Talk of 23 September 2023

Let's look at the questions – is there a question?

Osman Emin Alkan, a member, says: Peace be upon you, Hodja, we are trying to get to know you. You are in America right now. Aren't you? he says. Yes.

Let us say this to Osman Efendi.

Getting to know me

does not come from where I am, where I live or which country I am in. Getting to know me is: Hodja, who are you? Whom do you descend from? Where does your lineage go back to? To whom is it tied? Right? The more we knew you, the better it would be. Yes. If you put it like that, let me introduce myself to you. I am a sayyid. (?) from Hazrat Husayn. My origin goes back to Hazrat Husayn. I am a grandson of Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq. My grandfathers came to Kars. The first to build up Kars. They came out of the Russian War and went to Bayburt. From there some of them came to Samsun. I was born in Samsun. See, now you know me.

See, this is how one gets to know someone. Otherwise, whether I am in France, England or America, what use is that to you? A person's own attributes and knowledge make him known. In that case, which land are you in? Why did you ask me whether I am in America?

Did a whim come to your mind that what I explain, if I explained it in Turkey, they would find you strange, while in countries abroad they allow these things – is that why you asked? Or are you in America? I wondered about that too. Why did you ask like that?

Yes. If possible, if you are listening to me, you will answer; if you are not listening, after my lesson is over you can replay the video. You listen. You say to me: Yes, Hodja, I asked for this reason. And so we will have learned about you too. We will have gotten to know you. We come to our lesson. Ömer Sefa (?) Peace be upon you. I kiss (?) hands. We skipped this. Ömer Sefa, Sefa, Surah Al-Isra, 64. In the verse, 226. Page 226. Page 222-224 Page 26, Surah Al-Isra Verse 64. Yes, 64. We left off at the verse.

We read the wrongly rendered verse. "Lead astray with your call whomever of them you can." Who says this? Allah Almighty says it to Satan. Look, what does it say? "Lead astray with your call whomever of them you can, with your horsemen and your foot soldiers drown them in clamour, share in their wealth and children, make promises to them. Satan promises people nothing but deception."

To call this a verse you would need a thousand witnesses. A thousand. And a million witnesses like that. It's not a verse!

Allah commands Satan. Pay attention. Now you too will understand. He commands Satan. What does He say?

"Lead astray with your call whomever of them you can." You are Allah, of course I will carry out Your command. "Lead astray with your call. With your horsemen and foot soldiers drown them in clamour." I'll do it. You are my Lord. If You say so, I'll do it. "Share in their wealth and children." All right. I'll do that too. You are Satan. "Make promises to them." Now Allah commands Satan like this. Then look what it says. He commanded Satan. What does He say? "Make promises to them." "Satan promises people nothing but deception," it says. This time it speaks of Satan. He both tells Satan to do these things and contradicts what He Himself said.

He denies what He Himself said. What does He say? "Satan promises people nothing but deception." But You commanded it. You said, share in their wealth and children. You said, drown them in clamour. You said, give them, sir, (?). You said this and that. Now if you attribute such made-up words to Allah Almighty, the verse, by your own nonsensical reasoning, as one slanders a person, if you slander Allah, (?) (?), here it says (?): promises nothing but deception. Now, do these words agree with each other? Do they agree, I mean? Does it befit even a human? A human wouldn't say this, a human. (?). I would say: Ahmet Efendi, Ahmet Efendi, do this and that to these people. Do it. Ahmet Efendi is under my command.

He does them. Then I say to them about what was done: Satan, or rather Ahmet Efendi, tells you nothing but lies. Or he said what I said, said it. He told you what I said. Then I am the one who told you the lie. Am I the one misunderstanding? Isn't it so? Is this a verse now?

Look now. "He leads astray with his call whomever of them he can."

Aduvvallâhi ve aduvveküm. Your enemies and Allah's enemy. One of our enemies is Satan. Satan is your enemy, it says. Then render the verse correctly. Look what it says. "He leads astray with his call as many as he can, whomever of them he can." He is my enemy, after all. He was able. (?) Look how beautiful now. This supports it now. A verse will support a verse. But if he knows Turkish well – if he doesn't understand the meaning of Turkish, say whatever you like to him. What does it say?

