Al-Isra 91: “Or, you should have a garden of dates and grapes. And there should be roaring rivers flowing between them.”

Now, their second demand. Surah Al-Isra, verse 91.

"Or you must have a garden of date palms and grapevines, so that you make rivers gush forth abundantly in their midst." Now, in another verse too, Allah Almighty says the following. "Of all people, was prophethood left to Abu Talib's orphan?" they say. "Should it not have been given to one of these two cities?" they say. One of these two cities: the leading rich men of Mecca, and the leading rich man of Taif. Yes. Since the polytheists and those who deny Allah are veiled against Allah's true word, rather than the true word they value the matter Allah created and deify it. They chase after it. They judge everything by matter.

It is for this reason, (?) it is for this reason that they made their second proposal too directed toward matter. But in the eyes of the polytheists, for them to believe in a prophet, he must be materially very strong or a sultan or a very renowned person. Voicing this, they said he must have a vineyard everyone would envy, and water gushing abundantly through it. People should know that in Allah's sight there is no class difference among people. Those Allah loves, people purified of carnal feelings such as fame, renown, pride, arrogance, (?), egotism and love of the world, are the people Allah loves most.

As a test for people, Allah Almighty took all His prophets from people far from the seven evil carnal desires mentioned above, people without rank among men but who, in Allah's sight, were worthy of every rank, and to tribes and nations as prophets He sent them.

In short, let us say this.

Those who hold rank through worldly blessings, who attain glory and fame, who pride themselves on what Allah created, and with the whim of ego lord it over people: the glory and fame of such people fades in this world the way a balloon deflates.

Glory and fame, honor are with Allah. Look, all the saints and friends of Allah, friends of Allah, apart from glory and fame, hold rank in Allah's sight. If you ask, "What rank, Hodja?": having passed beyond the nafs al-ammara, passed beyond the nafs al-lawwama, passed beyond the nafs al-mulhima, risen to the nafs al-mutma'inna, reached the nafs al-radiya, come to the state of scholars, entered among the righteous servants. Is this not a great rank? All the blessings Allah gave in the world will remain in the world. Look, what does the verse say? Every soul will taste death. The inheritance of the heavens and the earth will remain to Allah.

So do you own even one atom of the world, that you would take this atom away with you? So if you want rank, reforming your nafs, rising in Allah's sight and attaining ranks and degrees will be your rank. Otherwise you cannot have rank with money and wealth, glory, fame, pride, arrogance. That nafs of yours that you call honorable in that fleeting world, befriending the devil who will flatter that nafs, taking the devil as a guide over you, along with evil ways, your life into two shoes, I mean putting your feet into two shoes, making your world narrow, it will make you live by carnal feelings and send you to the hereafter as a bankrupt merchant.

Yes.

So what are we saying? As a test for people, Allah Almighty took all His prophets from those far from the seven evil desires of the nafs I mentioned above, people without rank among men but who, in Allah's sight, were worthy of every rank, and sent them as prophets to tribes and nations. Look, today all the saints hold no rank. But our people ask: who are you?

Which school did you finish? What education do you have? You can ask this. You are right. Along with it, you are also obliged to ask this.

Though you have not finished any university, you speak like a master. Which university does this speech of yours correspond to? It corresponds to Allah's university. It corresponds to the university Allah raises. (?) corresponds. In this case, above the one you raised as a human, that person his Lord raised as ummi, whom they think, ummi meaning one who cannot read or write, the poor people. Whereas ummi: a person whose only teacher in a branch of knowledge is Allah is ummi. Just like the Prophet. He is in all branches of knowledge. Yes. In this case, a person using his reason, his reason, however much he searches for a label in the world, do you know where a person's label is?

Let me tell you where the label is. That tongue in his mouth, that tongue, that is his label. You know the seal a person stamps like this, and the seal appears on paper. The seal called a person's tongue. With the word coming out of his mouth he labels himself. With what? With what he speaks. Mevlana says so too, doesn't he. "Tell me a word, and I will tell you where you are," he says. That labeled word coming out of his mouth, that label, tells you by whom the owner of the label has been labeled. You will look at his tongue. Not at his previous label. Not at his diploma. A diploma is a diploma.

It is a diploma. But his tongue is not worthy of that diploma. Yes.