Al-A'raf 100: Did the Truth not become apparent to those who became the inheritors of the world after its past owners? If We had desired, We surely would have given them calamities for their sins. In order to not hear, they have made Us seal their hearts and they do not desire to hear.

Yes, in Surah Al-A'raf, verse 100, there is a mistake. Yes, let's take a look. In verse 100 there is a mistake.

Yes.

100,

in 101 and in 102 too the mistakes continue. First, we are both doing a lesson and learning how the verses are wrong and how the verses – God forbid, the verses are not wrong. Let us learn how the verses were wrongly interpreted. This is important too, of course. This is a fine knowledge too. How they were wrongly interpreted, and in what way, by interpreting the verses wrongly, they ascribed attributes to Allah. Let's look at this now.

Verse 100: 'To those who inherited the earth after its previous owners, has this truth still not become clear, that,' it says, 'if We had willed, We would have struck them too with calamities for their sins.' 'We seal their hearts, so they do not hear the truths,' it says. This verse was interpreted wrongly. Now, Allah Almighty does not seal the heart of any of His servants. Rather, that servant has his own heart sealed. Free will was with us, wasn't it? Did He not write our wish and desire as our intent, our intent as destiny for us? Allah Almighty did not write our destinies by His own will. Now in this case, does this person ascribe attributes to Allah Almighty or not?

What does he say? According to this, according to this verse, what does he say? 'We seal their hearts, so they do not hear the truths.' 'Then if You sealed my heart, if You created me unable to hear the truth, what do You want from me?' he says. Does he say it? He does. He says this. So let's interpret this properly. This verse. What do we say? 'To those who inherited the earth after its previous owners, has this truth still not become clear?' These parts are correct, of course. 'That if We had willed, We would have struck them too with calamities for their sins.' These parts are correct. 'So as not to hear the truths, they have their hearts sealed by Us, and they do not want to hear.' What was it? I'll read it once more.

'So as not to hear the truths, they have their hearts sealed by Us, and they do not want to hear.' They do not want to hear. What does it say here? 'We seal their hearts, so they do not hear the truths.' Well of course, if He seals them, they do not hear. But 'so as not to hear the truths, they have their hearts sealed by Us, and they do not want to hear.' Now, how great the difference between them is. One: Allah Almighty sealing those people's hearts and not letting them hear the truth; here, though, those people, so as not to hear the truths, having their own hearts sealed and moving away from those truths, turning their back on it, they have them sealed and do not want to hear.

Different. Let's also read the other one, verse 101. First let's find the things, the mistakes here, how they ascribed the mistakes to Allah as attributes; let's bring them out into the open. 'Those are the lands; We relate to you some of their stories.' Correct. 'Indeed, their prophets had brought them clear proofs' – this is correct too. 'But they are not going to believe in the truths they had denied before.' 'Thus does Allah seal the hearts of the disbelievers,' it says. What does it say? 'Thus does Allah seal the hearts of the disbelievers,' it says. 'But they are not going to believe in the truths they had denied before,' it says.

The part 'they had denied' seems right in one sense, but here now there is a tricky side. Well, 'thus does Allah seal the hearts of the disbelievers.' What have we written here? 'But they were not going to believe in the truths they had denied before.' 'Thus do the disbelievers have their hearts sealed by Allah.' The disbelievers have their own hearts sealed. What does it say before that? They were not going to believe in the truths. Yes. And what does it say in verse 102? 'In most of them We found no keeping of their word,' it says. Now, do you know how it ascribes attributes to Allah here? Allah did not know. They gave their word, and nothing of keeping their word was seen. They tie it to this world.

Let's say we tie it to the hereafter. Now here they tie it to this world. Let's say we tie it to the hereafter. Then, if in the realm of the hereafter He found no faithfulness in the word they gave, if He says 'We found no keeping of their word,' then there, it is Allah Almighty who gave us characters according to our covenant. 'Had You given me proper characters – had You, according to the covenant I gave You, given me characters, You would have found me keeping my word. This is Your fault.' Yes. Now see how they blame Allah Almighty because they do not know these realms. Whereas most of them, at the address Elestü bi Rabbiküm, are liars because they made the covenant denying their Lord.

