Al-Anbya 46: Vow to that; if they were touched by a tiny punishment from your Lord, they would surely say “Indeed, we were the oppressors.”

Surah Al-Anbiya, the 46th verse. Look what Allah Almighty says, swearing by Himself. I swear:

if even a slight breath of your Lord's punishment touched them, without doubt they would say: woe to us, truly we were wrongdoers, it says. That is what they say. But when they reach well-being, they say: this too is our right. Yes. Now we will explain only this part. What does it say? I swear, if even a slight breath of your Lord's punishment touched them, touched them. Aren't we all like that? When I say all of us: exceptions don't break the rule. There are exceptions among them. When we just a little (?), when we (?), when, well, our help is cut off, we take refuge in Allah, don't we? We remember Allah at once. We beg and implore. (?) Shall I show you?

When drought sets in and rain is needed, every one of them goes up mountains and hills behind the hodja. They begin: My Allah, (?) us rain. Allah sends down the rain. Then they are all back to their own business. No one says: My Allah, thanks be to You. You accepted our prayer. You drowned us in Your mercy. You lifted the oppression from us. If it occurs to you, you don't say it.

Yes. Without doubt they say: woe to us, truly we were wrongdoers, it says. An example of this, in the Holy Quran Allah Almighty tells: in their country, their father dies; together with their neighbors, two fields lie side by side. This morning, they say, let's go early, before people come, they say, let's gather our crops and not give them any, they say. Morning comes; they wake each other early. They go and see that the field has burned. Allah Almighty makes cedar trees grow in them. That is, useless trees. Woe to us, they say. There they lament.

Our fathers, they say, it was given to them. He would give to the poor, feed them, give them drink. (?) because we cut back on them, they say, our Lord, well, this to us as a punishment (?). Yes. But if afterwards He drowns them in mercy, he says: I worked, I did it. Yes, you work, but if your Lord did not offer you those blessings, that mercy, you would only be on dry soil, on that dry soil weeping and moaning. Allah Almighty sends people some calamities so that they take the right path. Because man is very selfish and fond of his comfort, he is shaken by these calamities. He begins to remember Allah, whom he never remembered.

When the evils they did in the world come before their eyes, when he has lost his worldly goods or is struck by a calamity he is helpless against, when his comfort is gone and he is in pain, he at once turns to Allah and says: truly I was a wrongdoer. Allah Almighty gives us another example in the Quran. What does He say? They, in the darkness of a stormy night at sea, when the ship, He says, is caught in a storm, turn to Allah, and beg and implore, He says. But when We bring them to land, they turn their backs and go, He says. Yes. When these people speak like this, these are not words they truly say as sinners before Allah Almighty out of their remorse.

If it were so, Allah Almighty would not give us these as examples. What is it? To regain the worldly goods or the health they lost, or to be saved from the calamities that befell them: that is why they say them. When these calamities are lifted from them, they at once return to their old ways. Moreover, when a blessing from Allah Almighty touches them, they say: this is my right.

And such people I liken to a summer rain. To a summer rain.

In summer, July, August, drought begins. The soil cracks here and there. Fissures form. Fissures. Then Allah Almighty gives a mercy. In 10 minutes, let's say, He drops 50-60 kilograms of rain on that soil. 10 minutes later you see the cloud has gone, the sun has come out in the sky, the water that fell in those 10 minutes, 50-60 kilograms, has run off through the cracks in the soil; the inside of the soil is hot, the outside has cooled a little; when the sun that comes out again takes away that soil's coolness, man too goes right back to his old state.

These are people who are wrongdoers against their own selves. Allah's mercy is abundant. Allah has no need of what He created. All these created things were created to serve people. Since Allah knows what passes through people's hearts, He has tied people's deeds to their intentions. With what he does, man holds Allah as witness over himself. Is it only Allah he takes as witness? With what he does, man first takes himself as witness over himself. Then he takes those around him as witness. And then (?) Allah.