Al-Baqarah 219: They ask you about wine and gambling. Tell them “for both of them, there is a great sin and some benefits for people. But for both, the sin is larger than the benefits”. Again, they ask you what they should spend (for good deeds); tell them, “spend from (what you have in) excess of your necessities.” Allah explains Allah’s verses to you so that you may think.

We left off. In Surah Al-Baqarah, verse 219, we left off. We continue. They ask you about wine and gambling. Say: in both there is great sin and some benefits for people. Both a great sin and some benefits. But the sin of both is greater than their benefit. Our Lord puts it beautifully here too. (?) for us quite beautifully, in the proper way, He shines a light before us with His words. Now we are going to study these, aren't we. Sir, again they ask you what they should spend on the path of goodness. Say: spend what is beyond your need. That is, after you have secured yourself, not if Satan frightens you with stinginess and you keep wealth you could not consume in a whole lifetime as your own need.

It is not that. There is a defined need you can live on over time. Sir, if you have a defined amount saved for a rainy day, apart from that, of course you arrange your income, you arrange your expenses. What is beyond your need you can spend. Spend. Thus Allah explains His verses to you, so that you may reflect. Yes.

Now let us read. Let us read, let us write; in the way we wrote our tafsir, let us, meaning by meaning, open these up. People ask the Prophet (peace be upon him) about wine and gambling (?) questions. What is their status? That is, what is the status of alcohol and of gambling? Do they have harm and benefit for people? With this verse Allah Almighty answers people's questions and shows them the right paths. Now what did we say? Alcohol and gambling are among the great sins.

Even if they have benefits, their sins are very great. What is its benefit? Its benefit: look, I gambled and won this much money, he says. This much money I won. Well, Allah Almighty is free from deficient attributes. I won this. Isn't there benefit in this now? I benefited, he says. He says it, he says this. So Allah Almighty is free from deficient attributes. If eating the haram is in your destiny, you will earn on this path and fall into great sin. Into what kind of great sin will you fall? Taking people's money from their pockets with gambling or with arrows of chance, with (?), leaving their wife and children hungry and thirsty, by loading all their burden onto your neck, in violating their rights; if you had known that the money you won is haram for you and grasped that it winds around your neck like a snake, you would not do this.

Yes. It gave you benefit, but its sin, He says, is much greater than that. Why is the sin great? Well, you took the man's house, his home, you left his wife and children hungry. Oh, but I didn't take that much, I only take bits and pieces. Even if you take bits and pieces, by violating the rights of those men, of that day, of those children, or by taking money from that man's pocket, putting him in a difficult position and getting him used to gambling, him attacking the game again to win his money back; in states like these, the one who plays and the one who runs the game, the winner and the loser, are all in sin.

They are in sin. Its sin is much greater than its benefit. Its benefit: against the few pennies you gained, violating those people's rights and leaving his child hungry; perhaps those few pennies you took from him, however little, would have taken some sustenance, the price of a loaf of bread, home, it would have been enough. But you left them hungry. If you had known in the religion of Islam the sin of making your brother suffer injustice and violating his right, you would never come near it. Yes.

Alcohol and gambling are great sins. Even if they have benefits, their sins are very great. The moment a single drop of alcohol enters the body, it causes clotting in the blood. Alcohol in the blood. Sir, these people who use alcohol, besides the clotting in the blood, because the blood does not fully reach the brain cells, sir, does not reach them, they get drunk. They lose themselves. In this state they become unable to think. And Allah Almighty, we will come to a verse later on. Until you know what you are saying, while drunk, He says, until you know what you are saying, do not approach the prayer.

In the divine presence, the prayer, (?), what does our Lord say? While you are drunk, until you know the words coming out of your mouth, do not approach the prayer. Yes. At the same time, Allah Almighty, who created people honourable, these people's (?), their presenting comical scenes among people, insulting people without knowing what they are saying, or falling into a (?) state, stains the honour of humanity. It stains the purpose of creation. That is why Allah Almighty says: do not drink this. And because of the way you use the bodies I gave you, (?), He says.

