Ali 'Imran 154: After that sorrow, Allah has sent down security upon you so that some of you were overcome by light sleep. And another group which was overcome by fear for their lives was having unlawful thoughts - from the time of ignorance - towards Allah, saying “is this our concern?” Say “the matter (victory, help and all decisions and orders) belong to Allah”. They hide in them what they cannot reveal to you. They say, “if there were anything concerning us, we would not be killed here”. Say “even if you stayed at your homes, for those for whom death was determined, they would go to the place of their death by themselves”. Since Allah knows what is in your hearts, (Allah did this) to purify you from what you have in your hearts. Allah truthfully knows that which is inside you.

We left off at Surah Al-Imran, verse 154. We continue from here. Verse 154. We continue from the verse.

Then, after that sorrow, Allah sent down upon you a sense of security, such that the drowsiness it brought overcame some of you. And a group, anxious about their own lives, wrongly entertained about Allah thoughts like those of the age of ignorance. They were saying: "What do we have of this matter?" Say: the matter, victory, help — the decision and command of everything belongs entirely to Allah. They hide within themselves what they cannot reveal to you. They say: "Had we any part in this matter, we would not have been killed here." Say: even if you had stayed in your homes, those for whom being killed was decreed would of their own accord have gone out to the places where they would fall slain.

To test what is within you and purify what is in your hearts, Allah did so. Allah knows everything within you, it says. Yes. Let us open up the verse, reading it (?), these things.

After the victory they won at the Battle of Uhud, with the defeat they then suffered, grieving over the (?) of the loved ones they lost, they lived sorrow upon sorrow, grief upon grief. Now, now, if we were to tell this part a little as if living it. A battle turned from victory into defeat, (?) wounded and martyrs given.

Plus, the greatest grief: the news that the Prophet had died had spread. People aimless, bewildered about what to do, (?) scattered all around. The weight this put on a person's stress, on the human mind — the weight it placed there, can you bear it? Living it, though: if a person carried a load on his back until evening, even for days on his back, as much as his strength can bear, even if he carried that load on his back, when he comes home and sits down, he rests, he rests. But this, as a heavier form of that load, on the human muscles, human stress, human feelings, had an effect, and the person under its weight was finished.

Finished. Right at the moment they were finished, the Prophet being alive, and being by his side, they surrendered themselves to the Prophet, and Allah Almighty, giving them sleep, bringing them to peace, letting them rest. With sleep. By giving them a sleep. Because under that load the person was in a finished state, all muscles tensed, he let himself go, and all those negative thoughts suddenly ended, he found peace, and within that peace the person is lost to himself. So Allah Almighty, by giving them a, that faint-like sleep, brings them peace and lets them rest. And among them there are people, as I just described.

Not as I described — as Allah Almighty described just now. What are they? "What do we have of this matter?" it says.

"Had we any part in this matter, we would not have been killed here," they say. How beautifully Allah Almighty answers them. The moment a person's term is up, wherever he is to die, he goes there on his own feet. People cannot know certain things. One, the end of their life; two, where they will die; three, where and how much rain will fall; four, that day (?). These are matters of the unseen. They cannot be known. In that case, if a person is to die, as (?) said, they would go on their own feet to where they would die. So the gloom in the hearts of some, in others (?), with their love for Allah, people will fully bring themselves out into the open. What does it say anyway?

It belongs entirely to Allah, it says. What is that? Victory, command. That is, Allah Almighty programming these worlds and their running within the rule of the program; He has already programmed people within their own destinies and (?); no person can break this program of Allah Almighty within his own destiny. This is what Allah Almighty wants to point out. What does it say, entirely? "What do we have of this matter?" they say. It said: the matter, victory, help, the decision and command of everything belongs entirely to Allah. Yes.

They hide within themselves what they cannot reveal to you. "Had we any part in this matter, we would not have been killed here," they say. Say: even if you had stayed in your homes, those for whom being killed was decreed would of their own accord have gone out to the places where they would fall slain. So this is the answer, through the verse, that a person does not know where he will die. And that he cannot know how long his life is.

So after the Battle of Uhud they lived grief upon grief. More bitter than all of these was the fabricated lie, the rumor, that the Prophet (peace be upon him) had been killed; this news thereby devastated the noble Companions.

Finally, with the Prophet (peace be upon him) being alive, all the griefs dispersed; since love of Allah and the Prophet prevailed over all these created things, in place of grief and sorrow a relief came. What kind of relief this was, we tried a little earlier to explain. If faith were perfect, you would feel this. What does it say? If a believer cannot (?) share in the state of a believer, his faith has not reached perfection.

What fine believers these are.

Since love of Allah and the Prophet prevailed over these created things, in place of grief and sorrow a relief came. To those in this relief and sleep, a sleep comes from Allah. Abu Talha: "I too was among those overcome by this sleep. Many times my sword fell from my hand; I picked it up, it fell again, I picked it up, it fell again, and I picked it up again," he said. Talha.

Why? That blessed man is fighting that sleep. Can you feel this? Why is he fighting that sleep? With the rumor of the news that the Prophet had died, they were crushed, but (?) his survival, when they rallied around him, at the cost of their lives they rallied around him. So that no hostility, assassination or attack would reach him, that resistance against sleep, but our Lord giving him sleep and his sword falling from his hand, coming to himself again and, to protect the Prophet at the cost of his life, taking his sword in hand, the sword falling again, and his struggling with that sleep. And how beautifully he gave proof that he loved the Prophet more than his own life.

A group, anxious about their own lives, about Allah, wrongly fall into thoughts of the age of ignorance. "What do we have of this matter of victory?" they were saying. According to this verse, these are the hypocrites within the Muslim armies. These.

If we pay attention to the verse: "a group anxious about their own lives," it says. So not for Allah, but for their own lives; not for religion, faith, love of the Prophet, but for their own lives' sake, to protect their own property, the hypocrites who were alongside the Muslim unit. Yes. What does it say? "A group anxious about their own lives," it is said. That is: beside those who, out of Islam's love for Allah, unhesitatingly gave their lives to Allah and His Messenger, and who, despite (?) losing loved ones and property, on seeing the Prophet alive forgot all they had lost and were seized by great joy — that beside them the verse speaks of a group anxious about their lives, that they are called "those anxious about their lives", separates them from Islam and places them in the ranks of the hypocrites.

Yes. Towards Allah Almighty these wrongly fell into thoughts of the age of ignorance. Wrongly. And the age of ignorance still continues.

Where? In their own worlds.

The world has been illuminated by the light of the Prophet.

According to Allah Almighty's verse that He holds no one to account for what you (?) did not proclaim, the religion of Islam began to be proclaimed to the world. But people turn their backs on Allah's verses. If they leave themselves in darkness, they live in their own worlds, and in those worlds, to Allah Almighty's verse, they (?) remain. Their hearts are restless and scattered, it says. Yes.

Towards Allah Almighty these wrongly fell into thoughts of the age of ignorance. "What do we have of this matter?" they were saying. Of the age of ignorance. That is, they fall into states like those before the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) came. They still have not grasped the Prophet's glory, his greatness, Allah's absolute sovereignty. Yes. Yet in victory, in defeat, living and dying are in Allah's hand. Life and death are in Allah's hand. That is, no one dies before his life span is complete. And if a person's life span is complete, no one can keep him alive. If this unit is to be defeated from the start, no one can make it win. If that unit is to win, no one can defeat it either. This is our Lord's, according to the events within the destinies people themselves have given, programming of the worlds.

Yes, whatever Allah has decreed, that will happen. Allah is the Owner of wisdom. That is, what lies within these matters, what their end is, what will happen, Allah knows that. Why He did these things, this pain and sorrow, joy and gladness, why He gave them — we cannot know, it says. Our Lord knows why He gave them. Making us live those things, He showed us their states as examples and told us the wisdom in them. What is the wisdom? As the verse says, unless someone's life span is complete, he does not die. And if it is complete, no one can keep him alive. If We are to keep Our religion going until the Day of Judgment, it says, then according to the covenants you have given, We bring about these events.

So a battle being won, because of disobedience to orders, is turned into defeat too. So that you can (?) your feet, obeying orders is necessary — this too it makes known to us very beautifully. In this case the Prophet's hadith becomes manifest. "Even if the commander over you is as small as a raisin stem, obey him," it says. Obedience. That is, an Islamic commander, the Islamic commander over him — that is what it means — even if he is as small as a raisin stem, he cannot obey him.

Only if He explains the wisdom to us can we then grasp the created events. Here, we say, Allah Almighty explains this wisdom. Allah did this to test what is within you and purify what is in your hearts, He declares. To make us witnesses over ourselves and our taking refuge in Allah, in the finer, stronger sense, to strengthen it, He had this — because of disobedience to orders — how shall I put it, making them live grief upon grief, and in the end, with the Prophet being alive, joy coming to them. those (?) people, bewildered, at the moment they lost everything, suddenly have something again, and that under a load heavier than what a person carried on his back for days being crushed and suddenly finding peace — that person's time of relief, if you can imagine it, Even if a person's whole body were covered in wounds, and if you (?) those wounds on his body with daggers, believe me, within that peace he would not feel the pain.

