Ar-Ra'd 23: (That end is) the paradises of Eden. They will enter there with the salih ones from their fathers, wives and children, and the angels will approach them from each door.

And we begin with Surah Ar-Ra'd, verse 23. Allah Almighty speaks of the state of the people who enter Paradise. Of the people among those who will enter Paradise.

And in this verse He stresses that the abode the righteous will enter is the Garden of Adn. The Garden of Adn. That abode is the Gardens of Adn. They will enter it together with those of their fathers, spouses and children who are righteous. That is, if their spouses and fathers are also righteous people, they will enter together with them. If they are not righteous and their rank is lower, their ranks will be at lower levels. When they want to see their children — there are no children there, I mean — their children from the world, the one of lower rank will go to the one of higher rank. Yes. What does it say? That abode is the Gardens of Adn.

They will enter it together with those of their fathers, spouses and children who are righteous. And the angels will come to them from every gate. Who are these righteous people? A person who has said the testimony of faith is a Muslim. We said the nafs has seven states. Seven states. People who have risen to the nafs al-mutmainna are believers. Believers. If these people cannot rise to the nafs al-radiya, they will stay in their paradises. If he has risen to the nafs al-radiya, they will enter among the righteous servants. And the righteous servants will be in a higher paradise, in the Garden of Naim. "Gardens beneath which rivers flow," it says.

Since the Garden of Adn is mentioned here and rivers are not mentioned, these too are righteous, but believers. That is how we understand it from here. Let us read. Before reading, we first said: who are these people? People who have reformed their nafs. That is, people who have struggled with their nafs. Allah Almighty created the nafs to eat and drink, to have intercourse and reproduce, to move about, to desire, and to do no work at all on Allah's path. It was created this way. If this nafs had not been like this, people's capacity to take pleasure would vanish; they would be as if in a vegetative state.

They would accept that state. So through taking, intercourse, reproduction, being selfish and such behaviour, people attach themselves to the world and sustain their lives — to that end Allah Almighty gave them these traits. That is, He gave them the nafs. So the nafs has an appetite. Yes, you will give it these, but within a certain measure. You will give them according to Allah's religious law. For example, for things you desire too much and cannot reach, you will not follow the whims of the nafs and cheat anyone, you will not do injustice, you will not consume the forbidden, you will keep up your worship, and if needed you will remember Allah.

In such conduct you will turn to piety. By reforming the nafs, that is, by bringing the desires of the nafs under your own will, Allah Almighty raises you step by step. From the nafs al-ammara to the nafs al-lawwama, from the nafs al-lawwama to the nafs al-mulhima, to the gate of wonders, from there to the nafs al-mutmainna, to the divine manifestations, from there to the nafs al-radiya, entering through the gate of knowledge, from there the nafs al-mardiyya, the Qutb al-Azam, who comes once every hundred years. After that the nafs al-safiya, the Qutb al-Aqtab, who comes once every two hundred years.

Sometimes the Qutb al-Azam and the Qutb al-Aqtab can live together. In the same era.

Yes. In this case, if a person reforms his nafs, if he brings his nafs under his own will, his own will, then these people who have reformed their own nafs for Allah, those whom Allah created (?), who enter among His righteous servants — Allah Almighty raises these people in the hereafter by degrees. People who long for Allah while living their worldly life, who do their deeds for Allah — upon their passage to the hereafter, the abode that is the end of worldly life and the beginning of the hereafter is the abode of Paradise. And the name of the abode these people will go to is the Garden of Adn.

Yes.

Every person's nafs has seven states. We said it a moment ago, and we have written it here too. It is worth mentioning here only the names of these seven states of the nafs. We will not expand on them. If you wish, we can expand on them here. For example, the nafs al-ammara is a Muslim. No prayer, no supplication, no fasting, no zakat, no hajj. Drinking, gambling, adultery, interest — you name it, it is all there. All the evils. And when he starts talking about religion: look at my heart. My heart. My heart is clean. If one went to Paradise by the heart, dogs have hearts too. Yes. So by his own talk he puts himself in the middle of Paradise.

This is the nafs al-ammara. The nafs al-lawwama is freed from this. He keeps up his prayer, his fasting, his zakat. If he turns to piety here, he rises to the nafs al-mulhima, which enters the gate of wonders. People take these for great saints.

