Al-Baqarah 155: Verily, We will test you with fear and hunger and with shortening your goods, your lives and crops (so that you will prove yourself). Give glad tidings to those who are being patient.

Surah Al-Baqarah, verse 155. Verily, We will test you with something of fear, something of hunger, and with loss of wealth, lives and crops. Give glad tidings to the patient, it says.

What had Allah Almighty said earlier in His verse? We will test you with your wealth and your lives, in this verse. What did we say in the one before? What came upon those of old (?) — before afflictions came upon you, did you think you would just enter Paradise? Allah Almighty sent us to an unseen world.

He made His existence known to us in absence, in an unseen world. Our Lord made His being known to us, and in this unseen world, if people observe Allah's commands and accept what comes from Allah, and since Allah Almighty will not put on people's backs what they cannot bear, if people submit to what comes from Allah and trust in Him, give them glad tidings, says Allah Almighty. Give glad tidings to such people. No. The impatient. Those who look at the world with worldly eyes and, as to dying and leaving the world, whether there is a hereafter or not, are in doubt, are the exception. These are either saved or not, according to their deeds.

Either they go to unbelief, or, sir, with a weak faith they pass on to the hereafter. Now, so that people are made to hold themselves witness, against each other and their own selves, before Allah Almighty, Allah Almighty tests people with all kinds of afflictions.

Having said a little about the verses a moment ago, here we are opening it up.

And He gives His greatest affliction to the one He loves most. The greatest affliction is among those He loves most. Now people think the friends of Allah, the saints, are perfectly well off. Whereas they are in such afflictions. But they have now become friends with it. They have accepted the afflictions Allah Almighty gives and submitted. And since our Lord knows He will not put on those people's backs what they cannot bear, they have bound themselves to Allah with trust and a sincere heart. In this case, apart from these, the afflictions given to other people, though fewer and smaller than theirs, even so, in the patience, loyalty or rebellion people show to those afflictions, Allah Almighty will take the most affliction He gave to that person He loves, bring it out before them and show them: Look, I gave this one this much affliction.

This one trusted in what came from Me and was patient. Was not deceived by the passing world and obeyed his Lord's command. What did you do? He will say. How did you behave? He will say. Faith binds a person to his Lord. It makes him trust. Faith. If faith is weak, the desires of the nafs, the temptation of Satan and the alluring look of the world lead a person, in the desires of the nafs, to being overpowered, to (?). That is, it leads him to violence, to rebellion. Yes.

And He gives His greatest affliction to the one He loves most. At the feet of the Prophet (peace be upon him), (?), did they not throw? Sir, did they not throw dung-filled tripe on him? Did they not call him a madman? Did they not deny him? And do you know what weighed on people most of all? When the Prophet (peace be upon him), to convey the truth, entered the tents of visiting guests and conveyed the truth to them, and those people, those in the tents, charmed by the way the Messenger of Allah spoke, said yes, the religion is true, that is, what you say is true, and followed him; then Abu Lahab came in and said, he is a madman, don't heed what he says, and they said, oh, we too had taken him for a normal person, and turned back; nothing is as heavy for a person as that.

So the most afflictions are given to those He loves most.

So that no one says to Allah Almighty: You gave me wealth, You gave me children, and being busy with these I could not worship You; or: O Allah, had You given me wealth, see how I would have worshipped You — Allah Almighty tests people with their wealth and their lives.

By testing them with their wealth and lives, He holds these people as witnesses against themselves. Does Allah Almighty need to test them? Never. What does He say? We are already mentioning that verse. There is not a single living being until Doomsday whose doings We do not know. So Allah Almighty, who programmed these worlds with a program, and who, according to people's wishes and desires, gave them their own destinies, and saw their own aims as their destiny — His reason for sending people to an unseen world: since at the address Alastu bi-Rabbikum people saw Allah Almighty, so that they do not say, O Allah, had You sent us to a world where Your being is not seen, we would have worshipped You there, He sends them to this unseen world, and the worlds there He locks in our memory.

It is in the memory. But locked. You give a computer a program. Though that program is there in the computer, you put a password on it. They cannot open it. Only after the password is cracked does it open. Our passwords too: from that realm of Jabarut, with Allah Almighty, our meeting Him there, our putting on a garment there, coming from there to the realm of Malakut, putting on a garment from Malakut, that is, wrapping itself in a password, and from there coming to the realm of Mulk and putting on the bodily frame; people, (?) this journey, going back, that is, rising back, by reforming their nafs, these passwords are cracked. That password is not numbers given like Ahmet, Mehmet.

It is the password of reforming the nafs. Who judges by Allah's verses? Who is careful about the commands and prohibitions? Who carries out what Allah says? Runs to good works. Removes the worldly attachments from his heart. Helps those in need. If his feelings of mercy grow, Allah Almighty, because of this reform of his nafs, makes him aware of Malakut, sir, of Jabarut and of the realms of the hereafter. Yes. Their behaviour, their attitude towards Allah Almighty, are laid out before them on the Day of Judgment so that people have not a single word to say against Allah Almighty left. Look, We knew you, what you did.

Because the wish and deed here had been given to you as destiny. That is, where? At the address Alastu bi-Rabbikum. Then, since Allah Almighty is free of deficient attributes, so that you would not say this and that, We sent you to an unseen world. That is, We sent you to the world, asfal al-safilin, the lowest of the low. There We closed off your feelings from here. Did you know this place? Did you see it? No. You did not see it in the world. But now we repeat that place. Where? When we are resurrected at the Gathering. When that Supreme Court is set up, in His presence. Allah Almighty will say so to people.

