An-Nisa 13: These are the boundaries of Allah. Those who obey Allah and Allah’s Messenger, Allah will admit them to the gardens of the Paradise, beneath which rivers flow. They will remain there eternally. The great salvation, it is!

These are the limits set by Allah, that is, sharia rulings;

whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger, Allah will place him in gardens beneath which rivers flow; they will abide there forever; that is the great salvation.

If they put me in a press here, squeezed me, if I died between two millstones and then they pardoned me, this is not salvation; this would be like a worldly salvation; the real salvation is the salvation of those who win the hereafter. Yes. In the creation and nature of mankind there are desires such as attachment to the world, increasing it and acquiring it, because so that man may take pleasure in life through the feelings of the nafs, Allah Almighty created the nafs like this. Now this man, which man? The man who is a wrestler, who has put on that garb, who has put on the garb of the wrestler, who struggles with his nafs and can say stop to the excesses of his nafs.

Yes.

If man cannot reform his nafs against these wishes and desires, he submits to his nafs, and without regard for lawful or unlawful, without regard for people's rights and dues, he starts to amass worldly goods. Since people are created deficient in mind, they cannot see the right on their own.

For this reason Allah shows us the truth with His verses, does not fail to treat people equally, and so that people can be content with one another He constantly shows them the right. At the same time people are tested with worldly goods. With worldly goods. Today there are those who use our religion as a tool and exploit people's consciences. Under the garb of religion. They exploit consciences.

So much so that they look religious. Religious. But when someone speaks the truth, if it is a word that that society will not like, they absolutely do not turn to look at the truth.

Pay close attention to my words. What did I say? If that society does not like it.

A society is a community of people. That is, under the garb of religion they have founded a society within their own ideology.

For people to be able to come together, that is, (?), they must be in unity and togetherness; while that should be so, unfortunately in our time, in our time, even the people of faith have absorbed worldly matter, matter, into their hearts.

I will give an analogy like this, not for all of them, of course.

They have become like a beast wrapped in a lamb's fleece.

These are societies. People who hear the truth but for the sake of their interests cannot part with love of the world, and within the same ideology take their place in the ranks of people who form societies.

If I am a Muslim, so that I can live my religion well, this hadith of the Prophet we must hear wholeheartedly.

Knowledge is your lost property. Wherever you find it, take it, he says.

What does he say? Knowledge is your lost property. Wherever you find it, take it. And I say: hey, man, you know, you formed a society under the garb of Islam. Knowledge comes to you, so why do you turn your back? What kind of becoming one with Islam is this? What kind of living Islam is this? Can you call yourself to account? Between what you do and what I explain, because you know that you are truly turned to the world, because love of the world outweighs for you, you turn your back on the one who tells the truth.

Yes. I am not telling you that you are a hypocrite.

But do not forget this verse. Their state is like lightning flashing in a dark night. The moment it lights up their surroundings, they turn their backs on that light. I am not telling you that you are a hypocrite; you are a person in the sense of this verse. But be careful, you are bound by it.

Isn't that so? Am I saying something wrong?

The truths weigh very heavily on people, like a slap.

They splash water on the face of people who have fainted, and also slap them so that they come to. Perhaps with this slap we give with Allah's word, they will come to as well.

Let us read the verse from the beginning. These are the limits set by Allah. Whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger, Allah will place him in gardens beneath which rivers flow. They will abide there forever. That is a salvation, He says. In the creation and nature of mankind, attachment to the world, longing for it and acquiring it, such desires exist.

Against these wishes and desires, if man cannot reform his nafs, he submits to his nafs, and without regard for lawful or unlawful, without regard for people's rights and dues, he starts to amass worldly goods. Since people are created deficient in mind, the right they can hardly see; for this reason Allah shows us the truth with His verses, does not fail to treat people equally, and so that people can be content with one another He constantly shows them the right; at the same time people, with worldly goods, are tested. Yes, we are tested with worldly goods too. He has made us dependent on eating and drinking; since we depend on eating and drinking, the things we take, within the feelings of the nafs, if we do not take into account whether they are lawful or unlawful, tomorrow on the Day of Judgment we will give account for it.

Some;

while we are at it, let me say this too.

People cannot know how people go to Allah Almighty. Many people we know for certain to be among the disbelievers, and many people we thought to be in disbelief, we cannot grasp, we cannot know, that they have attained Allah's mercy. In that case, people we think are very good, you find that in Allah's sight they are sinners. Or people we think are very bad, you find that in Allah's sight they have attained fine positions. Because no one can come between man and Allah. With their own feelings and consciences they become one with Allah. Or they put some veils between Allah and themselves.

Some of our people pass away. They pass on to the hereafter. We see this. Today too we saw Erbakan off; they saw him off.

Crowds do not matter. Crowds do not matter for seeing a person off.

What matters is not those crowds, but in Allah's presence, Allah Almighty receiving him with a smiling face. That matters very much. Today in many states of the world many people, non-Muslims, die. They go with many crowds, many ceremonies. But how do they go into Allah's presence, I wonder?

Yes. Our hope is that every Muslim, every Muslim, with Islam as his religion, at the last breath too attains Allah Almighty's mercy, and on the Day of Judgment our Lord receives people with a smiling face; this is what we wish for anyway.

That is why never, by fame, renown, pride, arrogance, self-importance, grandeur, egoism and love of the world, being carried away, with the passion to be the head, with pride and arrogance; it is not millions of people seeing a person off, but the one and only Lord who created the universe receiving the person with a smiling face; that is not much. But there is this: if this many people see a person off, this many people see a person off, it becomes clear that person was a good person. Then after that, (?), when he is called to account by that Lord, there we will understand whether he was good or bad.

