Al-Baqarah 75: Oh, you who are mu’min! (the righteous) Do you now hope that they will believe you? A group among them was changing the truth after they understood it thoroughly.

We left off at verse 75 of Surah Al-Baqarah. What does it say in verse 75? O believers! Do you now hope that they will believe you? Who? The Jews. They have no intention at all of believing the believers, that is, people, Muslims. They, they are surrounded by worldly, nafs-driven and satanic matters; although they know the truth and justice, they never turn to the truth and to justice and always act in the direction of their own interest; they are wrongdoers.

Yet a group of them hear the word of Allah and, after understanding it well, look how nicely we put it, what did we say, they know the word of Allah, they understand it, they know the truth, but even after that they knowingly distort it. What? The Torah. The Torah they hold, or the verses of Allah, they stretch according to their own minds. These are overly spoiled people who go too far, who take the attribute of Godhood lightly, wretched people. Everything, as in this world, with the temptations of Satan, with the whims of the nafs, these wretches who think themselves close to Allah, though they have no proof at all, say: even if punishment touches us, in the Hereafter it will not touch us for more than two or three days.

That is what they say. That they will never give up their nafs-driven feelings in pleasure and amusement, even if it means two or three days of punishment in Hell, they accept it. As long as their pleasures and indulgence here are not held back. That is all. These are wretched people.

What does Allah Almighty say? Do you now hope that they will believe you? Whom? The believers. The believers never believe the words of the Jews. In the verse, sir, Allah Almighty declares their state.

That they can never come to terms with people who are on the path of Allah, why? They cannot come to terms with the people on the path of Allah. Because people who believe in Allah, people of faith, do not believe their false words, because they fear Allah. And since they, although they know the truth, will never come near the truth, when, within their own gains and interests, sir, they tell people their own ideologies, those believers who fear Allah, people, never come near them. Yes. Seeing so many miracles of Allah Almighty, those who knowingly deny their Creator, (?) that they cannot listen to the word of Allah, people who try to imitate the verses of Allah, our Lord makes known to us.

That is, if these, not fearing Allah, have distorted the verses of Allah, and if, saying Allah said it, they have written their own words as religion, as what Allah said, into their books, which of their words can be believed? Is it possible? If these approach you, if they tell you the truth, the truth, they do have truths too, they say them. These go only up to a certain point. What is it? When they have brought their worldly gains to a certain level, all their words are left behind. They do what they will do, they slap you too, they take the world and carry it off on their backs, they push you into a swamp too and off they go.

This is their state. That is why they are not believed. And partnerships are hardly made with them either. Partnerships. Yes.

What did we say about these? Those who distort the verses of Allah, Allah, a person who does not fear Allah never fears a person; that is, to them he does what he will do. O people! Do you think that they will believe you? Whom? The believers. They do not believe the Jews, or, not necessarily Jews, they do not believe the words of people who speak outside the word of Allah. Yes, the Jews will not listen to you any more readily, and there is no trusting their words either, He declares. Allah Almighty says this. What does He say? There is no trusting them. What did I say a moment ago? Up to a certain point, we have witnessed this a lot, they make partnerships.

In a certain ideology, sir, or in return for their worldly gains, up to a certain point, a certain level, he acts very properly. You even see him (?) from his own interest. As long as he climbs that step. When he reaches the figure in his dreams, he no longer sees anyone. He slaps the person there, takes the money and runs off. And you never find him again. The Muslim's homeland is the dark soil watered with the blood of his ancestors; their homeland, the homeland of people stuck in various ideologies outside the religion of Islam, is wherever their bellies are filled; so in order to go where they will fill their bellies, they make their killing without regard for anyone, without saying halal or haram, and then go to some place in the world, perhaps saying he cannot live in his homeland, and try to enjoy his pleasure there.

Yet a group of them hear the word of Allah and, even after understanding it well, they knowingly distort it. They hear it well.

Why do they hear it well? Why do they hear it well? Allah Almighty says: I do not hold anyone responsible for what I have not made heard. The verses always answer each other. They hear it well. Sir, because the verses of Allah Almighty confirm one another. So they hear it well, but their taking Allah Almighty lightly, deifying their own nafs, their desires and wishes for the world, following the footsteps of Satan, these take them away from Allah. However well he hears it, although he knowingly knows that it is the truth, he never gives up his nafs-driven feelings. And he makes no concession. In this case, saying Allah said it, he distorts the books they hold, in line with their own interests, some things they wr-, they write there.

