Hud 58: When Our order came, We saved Hud and the ones who believed with him by a mercy from Our side, and We have made them attain salvation from a severe punishment.

Hud Surah Hud, verse 58: When Our command came, We saved Hud and those who believed with him by a mercy from Us. We delivered them from a severe punishment to salvation. A severe punishment for his people; those saved were Hud and those who believed in him. Yes, He says: We delivered them from a severe punishment to salvation.

A Muslim, among Muslims, cannot harbour a grudge. A Muslim cannot be separated from a Muslim. Siblings may perhaps separate. Siblings of one womb. They are of one womb. Even if from one father, they may perhaps separate. They may separate over a difference of ideology, a difference of faith. You cannot even call them brothers. As Abraham separated from his father, he was not of his loins. Lot's son was not of his loins. But a Muslim, if he is a Muslim, has said the declaration of faith, and with his heart, affirming with his tongue — a person who has confirmed with his heart and affirmed with his tongue is a brother.

You cannot separate these from one another. If you separate them, you incur a burden of sin. He was a Muslim person; the one who separates him from his other brother, he must not value him, must not value him. If the one leading him does not uphold the truth, does not explain the verses to him, and drags them along in superstitions, if he tries to impose his own ideology on you, do not believe these people. Do not follow them either.

"What shall we do, Hodja?" you ask: La ilahe illallah Muhammeden Resulullah. If you weren't a Muslim, you probably wouldn't have found that hodja, found that sham hodja calling him a hodja, and followed after him. So what will you do? Pray your five daily prayers, say Allah and move on. Pray your five daily prayers, carry out Allah's command. Your Hajj if you have the money, your zakat if you have the money, sir, when Ramadan comes, keep your fast, guard against sins; a Muslim knows what sin is. Or get up, say Allah and move on. At least you won't run after those superstitions and come before Allah with superstitions.

You won't follow those people in the evils you do and share in the punishment they will see. That is my advice to you.

Yes. Do you know what this resembles? What I am saying. The people who have entered Hell, the people of Hell, say to the people who led them: "Can you now lighten some of our punishment and take it off us?" "Because we followed you," they say. We followed you.

And they: "We had no dominion over you." "We spoke, and you followed of your own accord," they say. So, being Muslims, if the people leading you do not speak the truth, if they separate people from one another, if through Sufi orders they split their religion into factions and (?) hostility between them, if they send no one to anyone, do not accept such people as hodjas over you. These are not hodjas, they are sham hodjas.

They are people who make you lose your religion, who break the bonds of brotherhood, who drive the religion of Islam apart. But I have nothing against those people. Who are they? "Go and visit your brothers. Tell me what you heard, too. Live together in unity with them." If someone says, "When you hear the truth, come and tell me too," these are excepted. These are people who strengthen the bonds of brotherhood, who compete to learn the truth. Yes.

When Our command came, by a mercy from Us We saved Hud and those who believed with him — We saved them. From a severe punishment We delivered them to salvation. Since the people of Hud (peace be upon him) were a tyrannical and oppressive people, since they did not believe in Allah and His prophets, when Allah's inescapable command came upon them, what is this inescapable command?

Yes.

Allah Almighty's inescapable command here is that, against those who trample Allah's commands and transgress the limits, Allah Almighty's command of destruction goes out. Once that command has gone out, there is no turning back. As with us: when we tell people, don't do this, and they come and apologise to us, we're human after all, we say, fine, go on and do it — like we say, we cannot compare Allah's command to our talk. If a command has gone out from Allah, there is no turning it back. There is no turning it back. If a command has gone out — you commit a sin, your sin is written, this does not mean your destruction.

It is the recording of your deeds, against your good deeds and your sins. Then you repent, and He says: My servant knew Me, learned his mistake, and Allah forgives your sin. But when you trample Allah's commands and transgress the limits, and Allah Almighty issues a command of destruction upon you, then no one can stop it. Yes, this is now an inescapable punishment.

