Talk of 12 August 2023

Where did we leave off?

There are many questions. There are many questions, Hodja. Page 203, (?) 2. Surah Al-Hijr, 12. We left off at Surah Ibrahim. Surah Ibrahim.

We left off at Surah Yusuf, verse 53, page 241. Now let's open this here too.

It says "student, guest". Who is this student guest? Student guest.

Guest, guest. (?), may Allah be pleased with you, Hodja. My masters, (?) and so on. It has already ended here.

What about you? You know, even if those realms are closed, in what we cannot know, a familiarity with it like. Wait, let's see.

Yes.

Now there is a question here.

This hasn't opened yet. I don't know why it didn't open.

It opened. It opened, it's there. It's there, it's open.

Peace be upon you, sir.

Our Lord sends the Holy Quran, so that it can be easily understood by people, in Arabic. Sir, when our Lord made the covenant, if every soul knew Arabic, even though those realms are closed, is it because there is something like a familiarity with it in our memory that we can understand it more easily? May Allah be pleased with you, sir, it says. Yes. What are you saying?

I didn't understand. What isn't there? I didn't understand, Hodja. You didn't understand the question? Let me read the question again.

Sir, our Lord sends the Holy Quran, so that it can be easily understood by people, in Arabic. Sir, when our Lord made the covenant, if every soul knew Arabic, even though those realms are closed, is it because there is something like a familiarity with it in what we cannot know that we can understand it more easily, it says. You cannot know this; without having seen it, you cannot know it. Now Allah Almighty sent the Holy Quran in Arabic so that it would be understood better. Better. What does "better" mean? It is because all languages derive from Arabic. Arabic is the richest speech among languages.

Since all languages derived from it, all languages more or less have some of Arabic's words in their own language. But when Allah Almighty spoke with us, in the language we speak in the world, we understood Him. We understood His speech. Perhaps He spoke Arabic, but the English understood that Arabic in their own language. The French understood it in their own language. What does this resemble?

An English speaker is speaking. The others have headphones in their ears and listen in their own languages. Like that. Everyone heard Allah Almighty's speech in their own worldly language. I too heard it in my own language. I heard it in Turkish. Yes. That's why I say it like this. We are not saying it from our own minds.

That is the answer to this question.

Let's move on to another question.

Is there another question we didn't understand? Let's read it once more.

It sends it in Arabic, sir. Because the Quran is the richest language, and since Allah Almighty's speech is based on letters, so that people can understand it better, language by language, He sends it in Arabic, a vast language. Because Allah's speech is based on letters. That's why, as I said earlier, all languages, the languages used on earth, have a little something from the root of Arabic. So, since even a bit of Arabic has mixed into their own languages, so that they can convey the Quran better, He sends it in Arabic anyway. Then there is another question from a guest. Having suspicion about someone and feeling bad things toward them, or thinking them, is that due to a shortcoming of our own nafs?

May Allah be pleased with you, sir. It is not right to have suspicion about anyone. There is nothing that does not pass through people's hearts. This is not suspicion. As long as you don't put it into action, everything passes through your heart. This doesn't necessarily mean it is your shortcoming. But if you program it, plan it, and put it into action, then it comes from your nafs's shortcoming. But bad feelings also pass through people's hearts. You also have suspicion about them. You also make assumptions about them. But you say nothing. You talk as if nothing had happened. Then you see that everything that passed through my heart was nonsense.

It was Satan's temptation. Yes.

There is one more question here. Peace be upon you, sir. Unless I heard it wrong and understood it wrong in a lesson, I remember hearing something like this. I remember hearing that no one can perform a (?) prayer. Sir, does this include the Prophet (peace be upon him) too? And also, sir, again unless I heard and understood wrong, if we pray more than half of the prayer thinking of Allah, contemplating, does our Lord accept that prayer as if we had prayed a complete prayer and reward it, sir? May Allah be pleased with you. Now, in the first thing you heard there is a small gap. A small one. The Prophet (peace be upon him) says: there is no one who prays thinking fully of Allah in the prayer.

He also says it to Hazrat Ali; "I can," he says. If you do, he says, I will give you my vest. Hazrat Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) stands for prayer. At the end of the second rak'ah he wonders: will he give me his old vest or his new vest?

