Al-Baqarah 270: Whatever it is that you spend and whatever it is that you devote, Allah surely knows. For the oppressors, there is no help.

Yes, we said that the verses always confirm one another; no verse contradicts any other verse. What does the verse say? Allah Almighty: until the Day of Judgement there is not a single living being of which we would not know what it will not do. So, every (?) you make and every vow you make, Allah surely knows. To explain it more deeply: our wishes and desires, our aims, He who gave them to us as destiny, who in that Elestü bi-Rabbiküm address made a covenant with us, Allah Almighty knows what we will do. He placed characters in us accordingly anyway, and within those characters we came into the world to prove ourselves in our own way.

We continue our lesson. Every spending you make and every vow you make, surely Allah knows. The wrongdoers have no helpers at all. What did we say? There is not a single living being to come until the Day of Judgement whose deeds Allah Almighty would not know. So, in this case, a person

will know that he is always in plain view before Allah. Those characters that Allah Almighty gave him, those characters, the things that person wished for from Allah Almighty, within those, within the characters our Lord gave him, Allah Almighty knows, in the good deeds and spending people do, what kind of good and spending it is.

On evil? He spends. On good? He spends. Does he seem to spend on good while making his own nafs his god, or does he truly, in deed, give for Allah? So those who spend their wealth on a bad path and those who give their wealth for show, for ostentation, in this case they are wrongdoers against their own selves. And the wrongdoers have no helpers at all, it says. Which wrongdoers are these? The wrongdoers outside the religion of Islam who turn away from Allah and make their nafs a god. So, it says, in another verse, not the continuation of this verse, that is not the one that follows it, what does our Lord say?

There they are alone and without anyone. There they have neither an intercessor nor helpers, it says.

Let us read the verse. Let us see what it says in the verse. Allah Almighty has tied people's deeds to their intentions. Right. As I explained a moment ago, Allah Almighty knows our intentions. That's it. Is the spending we do for Allah? Or is it done for show? Allah knows. Yes. Allah Almighty gives us rewards and sins accordingly. These rewards and sins, one to three, one to five, one to seventy, one to seven hundred; what did the previous verse say? One grain that yielded seven ears. In each ear there are a hundred grains, it says. Yes. In this respect, the spending we do and (?) vows are for Allah.

Otherwise, spending done for show, charity given by hurting a person, since it satisfies a person's nafs, has no reward in Allah's sight.

Let us read this part once more. Look how beautiful. Otherwise, spending done for show, charity that hurts a person.

That is, hurting him in front of others, or beside him, or with your words, giving it to the one in need, giving it as charity, and he, because he is in need, is forced to take it; charity you give like this, since it satisfies the nafs, that is, since it satisfies the nafs of the person who does that good deed, or that act, that charity, since it satisfies his nafs, it has no reward in Allah's sight. Rather, this may even become a sin. He did a good deed, it was written. When you say it has no reward, we now explain this. Of course, if we explained all of it, as I always say, this could not be written.

You did a good deed. You wrote it.

We wrote it. Allah Almighty will write it. In this case you did a good deed. We wrote it. But you did this good deed in a way that hurts. And you satisfied your nafs. The sin you earn is greater than that. In this case your reward is gone. And perhaps it even turned into a sin. You are responsible for that too. What will Allah Almighty say tomorrow on the Day of Judgement? O so-and-so, human whom I created. (?) If he associated partners with Allah. O human whom I created.

Who was the owner of this wealth and property? 'You,' he will say. Who created these worlds? 'You,' he will say. As I gave to you, could you not give to the one who showed you his need? 'I could have,' he will say. So We test you with one another, and you prove yourself to be a wrongdoer in this way. In this case you now have neither a helper nor anyone at all. Go on, I say. Where to? To the prison you deserve. Where is the prison? Hell, in our Lord's sight. Yes.

The vows you make are like this too.

Vowed sacrifices are slaughtered for Allah, in the name of Allah. If you make a vow in someone else's name and slaughter it, that sacrifice may not be eaten, and you become a sinner because you have associated partners with Allah. You become a sinner because you have associated partners with Allah. For example, there are some of our people. Ignorant people. He goes to such-and-such a saint's tomb. Let's say Ahmet Efendi is a saint buried there. 'O Ahmet Efendi, if this matter of mine works out, I will slaughter a rooster.' He vows a rooster. Well, this rooster may not be eaten, and the vow is not a vow.

In no way does help come from that tomb, from that wali, from that saint. Help is from Allah. From Allah. You make a person an intermediary. Whom? A living person. 'Hodja, Ahmet, Mehmet, whoever. I have this matter. Why? Make a prayer for me.' Ah, look. 'Make a prayer.' May Allah be pleased with you. Of course we will pray, God willing. Look, you did not ask it of me. You did not ask it of Ahmet or Mehmet. From whom did you ask? From Allah. What did you do? You knew your own nafs to be in need. You knew Ahmet Efendi to be a friend of your Lord. You knew that his word counts in your Lord's sight.

'Please, pray for me.' To our Lord, you are saying. How beautiful. This is acceptable. For example, he says, 'Hodja, pray to my Lord, and if my matter works out, I will slaughter a vowed sacrifice for Allah, for His servant.' Look, again. But he did not ask it of Ahmet or Mehmet. He asks directly from Allah. Because he knows that Ahmet or Mehmet is a friend of his Lord, he (?) him as an intermediary. An intermediary. Otherwise, people in their ignorance saying to (?), 'If this matter of mine works out, I will do this, I will do that,' and making vows, God forbid, is associating partners with Allah.

If their intention were not for Allah, all of them would become unbelievers. Those who fall into shirk. They become polytheists. Polytheists. Yes. So people who have acted in this way, because they have wronged their own selves, are wrongdoers. In the hereafter they have neither helpers nor intercessors. And Allah has cut off His mercy from them. These are the people of hell. God forbid. Allah will protect us from such a thing, from such an end.