Hud 61: And to the nation of Thamud, (We have sent) their brother Shelah (The Prophet Salih). He said; “Oh my people! Worship Allah. You have no deities other than Allah. Allah created (your bodies) from the soil. And Allah lets you live there. So, ask Allah for forgiveness and then, repent to Allah because my Lord is close (to Allah’s servants). Allah is the One who accepts (prayers).

Surah Hud, verse 61: we have arrived. The people of Hud (peace be upon him) are done; now to the people of Thamud we come. Allah Almighty lists those He destroyed one after another like this. And to the people, too, We sent their brother Salih. The prophet Salih. He said: O my people, serve Allah. And here I too now call out to people. O people who say "I am a Muslim", "I am a scholar", and "I live Islam". Do not follow your nafs and, when you hear the truth, chase after superstitions and fail to come back to the truth. Do not turn your backs on the truth. On the truth, on Allah — do not turn your backs.

The same events.

If you hear the truth, and you have been (?) by superstitions and believe these superstitions are right, compare with your mind; if you see the truth and are on the side of the truth, you attain Allah's mercy. If instead you say, no, I'm done for, what shall I do, and return to superstitions again, you will be subjected to Allah's wrath. Allah does not call anyone to account for what He has not made heard.

He said: O my people, serve Allah. How fine — we too explain Allah's verses, we save Allah from being described with attributes; we try to save Him. That Allah is not unaware of the future, that Allah made a covenant with people, that people living their destiny in proportion to their covenant is not fatalism. The fatalist (?) all events to Allah, says, "He wrote this on my forehead", says "Allah wrote it", and "what does He want from me?" This falls into fatalism. You with Allah — the whole and the part making a covenant with each other, the part, by its will, having its destiny written — this is not fatalism.

Make this distinction first. Do not be (?) by superstitions; do not say what you do not know. O people, serve Allah. You have no god other than Him. He created your bodies from the earth, from soil. Look how well it says it. He created our bodies from soil. So do you know? The spirit, the nafs and the soul are one. The bodies are separate. The bodies. Allah, who created Adam's body from soil, then, the spirit He had created for him in the realm of Lahut, when He put it into the body, said: now prostrate to him. Allah, who had the angels prostrate to Adam, who had the worlds, His creations other than His Essence, prostrate — Allah. How can you pin the spirit on Gabriel, how can you pin the spirit on others, and, the spirit according to its (?), to other substances too is (?), you say. These words of ignorance, your ignorance, that you are within a circle of ignorance, in this way you prove. And people, holding the position you are in, you try to mislead.

And He makes you live there. That is, in the world. So ask Him for forgiveness. That is, in the world ask Allah for forgiveness. Then repent to Him. For our mistakes. Why? Repent. Are we all going to repent? Of course we are all going to repent. All of us. All created human beings. All of them will repent.

Why? Allah created man close to His Essence. He gave him a part of His spirit; there is no spirit in any being other than man. So He created man, whom He addressed as counterpart to His Essence, in helplessness; He did not create a being equal to His Essence; He gave him an incomplete mind. In that case a person will err, and when he understands his error, he will see his helplessness; to the Lord who created him, for his helplessness, for his error, he will seek repentance and forgiveness. This is what accords with Allah Almighty's purpose in creating. So all people, since they are deficient and fallible, will repent to Allah for their mistakes. Even Jonah, who was a prophet: La ilahe illa ente sübhaneke inni küntü mine'z-zalimin.

"O Allah, I have wronged my nafs, forgive me," you say. Only, only the master of the two worlds, the Prophet Muhammad — although throughout his life he repented to Allah Almighty, although he kept to repentance, (?) (?) — "I have forgiven your past and future sins," He says. Future sins are forgiven too.

In this case, which person, being (?) toward his Creator, does not repent when he commits an error? Yes, a person who fears Allah certainly repents.

Because my Lord is very near to His servants. Yes, then repent to Him. Because my Lord is very near to His servants. He is the one who answers their prayers, it says — their prayers.

There is no prayer that is not accepted, gentlemen. As long as you pray. But they say: I prayed and my prayer was not accepted. "They accuse Allah of stinginess," He says. "Well, Hodja, this is the truth: I pray, but my prayer isn't accepted, it isn't granted," you may say.

If, within your destiny, you prayed for something beyond the load you can bear, your prayer was still accepted, but throughout your life, since it is outside your destiny, it is not given to you. Because it would mislead you. It would take you off your target. A load you cannot bear would be put on your back.

