An-Naml 45: And verily, to the nation of Thamud, We have sent their brother Shelah (Salih) (so that he would) say, “Vow to that; Worship Allah”. And verily, they turned into two disputing groups.

Of Surah An-Naml, we have come to verse 45. Indeed, so that he would say "Worship Allah," to the people of Thamud We sent their brother Salih. Salih, the people of Thamud — but they did not listen to Salih. Salih's people asked for a miracle; he showed the miracle. From (?), from the rock he brought out a yellow camel. But they cut the camel's legs. Yes.

Now, if from Allah Almighty a person asks for a miracle, Allah Almighty, when He shows that miracle, destroys the peoples who do not believe in it. This befits Allah's majesty. He destroys those who do not believe.

He showed the miracle, and they said nothing against it: whoever believed believed, whoever did not believe did not. Nothing comes of this. Nothing comes of this.

For example, the Prophet (peace be upon him) too wants the destructions lifted, and the calamities lifted as well. "We will continue the calamities," Allah Almighty says, "but We will lift the destructions for your sake." Destruction. The mercy to the worlds has come, after all; in mercy there is no destruction. Some peoples asked Allah Almighty for punishment. And Allah Almighty mostly did not carry out their punishments. The reason: so as not to destroy those peoples. But when they asked through the prophets, as with Salih (peace be upon him), having the camel brought out of the rock and acting as if they believed, then cutting the camel's legs and killing it, for these punishment became due. After that they were destroyed.

Allah Almighty destroyed them.

When Allah Almighty destroys a people, for the believers among them He creates a cause and brings them out of there.

He destroys those who do not believe. He did the same with Salih; He brought him out of his people. He also brought Lot (peace be upon him) out of his people. That is, Allah's prophets and those who believe in Allah He brings out of their people. For example, in Surah Ya-Sin too, those prophets, the envoys sent by Allah — we cannot call them prophets; it says "men." When they told the people of Allah's oneness, from the other side of the city a man comes running and says: those who ask no wage of you and call you to the truth — believe them, he says. When they say, "Are you one of them too?", they stone him.

When he is stoned and dies, before he even hits the ground, "You have won," it says. What did he win? He sees Paradise; he wins entry into Paradise. Yes. So our Lord's destructions are beyond counting. What does it say? Indeed, so that he would say "Worship Allah," to the people of Thamud We sent their brother Salih. At once they became two factions quarrelling with each other. Why? They became two factions. Salih (peace be upon him) was, it is said, a very gentle-natured person. His people used to love Salih (peace be upon him). When the time set by Allah Almighty came and He gave him prophethood and made the revelation known to him, and he invited people to the truth, this time they said, "We," "knew you as a gentle person," they say.

"But you," they say, "have now gone astray." That is, to one single god. "We will not listen to you," they say. That is, they fall into quarrelling. Allah Almighty, swearing by His own Self, informs us of the state of the people of Thamud. That when Salih, the prophet He had sent to the people of Thamud from among themselves, merely said "Worship Allah alone," these people split in two — the people siding with Salih, through their faith in Allah, and, against Salih (peace be upon him), those who took a stand, as enemies of Allah, the group of those who deny Allah — that they split into two in this way is an astonishing situation, we say.

Yes.

Although Allah Almighty created the universe and, within this universe, people, and gives and provides them every kind of sustenance, and in return asks only that they know Allah's Self, that people split into those on Allah's side and those hostile to Allah, harbor enmity toward each other and come to the point of killing each other is astonishing. Why astonishing? We said it before too. A person has to use his reason. Allah Almighty indeed says in His verse, "Do you not use your reason at all?", "Do you never reflect?" Why? Every mind knows that a god, a Lord, created it. How does it know? From a sudden coming into being.

In the address "Elestü bi Rabbiküm," when He said "I am your Lord," they had a sudden coming into being. One looks and sees: yes, I was created, but who created me? So if a person uses his reason, he finds his Creator. Who are these, those who use their reason? When He says "I am your Lord" — yes, I was created; besides You, no one comes forward saying "I created you." Nor (?) as Lord. So You are my Lord. He uses his reason there. The other, out of the pride of his nafs and his fame, his arrogance, does not believe in Allah Almighty, whom he sees as like himself. He waits for the Lord of his imagination.

So they split into two. Two factions. So if a person were to use his reason — his reason — this universe, created in such an order, created with knowledge, where everything is endowed with knowledge — never mind going far to reflect on it, if he turned to himself, if he knew how he was created and knew what has been given to him for his needs, and knew that this was created by a Lord — which he does know; he says someone created the worlds, but he gets stuck on idols he made with his own hands. So if he had used his reason a little, the one who worships those idols would also know his Creator and submit to Allah.

