Al-Baqarah 124: At one time, his Lord tested Abraham with words (in order to make him a witness to himself). And he fulfilled those words completely. Allah said, “I will make you an Imam (a leader) for mankind”. Abraham said, “make my offspring leaders, too”. Allah said, “oppressors cannot be worthy of my covenant”.

The Surah's verse 124 — again a verse that ascribes an attribute to Allah Almighty. A verse that ascribes an attribute to Allah Almighty. What does it say? First let's read the wrong version, and after reading the wrong one, let's read the correct one. Verse 124: 'At one time, at one time his Lord had tested Abraham with certain words,' it says. Now this word 'tested' ascribes an attribute to Allah Almighty: Allah Almighty doesn't know what His servant will do, so He tests him; that is, according to his actions He will treat him accordingly — that is what testing is. Whereas Allah Almighty — by the verse saying: there is not a single living being to come until the Day of Judgment whose doings We do not know — (?) Allah Almighty is free from all deficient attributes. So how shall we translate this?

'At one time his Lord, to make Abraham a witness to himself, with certain words put him to the test.' He tested him to make him a witness to himself. And he fulfilled these words completely. Allah said: I will make you an imam for people. Abraham said: make my descendants imams too. Allah the Exalted said: My covenant does not reach the wrongdoers. Yes. All imams descend from Abraham.

When asked whose millah you belong to, we are of the millah of Abraham.

Why do we say so? What's the reason? Why don't we say of the millah of Adam? We don't say of Moses, of Jesus — we don't say of the millah of Muhammad either. We say: we are of the millah of Abraham. Will you be able to answer?

Is there anyone among you who can answer?

Why? We say we are of the millah of Abraham.

Yes, if anyone has written here, I'll look.

You all know it, but it just doesn't come to mind. You all know it. When I say it, you'll say: yes, Hodja. Abraham is Hanif. Hanif means one who in no way, in no form worships anyone other than Allah and serves no one but Him; that is why Allah Almighty calls him Hanif. When we too say we are of the millah of Abraham, we have worshipped no being other than Allah, our necks — nor prostrated or bowed before it. That is why we too are hanifs of the millah of Abraham. Whose ummah are you? We are the ummah of Muhammad (peace be upon him). Yes, when Allah Almighty says He tested Abraham with certain words: Abraham is old; from Allah Almighty he asks for a child, for offspring, but he is old. It is impossible for such a child to be born.

But Allah Almighty accepts Abraham's prayer. The angels give the glad tidings of Ishmael. There are many stories about this. In fact, when the angels went to destroy the people of Lot, when the angels gave Abraham the glad tidings, his wife, clapping her hands and laughing — my husband is old, I am old, how can I have a child? — when she said that, the angels said: this is already done and settled, they say. Allah's command does not end. Abraham says: if I have a son, I will sacrifice him to Allah.

He has a child. When it reaches a certain age, he has a dream. O Abraham, fulfil your promise. Sacrifice your son for Me.

He wonders whether it is from Satan or from the Merciful. The second night he sees the same dream. When he sees the same dream on the third night, three nights in a row, he understands it is from the Merciful. He will take his son to (?) in our present-day Mecca and sacrifice him. There he lays him down to sacrifice him. As he is sacrificing him, Ishmael says: O my father, tie my hands behind me too. 'You will be (?) to me,' he says. When you cut my throat, he says, from the pain my hands, he says, without my knowing will strike you somewhere and hurt you. That's why I said it, he says. Upon that he strikes the knife at the child's neck, but the knife does not cut, because Allah Almighty had commanded the knife; it didn't cut.

When it doesn't cut the second and third time either, he stabs the knife into a rock, and it sinks into the rock — the knife. At that moment Gabriel (peace be upon him) brings the sheep left from Abel with the takbir. He brings it saying: Allahu Ekber, Allahu Ekber, La İlahe İllallah ve Allahu Ekber. When Abraham understands his son is saved, he says: Allahu Ekber, ve lillahi'l-hamd. Praise and thanks be to Allah Almighty, he says. So, as a ransom for a life, sacrifice becomes obligatory for us too. Yes. In the verse saying 'when He tested him with certain words', this event He (?). Abraham (peace be upon him) asks Allah Almighty for a child.

But he is very old. In this state, having a child is not possible. And Allah Almighty accepts Abraham's prayer. Abraham asks Allah Almighty for an answer that he will have a son. And Allah Almighty sets the heart of Abraham (peace be upon him) at rest. Thereupon events unfold. Abraham has a son. He names him Ishmael. Allah Almighty, with Ishmael, Abraham — for the worlds (?) — He tests him.

Abraham loves his son Ishmael very much. When Ishmael reaches a certain age, Allah Almighty to Abraham: O Abraham, sacrifice your son for Me. He sees this dream three times in a row. Abraham understands the dream is from the Merciful. He decides to sacrifice his son. Yes.

Thereupon, to sacrifice him, he takes with him Ishmael.

Abraham (peace be upon him) takes Ishmael with him and sets out.

But Satan won't let go. Satan follows them. Seeing this, Satan approaches Ishmael and tells him: your father is taking you to be slaughtered. But Ishmael answers the accursed one: he is my father, he does whatever he wishes. He sees that the accursed one won't leave him. He throws a stone at him, then another. With the third stone he knocks out his eye. That's where what we call 'blind Satan' comes from. Satan's eye being knocked out by the stone Ishmael threw, and his being called blind Satan — that is this. In today's Mecca the Honored, at (?), Ishmael's first Satan, second Satan, third Satan — the place of the stones we throw.

