Al-A'raf 55: Pray to your Lord pleadingly and secretly. Know that Allah does not like those who transgress.

We have come to Surah Al-A'raf, verse 55.

Call upon your Lord humbly, imploringly and in secret. Know that He does not love those who transgress the limits. Transgressing the limits means going outside Allah's command.

Sir, are there no transgressors today? There are. What happens, Hodja? Allah Almighty gives them two (?) three calamities a year. Because the Prophet came as a mercy to the worlds, for his sake He lifted the destructions. There is no destruction, there are calamities. But these calamities are just like destruction too. Exactly like destruction. In one go it kills forty thousand, fifty thousand, six thousand people. Yes, all created beings are in need. Of whom? Of Allah. They are in need of the Creator. They are beings that need to be cared for by their Creator and have their needs met. Aren't we all like that?

Isn't all creation like that? Yes, aren't the animals sustained by eating and drinking, right? Doesn't their Lord give them their provision? By turning 17 thousand worlds around each other He both makes the world a filter, a filter that cleans, and provides for His creations through their unity. Aren't people like that? On earth they subsist by eating and drinking. They eat, they drink. Of Allah's creations, He brought them all into the world and placed them there. So that people eat, drink and enjoy. With His birds in the air, His various beings in the sea, fish, the other beings He created, on land His animals, vegetables, plants, with everything He has put it at man's command.

And all these created things, the provisions of the beings He created, He secured and offered to them. Before this great divine power, a person, let alone kneeling, falls into prostration. Before this divine power, so many blessings and so much knowledge, so much greatness, and in return for the value He has given man, and with great grace treating all His creation with mercy and compassion, before that, let alone kneeling, a person falls into prostration. Yes.

All created beings are in need. They are beings that need to be cared for by their Creator and have their needs met. Allah, who created the universe, created all beings so that they need His essence. Accordingly, by wishing from Allah, by presenting his needs to the Lord who created him, if he asks from Him, then for the blessings Allah has offered him he both gives thanks, and, there being no other being besides Allah, turning his face to Him, raising his hands to Him, he asks from Him. How beautiful. When a person asks Allah for his need, he has come to know the Owner of the worlds. He signified that there is no god but Him, and at the same time (?) thanks to his Lord.

How beautiful prayer is. Prayer: need, asking from Allah. Yes.

Now when I say prayer, this comes to my mind. The Jews also pray at the Wailing Wall. Of course, we are talking about Islamic prayer. Not about the prayer of non-Muslims. One must point these things out, one must know them.

Yes. So whoever prays to Allah for his need, Allah surely answers. He knows people's needs. By making them pray, through people's helplessness He breaks their egoistic states. Making them bow to their Lord, He both meets the needs of those who pray and raises their ranks. This is how Allah increases people's faith. Through prayer. He is going to raise them, after all. O my Lord! I am in such and such a state. You have power over everything. You would not load on my back what I cannot bear in this world. So if my wish is good for me, grant it to me. If it is against me, I have taken refuge in You.

(?) it from me. Yes. How beautiful. You bowed your head. You entreated your Lord. You were content with what comes from Him.

Good. And you gave thanks to your Lord too. That there is no god but Him, and that there is no other door to take refuge in, you presented to Allah. And Allah Almighty, if it is for this world, will both give you your need and, because you submitted to Him, increase your faith and raise your rank. If your need will not serve you in this world, when you say "(?) it from me", by your being patient with it, in the hereafter He will set its (?) before you. Such is Allah (?). A great Allah. A person's eyes fill with tears. Yes.

Those feelings let a person live through worlds.

Know that He does not love those who transgress the limits.

In this verse, in the first sense, when a person prays to Allah Almighty, he is praying loudly, crying out. He is not praying.

He is not praying loudly, crying out. Allah is not deaf and blind, it says. Yes, we said "is not praying". We should say "is praying". We wrote one too many there. In the first sense, when a person prays to Allah Almighty, it is his praying loudly, crying out, we will say here. Let's write it there.

Allah is not deaf and blind. He is As-Sami' and Al-Basir. He both hears and sees. Secretly or openly, with good manners, without affectation, without dragging it out, it is telling your Lord your need as it comes from the heart. The Prophet says: do not be professional prayer-reciters. (?) The most beautiful prayer, he says, is to arrange it so it does not exceed seven sentences. Seven sentences. Sir, it means (?). You know, some people make these drawn-out, sing-song prayers. People say: oh, how beautifully he prayed. He lists and lists. Lists and lists. People's hands stay up like this, you know.

Stop it already. Ahmet's mother, the mother of Emine Hanım, Emine Hanım's father, the father of Yusuf, (?) and so on, he lists like this. As if Allah does not know. Just say it. Relatives, (?), (?), elders: "gifted to the souls of them all", he said, and that was it. (?) in those who don't drag it out. People think those are something.

Yes.

Secretly or openly, with good manners, without affectation, without dragging it out, it is telling your Lord your need as it comes from the heart. That is prayer.

In another sense, prayer is made only to Allah, the One. The polytheists, those who ascribe a child to Allah, those who take gods besides Allah and ask from them, are the transgressors. Allah does not love people who transgress the limits like this. But so that the people He created bear witness about themselves, He has granted them a lifespan. Within this lifespan, even if they (?) against Allah, He is the giver of their provision. At the end of his life, for the sins he committed, every person is accountable to Allah Almighty. Certainly.