Talk of 7 October 2023

Yes.

This (?), this is the new one. There are three questions, sir. There are three questions. Let's answer the questions.

Where are the questions? Here.

It starts here. From here? Let's (?) from here.

Let's put it here.

Peace be upon you, Hodja. I don't know how to read the Quran. And I want to start learning the Quran. But at the same time I want to read the Quran with understanding. How do you think I should begin?

A person is thirsty, he will drink water; there is water in the jug, the jug is full, that's one thing; you can't drink the jug of water at once, it would be too much for you; but as you get thirsty, again and again, from that jug glass by glass you drink. First learn the Quran, learn to read it. When you start reading the Quran, your faith will increase anyway. Then you learn Arabic. You understand what the Quran says. Right? A person can't take on everything at once. He will both read and learn. You can do the same thing like this. Learn the Quran. While reading the Quran, look at the Turkish translation, go verse by verse.

There are people who do this. Verse by verse. He reads a verse and also looks at its meaning. He reads one verse and also looks at its meaning. You can do it this way too. Yes.

Have we come here now? Did we answer here?

Up to where did we answer? Isn't it below? This part.

İlker Misafir It will be a somewhat general question, but: religion, where should I start researching it, he says. Researching religion, where you'll start, that's a very good thing. Rather than a person, from birth, seeing it from one another and doing it (?), using one's mind to learn religion is better.

Now if I were in your place, and also, sir, if I set out to research my religion like this: Allah Almighty, having sent the last, the Seal of the Prophets, the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), to the world as a mercy, to the worlds, and three books, the Torah, the Psalms and the Gospel; if it's in the Quran, the original of the Torah, the Psalms and the Gospel in the Quran I would start to look for. I read it in the Quran.

I start from the Quran. Because first you start from what is most correct. Why will you start from what is most correct?

Human reason was given limited.

It can take the wrong as right.

You, in the Torah, the words people made up, as Allah Almighty says, They changed the places of the letters, He says. Together with the words they made up by their own minds, human reason too, being limited, takes it as true, says it is true, believes it. And when you read the truth, you then fall into doubt. You fall into contradiction. But when you read the truth, you understand that it is wrong.

So my advice to you: start with the Quran.

Yes.

Guest Yakut relates. He says: Hodja, I am very weary of my troubles. What can I do to be cleansed of my sins? Now, we said Allah Almighty gives the most affliction to those He loves most.

If you have committed sins and made it a burden for yourself, that burden too has a remedy.

When you repent with a sincere heart, on condition of never again committing that sin, when you ask your Lord for forgiveness, Allah Almighty forgives you. That's one.

In a hadith it says this: Even if your sins reached the clouds in the sky, (?) never again to commit those sins, if one turns to Allah, it says, If you repent, Allah Almighty forgives them, it says.

Let's give one more example of this.

There is no sin in this world that cannot be forgiven. Let's say your sin is very great.

If the sin is very great, and there is no unforgivable sin anyway, then to Hajj you go. In the Hajj season one circles the Kaaba, does the Sa'y, prays two rak'ahs at the Station of Abraham. And when you become a pilgrim, what does Allah Almighty say? You are completely clean, as if newly born from your mother. You don't have that many sins? You pay three or five pennies, go on Umrah and are cleansed. Yes, he said, Umrah, he says, is like the state of Hajj; (?) but it is like the state of Hajj, like it, I mean, I mean that clean. Yes. If there's anything you didn't understand, if I misunderstood the question or explained it wrongly, you can ask again, freely. Peace be upon you, Hodja, on page 2233 we left off, I kiss your hands, he says. The 24th verse. Yes, now before going on to the 24th verse, first: the European Court of Human Rights, as it's called, exists.

In my view, that is not a court. We'll call it an institution that decides among themselves in whatever way suits their interests.

If you ask why I said that: People who know nothing of justice have no authority to make laws. Can't they make laws among themselves? They do make them among themselves, but that is not law. Law is Allah's unerring justice over people, in such a way that no person is harmed: His laws. Now why did I say this?