When Allah's inescapable command came upon them, Allah Almighty rescued Hud (peace be upon him) and those who believed with him from the heavy burden of that punishment, that is, from its torment, and brought them to safety.

As stated in verses 6 and 7 of Surah Al-Haqqah, upon this people, for 7 nights and 8 days, He sent a howling, ravaging storm. Seven nights, eight days. A howling hurricane. Yes. They were laid out on the ground like tree stumps and perished. Isn't that a severe punishment? Yes.

Aren't there things like it? In the world there are tornadoes.

They kill hundreds of people. They sweep away houses.

A kind of destruction. Destruction is destroying the peoples there. This is a calamity. "So that some of them may perhaps return to the truth, We give them 3 or 2 calamities a year," says Allah Almighty. Yes.

So, O mankind! Allah follows people closely. By showing so many miracles and events, by telling them of these events, He proves His existence to people and makes it known. How else should He prove His existence? How else should He make His existence known to you?

One thing: He sent us into the world. A realm in which His Essence is not seen. This realm, the realm of this world. Because we saw our Lord when we made the covenant at the address Elestü bi Rabbiküm. We saw, we saw.

Those who say Allah cannot be seen slander Allah. I say it again. Those who say Allah cannot be seen slander Allah. And these people, these people also deny the declaration of faith. They fall into denial here. In (?) too they fall into denial. How so? Allah Almighty is free from deficient attributes. Free from deficient attributes. Not for nothing to you: I bear witness that there is no god but Allah. Allah Almighty does not make you bear witness to something you have not seen.

Allah does not make you bear false witness to something you have not seen. If you say Allah cannot be seen, then, saying He made you bear false witness, you slander Allah.

Where did we see Him, then? At the address Elestü bi Rabbiküm. We saw our Lord in His true form, and to the hidden realm He sent us. He sent us to a realm where His Essence is not seen. Why? He gave us a part of His Essence, a spirit. The human being He created similar to His Essence. In that case, these people: "I could not know You were my Lord. Had You sent me to a hidden realm, I would have worshipped You there" — so that they would not say this, He created this realm. And so you came here. So He has you bear witness. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah. What are you bearing witness to? To Allah, whom you saw at the address Elestü bi Rabbiküm, you bear witness.

Those who denied there still deny.

Because they had their destinies written. They had their desires and wishes, their aims, written for themselves as destiny. So, you who say "I am a Muslim" and say "I am a scholar", person who says Allah cannot be seen, on what basis do you say this? Ah, this realm is the hidden realm. You cannot perceive and see with these eyes.

And you say Allah cannot be seen, free from form — just look at you! Free from form — then how did you see this? How did He have you bear witness? Allah is not free from form; free from a particular form — a particular form. "However you see Me, I am (?) of that too, (?) of that too, (?) of that too," He says. Lend your ear a little to the verses of the Quran. Don't put your finger on places you don't know. If you don't know, learn; learning is no shame. "Knowledge is your lost property," it says. "Go and take it even if it is in China," it says. Yes.

We planted the flag, (?). The verses — like this and like that. Talk away as you please. There's no truth, no truth.

Yes. If you don't know, of course you say "like so", "like this", "like that". "Like so" works, "like this" works, "like that" works, "it is hoped that" works. If you don't know, you say it. Yes.

So, O mankind, Allah follows people closely. Does Allah have eyes? Of course. Does Allah have feet? Of course He does. He does. Does Allah have hands? He does. Does Allah have ears? He does. He does. (?) What does the verse say? "Do they have eyes that see, hands that grasp, lips that speak, feet that walk, ears that hear — ears that hear?" "What do they have?" He says, "what?"

Don't you ever listen to these verses? You can't, because you can't cope with them. You can't know what it is.

Yes.

By showing so many miracles and events, by telling them of these events, His existence He proves to people and makes known. In a (?) realm. In an unseen realm He proves His existence to people with miracles. With miracles. "Hodja, it's the prophet who shows miracles."

