Ali 'Imran 16: They (those who attain these bounties) are the ones saying “Oh our Lord! We believed (and obeyed), forgive our sins and protect us from the punishment of the hell.”

The verse. Yes. Surah Al-Imran, verse 16. Volume 1, page 325. Those people of taqwa who own that blessing. Who are they? The people of taqwa who own that blessing: by Allah Almighty's mercy, people who attained it, who into the ranks of the siddiqs have entered, those people.

In the previous verse, what does Allah Almighty say?

Shall I tell you of something better than these? That is, than children, sons, heaps of horses, crops, something better, shall I tell you? For the people of taqwa, with their Lord, beneath which rivers flow, where they will stay forever, gardens, pure spouses, and above all of them is Allah's pleasure, it says.

Allah sees His servants very well. In this case, those who own that blessing, those who have earned Allah's pleasure, what do they say? Our Lord, we have believed and obeyed. Their believing and obeying is not like other Muslims saying 'we too believed and obeyed'.

To give an example, let's say in Africa, a person from Yemen came. he describes a city there. Or he describes a man in a city.

Because they believe that person: yes, we believed, there is such a person, they say. These are Muslims.

And the other one, while describing, in that city, the person who went there and saw that man, he too says yes, I believed. There is such a person, he says. There is a big difference between the two. A big difference. So the people of taqwa, by seeing in person Allah Almighty's beauty, what do they say from within? We have believed and obeyed. That is: my Lord, we believed in You, You are our Lord, and we obeyed You. Forgive our sins. And protect us from the punishment of hell, they say. Yes.

So the people of taqwa who own that blessing; some of them are also called muttaqi. Some of them.

Among them there are also those in the state of ilm al-yaqin. There are also righteous people. That is, these are the friends of Allah.

Here, since in our tafsir we wrote for the general public, we wrote it a little veiled. They, from the heart, as if seeing their Lord; the 'as if' is too much here. They, seeing and knowing their Lord. What does Allah Almighty say in (?)? The scholars and the angels bear witness to Allah's existence. Well, don't the Muslims bear witness? There is a difference between the two. One, as in the example I gave just now, like a man coming and describing the place (?), the other like having gone and seen that man before.

Muslims also believe in the unseen; in fact they saw there, of course. Where? At the address 'Alastu bi-rabbikum'. But in the person who has reformed his self in the world, who, rising to certain degrees, has become aware of his Lord's manifestations and, as far as our Lord permits, of the realms of the hereafter has seen their meanings and their unfolding; these are the people who, of the verse saying 'the scholars and angels bear witness to Allah's existence', have been granted the secret. Our Lord, what does it say? 'They, from the heart, as if seeing their Lord,' we say. In fact those who see their Lord, bound to their Lord from the heart, sincerely pray to their Lord.

Our Lord, as if before Him; not 'as if', he is before Him already. Face to face, with no distance between You and me. We have believed in Your Being. While saying this with his tongue, from his heart too, all kinds of words with Allah Almighty he converses.

What does it say? When he says 'we have believed in Your Being', that person: for Your willing to show me Your Being in the world too, and Your manifestations to me, well, granting me, making me aware of manifestations, all praise and thanks be to You. Our Lord! What do we say? We believed that there is no god but You. How did we believe? Yes. We saw in person and bore witness. We believed, we had faith in Allah. Sincerely. With the heart. Seeing. You are absolute, and the ruler of the worlds. You are their absolute owner and ruler. I know that it is You who brought these worlds, this universe, into being from nothing.

From atom to globe, whatever (?), You are their owner. You are aware, and the one who imposes His rule on all of them, who has power over them, You alone, my Allah. You are their owner. While saying these, when saying 'we believed', as I said, all kinds of words; we wrote it here too, he converses with Allah Almighty.

We believed in the prophets, books and nabis that came from You, we had faith. From You the prophets and nabis that came, we believed in them and had faith; when we say this, from the speech of the nabis and prophets that came from You, that he is Your Messenger we understand, my Allah, we say. When they describe You, that he is Your Messenger, we are witnesses. We know them, we know them, if we had lived in their time; if we did not live in their time, we know them from their words, we know them from their hadiths, that he is Your Messenger, because if the verses do not contradict one another, hadiths too will not contradict one another; a hadith is written, so-and-so narrated it thus, a hadith; you look, after it another one, so-and-so says this in a narration, that is also a hadith; on the same topic they contradict each other.

Now he calls that a hadith, and he calls this a hadith. Which one is the hadith?

So many who call mutually contradicting words hadith, and then see themselves at a certain level and teach people. May Allah protect us. May Allah protect us. Yes.

We knew that there is no being but You worthy of worship; we obeyed You, we say. Now, while making that conversation; now we are listing it, look. That is, within that 'we believed and obeyed', that person, those muttaqis, before Allah Almighty speaking with Him directly. Look what it says now.

Our Lord! We have believed in Your Being. We believed that there is no god but You. You are the absolute owner and ruler of the worlds. We believed, had faith in the prophets, books and nabis that came from You. We knew that there is no being but You worthy of worship. We obeyed You. Our Lord! forgive us our sins, which we committed knowingly or unknowingly.