Yunus 16: Say; “If Allah had desired, I would not have read it to you and Allah would not have informed you about it. Before it (was revealed), I had spent my life among you. Can you not contemplate?”

We can continue our lesson. Surah Yunus, verse 16: Say, had Allah willed, I would not have recited it to you. That is, had Allah Almighty willed, I would not have recited to you the Holy Quran He sent. That is, to the Prophet (peace be upon him): change this Quran. Change it. Bring a book other than the Quran. Then we will believe you. And what does the Messenger of Allah say? Had Allah willed, I would not have recited it. Because I act by Allah's command, I am obliged to recite this to you. Yes. Nor would Allah have made it known to you, it says. That is, He would not have made it known. Because I act by the command of Allah Almighty, if He had not wanted me to recite it, He would not have made it known to you either.

I lived among you a whole lifetime before it. Do you still not understand? he says. So he said: a whole lifetime. Prophethood came to the Messenger of Allah at the age of forty. And since his childhood they had called the Messenger of Allah Muhammad al-Amin. So then, I lived among you until the age of forty. And until now you called me Muhammad al-Amin. You heeded, sir, what I said. Did you see a lack of reason in me? he says. So now, if I tell you the truth, have I become a madman? Something like that. That is, what does he say: do you still not understand? That this is the word of Allah. If this were a human fabrication, there would be many (?) in it, as from a madman.

Yes, had Allah Almighty willed, even if He sent His verses, He would not have had me recite them to you, if He had willed, through me. Surely He would still have sent you a prophet. The reason is that Allah Almighty is free from deficient attributes. Because He will not hold anyone accountable for something He did not make known. In this case, perhaps you are angry with me, and because you are angry with me you do not want this Quran. If I had not been a prophet, He would still have sent you a prophet with this book, Allah Almighty says. A prophet. Because He will not hold anyone accountable for something He did not make known.

In this case, my telling you about the Quran is not out of my hostility toward you, but to protect you, so that you do not suffer a torment; I must recite these verses to you, I am obliged to carry out my Lord's command, he says. Yes, surely a prophet was again sent to you. To make His verses and the existence of His essence known to you, and, after you have heard, to place the responsibility of believing or not believing in Allah and the hereafter on your shoulders, Allah Almighty sends you prophets, he says. So He has left every person free in his own partial will, He leaves every person free in his own partial will.

Within this partial will, people earn reward and sin through the deeds they do. In this case, Allah Almighty created us deficient in reason. Because He created us deficient in reason, we have become people who make mistakes. Because our reason is deficient. There is no person who has not made a mistake. There is no one. The prophets too? Yes, prophets make mistakes too, he says. Well, does the Prophet (peace be upon him), who came as a mercy to the worlds, also make mistakes? He does. Toward whom? Not toward the worlds, toward Allah Almighty. Is there a verse about it? Of course there is. What does it say in the second verse of Surah Al-Fath?

Allah Almighty says: I have forgiven your past and future sins. Future sins toward whom? Not toward the world, toward His essence, because Allah Almighty created no being equal to His essence. That is why people will know their helplessness. Within their helplessness they will turn to Allah in repentance and seek forgiveness. And bowing their heads before Allah Almighty, they will fit the purpose of Allah Almighty's creation. Why had He created man? He created him so that His essence would be known. Right, we've got it. In this case, since people were created deficient, Allah Almighty, when they turn to His essence and ask forgiveness for the mistakes people make, Allah Almighty forgives their sins; it fits the purpose of creation that His servant knows His essence and insists on asking Him for forgiveness, and so He forgives him his sins.

Now, in this case, if, because Allah forgives our sins, you consciously, deliberately, knowingly commit sin outside His command, sir... committing a sin by a slip of the tongue or unknowingly is one thing, and the sin you commit knowingly, pushing on and on, thinking Allah will forgive me anyway, is another. Yes, here, is there no sin we commit knowingly? There is. What is it? You got very angry at someone, and although you know it is a sin, you insult him out of rage, or treat him unjustly, then you regret it, repent and ask forgiveness, go to that person and make amends, make peace with him. That is Islam.

The sins Allah Almighty will forgive are sins like these. Not knowingly: Allah will forgive me anyway, let me deal in usury, Allah will forgive me, let me go commit adultery, Allah will forgive me, let me go gamble and drink alcohol. Well, do you have any proof in your hand that you will have a life in which Allah forgives you? That you will live that long? Yes. This long hope leads to shirk. May Allah protect us. One must avoid such things. So Allah Almighty places partial will on man's shoulders. What? He sends us to a hidden world, and because our reason is deficient, since He holds no one accountable for something He did not make known, He sends us prophets, and after the prophets scholars, He sends books. We do not put on your back a burden you cannot bear, He says. Yes, every soul is free in its will.