They do not dwell on the wonders there. If he continues on his way, he goes on reforming his nafs, he remembers Allah. By night in the tahajjud prayers, let me say, by day by taking care to seek the lawful — as long as he is adorned with piety, he reaches the nafs al-mutmainna, the divine manifestations. He attains the quality of a believer.

Between verses 27 and 30 of Surah Al-Fajr: "O nafs that has found peace, your Lord pleased with you and you pleased with your Lord, enter among My servants, enter My Paradise" — he enters among the people of whom He says this. If he goes further from here, he enters through the gate of knowledge that we call the nafs al-radiya. As Allah Almighty also says in the seventh verse of Surah Al Imran, they, those people, the people who enter through that gate of knowledge, people kneaded with Allah's knowledge, enter the class of scholars. "The passing of your scholars to the hereafter is like the sun going and darkness coming" — he rises to the state of the people of whom this is said.

That far. Five states of the nafs. Two states of the nafs are reserved for the Qutb al-Azam, who comes once every hundred years, and the Qutb al-Aqtab, who comes once every two hundred years.

These are two people among so many people. The Qutb al-Azam, one every hundred years; the Qutb al-Aqtab, also one every two hundred years. So these are exceptions. At the same time, these scholars who rise to the fifth state of the nafs are heirs of the prophets. People who have risen to the nafs al-mutmainna, people at the fourth degree of the nafs, have attained the divine manifestations. They are not heirs of the prophets.

Yes. But they are believers. They are good people. Why are they not heirs of the prophets? Being an heir of the prophets means being a scholar. And a scholar means one who guides people. So the group of people Allah Almighty calls scholars is in the nafs al-radiya. In the fifth state of the nafs. If he rises to the nafs al-mutmainna, to the manifestations, people there divide into three groups. The first becomes "lal" because of the manifestation he has seen. By "lal" I don't mean unable to speak. In a silence, sunk into himself, he talks to no one. He is in amazement. The second becomes majdhub, enraptured.

Majdhub. Summer or winter, they go about with collar and chest open, even in winter like this. They speak. He is not mad, he is majdhub. People call them mad. The third group returns as guides. For the reforming of the nafs. These are the sheikhs. Sheikhs. They too are valuable people. If this sheikh enters through the gate of knowledge and in the nafs al-radiya also pursues knowledge, then these sheikhs, it says, are like red sulphur. They are rare on earth. Yes.

You have probably learned the states of the nafs.

(?) In fact my talk is not bird language. People take this as bird language, or they cannot accept it. Because, not knowing those realms, in bewilderment they lose themselves and do not accept it. In fact this is the root of knowledge. Yes.

Every person's nafs has seven states.

It is worth mentioning here only the names of these seven states of the nafs, we say. We have mentioned them all. One, nafs al-ammara; two, nafs al-lawwama; three, nafs al-mulhima; four, nafs al-mutmainna; five, nafs al-radiya; six, nafs al-mardiyya; seven, nafs al-safiya. For each of these states of the nafs there is a paradise. A paradise each. We say there are eight paradises, right? The eighth paradise is Maqam Mahmud. People cannot even imagine it. It is the paradise given to the Prophet (peace be upon him). The seven paradises are the states in which, apart from the Prophet (peace be upon him), all created human beings, according to the states of their nafs before Allah Almighty, will enter the seven paradises.

For example, since this world is the likeness and shadow of the hereafter, here there are very poor, needy people. There are those who just support themselves. There are those a bit better off who have one house. Those a bit better off still who have a summer house. Those better off again who have a house, a car and a summer house. The rich. So then. If that place too is just like this — if this world is the likeness and shadow of the hereafter — if a person has worked in this world, saved, become an owner of property, likewise for the hereafter, if he has remembered his Lord, he is preparing his capital there from here.

In his prayer, his supplication, his fasting, in reforming the states of the nafs, by heeding the lawful and the forbidden, by turning to piety, by respecting people's rights — in this way a person prepares his place according to the degrees of the hereafter. This world is the likeness and shadow of the hereafter in every respect. Yes, in this case, according to the state of each nafs, according to each person's earnings in the hereafter, there are paradises. For example, a man never prayed, never fasted, never gave zakat, but went to the hereafter as (?). Well, if this man's sins outweigh his good deeds, in Hell he will suffer his punishment; for those who come out of there, there is a paradise.

