Talk of 24 August 2026

We have no questions. As-salamu alaykum. Blessed be our holy night, the night of the Mawlid. The Prophet (peace be upon him) came into the world on this night. The one who brought the worlds out of darkness into light and was sent as a mercy to all the worlds, the Prophet (peace be upon him) — the eve of his birthday. The twelfth night of the month of Rabi' al-Awwal.

Before speaking about the Prophet (peace be upon him): some say the Mawlid night is an act of worship. The Mawlid night is not worship.

Those who call it worship say so deliberately. Worship is for Allah alone.

So what is this Mawlid night? It is celebrating the birth of the Prophet. People sometimes celebrate their own birthdays too. Are they worshipping, too? Worship is for Allah alone. Reciting the Quran for the Prophet (peace be upon him), just as we recite it for our dead — is it worship of the dead when we recite the Quran for them? singing hymns, the honour of the Messenger of Allah praying for the Prophet, whom Allah Almighty calls 'My Beloved' (peace be upon him) — is that worship?

For the Prophet, who came as a mercy to the worlds, we — a prophet who guided mankind, brought darkness into light, and by Allah's command worked to guide people — praying for him for Allah's sake, reciting the Quran, singing hymns: this is showing our love for him. It is not worship. Worship is praying the salah, fasting, giving zakat, going on the Hajj — that is worship.

These are within the testimony of faith.

If you don't observe the holy night, are you in debt? Does it remain a debt on you because you didn't observe it? No.

You miss out on its reward. But if you don't pray the salah, you are in debt. That's different. The Prophet also says in his hadith: 'Value me as much as is due.' That is, 'do not hold me equal to Allah.' These worlds were created from the light of the Prophet (peace be upon him).

Now, before we come to the night of the Prophet's birth, let us go back.

Back to where? To the creation of the Prophet.

And from there, let us go one step further back.

The worlds have not been created, the Prophet has not been created either — what is before that?

He who created the universe as He willed, all He created from the atom to the spheres — the Creator, Allah, the Majestic and Most Holy, is unique above the worlds, alone.

One who possesses knowledge, great knowledge. A treasure. A treasure of knowledge. He wills. He will create a human being, and for that human being He will create these worlds. This is where it begins. Allah Almighty creates the light of the Prophet.

According to one narration, He keeps the light of the Prophet in worship for seventy-eight thousand years.

For twelve thousand years, let's say, it said Allahu Akbar. For eleven thousand years it said La ilaha illallah. For ten thousand years it said Subhanallah. Like this, with nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one thousand years, for seventy- eight thousand years it worships. Then Allah Almighty asks it: Who am I? And the Prophet sweats as Allah Almighty speaks to him. From that, it says, our Lord created a jewel. He divided it into four. From one He created the earth, from one the heavens, from one what is between them, and from one the water, and said: 'Settle upon the water.' That is, He made every living thing from water.

Then He gave him of His spirit, of His spirit. Well, when He created his light, where did He create it?

There were no earths. No earth, no heavens.

He willed it, He was going to create, so He created his light. Where did He create it?

It is the place above the Bayt al-Ma'mur — that is, where the Bayt al-Ma'mur stands above the Kaaba. Where is that? A place where there is no time and no space. His light. Then, after creating these worlds from his light, He gave him of His spirit.

Allah Almighty Himself educated the Prophet. He taught him. Allah Almighty raised him.

And yet they say that in the Quran Gabriel taught him. They put Gabriel in the place of Allah.

May Allah protect us.

Thus, in the universe, the first created — from his light, the first created, all the worlds, and from his spirit indirectly mankind, Allah Almighty created; as the sultan of the worlds and of creation, the Prophet (peace be upon him), as the very last, the one who seals prophethood, to light up the darkness — to the Prophet He says: 'You did not expect that I would give you this Quran' — the verse He spoke of, the Holy Quran, and hidden in the Preserved Tablet that Quran He would send to the Prophet as a keepsake for His servants, to light up their path. And the words of this so precious Holy Quran He kept in the Prophet He loved so much (peace be upon him), and when he came into the world, through him, the right path for His servants — and by having them do in the salah the duties all angels perform, He makes humans honoured above the worlds.