Yes. Now, don't mix in the Prophet (peace be upon him), because about him there is nothing in any hadith on this matter. Sir, we say this about all people, about the worlds. Yes, surely man... Allah Almighty created people of the kind that forgets, and people are absent-minded. If people had not forgotten the torments, the troubles, the pains they went through in life, life would have become unbearable for them. That's why, even in prayer, a person drifts off; even for a moment something comes to mind. (?) In this case, it does not mean he prayed without contemplating Allah Almighty. What does the Prophet (peace be upon him) say?

If you pray most of the prayer, that is more than half, contemplating Allah Almighty, you will have performed your prayer completely, he says. These correspond to verses. We did not create you free of error; if you were faulty, He says, I would destroy you and create servants who commit errors, He says. How beautiful. And He created people of the kind that forgets. Of course, when a person takes something up, some things come to mind, and he remembers them. And when he remembers, it doesn't necessarily mean he has left it, or left the prayer. Yes. There is another question. All right. Peace be upon you, Hodja.

Surah Ar-Ra'd, verse 43, page 254, according to the Diyanet translation: Say, Allah suffices as a witness between me and you, and the prophet with Him who has knowledge of the Book, it says. Here, while by the Arabic there is a meaning like "those who possess the knowledge of the Book suffice", they said "the prophet who has the knowledge of the Book suffices". It is as if a meaning came out that, bearing witness that Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) is the Messenger, there were another prophet. Am I understanding it wrong? Wait a minute, let's look at that now. Let's open verse 41 on page 254.

It's better to read the verse.

Page 254

52 53, 54, page 254, there is no such thing here, um, Ar-Ra'd Surah, Surah Ar-Ra'd it's there, there, there, wait a minute, it 41, ah, 43. Page (?) 41, it says. It was 43. Look what it says: Those who disbelieve say, you are not someone sent as a Messenger. Say: Allah suffices as a witness between me and you, and with Him the prophet who has knowledge of the Book, it says. Correct. Here he himself says that he is Allah's Messenger anyway. And in the knowledge of the Book, of the Prophet, Hz. Muhammad (peace be upon him), that in the Gospel his name is Ahmad, that his name appears in some books too, that his name is Muhammad, since it says so, and since He sent him as the Seal of the Prophets, say you too: I, (?) Muhammad, when He sent a messenger, Allah's Messenger, here it is correct.

The knowledge of the Book, that is, Allah Almighty sent Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him), the Prophet, as Messenger. Yes, I am Allah's servant and Messenger, he says. What does it say here? They say: as a witness between me and you, Allah suffices. What does it say? Ve yekûlü'llezîne keferû, (?) (peace be upon him) says it. How beautifully he says it. Ve yekûlü'llezîne keferû. That is, the disbelievers said: you are not a Messenger. Kul kefâ billâhi şehîden. That is, they come as witnesses, it says. Ve beyneküm ve men indehû ilmü'l-kitâb. The knowledge of the Book, it says. With its knowledge.

So what is the knowledge of the Book? He sent me as Messenger. That is the knowledge of the Book. Allah, Messenger. That is, Allah suffices and the knowledge of the Book suffices too, it says. In the knowledge of the Book, that is, in the Book, it says this: Hazrat Muhammad is Allah's servant and Messenger, it says. He has come as a mercy to the worlds, it says. Ve mâ erselnâke illâ rahmeten li'l-âlemîn. This is the knowledge of the Book anyway. That is, it says it. He is a prophet, it says. And the Prophet says: I am a prophet too. And Allah says, since he says so, Allah suffices as a witness, it says.

The verse is correct. You sometimes misunderstood. Or you understood it incompletely. Not wrong, but somewhat incomplete. Yes. Those who disbelieve say, you are not someone sent as a Messenger. Say: Allah suffices as a witness between me and you, and with Him the one who has knowledge of the Book, the prophet. The knowledge of the Book: Allah Almighty's sending Hz. Muhammad (peace be upon him), the Prophet, as Messenger is the knowledge of the Book, and I am the Messenger (?) that knowledge of the Book, he means. Do you understand? That is the meaning. Yes. This one is like that too. Correct.

