Al-Anbya 35: All living beings will taste the death. You will be put to test with goodness and with calamities (so that you will prove your character to yourselves). And you will only return to Us.

We have come to verse 35 of Surah Al-Anbiya; here there is a mistake, in Surah Al-Anbiya. We had our books. Where is Evren? Give me that. Yes. Not this one, Evren. It's the Holy Quran, the Holy Quran. Take this. Yes.

Look. Surah Al-Anbiya. Which verse? The thirty-fifth?

(?), yes. Every living being tastes death. First I'm reading the wrong one. Every living being tastes death.

As a trial, We test you with good and with evil. And to Us alone you will be returned, it says. That's wrong. Allah Almighty does not make trials. Allah Almighty does not make trials. He knows everything from pre-eternity. Allah Almighty does not make trials. He knows everything from pre-eternity, sir.

If Allah made trials on people, it would be as if He did not know what they would do and would act according to what they do. The correct one: Every living being tastes death. So that you hold yourselves as witness to what kind of person you are, you are tested with good and with evil. And to Us alone you will be returned. This is its meaning. Yes.

Now, since the Arabic doesn't really have a Turkish equivalent, as the meaning, in parentheses: so that you hold yourselves as witness to what kind of person you are — close parentheses. Here it says "trial" — that's what that is. Yes. Because we are playing out the script of the covenant we gave to Allah Almighty in the world. We are living our own destiny. Our Lord is not making a trial of us. He knows what we will do. There is not a single living being to come until the Day of Judgement whose deeds We do not know. So here: so that you hold yourselves as witness to what kind of person you are, so that you hold yourselves as witness, you are tested with good and with evil.

And to Us alone you will be returned. Allah Almighty sent people to the material realm for a test and a trial. Although Allah knew, when He made the covenant with people, what they would do, by creating the material realm He sent people to the earthly world, a (?) world. At the address "Elestü bi-Rabbiküm", the people who made the covenant with Allah Almighty had their own wishes written down for themselves as destiny. By sending people to the material realm, Allah Almighty has closed to people the covenants they gave. But those whose wishes became their destiny, by desiring their wishes and wants in measure with their destiny as they live in the earthly world, earn reward and sin.

That is, when we made the covenant with Allah Almighty, in the realm of the hereafter, our wishes and desires we requested from our Lord. Since our Lord knows our wishes and desires, what passes through our hearts, that is, all the traits in our souls, He places characters in us accordingly. But with these characters, when in the course of time, in which place, what will befall us — we know.

But our Lord knows this. And when that time comes, Allah Almighty creates causes. Within those causes, according to our wishes and desires, by doing the actual deeds within those causes, we earn reward and sin. This is how reward and sin are written for a person.

Yes.

So, by sending people to a world where His essence is not seen, Allah Almighty has invited them to faith in the unseen. Faith in the unseen. Why? "If You had sent us to a world where Your essence is not seen, how we would have worshipped You there" — so that they don't say that, here you are: faith in the unseen.

Yes. What does it say? Here in the verse, (?).

Elif, lâm, mîm. These verses are mukatta verses. Only Allah knows their meanings, what they intend. This is the Book in which there is no doubt at all. It is guidance for the God-fearing. The third verse. Those who believe in the unseen. They perform the prayer observing tadil-i erkan. They spend from what We have provided them. They give to those in need and feed them. Yes. Those who believe in what was sent down to you, in what was sent down before you, in the Books.

They also believe with certainty in the realm of the hereafter. How beautifully it says it. Such people are on the right path shown by their Lord. And it is they who attain salvation. Yes.

So, by sending people to a world where His essence is not seen, Allah Almighty has invited them to faith in the unseen, to faith. Come now, to a world where I will not be seen, where I will not show you My essence, I will send you.

Let's see, what will you do there?

Now, what comes to my mind? Sometimes we laugh.

Whose are these worlds? Allah's. Is Allah one of the worlds He created? No. Well, if it is faith in the unseen, does Allah not come to the material realm?

What is the Night of Qadr there for? The angels and the Spirit, that night until morning, it says, everything is peace, it says; this they always attribute to the angels, to Gabriel. Now, what comes to my mind: In a few places, if you had palaces, if you had properties, if you had them built, and went to visit them, and inside those palaces there were caretakers, but they don't know the owner of those palaces.

And you, as the owner, went there and passed by without introducing yourself — would the caretakers there understand that you are the owner of the palace?

Hodja, when you say that, the late Cavit Hodja comes to my mind. A hadith came to my mind too. Subhanallah. Go ahead. "I catch the scent of my Lord," he says, "from the lands of Yemen," he says.

And what did Cavit Hodja use to say, Hodja? "Hodja, where do you find these examples?" he would say. Yes. That is our Lord's (?) inspiration. Alhamdulillah. Yes.

That's what he used to say to us: "Hodja, your, um, never run out — your examples never run out," he would say. In this case, a person denies and obeys Allah in measure with his destiny. In both of these cases, Allah gives people good and evil and puts them to the test in abundance or in want, with their joyful moments or (?). With the misfortunes or good things that befall them, people live their lives in measure with their wishes. And through how they live they earn reward or sin. In this way, through his actions, a person holds himself as witness before himself, those around him and Allah. Then, according to the verse "Every soul will taste death", everything created will surely die.

And the return will be to Allah, the Owner and Creator of the worlds. When that Day of Reckoning comes, people who seem unaccountable will realize that they are not unaccountable, and will be called to account for what they did.

As for people being tried in the earthly world: every soul, at the address "Elestü bi-Rabbiküm", saw Allah Almighty and made a covenant with Allah Almighty. Since Allah Almighty gave people of His spirit, He created people very close to His own essence. In this situation, out of their arrogance and pride, people did not recognize Allah Almighty as Lord, that is, as Creator. They waited for the Lord of their own imagination. Since Allah Almighty is free of deficient attributes, so that people would not say to Allah Almighty, "My Lord, if to a hidden world, that is, a world where His essence is not seen, You had sent us, we would have worshipped and obeyed You there", Allah Almighty created these worlds, and to the earthly world, a hidden world, He sent people. Thus, trying people with themselves, He makes them witnesses to themselves of what kind of person they are.

Therefore, in the hereafter people will have no questions left to ask Allah Almighty, and every soul will be called to account for what it did.