Al-Baqarah 198: Desiring a provision from your Lord is not a sin upon you. When you return from Arafat, remember Allah at the place of Mash’ar-i-Haram. Mention Allah as Allah has guided you. Verily, before that you were people who were led astray.

We can move on to our lesson. So, we can move on to our lesson. We left off at verse 198 of Surah Al-Baqarah. It is no sin upon you to seek provision from your Lord, it says. Where? In hajj.

We will be praying to our Lord constantly anyway. What will we say? My Allah, give us what is best for us. Make our sustenance abundant. Do not make us dependent on (?). Knowing our helplessness and asking our Lord for pardon and protection. And that we are His servants, that there is no god but Him, that we turn our faces to no one but Him — our prayers show this. Yes.

What does it say? It is no sin upon you to seek provision from your Lord — this too, from the verse: in hajj, in the hajj season. Now we will explain these.

When you return from Arafat, remember Allah Almighty at the place called Mash'ar al-Haram. Remember Him as He has guided you. Without doubt, before this you were among those astray, says Allah Almighty.

Now, in the Arabs' age of ignorance, that is, around the time Islam was to be conveyed, among themselves they would set up fairs, and people would display their goods and trade. With Islam, the pilgrims counted the trading they used to do at hajj time in the age of ignorance as a sin, and this verse was revealed about that.

So before, by caravans, to Saudi Arabia, to Mecca, well, provisions would come. They would trade there. You know, Saudi Arabia's (?) is desert. Nothing grows in Mecca. Some, well, apart from foods, apart from animals, nothing grows. Now, of course, with new developments, greenhouses being built is an exception.

When Islam came, they said: that was in the age of ignorance. We have come to hajj, we must only remember Allah, they said. So we absolutely will not trade in the hajj season, this is a sin, they said. The verse came about this, and Allah Almighty lit up people's path. He taught people what they did not know. From what? What does it say? It is no sin upon you to seek provision from your Lord. That is, just as those people traded back then in the age of ignorance, there is no harm in your trading when you come to hajj. Our Lord said with this verse. Some people, either out of ignorance, or to confuse the pilgrims' minds, or some who hold non-Islamic ideologies, to muddle Islam, say: look, he goes to hajj and does business there; and so they fall into denying this verse.

Allah protect us. These even go as far as kufr. If they do it knowingly, they become disbelievers. If they do it knowingly, of course. If they say it unknowingly, they are sinners.

What does Allah Almighty say?

Now when I say it like this: Hodja, you also go there and do trade. Let nothing (?) in your minds. I have nothing at all to do with such trade. Even when I go, I do my tawaf, do my umrah and come back. Yes. I have nothing to do with doing such trade. All our words are to explain our Lord's verses to people clearly. Yes.

It is no sin upon you to seek provision from your Lord, it says. So you can trade there. You seek provision. That is: my Lord, I have come here. Can I do some trade from my homeland? Or even, can I buy these goods here and sell them there? Look, they wanted these from me. I have (?) in these goods of mine. Can I buy these? You can. Yes, you send them. And with this trade you will have provided work to idle, needy people there. Because nothing grew there. They lived only by trade. Since Allah Almighty guarantees the sustenance of all He created, He leaves that trade free for people. Free.

Thereupon, that in shopping and trading during hajj and when returning from hajj there is no sin, Allah Almighty has made known to Muslims. With this (?). What is it? It is no sin upon you to seek provision from your Lord, it says. Some groups, about the shopping pilgrims do during hajj — (?) to people he goes to hajj to look good, shops there, buys this, buys that. Is he going to hajj, shopping, or is he going shopping? What kind of pilgrim is this, they say, wanting to muddle the pilgrims' minds. These are the words of this group who speak like this, (?), unaware of Allah's verses, exposing their own ignorance, or words said on purpose.

In the trade done there, the livelihood of the people of that region was once tied to the trade they did with the pilgrims. Once. It is still the same. Some people are always engaged in trade there. Since Mecca and Medina have a desert climate, back then, not knowing greenhouses and such, they could not grow vegetables and fruit. Constantly dependent on outside, they sustained their lives with food coming from outside. In the past nothing grew in Arabia except a few kinds of dates. It is still more or less like that. It is still like that. Recently they developed with the discovery of oil. Therefore, since Allah Almighty will also give His creatures' sustenance through the trade done at hajj time, He made trade free.

As I said earlier, since Allah Almighty guarantees everyone's sustenance, there too, since there is no (?) or industry, how will they make their living there? For example, trade. The shopping you and I will do. Isn't that so? We go to hajj. When we return we will delight our children. We will delight those around us. For them — let me say — if we bought nice clothes, nice gifts, or some nice new inventions not found in Turkey, bought them and delighted them, brought them and delighted them, wouldn't that be good? According to our means, of course. Not for everyone. Not for everyone. Without going into excessive waste.