Is there another? Surah Ibrahim, 45. Verse, page 260, again in the Diyanet translation: of those before you who wronged yourselves, you dwelt in their dwellings, it reads. Here the word "yourselves", as if those who lived before, as if they had wronged those now living, such a meaning arises. Here, instead of saying "those who wronged yourselves", saying "those who wronged their own souls", could that be a more correct meaning? it asks. Now here, some people, once they begin to become versed in some Quranic (?), make many mistakes like this. Actually this is wrong. What is "their own souls"? What is "they wronged themselves"?

Wronging themselves is because of their own nafs. Because of themselves. Here both have the same meaning. There is nothing missing here. Look now. Let's open page 260. It's the place from before.

273, 267 262 On page 260, verse 45: Of those before you who wronged themselves, that is, in a town, before a people came, first the people there wronged themselves. What does wronging themselves mean? It means they wronged their own nafs.

Because spirit, nafs and life are one. The body is separate. Now, since spirit, nafs and life are one, "they wronged themselves" means they wronged their nafs. They wronged themselves. Now one must pay great attention to Allah Almighty's speech here. Allah speaks to a body, and He also speaks to the spirit. Here He speaks to the spirit, not the body. They didn't wrong the body, they wronged their own nafs. Now here, since body and spirit are one, since He put the body under the spirit's command, the body has no fault here. If the body had been at fault, if the body had wronged itself, When you come into My presence with a driver: that is, the spirit drives the body.

With a driver, that is, He says it to the body. When you come into My presence with a driver, who is the driver? The spirit. Sir, to whom does He say it? He says it to the body here, to the body. He addresses the body. We will silence your mouths, bind your feet, and make your hands speak, He says. Now in this case the spirit says: why are you speaking against me? This is the verse now. Who is speaking here? The spirit. Now the body speaks too. It says: the one who makes me speak is Allah, it says. Now here, the spirit's speaking, the body's speaking: did Allah Almighty address the body? Did He address the spirit? One must distinguish this.

Because you cannot distinguish it, you confuse it. Now here, if He had said "nafs", sir, where is the body? Inside the body this nafs, the nafs, inside the body, drives it. That is, it makes the body do it too. So then is the body separate? The nafs did it, so is the body separate? Together with the body. Then what happens? "Yourselves". That is, here body and spirit are all the same. It means "yourself, your own nafs". Otherwise the body has no fault. Now, for example, I went with myself and threw myself off a cliff. My body has no fault here. Allah Almighty will seize me: the trust I gave you, why did you take your own life before I took it?

So one must grasp these places well here. What does it say now? Which verse was this? 45. The verse. Of those before you who wronged yourselves, yourselves, how beautifully it says "yourselves", that is, from the body into the spirit, of those who wronged yourselves you dwelt in the dwellings. Now when Allah Almighty destroys a people, in its place He brings another people. So the people was destroyed, gone, and in its place another people comes. Allah creates another people.

In fact, in one verse He says this:

Though only a little time had passed since We destroyed their forefathers before them, how they returned to their forefathers' tracks, they became like their forefathers, He says. How beautiful. Right. That is, you cannot give meaning by one verse. There are many verses here.

Of those before you who wronged yourselves, you dwelt in their dwellings. For example, Pharaoh oppressed the Children of Israel. What did He do? He saved the Children of Israel. And He drowned Pharaoh in the sea. Others settled in their places. Yes, how We dealt with them became quite clear to you, and We gave you examples too, He says. That is, what He did to that destroyed people, or to the people before those in whose places you dwell, Allah Almighty has told it. How We dealt with them became quite clear to you, and We gave you examples too, He says. What is this? Warn of a day when the punishment comes, will come to them.

Warn. So, on the day the wrongdoers say: O our Lord, for a short term give us time so that we answer Your call and follow the messengers, it will be said to them: had you not sworn before that there would be no end for you? He says. This is said about the hereafter. So He destroyed them. How they were destroyed, Allah Almighty showed clearly, and He brought these later. Where these had dwelt, that is, over the people He destroyed, (?) He settled them. Here too it says it so beautifully. Of those before you who wronged yourselves, who wronged yourselves, you dwelt in the dwellings. That is, you dwelt in the dwellings of those who wronged themselves.

