciful to the worlds, in giving to people," He says. "But not to the wrongdoers," He says. The wrongdoers. Because the wrongdoer will suffer his punishment. By the ruling of justice it will be set right. If the oppressor sheds the blood of the oppressed, if the oppressor devours the right of the oppressed, if the oppressor rides on the back of the oppressed, when Allah destroys the oppressor, does Allah Almighty become a possessor of wrath?

Its meaning is that He is a possessor of mercy. Because it is the protection, with justice, of the servants He created. And before destroying, He first sends prophets, sends warnings. He shows them the way to come round, He shows miracles. Well, if they still do not listen, this is what will happen anyway.

Indeed, your Lord, He is the absolutely Mighty, the Possessor of vast mercy.

Allah Almighty shows people so much mercy, makes His existence appear to them openly, outwardly, as if visible, and yet if people still go on being unjust toward their own selves, surely Allah is the absolutely Mighty. No created being can do Him any harm. And since Allah is capable of everything, He destroys such peoples and removes them from existence.

Allah, even if it is a single particle He created, a particle, has not created any being outside His rule. Even if it is a particle. How do we understand this?

The heavens and the earth, and what is between these two, have known the remembrance of their Lord.

However many beings there are between the heavens and the earth, however many created things there are, however many particles there are, in the nuclei of all of them, in their atoms, there are neutrons and protons, cores charged with plus and minus electrodes. When these cores spin around their own axes, they both remember Allah and remember an attribute of His essence, and the purpose of their remembrance is that, other than Allah, there is no god, and, by the beings He created being made to remember His essence, it symbolizes that there is no other god besides Him and that Allah Almighty created that being.

Just as a factory produces a product and takes out a patent on it. Yes. In this case, this whole universe, while it spins around its own axis, also gives off a signal. And for that signal, Allah Almighty is the universal receiver. If anywhere in the universe there is a movement, an event, a wish, a desire, what we call "our Lord is present and watching everywhere" comes about. Not only at one point of the universe. Whatever wish and desire there is anywhere in the universe. How do we understand this? According to the deeds people will do according to their destinies, according to their actions, He creates causes for them.

People carry out those causes; through actual deeds, (?) take on sin. So it is not just one place. It is everywhere in the universe. Yes.

Allah Almighty also gives misfortunes to rebellious people and waits for them to turn to the truth. What does He do in a year? He gives two or three misfortunes. Typhoons, hurricanes, fires. "Although We give them this many misfortunes," He says, "with the help they have done for themselves to Us too," He says, "(?)." "So that they might turn back," He says. That is, "so that they might plead with Us," He says. That is, however much misfortune befalls them, they do not want to remember Allah. And they do not want to turn to Allah.

What do we say? Allah gives misfortunes to rebellious people too. He waits for them to turn to the truth. In fact Allah, who knows that these will not turn to the truth, since He is free of any deficient attribute, proves His existence by reminding them of His essence.

Of these, except for a few, most do not believe. For this reason, although people fall into (?) in the face of so many misfortunes, they still do not give up opposing Allah. Such people, in this state, being enemies to their own selves, when they go to the hereafter, are left subject to eternal punishment. Now here I am using a word. It is an important word. What am I saying? "As enemies to their own selves." Here, in these verses, it says Allah is an enemy to man. Allah is no one's enemy. If Allah were an enemy to man, He would take on an attribute.

As if He could not overpower him and so is his enemy. Or as if He would set a trap for him, or play a trick. Allah has no need of this. Man is the enemy of his own self.

Now, I live in a state. Where is this? In the state of the Republic of Turkey. It says: do not print counterfeit money. If you print it, what happens? I am punished, it catches me. It punishes me. So the state punished me. Or did I punish myself? What happened? I went to prison. It says: do not kill. Well, if you kill, I did this myself. If the judge gives me a penalty for my crime, was it the judge who punished me? That is, did the judge act with enmity toward me? He put me in prison. Well, I acted with enmity toward myself. Because they cannot understand the meanings of the verses, they resent Allah for this enmity. Whereas that enmity is man's enmity toward his own self.