(?) "He leads astray with his call whomever of them he can. With his horsemen and foot soldiers he drowns them in clamour. He shares in their wealth and children. He makes promises to them. Satan promises people nothing but deception." Look how beautiful. Allah warns us. My Lord warns us. Come on, can a verse be like that?

Yes.

That is why they say there are superstitions in your book too. They are right.

They say Allah would not say it like this. They are right. Because these are wrongly rendered verses.

This verse has been rendered completely wrongly. May Allah protect us. Those who explain such verses – in the wrongly rendered verse our Lord curses people. My dear, He pronounces the curse to Satan. He commands Satan: Do this to people, do that, do this. Isn't that cursing? This is a curse.

In that case, if our Lord says to Satan: lead astray with your call whomever of them you can, with your horsemen and foot soldiers drown them in clamour, share in their wealth and children, make promises to them – and if Satan is to carry out our Lord's command, why was he cursed? Indeed, why was he cursed? The correct rendering of the verse is: "He leads astray with his call whomever of them he can; with his horsemen and foot soldiers he drowns them in clamour, he shares in their wealth and children, he makes promises to them." We are not explaining their meanings; the meanings are explained in the tafsir. One goes and reads the tafsir.

Sir, we have explained their meanings in the tafsir too; its video can be listened to. We only correct the mistakes in the footnotes – when rendering the verses, the mistakes made in the footnotes. Yes.

I have no business with you, you stay there. Surah Al-Isra, we have come to verse 67. "When harm touches you at sea, all those you call upon besides Him vanish," that is, you call on no one but Allah, it says. Here too there is a very deep meaning. What do you understand? "All those you call upon besides Him vanish." To explain this takes a brave man. I really mean it, a brave man.

Only a person who sees the realm of Lahut can explain this.

In the realm of Lahut everyone knows he was created by a Lord. There the gods he invented, which you made with your hands and (?), vanish, it says. In that realm of Lahut no one remains but the One who created him, it says. And that is Allah. That is what this means.

Yes.

"All those you call upon besides Him vanish," it says.

"When He saves you and brings you to land, you again return to your old state; man is very ungrateful."

Yes.

You absolutely have to see that realm of Lahut.

You must know that our Lord addressed us there. Then you must know that He made a covenant with us.

If you cannot know these, you cannot understand the meanings of these verses. Impossible. You can only say things off the top of your head.

"When harm touches you at sea, all those you call upon besides Him vanish. When He saves you and brings you to land, you again return to your old state." Up to here it is correct. After this, the mistake begins. What does the wrong one say? "Man is very ungrateful." Yet Allah creates what He creates firmly, creates it beautifully. In that case, could He not create a single upright human, and when these humans He could not create upright act like this, why did Allah put His own fault on people? Indeed. What does it say? "Man is very ungrateful." Are the prophets ungrateful too? How can you render it like this?

The prophets are human too.

We sent you a prophet from among yourselves, it says. We sent him of your own kind, it says.

In Surah Al Imran, verse 81, Allah Almighty made a covenant with the prophets. He took a pledge from them.

He sent the Prophet as a mercy to the worlds. Through the prophets He had all prophets call people to the truth. Are all people ungrateful?

Such people are very ungrateful. People of that kind are very ungrateful. Such people. So here a distinction is made. Not all of them. If they do not know the meanings of the verses, they ascribe attributes to Allah Almighty.

What is wrongly rendered in this verse is this part. "Man is very ungrateful." Correct: "Such people are very ungrateful." That is, at sea, in the darkness of that night, wave upon wave. The ship is about to sink. Pitch dark. You almost can't see your hand if you hold it out, it says. In such a situation, it says, everyone except Allah is gone. You implore Him. And when you get out, you go back to your old state, it says. People who do this are very ungrateful.

Now I will tell you something that really happened.

I am in the lap of my late mother.

My late mother is coming from Rize to Samsun. By steamboat.

A wave rises at sea.

The ship is about to sink. Such a big wave.

The captain – they used to call the boats "filika". My mother got seasick, and I'm on deck, she says. I'm more or less out of my senses, she says. I hear the captain's voice, she says. Lower the lifeboats into the sea! Lower the lifeboats into the sea! And I implored Allah, she says. My Allah, if I get out of here, get out alive, set foot on land, (?) to Khidr I will give five kuruş. Five kuruş was good money back then. At that moment, she says, a light came on at the ship's mast. And the captain said: We are saved, we are saved, she says; the sea became calm as milk, she says. We went up. We forgot the promise. We did not give the five kuruş.

