Could you tell us about the manifestations (tajalliyat) that a believer who has reached the nafs al-mutmainna comes to know? (The States of the Nafs)

Hodja, thank you again. Until today no one had informed me like this. May Allah be pleased with you. May Allah be pleased with you too, my dear. Emre says again: Once more, dear Hodja, could you give us information about the manifestations that a believer who reaches the nafs al-mutmainna becomes aware of? How do these manifestations take place? In what state do they happen? And how does our Lord manifest Himself? May Allah be pleased with you for your answers, Hodja. Let us explain: a person says the kalima ash-shahada and becomes a Muslim. After becoming a Muslim, which of the seven states of the nafs does a person live through? A person has seven states of the nafs.

What are these states of the nafs? One, nafs al-ammara. Two, nafs al-lawwama. Three, nafs al-mulhima. Four, nafs al-mutmainna. Five, nafs ar-radiya, radiya; six, nafs al-mardiyya; seven, nafs as-safiya. Now let us assess them. A man is a Muslim, he has said the kalima ash-shahada; he drinks, gambles, commits adultery, eats what is forbidden, deals in interest, usurps rights, kills people; and when it comes to talking, with his tongue he says, look at my heart, my heart is clean; with his own words he throws himself into the middle of Paradise. No prayer, no supplication, no fasting, no zakat, no hajj.

And with his words he goes into the middle of Paradise. He himself is a very great man. With his words. With his own words. This is the nafs al-ammara. These are sinners.

Let us come to the nafs al-lawwama. The nafs al-lawwama is a Muslim. He prays, fasts, gives zakat, goes on hajj. This one has two faces. One faces the nafs al-ammara. If he grows weary, he turns back to the nafs al-ammara. The other face is turned toward the nafs al-mulhima. If he turns to piety, if the acts of worship have benefited his nafs, if he has seen his own shortcomings and struggled with them, if he has broken some of his bad states, he rises to the nafs al-mulhima. The nafs al-mulhima is the gate of miracles (karamat). Allah Almighty, as this person turns toward piety, as he breaks the evils in his nafs, Allah does not let this struggle of his to draw near to his Lord go to waste.

He does not leave it unrewarded. He opens the gate of miracles to him. He wishes for something, and He brings it before him. Of course, Allah Almighty knows what he will do within that covenant, and has prepared them accordingly. Sir, as I was passing the gate of miracles, I passed by and the shop was closed; I turned around and said, the shop is open. A miracle, the shop is open. Did time pass within time? How did it open? How was it done? These are secrets. We cannot know them. These are miracles. Whatever you say, it happens. Sir, in this case, if the person is deceived by this, he stays here.

These live here in the state of tayy al-makan (folding of space). But as long as they do not rise to the mutmainna, as long as they do not attain the quality of a believer, they can always turn back. They can go to kufr. They can depart as unbelievers. And it depends on their own destiny, of course. Here too, if we do not look at this gate of miracles — and people take these people for great saints, they take them for awliya — if these people do not look at this here but continue on their way, then they become aware of the manifestations. Manifestation means: in the heart, in the state of yakaza (wakefulness).

Without sleeping. While remembering Allah, with contemplation, Allah Almighty manifests in his heart. Just as if seeing with the eyes, but not with this eye. I say the state of yakaza. Your eyes are closed. As you see in a dream, but it is not a dream. Allah Almighty, in every kind of form, young, old, bearded, beardless, swiftly, swiftly changes form. Without disappearing at all, without ever vanishing in front of you, never the same forms, thousands of forms manifest in your heart. You see this. Satan also manifests to a person; he disappears and appears again, sinks into darkness and appears again. You understand that he is Satan.

Allah Almighty changes shape without ever disappearing, within light, (?). This is manifestation. After this there are the attributes of the Essence. After this there are certain events. We do not go into them here. Human minds are not at present in a state to comprehend them. It can also harm human minds. These are mostly outside our lesson anyway, we do not much want to talk about them, but they asked, so we are explaining now. From there, the person becomes a believer here. A believer — now there is no turning back for him. Because he has now reformed the nafs. Reforming the nafs. But let us put a full stop to this.

Even if he is the Qutb al-Aqtab, no one can reform the nafs completely. Because as long as a person reforms the nafs, that does not mean he has no nafs at all. He could turn into a vegetable. It would be a vegetative life. That nafs will still have desire in him. He will still struggle with his nafs, but he will not do what his nafs says. He will make that a habit (?). That is, he is not like a common person. He is not like a mere believer. In this case, not being deceived there either, or let us describe that believer. Here Allah Almighty calls out to the nafs that has become tranquil like this.

