Ar-Ra'd 38: Vow to that; We have sent Prophets before you and We have given them wives and children. Without Allah’s permission, there is no permission for any Prophet to bring miracles. All durations of lives are (written) in a Book (preserved record).

Surah Ar-Ra'd, verse 38. It says: Indeed, We sent prophets before you as well and gave them wives and children too. Yes. From this, the following meaning emerges. (?), We send you a prophet of your own kind, it says. If we are human, He will send a prophet of human kind, and in keeping with human longing he will marry, and have a family and children.

And the prophets always come from the lineage of prophets anyway.

Without Allah's permission, no prophet has permission to bring a miracle. Because people, we, are helpless. We are not capable of creating anything or bringing anything into being from nothing. Nor do we have the means to bring about superhuman events. Superhuman events. Can you bring a camel out of a rock? From your finger, from your five fingers, can you make water flow like a spring, can you? When you strike the sea with your staff, can you part twelve paths? Can you split the moon with a gesture?

These are all Allah's miracles. No one is capable of this; but since Allah has programmed the worlds, by showing miracles through His prophets, those among those peoples who are to become Muslim turn back. Those who are to become Muslim. So what does it say? Without Allah's permission, no prophet has permission to bring a miracle. Every lifespan is written in the Book, it says. The span of every life.

Lifespans were not given to people at random. Yes, a person's life, if Allah Almighty had determined a person's lifespan, a fault would be ascribed to Allah. You gave him 80 years of life, you gave 3 years of life. Perhaps I would have turned back then. I really would have turned back. Would I say that? I would. Or: why did You let me live so long? Had You not let me live, had You (?) me. I mean, I would say this. I would say this too. So what kind of lifespan is this, such that no fault will be ascribed to Allah?

In that address of Alastu bi Rabbikum, when a person's desire and wish was written for him as destiny, when his desire, wish and intent were written for him as destiny, within the characters given to him, in how many breaths in this world this person fulfills this desire and wish, Allah knows that. He gives you that number of breaths as your lifespan. You chose your lifespan yourself too.

And your lifespan: within the deeds you bring about in the world, that self of yours, entirely toward Allah Almighty, in proportion to your desire and wish, once you have confirmed it, your lifespan has ended. Your lifespan has ended. Allah Almighty says in the Quran: when the lifespan is complete, it is neither an hour ahead nor an hour behind. I always used to say: according to this verse, if the lifespan is complete, within one hour a person can change. Why does He allow so much time? One hour. Because human life rests on breath, on breath; human life does not rest on time, it rests on breath. Today we know that a smoker's life is shortened by five to ten years. In coffeehouses, gambling houses, stressful lives, we know human life is shortened.

Those who suffer from illnesses in (?): we know their lives, through breathing in and out rapidly, are shortened. In this case Allah Almighty does not say: neither one breath nor one breath less. He says one hour; He brings (?) to time. The moment the breath is full, your work is done.

You have proven what kind of person you are. According to what? According to your desire, wish and intent. According to what is this desire, wish and intent created? Allah Almighty shows you the future times. Just as an engineer draws up the plan of a city and presents it to you: which city will you go to? So in which time will you go? Whichever time your desire, wish and intent, the nature within you, wants, and whatever feelings you have in that time, with those feelings how you can best prove yourself, He gives you those characters, and then brings you into the world in that time and gives you that number of breaths as your lifespan.

Yes. Now, I am now calling out to the whole world. Is there a single brave soul who can overcome this lifespan in this way?

Except those who see. Except those who, in the realm of the hereafter, saw the address Alastu bi Rabbikum and made a covenant with their Lord.

It strikes people as a bit strange in every age, but in every age there are the Ashara Mubashshara, the ten promised Paradise. The Ashara Mubashshara are not unique to the time of the Prophet. In every age there are the noble Sahaba. Whom do they call Sahaba? Do they call those who saw the Prophet Sahaba? Then Abu Jahl was a Sahabi too. Abu Lahab was a Sahabi too.

The Sahaba are those who attached themselves to the Prophet and, for the sake of his honour, came to know the manifestations of Allah Almighty; they are the Sahaba.

So the people on earth who know the manifestations are the Sahaba.

Those who are unaware of the Sahaba. I am not saying Ashab, look. The Ashab are those who met the Prophet and conversed with him. The Muhajirun, the Ansar.

