Al-Ma'idah 36: Verily, even if the infidels possessed everything on earth and an equal amount and gave it as a ransom to escape the punishment on the Day of Judgment, it will never be accepted from them. For them, there is a severe punishment.

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Surah Al-Ma'idah, verse 36: Surely those who disbelieve — even if everything on earth and as much again besides were theirs, and to escape the punishment of the Day of Judgment they offered it as ransom, it would never be accepted from them. For them there is a painful punishment, He says. Yes, a painful punishment.

Allah Almighty speaks sometimes of a grievous punishment, sometimes of a painful punishment, sometimes of a humiliating punishment. Non-Muslims will experience all of these. These punishments. The humiliating punishment: while in the world, these people look down on Muslims, deify their own nafs, see themselves in the world as people of wealth or of children and family, mock the Muslims, mock their way of life, see themselves as far superior to them. In the hereafter, such people, when they see the Muslims attain Allah's mercy and receive great rewards in the gardens of paradise, will shrink before them.

This is a humiliating punishment. And there is no escaping this punishment. From that humiliating punishment. You know, somewhere someone is looked down on and in the end, well, suffers his punishment and comes out, and it changes to mercy. For these there is no reaching mercy. People who turned the abode of eternal bliss into an abode of punishment, people of hell destined for hell forever. A humiliating punishment. A grievous punishment, He says. A very severe punishment. It is mentioned in the verses. They, He says, bound in chains, will remain inside (?) of flame and doors of flame will close upon them.

May Allah protect us.

And a grievous punishment. A painful punishment. That is a punishment close to this one too. It will hurt him. Hurt — it will hurt. In the other, he loses consciousness, a fainting comes over him.

To recover from that fainting he is taken out from there for a little while. The skins change, again fresh skin comes from beneath, the person comes to, and is thrown into that fire again. May Allah protect us, it goes on like this — a deep punishment. A painful punishment, a terrible punishment he will suffer without ever losing consciousness. So Allah Almighty, giving people glad tidings of paradise and warning them of hell, makes His verses known to people. In this situation, people in this world deify their own nafs. They turn their backs on Allah's verses and take Allah's word lightly. He deifies his nafs.

He sees grandeur and ego in himself. If he turns his back on Allah, neither what these people have done is a deed, nor their mind a mind, nor the path they take a path. They are only wretched people (?) in their own nafs. Allah Almighty warns them. On the Day of Judgment, when that Supreme Court is set up, on a day with no return to the world again, when lamenting and regret are of no use — on that day, man wishes that this world, including what is in it, what is in it — the gold, the rubies, the emeralds, the pearls, whatever there is, all included — and if he had as much again, he would want to give that too as ransom and be saved.

There is no longer any such thing as ransom, as escape. Everyone will see the return of what he did. Allah has no need of ransom. Because the Creator created. Not only the world — what all He created beyond the world. He has no need of what He created. So from here we call out to people again so they come to their senses. O people! Calling the wealth Allah created (?), deifying it in your heart, caught in the temptation of your nafs and Satan, leaning your back on your wealth, on the wealth Allah created, as if you would never die, trusting in it — do not turn your back on Allah. This wealth and property belong to Allah.

Never forget: every soul shall taste death. And in the end the inheritance of the heavens and the earth will remain to Allah. Because Allah created; Allah, who is the Last, will annihilate His creations and create them again. His creations will again remain His. Thus Allah Almighty: hüve'l-evvelü ve'l-âhiru ve'z-zâhiru ve'l-bâtın Do not forget this. Since Allah Almighty is the First and the Last, the Manifest and the Hidden, since before Him there was no being, since after Him no being will remain, Manifest and Manifest, creating these worlds, and the Owner of the hereafter as well — since that is so, all created things, from the atom to the globe, belong to Allah.

So do not take Allah's wealth from Allah and (?). If you give Allah's wealth to Allah, you will in the hereafter have obtained the beautiful life of the abode of eternal bliss. Allah Almighty says: whoever buys paradise with their lives and their wealth. With their lives, the martyrs; with their wealth, the generous — those who give charity for Allah's sake, who give Allah's wealth to Allah, who to the people they help do not say "I helped you" but say "I gave my wealth to Allah" — these are the generous. People who forget their troubles, people who expect nothing in return, people who indulge no desire of the nafs — these are the sultans of the eternal abode of bliss.

Yes, if we want to obtain the sovereignty, the beautiful life of the hereafter — if we, of what our Lord created and gave us, of the wealth He bestowed, be it little or much, within our own means, can give charity to Allah's creatures — how blessed we are. We will have prevented Satan, frightening us with the temptation of poverty he gives us, from driving us to stinginess. Imam al-Ghazali says so too. Give, even if little; do not accustom your hand to stinginess, he says. Yes, give even if little, do not accustom your hand to stinginess.

Let us read the verse once more, then move on to our commentary. Surely those who disbelieve — even if everything on earth and besides that as much again were theirs, and to escape the punishment of the Day of Judgment they offered it as ransom, it would never be accepted from them. For them there is a painful punishment, He says. Allah Almighty addressing people with His verse, saying (?). Of all people, of those who rebel against Allah, of idolaters, of those who say there is no Allah, of those following various ideologies — their minds upon themselves, as proof of Allah's existence, when they become aware. Every person, with the mind we call akl-ı maaş, can perceive Allah and, as proof upon them, that there is Allah, perceive Him — His giving people such a mind — Allah Almighty, since He has proven His own existence, "surely" — He uses this word.

yes, He uses the word "surely"; what does "surely" mean? Surely, certainly, in the hereafter, even if those people had as much again to give Allah as ransom — well, even if they had as much wealth again, it would never be accepted from them. Yes.

