Hud 51: “Oh my nation! In return for it (Prophethood), I am not asking for any reward from you. My reward is only up to the One who has created me. Won’t you contemplate?”

Hud Surah, verse 51. We are going a bit fast tonight, praise be to Allah. Because together there is this 3rd volume, volumes 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. O my people, I ask of you no wage for it, in return for prophethood. Hud, peace be upon him, is calling out to his people. For telling you Allah's commands, or for the title of prophethood that my Lord gave me, I ask of you no wage. My wage belongs to none other than the One who created me. I am fulfilling my duty. Yes, now what does this resemble? The owner of a factory hands the factory over to a manager. The manager gives people instructions. Instructions.

What does he say? You will do it like this and this, he says. Whose command is that? The command of the factory owner. Because he brought and placed the materials in that factory for the work it will do. And since that manager is an expert in that work, he conveys the factory owner's command to those people. In this case, does this manager demand a wage from the workers to whom he conveyed this command? I mean, does he ask for anything? His wage belongs to the factory owner. The factory owner pays him. The prophets too are charged with duty by Allah. His wage belongs to Allah. What do we pay? Our wage belongs to Allah.

We ask nothing of you. We convey Allah's commands to you.

Hm, as (?), look, I am telling you these things. I don't say, I teach for this many hours, I'll give a lesson for this much money. Some people, when they go to tell the truth, say, I want ten thousand dollars an hour, I want five thousand dollars. Yes. We, our wage belongs to Allah. Yes. It belongs to none other than the One who created me. Do you still not use your reason? I mean, am I asking something of you? Come on, am I presenting a need to you? Ha, if it were so, if I had some gain from you, you would say he had some gain from us and that is why he approached us. Do you still not understand? he says.

I mean, that I invite you to Allah. Hud, peace be upon him, continues to address his people. O my people! I ask of you no wage in return for inviting you to Allah. My wage belongs to none other than the One who created me. Allah, the Owner of all the worlds, the Creator of all this creation, the One, is Allah. The One who created what you make with your hands and you too, who has no spouse or partner, is Allah. Yes. These objects Allah created, which can neither benefit nor harm themselves, believing them to be gods and worshipping them is not the work of reasonable and thinking people. Will you still not use your reason, he says.

Will you not use your reason? Indeed. The One who creates from nothing, who created the universe, who needs nothing, who feeds, gives drink and provides all our sustenance, Allah, you leave Him and carve and carve the objects Allah created, shape them into the form of the Lord in your imagination, put it there, then sit before it and serve it. Is this Allah? Is this the Lord? Is this what guides you? Is this what feeds you and gives you drink? And on top of that you serve it. Whereas our Lord has no need of service either.

He asks nothing of us. He feeds us, He gives us drink. Look at this world, He has put (?) of every kind. Look at a single (?) you eat. Or look at a seed of this fruit you eat. there is a seed inside. When one eats this, He says, let every fruit, with its seed, become a tree when it falls to the ground, and let its fruit nourish you. He has placed in it the thing that will reproduce its kind. Yes. In this case, what does Allah want from us then? Because He loves us very much, He raises scholars. Since no prophet will come again, He raises scholars. O people! These people, who are heirs of the prophets, just like the prophets' duty, are inviting you to the truth.

They tell you Allah's word, which is the truth. O people! Come to your senses. Do not plunge into the pleasures of this transient world and forget the truth. Do not turn your backs on the hereafter. Yes, in the world you prepare plans and projects for your future. Perhaps you plan what you will own over long years that your life may not last to see, you make projects of it. Whereas Allah does not want such long ambitions from you. As long as you live, just say 'Allah', He says; since you fit the purpose of your creation, I too will prepare mansions, palaces for you in the hereafter, He says. As long as you know Me. And because Allah loves people very much, scholars who will serve His religion He raises and has them tell people.

Since Allah Almighty will not hold anyone accountable for what He has not made heard, to people He makes the truth heard through scholars. Yes. Yes.

Hud, peace be upon him, continues to address his people. O my people, I ask of you no wage in return for inviting you to Allah. My wage belongs to none other than the One who created me. Allah, the Owner of all the worlds, the One who created all this creation, is Allah. The One who created what you make with your hands and you too, who has no spouse or partner, is Allah. These objects Allah created, which can neither benefit nor harm themselves, believing them to be gods and worshipping them is not the work of reasonable and thinking people. Will you still not use your reason? Still. So today, to people who have turned their backs on Allah's command, who have distanced themselves from prayer and supplication, who with the testimony of faith, merely bearing the word of witness as a Muslim, (?) their being Muslim, in whose heart faith has remained (?), we call out.

From here we also call out to all people. No god other than Allah; our salvation is in the testimony of faith. Eşhedü en lâ ilâhe illallah ve eşhedü enne Muhammeden abdühü ve resulühü. After becoming Muslim, if we are governed by Allah's commands, we will attain the paradises Allah promised. No. If we become Muslim yet uncover our heads, strip stark naked, without caring for prayer and supplication, if we turn our backs on Allah's commands. Ramadan comes. Counting eating and drinking in Ramadan as an accomplishment. If in Ramadan we do not keep the fast (?) either. The fast.

With a dry word, with bearing witness to a word, these people who declare their being Muslim, even if tomorrow, as a Muslim, to the divine court he goes, I wonder, before the One who created him, feeds him, gives him drink, gives him his sustenance, this Creator of his, what answer will he give? So do not do anything you cannot account for. Try to be a servant to Allah and part of the community of His Beloved. Try to preserve your manners, your propriety, Islam. So that tomorrow, when we go before the divine court, Allah Almighty, with a smiling face to us, receives us with a smiling face, and to those there who were Muslim but (?) none of the Truth's words.

O Muslims, you too were Muslims. These too were Muslims. Look at their state. Perhaps He will show them, He will expose you. How beautifully they worshipped Me. Their necks bowed before the Creator, they reformed their nafs. They were compassionate and merciful towards My creatures. They always told the truth. As it says in the verse. Allah Almighty says: than the one who tells the truth, that is, who tells of Allah, there is (?) sweeter word, He says. Yes. In this case these tried to spread the truth on earth. How beautifully they tried to tell people about Me. But you followed your nafs. Although you knew of My existence, you could not escape your nafs and obey Me.

Today you deserve such a punishment, He will say this. Is it worth it then, receiving that punishment? Is it worth following one's nafs in this world and going about like this? Is it worth it? Is it worth being ungrateful, these that He gave, that our Lord gave, denying the blessings, following one's nafs, eating and drinking this beautiful (?) Allah gave and not thanking Him, is it worth it, I mean? Is it worth it? If only we used our (?), if we were human, with our human feelings, towards the blessings He gave, towards our Lord, if only we (?) our gratitude.