You will trade. You can do your trade too. You buy, you send. You do your trade here. Allah Almighty has deemed these permitted. They too get their sustenance from it. Those people.

Yes.

Hajj has many virtues for people. Hajj. In the hajj season, people, whether white or black in colour, without regard to race, language or nationality, gathering together, according to the verse that Islam is brotherhood, by embracing one another in brotherhood they make the miracle of this verse manifest. That is, boasting to people, seeing oneself as superior, being proud toward them — such feelings disappearing (?). Neither race, nor language, nor belonging to any nation remains. If there is a Muslim on one side of the world and a Muslim on the other, the two are brothers — according to that verse, there, of people coming from the four corners of the world with various (?), various languages, various colours, belonging to various states — such things vanish. As if all born of the same mother, they embrace one another as brothers.

There, in the presence of Allah Almighty, the owner of them all, with heads bowed, as His servants, people open their hearts to one another. There is a great thing here. This thing: the fighting over land, matter and interests on earth disappears. The people of every state, in an Islamic mindset, embracing each other, live a festive atmosphere. Allah Almighty wants to see the earth in such a festive atmosphere. He wants Muslims embracing one another, and in that embrace people living in pleasure, joy and peace — that is His wish. That is why Allah Almighty shows them His verses, sends them. The verses are for people to live in peace.

But those who, out of the pride and arrogance in their own being, so that (?) step outside the command of Allah Almighty, and so that people praise them, so that those enemies of religion gain strength through them, act outside Allah's command — they always live in loss. For a moment's pleasure, in the end their lives are spent in darkness and mire. Until they return to Allah's verses. Yes.

When standing in worship around the Kaaba for tawaf and prayer, placing the Kaaba in the centre, forming around it, 360 degrees, in the shape of a circle, a (?) — now this (?). Take this as the House of Allah. This is the House of Allah. People turning around it and facing the House of Allah — 360 degrees, well, in a circle, without forming a direction, without forming a side, their facing the qibla. That is, facing Allah's house, facing the House of Allah — in Surah Al-Baqarah, verse 142, what does it say? Yes.

Let's see what Surah Al-Baqarah, verse 142, says. The foolish among people will say: what turned them away from the qibla they were facing? Say: The east and the west belong to Allah. He — whom He wills (?). He guides whom He wills to the right path. So when He says the east and the west belong to Allah, the miracle here appears. Turning 360 degrees to the qibla, without forming a direction, after first seeking the qibla — the east and the west belong to Allah. Why east and west, not south and north? All directions — without forming a side, without forming a side. There at the House of Allah, placing the House of Allah in the centre, in Mecca the Honored, placing the House of Allah in the centre, people turning to form directions, in the east, in the west, all directions facing that qibla, brings out the miracle of the verse.

Yes.

The miracle of the verse comes forth. Wearing the ihram takes a person spiritually out of the world, we say. Ihram. What is ihram? I have wrapped myself in a shroud. To You — well, however much I live within the guise of a body, I am imitating death. I have died and I am coming to You. Well, meanwhile, purifying oneself of carnal feelings, not being in contact with anyone; just as you cannot kill even an animal, you cannot pluck a single hair from your beard. Because now you are not you; you have surrendered your being to Allah.

Except those that fall out by themselves. That falls. You cannot do it. Yes.

Wearing the ihram takes a person spiritually out of the world. Wearing a dead person's shroud, it gives the feeling of going on the journey to the hereafter and makes a person live the state of death before dying. Yes, when standing for the wuquf at Arafat, the wuquf recalling the gathering of Judgment Day, that without regard to rank and position among people they are servants of Allah in Allah's sight, and their only difference is that individually, between Allah and themselves, their obedience and worship differ according to their sincerity.

Let me open this up for you a bit.

Everyone is going to their Lord's presence. Arafat — imitating the dead. Here there is no difference among people. All are going. Where? According to the verse that says your return is to Me, they die and go. Those who die go. Here too, going before dying, (?). Then, the only difference among those people — people have no (?) differences from one another. They are all going. Exactly. By the worship people do between Allah and themselves, according to their sincerity, differences of degree. That is, some, let's say, whose worship is little, poor. Some, let me say, rich. Some in between. That is, everyone's worship, of course; they are not robots to do exactly the same. (?) they have sins.

