An-Nahl 95: (Because all worldly possessions are valueless in comparison to it) do not change Allah’s covenant for worldly possessions. Verily, (the return) on Allah’s side is better for you if you are people who understand.

Surah An-Nahl, verse 95. The verse: Since, next to Allah's covenant, all these worldly blessings are a small price, do not exchange Allah's word for a few worldly blessings. Yes. All these worldly blessings, next to Allah, are a lesser benefit. Why a lesser benefit? Because He created them with an effort.

He used a unit of time. A unit of time. That's why it says an effort. What does it say? Since, next to Allah's covenant, all these worldly blessings are a small price — a small price. A small price; it corresponds to a small effort. Now they'll say, oh, look at the Hodja! Who says this? (?)

How he ascribes attributes to Allah Almighty! Does Allah need effort, then, does He need time? "Kun", He says, and it is.

Yes. If that (?) "kun", that is, He had said "be" and it simply happened, Allah Almighty would not say in His verse, I created the heavens in two days, the earth in two days, and what is between them in two days.

So this earth, which He created within two days, the heavens and what is between them, as a small effort you give in return (?). Allah (?) all knowledge. In this case, that these are a place of passing benefit, that the true, original homeland is in the hereafter, where the places of Paradise and Hell are — in this case, never take Allah's word, His covenant, lightly, that is, His covenant, the Sharia ruling He has given us, and among people do not break Allah's oath, do not trample His covenant, that is, do not ignore His command upon us; deceived by passing worldly benefit, do not violate people's rights; on earth, you spread truth and justice, in every way, even if it is against you, tell the truth, and so in the hereafter, your true homeland, possess sovereignty, it says. What a beautiful thing, it says.

Yes.

Who will take this on? The world will look rosy to a person. Like the flower of the zaqqum tree blooming in a swamp — the way it draws a person in, that zaqqum tree's flower looks beautiful. It draws you into that swamp, and the deeper you sink in that swamp, for an effort you become a porter of the world and you get lost in that swamp and vanish. In this case, because the temptation Satan gives pleases your nafs, the torment you suffer in that swamp — along with the feelings of the nafs, with the zeal Satan gives you — you find that swamp's torment pleasant. In this case the world looks rosy to you; since you think only of your own nafs states, you disregard people, wipe them from your sight, violate their rights, and without regard for chastity, honor, halal or haram you become a calamity upon people.

Yes. And then in the hereafter you choose the place of eternal torment. In this matter, Allah let the person go astray.

People who know nothing of the covenant. And since they shut out that covenant in the address of the Messenger and the Lord, they have played as they pleased.

Since, next to Allah's covenant, all these worldly blessings are a small price, do not exchange Allah's word for a few worldly blessings. If you are people who understand, that is, if you put your mind to work and are able to grasp the truth, someone who can understand. That is, that in your original homeland, as in Surah Al-A'raf, verse 172, you made a covenant with Allah Almighty and that all responsibility is yours — if you could know this; if you are people who understand, surely the reward with Allah is better for you, it says. Then you would know that the world is a temporary lodging, and you would prepare for the hereafter, it says. Just as a person, for when he grows old, so as not to be dependent on anyone, tries to secure a livelihood for later, or wants to live his tomorrow in this world in the best way and to prepare himself today for tomorrow — while in this passing world you prepare your world like this, I wonder, for the abode of the hereafter, your eternal life's original homeland, are you making any preparation at all?

Huh? Do you ever think about it?

Yes. These parts are very important. The verses are very important. So, if you use your covenant, it says. If you are people who understand, it says. What does it say? The reward with Allah is better for you. What is this reward? The dominion Allah Almighty will give you in the hereafter, the sovereignty, His (?) you. That is the meaning of reward. What is the meaning of sin? Punishment, it says, punishment, Hell.

So the recompense of sin is punishment, and the recompense of reward is what Allah will give you in the high Paradise He (?): dominion and sovereignty. This is how we will understand reward and sin.

Do not exchange Allah Almighty's covenant for a small price. In this verse, what is meant by Allah's covenant is His Sharia ruling. And the small price is the worldly blessings. Since the world and worldly blessings are passing and the blessings of the hereafter lasting, worldly blessings are a small price compared to the hereafter.

