Al-Baqarah 154: Do not call the ones who were killed on the path of Allah “dead”. On the contrary, they are alive, but you cannot realize this.

We have twenty minutes. We can read you one more verse. Do not say of those killed in Allah's way: they are dead.

On the contrary, they are alive. But you cannot perceive.

People cannot perceive.

In the Cyprus Operation, these are things we witnessed.

In a jet plane, someone in the back says: my son, bomb that spot. But there, he says, there is a Turkish flag.

They, he says, out of fear raised the Turkish flag there. You bomb that spot, he says. Who are you? he says. I am Sultan Şeyhmus. Where are you? I reside in Diyarbakır, on the Mardin road, there, he says.

Some time passes. I am in Diyarbakır. This pilot friend of ours comes. Where to? I am going to visit Sultan Şeyhmus, he says. Good, (?). We know him. A saint long since dead, buried there. He came; at our place, his eyes filled, he is crying. What is it? Why, he turned out to be a buried saint, he says. And I saw it with my own eyes, he says. Yes. These are not superstitions, mind you. Look, it is in the verse too.

This: if you see those who took part in the Korean War, about what they went through, you would tell. Have them tell it. How one man captured a company.

Yes. From behind, those martyrs capturing that company and handing it over to that one man. And (?) to Islam, but to Islam, Allah Almighty's help. So they are alive. You do not know; they are provided for by ways you do not know.

To those killed in Allah's way, to them, they, to them dead we do not say. Let's say to them; we said they there.

Yes.

In the first barzakh, in the world of Lahut where our spirits were created, I am your Lord: with our spirits that received that word, Allah Almighty, after making the covenant, raises them to the world of Barzakh. And from there, the sending of our spirit, when its turn comes, to the world of Mulk. Allah Almighty, who clothes our spirits layer by layer and wraps them in veils; what is it, layer by layer? Let's open that up for you too.

The spirit whose turn has come, which will come to the world, He takes from the world of Barzakh, to the world of Jabarut He brings it. What is the world of Jabarut? The world of nearness. A world where it meets our Lord Himself. There it is clothed in a garment of the light of Jabarut. What is this garment? It forgets that it saw Allah Almighty. Allah Almighty (?) that. From there He sends it to the world of Malakut. Its state in that world of Jabarut is called the sultani spirit. He sends it to the world of Malakut; in that Malakut world, there too He clothes it in a garment; that clothing is not a dress, that is; He (?) on it the appearance of that place too; this is called the ruhani spirit. Then He sends it to the world of Mulk; in Mulk it is wrapped in a body, wrapped in flesh and bone.

Some call this the animal spirit, some call it the bodily spirit. And I say: although Allah Almighty says they are like four-legged creatures roaming the earth, even though He says so, for the sake of the Prophet (peace be upon him), who came as a mercy to the worlds, and of so many friends of Allah, so many prophets, let's not call those spirits animal spirits, let's call them bodily spirits, we say. Yes, bodily spirit. What are we saying now? After opening this up a little, we take it up again from further back. Allah Almighty, after making the covenant with Allah Almighty. Here, reading it is nice. Do you see?

Yes.

The raising to the world of Barzakh, and from there the sending of our spirit, when its turn comes, to the world of Mulk, layer by layer. Clothing our spirits and wrapping them in veils, Allah Almighty then sent our spirits to the world of Mulk. By wrapping us in the garment of the body, the world of the hereafter was made forgotten to us. Our coming was made forgotten to us.

Forgetting our covenant in the world of the hereafter, at a time when we are busy with Mulk, as a result of the covenant we gave Allah Almighty, waging jihad in Allah's way, when we become martyrs, Allah Almighty says: they, by giving Me their lives, in this transient world of Mulk, (?) according to the verse every soul shall taste death, tasting death, passing through the worlds of Malakut and Jabarut, I made them return to My being, He says. To My being. Their passing to the world of truth I promised, stripping off the garment of the body, with their spirits, which are their real being, by living time within time, they are alive, He says.

They live time within time. How do they live? If you ask, has this happened to you? Yes, it has. There are witnesses too. From Ankara. Hasan Efendi and many others; some have passed on to the hereafter too. Hodja, let's do a dhikrullah with you. Let's, but I am going on duty the day after tomorrow. It is twelve o'clock. Twelve at night. We had been talking and talking. We had been explaining. Twelve at night.

They insisted a lot. Well, all right then. Let's do a dhikrullah. But let it be short, we said. Fine.

We did some dhikrullah. What time is it now, I asked. Someone said: my watch has stopped, it says 12. Another looked: 12. The watches are running. The watches say 12. Yes. That is time within time. How can it be? Allah knows best. Its secret belongs to Allah. If you ask me too, Hodja, how did it happen: its secret belongs to Allah. If there is anyone (?), let him tell me too. The secret of that knowledge belongs to Allah. Yes. So these too live time within time, and they are alive, He says. What does alive mean? Alive. Is every living person alive? If every living person were alive, Allah Almighty in the verse would not say: do not be with the dead.

