Al-Baqarah 247: Their Prophet told them “know that Allah has sent to you Taloot as a ruler”. They said, “while we are more worthy of ruling and while he has not been given means of wealth, how is he supposed to be a ruler for us?”. He is a chosen person upon you, and he is superior in knowledge and physically; verily, Allah gives Allah’s bounties to whoever wants from Allah. Verily, Allah is the One who perceives everything and knows everything.

We come to verse 247 of Surah Al-Baqarah. Their prophet said to them: Know that Allah has sent you Talut as king, he said. Now, the Jewish people suffer an invasion by a people called the Amalekites, and their children are separated from them and held captive. They remain separated from their children; in this situation they plead with their prophet: may He send us a commander, Allah Almighty.

And their prophet to this: what if Allah Almighty sends you a commander and you do not follow him? And they say: why (?) after being separated from our children, does such a life befit us, they say. Thereupon, through their prophet's prayer to Allah Almighty, Allah Almighty sends Talut to them as commander. They do not like Talut. Why don't they like him? Because Talut has no wealth. Indeed, if pride, arrogance and ego cover a person, wealth — with the goods Allah gave — if that wealth covers a person, he forgets Allah, and the wealthy one makes a god of his own self. He sees himself as great. Then, in their pride and arrogance, upon their heads such calamities come.

If we pay attention, Allah Almighty did not send all the prophets from among the wealthy. He always sent them from the poor. From the poor, pay attention. If you say Pharaoh raised Moses, his mother left him in the stream, in the Nile river. Well, he grew up without mother and father, didn't he; in the end, however wealthy he was, that is, even if he grew up amid wealth, by killing a man well, he leaves it all and flees. After a while, as he returns, Allah Almighty's manifestations at Mount Sinai he witnesses, and he takes on the duty of prophethood, that is, the duty of conveying, of being an envoy.

Together with his brother Aaron. In the same way, the Prophet (peace be upon him) grew up an orphan. And Jesus, he too had no one; his father — he came into being from our mother Mary anyway. You see, if we pay attention, Allah, Mighty and Majestic, does not have the proud, arrogant, propertied people address people. Why? He does not have them address them. What is the reason? Very simple. Very simple. People are taken in by others' goods and property, and show a good face to them so as to benefit from them. But a person believes a poor man only for Allah's sake. That is why from scholars too, from scholars too, always like this, He sends them from the poor. If you say, "Hodja, are you poor?" — I have no outward knowledge at all.

None. No Arabic at all either.

How nice. If a person has no outward learning, no Arabic either, no (?) either, they don't believe this either. These things must be there; they look at these. Not at the words coming from his mouth. If the words from his mouth went the way they say — they're all in the same direction anyway — superstitions and truths would mix, it would become ashura, like ashura pudding. You can't tell what kind of food it is. It became ashura. It has every kind of fruit in it, vegetables, or grains.

The nice part of it, the nice part of it is, as I said, always through the words from the mouths of such people the truth will be told, and one will truly believe it. Using their minds, of the people who will truly believe, those bound to Allah from the heart believe. Those bound to Allah from the heart take their place around him. And by learning the truth, they shed light around like stars. Doesn't the Prophet say so? My Companions are like the stars in the sky. Whichever of them you follow, you find the truth. His Companions are like the stars in the sky. Where did they get knowledge? They got knowledge from the Prophet (peace be upon him).

Well, from whom do we get it? We get knowledge from Allah's (?). Through (?) inspiration. What difference is there between them? And as those people get knowledge from such people, they too become stars. Because they (?) from the successors. They are (?) with the knowledge of the Quran, the knowledge of the Quran. To the people who have listened to me until now, I am now speaking here.

Sincerely, to their hearts, to their hearts I am speaking. I say: a person who has no knowledge at all and has listened to me until now — the (?) told by someone else, whether they are superstition or not, do they understand or not? They understand very easily.

They understand very easily.

