Al-Baqarah 4: They are those who believe in the revelations (books), sent down to you and sent down before you. They believe in hereafter with certainty.

Surah Al-Baqarah, verse 4. Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. Vellezîne yü'minûne bimâ ünzile ileyke ve mâ ünzile min kablik Ve bi'l-âhireti hüm yûkinûn. They are those believers who believe in what was sent down to you and in the books sent down before you. And they believe in the Hereafter with certainty. Believers. The obedient. But those who use their reason and obey the truth, not falsehood. They are the ones who see the truth by the light of Allah. How beautifully Allah Almighty puts it. Now, what did we say Allah Almighty says? In this verse, we said, He speaks of the qualities of the believers. What does He say?

They are those believers who believe in the book sent down to you and in the books sent down before you. And they believe in the Hereafter with certainty.

In this verse Allah Almighty speaks of the qualities, the qualities of the believers. These believers, to the commands and prohibitions of Allah Almighty, have held on tightly, have brought their nafs to perfection, and are people who have gained nearness to Allah Almighty. That is, people who have passed beyond the nafs al-ammara, the nafs al-lawwama, the nafs al-mulhima, risen to the nafs al-mutmainna, and come to know the divine manifestations. Yes, these.

These are also called saints.

If we pay attention to the third and fourth verses,

with the verses where He says 'those believers, those who', among Islam, some Muslims, because of their nearness to Allah Almighty, our Lord, such people, pointing to them and addressing them as 'those believers', points to some things, we said. He is pointing to something. Those believers. All are Muslims, but specifically 'those believers'. What are 'those believers'? Yes. Here we said we would open up the meanings of these verses a little, and again, as their turn comes, in more detail we will try to open the meanings of the verses for you. To people who hold fast to the secrets and conditions of Islam, who know the helplessness of their nafs, declare war on their own nafs, overcome the evils in the desires of the nafs, and try to be a servant as Allah Almighty wishes, Allah Almighty opens certain paths of unveiling to such servants of His. In proportion to those servants' wish, our Lord, from the Hereafter, which is the meaning of the verses of the Quran, in proportion to those people's covenant, by way of unveiling shows it to them. This path of unveiling can be of several kinds.

Through the state called yakaza, half-awake, through dreams and through inspiration; into all three paths satanic happenings can get mixed. Those qualified sift these out. Of course, on condition of not going outside the rulings of the Sharia. Who are these qualified ones? The sheikh at their head.

Who are these believers? The person of the tariqa who has obeyed his teacher and struggled with his nafs on the path his teacher showed, who has put on the wrestler's leather breeches against his own nafs. Who puts on those breeches? Wrestlers. So he has become a wrestler, struggled with his nafs and brought his nafs to its knees. That is, he has gained mastery over his nafs. Such people, who gain mastery over their nafs and obey their Lord, who hold tightly to Allah's commands, are the believers. And Allah Almighty makes them recipients of the manifestations of His essence. He makes those believers recipients of the manifestations of His essence, within the attributes.

Abundantly, in forms, He manifests Himself to them. In every attribute, in every form, He honours them. Yes, do you see the rabita? The teacher's — but on the path that the teacher who is a true sheikh shows to those people, they too, faithfully, the instruction the teacher gave, by carrying it out, carrying it out — do you see what those people come to know? Then why have they become enemies of the tariqas?

These are under the guise of Islam's (?). There is no way we can impose our rule on these people. Because these, by their teachers' words, on condition of not leaving the religion of Islam, you see, continue their own sovereignty. We have no influence over them. Pay attention today. Those who are enemies of these tariqas have become the toys of clowns.

Do you know whom I call clowns? Those who live outside the religion of Islam. Because their hearts are restless and (?). Because Allah Almighty says they are like four-legged beasts roaming the earth. Because they do not reflect. They are ungrateful for what Allah has given. And they, taking the pleasure of every kind of life, rebel against Allah. This is not a human. A human does not do this. A human does not spit in the bowl he eats from, and to a person who helped him a human at least gives thanks. That is what a human is.

So I say again, think well. Think well. Yes.

