Ali 'Imran 117: Their spendings in this worldly life resembles a freezing wind that destroys the crops of people who were committing oppression against themselves. Allah did not oppress them, they were committing oppression against themselves.

Surah Imran, verse 117. The case of the spending they make in this worldly life: of a people who have wronged themselves, a scorching wind that strikes and destroys their crops; it is like that. As we said a moment ago, how beautifully the verses (?) one another, it says.

But they wrong themselves, it says, they wrong. What does it say now? Of the spending they make in this world, in this worldly life, their spending, the case of their spending is like that of a scorching wind that strikes the crops of a people who have wronged themselves and destroys them. What is the reason? The reason: since they do all their good deeds and spending by deifying their own selves, out of their pride and arrogance, in every deed they do, deifying their selves against their own selves, in this case the spending they have made, Allah Almighty likens it exactly to a people who make their own vineyard, their own crop, and then burn and destroy it again.

Yes. Many meanings come out here. That good deeds done in this way are not accepted, that of the spending outside the religion of Islam, the good deeds done, all the fine deeds they did have gone to waste, that spending done in enmity to Islam wrongs the human self, but that they are not aware of this, it makes known to us. They wrong their own selves, it says.

Those who turn away from Allah Almighty and rebel against Allah, who do not heed His commands and prohibitions, who are hostile to the religion of Islam: their spending has no value in Allah's sight, and Allah Almighty, for them, a fine example gives. Those who wrong their own selves, who do not recognise Allah as the Creator, or recognise Him yet out of their own pride and arrogance, their haughtiness, turn away from Allah, these are such people. Plowing and sowing the field, growing the crops with toil, before harvest time comes, all the crops wither and are damaged by a scorching heat, or (?) hail falls and smashes the crops; like this, that the spending they made in the world will be of no use at all, He thus tells these people with this example.

This is a blow Allah Almighty deals them. In the real sense, because they are sleepwalkers, it is them destroying their own crops themselves, ruining their own vineyards with their own hands. Yes, O you who have reason, you people who have reason, if with these examples given, still you do not use your reason, are not aware of Allah Almighty's existence, and though you know Allah do not keep His commands and prohibitions, and out of your stubbornness rebel against Allah, then know that Allah does not wrong people; every soul wrongs itself. What does Allah Almighty say? What you have earned is your own due.

We never wrong any soul, He says. No soul. Allah does not intend injustice to the worlds. There is a verse. So man wrongs his own self. Yes.

All people are born free. Free. All people within their will. Their freedom is freedom within their own will. Their own will. That is, their characters. Their securing their life according to those characters. According to the covenant he gave to Allah Almighty, with no pressure or coercion on any soul, it is his recognising Allah or rebelling against Him out of stubbornness and pride. When man comes to this world of possession for the test, he is again free within his will. In fact, according to the covenant he gave, toward the duty of creation set by the Creator, he is responsible. Every soul is responsible to Allah Almighty.

According to the verse "Do you not use your reason at all?"

Nothing was created in vain.

17,000 worlds in perpetual cycle, like the wheel of a clock. If one of these created worlds is missing, the balance breaks. So let man turn to himself: O man, your whole being is equipped with knowledge. And unable to grasp the secret of this knowledge in you, these people's technology has not been able to comprehend the secret of your creation. So did the One who created you, who brought you to this world and left you, bring you here in vain? Did He bring you here and leave you to eat, drink, mate like animals and reproduce? Who are you? Who am I? Where did I come from? If you do not ask yourself where you will go, you harm yourself.

Yes.