Yes. The stoning place.

Arriving at the place of slaughter, Abraham covers his son's eyes with a cloth. Ishmael tells his father: tie my hands behind me too. His father says to Ishmael: O son, are you going to be (?) to me now? Ishmael: O my father, when you cut my throat and I thrash from the pain, my hands may strike you unawares and hurt you. That is why I say: tie my hands behind me, he says. Yes.

Thereupon Abraham ties Ishmael's hands behind him and draws the knife he had sharpened across Ishmael's throat. But Allah has commanded the knife. Just as He commanded the fire regarding Abraham (peace be upon him), as He said 'be cool and safe', He commands the knife too. Do not cut. Yes.

Seeing that the knife did not cut Ishmael's throat, Abraham once more draws the knife across Ishmael's throat. Again the knife does not cut Ishmael's throat. Seeing this, Abraham in anger draws the knife a third time across Ishmael's throat. When it still doesn't cut, he furiously drives the knife into the rock beside him. The rock splits in two.

Thereupon Gabriel (peace be upon him), descending from the sky with a ram in his hands, says the takbir and approaches Abraham with the takbir. Allahu Ekber, Allahu Ekber, La İlahe İllallah ve Allahu Ekber. Seeing this, Abraham understands that Allah Almighty has spared his son, and he too answers the takbir. He says: Allahu Ekber ve Lillahi'l-hamd. Since the sacrifice He sent in Ishmael's place brought about Ishmael's safety, he gives praise and thanks to Allah. Thereupon sacrifice becomes obligatory. Now, we read this and pass on, but there is a very great subtlety here.

It tells us that Allah Almighty has programmed these worlds. It tells us they are within a program. How do we know? Back with our father Adam's two sons, Abel and Cain, when by Allah Almighty's command — you know — 'offer Me a sacrifice for the love of Allah,' He said — the sacrifice, Abel putting forward the finest, Abel's sacrifice being accepted — does Allah need a sacrifice? He programmed where events would occur, to whom the sacrifice would go — all these. How Abraham would pray, that Allah Almighty, in his old age, would give him Ishmael as a miracle, and that Abraham, obeying the words, would sacrifice Ishmael, and, all the way from Adam to Abraham, over the time that passed, the sacrifice staying alive. (?) That a thousand years of this world are like one day of the hereafter.

The world passing very quickly here. The creation of time within time. So this is not something to pass over quickly. The meanings here are deep. Here we also see Allah Almighty's power. Yes. So Allah Almighty tested Abraham with certain words. With the verse saying 'and he fulfilled these words completely', to Abraham Allah said: I will make you an imam for people. Today all imams are descended from Abraham, descended from the Prophet. They are of his millah.

The Sayyids, that is, people descended from the Prophet, are imams.

So until the Day of Judgment, Allah Almighty will send such imams. He will send them not under the name imam but under the name qutb. In fact they too are imams on earth. Yes. Those who separate Allah's religion from falsehood, who explain His religion to people as truth — such people. So: Allah Almighty tested Abraham with certain words. And he fulfilled these words completely, He said. With the verse saying 'he had fulfilled', Allah said to Abraham: I will make you an imam for people. Of course, being an imam is not easy. So, Abraham, the Friend of Allah, having passed a hard test — devoting, for Allah, the child he loved perhaps more than his own life to Allah Almighty like this is the evidence and proof of how much Abraham loved Allah Almighty.

So Abraham said to Allah: O Lord, make my descendants imams too. How beautifully he says it, this prayer. Allah Almighty said: My covenant does not reach the wrongdoers. That is, the verse saying it this way is His accepting what he said, his prayer. 'I accept your prayer; I will make imams from your line, but not the wrongdoers,' He says. Look, let's read the verse again; look at the meaning. What does it say?

Allah Almighty tested Abraham with certain words.

With the verse saying 'he had fulfilled these words completely', to Abraham Allah said: I will make you an imam for people. Of course, being an imam is not easy. Thus Abraham, the Friend of Allah, who passed a hard test — Abraham's devoting, for Allah, the child he loved perhaps more than his life, like this, to Allah Almighty is the evidence of how much Abraham loved Allah Almighty and the proof. So Abraham said to Allah: O Lord, make my descendants imams too. Allah Almighty said: My covenant does not reach the wrongdoers. What does it say? I'll say 'my ancestors too' — say to Ahmet, to Mehmet: 'make whoever comes from your line king too.' And what does he say?

I won't make the wrongdoers king. What does that mean? I will make the good ones of your line kings, but not the wrongdoers. Anyway.

That is, those who turn away from Allah, who defy His command, who do not follow Allah Almighty's Sharia, who resist and rebel against Him — these cannot attain such a lofty office as the imamate. Even if they come from the Prophet's line. Yes.

So Allah Almighty, emphasizing this, declares: even if they are of your line, to those who rebel against Me I never show tolerance; I absolutely do not commit injustice. Because the restlessness in the hearts of wrongdoers, through their carnal actions, creates pessimism in their mental balance. And when he is also unaware of Allah Almighty's verses, deprived of the verses that would light his way, making wrong decisions with carnal judgments, they increase people's troubles even more — and since Allah Almighty is merciful, by making imams of those who would oppress His servants He does not let His servants be oppressed.

That is why He declares: My covenant does not reach the wrongdoers.