Al-Baqarah 279: If you should not abandon the interest, be aware of the war that was declared (against those who deal with interest) by Allah and Allah’s Messenger. If you repent and abandon (the interest), your capital is yours. You will not commit injustice, nor will injustice be done to you.

Of Surah Al-Baqarah, verse 279: If you do not give up interest, then be informed of the war waged by Allah and His Messenger against those who deal in interest. Allah, Allah! If you repent and give it up, your capital is yours. You will neither have wronged nor been wronged. Against Allah Almighty, who created these worlds from nothing, no one can stand. Because Allah Almighty created every atom He created within His command. That is why Allah Almighty says: We have power over all things. That is, holding all He created in His (?) and by His own will, in such a way that no being can oppose Him, He created them.

That is why all souls are in helplessness. All creatures are in need of Allah.

All creatures; in this respect Allah Almighty has the attribute Hayy: Ever-Living. Giving life to the created, but being (?) from the created. In this case, whoever continues to consume interest, our Lord, Allah and His Messenger have declared war on them, He says. So will you be able to win this war?

How long will you continue with this interest?

At the Battle of Badr, against a small Muslim army, facing the army of hundreds of thousands of the Meccan polytheists, Allah Almighty says to the Prophet (peace be upon him): (?) you have seen, with the angels I will support you. Three thousand angels standing in rows. And they rout the Meccan polytheists. Well, since with these three thousand noble angels of our Lord, with His help to the Prophet (peace be upon him), to our Lord's power and might mankind and jinn, this universe, even united, could do no harm, you, with what courage, by what reason, going against our Lord's verse, will you continue with interest?

What's it to you, Hodja Efendi? If you say 'are you my superior?', I am not your superior.

The duty that falls to me is to convey Allah's command.

I can neither change your destiny nor change my own destiny. I only carry out my Lord's command. What does He say? Enjoin the good (emr-i bi'l-maruf).

The one who says 'what's it to you, Hodja Efendi? Are you my superior?': tomorrow at that great court, when you see this torment, if we had not warned you with Allah's verses in this way, you would grab me by the throat. My Allah, I have a complaint against him. He did not tell me about your situation, you would say, and blame me. That is why everyone must know their duty. Just as I carry out my duty, you too, as soon as you hear this: since Allah Almighty says in His verse, We hold no one responsible for a thing We have not made known, according to this verse Allah Almighty has made His verses and Islam known even to those at the poles.

And so, with the deeds everyone has done, each has set out to prove what kind of person they are. And in the hereafter these people will not be able to say anything against Allah Almighty. Yes, we are reading our commentary. To people whose nafs is not reformed, the forbidden tastes sweet.

What is it? To people whose nafs is not reformed, the forbidden tastes sweet. Why does it taste sweet? Why? Because the nafs does not want to accept any of Allah's commands; the nafs is in rebellion against Allah's commands. So if a person cannot bring his nafs to maturity with his faith, those people whose nafs is not reformed, because they deify their own nafs, in their selfishness, pride and arrogance consume the forbidden they have taken with great relish. Well, what is a person whose nafs is reformed like? Never mind eating the forbidden, even before eating it they fall into distress. Those whose nafs is reformed.

They can never accept it. And if someone has been hurt by him, or if something of that kind has come about, unless he apologizes to him, that person cannot rest. The differences between the reformed nafs and the unreformed nafs. So no matter how much Allah Almighty says it, he himself knows that interest is forbidden, but he cannot give up the forbidden. Why? He has deified his nafs, the world looks rosy to him, and the fleeting pleasure of this world has made eating the forbidden sweet to him.

With love of the world, the whims of Satan and the whims of the nafs, these people have chosen the paths of the swamp of disbelief.

Doesn't Allah Almighty say so? They are dwellers of hell forever, He says. So the nafs, Satan and the world, the three, work together. The angel of inspiration, faith, and in the verses Allah Almighty has given man, that is, reason: the three work as one. That is, reason, the angel of inspiration and faith. The angel of inspiration and faith. These three are one. The world, Satan and the nafs: the three work as one. You: the enemy is in you, and the friend is in you.

What is it? The nafs is in me. Satan roams in my veins too, and with the world I'm all (?).