People within a state take up arms against their state, kill people, start a rebellion in the state, then these people flee abroad, and you clear them. No, this is not law. Now look, I'll read to you here that there is no such law. Yes.

The laws of the European Court of Human Rights, within their own mental capacity, are laws made in a way that wrongs people. Such laws cannot represent justice. A law you made by your own reason cannot represent justice. Allah Almighty, the Owner of the worlds, limited human reason, gave it to man and sent him to the world. Human reason will err and will ask Allah Almighty, the Owner of the worlds, for forgiveness. Moreover, He gave man reason so as to govern himself. True justice is the rulings Allah Almighty made known to us in the Quran. People unaware of Allah's judgment over people, with laws made by their own minds, in return for bribes, in return for interests, ruling in their own favour, calling it a European Court of Human Rights ruling, are wronging people.

Those who know nothing of justice and make laws by their deficient minds, their carnal feelings, their interests: the laws they make are not laws, they are oppression. The Owner of the worlds, who created the universe whole and perfect: human rights and law, without distinction of language, religion, race or colour among people, are the laws He set before the worlds. Those who turn their backs on these laws, people unaware of the true laws, who call it law and make laws by their own minds, can the laws of those who rule so be law? To the rulings given by people who know nothing of laws and justice, if we give an example:

Within a state, as enemies of their state and nation, people at certain levels of the state, with the state's weapons, against their state rebelled, drew weapons on their own nation, martyred 251 citizens, and also wounded 2,196 people, fired on the heart of this nation, people; and this is the Grand National Assembly. If they fire on the heart of a nation, by Allah's unerring justice they are the very traitors to the homeland.

Our Lord, for the safety of homeland and nation, about such people, in Surah Al-Ma'idah, in this verse, puts His verses into words.

I am reading Surah Al-Ma'idah, verse 33. Those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger and strive to cause corruption on earth; if this isn't corruption, what is? Drawing weapons on your own nation within a state, rebelling. Sir, the punishment of those who strive to cause corruption is only that they be killed or hanged, or their hands and feet cut off on opposite sides, or that they be banished from that land. These punishments are a disgrace for them in this world. And in the Hereafter there is a great punishment for them.

When people are tried before the European Court of Human Rights, had the European Court of Human Rights known of Allah's justice, it would not have defended traitors to the homeland and ruled in their favour. From those who make laws outside Allah's laws, both the state and the nation suffer harm. A court that protects traitors to the homeland, the European Court of Human Rights, courts that know nothing of justice and give such unjust rulings, count for nothing in people's consciences.

Yes. As a Muslim, if I were unjustly, in this homeland, punished, even if they took me to execution, I would not go to clowns, to lying unbelievers who know nothing of Allah, and in their laws, calling them law, take refuge. I would face that execution; in my own homeland, in my own Islamic world, by the rulings they give I would give my head, and still not depart from the truth.

My advice to you: if something befalls you, never in the unbelievers' court try to go to trial. Because their conscience: one, worldly interest comes first. Two, enmity to Islam. If you are a traitor to the homeland, however bad your situation, when a non-Muslim tries you, they rule in your favour. And if, for this temporary worldly realm, you send yourself to be cleared in the non-Muslims' court, if you take yourself all the way there, think of your place in Allah's sight. In this temporary realm, to clear yourself, with the bribes the non-Muslim gives you betray your homeland, then go before them and be cleared.

This is neither law, nor humanity, nor anything that fits in a human conscience.

We return to our lesson.

Let this stay here, let this stay here. Let me take this. (?) We left off at the 24th verse; now I read the wrong one. Without making it depend on Allah's will, without saying inshallah, about anything do not say: I will do this tomorrow.

