Al-An'am 157: Or so that you won’t be able to complain; “If a Book had been sent down to us, we would have attained more guidance than them”. And thus, a clear proof, a guidance and a mercy from your Lord also came for you. Who is more oppressing than the one who denies Allah’s verses and turns away from them? For their turning away, We will punish those who turn away from Our verses with the most severe punishment.

Here Allah Almighty also answers another question they would ask. "Or: if a Book had been sent down to us too, we would have been better guided than they" — lest you say this, We sent down the Quran. "Now there has come to you too from your Lord a clear proof, guidance and mercy." Yes, what does it say? "Now there has come to you too from your Lord a clear proof, guidance and mercy." Who? "Than one who denies Allah's verses and turns away from them, who is more unjust?" it says. Than one who denies Allah's verses and turns away from them — more unjust. "Those who turn away from Our verses, because of their turning away, with the worst of punishment We will punish," it says.

Before reading the commentary, let us the verses — the meaning — open up the meaning here. "Or: if a Book had been sent down to us too, we would be more on the right path than they" — lest you say this, We sent down the Quran. Not only the Arabs. All the people in the world. Here He means all people. Because the Prophet (peace be upon him) came as a mercy to the worlds. In the Holy Quran, Allah Almighty sent him as a mercy to the worlds. In this case, Allah Almighty — the questions people will ask, the questions above, (?), in the verse, and here too for all the worlds: lest you say, apart from those two communities, we were unaware of these.

Lest you say, if this book had come to us, we would be more on the right path. "Now a mercy has come to you from your Lord," it says. Yes.

We sent down the Quran. "Now there has come to you from your Lord a clear proof, guidance and mercy," it says. Guidance and mercy.

"Who is more unjust than one who denies Allah's verses and turns away from them?" it says. Now this part is very meaningful. This part is meaningful.

Here a person must use his reason. This is one of the verses where one must use one's reason. He must use his reason. How must he use his reason? You know, in the verse: "Do you not reflect?" "Do you not think?" "Do you not use your reason?" It says that, doesn't it. A person denies His verses. He is a non-Muslim.

He denies His Prophet, associates partners with Allah. But there is a very bitter side here.

Truly very bitter. A Muslim person hears the truth. He also sees that the verses are true. Because he will not give up anything of his nafs, he — because of the people around him, so as not to be embarrassed before people, following every stubborn devil — stands up against the truth with false and wrong fatwas. This is very bitter.

The other one you recognize. You say this one is a non-Muslim.

But such a person both says "I am Muslim" and makes no concessions; he does not want to compromise on Allah's religion. And at the same time, holding his nafs above Allah's verses, so as not to be shown a liar to those around him, or to lose those around him — not to lose them — or so as not to be seen as low in their eyes, he stands up against Allah's true verses. He tries to defend superstitions and falsehoods. This is the bitter side of people.

So, "than one who denies Allah's verses and turns away from them, more unjust, more unjust," it says. Yes. "Who, than one who denies Allah's verses and turns away from them, is more unjust?"

People who throw falsehood over the truth, too, Allah's verses — even if not knowingly, even if not knowingly — because they cannot give up their nafs's whims, they too fall under this verse. They are more unjust. Because they too, because they give up nothing of their nafs, are unjust, even if not knowingly. And they are within the circle of ignorance. Yunus Emre says so too. "If you put a black stone in water," he says, "even if you boil it forty years, it is still a stone, still a stone," he says; it will not soften. "The ignorant one is like this too," he says. That is, the ignorant one is like that too. With his nafs's whims, never, never can he give up those whims of his nafs.

Yes.

"Those who turn away from Our verses, because of their turning away, with the worst of punishment We will punish," it says. With the worst of punishment. These are the polytheists too. Those who turn away. Now, how beautifully meaningful the verse's meaning is — as we explained a moment ago, we said one (?): disbelievers. And also those within Islam who cannot give up their nafs and contradict the verses, who twist them. By deifying their nafs, not approaching Allah's verses, just so as not to give anything up before those around them, so as not to be seen as low in their eyes, they tell what they know falsely and wrongly to people and contradict Allah's verses, we said.

That is, two groups; here too it says it so beautifully. What does it say now? Now: "Those who turn away from Our verses, those who turn away — because of their turning away We will punish them with the worst of punishment," it says. Because of their turning away. One has turned away completely and gone. The other doesn't turn away; he knows the verses are true too, but he cannot give up anything of his nafs. The difference between these two groups: the difference is, since he gives up nothing of his faith either, they are distinguished. The first: the worst of punishment. That is, that the people who do not recognize the book of Allah and His Messenger have their place in the fire of Hell and will be punished with fire.

The other gives up nothing of his nafs. But he also gives up nothing of the religion of Islam. He affirms Allah and His Messenger. He affirms the book of Allah and His Messenger. But because he gives up nothing of his nafs, he begins to speak falsely and wrongly. There is a difference between them, of course. He too will be punished, but his punishment is not like that of a disbeliever. Yes. The verses are very beautiful. Allah makes everything known without any deficiency. As long as people understand the verses. Those who are not qualified say (?). (?). They speak falsely and wrongly.

