Al-Fatihah 7: The path of those You have bestowed Your grace; not of those who have incurred Your wrath, nor of those who have gone astray.

The 7th verse of Surah Al-Fatiha. Sıratel Müstakime en'amte aleyhim gayri'l-mağdûbi aleyhim ve le'd-dâllîn. Sırâta'llezîne en'amte aleyhim gayri'l-mağdûbi aleyhim ve le'd-dâllîn. And at the end we say amen. That is, so be it; that is the meaning of amen. So be it. Yes. The seventh verse of Al-Fatiha.

To the path of those who walk the bright path of guidance You have shown, not the path of those who left the path of guidance and went astray, O Allah, we say. That is, among those who benefit from Your blessings, those who see the beautiful paths You have shown, those who advance on those paths, make us among Your servants who have won Your friendship, we say. You have such servants, O Allah, that neither buying and selling nor trade keeps them from Your remembrance. According to this verse. You also have such servants, Your righteous servants, whose bodies are kept far from their beds at night, whose bodies have grown thin, and who do not hold back from worshipping their Lord; join us to the company of those people.

Those blessings You have benefited from, those paths they saw, placing Your love in their hearts, and in that love giving up their sleep, and in every deed remembering Your Essence; join us too among such servants of Yours. Yes, they become friends. Who have known the helplessness of their nafs, who have known Your Essence as the Creator, who have tasted being a servant and attained the delight of worship; join us among such servants of Yours. How beautifully we put it. Who have known the helplessness of their nafs. That is, O Allah, You gave us this nafs. This nafs's storm over me, its wish, its desire wants to take me away from Your Essence. Because You created this nafs this way, so that this person feels desire, takes, eats, protects himself, reproduces.

But You also gave it such a commander: the spirit. And You gave it such a governor: faith. And You gave a reason to account for all this so beautifully that, with this reason and this faith, after knowing Your Essence, I grasped the helplessness of my nafs. Its majesty and power over me, its wishes and desires, I did not bow to them. I did not submit to it. Because if Your command had not held dominion over my nafs, it would lead me to rebel against You, lead me to waste, and lead me to corruption, to ruin, to ruin.

It would turn me into a merchant who has (?) his trade in the world. So then, I have known the helplessness of this nafs, I have turned to You, O Allah, we say.

Until passing on to the hereafter on the path of Truth, make us among Your servants who gave a good covenant and live by their covenant. Join me too among the people who gave Allah Almighty the finest covenant, had their script written within that covenant, and play that script as actors; honour me with them, acquaint me with them. Grant my eyes no evil, my ears no evil word, my feet no evil path, and my hands no evil deed to commit, O Allah, we say. Yes.

We continue.

We, us, not the path of those who do not know You, who do not follow Your path, rebelling against Your Essence, who extinguished the light of faith and have no share of guidance, those whom, according to the verse aduvvallâhi ve aduvveküm, He calls your enemies and the enemies of Allah; not the path they walk. How beautifully we put it. Those who deny Allah Almighty, those who are ungrateful for the blessing given, who take another god besides Allah, turn their backs on Allah, and obey the lords in their minds and imaginations, and while obeying, deify their own nafs and give themselves the commands of that unknown, imaginary lord in their own minds; not the paths of such people, not the paths they walk, O Allah, we say.

Yes. Not the path of those who have made their pleasure a god, plunged into worldly amusements, busied themselves with created things and forgotten Your Essence. Not the path of those people today who, on the worst paths, are immoral, lustful people passing themselves off as stars, whom people follow around, O Allah. Make us among Your servants who protect their dignity and honour, their self-respect, their glory, their selves, their chastity, and who are truly worthy of the name human and, with their humanity, worthy of the human whom Allah calls human, O Allah.

Yes. Who gather without asking whether it is halal or haram, eat only as much as their provision, pride themselves on their wealth, lean their backs on their wealth, and in the end, crushed under the wealth left as inheritance, forgetting Your Essence, make swampy paths their way of life; not their paths, O Allah.

My ummah will be divided into three parts.

The first part, even if it has no food from evening to morning, says el rızkı teâlâ Allah and relies on Allah, he says.

This one is the best. In response to this, Allah Almighty speaks a verse. Do you not see the birds that fly in the mornings to the (?) with empty crops? In the evenings they return to their nests with full crops, He says.

What is it then? The first part of the ummah, even if it has no food from evening to morning, says evli rızk-ı teala Allah; this one trusts in Allah, he says. The second, gathers worldly goods, but gathers them from the halal. For this one there is a fine reckoning (?). A fine reckoning. What is this fine reckoning?

Your neighbour went to bed hungry; did you know about it? Did you help the one who presented his need to you, the one who presented his need to him? Did you look after your relatives, did you help the stranded traveller, did you ever stroke an orphan's head, at least? Yes, a fine reckoning.

And the third gathers without asking whether it is halal or haram, he says. For this one there is a painful punishment, he says. So the one who gathers without asking whether it is halal or haram and eats as much as his provision cannot eat more than his provision. What is our provision? Our provision is what we eat and drink and wear out, that is, what we wear and drink and wear and wear out; that is our provision. Apart from this, what will remain in the end is our inheritance, our possessions. Death is real, inheritance is lawful, Allah Almighty says in His verse. So then I say: as the heir of this wealth whose responsibility I have taken on, that is, as its owner or as its trustee, which in the end will remain as inheritance, lawful to him, make me the owner of a wealth whose responsibility is placed on me in the end, a wealth I will be able to account for. Apart from that, do not join us among Your servants who do not make this reckoning and are crushed under its reckoning, we say.

Yes. In the end it will remain as inheritance.

Priding himself on his wealth, he acts proud. Yet that wealth is not his. Or do you own even an atom of your world? Had you owned an atom, nothing of your world would have been given to you, He says. That is, are you (?) to create even an atom in the world? Had you created one atom, you would have created the others too. Well, He says, then I would have taken back all that I gave you. And you would have fended for yourself, He says. So then, from the atom to the globe, (?), if all of it is a trust to us, never pride yourself on your wealth. Yes. Those who lean their backs on their wealth: do not lean your back on your wealth either.

Because all that wealth is Allah's. When death comes, you, as they say, go with a shroud of six cubits. No. There is not even a six-cubit shroud. Why not? You are wrapped in it, right. That too stays in the world. That too stays in the world. Well, now you are in no state to hold on to it. When they wrap you, they wrap you in the world. The body also stays in the world. Well, who goes? Your spirit goes. Your spirit. Spirit, nafs and soul are one. The flesh is separate. You came alone, you came naked, you go naked; you came bare, you go bare.

Yes. So then do not lean your back on your wealth either. Not the paths of those who in the end, crushed under the wealth left as inheritance, forgetting Your Essence, make swampy paths their way of life, O Allah, we say. Yes. With this we conclude Al-Fatiha.