Al-Baqarah 280: If (the borrower is) under shortness, one should wait (and give time) until ease comes upon him. If you understand the truth, it is better for you to count this as spending for good (or obligatory alms).

Yes, the word I just mentioned appeared right away in the verse. What does it say? If the debtor is in hardship, he must be given respite until his means become easier.

If you understand the truths, counting it as charity or zakat is better for you.

Either charity or zakat. If the (?) is more than enough, let it be charity to you. If not, if I am in a position to get by, I count it as zakat.

Yes.

So Allah Almighty, to the people He created, has in the most beautiful way shown life-giving events to us. Together with His verses. In this case, as long as people turn their backs on Allah's verses, they are doing wrong to their own selves. They are not aware of it. Charity increases a person's wealth. It wards off coming calamities. Giving this charity is already within destiny, and within destiny there are also calamities that will come to you. Through the charity you have given, Allah Almighty removes those calamities within destiny from you.

Property and possessions: from the wealth Allah gave you, couldn't He give to that person in need? He could give it in an instant. But within our destinies He tests us with one another. And by being tested with one another, we prove what kind of people we are. In our behaviour. In our conduct and actions. Yes. So, if the debtor is in hardship, he must be given respite until his means become easier. If you understand the truths, writing it off, counting it as charity or zakat is better for you. See what it says? If you understand the truths, if you understand the truths. What are the truths? As I just said, the truths are knowing that property and possessions belong to Allah Almighty, knowing that property and possessions belong to Allah Almighty; just as He gave to me, He could have given to him in an instant, and I could have fallen into his situation, I could have come to be in need. In this case, if my Lord gave me this wealth, then according to the verse 'who buys Paradise with their wealth and their lives', how can I transfer this wealth of mine to the hereafter?

It is in giving charity to those servants of Allah who are in need. You transfer your wealth from here to the hereafter. If you give the wealth Allah bestowed on you for Allah's sake, Allah in turn sells you His Paradise, which He also created. What a great thing this is, if you understand the truth of course, if with your faith you fully believe in the hereafter and that our return one day is to Allah, and that before Allah Almighty, (?) at the Resurrection, in the Supreme Court, we will be called to account, if we know this. Let us read the tafsir we wrote; let's see what we said here.

In Islam, Allah always wills that people help one another. Why does He will that they help one another? Because Islam is brotherhood. If there is mutual help among brothers, the bonds of love between them grow. Through these bonds of love Islam is strengthened, a strength arises. Strength. So Allah Almighty wants Islam to be strengthened through bonds of love, people to keep away from enmity toward each other through these bonds of love, and again, through these bonds of love, people on earth to live in a festive spirit, and, living in this festivity and feeling peace in their hearts, in the most beautiful way to build up their world and meet their Lord.

That is why Allah Almighty wills that people help one another.

He encourages them to help one another. People's helping one another has very great ranks in the sight of Allah. First, through the help given or the money lent, people are saved from hardship. They get through their troubles and find relief. Also, people's love for one another grows. In a hard time a person finds a helper at his side. Islam preserves its unity and togetherness. Lending and borrowing, in the sight of Allah, is people's help and solidarity toward one another. In such cases Allah rewards the borrower and the lender alike. Both of them. Why does He reward the borrower?

My owner is Allah, and your owner is Allah. That is in your destiny, and this is in my destiny. Couldn't He have given to me as He gave to you? He could have. I accepted the state my Lord put me in; I am in hardship. I am asking you for money.

This was not in my hands; I worked and still ended up like this, but I truly am in debt. What shall I do? I ask. Well, wouldn't Allah Almighty then have wronged this servant who asks? Why does He make him ask? He is the owner of this one, and the owner of that one. We are to be tested with one another, after all; when we humbly bow our heads and borrow from them, because our Lord's command over us is like this, within our destiny He gives reward to me too. You accepted your situation. You did not rebel. Here is a reward for you, He says. And you, without looking at material things, helped that servant of Mine in need for My sake. You gave not to him but to Me, He says.

Here is a reward for you too, He says. See how beautiful. In Islam there is reward in taking and in giving.

If only people knew this. Yes.

If the one who borrowed money is in hardship, he is to be given respite until his means become ample. Ahmet Efendi gave me 20,000 lira, 30,000 lira. You gave it, but I have no money. What shall I do? When he says 'give me my money' now, in my hard time, what will I do?

Then people will have turned the good deeds they did into sin. They will have turned them into evil. Then the person in hardship who took the money says: so-and-so, I was really in a squeeze and took money, and now he does this to me. He backbites about him. He speaks badly of him. And that person, exploiting his hardship, casts his eye either on his property or on his honour. Isn't that so? Is this Islam? That is why it says 'until his means become easier'; give him respite. Give respite. Well, but I need it too, you will say. Why did you give this money? You gave it as surplus. Yes, I gave it as surplus then, but now I need it too.

Believe me, in return for that loan you gave, your Lord has given you more, but you are not aware of it. Why are you not aware? You lent so-and-so twenty thousand lira, thirty thousand lira. You lent forty thousand lira. Then you see your business has opened up, it is going well. It is going. You buy, you earn. After that you set your eyes higher, you invest there beyond your means, and you say, 'give me my money, friend.' This time, to the person. Yet Allah gave you more than that; you did not understand this, you turned to another venture, and so you set out to pressure him. Then Allah puts you in a real bind.

This is what one must pay attention to.

One must pay attention to these things. Yes.

Why did we give this money to people, we say? We helped so that he would get through his trouble; it is Allah who gives sustenance. The person could not earn; he was in no position to pay us back the money we gave. Yes, there is giving him further respite. If this person, within the respite we gave, is still unable to pay his debt: if you understand the truths, it says. What were the truths? The sum our Lord gave us, He could have given him too, and we could have been in his situation. So if we are being tested with one another, and I also know that, although I did this person this favour in line with my Lord's verses, my Lord gave me more in return for it, then I should almost not raise my voice about it, and I should put my trust in my Lord.

Yes. If you understand the truths, counting this as charity and zakat is better. You see that the person is in no position to pay it back to me. He won't be able to pay.

You can't count it as charity either; it is a large sum. If you are a very clever person, you will count it, of course. You count it as zakat. But be careful.

To one person, to one group, you cannot count this as charity.

You cannot count it as zakat. You cannot count it as charity or zakat. Which group? The Prophet's lineage. For them you cannot count it as zakat, nor as charity. But you can make a gift. For them there is the gift. 'I have made you a gift,' you say. You still give your zakat, you give your charity. Pay attention to this too. What is meant by 'if you understand the truths', what is meant by 'if you understand the truths': you cannot bring a single particle from this world to the hereafter. Since the wealth of the world will stay in the world again, the inheritance of the heavens and the earth and of the wealth between the two belongs to Allah.

Yes, if you count the debt the debtor cannot pay as charity and zakat, then you have sent (?) ahead to the hereafter, we realize. It would be better for you. So by lending money you attain a reward, but if you count it as charity and zakat, you attain a greater reward than from lending money. May Allah grant us good understanding and resistance against our nafs, and, reforming the nafs, make us good servants of Allah.