But in the end, when it is hajj, after becoming hajjis, all these sins are gone. All of them, a new page — with a sinless, spotless page they return. With a spotless page. This is in fact the meaning of Mecca. Burning. Mecca, the burner of sins. From where does it burn? After that tawaf — well, after returning from Arafat, in Muzdalifah they collect stones. At the place called Mash'ar al-Haram they remember Allah. Then they come to Mina. They sacrifice animals. They stone Satan. Then they come to the House of Allah. (?) twice. (?) three times. (?) Tamattu', (?) Ifrad, Tamattu' twice. If it is Hajj al-Ifrad, once. Sa'y.

That is, one sa'y. One tawaf. He said sa'y. One tawaf. Well, Ifrad does seven sa'y, one tawaf. Hajj al-Tamattu' does two sa'y, does two tawafs, two tawafs, does fourteen sa'y. Fourteen sa'y. Hajj al-Qiran does twenty-one sa'y and three tawafs. Each tawaf is seven sa'y. Circling seven times around the House of Allah. Well, whichever hajj he has intended, accordingly he does his hajj. His hair, his beard — after going back and forth seven times between Safa and Marwa, by having a little trimmed from his hair and beard he has done his hajj. People, all with a brand-new, spotless, pure white page — there, from their Lord, of their sins, by their Lord's mercy they are cleansed of their sins.

That is, between Allah and themselves, according to the sincerity of their obedience and worship they differ. When you return from Arafat, remember Allah Almighty at the place called Mash'ar al-Haram. Mash'ar al-Haram. Well, Arafat is from Mecca the Honored twelve miles. Its distance. Well, it is the name of (?). At Arafat, the name of (?). Well, the reason it is called Arafat: when our father Adam and our mother Eve were sent out of Paradise, according to one narration, our father Adam is sent down to Jeddah. To Jeddah. And our mother Eve is sent down to India. That is the narration. To India.

Adam to India. Our mother Eve to Jeddah. I said it backwards. Our mother Eve to Jeddah. Adam to India. He is sent down. Yes. After searching for one another on earth for a long time, by the command of Allah Almighty, Gabriel, in human form, directed our mother Eve toward present-day Arafat.

Who are you looking for? I saw someone. He is coming from such-and-such direction, he says. He points her toward Arafat. Yes. Our mother Eve and our father Adam — coming to our father Adam, he points him to Arafat as well, directs him. (?) someone, he says to our father Adam too. He directs him toward Arafat too. Well, he brought our mother Eve and our father Adam together at Arafat. He brought them together. To this day it is called Arafat. And that local place was called Arafat. That place: Arafat. Pilgrims, on the ninth day of Dhu al-Hijjah, that is, the day of Arafah, stand here for the wuquf.

On the eighth day of Dhu al-Hijjah they are at Yawm al-Tarwiyah. Then they pass from Arafat to Muzdalifah. That ninth evening they come to Muzdalifah. There they collect stones. To stone Satan: 7, 14, 21 stones. What does he do? They collect 21, 35, 42 stones. The small Satan 7. Then again to Satan 14 stones. On the third day they throw 21 stones at the big Satan. From there they go to Mecca.

Doing tawaf around the House of Allah, they become hajjis.

Then they pass from Arafat to Muzdalifah. They spend a night here and collect small stones here for stoning Satan. After the night and morning prayers are prayed here, they come to the place called Mash'ar al-Haram. Mash'ar al-Haram. This is the name of a hill. This is the name of a hill. It is right at the exit of Muzdalifah. It is also called Jabal Quzah. Mash'ar al-Haram. But it is also called Jabal Quzah. Jabal means mountain anyway. (?). When you come to the place called Mash'ar al-Haram here, remember Allah, it says. Remember Him. (?). Pray to Allah Almighty from the heart. Remember Him. Remember Him as He has guided you.

How did He guide us? Allah Almighty sent us to earth. Had He wished, because of that reason given to us, neither a prophet nor a book would He have sent us. To finding our Lord with our own reason He would have directed us. But what does He say? Allah Almighty: My mercy reached you, and I sent you prophets and books. Had I not sent you prophets and books, you would have had to know Me with your own reason. But your Lord's mercy reached you; He sent you prophets and books so that you would remember Allah. In this way, within our reason, toward contemplation and thought that there is no god but Allah — well, the One who programmed us is Allah Almighty, and this program is in man: that is, man was created, was created, was created by a Lord; this is there, that reason is in man.

Well, however much he denies, beneath his denial, in his heart he says: a Lord created me, I have an Allah. Even if he worships idols, even if he denies there is any Allah, this is in him; he is deceiving himself. Because Allah Almighty — in the (?) world, where they said yes, that is, that they were created they know. Coming here, out of enmity toward Allah, godlessness they try to defend. I would never defend something that does not exist. So they too know that Allah exists. To destroy Him, to eliminate Him, they try to argue that He does not exist. Out of their enmity toward Him. In this case you should have known Me, but My mercy reached you, He says.