They are liars because they denied. They do not keep their word. The truth is that most of them are fasiq. So 'most of them', in parentheses, 'at the address Elestü bi Rabbiküm, are liars because they made the covenant denying their Lord.' The parenthesis closes. The parenthesis closes. Well, that is, most of them do not keep their word. Why? We open that part up. The truth is that most of them are fasiq. Why? Because there they gave it as deniers. That – this part rests on this verse: 'My beloved, do not mind their calling you a liar. In their time they betrayed Me too,' it says. In the verses. These all support one another.

Yes. By interpreting the verses wrongly, they ascribed attributes to Allah. Allah made them that way, always. Whereas Allah Almighty, according to people's wishes and intents, does not interfere with their own will. Because He leaves them free in their own will, He brings paradise and hell into being. Otherwise, if it were left to Allah's will, hell would disappear. And He would have created us all as one single community. 'Had We willed, We would have created you as one single community.' Yes, the verses like this, in people's heads, a verse was interpreted like this, let me interpret it that way; this verse was interpreted like this, let me interpret this that way – saying this, what they wrote as the counterpart of the verses: these are the translations.

Whereas all verses must be interpreted so as to support one another and so that their meanings do not (?). In this case Arabic grammar is not enough. Yes.

So: 'To those who inherited the earth after its previous owners, has this truth still not become clear, that if We had willed, We would have struck them too with calamities for their sins? They have their hearts sealed by Us and do not want to hear the truths.' Yes. We wrote the correct version of the verse, didn't we?

By the previous heirs, what is meant: those who rebelled against Allah Almighty and denied Allah. Allah Almighty sent them prophets, and they asked their prophets for miracles, and as they still did not believe in the face of the miracles, (?) and destroyed them – the heirs who came in place of those peoples. In their place. As their heirs. That is, He settles them in those (?). Yes. And those who overstepped the bounds by denying the prophets being destroyed on earth is what is meant. What is meant by the previous heirs: Allah Almighty says, 'We wiped them off the face of the earth. We brought you in their place and made you heirs.

Has this truth still not become clear to you?' Had Allah Almighty willed, He would have struck them too with calamities because of their sins. Yes. He would have struck you too with calamities. From calamity to calamity. He would have struck us too, calamity after calamity. He does not strike, and yet He does. But man is so heedless, so deep in sleep that he is not aware of his own belief. What does Allah Almighty say in the verse? 'We give those polytheists, those disbelievers, two or three calamities a year, so that at least they would implore,' it says. But still, out of their stubbornness, they do not even remember Allah.

'It's a natural event,' they say. Of course it will be a natural event. But the Creator of that natural event cannot be overlooked. If it is a natural event, then instead of those two or three calamities a year, once a week, once in ten days, once in fifteen days, once in twenty days, or three – if not, let it be once a month or every day – it doesn't happen; so why do two or three calamities strike you each year? Can't you think about this at all? Well, do you not perceive the Creator of this calamity at all? Yes, the calamities, the destructions that befell their forebears – have you never heard of them? Anyway, when you have not heard, Allah Almighty (?) anyone.

So, since you have heard, this too, for you, as part of that destruction is a calamity – those storms, gales, hurricanes, well, tornadoes, tsunamis – do these mean nothing to you?

Wasn't the destruction of the others similar to this? If such a calamity is given to you, and you do not remember Allah in the face of this calamity, when will you ever wake up from that deep sleep? It is not even possible for you to wake up. Because you have had yourself programmed within that deep sleep; you have no strength to step outside the circle of that deep sleep. Yes, so do not dare blame Allah on the other side either. In fact, so that, having turned your back there, you would not say to Allah Almighty, 'My Allah, had You sent me to a hidden realm and made Your essence known to me there, I would have believed in You' – for that He created these realms.

Look, in this realm too He gives you as many calamities as you like in the course of your life. But, as there, you are within such a circle of deep sleep that you never have the strength to tear that circle and get out. That is, you do not have those characters. Yes, see how well you make yourself a witness in this world, before yourself, those around you and Allah Almighty. See how beautifully Allah Almighty puts it in His verse: 'We will make your Prophet a witness over the other prophets, and you a witness over the other communities.' Are we not witnesses? Do we not see the hurricanes, gales and tsunamis given to them? Which of them says 'Allah'?

