An-Naml 62: (Are they better) or the One Who;; answers the prayers of those in stress and in need and repels their burden, and who has made you rulers of the earth? Is there a deity other than Allah? How little you contemplate!

We have come to Surah An-Naml, verse 62. Are they better — that is, again, those who Allah Almighty's creations, which He brought into being from nothing — those superstitious ones, those senseless ones, who (?) them with their hands and worship them as gods — are they better, or He who, to the one in distress, answers when he implores Him, and removes the hardship upon him, and makes you rulers of the earth? Is there a god besides Allah? How little you reflect, He says.

If one says "Allah" and from Allah asks, Allah Almighty will not let that person be wronged. And one of mine says this:

I have never been wretched in my life.

Believe me, I too have never been wretched in my life. Now, don't understand it like this:

Did you always live on a bed of roses? No. There came times, times came — how does one even laugh? "How are these people laughing?" — that much did my Lord press me. Yes. In this situation, without ever compromising on my Lord, I always took refuge in Him. And I always asked of Him. I gave my heart to no one else. Look how beautifully it says it anyway. "Or He who answers the one in distress when he implores Him, and removes the hardship upon him, and makes you rulers of the earth?" it says.

Well then, in this situation, when you suffered so much hardship, how were you not wretched? He gave whatever you desired — is that the meaning of wretched? He gives whatever you desire. That, anyway, is within your characters, your destiny — your desires. Whatever I desired, He gave. O my Lord, the non-Muslims have a world of places. We have no place at all. Even a place as small as a kitchen, to remember You, to worship You — we would be content, we said. Allah gave buildings. Look, just ask, give your heart to Allah. Yes.

Allah will never leave you stranded. He is not like a human. That is the meaning of wretched. That is, whatever you desire, Allah gives it to you.

Then in that case, Hodja, just desire everything. No, it's not like that. Now I will prove to you with something that it's not like that. One day my Lord told me: when you are in a tight spot, say this.

And I told it to two of our children, our students.

That night in my dream — surely none other than the Prophet — someone came. He said: what have you done? What did I do, I said. You told what was told to you, he said. Come, he said, let me ask Allah Almighty for pardon and forgiveness; you say amen, he said. Let me ask pardon for you, he said. We went to a place like this. All around it was transparent glass. I can't hear what they are saying inside. From outside, I say amen. Morning came. To those I had told it, I said: I told you something yesterday, do you know it? No, what did you say? They had no idea; Allah Almighty made them forget. And one day: O my Lord, what if I use this for myself, I said. He told me exactly this: Do We not know that you will not use it for yourself? He said. That is the meaning of wretched.

A person does not ask for himself. If a person says today, set up a ladder to the moon, Allah sets it up, but that person does not ask for it, because asking of Allah Almighty something He would want to give a person, but which is not to be in this world, brings harm to that person. Therefore there is nothing Allah would not do. But that person never asks for something that is not to be for him. Even when in great distress, he acts just like Job in his situation. O my Lord, You know my state. What should I ask of You? Because He knows everything. He also knows what will be in your destiny. What a beautiful prayer.

O my Lord, You know everything. Everything is known to You. That's all. You have already surrendered. Yes. Look, what a beautiful verse. We are explaining the verse to you by living it. Are they better? Or He who answers the one in distress when he implores Him and removes the hardship upon him, and makes you rulers of the earth? Is there a god besides Allah? How little you reflect, He says. Allah Almighty continues to prove that He is Allah and that there is no other god besides Him. When He says "are they better", meaning the idols and those unaware of themselves who, in (?), associate partners with Allah and declare themselves gods — are they better, or Allah?

When you fall into distress, can they hear you or solve your difficulties? Of course not. Even though people deny Allah, they also know well that Allah surely exists. So when people fall into distress, they open their hands and implore Allah. But when Allah meets their needs and drives away their hardship, they act as if they themselves deserved this comfort and drift away from Allah. Indeed, man is very ungrateful to his Lord. Allah Almighty has made people the vicegerents of the earth. What force and power other than Allah creates man and makes him the most excellent of all His creatures? Makes him vicegerent of the earth?

Or did man, unaware of himself, program himself to be the most excellent of these created beings? Was being vicegerent of the earth in man's own hands? If it had been so, if man had programmed himself, what gains, what blessings, what palaces, what lives — Allah, everything would have been thrown into chaos. So is there a god besides Allah then? Many people abandon Allah. Yes. Many of the people abandon Allah. In the face of so many miracles, without using their reason, they drift away from Allah. How narrow a way of thinking this is. People look through the eye of a needle and see a world. Because they cannot part from the world they see and fall under its spell, they are deprived of beholding their surroundings and drift away from Allah. They insist, looking through the eye of the needle, on mingling with what they see.

Yet when a person withdraws his gaze from the eye of the needle, he is freed from a narrow view and finds the chance to behold his surroundings and use his reason. Allah Almighty says in His verse: before your eyes, every day thousands of miracles appear, and you do not see, you are blind. Here the eye of the needle means his nafs. His nafs always desires one thing, always desires one particular direction. That is why such a person recognizes neither right, nor law, nor human rights. His whole desire and wish is to get what he has set his mind on. Yet if he could reform his nafs, if he could be a servant to Allah and of the community of His Beloved, then he will behold his surroundings, he will be governed by the verses, and by reforming his nafs he will become a (?) beautiful servant.

He will build up both his world and his hereafter. But where is a person who lives with such thinking? Where will you find this person? You will find this person among those governed by the verses. Yes.

People look through the eye of a needle and see a world. Since they cannot part from the world they see, when they fall under its spell they are deprived of beholding their surroundings and drift away from Allah. They insist on looking through the eye of the needle and mingling with what they see. That nafs, you see — the world, the nafs and Satan work together, you see — to you they make everything look very beautiful; all the rest, as it is — right, justice, humanity — they have a curtain drawn over the eyes of all of it. They make you look through that eye of the needle. Yet when a person withdraws his gaze from the eye of the needle, he is freed from a deliberate — "restricted", it says — view. He finds the chance to behold his surroundings and use his reason.

Allah Almighty says in His verse: before your eyes, every day thousands of miracles appear. You do not see, you are blind. So if we follow our nafs and turn our gaze elsewhere, we tag along after the nafs and Satan; since the world looks attractive to man, we cannot part from the world and will have turned our faces away from Allah. In this case, not using our reason, we come to have a narrow view and narrow thinking. And this means our ruin in Allah's sight. May Allah protect us from such a point of view, from such narrow thinking. Amen.