The prophet shows the miracle, but it is not within the prophet's power. Allah has miracles shown through him. Well, I'm telling you now: isn't this Quran a miracle? Well, in this Quran, in verses: "We released the two seas toward each other. One salty, one sweet, between them a barrier, they do not mix," it says. Today, when this was found at the Strait of Gibraltar, when Captain Cousteau found this place, when he shouted "you found it", when they told him what you found is in the Holy Quran 1400 years earlier, written — isn't this a miracle? Our Lord made it known. Our Lord's miracle. Yes. Darwin, saying the people of the Sabbath came from apes, saying man came from apes — the people of the Sabbath being turned into apes, the people there being turned into apes, and "you found it", he says; saying man came from apes and that the skeleton is the same — his finding Allah Almighty's verse in the Quran, is that a miracle or not?

His making it known to us through miracles.

So Allah Almighty, at every moment, His existence to people through miracles makes known. But one needs an eye that sees. If there is a veil over a person's eye and heaviness in his ear, it is not possible for him to see. Sometimes a veil comes over people's eyes. A veil or a swelling comes, it is opened by surgery. A Muslim's eye sees like this. A Muslim's eye sees exactly like this, it sees swollen and hazy. That is, he has faith, he feels it from faith, but he cannot see, he cannot sense the truth. When he has surgery, or puts glasses on his eyes, then you begin to watch your surroundings. What does this mean? He reforms his nafs, refrains from evils, settles the truth in his heart. Then, by way of unveiling, he watches those realms of meaning, and begins to grasp those verses of Allah.

And who are the truly blind? Not those whose eyes are blind. The truly blind are those who, although they see, have drawn (?) over their eyes, who do not want to see the truth. The person who has put heaviness in his ears, who does not want to hear the truth. The person whose (?) would burst when he hears the word of the Truth. This person, out of enmity toward Allah, has had his heart sealed. These are the truly blind.

That there is no god besides Him, and that all souls, tasting death, on that Day of Reckoning will be called to account, that those who rebel against Allah will be dragged to punishment and will receive the torment of the eternal abode — although He makes this known, what kind of mind, what kind of courage and what kind of nafs is in people that, although created helpless, under Allah's rule and in need of Allah, they oppose Allah, do not heed His command and go on living their lives in rebellion against Him? What kind of mind is this, what kind of audacity?

Poor man, who has no power over anything. Being in need of his Lord's mercy, his food and drink coming from his Lord, the man who is fed — how can he be ungrateful to Him? What are you capable of? Can you create the seed of a (?) out of nothing?

You are a person always in need of what Allah has created, eating and drinking them. How, with this mind of yours, can you perceive and still turn your back on Allah? Huh.

The human nafs and Satan have made man forget his Lord, have made him, unconscious, a sleepwalker. A sleepwalker.

They have lost the ability to see and hear, they have become narrow-minded people looking through the eye of a needle. That is, a person sees as much as he can see with his eyes. One watches the surroundings with a radar. And one sees the world only as much as he looks through the eye of a needle. Satan and the nafs have, on the person who says "I am a Muslim", struck such a claw, put such a yoke on his neck, that although his mind knows the truth, although he says the declaration of faith — (?), indulging his nafs, eating and drinking — among the people who turn their backs on Allah: pitiful people who have joined them.

Yes, the people living in this dream world seen through a needle's eye cannot escape this realm of illusion. If they cannot return to the truths, those people, for the sake of the pleasure of this passing worldly life, will have bought the torment of the hereafter. Yes.

When a person is (?) toward his own nafs, for his nafs in this world there is no swindle he leaves undone. As long as he gets material things and lives well. Now we call out to you. While you cannot bear the torment of the worldly realm — to profit from the world's passing benefits, to secure your living in the finest way, with that aim, perhaps you'll even resort to illegitimate ways, and spending every effort you can to live the life you desire — for the benefit of passing worldly life, when you abandon your Lord, how will you bear the torment of an eternal life? You could not bear the passing torment of this world.