How do they learn? Indeed, truth, knowledge — truth has come, falsehood has vanished. With the mind Allah Almighty gave, they can tell the crooked from the straight. In this way, even a person with no knowledge at all

sees the mistakes of the person called a scholar. Because the secrets behind the verses I have explained to them settle in the brain, in the subconscious. Even if he knows he has no knowledge himself, that knowledge settled in the subconscious, as the other person speaks, at once the crooked and the straight are compared, and (?) he understands the other is telling superstition. Because we claim it at once contradicts the verses. Is it so or not? It is so. My saying so is not what matters. I know your hearts. Because there is experience from the past. Yes.

So the wealthy among the Jews oppose Talut. He has no wealth, no land. Can this be? Now look what your Lord says in the verse now. Know that Allah Almighty has sent you (?) as king. He said. Thereupon: while we are more worthy of kingship — look, look, look, look. Yes. While he has not been given wealth and ample means in terms of riches — while not given — because it's always money, matter, matter — while not given an outward appearance, how can he be king over us? Of course he can't. How can the one beside him, well, or the person he employs be king over him? He can't. Why can't he? Because a person's pride and arrogance cannot put the one beside him, or one without wealth, over him as his superior.

Pride. Even if that person is intelligent, even if stronger than him. And so, because of their pride and arrogance, they were destroyed. What is this destruction? Being separated from their children. And earlier, the people of the Sabbath (?) being turned in form into apes. Yes. They said. He is a distinguished person above you. Whom? Distinguished even above these owners of wealth. By what? By knowledge. In knowledge and in body he is superior to you. That is why he is distinguished. Allah gives His kingdom to whoever wishes. To whoever wishes. You wished for property, He gave you property. The other wished for knowledge, He gave to knowledge.

To his knowledge. That person wished for knowledge. He became obedient to his Lord. And put his trust in his Lord. That's why knowledge is very honorable. Yes, Allah encompasses everything, that is, sees everything and knows everything, said their prophet.

Once this is opened up a little, we will understand our commentary better.

Allah Almighty, through their prophet, sends to the Children of Israel as commander Talut. Even so, this people, with self-interest in their nature, who object to everything said, who never carry out Allah's command, who never come near it,

object to Talut's command too. They object. Now let us take a look at this people's audacity toward Allah Almighty, we say. Look at the audacity now. Audacity against the Creator, this is. Whereas before the Creator a person's neck is thinner than a hair, though he has not a single word to say, and his Lord knows his heart. He knows his nature. Because He gave him his destiny. And what a person needs in the remotest corner of his heart without knowing it himself, our Lord knows. In this case, where a person cannot say a single word, look what they say now. From the time of Moses, from the time of Moses onward, a people who lived amid so many miracles, despite (?) Allah openly, out of rebellion against Allah, out of the pride and grandeur of their own wealth, objecting to their Creator.

In David's time, those who dared to fish when fishing on the Sabbath was forbidden — in this case Allah Almighty changing their forms and turning them into apes. Their being fed with the foods of paradise, which our Lord kept giving them, that is. He gives. And as the verses have told since the beginning of our book, despite the miracles Allah showed them, still not coming to their senses, toward the commander Allah Almighty appointed — since the commander had no wealth or property, Talut, appointed over them as commander, they disliked and raised objections — a people who, though Allah Almighty's existence they know for certain, still have their eyes on the goods and property Allah Almighty created, such a people.

Still. Still like that. Still it goes on like that until the Day of Judgment. That goods, that wealth will take him to paradise. That goods, that wealth will (?) him in life, in the world. Leaning his back on those goods and wealth, in fame and glory he will live. He does not know that he lives in unrest, in stress, in fear.

Yes. That he lives in stress and fear.

These hold goods and property higher than the Creator, holding goods and property higher than the Creator, they are a people who value people by their goods. Today, at the head of the banks called the World Bank, (?), the usurers who run the institution of interest and suck the blood of the whole world, the loan sharks — and as Allah Almighty says in the verse, these will rise from their graves as if struck by the jinn, He says.

Despite that, despite being aware of every event, since they have turned their backs on Allah — their character is such that even if our Lord sent down miracles to them from the sky, they would never return to Allah. So in this case they are eternally bound for hell. Eternally.

Though their prophet told this people, know that Allah Almighty has sent you Talut as commander, the leaders of this people said: while Allah has not given him riches and ample means, how can he be commander over us? Yes, and though their prophet told them, he is superior to you in body and in knowledge, the Children of Israel could not realize that the greatest treasure is knowledge and bodily health. Yes, goods and property are temporary.

