Al-Furqan 10: Blessed is Allah who can give to you that which is better than these if Allah desires; Paradises beneath which rivers flow and make for you palaces.

Surah Al-Furqan, verse 10. Allah, who, if He wills, will give you better than these, gardens beneath which rivers flow, and will grant you palaces — His glory is exalted.

Surely, among those created in the worlds, however exalted the glory of man, the most honoured of beings, may be, to the exaltedness of Allah Almighty's glory, to His majesty, His power, His wisdom, no created being can attain — not even in imagination.

Allah Almighty, these worlds — for Habib-i Kibriya, the (?) Prophet, the Prophet Muhammad — for his sake He created them.

So here: if it weren't for him, would we not have been created? Since Allah Almighty willed the creation of human beings, was it really necessary for it to be for his sake? Such a thought may come to one's mind. The Prophet (peace be upon him) is in fact from whom? From us. "Whatever you are, We send you a prophet from among you," He says. Since he is from us, whom are we from? We are from there. From whom? From the Prophet. All people. So then, to create the human He willed — from that will, whom did Allah Almighty create first? He created the Prophet. And since the worlds were created from him, they were created for his sake.

Yes.

"If it were not for you, I would not have created these worlds," He declares. So if His Beloved, the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), had wanted the world, every particle of the world would have been paved with gold, ruby and chrysolite. But since the world is destined for hell, even Allah's believing servants do not value the world; yet in the face of Allah's command, the verse "Build up your world", they will of course work for the world, and with a responsibility He has placed on man, man will both build up his world and earn his living. Now what are we saying here? "Since the world is destined for hell" — what sin does the world have that it should be destined for hell, the world?

I mean, does the world have a soul, a life, or (?), that the world should be destined for hell? And the realm of the hereafter is all luminous. Luminous. Paradise too is luminous. Those poor people who pass themselves off as scholars, who cannot even grasp Paradise, put people into Paradise with their bodies. And at the gate of Paradise they also construct a lake, a pool. They enter it, they have them washed, and the angels' words, "You have come spotlessly clean", they let them be honoured with.

Whereas Allah Almighty — "you clean", that is, those angels' "you have come spotlessly clean" means: you have come without sin. "Your sins have been erased, our Lord has admitted you to His Paradise."

"After praying two rak'ahs at the Station of Abraham and circling the House of Allah, you are spotlessly clean, as if newly born from your mother," says Allah Almighty. Did we wash there, that we became spotlessly clean? We were purified of our sins, that's why we became spotlessly clean. Of our sins.

The verses will always support one another.

Yes. In this case Allah Almighty has, well, placed responsibility on us. In the worldly realm, as Yunus Emre said, wrapped in flesh and bone, we have appeared as Ahmet and Mehmet. As long as we deal with the outward trade and outward affairs of the worldly realm, we earn reward and sin. In the end, when we leave the world, after even our bodies have testified about us, in the presence of Allah Almighty at that Great Court, (?) death a second time. After everyone's questioning is over, Allah Almighty — "like an old rag," He says — will roll up the world and throw it into hell. Go ahead. It's not me saying it; Allah says this in the verse.

Yes.

Yes. But since the world is destined for hell, even Allah's believing servants do not value the world; yet in the face of Allah's command, the verse "Build up your world", they will of course work for the world, and with a responsibility placed on man, man will both build up his world and earn his living. In this case, according to the verse "İkra" (Read), he will read and study. Again, in a verse He declares: "Work hard and become superior to your enemies, so that perhaps they fear you and you are at ease, or they envy you and become Muslims." According to this verse, the polytheists and unbelievers worked, built up the world and rose. And Muslims weak in faith, envying them, have set about changing their religion.

Hodja, does a person change his religion while being a Muslim? Perhaps all of you have witnessed it — the young ones I don't know about, but in Malatya they gave them places, to Muslims. They became Christians. And they advertised it. "Look, what did we see in religion? We became Christians. We have a place, a home, a palace, a house," they said. Didn't they? They did, I'm a witness.

Yes. You're from Malatya, you've probably heard of it too. Do I know about the churches that were opened, sir? I know about the churches that were opened. Later 4-5 churches were opened. Within the last 5-6 years, in Malatya. Yes. According to this verse, the polytheists and unbelievers worked. By building up the world, they rose. And Muslims weak in faith, envying them, have set about changing their religion.

So Allah Almighty has prepared for the Prophet (peace be upon him), the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), such a station that in this verse: "People cannot even imagine the station I will give you," He declares. What station is that? Makam-ı Mahmud. The 8th Paradise. Makam-ı Mahmud. People cannot even imagine it, He says. Well, why should I try to imagine something I cannot imagine? It's beyond my imagination; I have no imagination for it. Now, I was in Medina. There the Ramadan fast we were keeping, in Medina.

They have built the Ravza-i Mutahhara very beautifully. Marble everywhere, beautiful columns, big.

I thought for a while, I got lost in thought. I said: "My Allah, look at this beauty. Perhaps there is no such palace on earth. (?) — if for the sake of the Prophet (peace be upon him) He took this beauty of this world and placed it at Makam-ı Mahmud" — I'm thinking, of course, it's passing through my mind. By Allah, this is exactly what comes to my heart. Inspiration from my Lord. "This beauty you speak of is not even a shadow next to the Makam-ı Mahmud I will give him." A shadow, a shadow.

Then the exaltedness of the Prophet's station — just think of it.

That high.

This station — this station is Makam-ı Mahmud. Even the power of human reason cannot imagine the beauties of this station. So Allah will give this station to His Beloved, and "Allah will also give you palaces," He declares. The world's palaces will one day vanish. But the palaces and mansions of the hereafter will remain forever. Yes. Take this world's most magnificent building. A wonderful palace without equal in beauty — take that.

In Paradise, that palace our Lord will give that person — the palace — next to it, it cannot even be a shadow. A shadow, a shadow. How do you know? By Allah, I entered Paradise. (?) I walked around it too.

I have a place. It turned out to be mine. I'm coming from somewhere. Both sides of the road, in an amazing way, you know how there are lawns like this, round trees and such — like those, decorated. You won't find dust on the ground. The white — the world's white is nothing next to it. And you saw white there — that is white. The world's white is off-white next to it. Even its whitest.

There are stairs of marble, milk-white. (?) glass. You can't see inside. But from inside you can see outside. You go inside, a long pool. At its four corners, four outlets. And bundles at their tops. Next to it, a long table. Service — the ghilman serving. From there you look outside, an amazing beauty. Flower beds. You saw this.

Well, the world there is not like here. So here in this guesthouse, do not (?) this swamp. But don't forget our responsibility either. Within our responsibility we are obliged to build up both our world and our hereafter.

Believe it — perhaps some people's minds cannot grasp what I am telling. But Allah is my witness to what I saw. Whether you believe or not does not affect me. If my Lord, to my eye… He is the one who shows it anyway. So don't let any words cross your mind like "look, he's praising himself." We are very far from these. If such a state had appeared in us, those stations we would not have found. So why am I telling you? To make you long for that place, so that when you (?) the worldly realm to the hereafter, you live in a way that you will not be ashamed before our Lord — to ensure that is why I'm telling you.