The moment a single drop of alcohol enters the body, it causes clotting in the blood. This strains their (?) capacities and puts the brain cells into excessive activity. For this reason, through premature irritation of the brain cells, forgetfulness and early dementia arise in people, a state of not caring about anything arises. The person comes to think of nothing but drink. That is, he becomes an alcoholic. For him, his whole life, existence and living is drink. He has given himself over to it. This is now an alcoholic. What good can come to humanity from this now? A human being. Let alone that Allah Almighty declares: for the way you used these bodies I gave you, I will call you to account.

Yes. If people betray the bodies entrusted to them, then for the way people used their bodies Allah Almighty will call them to account on that day of reckoning. This is a trust to you. I gave this to you. On what path did I use it? I told you not to drink alcohol, I drank. I told you not to gamble, I gambled. I told you not to commit adultery, I did. Well, by making this body live that (?) life you wore it out. By making this body do things outside My command, you wore it out before its time and brought this body, which was to serve you, to a state where it could not serve you. So you are responsible for (?), He says.

You will give account of this body. So people see themselves as flesh and bone. Once they die, they wonder whether flesh and bone will ever be resurrected again. So they think. And even if flesh and bone are resurrected, they think they will enter Paradise and Hell in flesh and bone, in this body. Yet flesh and bone, this body, is the matter that in this world gives us our appearance. This appearance of ours is sustained by eating and drinking, and through the dealings and trade people do, people within this body, that is, the spirit, the nafs and the soul, these are one. That is what will really be called to account.

Within this body, carrying out their own actual deeds, taking on the matter of reward and sin, they prove themselves before Allah, within the outward appearance. And according to the verse 'We give you life twice, (?) twice', it speaks of the states of the body, on the body. And then you again, as spirit, nafs and soul, before your Lord, truly to Paradise and Hell, those who will remain (?). you, He says. The spirit, nafs and soul that will live an eternal, endless life is you, He says. That is why one must know this flesh and bone very well. It is our Lord never addressing our bodies, but addressing our spirit.

It is His addressing our spirit. Yes. So people who cannot know these points, people, those who think they will be called to account in flesh and bone, when we say we are endless and eternal in the hereafter, head towards wahdat al-wujud. They take it there. Because they do not know wahdat al-wujud. Sir, in this case, look, look, he is immortal, they say. Well, those people you mean by 'immortal', since in the verse He says they are eternal in Paradise and Hell, what does Allah Almighty mean? Whom does He mean? What does He mean? After the bodies are gone, since spirit and nafs, soul are one, these are eternal.

Just as in the world of dreams you see, you live, you enjoy, sir, or you are afraid; so that is the eternity of our spirit, eternal in Paradise and Hell. Yes.

Moreover, through the indifference of such people, disregarding the family responsibilities on them, discord within families and break-ups arise. From whom? From those who drink alcohol, those who gamble. Yes. Because they begin to neglect their homes. Those who gamble thinking, I'll win money or I'll win my money back. People who, instead of seeking peace in the evening, sit down at the drinking table wanting to live in their own world. These too, of course, forget the wife and children at home who depend on them, of course. As long as they go on living within their own pleasures, within a (?) swamp, in them no family responsibility remains.

They ask one of the alcoholics. That is, they ask one who drinks: do you pray? From Eid to Eid, from Eid to Eid, from Eid to Eid. If he prays, it is from Eid to Eid. Do you drink? From evening to evening. Look how quickly Eid to Eid comes for him to pray, from Eid to Eid. But how long the drink seems to him, from evening to evening. Yes, entrusted to people, the person's child suffers the misery. Such people cannot fulfil their duties towards their children. Because the responsibility in them is gone. He dumps the responsibility onto the mother. Or he says: now my time (?), get away from me. He scolds them.