But although the health of the body is temporary too, people who have given their heart to Allah Almighty and with that heart surrendered to their Lord — with the peace in their hearts, their strength, through the light of faith their Lord gave their hearts, increases. They are strong, and their minds work better, because those who are favored, well, with their Lord's inspiration, those who are at peace, those far from stress, those surrendered to Allah with trust, those for whom Allah Almighty lights the way with verses — their minds are superior to others'. Because, as they — Allah Almighty's verses' meanings, and besides that, with the wisdom our Lord gave their hearts — become aware of the secrets of those verses, or unravel them, or as our Lord, as far as He makes known, those verses' meanings reveals to them, of course such people, compared to other people, will be more powerful and more intelligent.

Why are scholars strong and intelligent? Everything is out in the open in this. Yes.

Since they themselves, with wealth, and for these goods esteemed people too, with their goods and property unable to manage themselves — how well we put it now — unable to manage themselves, why? Suffering defeat, they were driven from their homeland and separated from their children. Since goods and property were going to save you. Or that pride and arrogance of yours were going to save you. Why did you suffer defeat? You should have saved yourself with your goods and property. You should have saved yourself with your wealth. You should have defeated them, then. Yes. So goods and property support a person only up to a point.

But an intelligent person's knowledge and equipment, and besides that, being healthy, is the greatest treasure of treasures. As I said a moment ago. A person binding his heart to his Lord. Being at peace. Look, in our last lesson we read this part, we read it. We went on as far as the next page. But I wasn't at ease. I said let's explain it more broadly, in more detail. So it is understood better. Both that people's evil, and their disobedience to their prophet, and our Lord's grace to them. So it becomes better this way now. Yes, that's why Allah praises knowledge in the Quran. In His verse, knowledge (?).

But if he did not find Allah with that knowledge, all the good works he did have gone to waste, He says. Today non-Muslims have knowledge too. Truly, they build up their world. According to Allah Almighty's verse: build up your world, He says. They do good works too. But if they cannot find Allah with that knowledge, then all the good works they did go to waste. To waste.

We just said knowledge is honorable. And with that knowledge, today some states versed in knowledge are strong and keep their strength. And maintain their prestige. Where? In knowledge. In knowledge. Not in religion. In knowledge. In this case, as far as Allah Almighty permits, people finding His knowledge — of course those people, through their lives in the world, by that knowledge and by doing good works, earn reward. Even if they invent a new knowledge never before found in the world, well, they will have done a good work. But if with this good work he did not come to know Allah, all of it has gone to waste.

Why did it go to waste? In earlier verses we said — well, in our lessons we said, we explained.

Not this world. Even if the seven layers of heavens, that too, had become this person's, even if, with this much wealth's masses, he had attained reward, if he denied Allah, the weight of that denial takes his reward and carries it off. Because from the atom to the globe, all created beings belong to Allah. The heavens and the earth and what is between them know their Lord's remembrance, according to the verse. From the atom to the globe, Allah Almighty, by having His essence remembered, symbolized that there is no god but Him. Plus, every soul shall taste death, and in the end the inheritance of what is in the realm of the heavens and earth and between them will remain to Allah, He says. To Allah.

Because He created it, it will remain to Him. So however much knowledge you may have in the world, however much reward you may have earned, however many good works you may have done, if you did not know your Lord, all of it has gone to waste. And you (?). As a loser (?) you fell into (?). You became eternally bound for hell. May Allah protect us.

Yes.

Allah Almighty gives His kingdom not to whom He wills, but to whoever wishes. To whoever wishes; if it is whom He wills, He is ascribed attributes. The verse has been interpreted wrongly. And it is the wrongly interpreted verse that we are correcting. When reading it, we read it in its corrected form. But here, while interpreting, we mention them. We say we write the meaning as it truly is. As it truly is. And the (?) original of the verses is also as we wrote it. If we (?) this verse in its meaning, in its meaning, everything was written in the pre-eternal barzakh, at the address Elestü bi-Rabbiküm.