If you forget this, Allah's, and I hope my Lord would guide me to the right, to a path nearer than this. Yes. Now we read the correct one. But when you ask something of Allah Almighty, say: I will do it inshallah, and when you forget, remember your Lord and say: it may be that my Lord will show me a straight path nearer than this. So what, are both the same? They are not the same. There is a word error. Where is it, look. In one, at the very end, it says: will guide to a nearer path, it says. Allah leads no one anywhere; what do we say here? The straight path He shows. How nicely He shows; if you do it, you do it by your own will; if you don't, again by your own will you don't. We came to this world for a test.

Yes. The place wrongly rendered in this verse is this: will guide to a nearer path. The correct one: it may be that my Lord will show me a right path nearer than this.

In the deeds people do, Allah Almighty has no will over people. Every person, for the deeds he does by his own will, is responsible and receives reward or sin. Allah Almighty wills nothing over people.

Why doesn't He? Who will say? Why does Allah will nothing over people? In this world. Who will say?

(?)

Allah gave man a will. Will is of two kinds. One universal will, one partial will. He separated man from His Self. And man's own deeds and actions, He left free to his own will. And whatever that person wanted by his own will, He gave him. So Allah Almighty has no ruling over man. His ruling over him, I mean, He has no ruling in this world. Because everyone will be called to account for his own deeds and actions. Where does Allah's ruling begin? He has shown us the way, the crooked and the straight path. He sent us here to prove what kind of person we are. In this realm, where we hold ourselves as witness to ourselves, to those around, and to Allah Almighty, with the deeds we have done, on the path Allah Almighty showed, did we go?

Or did we go on the path that rebels against Allah? One of these two paths leads to Allah, the second to Hell. At the head of that path to Allah and to Hell is Allah's court, that is, the Great Tribunal; there all of us, under Allah's judgment, under His decision, will be tried. If He sends us to Paradise: if in the world we did good deeds, to Paradise; if bad deeds, to Hell (?). So while we carry out our deeds, Allah over us does not interfere at all. He doesn't remove our will from us and use His own will over us.

Some mindsets say this:

When Allah removes the will from man, that does not mean the will doesn't exist.

Then what does it mean?

Then Allah governed that person. He took him into His governance. Because He removed his will from him. Then He steered the one He wanted so as to enter Paradise, and the other, since He didn't want him, steered so as to send to Hell. That is, whom He wills to Paradise, whom He wills to Hell.

Allah Almighty has no will over man, in the course of life. Man makes his decision by his own will, and through the deeds he does by his own will, he receives reward and sin. Doesn't Allah Almighty say in His verse, about the deeds you have done: Femen ya'mel miskâle zerretin hayran yerah, you will write an atom's weight of good, He says. Fe men ya'mel miskâle zerretin şerran yerah, you will write an atom's weight of evil, He says. If He removes my will from me and with His own will makes me act the way He wants, why does He tell me this verse? Is He showing it just for show? Allah forbid.

Yes. However, when people talk with others about things they'll do: tomorrow I'll do this job, or we'll meet tomorrow, then let's gather with these people, and so on, if they make appointments with people for the future, here one must ask his Lord's permission; rightly, one must say: it may be that my Lord will show me a straight path nearer than this. Look, not every "it may be" is attributed to Allah. Who is saying this here? It may be. Because whether Allah will accept you or not is unknown. Maybe He accepts this and doesn't accept something else. I mean what I do. That's why what do you say? It may be.

Or, if it's in my destiny, He takes me there. It may be. (?) If it's not in your destiny, and if you don't have the life left to go there, you pass away there. You can't go there. Or an urgent matter comes up. Or, sir, an accident happens. Again you can't go there. That's why you'll say: it may be. Because man hopes. You cannot attribute this to Allah. Because Allah does not use the word "it may be". Because there isn't a single living being until the Day of Judgment whose doings He doesn't know.

So we must say it this way, remembering our Lord. (?) is shirk. That we have enough life in our hands to breathe out the breath we take we have no proof. In that case: if my Lord permits, that is, if I have life until then, it may be that my Lord will show me a straight path nearer than this. We must not say: if Allah permits. We must say: if Allah permits. Not "must not say", "must say". Otherwise won't our Lord ask man: O man, on what basis did you fix this time and make your pledge? Right? Yes. Until the time you go there, do you hold a bond on your life? Or do you have any proof that you will go there?