A paradise for those who come out of there. Paradise, that is, the beauties of life again. Because he did not deny Allah, but he did not do his duty either. Still, out of our Lord's mercy, there is a paradise for him. He has a house, a home, whatever he wants. He has it, I mean. The second kept up his prayer and supplication. For him too there is a separate paradise. A paradise at a higher station. Now in this case the paradises are allotted, the places are allotted. In return for the worship people have done, Allah Almighty has allotted them paradises by degrees. Since there is a paradise for each state of the nafs, seven paradises, according to the seven states of the nafs, have been allotted.

If you say eight paradises — I already said, the eighth paradise is Maqam Mahmud. It is a paradise reserved for the Prophet. If you say, "Hodja, what kind of place is it?", I answer you from the verse. It says people cannot even imagine it. If it is something I cannot imagine, beyond the power of my imagination, what can I tell you? The Garden of Adn, on the other hand, is the name of the paradise to which people at peace will go, as I said a moment ago. These people are believers. And the believer we explained at length in earlier lessons. Here a short and concise reminder is useful.

Yes. Allah's grace and generosity.

Those honoured with the beauty of Allah Almighty are people of the nafs al-mutmainna. What did we say? Between verses 27 and 30 of Surah Al-Fajr — "O nafs that has found peace, your Lord pleased with you and you pleased with your Lord, go among My servants, enter My Paradise" — they are the people He speaks of.

May Allah Almighty, of the whole community of Muhammad, to those who for Allah, on Allah's path, struggle with their nafs, the people who break the evils of the nafs and become servants as Allah wishes — join us too, to all of them. Look there at Surah Al-Fajr, take a look. It will be near the end. Let's read that too, nicely.

So these people, when they enter this paradise, will enter it together with those of their fathers, spouses and children who are righteous. As the name says. They will enter together with those who are righteous. That is, people misunderstand the verses, or deliberately — what do they say? Well, my father was a gambler, a drinker — will he enter too? They don't pay attention to the words. With those who are righteous. Yes. Where is it? Yes.

Surah Al-Fajr.

25 26. Look what it says: Yâ eyyetühe'n-nefsü'l-mutmainne İrci'î ilâ rabbiki râdıyeten mardıyyeh. Fedhulî fî ibâdî. Vedhulî cennetî. Yes. What does it say? "O nafs that has found peace, well pleased with Him and He pleased with you, return to your Lord. Join My chosen servants and enter My Paradise." Yes. So beware, lest Satan mislead you. As Allah Almighty has made known to us: beware, it says — just as Satan stripped Adam and left him stark naked, let him not strip you stark naked and leave you, it says. Beware lest Satan deceive you and you say these were for people of old. Don't say there are no such people now.

For every person who reforms his nafs, the verses will keep their clarity and continuity until the Last Day. Until the Last Day the verses are the addressing words of Allah. So a person struggles with his nafs. He escapes the filth all around. (?) Two kinds of people (?). The first does his worldly dealings with an outward appearance. The second sinks with his soul into his inner world, cuts himself off from the outer world, and by remembering his Lord advances on Allah's path through reforming his nafs. "I have such servants that neither trade nor commerce diverts them from My remembrance" — he becomes the person that verse refers to.

Yes.

So these people, when they enter this paradise, will enter it together with those of their fathers, spouses and children who are righteous. People who have earned this station, even if it is their father, child or closest relative, cannot enter this paradise.

This worldly life — what are we saying here? People who have not earned this station — not earned, those who have not earned it — cannot enter this paradise, even if it is a father, a child or the closest relative. This worldly life is the likeness and shadow of the hereafter. Just as a father is rich, has wealth and property, lives well, and his child did not listen to his father and has a separate life. But his income is small, he is poor. Even if the father helps, since he did not listen to his father, he lives in hardship. The reverse can be true. The father is poor but the child is rich. The father depends on the child, but the disposal of the property, the disposal belongs to the child. So, the result of the worship done toward Allah Almighty — yes.

Every person has a certain state of the nafs, and a certain nafs has a certain paradise. In whichever state of the nafs people pass to the hereafter, those paradises will be granted to them. So the heart wishes that father, mother, child, the family members, sincere in obedience and worship to Allah Almighty, enter among the righteous servants and attain fine rewards in the hereafter. Living an immortal life in eternal bliss, may they not be separated from one another. And the angels, giving them glad tidings and esteem, out of respect for them come to them from every side. With smiling faces and sweet words they will say to them: They will say this: