Hud 54: “We do not say anything but some of our deities have stricken you badly. (Hud) said; “I make Allah a Witness, and be witnesses yourselves that I am far from the ones that you associate as partners.”

Surah Hud, verse 54: We say nothing other than: one of our gods has struck you badly — we say no other word. They say this to Hud (peace be upon him). When Hud (peace be upon him) invited them to Allah, the people who could not give up their gods, from their gods — Surely, they say, one of our gods has struck you badly.

Can you believe these people have any reason?

Their god — if it had been a god, if it had been the god of Hud's people, if this people had worshipped these gods, and a person came forth and invited them to the one Allah, what would those gods do to him? They would have killed him. Annihilated him.

What are these people saying? One of our gods has struck you badly. Hud said: I call Allah to witness.

And you too bear witness that I am far from what you associate as partners. Indeed, by speaking this way, the people of Hud themselves bear witness that he is far from the idols they worship, and Allah is witness too. And when Hud (peace be upon him) could not make his voice heard by his people — his voice — let this not be misunderstood: when we say he could not make his voice heard by his people, of course he is speaking with his people. That is, he could not convince them. That people, in their transgression, could not submit to Hud (peace be upon him). So Hud (peace be upon him) says: Let Allah be my witness, and you be witnesses too: I am free of what you worship.

Yes.

The people of Hud (peace be upon him) — although Hud (peace be upon him) called his people to guidance and invited them to the one Allah, in response his people gave Hud (peace be upon him) a senseless answer. Senselessly. Indeed, from people whose hearts are scattered and restless, do not expect a sound word. Very rarely.

Because their hearts are restless and scattered, Allah Almighty in His verse too says they are a people who do not understand, who do not understand. In this case, people with a veil over their eyes — a veil over their eyes in seeing the truth, in hearing the truth a heaviness in their ears too, and who have had their hearts sealed — if they do not understand, they will give senseless answers. As I said a moment ago, one of our gods has struck you badly, they say. If your god, those idols you worshipped, had truly been gods, the one calling to the one Allah, they would have destroyed him. Because he is crossing the line.

If I am king in my region and you say: I am the king, I say: off with this man's head. Because this man is a (?). A (?). So senselessly accepting what Allah created as gods and worshipping those idols they carved with their hands, which can bring neither benefit nor harm even to themselves, and saying one of our gods has struck you badly — this is not a word a person of sound mind would speak. Yes.

One of our gods has struck you badly, they said. The meaning of god is the one who creates and owns what He creates. Would any god have a person invite to a god other than itself, we said. Would it remove all the gods and make the one Allah known? In a verse Allah Almighty says: if there were another god besides Allah, that god would take its own creations. The other would take its own creations too, (?). Yes. Let people just once give their covenant to Allah Almighty as not recognizing Him and as rebellious against Him. Where is this? At the address Elestü bi Rabbiküm, in the (?) realm, where people were created, that place where our souls were created, when we made our covenant with Allah Almighty, where the whole matter is settled anyway.

And they have closed this off from people. So people have fallen into a state of not knowing what making the covenant is. So, in the (?) people live in the world, Allah Almighty gives them worth according to their deeds. That is how it has come to be. Yes. Let people just once give their covenant to Allah Almighty as not recognizing Him and as rebellious against Him. These people's insight is closed; in seeing the truth their eyes are blind, their ears deaf. They themselves do not believe the words they say. He does not believe it either. But he has seen it that way, it goes on that way, there is that habit.

For example, a child sees it from his father. What does he see? He worships an idol. His father makes him fear it. This is our god, who created us, he says. Who gives us our provision, he says. An idol, for example. The child knows it, perceives it that way. But later, when his mind works and he says: how can this be my god? There is no mind in it, no life — when he says this, when he uses his reason, he is still influenced by it out of habit. Out of habit. When faith becomes strong, when faith is assured, then he sees the truth and completely abstains from them, they distance themselves.

They themselves do not believe the words they say. But since the insults they hurl at those facing them please them, even if it means their own destruction, their evil deeds look gilded to them and they carry on with the evil they do. That is, here, once a person, from his nafs-driven state, has given Allah Almighty a covenant as a denier, then insulting people who say Allah, those people worshipping their own (?), (?), and establishing dominance over those people for themselves and becoming proud and arrogant — this state comes about. So if you look at non-Muslims, they look down on Muslims. Yes, whereas the people to be looked down on are those who rebel against Allah. They are baseless and like (?).

So people acting against the command of Allah Almighty — what is the command? Do not drink alcohol, He says. Do not gamble, do not commit adultery, and so on. In these swamps they, so as to satisfy themselves, their lives outside Allah's command carry on, and those swamps, under the illusion I am living, through the temptation of Satan and of the nafs, look adorned to them. They look very adorned and gilded.

In their minds these invented gods had struck Hud (peace be upon him), and to Hud (peace be upon him) they made known they had nothing else to say.

In their minds these invented gods struck Hud (peace be upon him), it says. Struck. There is no life in them. No soul. He goes and worships what he carved with his own hands. These senseless people worshipping what they made with their hands, serving what they made with their hands, themselves, among the servants Allah created, although they were created as the noblest of creatures — I will put it crudely. You load a donkey and, under that load, drive that donkey on saying (?), right? These too have become, for these idols, like donkeys loaded with their things, loaded with their weight, serving (?) people.

Yes. Would you look for reason in this?

And so (?) they cannot find anything to say to him, that is, to Hud. Well, of course you cannot find anything. You would have to breathe, wouldn't you?

In response Hud (peace be upon him) said to his people: I call Allah to witness. And you too bear witness that I am far from what you associate as partners. By saying this, Hud (peace be upon him) wanted to make known that he (?) Allah and that he took Allah as witness between them. Yes.

So why does Allah Almighty send His verses to people? He sends them so that His Essence may be known. That no human being in this world is left to himself; that although they seem irresponsible, there is in fact such a yoke on his neck — if a person uses his reason, he must know that the yoke on his neck is a yoke of such a kind that he is constantly under Allah Almighty's sight, and came into the world not to live his own wishes and desires, but, (?), as Allah Almighty's will: creating a capable human being, and in return for this human knowing Allah Almighty, this human whom Allah Almighty created so that His Essence be known, within his own will, of course, in return for the human knowing his Lord, a reward the human perhaps does not deserve, of which he could not give even a fraction to Allah Almighty — in the highest Paradise, (?), palaces, well, villas — our Lord granting them to that person.

Yes. The value Allah Almighty gives to man. But in this world man sees himself as free. Man was indeed created free. Within this freedom, that no one will put a yoke on him, or that no one will stand (?) over him; within his own world, within his own reason he carries on his life, according to his own reason doing some worldly business, he tries to fill out his lifetime. Whereas if a person would think — think about what? Who am I, where did I come from, why was I created? I was born from my mother, but what came before that? Who created what came before that? And this Creator placed all this provision here, and has this Creator left this human to himself amid this provision?

That is, a person will ask himself these things. If he cannot ask these, he cannot feel his responsibility. His responsibility. What is responsibility? His duty toward Allah Almighty he will not be able to fulfill. Then the nafs-driven feelings boil over. The person, deifying his nafs-driven feeling, is dragged along after his nafs. And Satan, lest he master his nafs, constantly whispers temptations to his nafs, to drag him even further into evil. Meanwhile the world looks rosy to him. The nafs, Satan and the world work together to lead man away from sırat-ı müstakim, the straight path. Allah Almighty, with a good mind, a good will and a good faith, has granted man three friends against these three enemies.

Faith, that is inspiration, will and reason. With these, man knows the purpose of his creation. That he is the noblest of creatures, a being Allah Almighty created as the most honorable — he sees himself so and, if he prevails over this enemy, while living in the world man lives both strong-willed and steadfast, and strong, surrendered to his Lord, in peace, and his hereafter too he will have built up. Yes.