And reason is in me. Our Lord's inspiration, the angel of inspiration. Or His inspiration through His verses. And faith is in me too. Of the three, whichever is stronger, you turn to that side. If faith were strong in you, you would follow your reason, choose the peace your inspiration shows and gives you, and take your place beside your Lord, in your Lord's ranks. But because your nafs has not matured, because you like what your nafs says, because you see the world as rosy, and with Satan's (?) to you, you turned your back on Allah's verses. So since friend and enemy are both in you, O man, struggle with yourself, don't look for enemies here and there.

Yes, what is it? With love of the world, the whims of Satan and the whims of the nafs, these people have chosen the paths of the swamp of disbelief. They know interest is forbidden and knowingly continue with it. If they wrong people, let these people know that Allah and His Messenger have declared war on them.

When I was a child I was very naughty, mischievous; my late dear mother used to tell me: you've found a village without dogs and you walk around without a stick, she'd say. Let those who take interest not think either that they have found a village without dogs and walk without a stick; look, what does Allah Almighty say? Allah and His Messenger do not stand before you and (?) with you. With an unknown side, Allah has such unknown doors that from these unknown directions He surrounds people little by little and drags them to disaster. So to those who consume interest, who consume the forbidden, who defraud people, we say: Don't you think you've found a village without dogs.

If Allah is the Owner of these worlds, if Allah wants people to live in peace in unity and togetherness, in this case, if He sends His laws to people and people do not obey these laws, then they have come to the brink of disaster. Our Lord informs us of examples of this in the past through verses. Those who pushed Allah's limits, the people of Ad, the people of Thamud, Pharaoh, the people of Salih, the people of Lot: Allah Almighty destroyed them all.

With the Prophet (peace be upon him) being alive, with his coming as mercy to the worlds, if you benefit from this mercy of his and yet turn your back on Allah's verses, you won't be destroyed in the world, but from calamities you won't escape. And in the hereafter you will have bought the home of eternal hell. The home of eternal hell.

Yes.

At a time when you say you've reached complete salvation, you suddenly see that disasters have swarmed upon you. At that moment you are left alone and ruined. There is no power that can stand against Allah and His Messenger. So if, although He warns you so severely, you still try to stand against Allah and His Messenger, who could be more unjust to a person's own self than himself?

A person who, for his own self, wishes to live his life in the finest way, gathers in the world without asking whether it's halal or haram, and, thinking he is living, roams in palaces, mansions, yachts, summer houses; amid those forbidden things he says you've kept your body or your nafs alive; the poor person, that poor person, though he is so devoted to his nafs, in fact there is no one as cruel to his nafs as he is. If that person had thought of his nafs, there was only one point he would think of: if I carry out the command of Allah who created the worlds, I will let my nafs live in the finest way, he would say, and the paradise of the hereafter, that place of delight, he would try to build while in this world.

So, this nafs that man loves, to keep this body of his alive, his oppression of people, consuming interest, defrauding people, and besides fattening his nafs on what he took from them, saying 'I live', that poor person is such an enemy to his nafs; if only he could know it! Tomorrow at the great court (every soul will taste death and your return is to our Lord, says the verse), on that day of reckoning, on a day when judgment is Allah's alone, how will he answer? His destination is eternal hell. Eternal hell. Now did this person fatten his nafs, or become an enemy to his nafs? The enmity that person did to his own nafs, the two worlds together could not do.

One could not do it. I mean, at the very most you kill me. At the very most you (?) me, and with torment, with trouble, again you kill me. But this is temporary. If I have submitted to my Lord, I will live the delights of the hereafter. One day I will be freed from this bodily world. But even if you lived forever in the delights of this bodily world, the moment you are freed from the body, in your true, original homeland, when spirit and nafs remain together with the soul, the enmity you did to yourself, the two worlds together could not have done. So I say, O man, be wise, wise! Never compromise on Allah's verses.