Deceiving his own nafs, deceiving himself, he says: Allah said so, and I did what Allah said. Supposedly he will lay the blame on Allah. What do you want from me? You wrote it like this, did it, and I did it like this. So this person who looks so clever is in fact like an ostrich that has buried its head in the sand and thinks it is not seen. He could not come to know Allah Almighty. And he took Him lightly; by his own mind he will deceive Allah, and by attributing to Allah the words in the book he wrote, in line with his own nafs, he will say: You said it, and I did these things like this. Tomorrow, tomorrow at the Resurrection, in the Supreme Court, when all his states are shown to him, then, alas, on a day when that is worth nothing, left there alone and without anyone, he will have bought the eternal abode of Hell.

The Torah He sent to Moses, a group of them read it well. After understanding well what Allah Almighty means by what is in the Torah, so that others do not read and learn it, out of their enmity to Allah Almighty, they knowingly distort the verses of Allah, they change them with their hands. Why? So that others do not hear; if others hear, they will never be able to practise their trickery. That is, in line with their own interests, they will not be able to rule people as they wish. They will not be able to rule them. They will not be able to bring them under their command. Whereas their actions of this kind, as I said a moment ago, like the ostrich, like the actions of a child, just as a child, when playing with fire, does not know that it harms him, and when he grabs it, he realises that he is burnt, these too, like that child, take the word of Allah Almighty lightly and say: let other people not hear it; if they hear it, our charlatanry in this world, our swindles, we will not achieve our aim by setting up dominion over them, and so them, those verses, the verses of Allah, they change and distort with their own hands, saying Allah said so; tomorrow, (?), how he will go before Allah, not thinking about it, with the burden of sin, sir, having loaded that sin on his back and being crushed under it, unaware of a day when he will be left alone and without anyone before Allah Almighty, this man does what he will do in the world.

And then, then, he has exchanged his Hereafter for this world.

Yes.

The states of a group of them show us this: to their own wishes and desires, to (?) Allah Almighty, that is, how to (?); look, we are from the lineage of Jacob. We are of his line. Let me tell you, sir. Jacob is in Your sight

a very valuable prophet. His twelve sons too. We come from his twelve sons. And we are Your close ones. Of course in this case You so much to us for their sake; he does not think of that, but boasts because he comes from them. Sir, You saved us from Pharaoh's oppression, You killed Pharaoh at the Red Sea, in the desert of Tih, as I say, You fed us with manna, (?) You are obliged, You are obliged, You will feed us, that is, You are obliged. You raised Mount Tur above us to give shade, of course You will do these things. These thoughts, like this, so spoiled; they do not say that this is a mercy of Allah Almighty, and although Allah Almighty showed them so much closeness, although He showed them so much mercy, they increased their spoiledness even more, their spoiledness, and Allah Almighty in their own direction, to (?) Him by their words, in line with their own wishes, from Allah (?), drawing out, to follow these decisions; if a verse comes outside their wishes and desires, to distort the verses Allah Almighty sent, to (?) people, to present the nafs-driven desires they want as if they were a verse of Allah, and by following their nafs-driven desires, to deny Allah.

All their traits are that, in the direction of their own wishes and desires, Allah will do everything they say. Allah. If He does not, sir, they distort what does not suit them, and what will they do? Whatever they desire according to their own minds, however they can rule people, sir, they put words there in that way, and in that way they say Allah said it, lay the blame on Allah, and he himself will get away from it. He will live in the world as he likes, with nafs-driven feelings. If we give an example of this, what kind of example? To John, sir, the king of that time, was it Andokyan? Probably it was someone like that.

I cannot remember his name. He comes and says: I will marry my older sister's daughter. His sister (?) a lot. The sister of the sultan, of the king. She (?) a lot, saying: take my daughter. And he cannot turn his sister down. He will marry her daughter. Her daughter was beautiful too. Thereupon he asks John for a fatwa. John says: I will not give you a fatwa. He says: but it is written in the book of Moses. He says: I do not judge by the book of Moses.

Now, it is not possible for this to be written like this in the book of Moses. It is not possible. Because the law of Allah Almighty does not change. Why does John not give a fatwa? Because it is something Allah has forbidden; that is why he does not give a fatwa. So they changed this in the Torah with their own hands. Now, the nature of the Jews, the Jews, look, what does it say? To continue my line, to continue my line, he says, I would never shy away even from lying with my father. So with the writings they have written with their hands, sir, presenting them as religion, (?) presenting them as the word of Allah, distorting them in their own favour in this way, wretched people. Sinful people.

Yes.

And we say their states, with their spoiledness like this, show that they could not come to know Allah Almighty well. In fact they do know Him, they know Him, but it shows that they never make concessions from their nafs.