Poverty, want — or your nafs made you covet the yachts and palaces of the rich. It gave you (?), it gave you stress, it gave you depression. And you began to swindle people. You began to exploit their consciences. To profit from the blessings of this passing world, because you could not bear want, thinking the torment of that want was dragging you into disasters, you exploited people's consciences and, without recognising their rights and dues, you violated their rights and dues. So that I may live well in the world, for a life of a few hours, the happiness of the eternal hereafter you turned into a dungeon.

Here, for a short hour, an hour, an hour and a half, you couldn't bear this, so how will you bear this punishment of your eternal abode? Don't you use your mind at all?

What does Allah Almighty say? "I will call you to account because you did not use your minds," He says. There — the mind.

Yes.

While struggling like this against this torment of worldly life — the world's torment is, after all, hunger, thirst and nakedness. And this is a passing life. Since Allah guarantees the sustenance of every soul, this is not a torment for people either. If we count these as hardship or want, people cannot even bear this. Those who do not work for the eternal, endless happiness of the hereafter, who, so as to live well while in the world, strive without regard for halal and haram to extract the pleasure of life — when in the hereafter, into torment, into endless grief and pain they are plunged, in return for that devotion to your nafs and the efforts you spent to live your life in the finest way, in the hereafter will you not have been unjust to your own self?

Are you not unjust to your own self? Now, if I told you: endure torment here for one hour. In return for this torment, if you also endure this torment you bear and say "my Lord does not load onto my back a task (?)" — or, leave your Lord aside, if a factory owner said: there is this job here. While working here you may get injured, you may fall into want, you may go hungry. But it's for one hour. An hour and a half. If you endure this, I will give you palaces over there. And he left you all free.

Glad tidings to those among them who held to what that factory owner said. They attained palaces. And the others, faced with that torment, could not endure it and attacked this one's and that one's rights and dues — then on the other side they were left facing punishment. You couldn't do this here, so how will you do it there, how will you suffer this, that punishment how will you suffer? Don't you use your mind at all?

Yes, from the hereafter there is no return to the world either. To an eternal, deathless and endless home with no return — when you move to that home, for its happiness won't you give up this worldly life's comfort? There's no return anymore, to the world no return. Let's read this again — not "from the hereafter", but "there is no longer a return to the world. When you move to a home with no return, eternal, deathless and endless, for its happiness the comfort of this worldly life won't you give up?" For example, people get up at night, break their sleep, they pray the tahajjud prayer.

They say tasbih, they remember Allah. They pray the five daily prayers. When they have prayed one prayer, they prepare for the next. When they work between two prayers, if they are traders, always, while selling the goods in their hands, observing people's rights and dues, they try not to step outside Allah's command. Instead of selling for three kuruş and making money on their profit, they sell for two kuruş and earn from what is halal.

In the world they might earn five kuruş more, ten kuruş more, live more comfortably, but they give up this comfort for Allah. What for? To earn the abode of happiness in the hereafter. Just as people here have a house, or an apartment block, or a palace, or a villa, or a yacht, the hereafter is the same. It has degrees.

So that you may attain its finest realm, Allah Almighty says: reform your nafs.

Worship, even if little, and keep at it. Remember your Lord; in your Lord, in what comes from Him, in every circumstance put your trust — in what comes from Allah. Then say: my Lord does not load onto our backs a burden one cannot bear, and your Lord, whenever He comes to mind, remember Him, so that you may be counted among the rich of the hereafter. But if like a fish you lurch right and left, like a drunk, now straight, now crooked you go, it is up to Allah's decree. Yes. But if you go straight, there are glad tidings for you. That's what we say: if you go straight — what do we mean? If you reform your nafs, cleanse yourself of evils, keep up your worship even if little, if you don't deceive people but respect their rights and dues, if, when you sell to them in trade, instead of giving it for three kuruş you give it for two and a half, if you observe their rights and dues, if you tell the truth, if you strive to spread truth and justice on earth, if you are an example to people (?), by Allah, Allah will admit you to His Paradise.

