Al-Baqarah 103: If they had believed and if they had protected themselves from evil, the return from Allah would surely have been more beneficial to them. If they shall understand.

Of verse 100, the explanation — I had written here that we would move on to it. But we have passed this. Let's see now, what does verse 103 say? Let's take a look there, at 103 — the verse. We will learn, inshallah. Had they believed and guarded themselves against evil, surely the reward from Allah would have been better. If only they understood this. This is where we stopped, isn't it? Yes. He is right. Our son Haluk is right. Now the Jews, the Jews turned their backs on all the verses of Allah Almighty. And they went even further: they said, we are close to Allah. Even though Allah Almighty showed them so many miracles, though He said of the verses He sent, 'hold fast to what is in your hands', despite that, they changed it.

They changed it, they changed the verses too. For a few pennies, for worldly gain, they changed these too. So Allah Almighty addresses them. Had they believed and guarded themselves against evil, surely the reward from Allah would have been better. If only they understood this.

What is the reward to be given by Allah? Why were the worlds created? For us. For whom was this world created? For whom was the earth created? It was created for us. Is there a verse that it was created for us? Of course there is. I say nothing without a verse. Actually, the verse: We made you vicegerents on earth, it says. What is a vicegerent? One who looks after things in someone's place. So the world is at my command. It was created for me. He has put the world at my command. The world is at my command. At your command. At your command. The world is at people's command. And people are vicegerents. Yes, had they believed and guarded themselves against evil, had they not followed the magic the devils taught and turned to good, it would surely have been better for them. Why would it have been better?

Well, they gained worldly goods, they are making money, after all — look what Allah Almighty decrees in His verse now. Or do you own even an atom of your world? If that were so, nothing of your world would be given. That is, are you capable of creating a single atom in the world? If you were capable of bringing an atom into being from nothing, then your own needs too you would create yourself; I would take what I created from you, He says.

So the heavens and the earth, and what lies between them, have known their Lord's remembrance, according to the verse. The heavens and the earth and what lies between them will remain to Allah as an inheritance; every soul shall taste death; of the heavens and the earth and what lies between them the inheritance will remain with Allah, it says. It will remain with Allah. So the Creator, as the owner of His creations, keeps them under His rule and will use them as He wishes. Or whatever He wills, He will do. He will do that. So these people, by the existence of this fleeting world, this transient world carried away, spurn an eternal, lasting, endless, peaceful life — this will surely, for them, a painful torment bring about. Had they turned to good, they would not, deceived by the torment-bringing events of this world, have turned their backs on Allah.

Yes.

If there is love of disbelief in a person's heart and that person loves disbelief, good deeds become hard for him.

Because they have, once and for all, let love of shirk into their hearts. What is shirk? Loving, other than Allah, Allah's creations more than Allah. And this is shirk. So if a person, what Allah created — carried away by the matter of this fleeting, transient world — loads onto its back, and lets love of it down into his heart and, turns his back on Allah's commands, then of course they have fallen into shirk. This is a love that disbelief gives a person. It is a trait of disbelief, apart from the love of Allah, that it gives a person love of Allah's creations. And this is disbelief. But this love, in the hearts of people who turn their backs on Allah, like a sprout turning green, this world's (?) grows green in their hearts, and they, not to Allah's word but to Allah's creations, incline.

This is for those who embrace disbelief.

Whatever people's character is, they take pleasure in things suited to their character. If I love gambling, if gambling is in my character, you cannot easily take me and put me to work. My mind is on gambling, I go and gamble. If it is in my nature to eat what Allah has forbidden, I drink, (?) I swindle, earning halal is hard for me. I can't go that way. Whatever is in a person's nature, those paths are made easy for him. So that he can show himself in the best way. It brings out their nature.

So if there had been good faith in their nature, they too, enjoying good deeds, as our Lord decrees, 'had they guarded themselves against evil, it would have been better for them' — by this decree they would have attained Allah's mercy. They would have been protected from evil. Now I — well, a person, Allah forbid, not to praise oneself, but if a person tells of his own trait, the other person understands even better. Now, if someone tells me something, that he needs some help, and I cannot help him, my heart aches. Whatever it takes, I'll do it, I'll tell Ahmet, I'll tell Mehmet, (?) if it's within my power I'll do it; if not, if I have no means, I hold back but it doesn't leave my mind.

So what does character turn out to be? Helping good people in some good deed, somewhere, somewhere. If there were in my heart a grudge against people or such hostility, then of the trait that person put before you you would (?). How beautifully characters come to light.

And they say it's a proverb, but our ancestors don't say that. The fallen have no friends, it says. If he's sunk in the mud, push him in further, it says. Allah forbid. Whereas if a person has sunk in the mud, take his hand and lift him. That's what our religion says. If you can hold his hand, hold it and lift him up. Yes. To tear us away from one another, the things the Jews said, the made-up words — that's what these are.

What are we saying here now? They would believe in Allah and what Allah sent, and would keep up worship. Who? If their character were good. Yes. For a person to be able to choose his own good — well, his good — his own good, thinking rationally, on the path his mind shows him he must act. He will think rationally. But Hodja, does every rational thought lead a person to good? There are people who do something thinking it good, and evils come out of it. So how can I just do whatever my mind thinks? That's so. Allah Almighty created the mind as one that knows the good and the right — the mind. So that we would need Allah, He created the mind incomplete.

