Al-Baqarah 165: Some people among mankind associate partners with Allah and love them more than they love Allah. The love of those who believe however, is more intensive and stronger. If only the oppressors could comprehend after seeing the punishment that all power belongs to Allah and that Allah’s punishment is very severe.

Surah Al-Baqarah, verse 165. Some people take others besides Allah as equals to Allah and take them as gods, and love them as they love Allah. Look, we said, didn't we, that from here on Allah Almighty would address the mind, we said, didn't we. What does it say now? Some people take, besides Allah, as equals to Allah, gods and love them as they love Allah. But the love of those who believe for Allah is far greater than theirs. If only the wrongdoers, when they see the punishment, had understood beforehand that all power belongs to Allah and that Allah's punishment is very severe. If only, it says.

If only they could have understood. Beforehand. Now, like this. There is a very deep meaning here. This 'if only', you see, 'if only'. This 'beforehand', you see, 'beforehand'. Beforehand.

This 'beforehand' goes back to Elest-i Rabbiküm. Not in the world.

If only he had (?) there and given his covenant that way. If only he had known that there is no god but Allah, and that before the might and power of his Lord who created the worlds, no being can be equal to Him, and had submitted to Us, it says. It does not mean the worldly realm by saying 'if only beforehand'. Nor, by saying 'if only beforehand', does it mean the Day of Reckoning at that Supreme Court.

There they will say: O Allah, we have seen You. We have seen. We have known. Send us back to the world. We will worship You. What does Allah Almighty say? Even if We sent you back not once but several more times, you would again do the same thing. Why does He say this? Because the characters have been written. Where were these characters written? According to their wishes and desires, people's aims became their destiny. So when He says 'if only they had known beforehand': if only you had perceived Me there, and We had not, in proportion to that wish and desire of yours, these characters given you.

Look at our Lord's unsparing (?). If only, it says, you had perceived there. Your perceiving here is deceiving yourselves. Because you will never change the characters I gave you. Even if We sent you back not once but several more times, these realms would close again. Again you would play the same game. Because that is your character.

You cannot change your characters. That is the meaning of 'if only'. If only you had known Me, it says. Yes.

Since the blessing of intellect found in people was created as knowledge of Allah Almighty, every person knows that he was created by someone. When Allah Almighty created our spirits in the realm of Lahut, in the realm of Lahut, He gave them the intellect called akl-ı maad. What did He give? He gives the intellect called akl-ı maad. This intellect called akl-ı maad, both speaking and thinking, I mean, that it was created, that it was created by a being, it knows it was created by a being, by a being, by a god, by a Lord, it knows. So our Lord's calling out to those spirits, saying 'I am your Lord', not 'Am I not?', I always say this, this is a definite command, His saying 'I am'; and those who expected a Lord according to their own fancies rebelling against Allah.

And those who used their intellect saying 'yes, this is our Lord' and obeying. So with the intellect called akl-ı maad, every person, all at once, as he comes into being, knows that he was created by a Lord. Man is such that, although he knows he was created, he seeks and finds his Creator. Where? In the worldly realm.

What does İbrahim Fakrullah Hazretleri say? 'I was seeking the beloved; He was the soul within the soul.' Yes.

You will not search for Allah in the sky as Pharaoh did.

Allah fits neither in the heavens nor on the earth. But He fits in the heart of a believing servant. He manifests Himself. So, the Allah who created you, if you want to seek and find your Creator, you will know yourself. You will find Him within yourself. There is no need to go here and there.

This is what a human being is. A human who seeks and finds his Creator. As Yunus Emre Hazretleri said, the one who does not know where he came from and where he goes is an animal; but a person who, knowing that he was created by a Lord, grasping what that Lord wants from him in proportion to his intellect, trusts his Lord from the heart and sets out to carry out His commands, such a person finds his Lord within himself.

If he cleanses his heart of all besides Allah. If the worship he does benefits him and with that worship he hastens to good, if with his wealth and his life in the way of Allah he strives, yes; otherwise, if, despite knowing that he was created, he denies his Creator, worships what he made with his own hands and expects help from them, those who worship these idols or objects that can bring them neither benefit nor harm as if they were, God forbid, Allah, will one day be in loss. Which day? The day he says 'woe is me'. When he is raised again at the Gathering, in a place with no return.

When they ask their hand-made idols, pieces of mud and stone unaware of anything, for what they desire, and Allah Almighty then gives those people their provision, those who receive it, pointing to the idols they made with their hands, say: look, I asked this one and it granted my wish; increasing his disbelief one more degree, he clings to those objects of stone and mud and they love them. They love them. What kind of love their love is, it tells that too: he comes to this idol, worships it: I have this matter, I have that matter, what will become of this, of that, of this, it will be like this, I will sacrifice for you, he says to it; that spirit he believes in, you see, his Lord is inside this, the spirit of the Lord he believes in is inside this.