Yes. One must distinguish the Ashab from the Sahaba.

But they lump it all together: Ashab is the same, Sahaba is the same. And so it goes on.

We return to our lesson. This was a groundwork. We return to our lesson. Indeed, We sent prophets before you as well, and gave them wives and children too. Unless Allah permits, it is not possible for any prophet to bring a miracle. Every lifespan is written in the Book, it says. After explaining this lifespan: in this verse, the verse where it says every lifespan's span is written in the Book, it supports the following. With Us is a Book preserved in the Preserved Tablet; nothing is added to it afterwards nor anything taken away, it says. Since it says the wet and the dry are in the Quran, everything is within it.

Yes. As I told you, once, while on duty, we had an incident, an event. Two ranking officers called us.

He knows I'm religious, you see; they were going to make fun of me, or so they thought. They said: we have a question for you. We said: ask. A doctoral book, three thousand pages, five thousand pages, let me tell you, a physics book, some other book, so many pages, so many pages. So now, is everything of yours gathered in this Quran, he says. And though we knew their intentions, we said: let's explain, because we are obliged to explain. That Allah's word rests on letters, that these, (?), correspond to certain secrets, that Allah knows their meanings; for example, what Alif, Lam, Mim refers to, what Ta-Ha, Ya-Sin refer to, we cannot know.

It says: even if the seas were oceans and the trees were ink, the, uh, pens, Allah's word would not run out. So if the wet and the dry are in the Quran, within these letters the wet and the dry, the whole order of this universe is within it, he said. When we saw they started laughing, and began talking somewhat mockingly, I said: now I see what is really bothering you; I told them, now there is a saying by one of (?), let me tell you it, I said, maybe you will feel relieved, I said. If a person does not believe in the Quran and hadith, don't answer him at all, don't talk, end the matter, it says; so, goodbye, I said.

Yes, now, the wet and the dry, everything is written in this Book. The programming of all the worlds, when the Day of Judgement will come, when Israfil will blow the Trumpet, all of people's lives, and what they did second by second, the recording of the good and evil of their deeds, all of it exists in the Quran. In the verse it says this. There is not a single living being to come until the Day of Judgement, it says, of which We do not know what it will not do. When it says living being, don't think only of humans. Jinn are living beings too, angels are living beings too. Well, all the plants and animals growing in nature are living beings too.

Yes. That is why Allah knows where and when what will happen. Unless Allah permits, it is not possible even for a seedling to sprout, not even for a leaf to stir.

The unbelievers did not believe that a prophet would come from among humans.

They expect a prophet from the angels.

And they imagine Allah, as Allah, in their own fantasies. In a terrifying way He will hang down from a cloud, or hang down from the sky. They would prostrate. If it were like that, what need would there have been? He would have programmed all of us just like the angels. He would have told us: off you go to your work. Why would we come into the world then? He would have finished our business there. Well, I mean, He would have finished our business at that address of Alastu bi Rabbikum. But because of the value He gave us, His leaving us free with our own will, and because we are to know our Lord by our own will, He left us free with our own will; and knowing or not knowing Allah, with the intellect He gave us, our knowing or not knowing Allah, in the (?) of the secret of creating it, Allah Almighty, in the most beautiful way, created the human being. And without any pressure or coercion on this human, He willed that His Essence be known.

In this case, Allah, who is free from deficient attributes, in the hereafter realm, that is, at that address of Alastu bi Rabbikum, people: My Allah, fine, You are like me and I am like You, and I did not recognize You as Allah. Because He created him as a mirror to His Essence. Just like a human being, like this.

You created me close to Your Essence; I could not grasp that You are my Lord. Had You sent me to a hidden world, I would have worshipped You there. So that you would not say this, He sent us to this hidden, that is, where His Essence is not seen, material world. Now, in imagination, He says: you don't know Me now, you don't see Me. But with your intellect you know that all these worlds have a Lord, He says. A Lord. From where? They said yes, it says. That is, they knew of their own creation. They have a coming into being from nothing. In this case every intellect knows Allah's existence. In this case, even if a person sets out to deny Allah, out of the whims of his nafs, out of his hatred, his enmity toward Allah, counting Allah as non- existent, by bringing proofs he strays onto the path of denying Allah.

