At-Tawbah 115: After a nation has come to the right path, until Allah has declared to them the things they will abstain from, Allah will not hold them accountable. Verily, Allah knows everything.

We will tell it as their witnesses. Yes, we can start our lesson now. We left off at verse 115 of Surah At-Tawbah.

This is a verse that has been interpreted wrongly. Verse 115 of Surah At-Tawbah has been interpreted wrongly.

First let me read you the wrong one, then let's read the right one. Allah, after guiding a people to the right path, until He explains to them what they should guard against, is not one to lead them astray. Allah knows all things very well. Now, Allah Almighty gave us a mind. A mind. Our mind can manage ourselves and provide for our family and tell good from bad — in such a state He gave us this mind. If the mind had not been in this state, we would not (?) good and bad, and we could not know which one is right, which one is right. Now, in what way is there logic in this verse I have read? In what way?

I mean, frankly, is there any logic? Look what it says. After Allah has guided a people to the right path — that is, Allah has guided, a people has been guided to the right path — after guiding them, until He explains to them what they should guard against, He is not one to lead them astray. And at the same time, that is, He does lead them astray. You know, as they say: whom He wills to Paradise, whom He wills to Hell. There it is — the illogical moves of the same interpretations. Yet Allah Almighty is free of deficient attributes. You know — through partial free will, so that people prove what kind of person they are, the deeds they actually do.

Fe men ya'mel miskâle zerratin hayran yerah. Ve men ya'mel miskâle zerratin şerran yerah — with the verses where He says this. Since the good and evil we have done, down to an atom, are written for people through their actual deeds, if Allah Almighty were to take people's will away from them and use His own will over people, would that be Allah? Why did He send us to the world? Wasn't His mercy for everyone in the universe? What kind of mercy is this? Paradise for whom He wills, Hell for whom He wills (?). He will guide whom He wills to the right path; after informing them — until He informs that people — whatever evil they do, He is not one to lead them astray, He does not lead them astray.

That's how it would be logical. Now we read the correct one. After a people has come to the right path — after coming to the right path, that is, after being ruled by the books Allah Almighty sent — Allah, until He has explained to them what they should guard against, them — they are on the right path. Until He makes known to that community what they should guard against, He will not hold them responsible. Allah knows all things very well. Let me give you an example of this: in Medina the Radiant, before the verse came to the Prophet, they used to drink wine. Wine — now, when they drank wine, every Muslim, they had believed in Allah's existence, in the Prophet.

then when the verse came, in their homes, those who kept wine barrels in their cellars broke those barrels in the streets, so that on the streets of Medina it was as if a river of blood were flowing, they said. Yes, a river of blood. That's how they poured it out. So the verse addresses those who drink after that; for those who drink after that there is of course sin. But until then, before the legal rulings of the religion of Islam, those who, thinking what people held lawful was forbidden and what they held forbidden was lawful, ate it, bear no sin. Because Allah had not made it known. What does it say anyway? After a people has come to the right path, Allah, until He has explained to them what they should guard against, is not one to hold them responsible.

Before the verse comes, they may think the lawful forbidden and the forbidden lawful. But after the verse comes, saying 'oh, so this is forbidden', people who, bound by Allah's legal rulings, want to earn Allah's mercy immediately avoid His prohibitions so as not to step outside Allah's command. Yes. In this case, Allah knows all things very well. What passes through everyone's heart, what they will do, what they will commit — by the verse: there is not a single living being to come until the Day of Judgment whose deeds We do not know — according to it, our Lord has programmed the worlds until the Day of Judgment, and He knows everything down to its finest detail best.

Before this verse came, those who asked Allah's forgiveness concerning difficulties, those who held the lawful forbidden and the forbidden lawful — until Allah Almighty made His verses known to people, they would not be held responsible for what they did; but after the verses came and Allah made known to people the lawful and the forbidden, and what the commands and prohibitions are, people's responsibility would begin: this is what it states. Yes. For example, in our recent times, May 27 was declared a holiday. A holiday.

Then May 27 was abolished. (?) this May 27.

It is a very bitter event, this May 27th. It was the holiday of the people who left those who served the homeland and the nation dangling from the rope.

Then you'll say: what does this have to do with this verse? Well, at that time they too saw what they did as good. They saw what they did as good. But later, seeing that what had been done was bad, they abolished it. Now if we relate this to this verse: Allah Almighty, before making His command known, of course, the bad deeds that were done — not doing them after it has been made known. For example, when it was understood that that holiday was a deliberate act and that people had been killed as innocent victims, the holiday was abolished. Yes. In this case, how beautifully Allah Almighty says: We — those who held the lawful and forbidden, the lawful forbidden and the forbidden lawful — after they became Muslims, after making their situation known, after making the lawful and the forbidden known — We will not call them to account for their past deeds, He says.