Yes, such a peace this is.

Who tastes it knows; who does not, does not.

As I explained in the earlier verses too, Allah does not write reward or sin for what passes through people's hearts before they put it into deeds. What does Allah Almighty say? "Did you think you would die before proving what kind of person you are?" He says. He creates events to make people witnesses over themselves and people, through their actual deeds, make themselves witnesses before Allah Almighty. So what passes through people's hearts — to make them witnesses over themselves, He creates these events this way. Since in the end victory will be (?), Allah makes people (?) what is within them through the deeds they do, and rewards those who are patient with victory.

Wherever Allah has decreed death for a person, surely, by creating causes for him, the person, to the place where he will die, to the place he will die, goes by his own will. To the place he will die. Because their desires and wishes, their aims, are people's destiny, wherever in his destiny he will die, he will long for that place, a cause will be created: he will want to see his child, or want to see his property and possessions, or want to see his grandchild, his grandfather, the places his father left him he will want to see once more. He will want, that is, he will go, and there, on his own feet, fall and die.

According to this verse, that events were programmed, programmed beforehand becomes proven.

It is that Allah Almighty knows what passes through the hearts of all His creatures. Because He gave them their desires, wishes and aims as destiny, gave them as character. With those characters people have desires and wishes. And according to those desires, Allah creates causes. People who carry out deeds prove what kind of people they are.

Their saying, "Had we been in our homes, death would not have come to us, or we would not have been killed," is the talk of people in their ages of ignorance. So if they had been noble Companions, they, those among them, those hypocrites, if they had been noble Companions, they would not have talked like this. The noble Companions who were with the Prophet at every turn? What was the virtue of the noble Companions? A person who pledged allegiance to the Prophet, said with his tongue "Eşhedü en lâ ilâhe illallah ve eşhedü enne Muhammeden abdühû ve resûlüh" and confirmed it with his heart would at once come to know the manifestations of Allah Almighty.

So these, as believers, would give their lives and never again leave the religion of Islam.

A person in this (?), would he, ever anxious about his life, like those people talked, say "What do we have of this matter?" Is that possible? Is that possible? Yes. Their saying, "Had we been in our homes, death would not have come to us or we would not have been killed," is the talk of people in their ages of ignorance. Another meaning understood from this verse is that people should put their trust in Allah Almighty, that there is no creator other than Him and that the final stop is the presence of Allah Almighty, and then that of all that has been done Allah Almighty will inform us — this it makes known.

O mankind!

Never lie in His presence. Look, He will say, "This is what you were." Just as we take a photograph. This photograph of ours — that is, the rays that our face or the clothing on us reflect, if in that (?) exactly they pass one to one and reflect us, on the (?), on the (?) you fix it. Can Allah Almighty not freeze these rays we have reflected and show them to us through His knowledge? Look today at the planes flying in the air, 30-40 thousand, 50 thousand, 60 thousand up, the jet-engined planes; what comes out behind them, (?), meets that cold layer of air and freezes and leaves a trail. Yes, a trail appears.

So tomorrow, in that supreme court, your traces (?). As the ancestors said,

in the world snows fall, tracks are covered. But with Allah, tracks are not covered. Know this to be so. All (?) pass by people's doors but at Allah's door they stay fixed. Yes.

So in this world, all the deeds we will do are, of ourselves, complete proof; Allah Almighty (?), when He calls us to account in the hereafter, then the verse: "Today what everyone has earned, in full, so that no one is wronged, what everyone has earned will be given to him in full," it says. In full. So we say: O mankind, reflect a little. Think a little.

What will our end be? (?): being turned between the world's two wheels, drowning you in pain and sorrow, your world of the hereafter — saving it. Or your living in pomp in the world will not save your hereafter either. So instead of thinking about the end of these, if we think about the end at the close of our life, we win.

What is it? The end at the close of our life. What does it say, supporting it from the verse? Every soul shall taste death, and in the end your return is to Us, it says. So then, if we think of that place, in every deed we do, in every word we speak, every object we hold with our hand, every direction we walk with our feet, wishing, as if we were doing work in Allah's presence — if we do so, then our end is salvation. Otherwise our situation is hard.

What does it say? It makes known that Allah Almighty will inform us. In the hereafter we will give full account there of what we did. Allah Almighty knows what is within people, what passes through their hearts. Allah Almighty, what is within people. That is, what is in your heart? Second by second. "Even what you need but do not know, the secrets in the most remote corner of your heart, We know," it says. What you need but cannot know, We know. Because we have been programmed. We have taken on characters according to our own wish. Allah Almighty knows what we will do according to those characters, and when we desire those characters, Allah Almighty will create their deeds, and we will prove ourselves to be such a person — what does the verse say?