In later stages, the human created honourable loses his humanity and lives as an alcoholic unaware of himself. Later stages. Certainly Allah has created nothing in vain. Alcohol has benefits too.

Doses put into medicines in amounts useful to the human body, and alcohol used as a germ-killer for dressing wounds, are beneficial to the human body. For example, cologne contains alcohol too. By pouring it on your hand you kill the germs on your hand. Now, some overly unaware people, let us say, with the faith of people's faith, do not even want to pour cologne on their hands. Because it contains alcohol.

Why do they not want to pour it? Alcohol is haram. Of course it is a good thing. We do not find them strange, but Islam (?). Islam, Islam: In Islam, taking every step you take consciously, being mindful, speaking with knowledge, both elevates Islam and honours people in Islam. Sir, today, because we do not really know how alcohol is haram, what do we do? By not even pouring cologne on our hands, we are looked at strangely by some people. I mean, what is wrong with it? I didn't take this. You did not put this into your body, sir, you did not drink it; is there any harm in pouring it on your hand, they say, and people, sir, (?).

For example today, in many places, people go to visit the sick, in hospital. You touch things here and there. Today if I go to visit a sick person, to the hospital, of course, I try not to touch anything. Even if I touch something, I mean, even if I have touched something, my hand with cologne, with cologne, the germs so that they are killed; I am not drinking it after all; cologne kills germs. There is alcohol in it. Sir, of alcohol, he says, alcohol, a person's one drop, and that drop, the palm, the palm, enough to wet a spot the size of a ten-kuruş coin on the palm, (?). Enough to wet a spot the size of a ten-kuruş coin.

Some fiqh scholars also say that, like this, in the palm, enough wetness to cover it, there is no harm in taking alcohol into your mouth. Because it has no effect at all on a person, they say. But if you ask me, both are dangerous for me. Both of them. Even if it is the size of ten kuruş, perhaps less than a drop, but I don't know. One drop, because after that drop enters the body, after it mixes into the body, it causes clotting in the blood. But perhaps that ten-kuruş-sized amount may be less than a drop. According to fiqh these have no... on a person, that is, in a way that disappears in the person's mouth; that wetness does no harm to a person, it says.

So these must be known well, and in terms of protecting one's health; Allah Almighty creates nothing in vain. In terms of protecting your health, you will live the religion of Islam in the best way. Yes, so people's alcohol, (?) they will use, how it will benefit people, Muslims need to know these things. Today many medicines contain alcohol too. With that alcohol on wounds, for example, if a needle pricked somewhere, (?), something pricked, what do we do right away so as not to get tetanus? With alcohol or iodine tincture we immediately try to kill the germs there. So that no germ infects the body.

So that a germ does not get into our blood and make us ill. Yes. It has its benefits. So Allah Almighty says: even if there is benefit in these, their harm is great; what is the harm? As He says, in the way fiqh shows, if you take alcohol (?), of course it is harmful.

Certainly Allah has created nothing in vain. Alcohol has benefits too. Doses put into medicines in amounts useful to the human body, and alcohol used as a germ-killer for dressing wounds, are beneficial to the human body. This does not mean taking alcohol to the extent of (?) the body, and drinking it so that a person lives oblivious to himself, drunk.

Here we have tried to open up here the word I explained above. How much alcohol can enter the human body without harming a person and without counting as a sin, we said. We said it above. Let us read this part too. In the fiqh books, alcohol taken in an amount enough to (?) a spot the size of a ten-kuruş coin on the palm of the hand, or less than that, alcohol taken in an amount enough to (?), does not harm the body. This is far less than a drop, we said. As I said a moment ago. This disappears on the tip of a person's tongue before entering the body, we said. Yes. As for gambling, for the winning side, the person thinks that at that moment it brings him benefit.

