Al-Anbya 44: Yes, We sustained them and their ancestors. Then, worldy life appeared very long to them. But do they not see that We will come (and that We are victorious) and shorten the belongings (of infidels) from its surroundings? (In this case) are they really the victorious ones?

We have come to Surah Al-Anbiya, verse 44.

Yes, We sheltered them and their forefathers too. Where? In this world. In this world. We sheltered them in this world.

At last, life seemed to them as if it would never end, so long it seemed. But do they not see that We prevail and reduce the land belonging to the disbelievers from its edges? Are they then the ones who prevail? Now here, I don't know whether anyone in the world has explained this verse or not. I would say no one in the world has explained this verse, but against Allah Almighty's verse I don't say it. What do I say? When Allah raises a scholar, He raises another scholar above him, and above him yet another scholar. Now, what does it say?

Do they not see that the land of the disbelievers We will reduce from its edges?

Are they then the ones who prevail?

They explain this verse like this: Towns will be taken from the hands of the disbelievers, and the Muslims will take possession of those towns.

That is a very wrong statement.

Today the Muslims too are losing their homes and lands. The disbelievers are (?) expanding.

The meaning of this verse, this noble verse, is this:

That We reduce their lands, the land, from its edges, do they not see? Those who buy Paradise with their wealth and their lives: this is the counterpart of that verse. Since they did not send any provision to the Hereafter, since they went denying Allah, their wealth, their children, their lands were worth nothing. What happened? It all went. So when the disbelievers passed on to the Hereafter, their wealth was of no use. Their lands were of no use either. It diminished, it was gone. It does not say it vanished. Look, if it had said it vanished, then with his death that town would have had to disappear.

What happens? It diminished. For whom? It diminished for him, for that person. The world stayed in place, left to those after him. (?) if he does not send his wealth to the Hereafter; those who buy the Hereafter with their wealth and their lives. So through the charity they give, the help they give, the alms they give, Muslims transfer their wealth to the Hereafter. Oh! How beautiful the verses are. So what shall I do with this wealth here? Yes, it will protect me.

I will not need anyone. If I feel I need it, if I give nothing to anyone, then when I pass on to the Hereafter, it is taken from my hands. Since I did no good deed with this wealth of mine, it is wiped from me, it diminishes. It is left to the one after. To the one after, and the one after; finally the world breaks apart, the Last Day comes, and "all the fine deeds they did in the world have come to nothing": of that verse it is the counterpart too. Yes. How beautifully Allah Almighty puts it.

Ah, if only man would think, reflect a little. Here we have probably written it so people will understand; let's see what we wrote. Allah Almighty gives people another comparison. We sheltered you too, with your forefathers, on the earth. Within a lifetime given to you, We made the world a (?) for you. There We provided for you. Eventually you were deceived by the world. Believing your life would be very long, you plunged into pleasure and amusement. Yet that one day death will come and take the land in their hands, that is, their wealth, do they not see? Parting from the wealth they love so much; that, in return for the rebellion and shirk they committed in the world, what they earned by living in it is scattered away like a crop blown across the ground, and that they cannot stand against Allah, and what is in their hands is taken with death: do they not see this?

We have explained it more or less. Yes, so who prevails: Allah, or the denying disbelievers and polytheists? Seeing this, do they still not come to their senses? There are very great meanings here; some of those meanings we have explained. To summarize briefly: every person does good deeds in the world. Whether the person is a non-Muslim or one of those who associate partners with Allah, these people, for the good and evil they did, for their sins in the darkness of shirk, when they are called to account, when with some rewards earned in the world they pass on to the Hereafter, their earnings are likened to lands, as a simile.

All the fine deeds they did have come to nothing. According to the verse, they have no rewards left. And when the sins they committed confront them, they have neither land nor earnings left in their hands. So the lands have diminished, and they are left standing with the burden of sin. In this state, deprived of Allah's mercy, they have become eternally people of Hell.