Whoever wants to ask a question, feel free, ask what you like, from the verses we have read, you can ask about your troubles. Surah Al-Kahf, actually its 25th verse has also been rendered wrongly; and in the Quran there are many more verses rendered wrongly. We took the explicit ones. For example, this is also an explicit verse, but let's look here now. Al-Kahf Surah.

Which one? Page 219? (?)

It'll be 495 to 499.

Surah Al-Kahf. Look, I'll read you the 25th verse. This is also a wrong verse. The 24th verse, not 25. From 24, the 25th verse is diametrically opposed.

That is, people, out of faith in Allah's word, made it (?). But those who research it, seeing the (?) here, say this too is superstition and walk away. Now I am reading it to you.

Without making it depend on Allah's will, without saying inshallah, we read 24. We come to 25. They stayed in their cave three hundred years and in addition nine years, nine years, it says. Who says this? Look, let's read it once more. They stayed in their cave three hundred years and in addition nine years, it says. Allah says this. Let's come from a bit further back here. Though they were asleep, you would think them awake. We turned them right and left, and their dog lay at the cave's entrance, its forelegs stretched out. Had you seen their state, you would have turned and fled from them, and from what you saw, sir, with fear you would be filled. Thus, so they would ask one another, We woke them.

Now look, it starts here. One of them said: how long have you stayed? Some said: a day or part of a day, a part of a day we stayed. Others said this: Our Lord knows best the time we stayed. Now send one of you with this silver coin of yours; pay attention here. This is where it really starts: with a silver coin of yours send one to the city, and let him see which food of the city is purest, and bring us provisions from it. Also let him be gentle, act secretly and never let anyone sense you.

For if they find you out, they will stone you to death or turn you to their religion, and then you will never prosper. Thus people We made aware of them. Look, thus We made people aware of them,

so that they know Allah's promise is true and that the Hour admits no doubt. When they were disputing among themselves the situation of the People of the Cave, they said: we will build a building over them. They know better. Let's not read these parts.

Let's read here. Some people will say they are three, the fourth is their dog. Again, five; the sixth is their dog, they will say. These are guesses about the unknown. Who are they? They are seven; the eighth is their dog, they say. Say: my Lord knows their number best. Few have knowledge of them. So about the People of the Cave, except where the proofs are clear, do not argue or get involved, and do not talk loosely about them. Ask no one of them for information, it says. Now look what the 25th verse says. In their cave, you know, they stayed to be woken; they got up, He raised them. Now Allah Almighty says: They stayed in their cave 300 years and in addition 9 years.

Now He is refuting these. It says, some 3 days, some 5 days, I mean three hundred years, the second five years. What does it say here? Some say three persons, some the fourth is their dog, five and so on. Allah Almighty says: they stayed in their cave three hundred years and in addition nine years. Now look at the next verse. Say: Allah knows best how long they stayed.

Yes. The hidden knowledge of the heavens and the earth belongs to Him. His seeing and His hearing too are (?).

They, those in the heavens and on earth, other than Him, sir, have no (?), and no guardian other than Him. He makes no one a partner in His rule. It says. And now in the 24th, 25th verse: they stayed in their cave 300 years and in addition 9 years. That is, 309 years. The 26th verse says: Allah knows best how long they stayed. Yet here, since the Arabic word has no exact Turkish equivalent, here you need to put the verse's meaning, its exact equivalent. How will you put its equivalent? In the second edition we will correct these. Besides, we will do a second edition. Look, here we need to say it this way: They stayed in their cave 300 years and in addition 9 years, they said.

People. On what basis did they say it? It says, you know: go and buy food with this coin. That coin, 300 years earlier, the coat of arms of the Andokyan king, (?). His Andokyan and Andoksan, something like that. That king's name. Because that king's name also appears in history.