If, within this incompleteness, you do wrong thinking you are doing right,

if with an incomplete mind you did wrong thinking you were doing right and fell into sin, I still get one reward. Deeds depend on intentions. Allah Almighty saves me. Deeds depend on intentions. Because your mind was incomplete. What was it? I was trying to do right, after all. I got one reward anyway. But if I did it deliberately, I got one-for-one reward. I got sin. I got one-for-one sin. So one must know the verses well. So that we find life in them. Yes. So what are we saying now? For a person to choose his own good, he will first think it through with his mind. Well, he must act on the path his mind shows him.

Because his mind shows him the right; Allah gave such a mind. If the mind had not been one that shows the right, Allah too would be ascribed a defect. So our mind showed the right, but since it was created incomplete, if our intention is good, we got the reward. With an incomplete mind. Yes. if he enjoys good deeds, this person is inclined to good. He acts on the path his nafs makes look pleasant to him. He has no regard for Allah Almighty's commands and prohibitions; he continues on evil, deviant paths. He enjoys them. If he lives bound up with the burden of sin, this is someone far from Allah, inclined to evil — and these are people who turn their backs on Allah.

Allah protect us. How nicely here people's characters, that is, their feelings too, we put into words. A person should measure himself here: of this verse he speaks of, in the commentary on it, which trait do I have? A person will weigh these things.

The mind acts as an arbiter over a person. An arbiter. Because Satan will give you (?). And your nafs will make things look justified to you. Between your faith and the inspiration Allah gives you, the mind as arbiter will decide. The mind will decide. That is the nobility of the mind, that is the beauty of thinking, that is, of saying 'consult one another', a beautiful aspect. Yes, the mind, able to tell good from bad, was created.

There's a text of ours here, let's not read it incompletely.

If the mind had been unable to tell good from bad, we say, yes. If it had been unable to tell good from bad, Allah Almighty, leaving us alone with our will, saying 'I am your Lord, obey Me', would not have left us to ourselves. Why wouldn't He? We don't know good from bad, so how could He leave us?

Is there an example of this in the world too, Hodja? Of course there is. A child who does not know good from bad — can you leave him free to his own will? Three-year-old, four, five, six-year-old children. Can you leave them? Only after coming of age, that is, after that mature mind becomes able to govern itself — since the mind can then govern itself and tell good from bad — Allah Almighty, in our own will, has left us free.

Only this much: since we were created mentally incomplete and cannot know and grasp everything, whether something is good or bad for us we cannot know. Then, if what we do is for Allah's pleasure, and the deeds done have turned to evil — we did the deed for Allah's pleasure and it turned to evil — this time our Lord, since He created our mind incomplete, ties deeds to intention and still gives us a reward. Here we explain that too: if a deed done like this we did (?) and consciously, then for what we did we will have earned sin in return. So Allah Almighty: had they guarded themselves against evil — who?

these people, not only the Jews, people too — the reward to be given by Allah would be better. His saying this: that they, with the rewards they earned, would not be subjected to torment, could not be — this He decrees, it says. What does it say here? His saying this: with the rewards they earned they would not be subjected to torment, yes, He decrees. Had they turned to good, with the rewards they earned they would not have been subjected to torment. So they chose not good but evil. Yes.

So Allah Almighty's saying 'had they guarded themselves against evil, the reward from Allah would have been better' means that with the rewards they earned they would not have been subjected to torment, He decrees. When He says 'if only they understood', when He says 'if only they understood' — people's knowing Allah yet turning their backs on Him, eating and drinking the blessings He gives, thanking Allah, not recognising the commands He sent, His sharia, acting outside His command; although Allah Almighty shows the good, their moving away from good; although, so they would be protected from torment, Allah Almighty tells them to avoid the paths of evil, they instead, as if yearning for the paths of evil, run and commit sins; those who would turn to Allah — those who prevent them from turning to Allah, those who act outside Allah's command — if only they knew the punishment He will give them in His presence, He decrees.

If only they understood this. That is, that punishment. That is, of those who do not listen to (?), in the hereafter the torment they will suffer — if only they knew.

If only they knew, says (?). If only they knew.

That is, to those who don't heed Allah's command — because you did not listen to Allah — Allah Almighty, for His own pleasure, in the realm of creation is not going to torment people. Allah forbid. As 'Eleysallâhu bi-ahkemi'l-hâkimîn', He will deal with people justly. That those who know and those who don't, those who obey and those who don't, are not equal, that Allah's promise is true, that He promised everyone would be given the recompense of what they earned — because of His promise, 'if only you too had obeyed and been among the saved,' is what He says with sorrow. — Allah Almighty, that is. If only they knew.

Yes. Are those who know and those who don't ever equal in Our sight? Since We shall judge with justice among Our creatures, you too — although you knew that the Creator of these worlds is one God — because the desires of the world pleased you and, alongside your nafs, following the trail Satan showed you, taking Satan as your guide, by turning your backs on Allah, if only you had known you would be subjected to this torment, He says with sorrow. Yes.