Because He does not give of His spirit. Now, since the first created is the Prophet (peace be upon him), from his spirit He created the spirits of the prophets. And from the spirits of the prophets — whichever prophet He would send to whichever people — from that prophet's spirit, the spirits of his people He created. So the prophets are the elders and fathers of their peoples. At the very end, as minds came into play and no more prophets would come, the Prophet (peace be upon him) and his ummah — making his ummah witness over the other ummahs, and the Prophet witness over the other prophets — in this time, with knowledge, ever more knowledge, the very summit people can reach He granted to the Prophet's ummah.

This ummah is a precious ummah. The Prophet says this: 'My ummah will split into 72 sects.' One group is the saved sect: Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jama'ah. That is, ruled by the Sunnah and praying the salah properly — the four schools. The Shafi'i, Hanbali, Maliki and Hanafi schools are true schools. And these are precious Muslim people. If they live Islam, of course. If they live Islam. Where does their preciousness come from? 'We will make your ummah witnesses over the other ummahs.' Witnesses. 'And you We will make a witness over the other prophets.' So, for us to be witnesses over the other prophets' ummahs, on the path of the Prophet (peace be upon him), who came as a mercy to the worlds, we must walk, so that we are witnesses over the other ummahs.

Instead, outdoing the other ummahs, we go about stark naked. Against our Lord's will, out of paradise — just as the accursed one deceived our mother Eve and father Adam and drove them out, the verse says: 'just as he stripped your mother Eve and father Adam' 'and laid their private parts bare and drove them out' — 'drove them out of paradise' — 'let him not strip you, too.' And today we see this verse come true. They have undressed. A person who goes naked and exhibits himself is considered civilised. Or else, among people, with pride and arrogance, in a claim of ego, he sees himself as above them. Above other people.

How they have instilled this in them by stripping naked! Now then, this night — if we go further back: before the Prophet came on this night, that is, before he was born, the Arabs used to bury their daughters alive. Alive. Why did they bury them?

There was no notion of morality there. When there were idols in the Kaaba, they would strip stark naked and circle the Kaaba clapping their hands. They went round it. Parents who didn't want this for their daughters — the fathers buried their children alive and, ashamed of a daughter, fled to the mountains. When at drinking tables they made their mothers, sisters, even their wives dance stark naked, those who could not bear it again buried their children alive in the ground. And Allah Almighty, by sending the Prophet (peace be upon him) into the world, did away with such falsehoods. He gave our women very great value.

The elder ones as our mothers, the younger as our children and grandchildren — He made us stand up for them. But people today, like the people of old, are stripping stark naked again. The reason: the so-called enlightened say 'our taste for beauty is spoiled', and to satisfy it — really, to silence the outburst of their own nafs — they turn a blind eye to people going stark naked. Yes. He who brought life to mankind, who wanted the worlds to live in peace, and all people — 'O people, we are all Allah's servants', he said, 'there is no difference between us' — he declared people brothers; the only difference is accepting Islam or not. Not accepting Islam parts some people's way, and the way of the one who is Muslim parts too, and only this much of a difference emerges. Otherwise we are all Allah's servants.

Allah created all of us. He created none of us above another. He created us all equal. But we were divided by faith. By faith we parted into two paths. People are either of the right or of the left anyway. There are two paths. The third are those brought near (muqarrabun). They are the company of saints, prophets, martyrs and witnesses. The Prophet (peace be upon him) brought this blessed religion: that there is no god but Allah; he broke the idols, and Allah, the absolute Owner of the universe, he made known to people, closed that dark era and opened a bright one — for this, the night he was born, his blessed birthday, we celebrate.

What do we do? We recite Mawlids. We recite the Quran. We pray for him, for the Prophet. This — for Allah's sake, to exalt the honour of the Prophet, gifting to his soul the Quran we recited for him, that we give, and send blessings and peace upon him, him him — also renews our own faith. So these acts of worship we do are for raising our own rank; they are not worship of the Prophet's birthday. Worship is for Allah. We pray for the Prophet only to raise his rank. His rank is high already.

Therefore the religion of Islam is, on earth, the symbol that there is no god but Allah Himself. We will stand up for Islam so that we can tell people that there is no god other than Allah Almighty. When people ask themselves whether there is an afterlife, many are in doubt. Is there really resurrection after death?

