Al-Baqarah 149: Wherever you go out from, face (during the prayer) toward Masjid al-Haram. This act of facing is a truth coming from your Lord. Allah is not unaware of what you are doing.

Wherever you set out on a journey from, in prayer turn your faces toward the Masjid al-Haram. This command is the truth that comes to you from your Lord. Allah is not unaware of what you do, it says in the verse. As we explained earlier, we said the Prophet was waiting for our Lord to give him his own qibla. Before that he turned toward the Masjid al-Aqsa as qibla. The Jews became insolent. Muhammad has lost his qibla, they were saying. And Allah Almighty, to the Prophet, at the Qiblatayn Mosque in Medina the Radiant, while he was leading the prayer, his heart to the House of Allah to turn, He commands. On the big toe of his right foot he turns toward that House of Allah.

Seeing this, the Companions behind him make the same movement and turn toward the House of Allah.

Allah Almighty keeps all this world, the world, under His view. Neither drowsiness nor sleep overtakes Him.

In a verse He says this.

He is both basîr and semî. That is, He both sees and hears. So, in the unit of time we speak of, in 24 hours, it is uninterrupted seeing and hearing. Uninterrupted. That is why Allah Almighty is not (?) from all these creations of His so as to be unaware of them. Yes.

In the verse, the words apply to all people. To all people. Because the people who will come until the Day of Judgment will be governed by these verses. Because all people and beings are Allah Almighty's creations. But those who obey this call and turn their faces toward the Masjid al-Haram are those who follow Allah's commands. What does Allah Almighty say? Without making any distinction among people: wherever you set out on a journey from, in prayer turn your faces toward the Masjid al-Haram. If prayer is obligatory for people, for all people, because it is Allah's command. Since the Quran is the book of all people, since Muhammad came as a mercy to the worlds, his being accepted as a prophet is an address to all people.

Among them, those who lend an ear to this address of Allah, of our Lord, and obey Him, and those who do not obey, are separated on earth.

These verses apply to all people. That is where our saying comes from anyway.

Because all people and beings are Allah Almighty's creations. But those who obey this call and turn their faces toward the Masjid al-Haram are those who follow Allah's commands. Allah Almighty, to separate those who obey His Self from those who do not, and to make those who obey witnesses against the nafs of those who do not: wherever you set out from, if you are among those who submit to Allah's commands, if, choosing the religion of Islam as your religion, you believed in the Quran and His Messenger, while performing the prayer, one of the five pillars of Islam, turn your faces toward that Masjid al-Haram, He says.

And Allah Almighty also says so beautifully, with a verse within it, that He sent the Holy Quran to all people. İnne'd-dîne inda'llâhi'l-İslâm. With Him the religion is Islam, He says. Whoever seeks a religion other than the religion of Islam, the religion he seeks will never benefit him, He says. So, on earth, for material gain, for the passion of being a leader, with pride and arrogance and whims, those who turn their backs on Allah within the ideologies they have invented are people who are very cruel to their own selves. If the Torah, the Psalms and the Gospel are in the Holy Quran, and if the essence, the reality of these verses is in the Quran, those who say I am governed by the Torah, I am governed by the Psalms, I am governed by the Gospel,

within the words later inserted into them, are people who believe in human fabrications, associate partners with Allah and wrong their own selves.

Since there is no religion on earth other than the religion of Islam, the poor people who, deceived by the few hours of life of this world, wrong their own selves, and as Allah Almighty told us, what an evil place of return it is, of that Hell, are seekers.

Without realizing what they are running after, by the colourful position of this passing world that their eyes see deceived, those who prefer the hereafter to the world and turn their backs on the hereafter. These, even if both worlds came together, the enmity these people do to their own selves no one could do. Because in the end this person will die, go before his Lord. If all the good deeds they did are within the religion of Islam, he will receive reward. But if he is outside the religion of Islam, what does Allah Almighty say? All the good deeds he did have gone to waste, He says. Why did they go to waste?

As we always say, denying a single verse. Of the conditions of Islam that Allah Almighty gave us within the religion of Islam to accept, by denying one of them, even if you had done good deeds as big as this world, since that denial is outside the religion of Islam, since that denial carries a sin above a reward as big as this world, you can never enter Paradise. For this reason, their pride, arrogance, fame, positions seemed adorned to them. And the states they lived in pleased their nafs. In this case too, since Allah's commands seemed heavy to them, these, living outside Islam as rebels against Allah, since they preferred it, being cruel to their own selves, they are not even aware of it.