Now it was my turn. I am still a child. About nine. About eight. No. I am about nine. Because no. My father died when I was nine. Around eight. I am seven or eight.

A short, stocky man. A saddlebag on his back. A stick on his shoulder. His bag hanging on his back. He came and knocks at the door. (?) knocking like this. I said: Uncle, what do you want? He said: Your mother owes me five kuruş, let her give it. She promised it to me, let her give the five kuruş, he said.

I said: Uncle, wait here, my mother is at the neighbour's across the way, let me tell her and come back.

I called my mother, she came; she said: I owe no one anything, what (?). We couldn't see the man. He had gone. In the evening she told my father. Such and such a thing happened, she said. My father said: It's true, think carefully. Did you promise someone money? No, she said. No one would come, she said. Whom would I promise? Some time passed; I remember a little. She calls out "Man!" My mother – my father said: What is it? In the old days women did not say the name of their man, that is, their husband. She calls out "Man!" What is it, he said. I remembered, she said. When we were coming by sea, we were caught in a wave.

I had promised Khidr five kuruş, she said. Ah, he said. So the one who came to the door was Khidr, he said. Well, what shall we do now? In his place, he said, we will give five kuruş to someone. So those who were saved from that wave, those who got out – look, not all of them. Man is not very ungrateful. We are telling what we lived through, what we lived. A verse is not rendered wrongly like that. Such people are very ungrateful. Yes.

What is wrongly rendered in the verse: "Man is very ungrateful." Correct: "Such people are very ungrateful." Our Lord created people as the noblest of creatures. That is, as the most dishonourable – as the most honourable of creatures He created them. Also, lekad halaknel insâne fî ahseni takvîm. I created man in the most beautiful form, He declares. Despite this, as said in the wrongly rendered verse, if it is said "man is very ungrateful", did He create all the people He created so honourable and in such beautiful form as ungrateful?

It carries the meaning that He could not create a single person with upright character, by which attributes are ascribed to our Lord. Our Lord is free of deficient attributes. Our Lord gave people a part of His spirit. He also left people free in their own will. So He made a covenant with people at Qalu Bala. Whatever each person asked of our Lord, he had his own destiny written himself. People were divided into three classes. Those of the right, those of the left, and the class of the muqarrabun.

In that case, since people will be responsible for what they do with their own will, there are good and bad among them. You cannot put all these people in the bad category. No one can blame our Lord by saying man is very ungrateful. The correct rendering of this verse: such people are very ungrateful.

Otherwise, not all people are ungrateful. Among people there are prophets, saints, scholars and martyrs and martyrs.

Are they ungrateful too?

Our way of speaking may perhaps be acceptable among people, but before Allah such speech of ours is not acceptable.

So that we do not speak wrongly even before the law, according to the (?) law a lawyer defends you. A lawyer. Well, you will be your own lawyer. You will speak of your Lord as most exalted and free of deficient attributes, taking great care when you speak. You will not ascribe attributes to Allah.

Surah Al-Isra, verse 70 – we have come to it; meanwhile, those listening to us can ask their questions. We read the wrongly rendered verse. 70. verse, Surah Al-Isra: "We have truly made the children of Adam possessors of glory and honour." Now look: what did it say a moment ago, what does it say now? So what I say always supports the verses; a verse will support a verse. Now does this fit what it said a moment ago? It said all people, Allah – all are ungrateful. "We have truly made the children of Adam possessors of glory and honour." Here too there is a very great meaning. (?) Allah gave all people a part of His spirit.

And He created people as a part of His essence. He left people free in their own will. Those who turned their backs on Allah by their will were deprived of glory and fame. Allah says in a verse: If you seek glory, fame and honour, glory, fame and honour are with Allah. So: I gave you a part of My spirit. I did not separate you from My essence. And you, being worthy of this glory and honour, be servants to Me and the community of the prophet I sent, so that I give you more than I promised you, He says. Look how beautiful. He created such glory and honour. It doesn't end with His words. You go deeper here.