Not here. You may think me good here too, but perhaps I am the worst of the bad. Perhaps I tell you the truth, but my deeds have taken me far from my Lord. You cannot know this. May Allah protect us. That is why those we think good may turn out bad, and those we think bad may turn out good. Never fall into error about people, do not pass judgment. Judging belongs to Allah alone. What do they say? How did you know this man? Alhamdulillah. Good, a good person. If you knew him. Do you forgive him what he owes you? (?) All of it is forgiven. Forgiven many times over. That is it. That is exactly what is expected of a Muslim.

Yes.

So our Lord, showing us the truth: whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger, does not transgress the limits set by Allah and accepts them, Allah will put them into gardens beneath which rivers flow. These people will abide there forever. While people live in the great world, through their obedience to Allah and His Messenger, they will live in the eternal peace of the hereafter. Moreover, by winning Allah Almighty's pleasure, they will attain abundant favours. If people did one in the world, according to their deed, Allah Almighty will increase it three, five, seven, seven hundred times. These are the abundant favours.

I said a moment ago: in paradise, in hell, they are eternal. Because there is no death for souls. In that case, if Allah Almighty says eternal, men around 33 years old, women around 18 years old, all young and lively. The women of this world will be queens beside the women of the hereafter. Queens. Because they have a spirit, they will have a position above them. They will have a position above the (?), the houris. In that case they will be more attractive than the others, because they have a spirit. Look, pay attention: when a person dies, when the spirit leaves, the person truly becomes frightening, that is.

He becomes dull. But it is the spirit that gives him that attraction. In that case, our people: if Allah Almighty says eternal, it is eternal; if there is no death for souls, then as in the example we gave, just as a place on the human body that is torn or split at once repairs and restores itself, souls too will never age and will live an eternal, endless life at the same age. If you say, but Hodja, wouldn't a person get bored there? He won't get bored. If he says, Hodja, not just in talk, not just in words? Let us say it. You lived here 70 years, 80 years. You lived 100 years, you lived 120 years.

You struggle with illnesses. With illnesses. Your hands and feet fail you, you walk around (?) with canes. And still, with the desire to live, in joy, in the pleasures of the world, you want to go on with your life. Imagine that in the hereafter there is no garb of the body. The liveliness of the spirit, around thirty years old, vigorous and strong. All of Allah Almighty's blessings are upon you. Even the heavens there constantly change colour in many colours. Everything, so that the nafs does not feel (?), like the views you watch in those regions, views, views, views; shapes constantly do not change.

Full of light; Allah Almighty created it like this. Everything sparkling.

(?) circulate around you. Young servants. Wines that do not make you drunk. Sherbets.

Every kind of pleasure. Would a person leave this life? Would he get bored? Then what does Allah Almighty say? We will give you a new loading, He says. A loading. To those in paradise. All lower thoughts will go, bad feelings will go, and there, always with the same feelings, so that we can live a beautiful life, He will give a new loading. In the world, some people, when they reach certain places, lose all hope in the world. They say, there is no pleasure left in this world. I have everything at hand. I have had my pleasure; they commit suicide and go. Who are these? Non-Muslims. A Muslim does not commit suicide.

There, these feelings will not exist. He says a new loading, you see, a new loading. (?) to live the pleasure of the same life, within that pleasure you cannot perceive that a lifetime, an endless lifetime, is passing. An endless lifetime. Within this pleasure. That is why do not brush off the hereafter.

And never turn a deaf ear to it. Do not hear Allah's words and say, I heard. Do not say, I will do this one day.

Where did you find it? Where did you hear it? Put it into practice at once. Practise it. (?)

who today would not want that river beneath which rivers flow; today people go on picnics to the banks of streams, to the edges of those waterfalls, to hear those water sounds, to hear those bird sounds, and there, even for one day, sir, they go to throw off the stress of that week or month, for a day. They have a good time there and come back. On greenery, by the streams. Imagine your life always like that. In the hereafter. Our Lord's abundant gift to man. That is the great salvation. Yes. We always say it.

States gain superiority over states. And on those days they declare a holiday. But there are also places where they are defeated. This does not mean salvation. Today you are saved, tomorrow you suffer oppression. But the greatest salvation, the greatest salvation is, when one judges by Allah's verses, to win our Lord's pleasure and pass on to the hereafter under His mercy: that salvation. If he could achieve this, how blessed. But Allah Almighty does not say, always come to Me. He says, build up your world. Build up. Perhaps, He says, they will fear you, you will (?). Or they will envy you and become Muslims, He says.

So if you can carry both the worldly and the otherworldly together, if this responsibility you can feel, and if you can remember your Lord at every moment. Hodja, can Allah be remembered at every moment? What does Allah Almighty say? I have such servants that neither a trade nor commerce keeps them from My remembrance, He says. Yes, there are.

There are. If it were not Allah, if there were no such people, He would not say it.

Except absent-mindedness, absent-mindedness. That is the great salvation. Allah Almighty, in the first verse of Surah Al-Fath: inna fatahna laka fathan mubina; We will soon give you a victory, He says. This victory is not a worldly victory; the (?) victory is that of those who hold on to Allah's commands and prohibitions, yes, of those who struggle with their nafs, of those who advance on the path of the friends Allah has shown, the victory of those who win Allah's friendship. This is the greatest victory and salvation of those who seize the eternal bliss of the true world; otherwise the worldly realm is nothing but a passing and deceptive benefit; the worldly realm.