Talk of 24 February 2024

...is verse 8.

In the question about what was created from the light of the Prophet, creating the light that is like (?) and then we did the thing to it, we explained them, I think. Peace be upon you, sir. Page 289 is marked.

Hand me that thing behind me. Let me get it, Hodja.

Here Dad it's still frozen. This one froze.

The broadcast is on, sir, the broadcast is on, the broadcast is on, it's coming now, now it's here. Yes, peace be upon you, good evening. We're a bit late this evening too. Let's not do the lesson; let's just answer your questions, anyway they have probably (?) left the broadcast.

Tonight is not Mawlid Kandil, it's Berat Kandil.

We've passed the kandils. We've come to Berat Kandil, the herald of Ramadan.

On Berat Kandil, because Allah Almighty loves people very much, He opens doors of opportunity for people to return to Him. These doors of opportunity are what we call kandil. Why kandil? A kandil is a light. That is, the nights Allah Almighty has prepared to lead you onto the lighted paths that invite you to Him, those nights. What is the purpose of the lighted paths? Why are they lighted paths? Allah Almighty sends His verses to man as a light, as a radiance. For example, He says the Quran is a light. That is, it is a radiance. When we say lighted paths: since people return to Allah and He opens such doors to people as an opportunity, people, through repentance and seeking forgiveness, draw near to their Lord.

And Allah Almighty accepts their repentance and seeking of forgiveness and purifies them. He forgives some of their sins. Well, isn't this a light? Isn't this a lighted path? A beautiful path. So if we recognise our helplessness and bring our nafs to accept asking Allah Almighty for pardon and forgiveness, tonight we open our hands. To Allah Almighty: "O my Lord, in my period of ignorance I committed some mistakes. Forgive me." When one says this, Allah Almighty says: I accept repentance abundantly. That is why, in fact, every evening, every moment, at all times, we can repent, and although Allah Almighty accepts repentance, why has He offered nights like these to people even more, wanting them to return to Him?

Now, people have certain traits. One says: I will pray, but first let me marry off this child of mine and find some ease, then afterwards. I will go on hajj, but let me finish this business of mine first. For people with such traits, on nights like these, generally, within a chain of Islam, it is a lighted path He has prepared for people. Kandil. This kandil tonight: from the sins we committed in the period of ignorance, our Lord's doors of opportunity to purify us by making us return to Him.

We truly commit many sins, knowingly or unknowingly. Because Allah Almighty created our intellect incomplete. Because of our incomplete creation, we take some wrongs for right and some rights for wrong. In this state we sometimes follow our nafs and do evil. The reason Allah Almighty created us incomplete is that we recognise our helplessness and ask Allah Almighty for pardon; for this He created our intellect incomplete. But although the intellect was created incomplete, when it sees the truth, if a person, without following the desires of the nafs, or without judging people's words in advance, with prejudice, and without being carried away by the desires of the nafs, reasons it out, he distinguishes crooked from straight with his intellect.

So, since He created our intellect incomplete so that we recognise our helplessness and know Allah Almighty, when we understand our mistake and return to Allah Almighty, because it fits the purpose for which Allah Almighty created us, He forgives our sins. Yes. So, seizing nights like these as an opportunity, through the bright doors open to all... the broadcast is on for me. I can see it. Yes. Through such bright doors, Allah Almighty waits for us to return to Him and repent.

People who cannot enter through such doors go on living with restless and scattered hearts, in a constant rush, because peace comes by drawing near to Allah, by submitting to Allah, by repentance and seeking forgiveness, by holding one's Lord great, and within the Sharia rulings Allah Almighty has commanded us, by carrying out our Lord's command; that is how we find peace.

Peace does not come from fixing your eyes on the world. Peace does not come from loving your spouse and children more than Allah; peace, by loving your own life too much you cannot find the peace Allah will place in your heart. So how will we find it? By knowing that our Lord created everything, giving thanks for all the blessings He has extended to us from what He created, submitting to His test over us, to these afflictions He has given to test us with having and not having, to make us witnesses over ourselves, to submit without rebelling against Allah Almighty: if only you knew the peace Allah Almighty will give to that person's heart.

Because the owner of the whole universe is Allah. All the things He has given us belong to Allah Almighty. Look, what does He say in His verse? Every soul shall taste death, and the inheritance of the heavens and the earth will remain with Allah. So if the whole inheritance of the heavens and the earth is Allah's, if Allah created it, and we love Allah's property more than Allah, we cannot attain peace. Our body too? Yes. Because our body, and the body of Adam too, Allah created from clay. After breathing into him of His spirit, He sent us to a world of outward appearances. So our body is also a trust from Allah Almighty to us.

Our spirit too is a part from our Lord. So everything created, from the atom to the globe, has been created by our Lord, and if we do not submit to its Creator, our Creator, we cannot find peace. In this state, since Allah Almighty sent us into the world, within a dark realm the prophets lit the way before us with the books. So on this bright path, by keeping Allah's commands, to light up these dark paths, by submitting to our Lord's Sharia rulings over us and surrendering to Allah, we find peace. Then we are no longer in a rush, and although He sent us to the world as a cause, and by our actual deeds declared to ourselves that we will earn (?) and sin, in this state, if we submit to Allah Almighty's test over us and keep the commands our Lord has given over us, we gain both our world and our hereafter.

Our Lord makes us flourish in both worlds. Because He created us to know Him. And according to the verse in which He says: or do you own even an atom in the world? That is, are we able to create even an atom from nothing in the world? If that were so, He says, you would not be given anything from your world, not even as much as the stone of a (?). Why would it not be given? Because now you have learned to create things by yourself, you would meet your own needs yourself, and I would give you nothing, He says. Since we do not have such an ability, since He offers all His blessings in the sky, on land and in the sea to these people, to thank Allah Almighty abundantly, and for the mistakes we have made, to Allah Almighty to submit, and if we ask our Lord for pardon and forgiveness tonight, there is no sin our Lord will not forgive us.

In this case, some great sins are an exception. Very great sins. What are these very great sins? Some sins one cannot bear. For that too, one repents. He goes to Mecca. He circles the House of Allah. Sir, he prays two rak'ahs at the Station of Abraham. After doing the sa'y between Safa and Marwa, and praying two rak'ahs at the Station of Abraham, we turn back to the meaning of the verse that says: you are as pure as if newly born from your mother. In this case. So these nights are for the forgiveness of some of our sins; such when we say an unforgivable sin, when we say a very great sin, in Mecca the Honoured, after circling the House of Allah Almighty and doing the sa'y between Safa and Marwa and praying two rak'ahs at the Station of Abraham, it means there is no unforgivable sin. What does this mean?

Although I came into the world, my Allah, if You sent me into the world, and I followed my nafs and did evil and committed very great sins in my period of ignorance, but now I have come to my senses, I have held fast to Your verses, and I have returned to You so that You make me pure here; if you say this and surrender to Allah Almighty from your own heart, then there is no unforgivable sin.

Yes. (?)

I didn't understand.

OK, I'll send it. If they've given it, let them send it. OK? Now, Ali, the kids upstairs are a bit hungry; if there is some food, rice, whatever food there is, send it upstairs. OK? OK, Hodja. Tonight we won't be able to do our lesson. That is, we won't be able to continue from the footnotes where we left off. So, as far as possible, if you have questions, ask your questions. Yes, we have guests; to chat with them I intend to part with you early tonight. I'm waiting for your questions for two or three minutes. If you ask your questions within two or three minutes, I will answer you. Otherwise I'll close my broadcast here tonight.

Yes.

Stay in good health, may Allah protect you. Lillahi Teâlâ el-Fatiha.