Some say that king, 309 years, 309 years, in the year 309, it says, he reigned. In the year 309, not 300, it says. This, 300 years back, is 309. That is their talk. And Allah Almighty says to them: say, Allah knows best how long they stayed. Who said it? They are saying it. And Allah Almighty says: say, Allah knows best how long they stayed. Now if you don't render it like this, there's nonsense for you.

Is it understood now? Yes. This is how they make it (?), (?). And those who examine the book say this too is full of nonsense. Yes.

Thus we have also explained the twenty-fifth verse. We come to the twenty-eighth verse. There are many, you know. Many, I mean. As much again as what's written, this much more there is. They study it for hundreds of years. They change the words. But not the verses. The protector of the verses is Allah. We sent it down; until the Day of Judgment (?).

Morning and evening, with those who call on their Lord seeking His pleasure, wholeheartedly be steadfast. Seeking the adornment of worldly life, does not turn his eyes away from them.

Does not turn his eyes away from them. Seeking the adornment of worldly life, that is, be with them. (?) Seeking the adornment of worldly life, your eyes from them do not turn away. Do not follow the evil desires of those whose hearts are heedless of remembering Us, and to one whose whole concern is excess do not submit.

We read the correct rendering of verse 28. Morning and evening, with those who call on their Lord seeking His pleasure, wholeheartedly be steadfast. Seeking the adornment of worldly life, do not turn your eyes to them; seeking the adornment of worldly life, do not turn your eyes to it. What does it say here? Seeking the adornment of worldly life, do not turn your eyes away from them, that is, take the world; not "from them", do not turn to them. Yes. Of those whose hearts are heedless of remembering Us, do not follow the evil desires, and to one whose whole concern is excess do not submit. Here too the place wrongly rendered in this verse is this: seeking the adornment of worldly life, do not turn your eyes away from them. The correct one: seeking the adornment of worldly life, do not turn your eyes to them. Look, one letter in between.

From them, to them, to them; and such fine points they touched on that, in those fine points, they led people astray. So, since the True Quran says: your eye from that world's adornment do not turn away, I'll take it too, he says.

Yet Allah Almighty says this in a verse: We give the world to whoever wants the world, the Hereafter to whoever wants the Hereafter. The adornment of the world, glittering gold, golden ears of grain, to people its adornment appeared, it says. There too it says it saw its adornment. Seen as adorned. Adorned. Attractive to them. They were drawn by its attraction, it says. That is, a very beautiful word for something.

Made to look attractive. Correct. Made to look attractive, it says. They rendered the verses wrongly. They tamper at such a critical spot, like this. At a critical spot. Yes. These are all continuations of those wrongly rendered verses.

What do we say? In this verse the correct one is: seeking the adornment of worldly life, do not turn your eyes to them. In this verse, at this wrongly rendered place, to the Prophet (peace be upon him) and indirectly to his community; God forbid, our Lord says no such word. Look what it says: of worldly life seeking the adornment, do not turn your eyes away from them. That is, do not give up worldly life and what it offers people. Take them and do not turn your eyes away from those blessings; when they say that, they completely ascribe attributes to our Lord here. That is, man will fix his eye on the world and put our Lord behind, because this world is nothing but play and amusement.

Surah Al-Ankabut, verse 64, and Surah Muhammad, verse 36: surely the life of this world is only play and amusement, amusement. If you believe and (?), He gives you your reward, and does not ask you to spend all of your wealth. If you want to come to Allah. In that case the correct rendering of the verse is this: Seeking the adornment of worldly life, do not turn your eyes to them. Yes.

We have come to Surah Al-Kahf, verse 57. Wrong. We read the wrongly rendered verse.

Who is more unjust than the one who, reminded of his Lord's verses, turns his back on them and forgets what his own hands have done? Who is there? We, upon their hearts, a weight preventing their understanding, and on their ears deafness, have placed.

Now these people are unaware of the verses.