Although the Holy Quran came down in Arabic, it was not in the sense of being sent down because the Arab people said, "If a Book had been sent down to us too, we would be better guided than they" — not in that sense. In the first sense, Allah's word is true. He sent His verse in this way. At its root, however, it addresses all people.

As we said a moment ago, "or if a Book had been sent down to us too" — that is, not only to the Arabs — as in the meaning one above, as we said in the verse, at the root of this too there is an address to all people. "Now a clear proof has come to you too from your Lord" — that is, to all people too, to you too. Don't you too say, like the Arabs, "no book came to us". Because Allah Almighty does not place on people's backs a burden they cannot bear. So: "We did not hear." Since Allah Almighty anyway will not call anyone to account for what we were not made to hear — what we were not made to hear, anyway.

In this whole world, with the verse He sent as a mercy to the worlds, with this verse, Allah Almighty will make all people hear. Even people at the poles know that Islam exists. Islam. In this case no one will be able to say, I did not hear. Those who did not hear are excepted. Because for a thing he did not hear, no one will be called to account by Allah Almighty. Yes.

His saying "Now a clear proof has come to you too from your Lord" does not mean only the Arab people but means all people. Namely: before the worlds were created, Allah, who created the light of Muhammad (peace be upon him) and then gave him of His spirit, then created, from the spirit of Muhammad (peace be upon him), to whom He had given His spirit, the spirits of the prophets; and that Allah Almighty who created the spirits of the prophets, from the spirits of the prophets created the spirits of their peoples to come; since Allah the whole universe from the (?) of Muhammad, and people from his spirit, created — Muhammad. So His sending the Holy Quran through the Seal of the Prophets, Muhammad, in the Arabic language — since at the root all spirits know Arabic, so that no injustice be done to any person — one reason why the Holy Quran was sent in Arabic, easy to understand, is this.

And one of the main reasons is that Allah's word is based on letters. For this reason Allah's word is a very rich word. There is no language on earth richer than Arabic. All languages — if one looks at all languages, the root, the root of all of them comes from Arabic. Now, in all languages — for example in German "Mutter" is mother, "mama" in Arabic; in German "Mutter" is mother, in Arabic they say "mama" for mother. Many words — for example, with us "pijama", pyjama, in Arabic also "gomlak", "gomlak" — the roots are all roughly — all spread from Arabic. A very rich language, based on letters, a single — roughly coming to single meanings, but in some words coming to many meanings, many meanings, with letters coming at the beginning or the end becoming positive or negative; or, in our own language, our pulling the right path Allah Almighty showed toward the crooked — there are 500 such errors, by our pulling it toward the crooked — so that Allah Almighty's word may be well understood, this time He sends the prophets' heirs, the scholars, and gives the scholars knowledge and wisdom so that in such wrong words that will creep in, in matters that will ascribe a quality to Allah, these people may clean up.

So that the light of Allah's religion continues until the Day of Judgement. But while they clean up like this: "Oh, this one doesn't know Arabic. This one is a mütecelli. This one, well, has plunged into deep knowledge of the hereafter. What he says is wrong" — with such judgements, according to that verse we mentioned, he will throw falsehood against the truth and with superstitions supposedly defend the truth. Whereas Allah Almighty sent His other books in the languages of their peoples. And He says this: "When We sent a prophet to a people, We sent him in that people's language," He says. In that people's language.

So when Allah Almighty raises scholars and places them among those people, to him — for example a scholar raised in Germany, a scholar raised, let's say, in England, or a scholar raised in America. "He absolutely must know Arabic" — among the scholars Allah Almighty raises. Among the scholars who are heirs of Allah's prophets. "He absolutely must know Arabic." He sends them to them in their own language. So that he explains it to them better. Yes. So, you will translate. And we will (?) whether it is Allah's word or not. You will translate; we will sift out whether it is Allah's word or not, and inside it we will clean out the (?) of kufr.

Why? Because He raised us. The Raiser, Allah, raises. He gives knowledge and wisdom. With that knowledge and wisdom one both understands the meanings of the verses well and also discerns whether these are verses or not. This is a wisdom Allah gives to people. Even people who know nothing of this wisdom, with their own heads, with half-baked Arabic, themselves at the highest station in religion they see. It's truly something to marvel at. He'd take an alif for a beam, yet he sees himself in the highest sense. "Don't you, Hodja," you say, "see yourself at the highest station, these people like this by condemning?" I condemn no one.

I am telling everyone to know their place, their place. For example, my voice isn't beautiful either; I can't recite the Quran very beautifully. Look, I am saying this. I recite the Quran; I can't recite it very beautifully. My voice isn't beautiful either. (?), maybe I can't recite it according to its qira'at either. According to its qira'at too. But saying I can't recite according to the qira'at doesn't mean I recite the Quran falsely and wrongly. I can't teach children because it goes against my nature. I'm a bit impatient. This is something that requires patience. These are fine things. If one teaches Arabic, one teaches a language; it's nice, even nicer.

