Al-Hajj 46: Did they (the ones who deny you) travel around the world? If they had, they would have had hearts to understand and ears to hear. Whereas eyes don’t go blind, but hearts in chests do.

Verse 46 of Surah Al-Hajj. Those who oppose you. We are reading the verse, verse 46. To whom? Those who oppose the Prophet (peace be upon him), have they never traveled through the earth?

Don't we travel at all? In our time there's not even a need to travel; televisions take us around through the internet anyway.

For example, all the miracles, even the great ones, sir — Pharaoh in the sea, for example, falling prostrate and saying, I believed in the Lord of Moses — in line with that verse his being found and displayed in a museum in England, this too, we don't have to go there and see. It can be seen on phones through the internet. Yes. Have they never traveled through the earth? For had they traveled, they would surely have hearts to think with and ears to hear with. But the truth is, the eyes do not go blind. Rather, the hearts within the breasts go blind, it says.

The verse — do you know what it means? I created you seeing outwardly in the world, but in the beginning, (?), in the covenant of "your Lord", (?), by denying Me you blinded that eye of the heart, He says; your ears too you blocked and made deaf, and your heart too you had sealed, He says. Hatemallâhu alâ kulûbihim ve alâ sem'ihim ve alâ ebsârihim gışâveh, ve lehüm azâbün azîm. How beautifully He says it.

For had they traveled, they would surely have hearts to think with and ears to hear with. But the truth is, the eyes do not go blind. Yes. Rather, the hearts within the breasts go blind, it says.

Those who oppose the Prophet (peace be upon him), those who deny, do they never travel the earth and see, have they not toured it? Had they traveled, or heard news from those who travel, they would surely have had things to think about, hearts to think with and ears to hear with.

Let people not give their covenant to Allah as rebels. Let them not, by betraying Allah at Kâlû Belâ, thus have their destinies written as deniers. Is someone knocking? Go see who's come. It's probably a stranger. See who's come for him.

Yes.

Let them not, by betraying Allah Almighty at Kâlû Belâ, thus have their destinies written as deniers. Even if such people roam and wander the earth and see so many miracles of Allah, they will no longer believe in Allah's existence. Why? Because at Kâlû Belâ, at the address Elestü bi Rabbiküm, they did not believe in the Lord they saw as like themselves, waited for the Lord of their own imagination, and in this way they are people who denied the Lord who created them. Yes.

They carry on in betrayal and enmity toward Allah. These people, while living in this world, are blind in the eye of the heart toward the truth and deaf in the ears. They never see or hear the eternal truth. So in reality, human eyes do not go blind. Many people blind in body, through the openness of their heart's eye, have attained Allah's mercy. People will die one day anyway. Bodily eyes, too, will cease to see with death, turn to dust and be gone. The human spirit, and the life and nafs within it, will stay together and move on to the hereafter, the true abodes of life. So even if a person's bodily eyes are blind, every person who finds the truth is in brightness and in light. Even if people's bodily eyes are sharp, those deprived of Allah's mercy are the ones who are truly blind.

Because Allah does not address our bodies. The address is to our spirit. So our bodies, which will one day become dust, Allah Almighty does not take as addressee. He addresses our spirit, our true being. Yes.

If we explain this part briefly like this, we never, as with this visible outward world, think about our unseen being. What is our unseen being? Our true being, our spirit. We always see ourselves like this. In fact we see the appearance of a body that is the reflection of the spirit. Like what? When you look in the mirror, you see yourself. In the mirror.

So that unseen one — when you don't look, that unseen self in the mirror is your spirit. And your body is the reflection of your spirit. No one knows himself without looking into that mirror. He will look in the mirror and know himself. And no person wants to know his spirit; he doesn't look in the mirror. He doesn't even realize what he is. Such people are either (?), or unaware of themselves, or their eyes are blind, their hearts blocked, he says. I don't know if I'm getting this across. Allah Almighty: We bring you to life twice and cause you to die twice. According to the verse. Our bodies will be revived a second time in the hereafter and, after bearing witness for our spirit, will be made to die a second time.

So if the spirit in a person, and the eyes in this spirit, do not see the truth, these are the truly blind.

What does it say? We used to see in the world, now we don't see, they say.

What did you use to see that you now don't see? Because they cannot understand this verse either, we will be gathered there blind and sightless, it says. Yes. What you don't see is that you still cannot grasp the Lord who created you; this is what this verse means: you are still blind and deaf. If only they had known Me here, it says; this too, if only they had known it beforehand. (?) Where? If only beforehand. (?) Because they could not grasp that place, they come to the world. In the world, if a person knows, he will know Allah; if he cannot, he will not. If only he had known here. Whereas he had denied before.

Allah sent him to an unseen world. If only (?), he says here. I wish I had served my punishment for what I did and come out, he says. But it is not possible. Because you had your own destiny written that way. Yes.

And those whose ears are blocked to the truth, although they hear the word of truth, if, going through distress, they do not want to hear the truth, these are the truly deaf.

Yes.