There is more depth to it. Yes. "We carried them by various means on land and sea. We gave them good provisions. And We truly made them superior to many of those We created," it says. Now here the meanings change. I mean, it says one thing, then it says another. When it says We made them superior to many of those We created, are there then creatures superior to us too? Among the created beings. Yet among the created beings, the noblest of creatures, that is, the most honourable being – the reason is that He gave man of His spirit; apart from man there is no honourable being at all.

But of people who cannot attain that honour, Allah Almighty, of those who turn their backs on that honour: they are like four-legged beasts roaming the earth, He says. Yes.

"We have truly made the children of Adam possessors of glory and honour," it says. Now we read the correct one. "We carried them by various means of transport on land and sea. We gave them good provisions. And among the people We created, some are, over many, truly superior."

Ah, and what does it say? "And We truly made them superior to many of those We created." That is, to many of those We created. He created 17,000 worlds. Among the 17,000 worlds there are cats, dogs, ants, (?), ants, everything, snakes, monkeys, on and on, you can't count them, 17,000 worlds. Fish of all kinds, birds in the air, (?) lands, animals on land, creatures in the sea, everything. Are some of them superior to people too? Look here: "And We truly made them superior to many of those We created." Whereas: "And among the people We created" – in parentheses, because that is the meaning – "some people are truly superior to many." That is, people are truly superior to one another, it says.

Where is superiority? One of two paths: one is the path to Hell, one the path to Paradise. Those who go to Hell, compared to those who go to Paradise, are lower. They, those in Paradise, are superior. Among these there are higher stations, degree by degree. There are seven paradises. The eighth is Maqam Mahmud. It is reserved for the Prophet (peace be upon him). There are seven layers of Hell. If people truly are superior to one another – of seven paradises – according to the state of the seven nafs there are seven paradises. Nefs-i emmare, nefs-i levvame, nefs-i mülhime, nefs-i mutmainne, nefs-i raziye, nefs-i marziye, nefs-i safiye.

There are paradises according to these. That is how they are superior to one another. According to what? Those who gave a very good covenant through their state of faith in Allah. Otherwise Allah did not create them superior to one another.

Yes. Where would these people know its meaning from, to render the verse?

What is wrongly rendered in this verse is this part. "We truly made them superior to many of those We created." Correct: "Among the people We created, some are truly superior to many." People who render Allah Almighty's verse like this have no knowledge of our Lord's verses. When the wrongly rendered verse says "We truly made them superior to many of those We created", are there beings more honourable and glorious than people, so that it says "We made them superior to many of those We created"? Yet in our Lord's verse people were created honourable above the worlds. Because in people, as a part of our Lord, there is the spirit.

Thus people are endowed with the attribute of the Essence. In meaning, this verse says: many people, in terms of faith, are superior to one another. The correct rendering of the verse is as follows. "And among the people We created, some are truly superior to many." Here we have explained its meaning to you, and explained the correct verse to you like this in the footnotes. If I had explained this part too the way I explained it, here too I would have opened the meaning of these verses to you, which is written in the tafsir. Go and read it. Here, why, why was the verse rendered wrongly? Which is the footnote of the wrongly rendered verse here?

We are putting it briefly.

Yes. Surah Al-Isra, verse 83; we read the wrong rendering: "When We bestow a blessing on man, he turns away and draws aside; and if harm and loss touch him, he falls into utter despair." Not even a decent person would speak like this; at least we would say here: My friend, Allah gave you this blessing, and you turn your back on Allah and go; my friend, when you suffer a loss you again drive yourself into misery. (?) – a human would speak like this. So how can you say such a thing about Allah? Allah says this to Allah. Allah says this to people.

What does He supposedly say? "When We bestow a blessing on man, he turns away and draws aside."

So none of the people give thanks? So it seems.

Hz. Job (peace be upon him), though he lay in wounds for forty years, said "Doesn't my Lord know my state?" and was ashamed to ask of Him, ashamed to ask for health, Hz. Job (peace be upon him).

Is there no one who thanks Him? (?), it says. He keeps giving to Hz. Abraham (peace be upon him). Whenever you are ungrateful, then I will cut it short, He says. I cannot be ungrateful, he says. Then I will give too, says Allah Almighty. How can you render this verse like this? Knowing Arabic does not do the job. Yes. You cannot ascribe attributes to Allah. If you slander Allah like this – whoever says Allah said this though Allah did not say it, it says, will be subjected to punishment in Hell, it says. Yes. They prepare their place in the punishment, it says.