This is Allah's attribute of being Allah: people will have not a single question left to ask Allah Almighty. The reason: Allah Almighty will have made manifest all the questions they would ask, and people will be cut off from questions. So in this world, with whatever wish and desire, whatever aim you had your destiny written, this destiny you asked for there, with wishes and desires. And We created means for you. By carrying out those means, the actual deeds, you proved yourself to be a (?) person. What does He say? What you earn is the return of your own two hands. Then: ve men ya'mel miskâle zerretin hayran yerah, I will write the (?) that were done, and ve men ya'mel miskâle zerretin şerran yerah, I will write the (?), the evil too, He says.

Well, in this case it means Allah Almighty has no wishes, no willing over people. Over people. By the judgments people make, by their own wish and will, by the judgments made with their own partial will, they earn reward and sin. If Allah Almighty's willing were over people, what would Allah Almighty ask of a person then? He willed it, Allah willed it, and that person did it. And Allah surely has His attribute of being Allah: when He wills, He creates, that is, He does. In that case partial will would be lifted from people, and people would be spared blame. But it is not so. Allah Almighty created each person as a vicegerent, the vicegerent, the commander of the earth; He held each person as addressed to Himself.

In this case He left them free in their will. Through the deeds they would do, He created reward and sin. So within their own will, by the judgments they themselves make, whether people know Allah Almighty or rebel against Him, these are the rewards and sins they did within their own destinies. Yes, I suppose it is understood. So, many poor people in the same affliction, content with Allah, in that state obey Allah, and many poor people in the same situation rebel against Allah. He took their wealth, didn't He, reduced it, made them destitute, and you see that in that destitution, what does one say?

I am being tested, he says. And what does another say? He rebels. Did I deserve this? he says. Look at the nafs, the nafs. I have heard these. Did I deserve this? That is what he says. There is someone I know. I must have told my students. They remember. I never forget it. He was a wealthy man. One day I went there. There I saw him sweeping the floor. I said, what are you doing? He said, I am gathering up the (?) spilled on the ground. Well, what will you do with it? I said. He said, I have no money at all. I have no bread to eat at home, he said. Rich, mind you. (?) The man said, there is no bread left to eat at home.

Sir, from this, he said, I will (?) these. I will put it through a sieve. (?) and sell it, he said, from what's here.

We had done some business with him. He was going to take on a job, do it. He was going to give us some money. He did not do that job, but he kept his word and paid the money. Twenty-five thousand lira of that time.

When I saw him like that — it was sitting in my safe — I told the boys, bring his money, give the rest back, I said. And he said this to me: We are being tested, Hodja, we are being tested, he said. Even in that destitution. We are being tested, he said. This is how Allah Almighty tests people, tests them, and people, even in wealth, say, I am being tested, and accept what comes from Allah, and Allah opens such doors for him.

The money of that time, 25 million, 25 thousand lira, good money. Good money. Yes.

Those who lose their lives, who lose children and family, mother and father, who submit to Allah and are patient with the decree; again many of these who rebel against Allah with what befalls them; those who lose their wealth and are patient, accepting what comes from Allah, or who suffer loss and go bankrupt and behave rebelliously toward Allah Almighty — on the Day of Judgment Allah Almighty shows us to one another: those who obey Allah and those who do not. They will understand their obedience or rebellion toward Allah. Before Allah Almighty, a single word to defend their own selves they will not find. Why?

We said Allah Almighty has His attribute of being Allah. All the questions they would ask Allah Almighty, Allah Almighty will have them carry out in actual deeds, and people will be cut off from questions. So Allah Almighty, with an oath: verily, after this test, those who obey Us and, about the afflictions from Us, say, this is a test from my Lord, and are patient — give them glad tidings, He says. Give them glad tidings. Why? They have truly trusted in Allah, and although he did not see his Lord in the realm of Mulk, using his mind, what does he say? O so-and-so son of so-and-so, to himself, to himself, O so-and-so son of so-and-so, look, all these worlds are furnished with knowledge.

All these created things — by the One who furnished them with this knowledge, sir, these beings were created, sir, within His rule. It is impossible to deny this. Man is furnished with knowledge. His eyes taking and giving like a camera, his ears like a radio set, let me tell you, not hearing every sound, his liver analysing the food he eats, separating it — if a factory the size of this world were built, it could only just do the job the human liver does. If a factory the size of the world were built. In this case, these worlds created with such knowledge were not created by chance. What does he do? Even though he does not see in the world, he uses his mind.

So there is an Allah who created us. And this Allah did not send us to the world to enjoy ourselves, eat, drink, sleep, sir, enjoy ourselves and then go back. Then what did He send us for? He sent us books. In those books are His commands. If I observe these commands, then surely Allah Almighty too, according to His verse, Who is truer to his word than Allah, will bring me close to Him and keep me under His mercy. He will surely give me the Paradise He promised me. And he obeys Him with such loyalty. That is why those who use their minds attain salvation. So what does Allah Almighty say in His verse?

Do you not use your minds at all? Do you not comprehend at all? Do you not reflect at all? He always tells us to use our minds. So if every person with a mind thinks and reflects, these worlds surely have an owner. That owner, the absolute ruler and creator of these worlds, the one god, is Allah. He knows this so and submits to it. He neither associates a partner with Him nor turns his back on Him. Nor, if he fears Allah, does he disobey His command. Yes.