Al-Baqarah 143: As such, We made you a distinguished and honorable community so that you may become truthful witnesses over all people and so that the Prophet may become a witness over you. We have made Kaaba - which you were facing - the qiblah so that there is a separation between those who follow the Prophet and those who do not. Although this change of the qiblah is a great and severe matter, only for those who possess Allah’s guidance, it is not a heavy burden and Allah does not neglect your belief. Verily, Allah is Raouf (Gracious) and Raheem (the One who very generously accepts repentance) towards people.

Surah Al-Baqarah, verse 143, we have come to it, we have come. This verse — before explaining it, what is Beor doing? Is Beor listening to me? Write, Beor. If you are listening to me, Beor, (?).

And so We made you a distinguished and honorable community, (?), honorable; We made you a distinguished and honorable community — whom? People honored with the religion of Islam, truly distinguished and honorable people, honorable beings.

In these words Allah Almighty actually exalts His own being too. Because He gave man of His spirit; those who obey His command, from Allah Almighty's glory and renown, from His sublimity and greatness — those who follow Him also become sublime, distinguished and honorable like this. Those who follow Him. And those who do not, with their small minds, fall to the state of the four-legged creatures roaming the earth. Yes.

That you may be true witnesses over all mankind, it says. Look how nicely we have put it now. What does it say? And so We made you a distinguished and honorable community, that you may be true witnesses over all mankind. Here is a verse for you. To the Prophet (peace be upon him): I have made you a witness over the prophets, and your community a witness over the other communities, He says. I made you a witness. How beautiful. These are the verses. What does it say? That you may be true witnesses over all mankind. For us to be true witnesses, we must abide by the commands of the Truth, that is, of Allah, which our Lord has made known to us, so that we can be true witnesses.

Otherwise, today, people who envy the life of non-Muslims, who are like the people of the Antichrist who strip people stark naked and, on television, wiping out the notion of morality, down to the very children, corrupt their morals — such people, I mean, how they can be Allah's true witnesses, I do not know.

How those who say 'I am a Muslim' yet fall into this state can be true witnesses for Allah, that I do not know. If these, gentlemen — pay attention, you can draw all kinds of things out of this. Had they been true witnesses... Allah Almighty does not accept their zakat either. A person whose zakat is not accepted — within the sharia of the religion of Islam, its rule, within the pillars of Islam, if his zakat is not accepted, look, consider this person yourself. Pull it wherever you like.

The tongue cannot bring itself

to say kafir. My hand cannot bring itself to it. But they are heading toward that state. They are heading toward that state. Judgment belongs to Allah alone. What does Allah Almighty say in His verse? Whoever envies them is like them. According to this verse too, I say they are heading that way, heading. Where? To wronging themselves. Where are they heading? Toward the place whose return is so evil, an evil resting place.

Yes.

These — Allah protect us. So for us to be true witnesses, we must first live the religion of Islam ourselves. Tomorrow those polytheists, those non-Muslims, [will say:] the person you call a Muslim behaved in a way that outdid even me. You protect him, and me — though I did wrong toward You in some things — me You condemn to eternal Hell. If he says this to Allah, what will you answer? What answer will Allah give? Allah is the Lord of justice. He is the Judge of judges. Pay close attention. Do not sell this world for a few pennies of gain.

Shame on those parents who, when they see their daughter on television, are proud. My daughter was on television, they say.

Yes. Shame on those people.

And again, shame on the one who, in this fleeting world his eyes see, carried away by its pleasures, carried away by an ego of fame and glory, turns the eternal home of bliss into loss — on that person. Shame.

These are truly the fools of the earth. Fools, however clever they may be. A person's intelligence is the intelligence of a person who prepares for his future. I was young, I worked hard; when I grow old, I said, let me have a roof over my head. I always thought of my old age, my time of old age. If something happens somewhere tomorrow, let me build a place to take refuge on the other side, I said. Let me not bow to anyone, I said. Let me not be in need of anyone, I said. What did I think of? The end of my life. Well, I thought of this in the world — and the hereafter? That is my real home. I carried that along neck and neck too.

Both this and that. Both sides. You cannot leave one side and ruin the other. You will pursue both sides. You will build up both your hereafter and your world.

Yes, only if we do this will we have fulfilled Allah's command, and we will be true witnesses over the other communities. What will we say? What will Allah Almighty say to them? Come here, come, come. He will show us exactly — there is video recording, isn't there; we see it, we broadcast it on television — what we did on video, at weddings, circumcisions, (?), this and that, what we filmed — Allah Almighty will show them, come. While you were indulging in pleasure, while you ran after drink, gambling, every kind of vice, this one knew his Lord. He performed his five daily prayers. This one heeded the lawful and the forbidden.