Those who affirm His verses, the earlier prophets, the prophet of the last age, the master of both worlds, Muhammad (peace be upon him), and who believed in the Hereafter with certainty, as He says — these are the ones He calls 'those believers'. Now let's open this part up a bit. He says 'those believers who'. He does not say 'Muslim, those Muslims who'. 'Those believers who.' A believer is a Muslim too. A Muslim is a Muslim too. But a Muslim, until the nafs al-mutmainna, runs after the desires of his own nafs. However much he struggles with his nafs, in many places he still becomes a captive of his own nafs.

The believer, compared to the Muslim, 70% or 80%, compared to the Muslim, has established rule over his nafs. The Muslim, compared to the believer, 70% or 80% follows his own nafs. If we try to make the Muslim obey according to Allah's laws, that is, if we put it in percentages, he is at 30% or 40% in obeying Allah's laws. The believer is at 70%, 80% in obeying. Yes. There is a big difference between them. There you have 'those believers'. That is, he has gained mastery over his nafs; toward things Allah Almighty does not want, even if his nafs feels desire, even if it likes them, he fears Allah and loves Allah very much.

In that case, the things his own nafs desires and likes, he does not run after. And what does Allah Almighty say about such people? Because they fear Me and because they love Me very much, even though they have mastered the nafs I gave them in the unseen world, its desires and wishes — this love and fear of Me, of what they want among their desires and wishes, not taking what they want, out of fear of Me, out of their love for Me, their not taking what they want, and against themselves waging war, waging war against their nafs, and not doing what their nafs says — by that, in My sight, they are people of high rank.

Who are these people of high rank? The believers. There, 'those believers'. Those believers. Yes. They, unconditionally, believe in the Torah, the Psalms, the Gospel, and that these are in the Quran; again unconditionally, in obedience to all the prophets, that they are messengers Allah sent, they believe and have faith. And they believe in the Hereafter with certainty. What does 'with certainty' mean? So that he can be a believer, Allah Almighty has shown him the meanings of many verses, the scenes in the Hereafter. What is a verse? Allah Almighty constantly speaks of the Hereafter. There is this there, that there, this here; here there is punishment, here there are blessings. Isn't that so?

He shows these to these people too. In return for the verses. So they believe with certainty. He said 'with certainty': those who see in this world spiritually, inwardly, or through yakaza or through dreams believe with certainty. These are the people of certainty too. Because they have seen. Yes.

About the believers, or about these verses, there is much that could be said. But we will not tie it all to one verse. In the coming verses too, as their turn comes — dhikr, that is, the Quran is a dhikr — with reflection or with dhikr, with repetitions, we will always tie one verse to another. It is not 'there it is like this, here it is like that'. Look at the tafsirs, look at what people tell. There it is like that, here it is like this. Allah does not say it is like that there and like this here. If He said so, He would not have said this verse: Had this been the word of a human, you would find in it many words that contradict each other.

Yes. So pay attention. Our daughter Ayşe has sent a message. Peace be upon you, Hodja. You explain so beautifully that I could not help writing. May Allah be pleased with you, bless your mouth and tongue, she says. Yes. These are being recorded anyway. Every word I say is recorded. We record it. I record it too.

Our son Muhsin in Germany records it too, and it will be put into the archives. We, a I will not say 'of a nation'. I will not say 'with a blood brother'. As one, created by our Lord, as servants, in unity and togetherness, with the same mindset, to the same Lord, to our one Lord, we are brothers who bring our foreheads to prostration before the Merciful. It is above blood kinship.

So, there is a proverb: A brother throws his brother, but holds him at the edge of the cliff. So we will, our unity and togetherness, within the Islamic mindset, within Islamic unity, protect and defend. We will not fall into division. Here is the verse. Do not fall into division.

Then your enemies will overcome you, He says. Do not fall into division. But unfortunately today, in this time we live in, I will say it as a product of ignorance: in an ignorance, in a complex, in order to think of themselves as progressive, the words of non-Muslims, of the enemies of religion, that will break Islam's unity and togetherness — believing them, with words that the passions of the nafs whip up and like, they agree. I say: not by what your nafs likes, but by the command of Allah maintain your sovereignty. The polytheists know very well the side of you that will like things, the enemies of religion.

These people who have set their eyes on your jugular know what you will like and use those gilded words on you; know that this is your enemy, know this. A friend, it is said, speaks bitterly. Yes.