Whereas: "When We bestow a blessing on man, many sometimes may turn away and draw aside. And if harm and loss touch him, again many fall into utter despair." Look how beautiful. Isn't there? There is. Why don't you say "a few" but say "many", Hodja?

That too exists. You could ask this too. Aren't you asking? What is the world's population today? 7.5–8 billion.

How many million people are there? How many billion Muslims? 2.5 million, 3 million? 3 billion, something like that?

Well, isn't that "many" here?

And when explaining a meaning, you must explain the meaning by looking at the state of the people Allah created – that's how. What does it say here? It has been like this ever since creation. Since we came into the world. Since our creation. Because those of the left are very many. Yes.

Now you might ask me a question like this. Of course you ask if you have knowledge. If you have knowledge – otherwise you can't ask. Hodja, there is a hadith of the Prophet. "Marry and multiply; I will take pride in the large number of my community," he says.

The hadith – but we are not marrying now. When he said marry and multiply: compared to the community of Hz. Moses we are many.

Compared to the community of David (peace be upon him) we are many. Because the Psalms come. The community of Hz. Jesus is larger than us. Let's not call them his community. The communities of those who slandered him and (?) Allah are larger. They split off. The community of the Prophet, compared to all those communities, is large. But in the land we live in, at this time, in our time, non-Muslims are many. That is why here it says: and when harm touches him again many fall into utter despair. That is, we will say "of the unbelievers" here, because Allah Almighty – non-Muslims; (?) ours, so that their hearts are not broken by being called unbelievers, say "non-Muslims". I say whatever the verse says.

Unbelievers. Why do I say unbeliever? He does not believe in the last prophet Allah sent. If he does not believe in the Quran, which is among the four books Allah sent, these are unbelievers, it says. I say unbeliever according to Allah Almighty's verse; that's why I say it. These are unbelievers. In this time the unbelievers are many. That is why I say here: again many fall into utter despair. Because Allah Almighty says this in a verse. If you say to me: Hodja, do all those who fall into despair deny Allah? Then I'll show you this verse. Their hearts are restless and scattered, it says. So they are far from remembering Allah.

I have said this verse has been rendered wrongly from the start. The correct one is the one marked in green. They rendered this verse with the same understanding as Surah Al-Isra, verse 67. I have said we copy it here. This time we copy that part. Our Lord created people as the noblest of creatures. That is, He created them as the most honourable of creatures. Also, lekad halaknel insâne fî ahseni takvîm. That is, I created man in the most beautiful form, He declares. Despite this, as said in the wrongly rendered verse: when We bestow a blessing on man, he turns away and draws aside. And if harm and loss touch him, he falls into utter despair – if this is said, the people created so honourable and in such beautiful form – all people, as ungrateful, He created them.

It carries the meaning that He could not create a single person with upright character; if such Quran verses are rendered like this, they ascribe attributes to our Lord. Our Lord is free of deficient attributes. Our Lord gave people a part of His spirit. He left people free in their own will. So He made a covenant with people at Qalu Bala. Whatever each person asked of our Lord, he had his own destiny written himself. People were divided into three classes. Those of the right, those of the left, and the class of the muqarrabun. In that case, since people will be responsible for what they do with their own will, there are good and bad among them.

You cannot put all these people in the bad category. No one, blaming our Lord, can say: man – when We bestow a blessing he turns away and draws aside – no one can say this. The correct rendering of this verse: when We bestow a blessing on man, many turn away from Us and draw aside. If harm and loss touch him, again many fall into utter despair. Among people there are prophets, saints, scholars and martyrs. When a blessing is given to people by our Lord, given to people by our Lord, not all of them turn their backs and go, and again not all of them fall into despair. They submit to our Lord.

Yes. Allah Almighty, in a verse, says it so beautifully.

It doesn't come to my mind now. (?) – so beautifully it says.

when you are tired, get up and work again; every descent has an ascent, every ascent has a descent. Yes, never fall into despair, it says beautifully; how can you here, attributing this to Allah, make people fall into despair – all of them?