All people, being free, their freedom is, within their own will, a freedom. According to the covenant he gave to Allah Almighty, with no pressure or coercion on any soul, it is his recognising Allah or rebelling against Him out of stubbornness and pride. When man comes to this world of possession for the test, he is again free within his will. In fact, according to the covenant he gave, toward the duty of creation set by his Creator, he is responsible. The Creator, as the artist of the covenant His creatures gave, their scenario to complete, sent them to the world of possession. In this case, if people forget their responsibility toward Allah who created them and do not recognise Allah Almighty, Allah has not wronged these people, and they will have wronged their own selves. Yes, so Allah Almighty made man an addressee of His essence and said: I will create a being that will know Me through its own being; and in this way, by giving it a part of His spirit, with the glory, fame, pride, arrogance in that spirit, egoism, grandeur, selfhood and love of the world, it was equipped.

So man knows that he is a creature. That is, creature means created. Allah is the Creator; knowing that he is created, because of the great sublimity his Lord gave him, because of the value, because of it, in this world, within man's own freedom, if he cannot grasp that he is responsible to his Lord, this man, within this sublimity, within this greatness, that man harms himself. He harms his own self. And if, without using that reason, he departs this realm, he becomes quite a person of hell. Later on, it says, above all the last breath, it says. Yes, above all the last breath. May Allah be pleased, it says.

What does Allah Almighty say now in verse 117? The case of the spending they make in this worldly life is like that of a scorching wind that strikes and destroys the crops of a people who have wronged themselves; it is like that. They, Allah, Allah did not wrong them. But they wrong themselves, it says.

What fine examples Allah Almighty gives. What fine examples He gives to people. Allah Almighty wrongs no one. But in the verses they have (?). Allah wronged them. Allah took away their light. Allah will put them in hell. Allah created them for hell. (?) Allah forbid. Our Lord. Our Lord, the Possessor of mercy. He will give everyone what they earned, as the return of their own two hands. Here too He gives such a fine example. Those people, those who show enmity to Allah, who work to abolish the religion of Islam, who, with their selfish feelings, sir, in the world, in pleasure and enjoyment live, who deify their own ideologies and worship their selves; have you not seen, according to the verse about the one who deifies his nafs?

Sir, what does He say about these? A people sowing the field and reaching a fine harvest time, growing it beautifully, putting so much effort into it, in the end, just as a flood comes, or a burning heat, a wind, a lightning bolt, and ravages that field, or just as with his own hand onto that field he pours fire, his petrol, and sets it alight, in the end all the efforts he made turn to rubbish, are scorched, and gone. What did he gain? Loss. What loss? The loss in return for his labour. Having spent, sir, getting nothing in hand in return for the money. (?) merchants who have made a loss. Each person will suffer the punishment for what his own two hands earned.

Allah did not wrong them, it says. They wronged their own selves. Why? Because Allah Almighty made His laws known. What did He say? O man! I will create a being. I will hold it as addressee of My essence. And I will leave it free in its own will. I will speak with it. I will speak with it. I will take it as My addressee. There is no being in the universe like this. Why does He take it as addressee? Why? Because He gives it a spirit from His spirit, from His own part. Let us broaden this like this. People, people always (?). People address one another. People, though. There are those who address animals too, but we no longer take them into account.

Why? Because Allah Almighty says they are like four-legged beasts walking on the earth. That is why we do not take them as addressees. So Allah Almighty too would create a being like His essence and hold it as addressee of His essence. So, after the light of the Prophet (peace be upon him), by giving him from His spirit, he was (?) to His essence. That is, He created a being like His essence. Since from his spirit He created, indirectly, all people too, Allah Almighty gave mankind great value and made known that people will be called to account by what they earned. By what they themselves earned.

So the case of the spending they make in this worldly life: of a people who have wronged themselves, it is like that of a scorching wind that strikes and destroys their crops. Allah did not wrong them. But they were wronging themselves, it says. Why? Because they deified their own selves. They turned their backs on Allah who created them. And within their own ideologies they awaited a Lord. And they tried to take refuge in that Lord they awaited. They denied Allah who created the worlds. So, according to the verse, they will not be able to see their Lord. Yes, because there is no god but Allah, that they could see the Lord of their imagination.