While still reading, another verse comes to our mind. Look, what does it say now? We, upon their hearts, a weight preventing their understanding, and on their ears deafness, have placed. Yet Allah Almighty sent the Prophet (peace be upon him) as a mercy to the worlds. What does it say here?

Ve mâ erselnâke illâ rahmeten li'l-âlemîn. Moreover our Lord sent the Quran as a mercy to the worlds.

O people, He says.

O nas; nas, by which He means people.

There is no god but Allah. Saying La ilahe illallah, reciting the testimony of faith, every person on earth, having believed in the oneness of Allah, into the religion of inne'd-dîne inda'llâhi'l-İslâm enters.

What does it say here? To their understanding, it says, We drew obstructing veils.

On their hearts, their ears, He put weights. So now you both say come, and He calls, and also, however much you... I call you, but I don't love you. You can't come to me, because I don't love you. He seals his heart. But Hodja, isn't there His sealing of the heart? There is. Then why are you turning the verse upside down now? You don't know how He sealed that heart. Look what Allah Almighty says. Hatemallâhu alâ kulûbihim ve alâ sem'ihim ve alâ ebsârihim gışâvetün ve lehüm azâbün azîm. They had Us draw a veil over their eyes. They put plugs in their ears. And they had Us seal their hearts. Otherwise We did not want to seal them.

They said: we don't know You. They did it themselves. If we read the verses well, understand them well and render them well too. But Hodja, as you say, this verse wasn't rendered that way. You're right; that verse, look how they rendered it here. But here let me tell you: Allah has sealed their hearts and their ears. And over their eyes a kind of veil is drawn. And for them in this world and the Hereafter there is a great punishment. Look, Hodja, how nicely it's written here. Allah did it. Allah did not create in order to wrong His servants. So now, since Allah did not create in order to wrong His servants, now we read the correct one.

Because they denied Allah at the address Elestü bi Rabbiküm, their hearts there they had Allah seal. That is: ve iz ehaze Rabbüke min benî Âdeme min zuhûrihim ve eşhedehüm alâ enfüsihim elestü bi Rabbiküm; when He said "I am your Lord", Allah Almighty made a covenant, holding each soul as witness against itself.

So those people, at the address Elestü bi Rabbiküm, Allah Almighty they did not recognize, so they themselves said: I don't know You, I'll wait for the Lord of my imagination. Yes, I was created, he says. There is a Lord, but it isn't You. In that case they, there, had their hearts by Allah sealed. They had weights put on their ears, and over their eyes veils drawn. For them there is a great punishment. This is the correct meaning of the verse. All verses confirm one another. A verse that would contradict another is a fabrication of human speech. Because in this verse He also says this: If this were a human fabrication, there would be many words in it not agreeing with one another, it says. They turned it into a human fabrication.

Yes. Yet no one can ascribe attributes to Allah Almighty. No one can, with deficient attributes, say of Allah Almighty that a word He said, a single word, contradicts here. Yes. If men and jinn gathered, a surah they could not produce.

Surah, He says.

There are surahs of three verses. For example, their meanings, people cannot, in this way, so that meaning upon meaning unfolds, express. Now we tell our children. Here, in the video too, let's say it, so that people hear. As I explained here a little earlier, everyone, Muslims know what La ilahe illallah means, right? La ilahe illallah, in the first meaning: there is no other god but Allah.

But look, one of the poets says: La, after saying it, look, has anything remained? Everything but illallah is gone; rejoice, O lover, to the Truth no partner remained, it's over, he says.

When one says La ilahe illallah: the universe's Creator, the absolute owner of this realm, Allah; if there were another god, he would take what he created. Allah too would take what He created. Everything would drown in chaos. This too is (?) that there is no other god but Allah. So when you say La ilahe illallah: the seven heavens, created from atom to globe, since no other owner appeared besides the absolute owner of these realms, there is no other god but Allah, who created the whole universe from nothing. Let's come to another meaning. You know, we say surahs can't be rendered, we say they can't write it. The words all support Allah.

