Al-An'am 161: Say; “With no doubt, my Lord has guided me to the straight path, to the straight religion. Abraham, who proclaimed the Oneness of Allah, was also upon this religion. Abraham was not among those who associated partners.”

Surah Al-An'am, verse 161. Say: indeed my Lord has guided me to the right path, to the upright religion. Guided to the right path, to the upright religion. That is, not with words people invented by their own reasoning; not to the idols people made by their own reasoning as a lord, carved with their own hands, you see, and worshipped as Allah, but to the Owner of the worlds: He guided to the upright path, the religion. Abraham, who held Allah to be One, was also on this religion. It says it beautifully: who held Allah to be One. A hanif who did not worship idols even as a child, believing in the one Allah.

Yes. He was not one of those who associate partners, it says. About Abraham (peace be upon him).

If I told you about myself, you would not believe it. I remember how I was at around four. My state at around four.

I believed in the one Allah. In the one Allah.

And (?), of course. (?), as to how he took my life, I used to say: he cannot take my life. That is how I relied on Allah. So there was a strength, a spiritual will, since I said this even at the age of four. I remember those things. Yes. Allah Almighty created the Beloved of the Majestic, Muhammad (peace be upon him), first of all. First of all. By keeping the religion of Islam, which would come with the Prophet (peace be upon him), alive until the Last Day, He exalted the honour of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) with this. See how beautiful. With whom did He exalt the honour of the Salaf?

Those who pass on to one another His religion, which will live until the Last Day, upon the religion of Islam. Who do not leave Islam, who are not carried away by superstitions; who, in the time of the Messenger of Allah, with what those people called the Salaf did, are guided. Until the Last Day, the religion of Islam they will pass on from father to son. And the verse of Allah Almighty will come true: Allah will perfect His light until the Last Day. They are blowing with their mouths; they thought they would put out Allah's light. Yes. So for these (?) that enter the religion, Allah Almighty raises scholars.

Scholars. Those scholars, at the same time, with the wisdom He gave them and the subtleties of the Quran, clean away the superstitions that went into the religion.

They sort out the ideologies slipped into the books. Those who state a hadith as a hadith and then change it without contributing anything. That is, who pull it elsewhere. Yes.

In this respect He sent the Prophet (peace be upon him) as the last of the prophets. To complete the (?) of Islam, He also sent down the Holy Quran to the Prophet (peace be upon him) by way of revelation. Revelation. It was not Gabriel who revealed it. Those who pin it all on Gabriel. Because they (?) toward Allah, because they associate partners with Allah, because they attribute partners to Allah, they (?) Gabriel and take away Allah's attribute. Gabriel revealed it all, Gabriel taught it, they say. Yet Gabriel can neither reveal nor teach. Gabriel. Because my Lord raised him. And what does it say? Your Lord educated him.

How beautifully He educated him, it says. Our Lord raised him. And look what it says

in the verse: You were hoping this Quran would be given to you, weren't you? it says. So he already knew this beforehand. He knows the Quran too. From before. How could Gabriel teach this? While Gabriel was created from his light, how could he command the spirit? You see, because people lack knowledge of the Quran, with all sorts of strange superstitions they both do away with the glory of Allah Almighty and disparage the Prophet, belittle him. Very sad things. Ask him, and he is entirely upon the religion of Islam, flawless, never making a mistake in Islam, a person who (?) Islam. If you ask him. But a person unaware of the verses, the verses, and full of empty words.

Yes. Perhaps they cannot understand the meanings of what I say either, cannot grasp its subtleties. And if we tried to explain it, we would leave the lesson, for it would be a very deep knowledge. Deep. Here we address the general public.

The Messenger of Allah says: speak in a language people will understand. I too speak somewhat from above, above the language people understand I speak, but I speak against superstitions. Not to those who use their reason and take their place on the side of truth. They understand anyway. Yes, so Muhammad (peace be upon him) is the one who knows Allah as One. One. Besides whom there is no god, who created the universe, owner of the heavens and the earth and what is between them, that He is their owner; who makes His creatures, His creatures, remember their Lord; Allah, who makes His creatures remember their Creator, remember, makes them remember their Lord, makes them remember their Lord, their Creator. With what?

The heavens and the earth and what is between them have known the remembrance of their Lord. That is, every matter, every matter's atoms and the nuclei inside them, neutrons and protons, positively and negatively charged nuclei, while spinning around their own axes, make a sound, even if we do not hear it. That very sound remembers Allah. Allah. In that case, by making everything He created remember His Being, our Lord signifies that there is no god besides Him. Just as a factory stamps its mark on the products it puts out, just as it takes out a patent for them, and no one else can produce that product.

Nor produce it under that patent. So Allah Almighty too, by making His creatures remember His Being, according to the verse: the heavens and the earth and what is between them have known the remembrance of their Lord, Allah Almighty, besides whom there is no god, Allah Almighty, besides whose Being there is no god, makes His creatures remember His Being. Makes them remember His Being. Yes.

What are we saying? So Muhammad (peace be upon him) is the one who knows Allah as One. Besides whom there is no god, who created the universe, the heavens and the earth and what is between them, that He is their owner; Allah who makes His creatures remember their Lord; who, guiding His Beloved to the upright path, that the religions sent since the beginning were upon the religion of Islam, proves with the books in the hands of those who deny Allah; Allah, who proves it with the books in their hands; Allah, gathering these books in the Holy Quran, has, with the Prophet (peace be upon him), the religion of Islam completed.