Surah Al-Isra, verse 97 – we have come to it. Now, just wait. The verse they rendered wrongly; from the start the verse was rendered wrongly. After that they kept confirming that verse as they went on. Those who kept confirming that mistake kept ascribing attributes to Allah. They kept slandering Allah. Out of a person's own pride and arrogance, his own understanding: "I rendered the verse like this, it was so; this one is rendered like this, but against the verse I rendered it clashes; I must render this one like this too" – and putting his own pride and arrogance first: people who do not shrink from slandering Allah Almighty.

There is no other way to it. Look what it says. "Whomever Allah guides, he is the one who finds the right path," it says. What did He do? Whomever Allah guides – Allah created, made a distinction among His servants. You, you, you – you go over there; you and you, come over here. Look, it means: He created you over there for Paradise, and you for Hell. And Allah makes a distinction among the servants He created. Whomever He guided rises. He ranks them in degrees in Paradise. And the others He casts into Hell, or rather by degrees. Does this fit Allah's justice?

Yes.

"Whomever Allah guides, he is the one who finds the right path." He is the one who finds the right path. This is what they read. If Allah had created me like that, I would be upright too, one says. They say it so well, though. Whose is the burden of this? The one who renders it like this.

The one who renders these verses like this. The burden is his. Yes.

"And whomever He keeps far from guidance, you will find no friends for them besides Allah."

Then this time the person says to Allah: I don't believe You.

If Allah were an Allah like this, I would not believe in Allah. Yes, there is an Allah, but this Allah does not judge with justice. He discriminates. He discriminates among His servants.

Why should I worship? I won't worship. Why? I don't believe in Allah. I don't believe His word. Allah's word. Why don't I believe? Look now. With this verse nobody believes. With this verse one does not believe in Allah. "Whomever Allah guides, he is the one who finds the right path." Whomever He guides – some You made prophets. Some You made saints. Some You made scholars. So me, You made a drinker, a gambler. What does it say? "And whomever He keeps far from guidance" – You kept me far from guidance too, You made me a drinker, a gambler, a thief, a swindler, a murderer. Wasn't I the one You created?

Why did You create me like this?

Would I believe Your (?)? Would I believe Your words? And a constant doubt toward Allah arises inside. Will He put us into Hell, I wonder? Indeed, however much I worship, if He created me like this, if He kept me far from guidance, whatever I do, it is impossible for me to come to guidance. Because there is theft in his character too. Or swindling in someone else's.

Come on, can Allah be like this? If the verse is rendered like this, can you say that this Islam is Allah's friendly, right path about this? You have no head, no sense at all. Either you handed it over to outsiders to degenerate the religion of Islam when you rendered it – which does not befit a scholar, someone who knows Arabic.

Or, to denigrate Islam, because you turned your back on Allah, these verses in this way – so that those who would turn to Islam would not turn to it, you rendered it like this, and you took on your back both your own burden and that of those who would turn to Islam.

Now let's read the verse correctly. Or let's read (?) from start to end. We'll explain (?) anyway.

"Whomever Allah guides, he is the one who finds the right path. And whomever He keeps far from guidance, for them, besides Allah, you will find no friends."

Look at the words, the words! "Whomever He keeps far from guidance, for them, besides Allah, you will find no friends." He will keep them far from guidance and yet besides Allah no friend will there be.

What nonsense! They probably don't even know Turkish.

"On the Day of Resurrection We gather them on their faces, blind, mute and deaf." They don't know the meaning of this verse either.

People will supposedly be gathered blind there. Blind.

"We gather them on their faces, mute and deaf." Now look what it says here. Let's read that part so you understand better. That they render the verse like this and lead people astray, yes.

Surah As-Sajdah, verse 12: when those sinners before their Lord will hang their heads: "Our Lord, we have seen, we have heard; now send us back to the world so that we may do good deeds; now we firmly believe" – if only you could see the time they will say this. Now according to this verse, when it says here: on the Day of Resurrection We gather them blind, mute and – deaf on their faces, doesn't this contradict that verse?

It contradicts it. Allah Almighty speaks in the Quran in three ways. Three ways. One, in a figurative sense; two, in a literal sense; three, He gives similes.

And similes: according to the verse "We do not abandon giving an example with a mosquito or something greater", whoever reads this Quran, even the most ignorant, will understand; even the most learned will understand. One, the simile meaning; the literal meaning within the rulings of the Sharia; the figurative meaning, like this: what do they say: "We (?) them, blinded their eyes, stopped their ears, sealed their hearts" – whereas they had a veil drawn over their eyes, had plugs put in their ears and turned their hearts away from Us; so We sealed them in that state, it says. Otherwise Allah did not seal them Himself.