Because He had not made it known. Allah Almighty does not hold anyone responsible for what is not known. Not even an atom's weight can anyone question or interrogate Allah. No one can attribute even an atom's weight of deficiency to Allah Almighty. If He had called people to account for the sins they committed in the past, people would say: My Lord, we obeyed You, we trusted You. Yes, we had no knowledge of the past. If You had made it known to us back then, we would not have done that either, they would say. But how beautifully Allah Almighty says it. They are not responsible for what they did in the past, He says.

When does responsibility begin? After it has been made known. So then, after making known, through the Seal of the Prophets, Muhammad (peace be upon him), the Holy Qur'an, sending it to people as a light before them, a proof, a mercy, and making its legal rulings known to people, people's responsibility began. No one will escape these responsibilities.

In the verse too, since Allah Almighty is free of deficient attributes, He says: We do not hold anyone responsible for something We have not announced. Doesn't this verse support that? What does it say? We do not call anyone to account for something We have not announced. What does this verse say? Let's see what this verse says. After a people has come to the right path, He has it announced. He announced it. Allah will not hold them responsible until He has explained to them what they should guard against, it says. So He does not hold anyone responsible for something He has not announced. How beautifully the verses confirm one another.

If this were a human fabrication, there would be in it many words that contradict each other. If people interpret the verses according to their own minds, with the knowledge in their own minds, with their deficient knowledge, people — to say a couple of gilded phrases, gilded words — interpret the verses setting them against each other, may Allah protect us.

No prophet ever made gilded speeches. No friend of Allah, no scholar, ever made gilded speeches either. Why not? They directly explained Allah and His Messenger in the language people understand, in the language of their own people — Allah, His Messenger, the truth — in a way they would understand. For this reason, gilded words give vanity to a person's nafs, and as if he himself were somebody, he begins those gilded words of the past — begins to (?) repeat them. Instead of speaking like that, if you explained the verses to people in a way they understand, in the most beautiful language, and explaining the subtleties in them to those people, made them love Allah and His Messenger, wouldn't that be better?

Yes, perhaps it would be better. So then, unless one strips oneself of the nafs's desires, of pride, of arrogance, of egoism, of fame and glory, of this worldly love that is worldly desire, a person cannot bring his nafs to perfection. In that case one cannot understand the verses of the Truth, their meanings and their wisdoms. And since he cannot understand them, he can neither confirm verses by verses nor check a hadith against the verses and tell them apart. Instead, with the deficient, superstitious words in books people wrote from memory, calling them hadith, saying there: I have studied, I have worn out my elbows, I studied for so many years, I know these this way, it is written so in the book, in so-and-so's book, at number such-and-such, this hadith appears like this — saying so, without using his mind, (?) in a way that leads people's minds astray, he sets out to defend his own ignorance.

Since you have studied so much, since you have worn out your elbows so much — if you are so subject to your nafs's desires that you cannot use your mind, that education you have had cannot get you out of the circle of ignorance.

Allah Almighty decrees in His verse: Will you not use your minds? Will you not reflect, He decrees. So, when I compare what I have read with Allah Almighty's verses, all knowledge that goes against Allah Almighty's verses is superstition. If you grasp the subtlety of this and study in this way, perhaps, by Allah's leave, you will attain great mercy. But, unaware of the verses, with the deficient knowledge in books written by Ahmet and Mehmet, saying: in so-and-so's book, hadith number such-and-such, boasting: here it says this, we don't accept that — not realizing that one who contradicts a verse in fact denies the verse, poor person.

Yes. Pay close attention to these. Pay close attention to what I am saying. Compare everything with the verses. If you come to a situation, a piece of knowledge, saying the verses contradict each other, then surely your knowledge is lacking. Then ask. Hodja, I understood this verse like this. Hodja, and this verse says this. This seems to contradict. Ask: I couldn't understand this part. Compare what people say with the verses too. I am not telling you to compare it with my words. Compare it with the verses. Compare my words with the verses too. Yes. Then we learn. Then, sincerely, wholeheartedly, to attain Allah's mercy, carrying one another on our backs, far from pursuits of fame, glory, pride and ego, joining the ranks of those who earn only Allah's mercy, until we complete our journey in this world, we support one another, back to back.

If we step outside this, ego and pride take us to Satan. Satan puts a yoke on our neck, takes us to the world. Showing us the world (?), he leads us away from that straight path, the sirat al-mustaqim. As our ancestors said — as they say there is a Sirat bridge — from that straight path he pushes us into the middle of Hell, makes us fall. But this is not the Sirat bridge. That is, we ourselves stray from the right path and fall into the middle of the road to Hell. May Allah protect us from such an understanding, such a course, such a life.