Al-An'am 40: Say; “Tell me, if Allah’s punishment or the Day of Judgment were to come upon you, would you pray to anyone other than Allah? If you are among the truthful ones (tell me the truth).

Surah Al-An'am, verse 40: Well, will you tell me? If the punishment of Allah or the Hour comes upon you, will you call upon other than Allah, other than Allah? Never! When a calamity befalls a person, he says "Allah." Allah. I met a Jew. The Jew — this man was telling me about Christianity. And I was telling him about Islam, about Islam. I'll tell you something, he said. Tell me, I said. I, he said, set out on a trip in my car, he said, while passing through the Himalayas, he said, my car, he said, towards a cliff it rolled, he said. Luckily, he said, there was a ditch, he said, a ditch; I got stuck in the ditch, he said, but at that moment, he said, "Allah" came out of my mouth, he said.

Allah. I would never say Allah, he said. Look. I would never say Allah, he said. But at that moment, he said, what made me say it, he said — "Allah," he said.

If I tell you, will (?) believe, I said. Believe? Yes. You have taken (?) in your nature, of course, I said. Way back in the first barzakh. In that address of the Lord, Elestü bi-Rabbiküm, when He said "I am your Lord," since each of us knows that we were created by a Lord, in our helpless moment, our moment of straits, we call upon the one who created us, saying "Allah." You too called upon your Creator, saying "Allah." You know that there is someone who created me. So even if you are an unbeliever — what does Allah Almighty say in the verse? My Beloved, say to them: who created these worlds? They say: Allah. Allah.

They know Allah. But Allah, who created them and stands before them, as Allah they do not acknowledge. They deny Him.

In this case too, look what it says. Say: will you tell me? If the punishment of Allah or the Hour comes upon you, will you call upon other than Allah? If you are truthful, tell us then, it says. Tell us then. Yes. They know that Allah. Remember, he said yes — yes. Kalû belâ: he said yes. That yes is because he knows he was created by a Lord. Yes.

To those who know Allah Almighty and yet deny Allah out of stubbornness, Allah asks a fine question. If a punishment came upon you or the Hour broke, would you call upon other than Allah? If you are truthful, tell us then, it says.

One deceives a person.

Allah also knows what passes through a person's heart. Because He knows the secrets of the hearts. In that case, if you falsely say, no, I would not say Allah, you deceive yourself. Because earlier you said yes, you said yes, you knew that Allah, that is, you knew your Creator. That is why you turn to your Creator. But if here, in the world, with your tongue, out of stubbornness and rebellion, you say no, you fool your own nafs.

His addressing them, "If you are truthful, tell us then," He addresses them. His asking, "If you are truthful," — each spirit being created in the world of lahut, then Allah Almighty addressing these created spirits, Allah Almighty addressing these created spirits. By His saying "I am your Lord," that our spirits have a Lord — because our reason called aql-i maad, given to the spirits as the knower of Allah, knows its Lord, it is because of this that we accept Allah's existence. Allah's existence. But is it Him, though? But it is not Him. Not — and ashâbü'l-meş'emeti mâ ashâbü'l-meş'emeh. But what did he accept? That I was created by a Lord.

Yes, and our rebellion comes from Allah Almighty being very close to man, and from man's pride and arrogance, from their not recognizing their Lord as Lord. Since each spirit knows it has a Lord who created it, His addressing people with the word: if a disaster comes upon you or the Hour breaks, will you call upon other than Allah? If you are truthful, tell us then — His addressing people with these words is proof that all spirits know Allah. It is that our spirits know, certainly and beyond dispute, that there is a God who created them. With this verse Allah Almighty throws down the gauntlet to people.

Come on then, He says. Yes, Allah Almighty, complete, free from deficient attributes — all kinds of questions people would ask about His being, our Lord informs us of with His verses, and cuts us off from the questions that would be asked. The end of it is that, with the deeds we ourselves have done, in our taking good deeds and sins, all the loads are placed upon these two shoulders of ours.

But take care: let your load on the left be light, and let the load on the right be heavy.

Hodja, are you cursing us, saying let the load on our left be light? What if there were no load? That cannot be. Why? It would contradict the verse. (?) if you had not committed errors, We would destroy you and create in your place servants who commit errors. Every person is faulty and sinful. But if we take refuge in Allah's mercy, then, if we ask forgiveness for our sins, and our Lord, according to our intention, surely forgives our sins, then we save our skins in the world of the Hereafter. Here, here, we will try to keep that load light. That is, even if we add to it, we will repent and seek forgiveness.

Yes.

our rebellion comes from Allah Almighty being very close to man, and from man's pride and arrogance, from their not recognizing their Lord as Lord. Since each spirit knows it has a Lord who created it, His addressing people with the word: if a disaster comes upon you or the Hour breaks, will you call upon other than Allah? If you are truthful, tell us then — is proof that all spirits know Allah. It is that our spirits know that there is a God who created them, certainly and beyond dispute.

So man's rebellion — according to the verse "Have you not seen the one who deifies his nafs?" — out of the pride and grandeur of his nafs is his opposing his Lord. Yes, what does this resemble? If I were to give you an example.

You know the saying "you are you, I am me," we can liken it to this. In the words we said earlier: if we took a drop of water from the ocean, from a sea, that drop, we said, carries the properties of the ocean, the properties of that water. Now if the ocean says, I am the universal being, that part says: I too am a part of you; if you are water, I too am water. Water to water. The properties in you are in me too, it says. Properties, it says. What properties? Fame, renown, pride, arrogance, egotism, grandeur and egoism. (?) love of the world. In that case he associates partners with Allah Almighty.

By deifying his own nafs. Yet the poor wretch cannot grasp that he was created helpless; even though he is a part of his Lord, if this many parts came together, and as many again, and the jinn gathered too, they could not harm Allah. Yes.

What did we say? So man's rebellion — according to the verse "Have you not seen the one who deifies his nafs?" — is his opposing his Lord out of the pride and grandeur of his nafs. But when he is in straits, when a disaster befalls him, when the Hour breaks, he remembers his Lord. The meaning of the Hour breaking: in the first meaning it is people's death, the breaking of a person's own Last Day. The soul has reached the throat. The world of the Hereafter has been shown to him. Then man has woken from sleep. The living dead have come back to life there. That is, he has seen the truth. In the second meaning it is the breakdown of the order of the universe, the moment of the Hour breaking — His saying that in these situations you remember Allah, hope for help from the one who created you, and call upon Him alone.

That even if a person rebels with his tongue, in his heart he knows Allah, Allah Almighty declares. In another meaning, when an accident befalls a person, he immediately says "Allah." When he is plunged into calamities, he remembers Allah. Like what? It says to you: darkness upon darkness, amid the waves of the sea, it says. While sailing in that ship, it says, you immediately call upon Allah sincerely, but when your Lord brings you to land, you return to your former state again, it says. Yes.

He confirms this with this word of His. He proves it by saying, "If you are truthful." When your prayers are accepted and the calamities are lifted from you, you return to your former state again, He says.