Ar-Ra'd 6: (The idolaters) desire from you the evil faster than the good. However, there are many instances (of punishment) before them that came and went that one should take a lesson from. Verily, although mankind commits evil, your Lord is merciful towards them. And verily, the punishment of your Lord is severe.

The polytheists ask you to hasten the evil before the good. All people more or less hold the same idea, the same idea, the same. When prophets came: since you are a prophet, and Allah exists too, come on, bring about the Last Day. You know, none of them says, none can say: well, since you are a prophet and Allah exists, He created us, He already knows us, please, if only He would not spoil our provision a bit, if only we were saved from this state. Or to our Lord: if Allah exists, if only He would open the way before us; nobody says anything like this. Come on, let Him rain stones on our heads, come on, let Him bring the Last Day, let Him kill us, all the same talk, the same words.

Because the meaning is the same, the characters are the same. The polytheists ask you to hasten the evil before the good, it says. This is what it means by before the good. Yet before them many examples of punishment to take a lesson from have come and gone, it says. Isn't that so? The people of 'Ad went, the people of Noah went, the people of Thamud went, Pharaoh went, so many peoples of Noah went, so many peoples perished and went. Well, if, despite hearing about these too, you say they are tales of the ancients: tales of the ancients, tales; these too have happened, happened; but when we were children, my late aunt used to tell me stories.

She used to talk about giants behind Mount Qaf.

We knew it was imaginary, but of course we listened to the story. Imaginary. Right? It can't be. I suppose they too, just like what we heard, consider those who perished imaginary. They call them tales of the past.

Yes. Tales of the past. But it really happened. They don't want to believe.

Yet before them many examples of punishment to take a lesson from have come and gone. Truly, though people do evil, your Lord, your Lord, is the Possessor of forgiveness for them. Look how beautiful. Even though they do evil, it says, (?) Allah is the Possessor of forgiveness for them. That is, you are My servants. However sinful you may be. We created you deficient. Just once, it says, (?), repent and enter through this door of repentance. Look, it says, how you will attain mercy. Yes. So the world of Islam is not a lodge of despair. You will turn back. "And yet your Lord's punishment is also very severe," it says.

If you carry on, it says, in the same state, as your owner I will (?) your account, it says. Yes.

Those who are unbelievers, who do not believe in Allah and the Hereafter, when invited to Allah, they mock and say: let your Allah give us a punishment then.

These ask for Allah's punishment before His mercy. Just once ask for Allah's mercy, please, what would it hurt? Since Allah exists and (?) gave me punishment; since my Allah exists, let Him open (?) for me, let's see, let Him make my provision abundant, let's see, right? Say that, I mean, ask for His mercy, I mean, Allah's. And then: look, I was like this, and I asked for Allah's mercy. And my Lord, for the sake of the Prophet, to prove His oneness and Himself to us, look, He opened the way before me. Yes, my Lord exists. He will make you say it. But if you ask for His punishment, He will make you say "my Lord exists" too.

Because when you overstep the limits, He will destroy you too. And there again: my Lord exists. Yes. Ilallah. These ask for Allah's punishment before His mercy. A person, in an unseen realm where Allah's existence is veiled, may suddenly not believe in Allah's existence. Yes. Today is an unseen realm.

He may have come about within other mentalities, within another culture. For example, among the unbelievers, the Muslim nature, of course. In terms of how he lives, a person may be in kufr, an unbeliever. But the covenant and nature in him run counter to his life, and the person begins a search. When the time comes, he turns back. So what are we saying?

He may not believe in Allah's existence. But from the one who tells of His existence, that is, the prophets, instead of punishment, while they should say: if such an Allah exists, let Him increase His blessings to us, let Him give abundance all around; that is, instead of people saying something in their own favour, they up and ask for Allah's punishment.

So Allah Almighty says of the unbelievers: the evil before the good Allah would give people they ask you to hasten. Yet before them many examples of punishment to take a lesson from have come and gone. Who are these? As He told us about the past, as I explained earlier: the people of Lot, the people of Thamud, the people of 'Ad, sir, Pharaoh perishing in the sea; such people overstepping the limits and not believing in the prophets, Allah Almighty destroyed them as a lesson for future generations.

Whereas if the people who are unbelievers, without deciding suddenly, had sunk into reflection and thought about the peoples who perished: their prophets too invited their peoples to the One Allah, and when they did, they too, because they asked for Allah's punishment, perished. Those who showed enmity to Allah and His prophets and did not believe in them, how bad their end was. As I explained earlier, you know, my aunt telling us stories when we were children: there are giants behind Mount Qaf. We knew, of course, we don't believe in giants, but the story is very nice. You know, people went there, sir, while the giant was eating them, he tricked the giant, escaped from there, saved the people it had given and so on.

My aunt used to tell very nice stories. Now these people, I suppose, see the peoples who perished like the giants my aunt told me about, like giants. Since they say tales of the ancients, they do not believe in tales. Nor do they believe in their destruction. This is a tale, they say. Yes. Because Allah does not destroy, they say.

So these rebellious people; there is an extra R here. Among rebellious people, if a person finds the truth, believes in Allah and His prophets, and has faith, since Allah forgives the evils they did in the period of ignorance, He pardons them. Because there is no other god besides Allah at whose door people could take refuge. Whoever turns to Allah and takes refuge in Him, Allah's mercy is vast, His pardon abundant. Since Allah created His creations (?) deficient, through their repentance He forgives their faults.

In return,

whoever continues in his misguidance and denial, continues in his denial and passes into the Hereafter in this way, Allah's wrath too is very severe. They are left subject to the eternal suffering of the eternal life. When Allah's mercy is lifted from such people, they have no helpers there either. May Allah protect us. Now if I took Ahmet, took him to London, with not a penny in his pocket, and said: Ahmet, you stay here, I'm coming; he trusts me, you see, I have the money, I have everything. If he waited and waited and I didn't come,

what kind of (?) would he fall into? You would, wouldn't you? What kind of fear would he fall into? Where will I stay? No place, no trace, no money, nothing. What will happen? He can't find me either.

They'll catch him as an illegal and straight to prison.

So Allah too, when He lifts His mercy from man in the realm of the Hereafter, along with the punishments for what he did, straight to hell. No mercy, and no way out of there ever again. May Allah protect us from such a punishment.

Yes. When Allah's mercy is lifted from such people, they have no helpers there either.