Who are these dead? People whose heart has not found a bond with their nafs, living unaware of themselves.

Within his lifetime a person reforms his nafs, casts out of his heart everything other than Allah, that is, evils; his nafs rises to contentment. In a verse: O soul at rest, well pleased with your Lord and your Lord with you, enter among My servants, enter My paradise; with that verse, the attribute of believer attained, the attribute of believer attained, those people's hearts are alive.

These are alive. These have attained the company of the living. In a verse Allah Almighty says: do not be with the dead. These dead are not the dead in graves. They are the living dead. That is, people whose (?) nafs has not found life. So, if we (?) our nafs and cannot attain this rank, that is, if our nafs cannot rise to contentment, we will be like people living unaware of themselves, like sleepwalkers; we will not have attained aliveness. There is no aliveness.

So: on the contrary they are alive. With that verse. They, by giving their lives in Allah's way, at once Allah honors them with His being and joins them to the company of the living.

While writing the verse: there is the martyrs' address to those who will become martyrs after them. With the verse. What does it say? What are you waiting for? Look how beautifully Allah, (?), received us. It is very beautiful here. Don't wait, they say, don't wait. To those who will become martyrs after them. While writing it with this feeling, living that longing, writing with that feeling, tears poured from me.

If I cannot become a martyr, what use are you to me, I said to myself. I am not writing the book, I said.

A few minutes passed.

Again by inspiration from my Lord: (?) wash your hands and face.

I went and washed my hands and face. I came and sat down. Have you never heard, He said, that the ink of scholars is like the blood of martyrs?

Yes, then we were somewhat consoled, and again began to write.

The rank of martyrdom is this high. Hazrat Ja'far at-Tayyar used to weep constantly. I could not become a martyr. My friends became martyrs, I could not become a martyr.

The Companions would tell him: O Ja'far, you made the king of Yemen, the people of Yemen, Muslim. Can there be a greater rank than this? he says. Still he would weep. He was not satisfied. Right when he came back, the Prophet (peace be upon him) sends his uncle, that Ja'far, to a battle. He says: Ja'far will hold the flag, the banner. After him so-and-so will hold it. After him so-and-so will hold it. After him so-and-so will hold it. After that, pull back, consult among yourselves, choose one of you as commander, he says.

(?) to the Messenger of Allah: O Messenger of Allah, if I become a martyr, may Allah give me two wings in paradise and let me fly, he used to say. That is why he is called Ja'far at-Tayyar; tayyar means flying; Allah Almighty will give wings only to him. He will have two wings. He is called Ja'far at-Tayyar. Truly, as the Messenger of Allah said, one by one they become martyrs. One by one. They pull back.

To Hazrat Khalid ibn al-Walid they say: you will be our commander. Though he does not want to be, they insist. A commander who never tasted defeat in his life, even before entering Islam. Khalid ibn al-Walid. The Messenger of Allah called him Saifullah. That is, the Sword of Allah.

And after he became commander, they go into battle. They win the battle.

That is the glad tidings of martyrdom; and the greatest rank is martyrdom. Hazrat Khalid ibn al-Walid, despite being such, despite being a commander never defeated in his life, despite being called the Sword of Allah, Saifullah, when the moment of death came, says this to himself: O poor Khalid. Khalid who could not become a martyr, he says.

At least, he says, let me meet death standing, he says. He girds on his sword and so on, and death was met standing.

The great rank of martyrdom. Whoever gives his life for Allah from this world, would Allah Almighty not, in return for his most precious treasure, his life, take him to His being? And not keep him alive? Yes. So: on the contrary, they are alive. With that verse: they, by giving their lives in Allah's way, at once Allah honors them with His being and joins them to the company of the living. With this verse Allah Almighty says to people: O people, the heavens and the earth and what is between them belong to Allah. Your God is one. There is no god but Allah. In the end the return is to Me. Those who draw near like that, those who draw near to Us like that, We grant eternal bliss, He says.

May Allah Almighty, all of us, with those who attain eternal bliss, unite.

To you about (?), one more secret let me give.

(?) if you reach a certain rank, Allah Almighty grants you a surah from the Holy Quran.

If you read that surah, you stay alive. But at certain times. Not at random. Those times, assigned to that person, (?). So if you are curious, if you too work and your rank rises, if you want to stay alive like the martyrs, if you become a scholar; if those scholars' ink is like the martyrs' blood, then for them too to stay alive, Allah Almighty to them too at certain times has that surah read, and makes them alive too. That is what they call empowered spirits.

After passing to the world of the hereafter, the events of coming to the world and going. With Allah's permission, of course. With Allah's permission. O people! O people! You who say I am a sheikh! Listen well. Are you worthy of being a sheikh or not? Call yourselves to account with your conscience.