And poured out. A covenant was made with people. All the worlds were programmed accordingly. In the Quran, such verses have been interpreted wrongly at every interpretation. That is, we give kingdom to whoever wishes. We give to whom We will. As it says. Not to whoever wishes, but we give to whom We will, it says. This is interpreted wrongly.

And that it is interpreted wrongly we prove with these verses. Well, if we say something was interpreted wrongly and do not show verses against it, these (?) we speak remain mere words. But people say, look, this hodja even denies the verses. They would say. They didn't say so, but they could. But some mean that when they say "you are satanic". Well. That too is very rare. People who, going by their own heads, are short of mind and don't know what's what anyway — we don't take them into account. With empty words. And as long as they show us no verses in return — and they (?) do not approach the verses this way.

Yes.

What are we saying now? Well, we say these verses have been interpreted wrongly. If We give to whom We will — to whom We will. Whereas if Allah Almighty is to give to whom He wills — at the address Elestü bi-Rabbiküm, We made a covenant with the offspring of the children of Adam (?), He says. And We said, He is your Lord, He says. In this case, in this case, if everyone's desire and wish, his own aim, became his destiny, look what the verse says: We do not load on your back a burden you cannot bear. So if Allah Almighty, by His own willing, gives something outside that person's destiny to that person, it becomes a burden he cannot bear.

Or if He gives that person a wealth he cannot carry — if it's whom He wills, what happens? That person says to Allah Almighty: this is outside my destiny, I couldn't bear it, yet You gave it to me, what am I to do? So I did this, he says, you see. Whereas what does the verse say? (?) you cannot bear (?) on your back. Which verse does this support? We made a covenant with you from the offspring of Adam, with their offspring. Well, We said, We are your Lord. If, from this covenant, a person's desire and wish, his aim, became his destiny, then within that destiny a burden he cannot bear — that is, beyond his own aim — He does not give him more. Allah Almighty.

Within that burden, within that aim, He tests him with his life and goods, of course. That's another matter. Yes. That's why the verses have been interpreted wrongly and our Lord ascribed attributes. We (?) these.

In this verse it has been interpreted as "Allah gives His kingdom to whom He wills". These are wrong interpretations. If people's own will is removed and Allah's will over people (?), then the good deeds and sins I have done would, by Allah, have been made to be done by me, so that by Allah's attribute of being Judge, for the sins I committed He would have to not call me to account. Moreover, fe men ya'mel miskâle zerretin hayren yerah: an atom's weight of good you did I will write, He says. And men ya'mel miskâle zerretin şerren yerah: an atom's weight of evil I will write, He says. And if He says "in return for what your two hands earned", here our Lord has no willing of His own in a person's (?) goods and property, or in any event.

That is, there is no lifting a person's will off him and using His own will over the person. If it were so, the two verses I just read would be contradicted. Here is the proof. Yes.

I'll eat, drink, commit adultery. Because that is the reason I was created. If Allah wanted me, couldn't He have created me upright, they say. Most people today are in such thoughts too; they ascribe attributes to Allah and blame Him. Indeed, if Allah does what He wills, guides whom He wills to the right path, and puts whom He wills into hell — Allah created him, and didn't He create me? Don't they say, why did He create him like that and me like this? That's why they say it. If these (?) ideas are interpreted to people this way, people will say it this way too. They ascribe attributes to Allah too.

Whereas he does not know that Allah is free of deficient attributes, Creator of everything from the atom to the globe and Knower of everything. Despite that, with words like these, man, created in haste, (?) toward Allah. Who causes this? The people who interpret the verses this way, as superstition, wrongly — they cause it. And then, since their minds can't grasp it, what do they say? This man says the verses wrongly too. He goes against the verses too, they say. Come on then, (?). Now you tell the right one. I set out on this road for Allah. If you too speak truly for Allah, you tell me the verses.

If you are right, I'll (?) and kiss your hand.

Yes.

The cause of people coming into this state: as a result of such verses being interpreted wrongly this way, people falling into crises, finding themselves in dead ends, and drifting away from their religion. In this case, those who interpret them this way take on a great burden of sin and over time make people lose their religion. Yes, today's (?), the state of people today more or less comes from such people interpreting verses to people by their own minds and telling them falsely and wrongly. Supposedly he serves Allah. You cannot serve Allah where you do not know. Yes, Allah Almighty says: make Allah's religion easy, don't make it hard.