What does it say now? In a verse Allah Almighty says: The heavens and the earth, and what is between them, have known their Lord's remembrance. You'll put these in the video tomorrow.

The atoms of all magnetic or antimagnetic substances, their nuclei, around their own axes, as they turn, produce a sound. Now why does Allah Almighty make them produce a sound? That sound: whichever attribute of Allah Almighty it is to remember, when He turns those nuclei around their own axes, He makes them remember Allah Almighty. So what's the meaning of this? We'll give an example now. A factory invented a product and went and got its patent. What does patent mean? It publishes it; this product, no one can produce it; the owner of this product is another, such-and-such factory; such-and-such factory's brand is on its face; you can't imitate it, it says.

Allah Almighty too: from atom to globe, if the heavens and the earth and what's between them know Allah's remembrance, if Allah makes them remember His Self, there is no god but Allah, so that the places and heavens, the earth and heavens and what's between them, He would make remember Him. There is no other god to make them remember him. Here too Allah Almighty makes it remembered that there is no god but Allah.

In that case no person can get up and so that Allah's word contradicts itself, render the verses. This corresponds to this verse: If he renders it contradicting, those who slander Allah, when He did not say it, themselves, have wronged themselves. That is, they are in their wrongs, in Hell. Yes. That's why one must be very careful when rendering the verses. If you don't know, (?); who is more unjust than the one who forgets?

We, upon their hearts, so they do not understand it, a weight preventing their understanding, and on their ears deafness, have placed. Even if you call them to guidance, they will never come to guidance. These verses are writings written in a way a child would understand. These, these verses cannot be attributed to Allah. But those who say I'm a scholar, and sham sheikhs, and those who say I'm a sheikh, all with these (?). I don't see many sheikhs on earth. It's not that there are none; there are. But they are hidden.

If they were sheikhs, at the wrong rendering of the verses, at least, if you don't know all the languages, to one or two: this verse is wrongly rendered here, they would turn and say. I haven't heard such a thing. Until now. Have you heard? From a scholar, from a hodja, from a sheikh, that this verse is rendered wrongly? Have you heard? No. I haven't. If anyone has heard, let him say so here.

Hodja, are you praising yourself by saying this? God forbid. Whoever praises himself is Satan himself.

By saying this to you: those who say I'm a sheikh, exploiters of conscience, those who say I'm a hodja and explain wrongly; don't follow their minds and mortgage your minds to them; seek the truth. Find what is right. Yes.

To them we read the correct one: who is more unjust than those who, reminded of their Lord's verses, turn their backs on them, the things presented into their own hands who forget? Now we won't interpret it, we'll say it briefly: presented into their own hands means the People of the Book Allah sent. They had placed in their hearts a weight preventing them from understanding it, and deafness in their ears. This is the correct one. Even if you call them to guidance, they will never come to guidance.

The place wrongly rendered in this verse is this: We placed on their hearts a weight preventing them from understanding it, and on their ears deafness. The correct one: they had placed in their hearts a weight preventing their understanding, and deafness in their ears. So that people would not blame our Lord like this, He made a covenant with them at Kâlû Belâ. Surah Al-A'raf, verse 172, and verse 173 clearly explain why our Lord made a covenant with us. We recommend reading the footnotes of these verses. Briefly, it's worth explaining this much. Our Lord seals no one's eyes with a veil, nor ears with a weight, nor heart.

As we explained in Surah Al-A'raf, verse 172, those who deny our Lord, who made a covenant with people, themselves had our Lord put veils on their eyes, on their ears weights, and had their hearts sealed. Our Lord, who writes each person's wishes and deeds as his destiny, did not, of His own accord, discriminating among people, create some people for Paradise and others for Hell. People, by denying our Lord, with their own wishes and desires, their own places have determined themselves.

We left off at Surah Al-Kahf, verse 100. Page 232 here. Yes. We will continue from here. Stay well. May you be entrusted to Allah. Lillahi Teala'l-Fatiha.

Amen.