If you do, disasters will one day swarm upon you. How will a person show enmity to another person? I am so-and-so's superior. For example, I want to show enmity to someone. I give him a post, give him a post, raise him, raise him, then take him from that post and lower him to the lowest post. He is not fit for that post. Since he is not fit for that post, the person used to that post, used to that luxury, in the low post he has fallen to, on the low salary he has fallen to, when he can barely make a living, his regrets are of no use to him. And to him, that person has wronged his own nafs by his own actions.

Likewise Allah Almighty, if you think you are earning through that interest in the world, gives; He doesn't give, but you take. Ahmet's money, Mehmet's money. Our Lord waits for you patiently. He waits for you patiently, waits for you to turn back. In the end, when you reach a certain point within your destiny, if you (?) the slap, you keep spinning around. Just as a piece of wood thrown into a whirlpool, that piece of wood goes round like a mill horse, so you too in the world, in a press, between two presses, squeezed, go round. This is the slap here. In the hereafter, though, eternal torment.

Where? The fire of hell. The place He calls 'what an evil place of return'.

Yes.

Disasters have swarmed upon you, He says. At that moment you are left alone and ruined. There is no power that can stand against Allah and His Messenger. So, although He warns you so severely, who? Allah Almighty. Although He warns so severely, if you still try to stand against Allah and His Messenger, who could be more unjust to a person's own self than himself? Yes.

If you repent and give it up: you saw there is no end to this. One day we will return to our Lord. At that great court, when called to account in His presence, what answer will I give, you said, you used your reason and said: my Lord, forgive me. You turned back. Because there is no other door to go to.

Your capital is yours. What capital is this? You gave a man money. 20,000 lira. 30,000 lira. The man paid you, paid you. 35,000 lira, 40,000 lira. He still owes you twenty thousand lira, twenty-five thousand lira. Because this is interest. You will call the man. Come, brother. Although I gave you this money like that, I have been guided by my Lord's verses. And I have repented to my Lord. I had given you thirty thousand lira. You said thirty-five thousand lira to me. Take these five thousand lira. Take your 5,000 lira.

Your existing debt to me, your interest debt, is gone, brother, go, you tell him. And you turn to your Lord, you say: my Allah, forgive me. Now if you turn to your Lord in this state, you attain the hadith of the Prophet (peace be upon him): Even if your sins reached the clouds in the sky, when you repent with a sincere heart, that load of sins is turned into good deeds, he says. And you will also have become a fine example to people. To people.

In this case you will neither have wronged nor been wronged. Allah Almighty's laws aimed at social mutual help and solidarity among people give life to people.

People will help one another. This will bring development among us, and toward one another, within our Lord's love, by carrying out His command we will earn reward. What does He say? Allah Almighty's laws aimed at social mutual help and solidarity among people give life to people. And in the verses that follow, our Lord, about leeway being granted to lenders, verses will come. We will explain those too.

Who denies the verses of Allah Almighty? Who turns their back on these laws? Only the enemies of Allah; they consider themselves great among people and Allah's servants small. When they gain power, they take pleasure in crushing the weak. Living as parasites among people, they oppress people. They turn their backs on Allah's laws.

Who are they? Who? Let's read it again. Who are these?

Who denies the verses of Allah Almighty? Who turns their back on these laws? Only the enemies of Allah, we say. The enemies of Allah. One: they consider themselves great among people, Allah's servants small. Don't they look down on Muslims? Don't they say: he lives like (?)? About someone who does a little good to another, 'is there really such a person in these times?', don't they say? They do.

Poor people. So look at the feelings passing through the heart and mind of a person who speaks like that. Is there really such a person in these times? That is, you will ride on the back of the one in need, you will make him your slave, you will treat his rights and claims as nothing, and you will not regard him as a human being. Indeed, otherwise could this person say about one who does good: is there still such a person on earth? Look at the feeling.

We are already describing their feelings. When they gain power, they take pleasure in crushing the weak. Living as parasites among people, they oppress people. They turn their backs on Allah's laws. Whoever, having lived such states in a period of ignorance, then feels remorse, since they have no door to go to other than Allah, submits to Allah's verses, repents; if they give up interest, Allah forgives their sins. Their principal is theirs; they can take back their capital, their principal; this way neither are people wronged nor are they wronged. If he gives up interest and takes back his principal, he is in the position of having lent money to people, and he also earns reward. Yes.