How We dealt with them became clear to you, and We gave you examples too. Now in the next part: the penalty of their schemes is with Allah; while defeated, they had set their traps. Yet the mountains were not going to move from their place by their schemes, it says. Here too there is a very great meaning. We programmed the worlds. No one can step outside this program. No matter how much anyone schemes. Everyone will live within their own covenant. They set a trap. We too set a trap. But His saying "We are the best of plotters" also comes into this verse. Yes. Let's see what else was asked.

Surah Al-Isra, verse 73, page 288, again in the Diyanet translation it reads: they were about to turn you away from what We revealed to you. This translation seems, God forbid, to create a meaning for the Prophet (peace be upon him) as if he almost would stray from the right path. While reading, could it perhaps be expressed more correctly like this: the polytheists, so that you would falsely attribute to Us something other than what We revealed to you, God forbid, wanted to turn you away and only then take you as a close friend, it says. Here, when the words you said are not in the verse, people pull it in other directions too.

You can't, um, do that to the verse, you can't change it. You give it meaning within the verses. Let's look at 288. What is there? Let's read that part.

Verse 73.

The polytheists, so that you would falsely attribute to Us something other than what We revealed to you, were about to turn you away from what We revealed to you, and only then would they have taken you as a close friend, it says. Now, because of your faith, when it says "they will turn you away", they can't turn him away anyway. Now let's pay close attention here. The polytheists, so that you would falsely attribute to Us something other than what We revealed to you, were about to turn you away from what We revealed to you. That is, twisting his verse, saying it should have been like this, yet it's not like that, they would turn him away.

And only then would they have taken you as a close friend. Look, they would have taken you as a friend. What is the meaning here? No matter how much they said this, to the Prophet what they said never did any good, in that sense.

They were about to turn you away from what We revealed to you, and only then would they have taken you as a close friend. So you accepted none of them. Allah Almighty raised the Prophet in such a way that, however convincingly they spoke to people, and when they said: if you accept this, we will then take you as a friend, what does he say? I do not go beyond what Allah says. I don't. Now, in this case there is a verse that corresponds to it. Corresponding to it. Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. Fe in tevellev fe kul hasbiyallâhu lâ ilâhe illâ hû, aleyhi tevekkeltü ve hüve rabbü'l- arşi'l-azîm. Even if everyone, all people, were on one side, say, He says: Allah, Lord of the great Throne of the heavens and the earth, suffices me, He says. That is, even if everyone turned their back on you.

So here too this is the counterpart of this verse. Verses confirm one another anyway. Look what it says here now. Only then would they have taken you as a close friend. So it said (?). Look, whatever you say, it said (?). He would not compromise on Allah. This word "would have" solves it all anyway. Yes. One must know the verses very well, word by word. Even if in some places small things like the ones you mentioned seem to appear, what happens in the end? It corrects it, for example. Because for the exact counterpart of the Arabic text the Turkish words are not enough. In this case one must find the most correct and write it.

And in some places there are indeed mistakes. We have corrected those anyway. Yes. Let's see what else it says here.

There's a student, a guest. Surah Yusuf, verse 53, page 241. Joseph: the nafs excessively commands evil. The nafs excessively commands evil. Except whom my Lord had mercy on and protected, he says. So that we don't fall into error, does our Lord protect us from the evils of our nafs? How is it? it says. Look, now there is a mistake here. Let's look there. Page 341.

223.

There's a mistake there. Three hundred thirty-six, thirty-nine, three one verse fifty-three. Fifty-two. Yet I do not absolve my nafs. My nafs, look, he says "my nafs", I do not absolve. The woman attacks Joseph from behind and tears his shirt, you know, sir; when it tore, they made it look as if Joseph had attacked the woman. But witnesses come. If the shirt is torn from the front, Joseph attacked, it says. If it is torn from behind, the woman attacked, it says. Seeing that the shirt was torn from behind, he himself says: I do not want to absolve my nafs. That is, I do not want to defend myself against the person, he says.

