Al-Baqarah 94: Tell them; “If you are sincerely believing that; the Paradise is only reserved for you by Allah and that it does not belong to other people, the do desire death!”

Yes. 'O My Messenger, tell them: If Paradise is reserved for you and not for other people, and if in this you are truthful, then wish for death.'

If Paradise is reserved for you, if you are superior to other people, if you are Allah's sons or Allah's intimates, why are you lingering in this world? This place is a dungeon, a dungeon. Truly a dungeon. For whom? A dungeon for the Muslim. Why? Because the high Paradise is the shadow of this place. I mean, this place is the shadow of the high Paradise. This is the shadow. Plus we have human attributes. And we are prone to sin. Right? On the other side, straight to Paradise. Everything you say at your command. Everything at your feet. So why don't you wish for death? Again, Allah Almighty in His verse: 'They wish,' it says, 'that I might have a thousand more years of life and live them too.'

This place is Islam's — the Muslim's — prison. Yes, they say: the Muslim's prison. Because the places He will give the Muslim in the Hereafter, that high Paradise. Our Lord to people Erdal's piece of writing — I like it. 'Very few sit crooked yet speak straight, Hodja,' he says. He's right, he says. Whereas those who sit straight but speak wrongly, because it pleases them, cannot stay here.

Sitting straight, that is, coming out with their crown, their throne, (?) and so on, he says. (?) cannot stay here. True. So even if they had a thousand years of life, they would want to stay in the world. The Jews, by making themselves believe the lie they had invented, claimed that Paradise was reserved for them.

So Allah Almighty, because of these lies they invented, declares to them: if they are truthful in their words, let them wish for death. It is impossible for them to wish for death. Today, if you told these people, 'Allah will give you Paradise; die right now,' believe me, people still would not want death. There must be such faith, such faith that with that faith, 'Yes, if it is my Lord's command, I am ready,' he will say. Mind my words: 'Not at your word,' he says, 'if it is my Lord's command and He will give Paradise too, I am ready,' he says. 'If He will not give Paradise, I am not ready yet; I am afraid.

I will do good deeds and behave in ways pleasing to Him. I will ask for my pardon (?). Then I will want to take refuge in His mercy.'

If I am ready, what will I say? 'Yes, if it is my Lord's command, I am ready for death.' Why? 'They don't want death' — to me, a hadith like this they might quote: 'Do not wish for death.

To stay in the world one moment, one moment, is better than lying underground a thousand years,' it says. Why? If you say 'Allah' once in the world, since with Allah Almighty's purpose in creating you you are in accord, you attain your Lord's mercy.

So in this case a feeling may come to our minds that they too do not want death — a sense may arise. But deeds depend on intention. Their intentions are different. Wasn't Paradise theirs? Weren't they Allah's intimates? Then why are you lingering here? If I knew such a thing, that I am Allah's intimate, right away, off I'd go. 'But Hodja, you just explained it, this way and that.' Well, if I explained it — yes, I know my covenant, but I also know how to observe Allah's command. If a duty has been given — 'No, I won't do the duty'? 'I won't teach this knowledge either'? I'm in no position to say (?).

I'm in no position to go against His command. If He gave me this knowledge, He did not give it for it to stay with me. What did He do? 'You will guide My servants, you will explain,' He says. 'You will explain.' Here are the verses; He shows the realms. 'Here is inspiration,' He says. 'Look, I am behind you.' With what? With inspiration for all the questions asked. Isn't He behind me? He gives. So? Well, I have a duty. If I shirked that duty, (?), what would happen? I would be guilty. Yes. Paradise, which all of us long for, is the summit of life and a place where every wish is fulfilled. The summit of life is Paradise, because you cannot imagine anything higher.

Would a person not want to go to such a place? He'd go with delight. Yes, since Allah Almighty says it, he immediately feels death. Yes. But because of their lies, because of the injustices they themselves committed, they too know: 'We will never enter Paradise.' They know.

Of course. Because they know the truth. But that self-deification in their nafs — isn't it there? So these people have gone off the rails; therefore on every lying word they say, they have built their edifice. They absolutely neither want death nor want to leave the world. Their whole paradise is here. However much poverty they may be in, however much misery they may be in, here, with that hunger, that misery, still no one torments him. He goes on living. But there, there is such torment. It is impossible for them to endure that torment. But they will endure it. (?) for whoever enters there. That is why they do not want to die.

Indeed, they make every effort they can not to die. If they could find a deathless place within this universe Allah created, they would not hesitate to go there.

Therefore Allah Almighty declares in a verse: 'Even if, to escape death, you left the world and went to the remotest corner of the universe, there too We would find you.' If they are truthful in their words, if they speak the truth — Allah Almighty: 'We do not go back on Our promise. If Paradise is theirs, let them come. Let them wish for death, and let us settle accounts in the Hereafter, at the Supreme Court.' How beautifully Allah Almighty puts it. Allah Almighty will settle accounts with people one by one. He will call them to account one by one.

'If they are right in their words, as they claim, We will not refrain from giving them Paradise' — Allah Almighty. 'We created these beings and Paradise for you,' He declares. He created them for people. No, they are liars. All of them liars? They are all liars — those who rebel against Allah, all of them are liars. According to what? According to this verse: 'They betrayed Me too in their time,' He says; 'they are lying disbelievers,' says Allah Almighty; lying disbelievers. On what basis does He say it? At that Elestü bi-Rabbiküm address, although Allah Almighty created them, they did not recognize Allah Almighty as Lord, and for awaiting the Lord of their imagination — and although, with a mind Allah Almighty gave them, they know they were created by a Lord, although they know they were created by a God, since such a God did not appear before them, since a God of their imagination did not appear before them, since they deny the Lord, the Lord who created them, therefore these are lying disbelievers, He says.

No. They are liars. Nor are they true to their word. Because they know that the punishment of what they did with their own hands will not go unpunished. Therefore among people, one more attached to the world and desiring life — you cannot find another such people.

Within this people.