Every soul is free in its own will. If something is forced on people, that person's will disappears. The will and power of those facing him rule over that person. Whereas Allah has left every person free in his own will. People are held accountable for their own will and what they do in proportion to their own intentions. In this respect, since Allah is free from deficient attributes, no soul will be able to say to Allah: In the world, a (?) world, You did not introduce and make Your essence known to me. Why? Because in the verse Allah Almighty says: We hold no one accountable for something We did not make known. And He also says: We do not put on your back a burden you cannot bear.

What does this mean? What is the meaning of saying, You will not put on our back what we cannot bear? When Allah Almighty, in that address Elestü bi-Rabbiküm, said: I am your Lord, each of our souls made a covenant there separately. Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. Ve iz ehaze Rabbüke min benî Âdeme min zuhûrihim zürriyyetehüm ve eşhedehüm alâ enfüsihim e lestü bi-Rabbiküm. We made a covenant with those who would emerge from the offspring of the children of Adam, making them witnesses against themselves; we said: We are your Lord, He says. In this case, each person's desire, wish and intention was written for him as destiny.

In proportion to this desire, wish and intention, Allah Almighty does not load on him any burden outside his desire and wish, or hold him responsible for the weight of any burden. The reason: if Allah Almighty loaded on him a burden outside his desire, wish and intention, that person could not bear it and would fall into error. Then Allah would be ascribed a fault. That is why, in proportion to each person's own covenant, his destiny, his strength, this not human strength but the strength of faith, or in proportion to the covenant he gave, He gives him afflictions or mercies. Within these mercies and afflictions, a person proves what kind of person he is through the deeds he does and the free decisions he made.

Doesn't the verse say so? Did you think you would die without proving what kind of person you are? it says. Yes.

In this case, just as Allah Almighty holds no one accountable for something He did not make known, this unseen, what we call the unseen, that is, a world in which Allah Almighty is not seen in this realm, a world in which He is not seen. Here Allah Almighty, through prophets to people, with the books He gave them, and after that, since He will not send another prophet, makes the truth known to people through scholars, and those people, by their own desire and wish, live their lives in proportion to the covenants they gave our Lord. By their own desire and wish, by the deeds they do with their free will, they earn reward and sin.

So this means Allah does not put whomever He wills into paradise and whomever He wills into hell. Man himself wills paradise and hell. Through the deeds he does. From not heeding the command of Allah Almighty.

So to give people life and so that His essence is known by people of their own will, so that they believe in Allah and the hereafter, Allah sends His verses to people for this purpose. So that His essence is known. The Prophet (peace be upon him), addressing people: O people, I lived among you a whole lifetime before it. Do you still not understand? His saying this: prophethood came to the Prophet (peace be upon him) at forty, and until forty he dealt with people only with honesty. In some (?) Abu Talib kept the Prophet (peace be upon him) by his side.

To make decisions. And because his decisions, the decisions of the Prophet (peace be upon him), hit the mark exactly, they called him Muhammad al-Amin. The trustworthy one. In this case, sir, but in no way did he carry on a prophetic mission. That is, until forty, since prophethood had not come to him, I am a prophet... That is, I am a prophet, believe my word: he never said such a thing. So this verse means this: I lived among you a lifetime. Did you ever hear me (?) say to you that I am a prophet? Until now. Did you hear it? We did not. So if I say it now, am I mad? Am I mad? Am I possessed? Am I insane? If I say it now, have I gone mad?

Is there a deficiency in these verses? Is there a deficiency in what I say? The deficiency is in your nafs.

Yes. In your following the feelings of the nafs. You could not break your own desires and wishes before Allah's command and bow to Allah. So the deficiency is in these. In man himself.

Did I invite you to Allah until now? Did I invite you? But now, if a duty has been given to me by Allah and I am asked to express this duty, asked to express it, if Allah who created this universe from nothing is the Owner of us all, is there anything to be amazed at in my making this known to you? he says. How beautifully he says it. Now, is this something to be amazed at? With His verse Allah Almighty tells us the matters in the most beautiful way. I held sway among you for a whole lifetime. I settled your disputes. Although you did not love me, even my enemies called me Muhammad al-Amin. Now, against my calling you to Allah, what leads you to denial?

Why do you want to move away from Allah who created you and from His verses? he addressed them. The Messenger of Allah.