Al-Isra 26: And give the rights of the relative, the poor and the wayfarer. And do not be wasteful, spending wastefully.

We have come to Surah Al-Isra, verse 26, to this noble verse. And give the relative, the poor and the traveller their due. And do not squander needlessly. Yes.

Visiting relatives is sila-i rahim. Sila-i rahim opens a person's insight. It develops his mind. Sila-i rahim. That is why, if you have no relatives left in the world, one visits their graves. This too is sila-i rahim. What does this show us? That family ties are not broken but strengthened, that people, standing by one another starting from the closest family ties, with this widening, like a chain linked to a ring, Islam stands by one another. Islam. Where will we learn this? We will learn it by standing by our family ties. That is why Allah Almighty says: to the relative. Hold fast to them. Be bound to them. To the poor.

That is, help the poor and the needy. To the traveller. He is rich. He has trillions. But he has lost his money. He is stranded on the road. At that moment he is hungry. He needs money. He is going to go home. Give him his due, it says. Give him his due. Something like this happened to me. In Mecca al-Mukarrama, after a traffic accident, I was in prison there. I was in prison.

The man died. After 28 days. It was left on us. The one who hit him was someone else. We were there, we looked after him, we took the man away. Anyway, the laws were different. You should run off too. What for, then? What are you doing, look, (?). So that the state does not pay for the dead man, they seize whoever they find at his side.

Our innocence did come out later anyway.

They sent me some money. To the consulate. We got the money. Our money for the return.

No, time had passed. Visa fees. No, in the, visa fee in Jordan, visa fee in Syria, I was robbed.

I had no money left. With my petrol, I entered at Cilvegözü.

I have no money; if the petrol runs out, I'll be stranded on the road.

In my car I had bought velvet there for the children, German velvet. One 3 metres, one 3.20 metres, 20 centimetres.

I prayed to Allah Almighty: O my Lord. (?) Back then money didn't reach banks over the internet like nowadays. If you asked for money, it would barely arrive in 4-5 days, a week. They told me: if you can get as far as Adana, in Adana you'll get your money from the bank faster. They'll send it to you in a day or two. What did we think? We said we'd stay in a hotel for a day or two. They'll send our money and we'll collect it.

We set out. And I'm praying to Allah Almighty. O my Lord, if only this petrol would take me at least as far as Mersin, İçel.

Allah is my witness, there's a quarter of petrol in my tank. I reached Mersin; it had risen above a quarter. And Allah's miracle: I reached Adana, my tank was half full. No one would believe this. I said to Allah Almighty: You let me come this far. This much of a wonder is enough. His miracle upon me is enough. (?), I said.

I said to the car: take me to a fabric dealer and leave me there.

It turned, went around. As if the roads were drawing themselves. Truly, I arrived in front of a fabric dealer. From there I took three invoices of velvet fabric. I said to the fabric dealer: do you need this fabric? I'm coming from the road. Sir, my money has run out. Sir, I said, let me give it to you at the price I bought it. It sells here, it's valuable. Let me give it at the price I paid. Give me petrol money and I'll go. Then a man said — there was an old man sitting there. The owner of the place. Sir, how much did you buy this for, he said. During the Hajj they were selling this for 33 riyals.

I said I bought it for 29 riyals. The man had also just come back from the Hajj. I bought it for 33 riyals, he said. I bought some too, he said. I bought it for 33 riyals, he said.

I won't take this from you, he said. How much money do you need, he said. Until I get there. I said, if it takes me as far as Ankara, in Ankara, I said, (?). There, I said, I'll get my money.

125 lira of petrol money. That's enough for me, I said. I'll be in Ankara in 6 hours. 250 lira for you, he said. You'll eat on the way too, you'll need money for something, he said. And this is my bank (?), he said. Take it and go, he said. Helping the stranded.

I still don't forget it, after so many years. Do you know what year it was? '78. 88, 98, 8. Thirty, thirty-six years.

Yes.

How beautifully Allah Almighty says it. Helping the stranded.

I reached Ankara. From there I came to Istanbul. From Istanbul I sent his money to that bank account. And we always pray for him. May Allah be pleased with him. If he has passed away, may his resting place be a place of Paradise.

If he is alive, may Allah grant him, to the end, on the straight path, (?), may He grant it. And in the Hereafter may He grant him to be before the smiling face. Ah, how beautiful. Khidr appears before a person, doesn't he? Such people appear too.

There it is: helping the stranded. Not out of poverty. Yes. So it means a person has his destined share too. Whereas if from there I had gone to a military office, to a military unit, I could easily have got some money there and gone on. It didn't occur to me. It didn't occur to me. That person was to earn the reward, so Allah would lead me to him. Yes. If such opportunities come your way, make use of them.

And to the relative, the poor and the traveller give their due, and do not squander needlessly. Allah Almighty commands people, with the blessings He has given them, after mother and father, to look after close relatives and to help them. Relatives too have rights over people. Yes. Will Allah Almighty raise a person like this? He raises him through practice too. He brings many events upon him. Through these events the person (?). And his nafs reaches perfection. Allah Almighty makes him live through experiences life.

and give the poor and the traveller their due, He commands. A question like this may come to a person's mind. We understood that after mother and father, relatives too have a right over a person, but what right do the poor and the traveller have over a person? The answer: when Allah gives a person wealth, He does not give it so that he alone eats and drinks or uses it for his own nafs. In the blessings He gives, the poor and the traveller also have a right. In this respect Allah Almighty, in many great verses too, makes known those who have rights through His verses. For example, to those who use it to help the orphan and the captive and those who wage jihad in the way of Allah, and in practical good works such as feeding them or arming them, Allah announces He will give their rewards many times over.

So what a person earns is not his alone. Allah Almighty gives a person the provision of others too. Through his hand He provides for people. If they are stingy with the provision they are to give people, restrict people's rights and act unjustly, they mix the forbidden into their earnings.

Such people are sinners in the sight of Allah Almighty. So neither usurp people's rights, nor spend needlessly and fall into need. Keep a moderate path between the two and seek to earn Allah's pleasure. Helping the poor and the traveller too (?).