All the books too are upon the nature of Islam. In the verses: the verses that came to them, within the same verses in the Holy Quran, by telling them in somewhat more detail, He completes the detailed verses for people whose minds work. Now here there comes to my mind the superstition of certain people:

This verse was abrogated by that verse. There is no abrogation in the Holy Quran. Abrogation would mean speaking in vain. Or else: the custom of Allah Almighty, it says; this is His custom from of old, it says. So He does not have one do one thing and another do another. Then what does He do? Now, what does He do with the verses? He changes them to a higher meaning. Isn't that so? As with the Ten Commandments, within the same verses, He explains the verses in more detail. In more detail. But the people of that time could only understand that much. Because their capacity was only that much. Their mental capacity.

So His explaining it by changing it to a higher meaning

does not mean this verse was abrogated by that verse. But now you will show me a verse: Hodja, in this verse here one may marry unbelievers. And in this verse here it says one may not marry polytheists. So, wasn't it abrogated by this verse? Or else: do not marry polytheists, it says. And in the other verse it says you may marry unbelievers from the People of the Book. Wasn't it abrogated by this verse, he asks? It was not abrogated. Because the meaning of polytheist is different. The meaning of an unbeliever of the People of the Book is different. A polytheist is an idolater, one who worships idols.

He does not believe in Allah and His Messenger, in the books. The unbeliever, though, believes in the book in his hand, but associates partners with Allah, does not believe in the Prophet or the Quran. But you may marry them, it says. That is, to a degree it grants us a permission. But this does not mean that one was abrogated by the other. Yes. But if we ask these (?), they are all about abrogations. This verse was abrogated by that one. And he says it with great pride. Because it pleases his heart. (?) to the person, and his nafs will draw him away from Allah, after all; to him it works like a piece of knowledge, as if he had learning. With pride: by this verse that verse was abrogated. Why did Allah send this verse, (?) Repentance, I seek Allah's forgiveness.

Repentance, I seek Allah's forgiveness.

If for that Beloved of the Majestic, (?), Muhammad (peace be upon him), He sent down the verse 'he does not speak idly', then he does not speak idly. Would He Himself speak idly? His community, His servants, the community of the Messenger of Allah, the servants of Allah Almighty: in the High Paradise there is no such idle talk, He says; so would Allah Almighty, in one verse, belie what He said in another? Any ordinary person.

So the nafs shows him so nicely the (?), the superstitions, as truth. As truth. Yes.

Today We have perfected your religion for you. We have chosen Islam for you as religion. We gave you the name Islam. We have made you witnesses over the other communities. For whoever seeks a religion other than Islam, the religion he seeks will never benefit him: with these verses Allah clearly declares to people that there is no other besides Islam. He also lays this truth before people: O people! The prophets you believed in were also prophets who knew Allah as One. Who knew Allah as One. They too, since childhood, did not believe in any superstition. Because their characters were set that way.

Yes, but you strayed from their ways, you attributed equals and partners to Allah; and saying that Abraham too was among those who knew Allah as One, so that people find the truth, with His verses and with (?) examples, He awakens people. He too was a human. Abraham too was a human. Even as a child he did not believe in idols. O human, what is wrong with you? Although We sent you the truth, although We sent prophets, although We sent scholars, although We sent books as a light before you, you stray from the path of truth. Yes, from the prophets, the scholars, the men advancing on the path of truth, do you take no share at all? Yes, but if a person still goes on sleeping, the responsibility and the burden lie with the person himself.

Yes, a person in this world is a guest: he will know this; a person, even if he cannot live accordingly, in the way Allah Almighty commanded, will try with all the effort he can to do it. Because Allah Almighty says: a load you cannot carry We do not place on your back. Yes. Practising the religion of Islam is not hard. But the nafs weighs heavily on a person. And Satan ties a person's (?) to his feet. As if there were cannonballs on his feet. In that case, the unrest of a person who, drifting away from religion, follows what pleases his nafs but drags him into dead ends and kneads him in misfortunes, who grows harsh through those misfortunes and thinks that is living: can it be the same as the life of one who goes on Allah's path, whose foot does not stumble on a stone, who accepts what comes from his Lord and whose heart is full of peace?

So, in this world, in a temporary inn with two doors, is it worth living without peace? Without peace. And without being sure of one's future. Are you sure, Hodja? I'm not sure either. But as long as I hold on to Allah's verses, I trust in them. I trust in them.

But one who never holds on to the verses, does not pray, does not worship, why should he feel secure? Let's say I am going along stumbling and stumbling, but there is a staff in my hand. I lean on my staff. That staff at least saves me from tumbling to the ground. But you have no staff in your hand and your balance is off. What will you do?

You cannot escape tumbling or crawling. So you too, hold on to something. That is, on Allah's path, at least, at least fulfil Allah's command upon us of the five daily prayers. Five times. At least you hold on to that. You say: my Allah, I did these. But while doing it, without noticing, you are cut off from many evils. That is why prayer is a must in our religion. We will perform that prayer. Yes.