Yunus 35: Say; “Is there one among those whom you associate as partners, who can guide to the truth?” Say; “Allah is the One who guides to the Truth. So, is the One, Who guides to the Truth more worthy of being followed, or is it the one who cannot find the right path without being given guidance himself? How do you reason (this wrongly)?”

Isn't that so? You are turned away, you let yourselves be turned away.

Yes.

We have come to verse 35. Say: Is there any of those you associate as partners who guides to the truth? Is there any of your idols who guides to the truth? You slit the ears of animals and dedicate them to it. You slaughter that animal and (?) before it. Well, is it of any benefit to you? And you serve it with your own hands. With your own money, too, you serve it.

Say: Allah guides to the truth. That is, Allah teaches you what you do not know. Because Allah has honoured you above the worlds, He keeps your morals in order. Through scholars, prophets and books He sets you on the right, the straight path, on a right path; if there is something in you, you enter that path and you are guided to the truth. But only Allah shows you this path, He says. They cannot show you this path. They are of no use even to themselves. They too, before my Lord who created them, will be called to account. Yes. Say: Allah guides to the truth. With what? He shows you through His verses.

Whoever goes, goes; whoever does not, does not. Is then He who guides to the truth more worthy to be followed, or the one who cannot find the right path by himself unless he is guided? What is the matter with you? How do you judge so wrongly? How beautifully Allah Almighty always (?) to our minds. To our minds. Here too Allah Almighty proves His own being. Say: Is there any of those you associate who guides to the truth? By saying ‘Allah guides to the truth’, that of all created beings, Allah's creations, the one who guides to the truth, that is, who brings to salvation by showing what is right, is only Allah — emphasizing this, He asks people: is He who guides to the truth more worthy to be followed, or those who cannot find what is right by themselves unless they are guided?

The guidance here has a two-sided reading. One: those lifeless things you worship as gods — as long as they are not given reason and life, as long as guidance is not given to them, that is, as long as their Lord has not raised them and, entrusting them, told them ‘explain these’. Second, to man: to the one who reforms his nafs, and his nafs the truth, in the light of the verses, quite plainly seeing, tells people the truth — unless guidance is given to him. Guidance is from Allah. If you reform your nafs, you attain that guidance. Look, what does it say? Is He who guides to the truth more worthy to be followed?

Is Allah more worthy to be followed? Or the one who cannot find the right path by himself unless he is guided?

Yes. What is the matter with you? How do you judge so wrongly? Always Allah Almighty appeals to reason; here He proves His being with every verse of His, Allah Almighty. Here too He expresses His being: Say, is there any of those you associate who guides to the truth? Yes. To the truth Allah guides — by saying this, that of all created beings, Allah's creations, the one who guides to the truth, that is, who brings to salvation by showing what is right, is only Allah, emphasizing this, to people: Is He who guides to the truth more worthy to be followed, or the one who, because he is not guided, by himself cannot find the right path?

Surely Allah is compassionate and merciful toward His servants. Allah created His servants so that they would know Him. So Allah, to His servants, the ways to find the truth shows. He shows. With the reason I gave you, He says.

Had I never sent you prophets and books, with the reason I gave you, you would have had to know Me. But My mercy reached you. In My mercy I sent you prophets and books so that you find the truth, He says. Yes. Allah Almighty, who has shown us so much mercy, by sending prophets and books, guiding us with this limited reason of ours to what is right, wanting us to know our Lord, bestowing so many blessings on us — if we turn our backs on this Lord of ours, then ‘What is the matter with you? How do you judge so wrongly?’ — does that verse not come true ? What is the matter with us?

Let us say to you: the sultan opened the doors of the treasury. People may take as much gold from there as they want. You give up sleep night and day. There perhaps for months you queue, keep watch; the stuff of this world, to shoulder it, you load it on your back, you wait there. This is worldly wealth, temporary. Tomorrow you will leave it all here and go. You won't be able to take a single atom to the hereafter. Well, in the abode of eternal bliss, many times as much — Allah Almighty's Paradise that He promised you — why don't you seek it?

He does not say to you (?) give Me some too. What is the one thing Allah says? Know Me, He says, Me. What do I compare these people to? Each of us, each of us, in the middle of the ocean, is on a ship that is travelling.

Waves like mountains. Like mountains. They toss the ship upside down. The ship is full of treasure. Treasure.

One of the waves strikes. All the treasures on the ship spread over the water. They float on the water. Treasures. The ship is sinking too.