Sir, because the nafs excessively commands evil, he says; the nafs, he speaks the truth, because the nafs never wants to carry out Allah's command; the nafs was created that way. Now here, spirit, nafs and life, one must know them; these three are one, the body is separate. In fact, in Adam's body, after Allah Almighty created the earth, us, in the realm of Lahut, as spirit, nafs and life, (?), and after putting it into that body, He said: prostrate to him. He did not shape that earth into human form and, without putting in the spirit, say "prostrate to it". Now here, if you know spirit, nafs and life, the state of the spirit, what is it? What is the state of the nafs?

What is the state of life? You will know these. Life is aliveness. It is to keep you vigorous. The nafs will lead you to evil. To evil, (?). Now, if you get carried away by this spirit... that is, you are a commander. He says it to the spirit. You are a commander. But your nafs will eat, drink, have intercourse, let me say, take pleasure, live. It will taste. If you rule it excessively, if you excessively chase after it, it will drag you into disasters, He says. If you arrange your life in a normal way, conduct your marriage normally, let me say, your eating, your drinking, your worship, the bad things your nafs desires of you, some of them, you don't do.

To whom does He say this? To the spirit. The spirit is the commander. Now, if you don't know their states and here, by your own reasoning, you say this will be so, that will be so, you will be badly mistaken. First there must be a root. You will know that root. Here, what is the spirit, what is the nafs, what is life, what are their duties? If there were no nafs, a person could not taste life. It would be like a vegetative life, for example. (?) Whereas with the nafs you will travel, hold, take pleasure, sir, have intercourse, but Allah Almighty has bound everything to law; you will do it properly, He says. If it's left to it, He says, look, if it's left to this nafs, and you, He says, as its commander, He says, if you follow this nafs, He says, it will humiliate you, ruin you, He says.

But if you, the way I said, keep this nafs under your own command, He says, I will make you a vizier, I will raise you, He says. Because you won't follow the nafs. You will continue on Allah's path with what Allah said.

Yes.

Because the nafs commands you excessively to evil, he says. He's right. The nafs... now just think like this. You are a person of faith. You got up and, as someone on duty, they sent you to England. Or they sent you to America. They said, at the, um, in Texas, in a bar, you will do this duty. Well, you have faith, but they send you. That bar is the world. Now you have faith, but in that bar you protect yourself once, you protect yourself twice, and on the third you start to lean a little. Then, once you're swept away by the current there, if you forget by whom you were sent and your duty, you go excessively toward evil, you see.

That's it. This is what Allah Almighty says. So if we always remain upon faith, upon remembrance of the Truth, which is our five daily prayers, and besides that our tasbih, for example, sometimes we remember our Lord. In this way, toward Allah's commands, sir, always we try to stay alert. Because the nafs excessively commands evil. The deeper you dive, the more it fills. In the verse "Aduvvallâhi ve aduvveküm": your enemies and Allah's enemy, it says. They interpreted this wrongly too. Allah is no one's enemy; it means those who are enemies of Allah.

What is an enemy to man is the nafs: the nafs is an enemy, Satan is an enemy, the world is an enemy. The world. And his friends are his intellect, his faith, the inspiration Allah gives to man's heart. Now these are three friends and three enemies. You will prepare your place yourself. Are you on the side of the friend or of the enemy? And if you don't know these sciences, in places like this... this was interpreted wrongly like this. If you say "let's interpret it like this", all the mistakes come from here. When a person begins to understand a little, all mistakes in religion, going by reason, since there is no root, come out as wrong (?).

They give way to it. That's why this is not your job, like "this way is more correct, that way more wrong". Because this corresponds to a science. A science. The science of the Quran: with a single verse interpreted like this, when it's said that it goes to such excess, you must know its root. Why was this root given? Allah gives us this nafs excessive like this anyway. But the spirit is very honoured, above the worlds. It has will over everything. It is to that spirit that He gives this nafs. You will enjoy life, taste it, savour it, but according to the situation you will enjoy it. Otherwise, if you go to excess, the nafs takes you, drags you, and finally puts you on the road to hell, one of the two roads.

Yes. And if the same person doesn't go to excess and masters his nafs, the friend, one of them, on the road to Paradise on the right path goes and takes you into Paradise. There.

