Al-Baqarah 171: The situation of a person who denies an individual calling to truth resembles a shepherd shouting at animals. They (animals) do not understand the word of the shepherd, they only hear the shouting. The ones in this situation are deaf, dumb and blind; they do not comprehend.

Surah Al-Baqarah, verse 171: that is where we left off. In the verse Allah Almighty says it like this. The kafirs are like a shepherd's animals. They do not understand the shepherd's words; they only hear his shouting and calling. So they are deaf, they are dumb, they are blind; they hear but do not understand. What a beautiful example Allah Almighty gives. What do they say anyway? To one who understands, a mosquito is music; to one who doesn't, drum and zurna are not enough.

Again, in one verse Allah Almighty says, "They are like four-legged animals roaming the earth." How beautifully the verses support each other. No verse contradicts any other verse.

So who are those who are like four-legged animals on the earth? Those who, outside the religion of Islam, hold various ideologies. "Hodja, have you made people into animals, then?" Now, a person (?) the one who is Muslim? Is it me saying it? Allah Almighty says it. Is it me saying it? I say what He says. I mean, I am stating the word of the One who created us. What does He say? They are like four-legged animals roaming the earth. That this is forbidden – well, if you can forbid it, remove the Quran. Let it be forbidden by law. Well, if the Quran's ruling is freely out there, I am free to state the Quran's verses.

I state them. And I am not saying them off my own head, mind you. As in, the verse says one thing and I twist it. No, God forbid. What does Allah Almighty say? They are like four-legged animals roaming the earth. Who are they? Those outside the religion of Islam. Now look how beautifully He says it. The kafirs. Who are the kafirs? Those outside the religion of Islam. Even if they are from the People of the Book, even then. Because the religion of Islam has taken their books into itself. With made-up books, with superstitions, (?) ideologies they call religion, well, they deceive themselves with a made-up religion.

So, the kafirs. What does He say? They are like a shepherd's animals. Look. Allah Almighty says it. A shepherd's animals. They are like them. They do not understand the shepherd's words; only his shouting and calling do they hear. His shouting and his calling. So a person should not give his (?) to Allah Almighty as a rebel against his Lord. I mean, although he knows Allah, well, as Allah, out of defiance toward Allah, awaiting the Lord he imagines, let him not turn his back and deny Him; that pledge becomes his destiny, and when he comes to earth again to be tested, he never returns to Allah. However much you tell such people the truth, they neither understand nor hear, nor do they, well, want to listen to those words.

Well, before their eyes, in Allah Almighty's verse, thousands of miracles appear every day. "You do not see them; you are blind," He says, to those miracles. In this case, these people truly are like four-legged animals roaming the earth. People who do not know how to benefit from the verses Allah Almighty holds up as light before them, who work for their own nafs's interest and put themselves through torments, who take Satan as their guide and befriend their enemy. Woe to them. Poor people. Those who, thinking they live for a moment's whim of their own nafs, sink into swamps. Yes.

Just as the shepherd shouts and calls to those animals

to give them a direction, well, he whistles to them or says some things. That shepherd – those animals hear the shepherd's words. They hear, but they do not understand what he says. People who turn their backs on the Truth are exactly the same. They are like that shepherd's animals. Allah Almighty sends them verses that hold light before them, has the Truth spoken, has people guided with words that would bring them peace. But they do not understand such words, nor do they like them. When they hear them, they feel stifled, they get to the point where the clouds in the sky would burst. They cannot bear the word of truth.

So their ears are deaf to the truth. Even if they see thousands of miracles before their eyes, they do not believe. So their eyes are blind to the truth. And since they have no faith, well, their hearts are also closed to the truth and their hearts are sealed. These, well, never come to the right path again. And they never speak the word of truth. Why do they not speak it? Because it stifles them; the word of truth does not suit them. That's why they do not speak it. And since this word of truth is not spoken, they are dumb.

Yes. So they are blind, deaf and dumb.

They hear but do not understand. What did we say in our commentary? The kafirs are like a shepherd's animals. They do not understand the shepherd's words. They only hear his shouting and calling. They cannot understand Allah's word. When they hear Allah's word, they cannot perceive and grasp it. People used to talking on their own false beliefs are bewildered when they hear the truth in front of it. And seeing their own shortcomings, they fall into a sense of humiliation. And their nafs cannot stomach this. Because the word of truth that is spoken does not resemble their own way of speaking, they feel stifled. And they do not want to talk about Allah's word.

In this state they keep moving away from Allah. So they are veiled from Allah's word. Allah Almighty gives a beautiful example for them. The shepherds' – they are like a shepherd's animals. They hear the shepherd's shouting but do not understand what he says, He decrees. For people in this state Allah Almighty gives another example. They are like four-legged animals roaming the earth, He decrees. People in this state are deaf. Because they hear the truth but do not understand it. They do not even want to hear the word of truth. Because they keep moving away from Allah Almighty's word, they are deaf.