Those who are aware, since this way of life pleases them, still continue their way of life. May Allah Almighty give them a good awakening. God willing. May He grant that they too see the truth and turn to Islam.

As we said, there is no religion on earth other than Islam. If they invent religions, these are fabrications. In the old books, sir, until the time a prophet would come, their religions are valid; they are upon the religion of Islam. But after the Seal of the Prophets, Muhammad (peace be upon him), came, all religions gathered in Islam. They too, the old ones, were upon the fitra of Islam anyway. And if the Prophet (peace be upon him) too says the religion with Him is Islam, then other religions no longer have any validity. There are no religions on earth. There is no interfaith dialogue either.

There can be no dialogue of something that doesn't exist. These are the words of people who serve those dark ambitions.

Saying interfaith dialogue, inne'd-dîne inda'llâhi'l-İslâm, where do they put it?

If there is interfaith dialogue, shall we believe the word that person says, or, believing our Lord's verse in which He told us inne'd-dîne inda'llâhi'l-İslâm, with Him the religion is Islam, in which He said that another religion instead of Islam will never benefit, shall we say interfaith and believe in dialogue? God forbid, God protect us, if we say interfaith dialogue we become unbelievers, unbelievers. We would have denied the verse inne'd-dîne inda'llâhi'l-İslâm. That's how it is. There is no religion on earth other than Islam. Other people's religions are sophistry. I say this openly. And I am not afraid of anyone.

There is only one I fear, and that is Allah. I fear no one but Allah. There is no religion on earth other than Islam. These are those who wrong their own selves. And this must be known as such. Yes.

But those who obey this call and turn their faces toward the Masjid al-Haram are those who follow Allah's commands. Allah Almighty, to separate those who obey His Self from those who do not and to make those who obey witnesses against the nafs of those who do not: you, wherever you set out from, if you are among those who submit to Allah's commands, if, choosing the religion of Islam as your religion, you believed in the Quran and His Messenger, while performing the prayer, one of the five pillars of Islam, turn your faces toward that Masjid al-Haram, He says.

Now here we pass one more phrase. What do we say? To separate those who obey His Self from those who do not, and to make those who obey witnesses against the (?) of those who do not, we say.

This is the counterpart of this verse. This sentence we said. Your Prophet, Muhammad (peace be upon him), I will make a witness over all the prophets, and your ummah a witness over all ummahs, He says. For us to be made witnesses over the other ummahs, not by living within those ummahs' own ideologies; if we can carry on our lives within the shari'a rulings our Lord made known to us, then we can bear witness over those ummahs. Otherwise, if we carry on our lives in a way that outdoes them, if, beyond them, in worse conditions, with (?), we carry on our lives, with what face will you be a witness to them?

Yes, this command is the truth that comes to you from your Lord, He says. From Allah Almighty: of the religion of Islam, the same; when they put their foreheads in prostration to the Merciful, that prostration to the Merciful having a qibla direction is our Lord's command to us. Hodja, I couldn't find the qibla; it says it in the verse anyway. It says, first research the qibla. Research. You have set out on the road. First research the qibla. Then, then, it says: if you couldn't find it, by your own reasoning, it says, determine the qibla, discover it. Discover it and say, my Lord (?) its qibla is in this direction. When you say so, with a sincere heart, wherever you turn, it says. The east and the west belong to Allah, it says.

This

command is from your Lord; from your Lord it is a truth that comes to you; the intent in this verse: O My Beloved, I sent you as a mercy to the worlds, and with you I ended prophethood. I also revealed a verse about you: he does not speak idly. So since all your speech is from Me, every path you show and every word you say is from My Self, and these are true. Now whoever wishes believes these commands of Mine, whoever wishes does not and takes a way of his own, He says. Yes.

Allah Almighty is not unaware of what we do. All beings; Allah, who brought all beings from nothing into being, who created them, has taken His creations under His rule, and knows all their movements and what they did and what they will be doing. Knows according to what? He has programmed all these worlds; there is not a single living being to come until the Day of Judgment of whom We do not know what he will not do, He says. Wherever in the universe it may be, Allah Almighty is aware of all events that take place. Allah, who is free of deficient attributes, is overtaken neither by sleep nor by drowsiness.

For this reason He is not unaware of what is done, He says.