Al-An'am 76: When the night covered Abraham, he saw a star and asked; “Is this my Lord?” When the star faded away, then he said; “I do not like those who fade away.”

Let's go on. Our daughter says: Hodja, at verse 76 of Surah Al-An'am we left off, she says.

When the night covered Abraham. Abraham (peace be upon him) is a hanif. Hanif means that even as a child he believed in the one Allah and was free of the idols that they, that is his people, worshipped. Because, well, from childhood he was bound to the one Allah on the religion of Islam, being fully upon the natural disposition of Islam, he was called a hanif.

When the night covered Abraham, he saw a star. Is this my Lord? he said.

Of course, a child is looking. He is looking for a star, of course, searching. That star. When the star set, he said: I do not love those that set. How beautifully he puts it. I do not love those that set. Even before reaching the age of reason, Abraham would think of Allah Almighty. He longed for Him in His oneness. Now, there are the heirs of the prophets, you know, the scholars, heirs of the prophets.

Also, in a hadith, the Prophet (peace be upon him) says: the wali of my ummah is like a prophet of the Children of Israel, you know; then, if there are scholars raised by Allah Almighty, they too, according to the covenants they have given, even as children always think of Allah. How do you know, Hodja? Because we went down the same road. In my mind, since I reached the age of reason — not the age of reason, I was a child. I remember it like this, around the age of four. Around four. As if they were impressing on me inside that there is no god but the one God. There is nothing but Allah; that is Allah.

I was a child, you know: Azrael has now taken his soul, Azrael has now taken his soul. Who is Azrael, I said, to take my soul? So I used to stand up to Azrael like that. I was a child, after all. And it truly turned out to be so. Azrael does not take the soul; the person surrenders himself. The soul surrenders itself. Yes. In many childhood events too, many things happened to us. Now (?). Those feelings are the same anyway; we are describing them. Even as a child, with this thought, with the coming of night, and since his people worshipped stars, on seeing a star in the sky: Could this be my Lord?

he said. Of course, since we were in the lands of Islam we never saw such a thing; we always knew one Allah. Well, but that was a star-worshipping group. Yes, a (?); idols, stars they worshipped.

Yes, since they worshipped stars, on seeing a star in the sky: Could this be my Lord? he would say. What made him say this was his faith in Allah Almighty. That he was created by a Lord — he knows this. Knowing that Allah sees and knows everything, on seeing the star high up, believing that it saw everywhere, from his saying this too, and then, when the star set, he would say: I do not love those that set. Yes.

Yes.

Believing that it saw everywhere, from his saying this too, and then, when the star set, he would say: I do not love those that set. Because, knowing that Allah sees and hears at every moment, when the star set — had it been Allah, its image would not have vanished either. Since it vanished, it could not be Allah. That is why he would say: I do not love those that set. Those that set.

I've said it.