Idolater. And since it is in his destiny, Allah Almighty grants it to him. Who gives it? Allah, Allah who created the worlds. And this one says: look, my god granted me this.

If it suits him he sacrifices to it, if not, he doesn't.

If his matter doesn't work out, he turns his back on it and leaves. If his matter doesn't work out. From the heart, his mind, his mind also decides that such a thing cannot be. That is, this cannot be a god. He decides this. But the surroundings and society, people's arrogance and pride, with their not giving way to one another, with the feeling of drawing strength from one another, they worship it.

So the shirk of Islam, it says, is not like this, of the Muslim. Yes.

Today many people, clinging to the mascots in their hands, saying 'this is my lucky charm', people who hope for help from it, whose numbers keep growing and who forget Allah, gradually drifting toward idolatry, and then the generation after them, knowing those (?) they made with their hands, (?) to their worshipping it, (?) to their worshipping it, and so idolatry begins in this way.

I have come across many immoral people. Saying 'what's in my hand is my lucky charm', to the point of trampling their honor and dignity, in situations where they would gamble with their chastity and virtue, I came across those who worship that idol of theirs, who worship it.

What more good can come to a person from this?

Yes. My tongue cannot bring itself to say what they do.

In this state of theirs, as they gain worldly blessings, what they made with their hands they love as they love Allah. That is, those idols of theirs. Yes. They too know that it is not Allah. But Satan leading him astray, his nafs desiring the world, his living by his wishes and desires; even if his intellect shows him the truth, that doesn't work with his intellect, and he doesn't use his intellect.

His nafs outweighs it. Toward the world.

Idolaters cannot love their idols or lucky charms the way the people of faith love Allah.

The people of faith love Allah, who creates from nothing, the owner of the universe, from the heart. From the heart. They love those idols of theirs in return for material things. Because he gets material things. If he doesn't, he turns his back on his idols too. The people of faith, (?) material things, to the Owner of the worlds are bound from the heart.

Yes.

He knows that everything created in the universe is a creature. Who is this? The Muslims. That everything created in the universe is a creature, that is, created by our Lord, that there is no god besides the One Allah, besides the God, that all these worlds were created by our Lord, he knows this.

Yes, what does it say? The person of faith loves Allah, who creates from nothing, the owner of the universe, from the heart. He knows that everything created in the universe is a creature. A believer cannot leave the Owner of these creatures and love the Creator's creations as he loves the Creator.

Therefore, the love of the people of faith for Allah Almighty and their love of what they made with their hands and worship cannot even be compared with each other. Compared.

If only, it says. If only.

If only the wrongdoers, when they see the punishment, had understood beforehand that all power is Allah's and that Allah's punishment is very severe, if only they could have understood. How would we understand? How would we understand that Allah's punishment is very severe? We never saw the punishment. Then we should have used our intellect. How will we use it, Hodja? Since one Allah created this universe, there is no second god. Is there? No. If He is the Owner of these worlds, of the heavens and the earth and what is between them, if He made His Being known to us, that person of intellect will make a comparison like this.

This person lives within a state. Within a state, if he acts against the laws of this state, straight to prison. If he lives within the laws and does useful work for his state and nation, he is rewarded. He receives certificates of achievement.

So, if a state is like this,

according to the verse saying the worldly realm is the likeness and shadow of the hereafter,

if we enlarge the state and make it the heavens and the earth and what is between them, this state and the sultan at its head, if, pardon me, it is our Lord, if it is our Lord, that Lord of ours also tells us His laws, and if we do not do what He says, then we would have sensed the punishment in advance. We ought to have sensed it. Because He will make it known. Allah exists. He makes it known. What does He make known? I am your Lord. Were we created for nothing? Did this Lord create us for nothing? What does He want from us? That His Being be known. If you don't know His Being and turn your back on Him, wouldn't you be like someone who rebelled against the laws of that state?

The same. Then your sentence is prison. But in prisons people suffer their punishment and get out. Those are prison offenders. That is, the sinners among the Muslims. The others? The others get life imprisonment. There is no getting out from there. (?) There is. These are Allah's laws. So if only, knowing that there is no god but Allah, and that if we go against His commands we will surely meet a punishment, a person had thought beforehand, it says, if only. Well, how am I to think? Allah gave us intellect.

And He proves with these verses that this intellect can think of Allah. Do you never use your intellect? Do you never think? Do you never reflect? it says. How beautiful. So this intellect should have known its Lord and that, when it went against His commands, it would taste the most severe punishment. But if he sides with his nafs and it overpowers his intellect, then that is where he too will end up. If only the wrongdoers, when they see the punishment, had understood beforehand that all power belongs to Allah and that Allah's punishment is very severe. The people whom Allah Almighty addresses as wrongdoers are those who do wrong against their own selves.

However much wrong one person does to another, at the end of that wrong, that person cannot bear the pain, dies, and is freed. But if a person wrongs his own self, how will he wrong it? If he turns his back on Allah, by leaving himself to eternal punishment he has wronged his own self. There is no more rescue for him. Yes.