Fine, you serve. Fine, what is service? If you know the Quran, read the Quran. If you know Arabic, teach Arabic. If you know how to teach Quran reading, read the Quran. That is helping Allah's religion. Explain Allah's prayer, fasting, giving zakat — explain these. Explain, serve, there you go. Allah's religion. But for Allah's sake don't come and interpret the verses falsely. Don't interpret them falsely. That is not your duty. Even if you knew Arabic, you couldn't do this. Even if you knew Arabic. Look, I don't know Arabic. But how nicely I interpret. So if you are not assigned, you cannot manage this.

If you don't receive inspiration, you cannot say these things. If there is no wisdom in you.

Yes.

Allah Almighty, at the address Elestü bi-Rabbiküm, with every human individually, while in spirit form in the world of lahut, before coming to the world of mulk, one by one made a covenant. He showed people the eras and times of the world of mulk. I say this knowingly. No one knows these, no one sees them. Maybe there are some, and Allah may let one come across them. I'd say there are none, and yet, I'd say there are none, and — when We raise a scholar, above him a scholar, above him He raises a scholar, says Allah Almighty.

Yes. That's why I don't say there are none.

I say maybe there are none. Because he will see that world, he will see the address Elestü bi-Rabbiküm, he will see that he made a covenant with our Lord, and he will see the eras; which era he will go in, he will covenant with Allah Almighty about, and when He lifts them to the barzakh, when that era comes, they will come in those times. If you don't see this, how will you explain it? What of it will you explain on that basis? Yes. So in this situation, while in spirit form in the world of lahut, before coming to the world of mulk, He made a covenant one by one. People were shown the eras and times of the world of mulk.

Its eras and times. When making the covenant with the people to come from the Prophet's time until the Day of Judgment, He showed them those times just like on a television or in a cinema, a place, say for example it shows you London, shows you America, shows you France, shows England, shows Germany. According to your own nature, whichever place you like, that one you want. When I say Germany, America, England, France — eras, the eras are like that, let's say Ahmet's era, Mehmet's era, Hasan's era, Hüseyin's era; I don't mean Germany's way of life, England's way of life, America's way of life, I'm giving an example, that is, we liken them to an era; within that era, according to those people's minds, according to those people's way of life, you want whichever suits your nature.

Otherwise, say we raised a person who lived 150 years ago from the grave and brought him to this time — by Allah, he couldn't live in this time, he'd run away. He'd run away. And his mind couldn't grasp it either. That's why, look at our children, our children — all of them at only 5-6, with computers they play. The mind is like that. To keep up with the technology of the future, that child's mind needs to be more developed. One day a 6-7-year-old child, to an 8-9-year-old child, that playing with the computer, playing with phones, the thing he has figured out — today a man of 50-60, 70 years old still doesn't know how to use a phone.

That is how every person's era is. Wanting according to his view, his desire and nature. Even here there is no such thing as: had You sent me in such-and-such a time, I would respond better to that time. Everyone has his own covenant, his desire. According to that desire, that aim, according to that aim, he will live the eras, intertwined with the time living, and proving in the best way what kind of person he is. Yes. We saw these, and so we tell them. We saw. We saw it from the covenant.

Nothing here is outside the verses. But if a person's mind can't grasp it, that person, with a sense of self in him, doesn't try to accept it.

Allah Almighty, at the address Elestü bi-Rabbiküm, with every human individually, in the world of lahut, while in spirit form, before coming to the world of mulk, made a covenant one by one. He showed people the eras and times of the world of mulk. Just as, if an engineer showed a city's plan in its many-sided development, a person (?) the development of the city he liked (?). So Allah Almighty, the lives to come until the Day of Judgment, showed to people. Every person chose the time his own self liked, and in that time to the world of mulk he came. What did we say here? Now, interpreting it in the commentary: an engineer shows a city's form in its many aspects, or shows the way of life of the people there.

People, whichever way of life in that city, whichever program they like more, say I'll go in this program. We said earlier, for example, America's way of life, Germany's way of life, England's way of life and, say, France's way of life — people, you see, in those eras choosing the times they will like, and in that time coming into the world.