But when it comes to meaning, when it comes to opening up, I say it is not their place. How do I know whether it's their place? I know from how they speak. And until now I have not come across such speech. I have not come across the tongue of a person who speaks this way. You come across them on the sites too. I explain it to you too, and you understand from people's speech that they explain falsely and wrongly. And that there is no knowledge in them, that is, that they lack the knowledge of the Quran, you understand too. In this case, when they threw John into prison, they said to John: a person who speaks like you has come. Then he said, "Praise be to Allah, my namesake has come," about Jesus.

About Jesus. In this case, in this case, since superstitions and falsehoods and the truth are distinct — someone who speaks the truth, who properly and honestly speaks the truth and properly opens up the verses, I have not yet come across. He talks about verses, reads the verse, and moves on to the verse's history, that is, to narrations. This one did so, that one did that, this became so, that became so — no one explains the verse. There is no verse. But if you pay attention, we don't go to narrations. "They did this, they did that, they did this so, they did that" and so on — we have none of that.

What do we do? Directly with Allah's verses, in what sense He addresses us, and what we, as Allah's servants, can do, what we must do, I am trying to explain to you. That is indeed the meaning of the verses. Yes.

So the reason the Holy Quran was sent in Arabic, easy to understand, is also this. That is, since all people at the root know Arabic, at the root, and by its being a (?) rich language, His sending it down in Arabic is fitting for Allah's word — we will say more fitting. More fitting. Because, fully, whether in Arabic or in other languages, the word has no equivalent. But such a word is used there, such a word is used that this word we are obliged to open up. For example, other people use the expression "it is hoped that" for that word. For that word of Allah they use the expression "it is hoped that".

By using the expression "it is hoped that" he ascribes a quality to Allah Almighty; he is not aware of it. But since he can't find a word in its place, he puts "it is hoped that". And while putting "it is hoped that", he cannot grasp that he has ascribed a quality to Allah. Because in Arabic too it comes to the meaning "it is hoped that". Whereas now, since it has no equivalent, we say "so that" — what does it mean? That is, there are many, many materials here. Here "so that" marks some things among those many materials. "So that", that is, within a community. That is, those who live kufr and will return to Islam, will return to Allah's command — the people marked within a span of time given to such people.

"So that" they... How will you express this? There is no such word. There is no word that would come to that meaning as its counterpart. So when we say this word "so that", we write it there as its counterpart. "It is in this sense," we say. That's why in the Holy Quran we will publish we say: attention, it is important, it is important. Read this part, I say. Read this part. If we are truly to understand the Quran.

Yes.

One of the main reasons is that Allah's word is based on letters. That is, we are listing the reasons here. For this reason Allah's word is a very rich word. There is no language on earth richer than Arabic. If one looks at all languages, the root of all of them comes from Arabic. So the Quran being sent in Arabic — Allah Almighty's word fitting only into the Arabic language, which (?) — explains the truth to people completely, fully and clearly. At the same time, it is so that all the world's people can understand the Quran easily.

In this respect, His saying "to you too" — "to you too" means all people. In the Holy Quran too, His saying clearly and plainly "guidance and mercy have come to you" — Allah, who sends people to the world of (?), so that people do not suffer and stray onto wrong paths, sends prophets, books and scholars.

In the last one He sent, the Holy Quran too, since He taught people what they did not know, as a light and radiance before them He decrees: "Guidance and mercy have come to you from your Lord." Here, in the sense of mercy: since people are deficient in reason and fallible, so that (?) to destruction with the evils they will do, that they follow the Quran, and, finding the truth in the Quran they follow, that the evils they did in the age of ignorance be forgiven them and that they attain mercy — it is for this. Yes. In this case, according to His verse "Who is more unjust than one who denies Allah's verses and turns away from them?", on earth, than people who turn away from Allah Almighty's verses, there is no one more unjust.

There is no one more unjust. And no one is sweeter of speech than one who, governed by Allah Almighty's verses, explains them — there is none. That is its opposite. Look what it says: "Who is more unjust than one who turns away from Allah's verses?" Again in a verse: "Than one who explains Allah, who is sweeter of speech?" it says. This is its opposite. Yes.

On earth, than people who turn away from Allah Almighty's verses, more unjust there is no one. Although Allah makes the truth known with so many clear verses, does not withhold His mercy and compassion from people, and completes every kind of blessing on people, toward his own nafs so unjust and cruel a person you will not find. So these communities are unjust communities. Of course. People who are oppressive to their own souls will surely, holding others as nothing, be even more oppressive to them and will emerge as an unjust society. Yes, so these communities are unjust communities. Whoever turns away from Allah's verses — Allah Almighty will punish those who turn from the verses with the severest punishment, so He decrees. May Allah Almighty, because of people turning away from the verses, reform them. May He protect the whole community of Muhammad from meeting this end, we said. Yes.