When Allah Almighty wills a thing, He brings it into being from nothing. And when He wills that a thing be heard, no one can stand in its way.

Allah Almighty sent us to an unseen world. In an unseen world, does a word have validity? Does the word of a being in an unseen world have validity? Or does it have validity through the word spoken by a person the eye sees? If we look with our outward reason, what do we say? For example, you do not see me, I said something, you do not see me, but I said something; how much validity does it have? But what a visible person says has more validity. This is where they go wrong: Allah, the Owner of the worlds, although He showed His Essence beforehand, for us to be witnesses to what kind of person we are, witnesses to ourselves and to those around us, and witnesses to Allah, He sent us to the world of possession, and in the world of possession He made us believe through faith in the unseen; and we see that those who do not believe in it, who do not believe in the unseen, and the people who try to change the verses of Allah spoken from the unseen, none of their words has any validity left, but the word of Allah Almighty, who gives news from the unseen, remains valid until the Day of Judgment; we see this.

We see this. The word of Allah is valid. What did those (?) do? What did those wretches do? So that no one hears, they distorted the verses of Allah. And they showed this to people in the world. Well, although you appear to your own line or to other people, although you suffer so much, sir, hardship and trouble, although you struggle and strive so much, although you spend so much money, do you not see that, next to the word of Allah Almighty, this false struggle of yours comes to nothing?

They do see it. They see it, yet supposedly, to satisfy their own nafs, they still keep on struggling and striving. Allah gives a fine answer to that (?) too. He says: did they think they would put out the light of Allah by blowing with their mouths? Allah will perfect His light until the Day of Judgment. How beautifully He says it. Yes.

In the face of so many blessings Allah Almighty gave them, they fell into error by using Allah's attribute of Rahman wrongly. That is, we said a moment ago that although He granted them so many blessings, they took Allah Almighty's mercy upon them; Allah Almighty sending them so many prophets, giving them blessings, spoiled them. And surely He will give; look, we are of the line of Jacob, we are Allah's close ones; look, does He send a prophet to anyone else as He sent to us? With words like these they fell into error. Yes, they were always fed by their Lord like a bird. That is, as a bird that builds its nest in a tree feeds its young, Allah Almighty fed them in this way.

So they changed our Lord's blessing upon them like this into something wrong. They misunderstood it. Now, when I attain my Lord's mercy several times in a row, I am afraid. Why am I afraid? My Lord shows mercy. My Lord shows mercy, but can I be worthy of that mercy my Lord has given me? That is what I fear. Should I not be worthy? There is being worthy. If I cannot be worthy, will He not say to me tomorrow: I gave you so many blessings, and you, sir, did not give thanks even once, or you got carried away by your nafs and said: surely my Lord will give to me.

These require responsibility. Now Allah Almighty is raining His mercy on me. He is raining it. Can I say: I explain my Lord's word, so surely He will give to me? Allah forbid. The moment I say that, I perish. I perish, perish. So he suffers in his own conscience, asking: can I be worthy of it, of the blessings He gives? Yes. So these misunderstood these feelings. Allah Almighty always fed them like a bird fed in a tree. Yes. What they willed, as their hearts pleased, their wishes and desires, they asked Allah for worldly life.

Already at the address of Alastu bi-Rabbikum, when they made the covenant with Allah Almighty, they willed it so. What was their will? To want the world. To live in the world. Whatever each person's wish and desire was, their wills became their destiny. Yes. Their wills, within their partial free will, were given to them as destiny. In the world, in the face of so many blessings, carrying out the same deeds within their own destinies, they turned to what is wrong. Well, although our Lord knows that they will do wrong like this, why does He do this? Look, why does He do it? Now I have given you an example from myself.

Although Allah Almighty showed them so much mercy, although He gave them so many blessings, they were cursed for turning their backs on Allah.

Well, Allah Almighty gives to us too, and what do we say? Can we really be worthy? O Allah, can we be worthy of the blessing You have given? If we cannot be worthy, we pray: join us among Your worthy servants. We know our (?). How much? Sir, in the face of the provisions He gave them with His attribute of Rahman, He makes us people of experience. That is, to people in the future: hey people, look, I did such and such to these, they misunderstood what I did; do not fall into that error yourselves. I will give to you with My attribute of Rahman, but are you worthy of what I give? We sent you to this world, to this world of possession, to prove to you what kind of person you are, and We give you this provision as a test.

Never say: I deserved this.

Say: was I able to deserve it? Was I able to deserve it? Yes.