Allah sealed them Himself, but they had them sealed. Yes.

Here they say it like this, in a figurative sense. Here one must open a parenthesis. Let's see what we say now. Let's read. "On the Day of Resurrection We gather them on their faces, blind, mute and deaf. Their destination and abode is Hell; whenever its fire abates, We increase its flame," it says.

"Whoever asks Allah for guidance" – now we read the correct one – "he is the one who finds the right path." What does it say here? "Whomever Allah guides, he is the one who finds the right path," it says. Whereas: "Whoever asks Allah for guidance, he is the one who finds the right path." By his partial will, by the deeds he carries out, a person will be called to account. Why did Allah send me here?

With the deeds I do, with every word out of my mouth, with the deeds I have done, I earn reward and sin. If I earn reward and sin through the deeds I have done, "Whomever Allah guides, he is the one who finds the right path" – does that fit His word? If He gave guidance to those who find the right path, the right path, or led those He gives guidance to the right path, since He did not lead me, I will do evil. If only He had given guidance to me too – yet why did He send us into the world? A person will prove with his own will what kind of person he is. Well now, do this verse and that verse agree with each other?

Does it agree with the verse that you will not die before proving what kind of person you are? How can you render verses contradicting one another? Yes. And then: I wrote a Quran, a Quran. You did not write a Quran. You wrote your own punishment with your own hand. Yes. Anyway, let's continue our lesson. We are not going to explain the verses. Where the mistakes are – sir, that is what we are trying to show. You'll see, we are reading now. "Whoever asks Allah for guidance, he is the one who finds the right path. And whoever moves away from guidance and continues on that path, they can no longer find Allah's friendship." Otherwise – they cannot find Allah's friendship as long as they continue on that path.

But if he returns, he finds it. That is the meaning of the verse. Allah is most forgiving. "On the Day of Resurrection, blind, mute and deaf, on their faces We gather them. Their destination and abode is Hell. Whenever its fire abates, We increase its flame." Now, what is wrongly rendered in this verse is this. One: "Whomever Allah guides, he is the one who finds the right path. And whomever He keeps far from guidance, you will find no friends for them besides Allah." Two: "And whomever He keeps far from guidance, for them, besides Allah, no friends will you find." The correct one: one, first: "Whoever asks Allah for guidance, he is the one who finds the right path." "And whoever moves away from guidance and continues on that path, they can no longer find Allah's friendship." It does not say Allah is their friend.

Look – Allah's friendship, what does it say? "They can no longer find Allah's friendship." Who? Whoever from Allah, whoever Allah, whoever from guidance moves away – here it says this. (?) let's read from above. "Whomever He keeps far from guidance, for them, besides Allah, no friends will you find," it says. Far from guidance, yet Allah will befriend them. They are far from Allah, yet Allah is their friend. Doesn't it mean that? Am I misunderstanding? Let's read it once more. "Whomever He keeps far from guidance" – He pushed them away – "for them besides Allah you will find no friends." Allah – they – Allah will be friends with them.

You'll find no friend besides Him. Whereas they render the verse wrongly.

"Whoever moves away from guidance and continues on that path, they can no longer find Allah's friendship." If they return, Allah will forgive. Here we write it out in full. Now we explain the meaning of the wrong rendering of the first verse. The wrong rendering of this verse is – of Surah Al-A'raf, verse 172 – the words that people unaware of that verse rendered by their own minds. Allah Almighty, by His own will, neither gives guidance to anyone nor keeps anyone far from guidance. Because our Lord gave man of His spirit and created man honourable above the worlds and made him the addressee of His Essence.

Therefore He gave man's will into his own hand; at Qalu Bala He made a covenant with people. So people's wishes and desires He wrote for them as destiny.

When verses are rendered, in no way can one have our Lord, by removing people's will, use our Lord's will over people. Moreover, no person, removing our Lord's will from people, can change people's destinies by our Lord's own will. Two, the wrongly rendered part: "you will find no friends for them besides Allah." Correct: "if he continues on that path, they can no longer find Allah's friendship." Because the will is in man's hand. If people move away from guidance by their own wishes and desires, they cannot find our Lord's friendly right path. Moreover, our Lord addresses people in the Quran in three ways.