Those who give their hearts to falsehood while the truth stands, who hope for help from Allah's creations, and in this state forget Allah, who could be more unjust to their own selves than them? These people, on the Day of Judgment, when they see the punishment, fall into regret. Before this state appears, out of Allah Almighty's mercy and compassion, toward those in rebellion against Allah there are His warnings: if only, before seeing the punishment, in this realm of the kingdom they held fast to the truth, lived by their Lord's commands and prohibitions, and, honored with Islam, had lived their lives on the straight path, it says.

Here we took up the worldly realm. What was it bound to in the worldly realm anyway? To destinies, to the address of Elest-i Rabbiküm. If only these had understood that on the Day of Judgment all power and might are Allah's, that what they worshipped as god and made wishes to would bring them no good and that Allah's punishment is very severe; if only, while in the worldly realm, they could have understood it beforehand. If only.

(?), the disbelievers, if there, in person, did as much as they did in the world, even if he went with his rebellious spirit, such a thing won't happen, won't; I want to describe Allah's attribute, His greatness. And in the hereafter, knowing in person that Allah is Allah, if their characters had changed and they had obeyed our Lord, by Allah, truly, Allah would punish him as much as He punishes and then take him out of there.

But these will, in the hereafter too, wait for the Lord of their fancies, and there, as they (?) into punishment, their rebellion against Allah will increase. So they will stay there in hell forever.

Yes.

Allah Almighty is very merciful and very forgiving. Allah does not will injustice to the worlds. According to the verse, although Allah Almighty makes their wrongs against themselves known with warnings, with examples to them, with openly clear verses, these are people who do not want to see the truth.

Surely man will make his own decision with his partial will. Nevertheless, in return for Allah Almighty showing so many right paths, people, as if competing with one another in a race to be dragged into punishment, persist stubbornly. Look, today people are uncovering more and more. Those who step outside Allah's command, they call: how daring they say, brave they say. And a pride, a boastfulness arises in them. Look at this pride, this arrogance, this state of the nafs. Look at how Satan deceives these people. Our Lord says cover yourselves, they uncover. Admiration for those who uncover begins.

The others envy them. They forget the Lord who created them, they are dragged after those who uncover, and they compete as in a race. O My Beloved, do not mind their strutting about in luxury in the world; their strutting about in luxury in the world is for a very short time, He says; those people who, so that others pay them compliments, display themselves, their honor and chastity, to people, and those who are toyed with like rags in people's hands and then fall into depression. Now I'm saying it.

The state they shout about as 'reactionism, reactionism', this is it. This is reactionism. Reactionism in Islam, there is no reactionism in Islam. In Islam there is glory, honor, renown, that is, a fine virtue that Allah has given that person. What is reactionism? Why did I say these are reactionism? Before the Prophet (peace be upon him) came into the world, those who buried baby girls alive in the earth, who were ashamed of daughters, the people of that era too, who made their sisters, daughters, mothers dance at drinking tables and used them like rags in their hands. That is what they have revived today.

They go on after one another, competing as in a race. O man! Think of the end, the end. Carried away by the passing pleasures of this world of a few minutes, do not leave yourself (?).

What were we saying? Where were we? Allah Almighty is very merciful and very forgiving. Allah does not will injustice to the worlds. According to the verse, although Allah Almighty makes their wrongs against themselves known with warnings to them, with examples, openly with clear verses, these are people who do not want to see the truth. Surely man will make his own decision himself with his partial will. Nevertheless, in return for Allah Almighty showing so many right paths, people, as if competing with one another in a race to be dragged into punishment, persist stubbornly. Since our Lord knows their condition: if only he could have understood these things beforehand, that he would meet this punishment, if only they could have understood. If only, knowing this realm is passing, they had known that their return is to their Lord.

If only, perceiving that Supreme Court, they could have known how, with what face they would appear before Allah Almighty. Yes.

In this situation, our Lord's mercy and compassion, His mercy being endless, His warning a person until his last breath so that His creations do not suffer punishment, the bonds of love over His servants, how beautifully we try to prove it, we say, Allah Almighty. For this reason, in the verses we have passed, in the verses, what beautiful examples He gives: We never abandon giving examples with the mosquito and what is larger, He declares. That is, We, He says, with the mosquito and what is larger never abandon giving parables. What is this? Since the Holy Quran can be understood from the most ignorant to the most learned, Allah Almighty wrote it in such a language.

So the mosquito He mentions is the weakest creature. So even for the most ignorant of people, in a language he too can understand He makes a comparison for him; when He says the largest, before his eyes the elephants, larger ones, in a way they too can understand, knowingly giving them parables. Our Lord's language of speech. Yes, that is, all the examples Allah Almighty has given are, for every person, within the capacity of intellect by which he can understand, examples. They make His Being known, cut off suppositions, openly prove His existence. What does He do? Allah Almighty makes His Being known, cuts people off from suppositions, and openly proves His existence.

Yes.