"There is not one living being to come until the Day of Judgment of which We do not know what it will not do," so. The verses all support one another and so on. If this were a human (?), many words that do not agree with one another you would find (?). Yes. In one verse Allah declares, knowing the (?) of their destiny. Because Allah the Creator made a covenant with the person at Kalû Belâ and, in proportion to his wish, his destiny He wrote for the person as destiny. Allah has programmed all people with their destinies. Within their own destinies.

In fact, man finished his business at the address "Elest-i Rabbiküm". True. Our business was finished there.

But: "O Allah, You created me like Your essence. You gave me a (?) from Yourself. We could not know this. We took You to be like ourselves. If You had sent us to an unseen world, made Your essence known, we would have known You." So that they would not say this, it was created from this world. We read that in Surah Al-Mulk too, anyway. What does it say in Surah Al-Mulk? Look.

We read in our last lesson these three verses. Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. Tebârekellezî biyedihi'l-mülk. Ve hüve alâ külli şey'in kadîr. Exalted above all is Allah, in whose hand is absolute dominion, and He has power over all things. That is, He is all-powerful over everything. Ellezî halaka'l-mevte ve'l-hayâte li yebluveküm eyyüküm ahsenü amelâ Ve hüve'l-azîzü'l-gafûr. He who, to see which of you will act better, to make you witnesses over yourselves, created death and life. He is the Almighty, the Most Forgiving. Yes, and then in the third verse, what does it say? Ellezî halaka seb'a semâvâtin tıbâkâ. That is, He who created seven heavens in harmony with one another — and it goes on from there anyway.

So our Lord in fact finished the matter there too. But Allah Almighty, free from deficient attributes, sent us to the unseen world. To the unseen world. In the unseen world He dressed us in an outward garment. This bodily garment you see. And man identified himself with this. Whereas that is an image of you reflected in a mirror — I could not know. That these forms of ours are an image reflected in a mirror, I could not know. That is, the reflection of our soul. Outwardly, its appearance, outward. In this case man, within this outward appearance, those lying in the soul — the characters, this body — the soul that governs it desires as it is; Allah Almighty (?) what they say; in man, as in this mirror: whatever movement a person makes, does the body in the mirror not make the same movement? So the body that it calls entirely upon the Islamic fitrah, that it gives entirely to the soul's command, and the soul wholly enveloping the body and moving it as it wishes; so the body being given to man as a trust, with the verse "I will call you to account for the way you used the trusts I gave you," — when the souls are paired, in the world of the hereafter. Where it says "We seal your mouths, bind your feet, and make your hands speak", and finally the soul saying to the body, "Why do you testify against me?" and finally, after the testimony is over, "You are returned to the One who first created you" — it says, and the body (?) tastes death a second time.

All of this has been forgotten. Man has identified himself with this flesh and bone, thinking that's what he is, and knowing it so he carries on. Yet he is acting very wrongly. This visible body of flesh and bone is a shadow of a person's appearance in the mirror. So then, you, within this shadow, take your existence to be yourself and of your soul, that is, your essence, are unaware; that Allah Almighty will call to account in the hereafter, and that when called to account, without ever benefiting from the body, you will part from it and in paradise or hell live in light, in spirit — do you know that?

And in that case, if you return not to your body but to your soul, if in that soul you are in love with your Lord, if you take your place in His ranks, then within this body materially and spiritually you will journey. Materially and spiritually.

Yes. Never see these worlds as you see them outwardly, in a way that fits within your own mind.

Just as an accident happens. A man survives an accident. "I'm done for, I'm dead," he says. The other says, "There is always worse." Of course. If one of your arms came off, both arms could have come off. If both arms and one leg were lost, the other leg could have gone too. Or so I would have known it. That is, there is always worse. So beyond worlds there are worlds upon worlds.

Let us continue.

Without diving too deep, without diving too deep, let us continue with the verses.

It is that Allah Almighty knows what passes through the hearts of all His creatures. Their saying, "Had we been in our homes, death would not have come to us or we would not have been killed," is the talk of people in the age of ignorance. We have passed these. Allah Almighty knows (?) within people, what passes through their hearts. In a verse Allah (?). Because Allah the Creator made a covenant with the person at Kalû Belâ and, in proportion to his wish, his destiny He wrote for the person as destiny. Allah has programmed all people with their destinies.

We have come to this point. This is where we had stopped anyway. In fact, man finished his business at the address "Elest-i Rabbiküm". He has been stamped wretched (şaki) or God-fearing (muttaki). Wretched or God-fearing. What does this mean? Either obedient to Allah, or (?), non-Muslim. What does the Prophet say in his hadiths? A child, while in the mother's womb — wretched or God-fearing, is it known?