The whims of their nafs prevented them from knowing Allah Almighty well, prevented them from knowing Him, their understanding closed, and according to that covenant they will no longer come to know Allah Almighty at all. Because the covenants are like that. For this reason, since understanding is closed and the capacity did not widen, they turned within the same axis and could not get out of it. Because the capacity is closed. That is how they wanted it.

And our Lord, as a test for those who come after, in this way, sir, out of His mercy, feeds them and gives them drink.

So the miracle of the Quran: our Lord says in His verse, We sent down the Quran. In it there is neither any deficiency nor any excess, nor can any distortion or damage be done to a single letter of it. In the Quran. He says: We sent down the Quran. And We are its guardian until the Day of Judgment. Look, all over the world there are those who have memorised the Word. In this case, any distortion or damage done to the Quran comes out at once.

We say: and We are its guardian until the Day of Judgment. He declares. The verses you want to distort, the Holy Quran (?), are under the guarantee of Allah Almighty. How nicely we say it there. Under the guarantee of our Lord. Turn to distortion or damage as much as you like. What do you do? You distort or damage yourself. Imagine a building. A building. You can do nothing to the walls of this building. This is armour. Inside that building you subject yourself to damage, to damage.

Yes. Within this garment of the body given to you, only within this armour of Allah, the verses of the Holy Quran coming as verses of mercy, by turning your back on it you subject yourself to distortion.

It has been secured until the Day of Judgment. The Day of Judgment, the verses of Allah Almighty's Holy Quran. So a person taking a stand against Allah Almighty means that person, onto the earth, drowning the earth in fitna. Whoever takes a stand against Allah, that means he is drowning the earth in fitna. What does this mean, Hodja? So those who oppose Allah are now drowning the earth in fitna? Yes. All of it is a fitna. Is there no exception? No. There is no exception. All of it is a fitna. Well, how so? Your reasoning. Well, prove it; let us prove it. Of course we will prove it. Allah Almighty says in His verse: their hearts are restless and scattered.

That is one. Allah Almighty created the human mind deficient. That is two. Because the human mind is deficient, Allah Almighty sent before people, as a light and a proof, the Holy Quran. So that they may find life. So if you turn your back on the verses of Allah through which one finds life, the works and orders you make with your own mind will draw you onto deficient and faulty, swampy paths, and so they will lead you astray from the right path. There is a fitna for you. What will you do? You will lead the way in drink, gambling and fornication. You will lead the way in immorality. And to find money for these, you will swindle this one and that one.

You will not respect human rights and law. Well, do they say: show me one? The deeds they did out of fear within their laws, within their frameworks; where they are alone, they have neither law nor justice. Today, even within the framework of laws, in the place called human rights, they decide however it suits their interests. They give the decision however it suits them. So here, where there is no truth and justice, what happens? There is fitna and wickedness. So these are fitna. People outside the religion of Islam are fitna. They cannot find what is right. Not until they enter Islam. They cannot find what is right.

Indeed, we will touch on these in the coming verses. Again Allah Almighty, in one of His verses, Surah Al-Baqarah, verse 89, declares that, apart from some of them, they are a cursed people. In the verse. Yes. So in verse 75 our Lord introduces them to us very nicely.

Sir. God willing, we draw a lesson from these verses. We give up envying the unbeliever.

From weakness of faith, here, before moving on to verse 76, according to this verse I will tell you about events that have happened, sir. From weakness of faith, of the unbeliever I bear witness. Allah says so too.

Non-Muslims, those who have ideologies outside the ideology of Islam, outside Islam, people who have their own ideologies outside the understanding of Islam, while living their lives in a state of crisis, to ease that crisis a little, they brought out the tattoo disease on bodies. I say: O poor Muslim, do not follow it. Because in the verse and in the hadith too, the Prophet says: do not have your bodies tattooed. He says: do not get tattoos on your bodies. Did you not like this body your Lord gave you, and set out to decorate it? Could your Lord not have decorated it? Look, in the universe is there a being created more honourable than you?

So in that crisis, let those wretches, when they try to console themselves with those tattoos, not forget that they have also become subject to all sorts of diseases. And those who get soiled with that filth, and those who envy the ones judged by that filth, according to the verse of Allah Almighty, whoever envies them is like them; according to the verse, do not wrong your own self. Never envy those tattoos. Curse those (?). Curse them. Yes. And pity them. If you can, explain the truth. Explain what is right.

Today this disease is spreading. It is spreading so much that they try to pass it on to children. Already they put stickers, tattoo stickers, inside sweets for those children. They get them used to it in this way. Do not fall into these traps. Warn your children too, telling them that these are bad, that non-Muslims, by doing things Allah does not want, have fallen into a state as if taking revenge on Allah, and that they must not forget this. Teach your children to fear Allah.