Why does he stray? Because he knows that he was created. Because he knows there is Allah, and because he is hostile to Allah. Does he have proof? Doctor Darwin.

Man, he says, comes from the ape, he says. From the ape. Whereas Allah Almighty changed the human form, the form of the people of the Sabbath, into apes. They opposed the commands. They did not accept the ban on hunting. So their forms were turned into apes. So every intellect knows it was created by a Lord. In this case, since they wait for the Lord of their imagination, Allah Almighty sends them to the earth. To the earth. To a place where His Essence is not seen, and since the person knows that he was created. Now He says: here is the arena, step up. I took pity on you. I took pity on you. Had I wished, I would not even have sent prophets.

Not even prophets. Because I pitied you, He says, I made My Essence known to you in the world too. With what? With messengers, with books, with prophets, with scholars.

The moment you have no loophole left at all to deny Allah, you have also completed your lifespan. May Allah grant safety. When he passes to the hereafter, to Allah Almighty he has not a single word left to say.

Only, only when he sees the punishment, out of fear, with his tongue but not with his heart, with his tongue, he says: we came, we saw. Let's read it in the verse. Right? Let's read the verse.

Yes.

Yes, 426-427.

As-Sajdah. Surah As-Sajdah.

Yes.

Oh, it turns out it was Surah Fatir.

Let's take a look here. Which, uh, one is Surah As-Sajdah in?

Look what it says. Surah As-Sajdah, verse 12. Those sinners, when before their Lord they hang their heads down: Our Lord, we have seen. And they see, mind you. Look what a fine slap for the one who says Allah cannot be seen. We have seen. We have heard. Now send us back to the world so we may do good deeds. If only you could see the time when they will say: now we firmly believe, it says. Well, in this case, if we as humans, when a person who makes a mistake apologizes to us, forgive him, then Allah, who sent one percent of His mercy to the earth, Allah Almighty, our Lord, who with the ninety-nine percent, with His Essence, among His servants will treat people with mercy, why does He not forgive these?

A good question, isn't it? Yes. We said a moment ago: they will say it with their tongues, they will not affirm it with their heart, out of fear they will say it. Out of fear.

Is there proof? The proof: when he made a covenant with Allah Almighty at the address Alastu bi Rabbikum, since his desire and intent were written for him as destiny, since he was given characters accordingly, that person is not one who knows Allah. Hatemallâhu alâ kulûbihim ve alâ sem'ihim ve alâ ebsârihim gışâvetün ve lehüm azâbün azîm They had their eyes closed against seeing Allah. And their ears against hearing Allah's word, it says. Well, they had them veiled. They had their hearts sealed. These, it says, will never turn back. In this case, again in a verse, Allah Almighty says: if only they had known Me here. Look, if only.

He does so much, so much, so much, and they are cursed and still destroyed, and yet: if only they had known here. So they distort this too: beforehand, it says. If only they had known beforehand. If they had known beforehand, would Allah Almighty say there: if only they had known? Would He? Had they known beforehand. From where? From worldly life. Then why did He send us? So: if only they had known here. That is, after this much experience, Allah: after these saw so much hardship in the world and then came here and saw My existence too, after knowing in the hereafter that hell is real, if only they would turn back, He says.

And the proof that they don't turn back: in hell they will say to Malik: Malik, tell your Lord to lighten the punishment on us a little; not to our Lord. The human soul in hell: if, through the light of faith, in the light of faith, as a Muslim, as a sinner, he entered hell, he went to the hereafter as a Muslim, entered hell as a sinner. As long as this person suffers the punishment in hell, his faith reaches perfection. That faith is in him, you see. Allah, Allah's greatness, that he believes in no being other than Allah, the Book and the Quran, the prophets: because he affirms these, the more he sees that punishment, his longing for Allah Almighty grows.

Because he knows there is no god but Him. Only He can save me. Only my Master will save me. He knows this. He knows it from that light of faith. And the people of hell will say to him: weren't you a Muslim, why did you come here? And he will answer him. I was in no way less than you; this punishment is even too little for me, he will say. Then Allah Almighty says: O My servant, your faith has been perfected, and takes him out of there. The other: the more he sees the punishment, the more his hatred and rebellion toward Allah grow. The more he sees that punishment, the more his rebellion grows. In this case he becomes one destined for hell forever.

Forever. May Allah protect us. Yes.