You know, in Surah Al-Fajr, 27, 28, 29, 30, in its verses: O tranquil soul! Your Lord pleased with you, you pleased with your Lord, enter among My servants, enter My Paradise, He says. This is a nafs that has become tranquil. There is no turning back for it. Because Allah Almighty knows what He creates, and since He knows that the people who rise here have no turning back, He answers them in this verse. If he goes further from here, he enters the state of ilm al-yaqin, which we call nafs ar-radiya. Here Allah Almighty Himself, through inspiration, with verses, gives knowledge to the person's heart.

Knowledge — this is the gate of knowledge. What does it say anyway? Nafs ar-radiya, ilm al-yaqin. Ilm al-yaqin. How does ilm al-yaqin come about? So in ilm al-yaqin, Allah Almighty, through inspiration to the human heart, explains the meanings of the verses. The human mind filters this and, with the rulings of the Sharia, determines that it is not satanic but merciful. And Allah Almighty confirms it with confirmation upon confirmation. That knowledge. He will raise His servant, you see. While explaining that knowledge, He has a verse confirm it to him through inspiration. He has another hadith confirm it.

He has a hadith confirm it. He has a verse confirm it. In this way verses are confirmed by verses. Verses by hadiths, hadiths by verses; in this way the person becomes a scholar. A scholar. Who raised him? Allah. What Allah Almighty raises in an instant — even if a person's life were, He says, a thousand years, he could not raise what Allah raises in an instant. But the scholars of the outward cannot accept this. They cannot know this. Yes. Of course, here we are going to deeper points. If he continues from here, if it is in his lot, he becomes the Qutb al-Azam who comes once every hundred years. He has received that knowledge, you see; if he also has the quality of Qutb al-Azam, it depends on the covenant He gave him in the beginning.

On the covenant. Sir, Allah Almighty makes him the one charged with duty on the earth. The Qutb al-Azam. Sometimes the Qutb al-Azam and the Qutb al-Aqtab live together. Sometimes it also happens that the two of them live at the same time.

In this case, what does the Qutb al-Azam do? He sifts out falsehoods. Falsehoods; he sifts out the falsehoods in the religion. If he goes further from here, this Qutb al-Azam is in the state of ayn al-yaqin. Ayn al-yaqin: that is, wherever he looks, before the manifestations of Allah Almighty, before His creation, by contemplating the art of his Lord he constantly contemplates His Essence.

He says "the Manifest" (?), you know; everywhere he contemplates his Lord. If he goes further from here, again if it is in his destiny — this is one person in the world who comes once every two hundred years. Sir, the Qutb al-Aqtab attains the secret, the secret of the secret.

This is granted to the one given to be Qutb al-Aqtab, the person who comes once every two hundred years. That Qutb al-Aqtab is not able to explain this secret of the secret. No one has explained it, no one can. Even now, when I say it, my hair stands on end. It harms people's minds. It harms them greatly. For this reason the human mind cannot grasp it. Since it cannot grasp it, it is not possible to explain it. So Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) says: I have such secrets that those secrets will go with me to the grave, he says. If I were to breathe this secret of mine into a well, he says, and the reeds growing from that well's water became flutes, those flutes would remember Allah, he says.

When you blew into them, those flutes would remember Allah. For this reason, it does not mean that everything must be explained. The Prophet (peace be upon him) says: Speak to people according to the measure of their minds. When it goes beyond their minds, it does harm. Look, for example, how beautifully he explains it in Ali Şahin's case. There Ali Şahin asks: Hodja, doesn't this contradict that? he says. It is not a contradiction. There is a meaninglessness. Just like this. With us there are still verses, even ones that could be understood, for example. Even if we were to understand them, it is not possible for you to grasp them.

Because the state is not that state. The language is not that language. The nafs is not that nafs. For this reason it is not possible to explain this. But the Qutb al-Azam has a duty. Allah Almighty has given him a duty. Like the Qutb al-Azam, he too is charged with spreading Allah's religion on the earth. He explains the truth. He explains what is right, with verses. Whoever wishes takes it, whoever wishes does not. Whoever wishes recognizes him, whoever wishes does not.

No one can change anyone's destiny. Yes.

Emre Tekaç, I think you have understood this part, my dear.