Al-Hajj 65: Did you not see that Allah has given to your service all the things on the land and the ships that sail on the sea according to Allah’s commandment? Allah also prevents the sky from falling to the earth without Allah’s permission. Verily, Allah is Raouf (Much Gracious, compassionate) and Raheem (the One Who very generously accepts repentance) upon mankind.

The 65th verse. Verse 65, we are reading its translation here. Do you not see that Allah has placed what is on earth, and the ships sailing in the sea by His command, at your service?

And He keeps the sky from falling onto the earth except by His permission. The sky, except by His permission – the meaning of this is known. As long as the Day of Judgment has not come. For Allah is most compassionate and most merciful to people. Now in this verse Allah Almighty shows that the knowledge of creating is in His essence, that He created – this He shows. That He created all things with knowledge. For example, what does it say? Do you not see that Allah has placed what is on earth, and the ships sailing in the sea by His command, at your service? What does He mean here by the ships sailing in the sea?

The atmosphere layer of our world is 82–83 kilometers high.

At sea level there is a pressure of one atmosphere.

The specific gravity of water is one. The specific gravity of water.

The specific gravity of ships made of iron, or of iron, is more than one. What does it do? It sinks.

The specific gravity of wood is less than one. What does it do? It rises to the surface, it floats. Now, ships being made of iron, although their specific gravity is greater, being built wide, and as far as they sink into the water, the water with its specific gravity lifting the iron, the ships floating on the water – Allah Almighty created the whole universe with His knowledge, and within that knowledge He gives proof of His existence. Do you not see that Allah has placed what is on earth under our command – the trees, its iron, its gold, its minerals, its soil, its plants, its animals, He placed them under our command – and the ships sailing in the sea by His command, it says.

He placed them at your service. And He keeps the sky from falling onto the earth except by His permission. He keeps the sky from falling onto the earth. How does He protect it? The air layer of the sky, which is 82–83 km high – any metal in space, once it enters this atmosphere layer, due to friction burns before it falls to the earth, turns to ash and does no harm to the world. Some meteorites, although they fall to the earth crumbling, do not harm our world. But these, as very valuable stones, our villagers find them and sell them. They are valuable, it seems. Selling them is forbidden. The state confiscates them.

Yes. Allah Almighty created human beings as the noblest of creatures. And I created man in the most beautiful form. Then I made man the vicegerent of the earth. And to man, the vicegerent of the earth, He gave the world and what He created on earth under man's command.

There are many matters here. Within what I have said.

For example, what do we say? Then He made man the vicegerent of the earth.

Allah Almighty gave man a part of His spirit. With this part, man became the noblest of creatures. He became the most honored of all created beings. So the meaning of vicegerent also proves this. What is a vicegerent? One who looks after things in someone else's place. The part of my spirit is an exact likeness of my Lord. An exact likeness. With the attributes of His essence. by means of appearance, in human form an exact likeness, in human form. So man has been made the one his Lord addresses.

And because his Lord made him resemble His essence, because He made man resemble His essence, because He gave him a part of His essence, He left him in His place in the world as vicegerent, but He has commands. You will do it this way, you will do it that way – He has commands through the rulings of the Sharia. So what do we say? To man, the vicegerent of the earth, He gave the world and the creatures of the earth under man's command. For this reason man has the world and what is created in it at his disposal and uses them. If Allah Almighty made man the vicegerent of the earth, then within His command all these created things are at man's disposal. For this reason man, by Allah's command, is obliged to act.

Because the One who commands you, who sent you to the earth as vicegerent, who sent you to the earth as vicegerent and placed His creatures under your command, Allah, did not leave you unattended. What did He say? With the ruling of the Sharia, as is necessary, He made His verses known to us.

You may hunt as much as you need; as much as you need you catch fish from the sea, sell it, meet your needs. That is, He placed all of it under our command, but beyond that, being wasteful, slaughtering animals wholesale, or wiping out a species – such things Allah Almighty does not permit. Even though you are the vicegerent of the earth, even if He created you as vicegerent and in the world left you free in your own will – all souls shall taste death, your return is to Me, according to this verse, tomorrow, on the Day of Judgment, when we come before Allah Almighty, I will demand your account, He says.

Yes.

Allah Almighty – His freedom, His being all-knowing, and that He possesses the power of creation, how He created beings, and that there is none exalted, high and great other than Him – just as He made it known with many verses, in this verse too, giving an example, He makes it known. Allah makes known how the ships you travel on in the seas move, how He created them with knowledge. Yes.

Every substance has a certain specificity, a specific gravity. Liquid substances with a light specific gravity, over those with a heavy specific gravity, rise to the top. For example, oils, compared with the specific gravity of water, are lighter, they rise above the water. Things like iron, mercury, copper are heavy, they sink below the water. Yes.