Instead of worrying about our lives, instead of devoting ourselves to saving our lives, we try to load up the treasures on the sea. But dear man, waves like mountains — you can't even stay on the water. If you take this treasure, you'll sink even more. So people in this worldly life have forgotten the hereafter, have shouldered worldly goods and sunk into the swamp; of man, (?) they sink even more together with it. ‘But Hodja, shouldn't we take the world, then? Is that what you're saying?’ Approach your world as is due, He says. Build up your world too, He says, build it up. Work hard. Shoulder that treasure in such a way that the ship has entered a calm harbour, has anchored, and it cannot be affected by the waves from any side — the treasure, as much as you like, load up.

Load up as much as you like. What does this mean? This worldly blessing you have loaded — because you have bound yourself by Allah's verses — you, giving charity with your life and wealth in Allah's way, enter the state of such a person.

Yes, because that ship has anchored, you've taken it as you wish, the waves don't affect it either; you have dedicated yourself to your Lord; with those worldly blessings you keep yourself safe and you also give charity to people in Allah's way — you do. So one must be such a person; you will work hard, you will become superior to your enemy too. Allah Almighty says: they will fear you, you will be at ease. Or they will envy you and become Muslims, He says. Yes.

So is He who guides to the truth more worthy to be followed? Or the one who cannot find the right path by himself unless he is guided? So everything created, including what people associate with Allah, from atom to globe, whatever exists — unless Allah wills, these cannot by themselves the right path find. Oh Allah. Yes. Here there is the willing of Allah Almighty. Because the worlds are programmed. With Us there is a Book, He says, preserved in the Preserved Tablet. Nothing is added to it afterwards, nor taken away, He says. What has happened has happened, what is done is done. The pens have been broken too.

As the Prophet (peace be upon him) spoke with Satan — after many conversations, ‘O Abu Murra, if you prostrated once at the grave of our father Adam, I would have my Lord forgive you’, he said, and Satan replied exactly this: What happened has happened. ‘I swear by Allah, who made you the preacher of Paradise and me (?) of Hell,’ he says, ‘I did not prostrate to him alive; shall I prostrate to his (?)?’ he says.

Therefore what has happened has happened, what is done is done now. But we do not know what kind of covenant we gave.

Except me. Because I know my covenant with my Lord. Let me not tell a lie. Except me. Why me excepted? You saw that covenant-making, so you saw that ‘Alastu bi-Rabbikum’ address, and in that covenant: ‘if you come in this age, you will slip,’ He says. ‘Protect me with Your mercy,’ he said, ‘if I am to slip, protect me with Your mercy; (?) take my life,’ he said. Except me. In this world, exceptions do not break the rule. For all people, that world is closed. Because it is closed, because that world is closed, a moment later what we will do is not known. In this case, never say ‘He created me an unbeliever’ or ‘He created me like this’ — you will fall into kufr.

Allah did not create anyone like that. A person, in proportion to his own desires and wishes, his conduct of that kind himself (?) you would say. Look, he himself desires his way of living, he himself decides, whatever he himself wants, he strives to get it. In this case man cannot blame Allah. And man cannot say ‘Allah created me this way, and (?)’; if he says it, he would be blaming Allah, slandering Him. Allah Almighty programmed everyone in line with their desires and wishes. Man, with the will He has given, with his decisions — according to the verse ‘Did you think you would die without proving what kind of person you are?’ — with his own way of living, with the dealings and trade he does in life, with his crooked or straight, lawful or unlawful earnings, with his speech among people, with his straight or crooked words, himself to himself, to those around and to Allah he makes a witness. Yes.

Yes. So, although He sends people into a hidden world, Allah the covenant-making in the world of the hereafter closed off to people. Although in the world of dominion people have feelings given to them as destiny, no person, without Allah's messengers, books and scholars — and even then, unless Allah wills, people cannot find the truth. Unless Allah wills. Why? Because everyone's destiny is written. Indeed, unless We will these destinies, you cannot will, He says. That is, changing this, He says, belongs to Us alone. Changing these destinies. But a word from Us has remained too. Paradise (?) Hell, He says. It is not over at all.

Very well. Yes. Take a seed, for example, the seed of an apple: although all the nature of the apple tree is written in it, where it lies, it does not become a tree; it must be planted in soil, it must be watered, and that in the soil with the seed (?) and find life and sprout, yes, then what is in its nature will come out — like this. Let one dwell on this for a moment. So in man, when he made the covenant with Allah at Qalu Bala, those worlds were closed to us. So that we could bring out our nature, to us He sent prophets and books.

Those who obeyed them found the truth. Those who did not obey sank into falsehood. By Allah making His being and the true path heard to us, people brought out their nature . This also shows, over people, that Allah is free of deficient attributes . It is of Allah Almighty's attribute of Godhood that no person to Allah Almighty will be able to put question or account. So those who cannot find what is right unless they are guided, that is, unless they seek guidance, and the things that those who associate partners with Allah associate are Allah's creations and servants who need Allah. So what is the matter with these people that, though they know, understand and grasp these, they still give wrong judgments?