We see them on television. Which of them says 'Allah'? Perhaps there are some among them (?) who turn back from their ways. We cannot say there are none at all, because we cannot watch all of them.

Allah does not give a calamity for nothing. But taken in general, as a whole, does Allah thus remind us of His essence? He does. So if Allah Almighty reminds you of His essence, and you are within that deep sleep, if you are in a deep (?), and if you are truly a living dead, forever you will not (?). 'My beloved, to the deaf who have turned their backs and gone,' it says, 'you cannot make them hear. And the dead,' it says, 'you can never make hear.' Yes.

'We brought you in their place and made you heirs. Has this truth still not become clear to you?' Had Allah Almighty willed, He would have struck them too with calamities because of their sins. Allah Almighty, who sends people to a hidden realm, for things He has not made known to people does not hold people responsible.

In this respect, Allah Almighty created people deficient in reason; when people commit a mistake, and people who understand their mistakes ask Allah Almighty for pardon and forgiveness – since people's asking for pardon fits Allah Almighty's purpose of creation, and since people know their helplessness, they attain Allah Almighty's pardon and forgiveness. So why was Allah Almighty also giving those calamities? So that they would return to their Lord. So that they would ask their Lord for pardon and forgiveness. Those people knowing their helplessness: 'O my Lord, Owner of the worlds, Lord of the worlds, I have understood that there is no god but You.

I have truly wasted my life in heedlessness and ignorance. O my Lord! O Lord of the worlds! From this rebellion and kufr into which I fell because of my helplessness I have come to my senses. I have turned to You. Forgive me' – if you say this, Allah turns even your past sins into good deeds. Allah is so full of mercy – Allah, your Owner, the Owner of the worlds, such an Allah abundant in peace, abundant in mercy. Yes. But where is the person who will take refuge in that Allah? From the soul, from the heart, like this.

Yes.

Allah Almighty says in His verse: 'If you were seized at once for the sins you committed, you would not find a single living being walking on earth.' So Allah Almighty gives people such respites. Because He truly created us deficient. We may live through a period of ignorance. We may live as Muslims who have turned our backs on the verses. But if we come to our senses, repent, and return to our Lord, there is no sin our Lord will not forgive. As long as you resolve never to commit it again, and show faithfulness to your word. Submit to Allah. 'Allah, You created me deficient in reason. And we are weak. We are in need of Your essence.

We see no other door to go to but Your door. Because You are the absolute Owner of the worlds. We are Your servants; if You do not forgive us, what will become of us, my Allah' – if you say this, and break this nafs of yours and turn to Allah in such helplessness, from the heart, with tears, would you find your Lord unjust?

He brings you to mercy from directions you never knew. Yes. That is why the calamities our Lord gives so that we return to Allah are a mercy for us. Everything of Allah Almighty is mercy; calamity is mercy too. If there were no calamity, we could not escape evils. Or we could not purify our own nafs and return to our Lord. So that too is a mercy for us. But for the one who uses his reason.

Those who deny Allah and His Prophet, those who do not believe in Allah,

do not want to hear the truths. When the truths are told to them, Allah Almighty, in His verse, says of them: 'their state is like that of the clouds in the sky about to burst,' it says. Because these, due to the covenants they gave at Kalû belâ, in the realm of Mulk make themselves witnesses before those around them and at the same time against Allah. They insist, and make themselves prove what kind of person they are. In the face of Allah's verses they do not want to hear the truths either. Calling those who tell the truths liars, they deny Allah.

Allah Almighty has sealed the hearts of such people because of these desires of theirs. See how beautiful. He sealed them because of these desires. Otherwise He Himself does not seal the hearts of His servants. Together with their own wish and desire, their own will. These will never come to faith. So for these, for the (?) they will commit in their lifetimes, it is a respite granted to them – a respite granted to them. So that they can prove what kind of people they are, and so that he can prove that state, which rank or which load of sin he is in, it is a period of respite given to them.

Yes.