Yet he has earned the haram. So in exchange for the worldly gain you earned in the world, by violating people's rights, you earn a great sin. So He says: even if it has benefit for you, its sin is very great. How beautifully Allah Almighty puts it. Because he has taken the sustenance of the other side's wife and children and left them hungry. The Prophet, in one of his hadiths: the person who goes to bed full while his neighbour goes to bed hungry, that person's nafs has not reached perfection. There you go. Yes.

And a nafs that has not reached perfection is weak in terms of faith.

For this reason, the belief of people who gamble and their attachment to the religion of Islam are also weak. If you say to them: I mean, why (?) (?), but look at my heart, he says; he is living the commanding nafs; gambling games, he drinks, he commits adultery, he is living the commanding nafs. And when you say it, he says: look at my heart, I help people, I will do this, (?) I help like this; he tries to justify (?) his own nafs. What does the Prophet say? A nafs that has not reached perfection is weak in faith as well. For this reason, the belief of people who gamble and their attachment to the religion of Islam are also weak. They cannot fulfil with full understanding the pillars of Islam, prayer, fasting, zakat and Hajj and such (?).

Even if they do, even if they do, they cannot easily turn to that path unless they break their nafs. As long as they are not freed from this affliction, they bring ruin to their own lives. They take no pleasure in living either. Why do they not? They are in constant stress. Constant stress. And constantly living in their own world, locking themselves in a certain room within this wide world and, locking themselves up, thinking they are living their nafs inside that room, their two feet (?).

If you didn't pull them away from gambling for days, they wouldn't want to get up.

A person lies in the grave, he has died. He has shut him up in a certain room in prison. Even so, his freedom is in his own hands. The man has hope: I'll get out of here and travel the world. Or: I will live. Well, he has no hope even of that. He has locked himself in a certain place; his whole aim is to find people and gamble there (?). He has no other life.

As for the losing side in gambling, in the provision Allah Almighty gave him, his wife and children, his mother and father, and many other people we do not know also have rights. For example, he is an employer. He has gambled away the money from the goods he sold. He has become unable to pay his workers. He has taken upon himself the hardships people fall into and their burden. For this reason gambling is an affliction. It is an affliction. In every respect what is earned is haram and sin. Because Allah Almighty declares that its harm is greater than its benefit. Its harm is greater than its benefit.

Because people are enemies of Allah and because of the hatred towards Islam in their hearts, so that they do not say: look, I won this much, I bought a house, I did this, did I make a loss?, in order to prevent the momentary fitna, with Allah's gentle style of speech, it is His addressing them like this. How did He inspire it? They give gentle speech and (?) attributes. Its gain, that is, its benefit, its harm is much greater than its benefit. Much greater. Its harm is much greater than its benefit. But if they could grasp the meaning here, they would never come near such afflictions. What is the meaning here? Namely, people violating others' rights, thinking they gain worldly benefit for themselves, outside Allah's command, violating the rights of others; if he could know the answer this will bring in the divine presence, or what answer he will give to the questions Allah Almighty will ask, and if he could grasp that all the reward he earned goes bankrupt in exchange for the rights he has devoured, in this case these people would never come near gambling.

(?) another's right; they would not come near it. In fact, if they could, they would help them. Help. They would help them.

So whatever you earn, if its harm is great, what you earned will one day slip from your hands and you will end up in loss. (?) (?) Whoever has built a foundation on the haram, and it has benefited him.

With their wealth and their lives they will prove themselves in this world. And in the end they will end up in loss and be gone.

Either they will take your life, or you will go bankrupt. That's right, you pay gambling debts, you will (?) men. Either they will kill you one day, or one day, through your Lord's attribute of justice, you will (?). Because a building without a foundation does not stay standing. Allah is just. No one leaves anyone's right unsettled. Let us say you went to the hereafter with these gains. In the world of the hereafter, by giving the rightful owners their rights, because you did not listen to Allah's command, your earnings of reward will slip from your hands and there too you will end up in loss.