So at the time of that covenant, while people were in spirit form, through their closeness to Allah, the desires and wishes they asked of Allah were written for them as destiny. When these people come to the world of mulk, in the garb of the body they cannot suddenly mature themselves to live out their whole covenant. All at once in the world he will live all of it right away? No. What does it depend on? It depends on time. On a lifetime. Yes. Over time, in proportion to their nature and covenant, they raise themselves within the causes Allah created. Within the causes Allah Almighty created. Like what? I will have desire and wish.

That is Allah's attribute of being God. In this whole universe, according to the desires and wishes of the beings He created, every moment Allah Almighty is creating causes. Causes. And within these causes, every being He created, as programmed, with desire and wish, according to its own desire and wish, carries out its acts and earns reward and sin. Yes.

Think of a fruit. For example, an apple. First as a flower, then as a bud, then an unripe fruit. Then, if it stayed on its branch, into a ripe, edible fruit it turns. So man too is first fertilized in the mother's womb, like a flower being fertilized. Then he is born; he is like a bud. Then he has come of age, but he is an unripe fruit. He came of age, but he is an unripe fruit. He is inexperienced, ignorant, he needs education. Then he ripens over time. Just as each fruit, in the direction of its own nature, gives the taste and flavor of its kind, and air, sun and water help this fruit ripen, so in each person, over time, in the direction of the nature of the covenant he gave, Allah, by His mercy, creates causes for people.

People, carrying out acts in the direction of their own nature, what kind of person they are, they make those around witnesses against themselves. And we give a nice comparison. For example, yes, the God-fearing: with their obedience and worship to Allah, in return for these efforts, Allah, from the verses of the Quran, according to the person's faith and what he can bear, shows realms of meaning. In a way they can bear, to the God-fearing — in this case He increases people's effort, and the person in this state attains Allah's mercy. So people, in proportion to the covenants they gave Allah, if wretched, on wretched paths, if God-fearing, on God-fearing paths, in proportion to the covenants they gave, make Allah a witness to themselves.

That is, whatever desire and wish people had at the address Elestü bi-Rabbiküm, into those people their aims are worked as character. Those characters, when their time comes, well, into desire and wish turn. Within that desire and wish Allah Almighty creates causes, and the person carries out the act he desired. And earns reward or sin.

So since man does not know (?), in the world of mulk Allah, in proportion to the covenant the person gave — Allah, in proportion to the covenant the person gave — gives him duties. This does not mean that Allah raises whom He wills and guides whom He wills. What is it then? Within his own destiny, what the person desires, Allah Almighty too gives him what he desires. Whatever a person asked of Allah, Allah gives him that. So Allah raises the person in the direction of his desire and wish, and in this way guides him. Again on condition that the will is ahead of the person. Again, the will is ahead of the person.

Always within the person's own will. And also within his own covenant and destiny. Or else, in His verse Allah Almighty says: did you think that everything you want would be given to you? What does this mean? If it is outside my destiny, what I desire and wish is not given to me. Because I would be put under a burden I cannot bear. So my destiny, that nature of mine, my desire and wish will be within my character traits. Within those traits, Allah Almighty will give me my acts of reward and sin according to my desire, or give my intention, my wish accordingly. Beyond that, what I desired, if I am patient, on the Day of Judgment Allah Almighty will bring before me as reward.

Allah encompasses everything and knows. Allah Almighty sees everything. No being can go outside His view. Because He has encompassed His creations with His knowledge. Allah is All-Knowing. He knows. Allah Almighty, in our earlier lessons too, said: in no way did He create His own view, that is, His creations, within His power and in a way that He could not see them. He created all of them within His own rule. So since He created all of them, from the atom to the globe, within His own rule, since He created them within His rule and so as to see and watch over them, Allah Almighty says All-Knowing, and Allah Almighty says All-Powerful over everything.

So what is His being All-Powerful? These worlds He created from the atom to the globe are all within His own view and rule. So what does it say? Allah encompasses everything, that is, covers and sees, encompasses, surrounds, and within that surrounding sees it. Yes.

Aware of them and knowing.

In our last lesson we read this verse in 5 minutes and were moving on, but I wasn't at ease; let's explain the verses a bit more (?), well, for about 50 minutes now (?).