So Allah Almighty, addressing people, says: do not be deceived by worldly blessings and these passing blessings and ruin your life in the hereafter. If you are people who understand — this verse too is very meaningful. However, every person knows Allah with bare reason. A Muslim, for his part, believes in the hereafter. But he too has suppositions and doubts about the hereafter. As long as a Muslim has not risen to the nafs al-mutmainna, every Muslim is in supposition and doubt. However much he says, I know the truth, says (?) I know, it is faith in the unseen. His word is valid. It is valid. Because it is faith in the unseen.

But he is in supposition and doubt. When he rises to the tranquil nafs, becomes aware of the manifestations and attains the quality of believer, then they reach the state of the people to whom Allah Almighty says: O soul at peace, your Lord pleased with you and you pleased with your Lord, enter among My servants, enter My Paradise — that is where they arrive. For them there is no going back. That is, they never leave Islam. A Muslim at nafs al-ammara, nafs al-lawwama, nafs al-mulhima, even if he reaches the gate of wonders, can still depart as an unbeliever. For example, a friend of Mevlana's father passes away.

As Mevlana goes to perform his prayer, the funeral prayer, they say, he departed as an unbeliever, you will not perform his prayer. Then Mevlana's father shuts himself in his room. A person I saw as more advanced than me, he says, if he departs as an unbeliever, how then will I depart? — and he can no longer bring himself to leave his room. Our lesson is not to tell past history; our lesson is to explain to people Allah's verses, which are the truth. We gave it as an example like that. Now, as long as people have not risen to the tranquil nafs, they may depart this world as non-Muslims too. So, for a person to be able to attain the quality of believer, tariqas were founded.

Tariqas. What is a tariqa? The path to Allah. The path of Islam, it too goes to Allah. Then why a tariqa? The tariqa reforms your nafs through your dhikr. Islam too shows the path of Allah, but as long as one cannot master one's nafs, one turns away from Islam, and you may depart as a non-Muslim. Doesn't anyone turn away from the tariqa? As long as he is not a believer, even if he is in a tariqa, he too departs. He too turns away. Yes. (?) In the military there is normal promotion, and there is rising as a staff officer.

The normal one is promoted in three years, in six years; the staff officer in two or four years. He rises faster. Tariqas are like that too. The dhikr of Allah reforms your nafs. It removes from your heart all that is other than Allah. It wipes the rust from your ears. Not looking at the haram with his eyes, constantly, (?) for him. Then the person chooses what is right, refrains from lying, keeps away from gossip, backbiting, interest, fraud and such things. He always vies to do good to people. So as long as a person masters his own nafs, since he fits Allah Almighty's purpose in creating him, when for his minor mistakes he himself feels remorse and repents, Allah Almighty, when he moves from this world to the hereafter, receives him with a smiling face.

They enter among the righteous servants. So, with things being this way, isn't it — being deceived by the toil of worldly life, living entangled with it, usurping this one's and that one's rights, and going to the hereafter bankrupt — is it worth it?

That's why Allah Almighty says in the verse: do you never use your minds? Do you never reflect? We will use our minds. Allah Almighty does not tell you not to work for the world. You will work. Build up your world, He says. Building up. There are very great meanings here. When He says build up the world, He is not only saying raise the world's buildings, its palaces. He is not saying just build its markets. You will do these too. Besides this you will make its cannons, its rifles, its weapons. Building up. You will make everything. So as long as you build up your world, you will see these blessings Allah gives.

You will know that all that is created, from the atom to the globe, belongs to Allah, and you will (?) your nafs. The greatest world: even if two worlds came together, two realms came together, by two realms I mean two worlds, one sun, he says — worth (?) one human being. So the human being is the greatest world. He will build up his own world. Allah Almighty's word is both outward and inward. As you build up your world, build up your own world too. If you build up your world and let your nafs, to that world's building, to the building you do, be haltered, then you become a friend of Satan. You live entangled with the world.

You become a porter of the world. You pass on to the hereafter. God protect us.