Yes. My Lord had mercy and protected, except, it says. Except whom my Lord had mercy on and protected. What is this? We make mistakes. Mistakes. When we make a mistake, we repent. Then, when we repent of the sin we committed with our nafs, our Lord forgives us that sin. There: My mercy has surpassed My wrath, Allah Almighty says in His verse. And the door of repentance is always open. This is what is meant here too. Yes.

Surely my Lord is Most Forgiving, Most Merciful. Look how beautifully it says it; it says it at the end. He is Most Forgiving, Most Merciful, it says. He did not create us free of error. It may be that we follow our nafs for a moment. But that prophet did not follow it. I am not going to absolve my nafs, he said. Look how beautifully he says it. Everything is out in the open anyway, he says. But for people, if one follows the nafs and the person knows he has been unruly with the nafs and does what Allah does not want, what has the person done? He has fallen into sin. There, He says, when you realize you have sinned, ask Me for forgiveness and let Us forgive you, He says. That's what He says anyway.

My Lord had mercy and protected, except, He tells us. Because He is very merciful. Surely my Lord is Most Forgiving, Most Merciful, it says. Yes.

Let's see what else it says here now. There's another place here. He wrote a lot here like this, but it's good. So he has read these; he reads them. God willing, he will understand well. He will grow.

We've finished these. 203. page, it says. On page 203.

12. We left off at Surah Al-Hijr, verse 12. Mashallah, we've gone on quite a while. On questions. What page is it (?)?

Two hundred and third page.

184, 193 199, 201 203. Yes.

On page 203, Surah Al-Hijr... it's not here, what is it? You had written it too. Surah Al-Hijr 12, Hodja. Al-Hijr 12? 12, Hodja. Why? There's no such thing on page 203.

Let's go to 202. Surah Ar-Ra'd is there. On 202. Yes? On 203 there's Surah Ar-Ra'd again.

Surah Ibrahim comes after that. This one says Surah Al-Isra.

It says Surah Al-Hijr. Whereas Surah Ibrahim comes.

It's on 203, Hodja. It's on 203. 203, 12. Al-Hijr 12. Look now. This is page 203. There's no 12 here. Come, let's see. Page 203, Surah Ar-Ra'd, 42. Look. Two hundred (?), thirty-nine. We made these additions, you know, so it shifted. Ah. We made additions, you're right. Um, Surah Al-Hijr, just a minute, let's see. Now let's look from here, from here. A bit further down, about three pages down. Three pages down. Further down. Yes. Let's see. Let's open (?) two hundred. No, two hundred six. Two hundred six, further. Yes, around there, Hodja. Two hundred six. Surah Ibrahim, a bit further down. Once more, let's go once more.

Surah Al-Hijr thirty-nine. Yes. Surah Al-Hijr twelve. There were some gaps. We corrected these gaps. The pages moved forward. It didn't drop back, it moved forward.

We are reading the verse in Surah Al-Hijr that was interpreted wrongly. Thus We insert it, disbelief, into the hearts of the guilty, it says. Allah does not insert guilt into anyone's heart. If He inserted guilt, Allah Almighty would never have made a covenant with us. Because why did He make a covenant with us? So that everyone gives himself his desire and wish by his own will. Because, as we said, will is of two kinds. One is universal will, one is partial will. Allah Almighty created a part from His essence in such a way that, by its own desire and wish, it would have itself programmed.

By its own desire and wish. When any created being makes something, invents something... for example, today there are computers, you know, artificial intelligences; they talk by themselves. But they talk according to a knowledge. That is, they talk according to a program. Someone made a program. It can answer according to that program. Otherwise it has no will of its own. That is, there is no will. And there is no life in it. Now speaking by one's own will is something else. (?) deciding, thinking, knowing its owner, carrying out his commands or rebelling. But in artificial intelligence there is no rebellion.

Then they say: if these change, these things, they will rebel, we cannot stop them, they say. Whereas if there is a glitch in the programs they made, then it will do that thing at that moment. That's what they fear. That's why, for us, those... for example, an inanimate being, you can destroy it. But we were addressed by Allah Almighty and, as a part of His essence, we were created. Now in this case our own will is in our own hands. According to this will, Allah Almighty does not insert corruption, evil, sir, enmity into anyone's heart. Everyone will be called to account by his own desire and wish.

By his own desire and wish, whatever he asked of our Lord, he has had his life programmed accordingly. What does it say? Thus We insert it, disbelief, into the hearts of the guilty, it says. Yet why did Allah Almighty create us? Now look, here people accuse their Allah with His own words. Now they present Allah with words contrary to His own words. Now look, He says, We inserted that disbelief into the hearts of the guilty, it says. Then, when creating us: "you will be one for hell, and you will be one for Paradise", He created us that way? There is no such thing. And why did He make a covenant with us?

So that everyone finds his way by his own will, by his own desire and wish. And knows Me by his own will. He created us for this. I will create such a being that I will put its will in its own hands. By its own will, Me... the knowing or not knowing of My essence, I will leave in its hands, He says. In this case He makes a covenant with us. Where? In Surah Al-A'raf, verse 172. So since He made a covenant with us, our Lord, who gave us our desire and wish (?), why would He here insert disbelief into my heart? Because that person denied Allah, He writes his denial as destiny for him. If they don't know these, of course they will write it like this.

It is like this: in the hearts of the guilty there is disbelief, it says. Yes. Thus, it says, We insert it, disbelief, into the hearts of the guilty; but it is like this. That is, in the hearts of these guilty ones there is disbelief, it says. Because he saw his Lord before him in his own image, in human form, he could not believe, and waited for the Lord of his imagination. Had We willed, He says, We would have let angels down from the clouds and made you prostrate, He says. But He leaves man to his own will. That's where they split into three groups. Yes.

Allah Almighty does not insert disbelief into anyone's heart. When verses are interpreted this way, our Lord's attribute of Tawwab is abolished. These people, when they made the covenant with our Lord at Qalu Bala, denied our Lord and, because they waited for the Lord of their imagination, they denied our Lord. Otherwise our Lord did not insert disbelief into anyone's heart. So that every person plays out the scenario of the covenant he gave our Lord in the hereafter, Allah Almighty sent people to the world. After every person proves what kind of person he is, he makes his return to the hereafter. In this case no one can blame our Lord and, making a distinction among people, say He created whom He wished a denier and whom He wished, that is, (?) obedient.

Our Lord is Tawwab. He is the One who accepts repentance abundantly. It says He inserted disbelief, you see. Then it denies Tawwab too. If He inserted it: I inserted disbelief into your heart, repent as much as you like, I won't accept you; that's what it would mean. Allah protect us. Our Lord is Tawwab. He is the One who accepts repentance abundantly. Until people's moment of death, that is, until the soul reaches the throat, Surah Al-Waqi'ah, 80, verse: when the soul reaches the throat, you know, izâ belegati'l-hulkûm, it says. When the soul reaches the throat, hîneizin tenzurûn. Come on, turn it back, it says.

Ve nahnu akrabu. The relatives gather around and wait for the soul to leave. In Our power, are you closer to him, or I, I say.

When the soul reaches the throat, until the door of repentance closes, our Lord accepts people's repentance. When does the door of repentance close? In one narration, until it reaches this hollow in the throat. In another narration, until this Adam's apple; but this hollow place is stronger. Because women don't have this Adam's apple. In this case, it is up to here. Since it is here, why does Allah Almighty accept repentance up to there? When it comes there, He closes the door of repentance. Why does He close it? Because from the time he reached maturity until then, He shows him the realm. Then "send me back once more, see how I'll worship You", there is no such thing anymore. The door of repentance has closed.

This is what you are. Even if I sent you back a thousand times, as long as those traits are in you, you'd do that thing. Hodja, how do you know this? My Lord made me live it, so I know. I'm not saying these things for nothing. I always tell you what I've lived and seen. These are the exact counterparts of the verses. And do you know how long this lasts? This is the time from reaching maturity until the moment of death. How long does it take for you? You see cigarette smoke, a man blows it out, there's cigarette smoke. Until it disperses, you live through your whole life in that time. That much time. You live time within time.

Yes. Allah Almighty is capable of everything with His knowledge.

After that the door of repentance closes and there is no more.

Now, Hodja, about the door of repentance closing and then coming back again, let me say, is there a verse? Or are you saying it on your own? If you ask, I'll tell you the verse now. Here the verse I'll tell you now.