For example, the specific gravity of water is heavy compared to oil. For this reason oil rises above the water. Metal, though, although its specific gravity is heavier than water, sinks in water. Although this is the case, ships made of metal going on top of the water is proof that Allah created the universe with complete knowledge. Allah Almighty, giving us the example of how ships sailing in the seas float, shows us His power of creation and His lordship. When a substance sinks into water, as much as the volume of water it displaces, it has a lifting force from the water. One day, while Archimedes was bathing in the bathhouse, he sees that the bath bowl does not sink in the water.

And after reflecting on it a little, he shouts: Eureka, eureka. I found it, I found it, he says.

When he takes the bath bowl out of the water, he sees the water go down. When he dips the bath bowl into the water, he sees the water rise. The volume of water as much as it sinks, as much as the volume of water, as much as the volume of the sinking body – the existence of the water's buoyant force he sees. The knowledge of Allah Almighty – He created with knowledge. (?) I placed the ships under your command, He says. Then let us say, if Allah Almighty had addressed people in the state where they did not make ships of iron but made ships of wood, today it would have been evident that Allah's verses addressed that time.

And Allah Almighty would not have known the knowledge of this time. But how beautifully He says it in the verse. Let's see what it says in the verse. Allah Almighty placed the ships sailing in the sea at your service. The ships sailing in the sea. Here (?), there is knowledge. Yes. Not only the wooden sailing ships of that time. When it says ships sailing in the sea, He placed under our command those to come until the Day of Judgment. Yes.

Archimedes, while bathing in the bathhouse – the bath bowl not sinking in the water, his shouting Eureka, shouting I found it, I found it – the bath bowl's (?) in the water displacing as much water as its own volume, against the water displaced, the bowl made of matter floating on the water – Allah Almighty shows us how ships go floating over the sea and that He created these worlds with knowledge. And He keeps the sky from falling onto the earth except by Allah's permission. With this verse, again, Allah who created the universe with knowledge declares to us that this order He protects with knowledge.

In the heavens all galaxies and stars neither come closer to nor move away from one another. All created things travel in their own orbits. Moreover, Allah Almighty has covered our world with an air layer of 81 or 83 kilometers. If these rock fragments in the heavens were to enter our world, when they enter not at a certain angle, within a framework of knowledge, but aimlessly, at random, directly, in the atmosphere around the world layer, rubbing, they will burn to ash before coming down to earth and will not harm the world. Now, there is entry into the world at a certain angle, and exit at a certain angle.

This is around 81 or 83 degrees. You enter at an angle, you exit at an angle. When you enter otherwise, when you enter that water – I mean the air layer – you burn to ash due to friction. But when you enter at that angle, you are saved.

I swim very well. When you jump into the sea, if you jump vertically, head first, vertically – when you jump, when your forehead hits the water, (?) it burns. When you enter at a certain angle, you don't notice you've entered the water. (?) Into the water. At a certain angle. Of course, we can't always hit the same angle. But still, we dive into the sea and come up unharmed. Yes. When I was young, I swam very well. Now I haven't been to the sea for a very long time. Yes.

You know, sometimes a person jumps off a bridge, (?) the jacket saved him, it acted as a parachute – that story. He gets away with it because, while falling, he enters the sea at a certain angle.

Yes.

So in this way Allah proves His essence to all people: how His creatures were created and that the universe moves within knowledge, and that no strength other than His essence and no might is capable of this. Allah is most compassionate and most merciful to people. Because Allah gave man from His own spirit and made him the one His essence addresses. So that His essence be known as great, He created man's intellect deficient, creating man fallible. For this reason, when man understands his mistake and from his Lord seeks repentance and forgiveness, since this fits the purpose for which Allah created, Allah forgives His servants.

For this reason Allah loves people very much and knows mercy toward them. Now, in the verse, that Allah Almighty is very merciful it says. Merciful. It comes to my mind: There is torment in Hell; if He is merciful – those He created are Allah's servants. In this case He should show mercy to them too. If His mercy is abundant. In a verse Allah Almighty says this world is a shadow of the likeness of the Hereafter. Is that so? Think. A father's children – if that father's children do everything the father says, if they obey him, if they don't go outside his word – let's say he has 15–20 children. Aren't there such people? Look, there are even those with 40 children.

Of these, 8 or 10 obey the father. But 10 or 15 are rebellious, they don't do what he says. They always do the opposite. Now, however justly the father judges among them, does he treat the one who obeys him the same as the other? Impossible. What does he do? When they even do some bad deed, he punishes them. He punishes them. Maybe he beats them. So Allah Almighty too, in the realm of the Hereafter, will punish those who rebel against His essence.

In the end, Allah's mercy will still reach them.

Is there a verse about mercy reaching them? There is. After burning there for many thousands of years, they will neither feel nor taste, it says. Neither feel nor taste. What does this mean? After they have served their punishment, Allah Almighty will remove their nerve senses. Their nerve senses – so, neither feeling nor tasting, as logs of fire they will remain there. Allah's mercy toward them again. Just as in this world, when a person has an operation, they inject morphine and cut and slice, and he doesn't feel it, because they numb the nerves. Allah Almighty too, when He removes their nerve senses there, they neither feel nor taste.

That is, they will remain as logs of Hell. May Allah protect us all from such an end. Yes.