People who rebel against Allah, these rebellious ones — among Islam too there are rebels, but in the end, since the light of Islam is in them, if it does not change, of course, if he does not leave the religion of Islam, with repentance, well, he continues on his way and finds the right path. Or the unbelievers too, those outside the religion of Islam — if they repent, they find the right path. But as long as they are on that path, those with a rebellious spirit, that is, those who had written as their destiny turning their back on Allah, who had written that they would not know Him, rebellious people who rebel against Allah — when, deifying their nafs, they die and depart as rebels against Allah — that is, when in that state they pass on to the hereafter, those who pass on to the hereafter as unbelievers, people who go in this state.

When such people see the punishment in the hereafter, they wish that if the earth and everything on it and as much again besides were theirs, they could give it to Allah as ransom and escape the punishment. Impossible. Why impossible? If I gave you a jar of gold and you, with this gold, (?), (?), and I did not acknowledge it, and in the end had you caught and set out to punish you, and you gave my own wealth to me as ransom, would you escape that punishment? It was my wealth. That jar was my wealth. If you gave as much again, that too is my wealth. That is, His creatures cannot obtain it — even if there were that much and as much again, that too is my wealth, accept it. I had given you a jar of gold.

Well, not one jar — if you gave two jars, would you be free of your crime? Everything belongs to Allah the Creator, from the atom to the globe, everything is Allah's. What wealth will you give Allah as ransom? Because this is possible. Allah's creations — in creating He does not show (?), does He? When He wills, He creates His will with kun, that is, the word "Be". Yes. O people! The heavens and the earth and what is between them belong to Allah. Allah has the power to create from nothing. As we always say, all that we speak, these are counterparts of verses, what we read like this from the beginning.

All counterparts of verses. If you like, let us read a sentence or two from the beginning. You know we don't open it up; we always write the counterparts of verses in spoken language. Allah Almighty addressing people with the verse's word "surely". Why did Allah Almighty send the verses? To (?) in our hands. Of all people, of those who rebel against Allah, of idolaters, of those who say there is no Allah, of those following various ideologies — their minds upon themselves, as proof of Allah's existence, since they are aware. This is the counterpart of this verse: Kâlû belâ, elestü bi rabbiküm, elestü bi rabbiküm They said yes, He says.

Yes. This yes here — those who rebel, you know, even they: I was created by a Lord. They know this. He has given such a mind, (?). This sentence is the counterpart of elestü bi rabbiküm. Yes. Let us read it again. Let us fully grasp that it is its counterpart. Let us grasp it. Of all people, of those who rebel against Allah, of idolaters, of those who say there is no Allah. Now, why do I keep repeating to you that what I say is all counterparts of verses?

Here these commentaries have been written as Sufi and esoteric. Let us say "was written" esoterically, not "is said to have been written". It was written. I wrote it. For by Allah's grace my Lord had me write it, and I wrote.

That nothing is said from the mind, that everything has its counterpart in a verse, and so that when (?) opens it, you have a grasp with which you can perceive the verses better — that is why I repeat these to you. Yes. The second (?). Rebellious people who rebel against Allah, deifying their nafs, as rebels against Allah when they die and depart, those who pass on to the hereafter as unbelievers. Yes. Counterparts of verses. (?) the one who deifies his nafs. Who? If they go as non-Muslims, they are destined for hell forever, He says. If they go as non-Muslims. Allah's door of repentance for people — when the soul reaches the throat — if until then people do not repent and go to the hereafter with such a rebellious spirit, well, they become destined for hell forever, as Allah Almighty in His verses already tells us.

When such people see the punishment in the hereafter, they wish that if the earth and everything on it, and as much again besides were theirs, they could give it to Allah as ransom and escape the punishment. That too is the counterpart of the verses above. (?) It is written in spoken language. O people, the heavens and the earth and what is between them belong to Allah. Yes, every soul shall taste death. The inheritance of the heavens and the earth and what is between them will remain to Allah, it says in the verse. Well, Allah has the power to create from nothing. Yes, He is the Creator. He is the Creator.

These verses are gathered; we explain them to you in spoken language, we tell it to our Lord. No one can offer Allah what Allah created as ransom. Because the wealth is Allah's. It is given to Allah. What Allah created is Allah's. Whoever speaks this way speaks in vain. That is what (?) says anyway. However, while in worldly life, the wealth and property, the blessings Allah bestowed on you, if for Allah's sake you give them, Allah too accepts it from you with a beautiful acceptance and, for worldly goods, gives you in return paradise, the abode of eternal bliss. This answers to the verse: whoever buys paradise with their lives and wealth.

All the words, the sentences are counterparts of verses. Nothing is written from (?). Given by our Lord through inspiration, written by us esoterically — a Sufi and esoteric commentary. Everything, every word, is a counterpart of verses.

In this verse, attaining the verse "whoever buys paradise with his wealth and life", for Allah's sake, from the wealth or money Allah granted man, when in Allah's way they give charity, in return for this charity they buy the paradise created by Allah Almighty. Make jihad with your lives and your wealth, says Allah Almighty. Yes.

What are we saying? Attaining the verse in a verse, "whoever buys paradise with his wealth and life", for Allah's sake, from the wealth or money Allah granted man, when in Allah's way they give charity, in return for this charity they buy the paradise created by Allah Almighty. This is Allah's greatness and — not needing His (?) — inviting people to salvation, the blessings He offers to people. Why? He sent the Quran, sent it as a leader before us so that we attain life, sent it so that we attain salvation. Whoever (?) Allah's verses — these are the ones who attain salvation and victory, does Allah Almighty not say?