(?), He says. I sent you prophets and books so that you would know the truth. This is how His guidance reached us. With His prophets and books, His scholars. He shows us the truth, shows us what is right. So that in the hereafter we may attain the Paradises Allah Almighty promised, He sends us forerunners, sends us leaders. Yes.

Remember Him as He has guided you. Without doubt before this you were among those astray, it says. Astray. That is, you did not know. You were ignorant. You were unaware of Allah's existence. So We (?) sent you books, sent prophets. We sent you Our mercy, He says. We guided you.

Before Islam people worshipped idols and lived in all kinds of false beliefs. Allah Almighty, out of His mercy, by sending the Beloved of the Majestic, (?), the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), from falsehood and swamps saved us. He showed us the paths of guidance; for people's salvation and deliverance, He sent before them a proof, a light, the Holy Quran — our Lord sent it. Therefore, just as Allah Almighty saved us from swamps and the darkness of shirk, we too, as thanks, supplicating to Allah Almighty, remembering Him much, should invoke Allah Almighty — and in our remembrance, in fulfilling our duty of servanthood to Allah, hopefully we will attain the mercy of Allah Almighty.

Yes, He guides us, we reach salvation. Hoping for our Lord's mercy: people do not know how, at the end of their lives, to the hereafter they will go. Because within our destinies Allah Almighty has hidden from us what will happen one second later. Yes, so, not relying on the worship we do, constantly to Allah Almighty we must pray and supplicate. Why will we not rely on the worship we do? You see a person say: what have I found in this worship? Bam, he turns over to the other side, to kufr. And the one in kufr says: what have I found in this falsehood? He too turns, bam, to Islam. Now here, if one person is destined for hell — in this world, among these people, if one person is destined for hell, that person will say: could it be me?

If among these people one is destined for Paradise, again that person will say, perhaps — will he not say, this one is for Paradise?

We will not lose hope in Allah. We will not lose hope in His mercy. We will fear Him greatly and love Him greatly.

O our Lord! You honoured us with Your Being. You honoured us with the religion of Islam. You made us the most distinguished of people.

You made us witnesses over the nations. O our Lord! From our sins committed, knowingly or unknowingly, through our human nature, we take refuge in You. Do not call us to account by our sins. Either — Judge (?) by Your pardon and forgiveness. If instead you say (?), judge me by my good deeds, you will greatly come to ruin. Yes. You will greatly come to ruin.

O our Lord! In a verse You say: We do not load on your backs a burden you cannot bear. According to this verse of Yours, do not load on our backs a burden we cannot bear. Pardon us the sins that came from us, forgive us, have mercy on us. You are our Master — saying this, in return for Allah's guidance to us we must remember and invoke Allah Almighty, pray and give thanks to Him — at that Mash'ar al-Haram.

Well, at the place we came to, what does it say here? Let me tell you.

When we come to Mash'ar al-Haram, at the place called Jabal Quzah, we must remember Allah Almighty much. We must pray. So one must not just say 'hajj' and pass over it. That is, people go to hajj. Well, one must not, saying 'so what, what is hajj', take it lightly. Hajj is a very great blessing for a person. Those who cannot go to hajj, by kissing the palms of the pilgrims, My Allah, my situation was not suitable, I could not come to hajj — in one of the five pillars of Islam, in one of them, since it is a duty requiring money, I had no money, I could not come. But I too am upon the covenant these brothers of ours gave You — saying this, they renew their covenant. Hajj.

The one who goes to hajj renews his covenant. The one who cannot go renews his covenant by kissing the pilgrim's palm. Why does he kiss the palm? What is the wisdom in this? Kissing the pilgrim's palm — its purpose is what?

When the pilgrim goes for tawaf, between the Yemeni Corner and the Black Stone (?) enters through his palm. He says exactly this:

ve kına azâbe'n-nâr ve edhilne'l-cennete ma'a'l-ebrâr yâ Azîzü yâ Gaffâr yâ Rabbe'l-âlemîn, he says. At that moment he comes opposite the Black Stone. He says Bismillah Allahu Ekber. He raises his hands. That is: my Lord, I renew the covenant I gave You. I have come to Your presence and surrendered to You, he says. So, of the one who renews his covenant and surrenders to his Lord, who renews in the world the covenant he gave in the hereafter world — that Muslim brother of ours — this act of his, you too come here and (?), kiss the inside of his palm, kiss the inside of those palms that (?) — kissing them is saying to Allah Almighty: my situation is not suitable, my Lord.

I too am among those who renew their covenant, like this brother of mine — saying this, you renew your covenant. You kiss his palm sincerely, onto your hands and face you rub it, and ask for your Lord's mercy.