But because in that arrogance and pride he denied Allah (?), in his destiny he is written as a denier; it is no longer possible for him to turn back. Yes.

Allah Almighty wants from us, from us, that His Self be known. What is so hard about that? You really were created, after all. You were created. Other than Allah — since our father Adam, the simplest, I mean, the simplest thought: since our father Adam, Allah Almighty, a single god, says "I created you." Just one. Who sent the Torah, who sent the Psalms, who, let me say, sent the Gospel, and the Quran too, among them, that is, the Torah, Psalms and Gospel, in the Quran gathering them and making it known — a single god. Well, no one else comes forward like a rooster, does he? There is none. So what are you still waiting for?

The only thing he waits for is to exalt his nafs's desires, his glory and fame, his arrogance. And so not to bow to his Lord who created him. If you ask him, he is very clever. The One who feeds you and gives you drink, who grants you a life, who created you as the noblest of creatures and gave you a part of His spirit — if you do not obey Him, if you are ungrateful, how are you a person of reason? If you wrong your own self, if you say the world is a life and after it there is no life, if you say, "In the hereafter I have my child, my wealth, my property; Paradise is mine," if you boast of your children and your goodness, if you deny your Lord's many blessings to you and, with the pleasures of the world, in their worst form, with (?), you follow Satan, with what reason will you, in the realm of the hereafter, come before your Lord and say, "Paradise is my right"?

And in this world you will eat and drink what Allah has given. You will turn your back on Allah and engage in denial. And then you will say, "Paradise is my right." Yes. Allah has not asked any fee for these. Allah has not placed a burden on people either. Nor has Allah asked people to work for Him. He only asks that, in thanks for the blessings He has given, they know Allah as one and worship Him. If a person receives a kindness from another person, he thanks him. This thanks is a human duty upon the one who receives the kindness. So, Allah offers people so many blessings, and with what reason and logic does a person, describing himself as enlightened and learned, being ungrateful toward Allah's blessings, turn his back and walk away?

Does this befit people who describe themselves as modern? So it says. These are modern people. Enlightened people. What enlightened ones? Those who betray their homeland. Their homeland, their ancestors' blood — to the enemies of Islam and to those who covet this homeland, to their treacherous, sly ambushes people who say yes and serve them, act as their lackeys. Yes.

So, Allah offers people so many blessings, and with what reason and logic does a person, describing himself as enlightened and learned, being ungrateful toward Allah's blessings, turn his back and walk away? Does this befit people who describe themselves as modern? In every age, among their own peoples, people who see themselves as progressive and enlightened form a group. These people — all who say "Allah," their own nation or those on their side — exclude and look down on. They think themselves clever and far-sighted. Yet they wander restlessly along dark, swampy dead ends. If these people who think themselves clever were truly clever and far-sighted, first of all, to Allah, who offers them so many blessings and gives them a beautiful life, they would pay their debt of gratitude, and alongside it embrace the people who say "Allah" and like brothers they would live.

Beyond this, they would build up the hereafter and attain Allah's mercy. Yet, quite the opposite, some enlightened and progressive individuals, with their enmity toward Allah and their denial, distancing themselves from Allah's mercy and exchanging this transient worldly life for the hereafter — this shows how clever and progressive they are, it says.

I write these things living their feelings. I live those feelings. Yes. Allah Almighty does not say: do not work for your world. On the contrary, He commands: build up your world. Again, Allah Almighty does not say: do not read. On the contrary, with the verse "Iqra" He commands: read. So, wanting to carry Islam to the most advanced stage through work and reading, those who are hostile to Allah, who call those who say "Allah" backward and reactionary, who, (?) those who will acquire knowledge, block their way and serve ideologies other than Islam — how enlightened they are, they can, by reading the verses of Allah Almighty, understand.

People on earth, by reading novels and stories, build fantasy worlds and chase after nonsense that does not exist. They follow these novels and stories with excitement. Toward Allah, who brought them into being from nothing, they do not take Allah's book in hand and say, "I wonder what Allah Almighty commands us in His verses." The novels and stories they read are fantasy worlds. Just as they waste people's time, the elements that hold people back are also these. So if we think of our tomorrow, we will both, as a nation, join hand in hand and strive for development, and also, among ourselves, remove hostility and hold fast to Allah's book. Only then will we progress and be able to attain both worldly and otherworldly life. Otherwise, for one side to believe, and, abandoning the true and eternal home of bliss for transient worldly benefits, in the realm of the hereafter to buy eternal punishment is not the work of intelligent people.