Is it wretched, is it God-fearing? (?) Allah, Allah Almighty knows, he says. A child. While in the mother's womb, is it wretched or God-fearing? Allah knows this. How does He know?

We explained it in our previous lesson too. The souls being divided into three groups in the world of Lahut — Ziya, our son, also of course asked: who was the Lord of those (?)? And so on — mashallah, may Allah protect him. Of course he will ask. And we explained it to them. Allah Almighty saying, "I am your Lord." Their separating there in their earlier state. Their separating in groups. So a verse points to their separating into groups. We divided you on earth into peoples so that you may be recognized quickly. We separated from there. Everything is programmed. Here too we come people by people.

On our return, again in the same way, to where? To the barzakh. So we were created in that world of Lahut. Allah Almighty made a covenant with us. And raised us to the barzakh. In that barzakh is the era of those souls' (?). Whatever time the soul coming into time has wished, Allah Almighty takes it from there; so when He says "Allah knows what is in the wombs" — you know, "is it a girl or a boy", they explain it so; we have been contesting that for years. This verse is not like that. Look, today you know whether it is a girl or a boy. From this world of barzakh, whether Allah Almighty will take a girl or a boy from there, Allah knows that. Will He give that person a girl or a boy?

Allah knows this. So "Allah knows what is in the wombs." That is, Allah knows what He will send there. And whether it is wretched or God-fearing? Allah knows that. He knows it from here. The verses (?).

These are all the counterparts of the verses.

He has been stamped wretched or God-fearing. In a hadith the Prophet (peace be upon him) says that a child, while in the mother's womb, its (?) is evident. It is evident. He declares. Upon this the noble Companions said, "O Messenger of Allah, then let us do no work at all. Our destinies have been written according to our covenant anyway," they say. They are right. The Companions, according to their own covenant, of course. The Companions, in fact these questions were to enlighten us. What does the Prophet say in response? When they said, "If wretched, we are wretched; if God-fearing, we are God-fearing," the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "It is not as you think.

If you are wretched, the paths of the wretched are made easy for you." You will desire it. And you will desire deeds. Because you are living. There's eating and drinking too, you will desire them. And with those carnal feelings, yourselves — according to the verse "Did you think you would die without proving what kind of person you are?" You will live according to desire, according to wishes. Yes, if you are wretched, the paths of the wretched are made easy for you. When by your wish (?) you increase those wretched paths, Allah Almighty creates events for you. And when you put your intentions into action, you carry out those events.

You become wretched. That is, you become a sinner or an unbeliever. If you are God-fearing, the paths of the God-fearing are made easy for you. That is, whatever the desire and wish, from Allah Almighty. This time those paths are made easy for you. Again, Allah Almighty creates events according to your wish. And when you put these into action, you receive reward. Since every person, within the covenant he gave, his own wish — and since this wish was written for him as destiny, he will live his destiny — so his own (?) and paths of wish are made easy for him. In this respect, the covenant a person gave at the address he lives in the world. That is, the covenant a person gave there, when he made a covenant with your Lord, at the Bismillahirrahmanirrahim address, when we made a covenant with Allah Almighty, whatever kind of covenant we (?), our wish settled in us as characters.

Within those characters our destiny was drawn. That destiny, although we ourselves wished it — that what we will be a second later we do not know, that the keys of the unseen are in Allah Almighty's hand, and that our script was written there and we, as actors, perform here.

Our playing the extras. Proves ourselves, what kind of people we are. When one looks at a verse, at any verse, so that in that verse one has some knowledge, the verses I explained will be repeated, I had said. What did I say? People not reading the book from the start, when any verse is looked at, so that in that verse one has some knowledge, the verses I explained will be repeated, I had said. Yes, Allah Almighty is free from deficient attributes. No one will be able to question or interrogate Allah Almighty because of His attribute of being Allah. What was Allah Almighty's attribute of being Allah?

All the questions people would ask, Allah Almighty will make them live; within actual deeds a person will be left without questions; facing the deeds he committed he will be left without questions. Allah Almighty will have created all the events they would ask about. For this reason, since people were created close to Allah Almighty in their creation, so that people would not say to Allah Almighty, "Had You sent me to a world where Your essence is not seen, look how I would have worshipped You," Allah Almighty has sent people to an unseen world where His essence is not seen. People, by their actions, make themselves witnesses before Allah.

In this respect, since people are free within their will, by earning reward and sin through their deeds they become responsible before Allah Almighty. Yes.