So Allah Almighty, addressing people, says: Do not be deceived by worldly blessings and these passing blessings and ruin your life in the hereafter. If you are people who understand — this verse too is very meaningful. However, every person knows Allah with bare reason. A Muslim, for his part, believes in the hereafter. But he too has suppositions and doubts about the hereafter.

Yet because he is a Muslim, he does not compromise his belief.

Even though he is in doubt about the hereafter, he defends the hereafter. Why? The reason — this point is important. Not everyone can easily pin this point down. I'll be a Muslim and I'll also be in doubt. How does that work? Look, what are we saying here now? Yet because he is a Muslim, he does not compromise his faith, his belief. Even though he is in doubt about the hereafter, he defends the hereafter. And if I'm in doubt, how do I defend it? It is surely this: Elestü bi-Rabbiküm. According to the covenant he gave, characters were written for him. He has received the stamp of a Muslim. Since he does not see the hereafter in this world, he has this trait.

It is hidden in his faith. Hidden in him as character. Since he has not seen that place, he is in doubt. Since he has not seen it with his eyes and confirmed it, he is in doubt. But in his character, his makeup, in his script this script is written. So that script is secretly in his memory. Secretly. Over time, as a result of the covenant he gave, the person plays out his destiny. He plays out the script of the covenant he gave. Yes. And this is the core point here.

Yes. (?), isn't it, Ömer? Yes.

Yet because he is a Muslim, he does not compromise his belief; even though he is in doubt about the hereafter, he defends the hereafter. These are people who have not been able to turn their faith into bodily feeling, who have not become tranquil. Could not turn it into feeling, not tranquil. But they have the stamp — faith, the stamp of a Muslim.

When these Muslims live the religion of Islam as best they can, they have fulfilled Allah's commands. Because this is an unseen realm. The evils passing through people's hearts — as long as people do not (?) them into deeds, Allah does not write them as sin. So even if a person is in doubt, as long as he does not (?) his belief, he does not fall into kufr. Because this one is a Muslim; he never leaves Islam. Because that is how he gave his covenant. Yes. These are very meaningful words. They do need opening up. That's why we write it sentence by sentence like this. But what is meant by "if you are a people who understand" is those who know the hereafter with certainty, who compare the world and the hereafter, who see the world, on which the night's darkness has fallen, as being like an old, decrepit, ruined house, who, expecting no gain from the world, know that Allah sent people to the world for a test — who, for this test and in their test, succeed, and of their Lord, their Creator — yes, let's open this up here.

And — those who, for the test, succeed in the test and, for the pleasure of the Lord who created them, act — meaning those people: if you are a people who understand, the reward with Allah is better for you, He declares. Shall we read the sentence again? The sentence is important. But what is meant by "if you are a people who understand": one who knows the hereafter with certainty, that is, who has become aware of the manifestations, a person who has reached the state of believer, who compares the world and the hereafter, in that state comparing the world and the hereafter, who sees the world, on which the night's darkness has fallen, like an old, decrepit, ruined house — what will he take from here?

As He says: (?) In line with the verse where He says, if it were so, you would not be given (?) even a seed's sprout — in line with that. So, since one can take nothing from the world to the hereafter, since He says what is here, the inheritance of the heavens and the earth, will remain with Allah, since each of them is a blessing set before us for our test, if we turn our backs on the hereafter, deceived by these blessings, we ruin ourselves. So the one who knows the hereafter with certainty — like a house sunk in the night's darkness, turned into a ruin — that is how he sees the world.

Here, within that ruin, in a way that can win his Lord's pleasure, without looking at that world's blessings, longing for the day he will meet Allah, preparing for the hereafter — that is the state of such a person.

Who know with certainty, who know the hereafter with certainty, who compare the world and the hereafter, who see the world, on which the night's darkness has fallen, as an old, decrepit, ruined house, who, expecting no gain from the world, know that Allah has sent people to the world for a test, who for this test and in their test succeed, and for the pleasure of the Lord who created them act — meaning those people: if you are a people who understand, the reward with Allah is better for you, He declares. So, by this, worldly blessings, next to the hereafter, are nothing but a deception.

So Allah Almighty warns people with His verses. Yes.