If only those who gamble knew this. If only they could give up this affliction. If only they did not ruin their wives and children. And if only they could shoulder their family responsibilities. And if only, tasting the bond and peace the religion of Islam brings to the family, they could learn to live together with their family like one body, like one breath.

They ask the Prophet (peace be upon him): What should we spend to do good?

Again Allah Almighty sheds light on people's questions with this verse.

It is a person giving charity in the way of Allah for good, beyond his own need.

The provision that is your wife and children's sustenance and is given to you in trust, you cannot give away for the sake of doing good while you need it. Instead of reward you fall into sin. Let us say my today I received my salary. 1,500 liras, I have a monthly salary of 2,000 liras. I pay 500 liras rent. I spend 300 liras on my children's schooling. 1,200 liras remain. Of the 1,200 liras, let us say I spend 800 or 900 liras on the household as needs. And I save 200 or 300 liras. I save it. This money you save is actually money you scrimped and saved by tooth and nail. It is not beyond your need.

Beyond your need: tomorrow the clothes on you will wear out, you will buy clothes. Your shoes will wear out, you will buy shoes. You will spend these on that.

If you cut back your wife and children's sustenance and, saying of this money you received, this is beyond my need, you hand it out and then come to the point of holding out your hand in need, then you will have wronged your wife and children and yourself. What is beyond need? Normally I get by on three thousand, four thousand liras.

My income (?). Apart from my own needs I have houses. They have income. Within this income, let us say, I also pay zakat. How much? I have forty thousand liras, fifty thousand liras, a hundred thousand liras, three hundred thousand liras, five hundred thousand liras in money. These are beyond need. Such sums of money. You can spend from these. For example, let him say: for my rainy day 50 thousand liras, 70 thousand liras, 100 thousand liras, which also counts towards his zakat, and according to his own situation, according to his income; if your income is more, you can lower this even further.

Because there are people whose income is, let us say, 15 thousand, 20 thousand, 30 thousand, 40 thousand liras a month. (?). There are people who earn money this way. What do you do? This much is enough for me. Because I also have a steady income. This is for my rainy day. This is my money. It is enough for me. He has more income behind it, too. Apart from this, I (?). Where do I (?)? First to the houses of Allah. To the mosques where Allah is remembered. Those whose ranks in Paradise are high. Then to the poor and needy; paying the debts of those writhing in debt, opening a field of work for them, raising them to a certain level;

a man, guilty or innocent, has gone to prison, his wife and children are left behind, hungry and thirsty, and helping them, beyond need. If you have a mother and father, helping your mother and father, if they are in need, helping them, not leaving them in distress. Sir, in this way, after securing the excess of his earnings for himself, according to his own income, only the person who has the earnings can arrange it. Sir, according to his own situation. After that he spends the rest as beyond need. And the finest of these is, for the one going to war, let me tell you, supplying weapons. That is, in a way that will protect their state, (?) their equipment, helping those going to war and their state.

Helping their state at that moment. These are great rewards.

But if, saying you will do a good deed, you give away as charity what you earned, your wife and children's money or their provision, here too you fall into sin. That is, you will know where to do what.

You will have the strength to manage yourself.

Leaving your wife and children hungry and giving their provision to others for the sake of doing a good deed is not right. What is beyond your own needs you can give in the way of Allah as (?). If you can give the excess you have for the sake of Allah, without worldly desire, without longing for the world, in return you buy Paradise, we said. Whoever, He says, buys Paradise with his life and his wealth.

Yes. Whoever buys Paradise with his life and his wealth.

Paradise, who buys it? We said in our previous lesson. Allah created Paradise. Sir, Allah created material things. If you can give the material things He created back to the one who created them, the Creator grants you the Paradise He created. So this is charity in the way of Allah. Allah Almighty in a verse: whoever buys Paradise with his wealth and his life. Giving the wealth beyond your need as charity to Allah's servants for good deeds means giving your wealth to Allah. For this reason its reward is great. You will have bought Paradise.

Yes.