A person asks himself this until he is at peace. But the mind — if one uses reason well. 'Do you never use your reason?' He says. 'Do you not think?' If you think accordingly, these worlds came into being from nothing. There is a Creator.

If a person goes a little deeper — his mother's and father's creation, their parents' creation — if you go further back, we arrive at our father Adam. Who created our father Adam, Allah Almighty tells us in the Holy Quran. Bringing mud, clay from the earth — black clay, that is — having shaped the body of our father Adam in human form, He puts his spirit into him and, in human form, has the angels and devils prostrate to him. When this knowledge is explained to a person, he renews his faith and turns to Allah.

Today even non-Muslims know that Allah exists. They know Allah is One, but they ascribe partners to Him. To whom do they ascribe a partner? To Prophet Jesus. Or they make Ezra His partner. Then they give Him a wife and children. He married. They make Mary, may Allah protect us, his wife.

And they pray to the greatest of the three as Father. Yet Allah is One in His essence. He has neither child nor family. That is, neither wife nor children.

Surah Al-Ikhlas is the proof of this.

May Allah grant us all many more holy nights, many more nights of the Prophet's birth, in good health, and let us keep these nights alive, and as the Prophet's ummah, since he brought us our Lord's bright, radiant light, let us pray for him; his rank is very high, and if only we knew that in fact, by raising him, we raise ourselves, we increase our own rank and virtue. In Allah's sight. That is why we will stand up for the Prophet.

We will stand up for what he left behind. What he left behind is the Quran. The Quran. We will stand up for the Quran. We will take care not to step outside what it says. Then we will attain his intercession.

They said a time would come. They said the Quran would gather dust on the shelves.

Well, these days, does anyone open the Quran and look into it? More or less, many homes have a Holy Quran. Gathering dust on the shelves.

That's why — once, in Mecca al-Mukarramah, while doing Safa and Marwa, some things began to dawn in me. Something was going to happen, but I felt strange, I couldn't work out what was inside me. I climb the hill of Safa. I go to the hill of Marwa, to Marwa. From there I came back to Safa. Was it the fifth time? Probably so. A spiritual unveiling (kashf) opened. And I saw: the people going between Safa and Marwa were running like pawns. In that running, Allah Almighty said to my heart: 'For this handful of people I keep this universe standing.' A handful of people. Would it be bad if we too joined that handful?

If we do what Allah says, living with the same heart as them — even if we don't go, even if we can't go — if we submit to Allah, wouldn't we count as part of that same group? That is why however much we pray for the Prophet (peace be upon him), however many times we complete the Quran, it is too little. May Allah grant us his intercession. May He grant the whole ummah of Muhammad to walk upright on the straight path. May He grant people to take on fine character. Otherwise, at this rate many calamities will befall us. Because Allah Almighty did away with destroying whole peoples; He sends calamities instead.

With every calamity, people make something up. None of them says: 'Hey, these calamities were given to us — what lies beneath this calamity, what are we doing?' Does anyone ever call himself to account? You won't find a person who does — just one here and there. And for the sake of those few, Allah spares these worlds.

Once upon a time, two friends set out on a journey. They leave the city they lived in. They go to another city. Where they arrive, a crowd has gathered. To choose a king, they will release a dove. Whoever's head it lands on, they will make king.

These two also join the crowd. One of the friends says: 'If it lands on my head, I will open the doors to these people, feed them, give them drink. Well, I'll feed them as best I can,' he says.

The other friend says:

'I'll squeeze them so hard,' he says, 'so very hard that the fish in the sea and the animals on land will complain about me.'

The dove flies and lands on this man's head. His friend says: 'My king, my king, this friend of mine said this and that. These people will suffer.' He calls him: 'Is he telling the truth?' 'He is,' he says. 'Release the dove again,' he says. The dove flies and again lands on his head. No good — they release it once more, and again it lands on his head. In the end they make him king.

He starts squeezing these people.

The fish in the sea begin to complain. 'Hey,' they say, 'boats used to come alongside here. Sacks of flour would fall into the sea, they'd throw them in. And we would eat them and be fed. What a cruel man he is,' they say. The fish. The friend, whose spiritual sight is open, hears this.