This one paid his zakat. This one protected his Muslim brothers. This one, with his compassion, helped people as much as he could. And this one gave up his night's sleep, rose to pray to Me, prayed, worshipped Me though he was not obliged to. How can you compare him to yourself? I am your Owner, and his Owner too. Now, those who know and those who do not — (?)? You deny Me, he knows Me, and you hold him up to Me as an example. Go on, He says, today this place is yours. Well, those poor people who say 'I am a Muslim' yet live like him and even outdo him — those poor people who say 'I am a Muslim', what will they say?

What will they say? How will they answer? And as for where they are going, Allah knows best. Where they are going. Yes.

If you ask them, they say we do good, they say we give money, or we help, they say. Today among non-Muslims there are those who do such good, give such money, help so much, indeed.

Whatever you do, even if you do good as big as this world, even if you do good enough to fold this world over, if you have (?) Allah's command and are done for, it is all wasted. Because Allah created us so that He would be known. And He put these creations of His at our service. You obey what was put at our service, and do not obey the One who created you — then all the good you have done in the end turns into loss. We continue. We have already explained the verse up to here; we will read it anyway. Let us see what we wrote here. And so We made you a distinguished and honorable community, that you may be true witnesses over all mankind.

And that the Prophet may be a witness over you. The Kaaba you were facing — only to distinguish between those who follow the Messenger and those who turn back did We make it the qibla. What did we say? Let those who know and those who do not be one. That is, here too, those who obey Allah and those who do not. There, the verse came. Yes. Here too they were separated. As they were separated there, they were separated here too. To distinguish those who turn back, We made it the qibla. And though this turning of the qibla was great and heavy, it is not heavy only for those who attained Allah's guidance.

That is, when a person is used to something, say I — Allah protect us — was a Jew, I turned to, um, I face Jerusalem, I became a Muslim, praise be to Allah; for me turning to the qibla would truly be heavy, because I am used to there, you see; again, turning away from where one is used to is heavy for a person. But if you (?) your Lord, the peace He has given you, that guidance, that light within you — within you, this universe it encompasses. It encompasses the universe (?), and you find peace. For him it is not heavy.

Allah will not let your faith go to waste. Impossible. Would Allah let our faith go to waste? Accordingly, what does He say? Fe men ya'mel miskâle zerretin hayran yerah — an atom's weight of good, I record it. Ve men ya'mel miskâle zerretin şerran yerah — an atom's weight of evil I record too, He says. So He will never let my faith go to waste. Surely Allah Almighty is very merciful to people, forgiving their sins. We had already explained these points in the previous verse. Now let us see what we said here, yes,

here. Beor is there, Beor, is Beor listening to me? Let Beor write again. Maybe there is a problem with his internet; Mustafa Hodja is with him too; is Mustafa Hodja listening too? Let him tell me.

Yes, Allah Almighty, by gathering the books He sent down before in the Quran, has bound all religions to the religion of Islam. Whoever believes in the Holy Quran Allah sent, in the prophet of the end times, the Seal of the Prophets, Muhammad (peace be upon him), and in Allah — they are a distinguished and honorable community over people. Such people are a distinguished and honorable community over people. Their distinction and honor lies in this: that people, whom Allah Almighty created as the noblest of creatures above the worlds, by their own partial free will recognize their Creator as Lord, do not turn their faces to any other, and, in a way that befits human dignity and honor, guard their dignity on the path Allah Almighty showed, and judge with justice among people.

Yes. Their avoiding Allah's prohibitions and carrying out His commands has made these people a distinguished community. Such people are compassionate, just, they listen to advice, and respect people's rights and entitlements.

According to a report, they say that on the Day of Judgment the communities deny the prophets' conveying of the message. A report, of course. There is a word missing. But if the communities denied the prophets' existence, then those who believed in the prophets would also have denied them, and so would have reached kufr, Allah protect us.

And Allah asks the prophets for proof. Asks for proof. Upon this the community of Muhammad is brought, and they bear witness to it. Upon this Muhammad brings his community, and they bear witness to it. They are asked: where did you learn this? And they say: we learned it from the Quran and from the Messenger of Allah. This is a report, we wrote. In my opinion — now I am explaining here. In my opinion, such a thing attributes qualities to Allah, I wrote. The reports there — here we are describing what people said, the report. Actually, these reports, you know, people think they are great knowledge.

But actually they do not even know what they are doing.

In my opinion, such a thing attributes qualities to Allah. I say 'in my opinion' — I didn't want to strike out at others too much. The community of Muhammad did not live in the time of the past communities. Of course, that community did not live then. And since they did not see how those peoples treated their prophets, they would end up as false witnesses. How nicely we prove it, don't we?

Allah Almighty however is just. He does not have anyone bear false witness about anyone's right, (?). How those communities treated that prophet, the communities who lived in that time and followed that prophet will bear witness to. Just as I said earlier.

Just as the Prophet, in the Farewell Sermon: O people, have I conveyed my duty to you? The people: you did, O Messenger of Allah. Have I conveyed it? You did, O Messenger of Allah. Have I conveyed it? You did, O Messenger of Allah, they say. Then the Messenger of Allah: be witness, O Lord, be witness, O Lord, be witness, O Lord, he says. He takes Allah Almighty as witness that he conveyed it to his community. The Muslims' bearing witness over other communities, however, is their witness over the communities living in their own time. And we see how people live in this time. You see it too, and you too will bear witness.

Yes, we were Muslims, we were those who prayed, who paid zakat, fasted, went on Hajj, recited the testimony of faith. But these were non-Muslims. They did none of these things. You will bear witness.

Yes, by the Muslims' obedience to the Quran from Allah, to the Prophet and to Allah — while the other communities, despite knowing Islam, live far from Allah, following their selfish whims, eating what Allah Almighty made forbidden as if lawful, eating things like pork, blood, carrion, transgressing in injustice and lust, not recognizing Allah and His Messenger, and denying the Quran — when on the Day of Judgment they are called to account for their sins, and do not accept the sins they committed but object, Allah Almighty will show them the Muslims. How Allah is to be obeyed — when the obedience and worship those Muslims performed are shown to the kafirs, as I explained earlier — look, the verses all follow one another. What we explained.

The earlier verse proves what we explained with the one before. Yes. And the way this is written is spiritual and Sufi like this.

He will show them. How Allah is to be obeyed — when the obedience and worship those Muslims performed are shown to the kafirs, they will realize that they are sinful people. Here Allah Almighty's attribute of Godhood will be manifested. What is Allah Almighty's attribute of Godhood? No person will be able to question Allah Almighty. Why? Because all the matters he would ask about will have come to light, and he will be cut off from questions. That is Allah's attribute of Godhood. Yes.

They will realize that they are sinful people. Thus Allah's attribute of Godhood will be manifested, we wrote. Yes. Allah's attribute of Godhood is that no one will be able to put questions and the like to Allah Almighty. Its (?) is that all the questions to be asked, Allah Almighty will have actually created, and people will be cut off from questions. And the Prophet will bear witness to the truthfulness of the Muslims.

We can add one more thing here. The Prophet (peace be upon him) will bear witness over the other prophets.

And we will bear witness over the other communities. Did the Prophet live in the time of the other prophets, that he will bear witness? All the prophets were created from the Messenger of Allah's first-created spirit. And Allah Almighty made him alive in both worlds. Alive. That is why in some verses of the Holy Quran His saying 'remember', His saying 'remember' regarding past communities, is His making him a witness over some past communities. And the verse is manifested right here.

The qibla you were facing — only to distinguish between those who follow the Messenger and those who turn back did We make it the qibla, says Allah Almighty. People turned to Jerusalem as the qibla, got used to that direction and worshipped Allah that way; then turning to the House of Allah later by Allah's command is, for people, at least somewhat heavy. Of course — can a person suddenly turn his qibla? Beor writes: Peace be upon you, Hodja, we are listening to you (?), he says. Mustafa Hodja is here too, but we can't get the picture. Your voice is enough for us. May Allah keep you, he says. All of us. Yes. The picture too, God willing, had there been speed — had the internet been fast, you would easily have gotten that too, God willing.

Yes.

But the meaning here: among those who worshipped facing Jerusalem, who did not accept Islam and, only because they rebelled against Allah, had their qibla toward Jerusalem — so that those hypocrites would be clearly recognized: to distinguish those who follow the Messenger from those who turn back, We changed the qibla, He has said. Allah Almighty. Though this change is heavy, for those who have gained Allah's guidance it is not heavy. Because if Allah Almighty has given a command, for people who love Allah, that command is not heavy.

Look what someone says in a song: From the beloved's hand, even poison is drunk, he says. He loves so much that he consents even to that poison. What love that is. So think of the love of those who have a passionate love above the love of all loves;

with his life and his head, to Allah's command, never rebelling, he submits. He is full of eagerness. He wishes: if only a command came from my Lord so I could carry it out. yes

Because these are people who have surrendered to Allah Almighty from the heart. They are not only those who surrender to Allah Almighty's word; they are people who give even their lives to Allah without batting an eye. These are the God-fearing. To them Allah's commands are not heavy; these are the God-fearing, who with passionate love turn to Allah. Allah will not let your faith go to waste, He says. People who obey Allah Almighty's command, when, by Allah's command, they turn from the worship they are used to toward a different worship or qibla, since it is Allah's command, no harm comes to their faith, and by turning to the latest form of worship they do not become sinners. For example, while facing Jerusalem, by a second command turning to the House of Allah; since Allah's commands are observed in this, their faith does not become weak. That is, no harm comes to their faith.

We do not make your faith weak, He says. Why? Turn here, says Allah Almighty. Your faith does not become weak. You had faith toward there, didn't you. I accept that faith just as it is. Because that was My command, He says. That was My command. Now this too is My command. Come to My command, He says. So your faith there does not go to waste. That is, all the good deeds you did there, He says, exactly, here will be recorded. Exactly. As obedience. Yes.

That is why whoever submits to Allah's command and obeys Him — Allah, Allah Almighty, never [lets] people's, the worship people perform, (?) go to waste. Yes.