Because that is what Allah says. He gives this glad tiding. If you do so — but if you step outside this, there is a reckoning. It's uncertain how you'll go. How you'll depart is uncertain too. It's up to Allah. Yes.

From the hereafter there is no return to the world either. When you move to a home with no return, eternal, deathless and endless, for its happiness won't you give up the comfort of this worldly life? Now the choice is yours. Either believe in Allah and the hereafter, and as heir to the eternal abode of happiness, by Allah's mercy possess His endless blessings. Or, if you wish, with denial possess Hell, the abode of eternal punishment. To believe or not to believe lies in a person's own will and his own desire. But a human being is one who loves and embraces others and warns and cautions others so they do not fall into torment and want.

Turn off that air conditioner, my child. Someone who knows how should turn it off.

Turn off the air conditioner, my child. Yes. Turn off the air conditioner, my child.

So a human being is one who loves and embraces others and, so they don't fall into torment and want, warns and cautions them. From here I too want to warn some people and caution them.

As I said a moment ago, people who act as sheikhs over people, who don't know what being a sheikh is, who are unaware of themselves — my words are for them anyway — they are splitting their religion into factions, and they don't realise it. They drive people apart from one another.

People drifting apart is the unravelling of the unity and togetherness of the religion of Islam.

Those belonging to separate orders, who act as sheikhs over them and are sham sheikhs — to them I call out. When you hear the truth, find the truth, so that you become servants to Allah. Come under His mercy, and to those under your command, in your obedience, under your command, make the truth heard. Make the truth heard. Have them taught what you don't know. If you don't know either, have it taught. Then perhaps you will have helped those people. Otherwise, your own ideology, your own superstition — although you yourself need knowledge, for your own interest or the whims of your nafs, dragging people along in your ideology makes you a sinner in Allah's sight and you cannot escape this burden.

You cannot escape this burden. Allah does not call anyone to account for what He has not made heard. Now I am making it heard to you as well. I am making it heard to you. I call out from here too. The whole world is listening too. I call out to them as well.

To those unaware of themselves, to those who act as sheikhs and drive people apart in the name of orders, to them I call out. To the people who correspond to the verse that says, "Do not be like those who split their religion into factions" — to them I call out. Muslims are brothers. You cannot drive a brother away from a brother. Whoever separates brother from brother on the basis of his own ideology, in Allah's sight is accountable. And he will have broken the unity and togetherness of Islam. In that case he has turned his back on the verse. If he does it knowingly, he becomes a kafir. If he does it unknowingly, he becomes a sinner.

Now I am warning.

I also call out to the people who follow those hodjas.

Do not run after such people, or you will incur a burden of sin. You will become sinners too. You cannot get by just by laying the blame on them. You cannot attain salvation. I gave an example. From the verse: the people entering Hell, to those men at their head, say: "Can you now take some of our load and lighten it for us?" "Because we were your followers," they say. How well it says in the verse: we were your followers. And they: "We showed you a way. The will is yours. We had no authority over you," it says. So pay no attention to the exploiters of conscience. When you see the truth, take your place on the side of the truth.

Otherwise, by saying "I followed him, he was the hodja over me, I did what he said," you cannot save your skin. Be wise.

Do not run after the exploiters of conscience.

I come to verse 59.

Don't let anything like this occur to you, look, I say don't let such a thing occur to you: this man wants to draw them away and take them as his own students? I have no need of students, I have no need of students. I convey Allah's command to all people for Allah's sake; all people are one in my sight. Allah's command is what I speak. I need no one, I need not five kuruş from anyone; my wage belongs to Allah alone, and He gives it anyway, gives abundantly, Allah does. I am warning you: be wise, use your minds; after those who do not know themselves do not run; those who set people apart, saying you can't go there, you can't go to him, he can't go there, this one can't go there — don't run after them, because he is a Muslim too, he is a Muslim too, he is a Muslim too; you cannot set Muslims apart, you cannot separate them, you break Islam's unity and togetherness, you go against the verse, so that you end up going as far as denying it.