Well then, where will it be accepted? On the Day of Resurrection, when our record is shown to us, we will see many good deeds written in our record. And we will plead to Allah Almighty. "O my Lord, we didn't do these. What are these good deeds?" we will say. That is, there is no deficiency in His justice. Our Lord to us: "In the world you asked of Me, and since it was outside your destiny, since a burden you couldn't bear would be loaded on your back and you would go astray, this We did not give; in return for your patience, today its reward has been given to you," He says. Yes.

So no one can accuse Allah of stinginess, and no one can say: I prayed and my prayer was not accepted.

As long as a person gains his hereafter. Then a person will say this. "Ah," he will say. "If only I had asked for more. I would see its return here from my Lord," he will say. Why does Allah Almighty say He is the one who answers prayers? He is very near. He answers their prayers. However much one prays — what is prayer? Toward one's Creator: O my Lord,

I am one in need of what You give. Without You I can neither live a life, nor sustain myself. I am in need of You. I have such and such troubles. Remove these troubles of mine, O Lord. He prayed. Isn't that a prayer? You are asking Him. Whom? Say you are going to do some business. You're in a squeeze. Your father is rich. You come to your father and say: Father, for this business I need this much money. If I do this like so and so, if I do it like so and so, I'll get this much business out of it. If your father truly sees that you'll profit in this business, "Here, son," he says to you. That is, your prayer is accepted while in the world.

There is no (?). The father sees that in the end he'll lose, or that after that he'll go astray.

He prevents it. How does he prevent it? He tries to make him forget. So the person, while working in his own world, within his own will, in time forgets. But his father does not forget. "Son, you asked me for such a thing, remember. Look, you gave it up, right? This is the reward. Here you earned this much money. See? You would have lost on this," he says. "A loss. Now this is yours." He saved you from loss. Or he saved you from disaster. "Here, this money is yours. I'm not stingy," he says. "Take it." "Because you listened to me," he says. "Because you didn't make a loss." Isn't this world a likeness and shadow of the hereafter?

Yes. no one can accuse Allah of stinginess; that is why a person will pray, open his hands to Allah, declare his helplessness; then, because the created human being has grasped the purpose of his creation, with the servant's turning to his Lord, Allah Almighty says: Labbayk, My servant; labbayk, you speak and I will give, He says, you speak. Yes. After Hud's people, Allah Almighty, to the people of Thamud too, to the brothers — to the people of Thamud too, their brother, that is, from among them, sent Salih as a prophet. Salih — He sent Salih as a prophet. Since this people too were among the transgressors, they associated partners with Allah and worshipped idols.

Yes.

Since this people too were among the transgressors, they associated partners with Allah and worshipped idols. The prophet Salih said, addressing his people: O my people, serve Allah; you have no god other than Him. The One, the Creator of the universe and the Lord of all of you, is Allah. Apart from this, what you make with your hands and what you worship as gods are also servants created by Allah, he said. Allah created you from soil, then He gave you spirit, then He makes you live on the earth. In the world He has blessed you with various provisions. All provisions and blessings are from Allah.

Yes.

So ask Him for forgiveness. Then repent. O my people, say: O Allah, besides You there is no god and no deity worthy of worship. You are Allah, the one Owner of the worlds. Forgive us for the sins we committed in our ignorance. We have repented. We will never again associate partners with You. Our worship, our living and our dying are only for You (?).

O (?)! My Lord is very near to His servants. He answers their prayers. Allah is present and watching in every part of this whole universe. He knows what passes through people's hearts. Even in the remotest corners of people's hearts, of those who are unaware of what they will need, He knows the things they do not know they will need. Allah is nearer to man than his jugular vein. Because in the beginning Allah made a covenant with people. Their wishes, with which they made the covenant (?), He gave them as their destiny. In this case Allah Almighty is the one who knows best what people (?) need, what they will do, how they will go.

So pray to Allah. Because Allah answers prayers. Allah accepts people's prayers. He is the one who removes their troubles. There is no other god besides Allah for people to turn to and ask of. There is one God, one door. And that is Allah and Allah's door. Whoever takes refuge at the threshold of this door and enters from there attains salvation.

There are many topics to explain here.

We're a bit tired. We are ending our lesson here today.

Our daughter Selin stopped at Surah Hud's 62nd verse.