The unbelievers did not believe that from among humans a prophet would come. If only he were from the angels, they said. When they said: this one eats and drinks like us, he marries, Allah Almighty, addressing people, swearing by His Essence: Indeed. Before you too We sent to peoples prophets from among themselves; they too married and had children. Now you are among them as a prophet. If those I sent before you married, took wives and had children, are they amazed that you married and had children?

In fact, they begrudge you being a prophet. They say: if only he would show us a miracle. Yet without Allah's permission no prophet can show a miracle on his own. Miracles are from Allah. Allah Almighty sends a miracle when He wills. He knows best when and where to show a miracle. Jesus (peace be upon him) too would make the shape of a bird out of clay. He would say bi-idhnillah, that is, by Allah's permission, and it would fly. He would make it fly.

They demanded a miracle from Salih too. They said: bring us a yellow camel, that is, bring a camel out of a rock. Allah fulfilled that miracle too. Now, whoever asked whom for a miracle and a miracle came to him, except those who believed, those who did not believe were destroyed. Because if Allah shows a people a miracle, if they ask and Allah shows this miracle, and that person still does not believe in that miracle, Allah is not like us, that is, like people. He brings a public case; He destroys those who do not believe. Since you asked, I showed you. I am not your plaything, He says. Today this miracle appeared before you only through a Creator, He says. So if you still don't believe it, today your place is destruction, He says.

He destroys them.

Yes.

They too married and had children; now among them you are as a prophet. If those I sent before you married, took wives and had children, are they amazed that you married and had children? In fact, they begrudge you being a prophet. They say: if only he would show us a miracle; yet without Allah's permission no prophet can show a miracle on his own. Miracles are from Allah. Allah Almighty sends a miracle when He wills. He knows best when and where to show a miracle.

Therefore prophets have no permission to bring miracles. That is: I'm a prophet, let me do this like this. No. You can't. I'm a prophet, let me hold the book in the air like this, right? No, you can't hold it. Why? Without Allah's permission you can't do it. So what does the prophet do then? He turns to Allah. My Lord, You know the world better than I do. You know their requests and their situations better than I do. They too are Your servants. If You wish, fulfill their requests, he says. He prays like this. If You wish. And if Allah wills, He brings that miracle. If He doesn't will it, He doesn't. From the Prophet (peace be upon him) too they demanded many miracles.

Allah Almighty said: I sent you as a mercy to the worlds. He did not fulfill the miracles they asked for. But many things: those who followed the Prophet saw his miracles. For example, taking hold of a date palm, a withered date palm, and bringing it to life; when he went up to the pulpit, up to give the sermon, the trunk weeping, lamenting; splitting the moon; many such miracles he has. Yes. As Kenan Efendi also pointed out, we said it earlier. Like making water flow from his five fingers. We were going to Mecca. There is a place called Usfan. Usfan. A well: the Prophet's soldiers going to Mecca the Honoured draw water from the well there to quench their thirst.

Its water was salty, apparently. Salty. They say the water is salty. You were there, weren't you? I was, Hodja. You were. Harun, were you there too? I was, Hodja. Huh? He was. Yes. We took them along with us. He spits into it. The water returns to normal. Now we drink from the water. There is no salt in the water. But when we (?) our tongues to our lips, we feel the saltiness. We feel that salt clearly. So this is his miracle too. Yes. Miracles.

That is why no prophet has permission to bring a miracle on his own. That is, they cannot create a miracle themselves. Because miracles are superhuman. These are events belonging to Allah and within His knowledge. These, these superhuman events: Allah creates miracles so that people may attain salvation, to show His Essence's existence and proof.

They say: if you are a prophet, if there is an Allah as you say, tell your Allah to destroy us. All non-Muslims, unbelievers, idolaters, people holding any ideology outside Islam: the word they say in common. Come on, let Allah destroy us. Come on, let Him rain stones from the sky. Come on, let Him do such and such to us. He does not pray for himself with (?). And as for someone saying: come on, let Him join us to His righteous servants, there is none. They all demand destruction like this, destruction. Well, yet every human and living being has a set lifespan. Nor will he be destroyed before that lifespan comes.

If, among those to be destroyed, their lifespan is that much, Allah anyway sends them calamities and destroys them all at once. Just as the peoples of past prophets were destroyed. Yes.