He is troubled. He goes towards the forest. The animals say: 'People used to come here. They'd leave lots of provisions and go. Now nobody comes or goes here. From hunger our bones are about to show. What a cruel king he is.' At last the people say to the friend: 'He's your friend, go and tell him about our situation.' So he goes to his friend. His friend receives him very warmly. 'Welcome,' he says. He seats him, feeds him, gives him drink. He says: 'The people are like this and this. Now, he says, truly, he says, things have gone off the rails, he says. Even the fish are complaining about you.' 'My friend, our friendship stands. But don't tell me about them.

Come whenever you want,' he says. He sends him off. A few days later the people send him again. 'Don't,' he says, 'go.' Anyway, he comes again. When he again explains the situation, he says: 'Look, friend, if you ever come to me for these people again, I'll throw you out of here. Don't spoil our friendship — go.' Well, he goes and says: 'This is how things are.'

The third time they send him again; he can't bear it and doesn't let his friend in. The doorkeepers send him off. The people say: 'What happened?' 'Well, this time he didn't even let me in.'

Their leaders say: 'Friends, this is a calamity. Come, let's gather.'

They gather. One of them says: 'We deserve this. We were wasteful. We were not grateful for the blessings Allah gave. We did not walk in Allah's way. This is a calamity from our Lord.' They agree on this. They mend their ways. Their dress goes back to how it was; everyone, at his work, in his field, begins to work. When the king sees this and sees that people have come to their senses and reformed, he says: 'O people, on such-and-such a day you will gather.' They gather them; the day comes, the people assemble. The king will speak — let's see what he says. 'When I came here,' says the king, 'I saw that you were living in waste. Because of that waste I knew Allah would send you a calamity. That dove did not land on my head for nothing.

I did this to bring you to your senses,' he says. 'Now the throne is yours,' he says. 'You have now understood what you are. You may release the dove,' he says.

'We have given up releasing the dove. You stay at our head, that's enough,' say the people.

They learned a lesson from that calamity. Do we learn a lesson? From so many calamities, do we learn a lesson? Many parts of Turkey are still shaking.

The rains come down as floods. Is that how rain should fall? It rains gently, gently. Until the earth is filled (?).

Oppression everywhere.

No one says stop to oppression.

Mercy to the oppressor, to the oppressed to the oppressed.

There can be no mercy to the oppressor.

That's why the way we are going is bad.

We celebrate the holy nights, but are we worthy of the holy nights? That is, the one who came as a mercy to the worlds — mâ erselnâke illâ rahmeten lil-âlemîn — are we worthy of what he said, of our Lord's command? We celebrate this, we come together.

If we celebrate it, we must also be worthy of that celebration. Your prayer on one night, because it is a holy night — yes, it counts; there is no prayer that isn't accepted, but it is like a summer rain. In summer the sun's heat strikes the soil, the soil cracks into pieces, then a rain comes, let's say 100 kilograms an hour fell on the soil. Without soaking up this rain, the soil lets it run off its surface. Then the sun comes out again. That rainwater that didn't sink into the soil — the heat inside the soil suddenly turns it to vapour. And with the sun beating from above, very soon it's back as it was.

On holy nights we cool our hearts a little, but when the night is over we return to our old state. That is the summer rain. Let us not be like this. That coolness within us — let us turn it into peace, let us return to Allah's command. Otherwise, in the universe, among created beings, I leave humans aside. Apart from four who remain alive by our Lord's command, all have tasted death.

One of the four is Idris (peace be upon him). One is Prophet Jesus, peace be upon him. One is Khidr (peace be upon him). And one is Elijah (peace be upon him). They too will taste death.

No one will remain who does not die. In the end we will be called to account. So our lifetime is a treasure. In this life of ours, every passing minute of ours, even our seconds, the one who wastes the treasure is losing time. If just once we say 'Allah', since we fit the purpose for which Allah created us, our Lord says 'Here I am, My servant'. But those who know nothing of this, who instead of saying 'Allah' help oppression, who turn their backs on Allah, who fix their eyes on this rubbish-heap world, who follow their nafs, turn their backs on Allah and live in darkness, trying to ease that distress with pleasure and revelry — let us not fall among those wretched people.

May Allah grant us all guidance. And may He count us among His righteous servants and join us to them. Lillahi Teâlâ'l-Fatiha.

Amin, O Lord.