The sinners will hang their heads before their Lord: "Our Lord, we have seen, we have heard, now send us back to the world so that we do good deeds; now we firmly believe." If only you could see the time they say this, it says.

Look what it says now. Had We willed, We would surely have given everyone guidance, it says. Now (?) here, why didn't You will it then? We, people, created so that Our essence would be known; We gave a part of Ourselves, a part of Our spirit We gave, and addressing them to Our essence, I wanted them, by their own will, to know Me, He says. In this case I had them choose between two paths. One the path to Paradise, one the path to hell. So, had We willed, We would surely have given everyone guidance. That is, We were not unjust, He says. If it were up to Us, up to Me, I would have created all My creatures for Paradise and put you all into Paradise, He says.

But I wanted to distinguish among you the one who knows Me by his own will from the one who doesn't, He says. But "I will fill hell with some of both jinn and humans", a firm word has gone forth from Me, He says.

If a person knew what would befall him... how beautifully the Prophet says it: If you knew what I know, he says, you would laugh little and weep much, he says. A strange world; what are you relying on?

Are you relying on people? Are you relying on your wealth? On your maternal uncle, your paternal uncle, are you relying on them? You have no guarantee in anything. You have no guarantee in anything at all. The only one we can rely on is Allah. Yes.

In Surah Al-Hijr, verse thirty-nine, Iblis said: My Lord, in return for Your leading me astray, on earth, to them I will adorn sins, and I will surely lead them all astray, it says. Allah leads no one astray. Satan went astray himself.

What does it say now? In return for leading me astray. In return for my going astray, it says. Why in return for my going astray? Because he became proud, arrogant. He did not prostrate to our father Adam, and He said: what is it that kept you from prostrating to him? You created me from fire, him from earth. Earth purifies fire. It doesn't purify. But fire purifies earth, he said. That greatness, my nafs gave it to you. Get down from there, He says. I have said a curse upon you, He says. Give me a lifespan until the Day of Judgment, he says. He became one of those (?). He will circulate in people's bloodstreams.

He will give them (?). And he will lead them astray. Look what it says now. Iblis said: My Lord, in return for my going astray, that is, my rebellion. (?) Allah did not lead him astray. In return for my rebellion. On earth I will adorn sins for them, and I will surely lead them all astray. And in a verse Allah Almighty says this: These are very important places. Satan was not mistaken in his guess, it says. Look, these are very important verses. That is, he led people astray, but Satan did not know the future. He guessed, it says. That is, his guess turned out right, it says. Satan. Look, it says so here.

Satan's guess turned out right, it says.

In Surah Saba Surah Saba, let's see, which In Surah Saba, what does it say about this? Four hundred twenty-seven. Four hundred twenty-seven. We'll look at it better there.

Surah Saba, look at verse 20: Indeed Iblis proved his guess about them true, it says. Look, Iblis, about them, proved his guess true. They all followed him except the believers, it says. Except the believers. Who is a believer? People who have risen to nafs-i mutmainna. They do not fall for Satan's temptation. They don't uncover their headscarves and, the way people today are stark naked, strip and expose themselves. The believers. Yes.

Yet Satan had no authority over them, it says. Now we are reading the verse that was interpreted wrongly there. Yet Satan had no authority over them. Only so that We might distinguish and know the one who believes in the hereafter from the one in doubt did We give him this opportunity, it says; as if Allah did not know and gave this opportunity. Here it is interpreted wrongly. Whereas what do we say? Only so that the one who believes in the hereafter and those in doubt be separated from one another, Satan was given the opportunity he asked for. Your Lord truly knows everything, it says. Yes. No one can blame Allah.

Allah: until the Day of Judgment, of those to come, there is not a single living being whose deeds He does not know. Accordingly, people have always interpreted the verses falsely and wrongly.

The call to prayer is being recited. It's eight o'clock. Let's do Surah Al-Hijr, verse thirty-nine in the next lesson. Two hundred sixty, no, on page two hundred seven. We left off at Surah Al-Hijr, verse 39. Stay well. May Allah, may Allah keep your path open. May my Lord grant us all health, wellbeing and soundness. On the straight path, with the friends on the way, sir, until we reach Paradise, may He grant us to continue our way with our faith. Velayetü aleyh, and Al-Fatiha.