There is also a proverb. How beautifully it puts it. "What a person does to himself, the two worlds could not do even if they came together," it says. Yes.

Allah Almighty is the Possessor of vast mercy. Allah Almighty is the One who accepts repentance abundantly. Even if a person has never done any good in his life, even if his life has been full of evil, before the moment of death, that is, before the soul comes up to the throat, before the doors of repentance close, izâ beleğati'l-hulkûm, when the soul reaches the throat, "Come on, turn it back," it says. In this situation Allah Almighty shows him the worlds. What he has lived through.

From his childhood to the moment of death, like cigarette smoke dispersing before his eyes, he sees all of it, he remembers it. How do you know? I lived it, I lived it. I know these things. My Lord gave me many of the verses by letting me live through them. In that moment all events, the capacity of the mind, are before your eyes like this. Then you see your state at that time, you see your shortcoming. Probably, you unbeliever.

"Give me respite, turn me back once more," he says. "Not once," He says, "even if We sent you back several more times, you would do the same thing." Well, I have filled a tape with my life. That tape is still the same. The tape will do the same thing again. It will live through the same feelings again. Because the character is the same. It has no experience. Again the world will close. Again you are in the world. Again, from zero, you will do the same thing. What I am saying now, when you put it all on the internet, hundreds of thousands, millions of times people will listen to it, right? They will always hear the same. If you came into the world again, you would do the same thing again.

In exactly this way.

What does it say? Allah is the Possessor of vast mercy. Allah is the One who accepts repentance abundantly. The Prophet says in one of his hadiths: even if your sins had reached the clouds in the sky, when you repent with a (?) heart, Allah Almighty turns your sins into good deeds as well, he says. Allah is abundantly, vastly merciful, after all. What do you say? "O my great Allah. O my beautiful Allah. I have lived through a time of ignorance. I am very sinful. I do not even have the face to come to Your door. But now I have understood that there is no other door to go to but Yours. My Allah, forgive me. From now on, if I have life left, I will not leave Your path." If he repents with such a (?) heart, this Allah, and Allah does not intend injustice to the servants He created.

Indeed, if you prove yourself to Allah with a beautiful repentance, which Allah knows anyway, then in return for the sins you intended against the other party, Allah Almighty gives those people reward too, and brings them to life. Allah has vast mercy. Yes.

But do not let Satan deceive you. When you say, "Allah is the Possessor of vast mercy, let me keep doing it, and in the end I will regret and repent," here too you fall into shirk. (?) is shirk, it says. Shirk. Yes.

Allah is the One who accepts repentance abundantly. Even if a person has never done any good in his life, even if his life has been full of evil, if before the moment of death, before the doors of repentance close, before the realms of truth are shown to him at the moment of death, he repents, Allah accepts his repentance too. As I explained in an earlier set. I said there are three kinds of wrestlers. One wrestler, while grappling hand-on-neck on his feet, sees that the opponent will beat him. He gives up there. This is the worship of the young.

The second wrestler also grapples hand-on-neck and so on, the other brings one of his knees to the ground. And gains control over him. The person realizes he will be defeated and gives up there. This is middle age. And the third carries on. He has been caught in the künde. Now there is no more escape for him. In the künde. There he gives up. This is the repentance, the worship of the old. Yes.

But people in this state are seldom granted repentance. In which state? In return for the evil they have done in the world. When he says, "let me repent today, let me repent tomorrow, let me repent the day after," if it is in your destiny anyway, if it is in your destiny, you would have repented long ago. Otherwise he becomes Satan's laughingstock. Satan puts his yoke on you and drags you after him.

If a person keeps to obedience and worship, these people, because of this worship and their good deeds, constantly remember Allah, and so such people repent of the sins they have committed and attain Allah's mercy at the moment of death too. That is why we keep on with obedience and worship for people, so that they become servants to Allah and the community of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), so that people find salvation. Yes.