Because they do not want to hear the word of truth either. They are dumb: they do not want to speak the word of truth. Even if they wanted to, they cannot speak. Because they do not want to learn in this direction. Even if they learn, they still cannot speak the truth. Even if he wants to speak, because it distresses him, he cuts the subject and leaves places where the word of truth is. So in this respect they are dumb. They are blind. Because every day thousands of miracles appear before their eyes. They do not see. They are blind. Yes. So what a beautiful example Allah Almighty gives in His verse.

To these people – they are those outside the religion of Islam.

Blind, dumb and deaf. To the truth. "Well, Hodja, among them there are so many scholars, so many learned men, those who serve humanity, those who (?). Do these also belong to this group? Are these also blind, dumb and deaf?"

Do you know why we came to this world? In fact those worlds are ready. And those worlds are ready with the greatest and most modern technology, (?) this world. So do you know why we came here? We came to play out the script of the pledge we gave there. Otherwise Allah Almighty has no need of this world's technology, of Himself, of these people, well, reaching the summit I mentioned.

The one thing Allah Almighty wants from them is to know His essence. Indeed, that is why He created man: to know His essence.

What does He say in His verse? All the fine works they did are wasted if they could not know their Lord, He says. So enlightenment, alongside worldly work, alongside technology, comes from knowing your Lord. Even if, alongside worldly work, you reach the summit of technology, if you have turned your back on your Lord's verses, you cannot escape being a vampire, a monster, a swamp.

Don't you see examples of this on earth?

In Bosnia (?) those infidels committing genocide, Israel's slaughter of Muslims – what if they are at the summit, what if they are at the summit of the world, I mean in technology? They are in darkness, they are in swamps, they are leaving their own nafs subjected to the eternal punishment of Hell. That is not enlightenment. If technology leads people to the truth, the two go neck and neck, in enlightenment both worldly and otherworldly, that is the rise. But no: he rose in the world, yet those who cannot escape being a monster, well, a genocide, appearing in human form yet in form – in human form – being an animal, such people have no enlightenment.

They are in swamps.

Yes, so alongside technology you will hear the word of the Truth, listen to it, take its rulings, and the day will come when you leave here, leave this world, and give account in the presence of Allah Almighty, the Owner of the worlds who created us. According to the verse in which Allah says all souls (?) death. So even if you are at the summit of technology here, at the summit of life, if you cannot earn your Lord's mercy, you will have prepared your place in eternal Hell. You will have prepared your place in punishment. We are not saying: don't work for the world. Our Lord sent us into the world, made us (?) of eating and drinking.

We will both build up our world and benefit from those lights. No: if we cannot benefit from Allah's word, our summit in the world, our life, the summit of our life cannot save us from darkness. "Well, Hodja, these men do whatever they want; how much more enlightened can they be?" Look what Allah Almighty says in His verse. The hearts of those kafirs are restless and scattered, He says. Can there be a greater darkness than this?

Yes. A person who cannot find the truth has a dark world and a dark Hereafter.

So you will find the truth. You will say "Allah". Not as other people say "Allah" and yet associate partners with Allah. You will take your rulings from the religion of Islam. And you will listen well to our Lord's verses. What does He tell us? Not to people's words. Don't listen to my words either. If I am telling you Allah's word and explaining it to you, don't listen to me either. So read your book. Our book is Allah's word, the Quran. Yes. Let us not fall under this verse of Allah Almighty. What does it say? The kafirs are like a shepherd's animals. That is, those outside the religion of Islam who turn their backs on Allah do not understand the shepherd's words; they only hear his shouting and calling.

So they are deaf, they are dumb, they are blind. They hear but do not understand. We have ears, we hear, but if we cannot understand the truth, woe to us. We have ears; there are many sounds we cannot hear. We cannot hear the sounds of some creatures. Well, if you heard the word of the Truth and did not understand, did not understand and moved away from it, then between your untuned ears not hearing those other creatures on that frequency, and your Lord's word, what difference is left? You didn't hear that one, and you didn't hear this one. Then what happened? If you could not hear the word of the Truth, could not understand it – and this is the word of the Truth – outside that same frequency, I mean outside the frequency of the human ear, he has entered the frequency of the animals roaming the earth.

That is exactly why Allah Almighty says they are like animals roaming the earth.

Because a person preserves his humanity as long as he takes his rulings from his Lord's verses. His humanity – if you turn your back on the verses, do not know your Lord, associate partners with Him, what will happen? If you do not speak the word of truth on earth, you are dumb. If you do not want to hear it, you are deaf. If you do not see the miracles, if you make up an excuse for every one of them, you are blind. What use are you? Animals are in the same state. The shepherd shouts and calls; they hear but do not understand, do not perceive. What difference is there between them? What a beautiful example our Lord gives.

So we will be honored with Islam. We will never compromise on Islam. We will not heed superstitions. We will turn our backs on false beliefs. People's ideas may be nice; we will compare them with the verses. And we will give no value to human words that do not match the verses. Yes.