One, the foundations of the Quran are clear and definite. Two, in the figurative sense. Three, some verses are mutashabih. That is, they are muqatta'at verses. One cannot give them meaning. Here the last sentence of this verse is correctly rendered in the figurative sense. It says: "On the Day of Resurrection, blind, mute and deaf, on their faces We gather them." In Surah As-Sajdah, verse 12, our Lord declares: "Those sinners –" In Surah As-Sajdah, verse 12, our Lord declares: "When those sinners hang their heads before their Lord: Our Lord, we have seen, we have heard, now send us back to the world so that we may do good deeds, now we firmly believe – if only you could see the time they will say this." So in the hereafter people will not be gathered blind, mute and deaf.

They are blind, deaf and mute in this world. That is: hatemallâhu alâ kulûbihim ve alâ sem'ihim ve alâ ebsârihim gışâveh, ve lehum azâbun azîm – they are the people this verse refers to. They look, but there is a veil over their eyes; the truth they do not see. They hear, but there are plugs in their ears; they do not want to hear. They do not want to know our Lord as Creator either. So they have had their hearts sealed; they do not turn to the truth. Yes, let's read one more verse, then we'll close our lesson, God willing. If there are questions, we'll answer them after our lesson.

Again, Surah Al-Isra, verse 100. "If you owned the treasures of my Lord's mercy, you would hold back more and more for fear of spending; and man is very tight-fisted." Now here he kept continuing the same mistakes. As I said earlier, he made one mistake and kept continuing it. If he gave one person a fault, he put all people into it, like that. What does it say? "And man is very tight-fisted." Come on, are all of them tight-fisted? Yes. "If you had owned, within His mercy, the treasures Allah created, many people would hold back more and more for fear of spending. Such people are very tight-fisted." Look how beautiful.

There is a distinction here. This verse has been rendered wrongly from the start. The wrong one: "If you owned the treasures of our Lord's mercy, for fear of spending you would hold back more and more. And man is very tight-fisted." The correct one: "If you had owned, within His mercy, the treasures Allah created, many people would hold back more and more for fear of spending. Such people are very tight-fisted." This verse has been rendered wrongly from the start. The correct one is the one marked in green. With the same understanding as in Surah Al-Isra, verse 67, they rendered this verse too. We copy this part, it says.

Since it is all the same, we copy that part to the other one. Because we say there is benefit in copying. In copying, if you repeat something more often, a person tries to understand the part he didn't. Our Lord created people as honourable creatures. That is, He created them as the most honourable of creatures. Also, that is: I created man in the most beautiful form, He declares. Despite this, as said in the wrongly rendered verse: "If the treasures of my Lord's mercy you owned, you would hold back more and more for fear of spending. And man is very tight-fisted" – if this is said, the people He created so honourable and in such beautiful form – did He create them all as ungrateful?

It carries the meaning: could He not create a single person with upright character? If such Quran verses are rendered like this, they ascribe attributes to our Lord. Our Lord is free of deficient attributes. Our Lord gave people a part of His spirit. He left people free in their own will. So He made a covenant with people at Qalu Bala. Whatever each person asked of our Lord, he had his own destiny written himself. People were divided into three classes. Those of the right, those of the left, and the class of the muqarrabun. In that case, since people will be responsible for what they do with their own will, there are good and bad among them.

You cannot put all these people in the bad category. No one, blaming our Lord: "man – if you owned the treasures of your Lord's mercy, you would hold back more and more for fear of spending, and man is very tight-fisted" – you cannot say that. The correct rendering of this verse: "If, within His mercy, the treasures Allah created you had owned, many people would hold back more and more for fear of spending. Such people are very tight-fisted." Among people there are prophets, saints, scholars and martyrs. When a blessing is given to people by our Lord, not all of them turn their backs and go, and again not all of them are tight-fisted.

There are also those who submit to our Lord.

We are ending our lesson here. Ömer Sefa, Surah Al-Kahf, verse 7, that's where we stopped. Page 231, page 231, Surah Al-Kahf verse 7. Yes.

Yes.

Stay well, be entrusted to Allah. Li'llâhi Teala'l-Fatiha Amin Ya Rabbel Alemin Yes.