Al-A'raf 155: At a time that We determined, Moses chose seventy people from his nation. When this severe earthquake hit them, Moses said; “Oh my Dear Lord! If You had desired before, You would have destroyed them and me for the deeds (sins) that some ignorant people from among us have committed. This is nothing but a test from You. With it, those who desire (to be led astray) go astray, and those who desire (to be guided) are guided to the right path. You are our Owner, forgive us, have mercy on us. You are the best of those who forgive.”

Surah Al-A'raf, verse 155: here, too, they have ascribed attributes to Allah Almighty, tied it to whom He wills, to Allah's will, whereas it is people's willing that is meant. Moses, at the time We appointed, chose from his people 70 men. Seventy men. When the terrible earthquake seized them, Moses said: O my Lord, had You willed, You would have destroyed them and me too before. Had You willed before. Because of the sin that some fools among us committed, will You destroy us all? This is nothing but Your test. By it, whoever wills goes astray, and whoever wills finds the right path. You are our Master. Forgive us and have mercy on us.

You are the best of those who forgive, it says. Here, in Surah Al-A'raf, in verse 155, yes.

There is somewhat harsh language here. Harsh language. It is like this: as if he were asking Allah Almighty a question.

What does it say? When the terrible earthquake seized them, Moses said: O my Lord, had You willed, You would have destroyed them and me before. Because of the sin that some fools among us committed, will You destroy us all? it says.

It could be like that too. Let's see what we wrote there in our translation. Did we render it that way? Well.

Let's see how we rendered it.

Surah Al-A'raf 155 Moses chose seventy men from his people for the time We appointed. When the terrible earthquake seized them, Moses said: O my Lord, because of the sin that some fools among us committed, had You willed, You would have long before wiped out them and me. This is nothing but Your test. See, we softened it, that is. That word got softened there. It's evident anyway. As if presenting Allah Almighty with a fait accompli: will You destroy?

There is a harsh answer here. Yes. What does it say? You would have destroyed before. Because of the sin that some fools among us committed, will You destroy us all? That is, he is asking a question. What did we do with this part? O my Lord, because of the sin that some fools among us committed, had You willed, You would have wiped out them and me before. This is nothing but Your test. By it, whoever of us wills goes astray, and whoever wills finds the right path. You are our Master. Forgive us and have mercy on us. You are the best of those who forgive. How nice, we corrected this part. Yes. Here we are.

We will correct this verse. In our commentaries, anyway, we wrote according to the translation in our text, only we will change the translations beneath them.

When the time of the (?) fixed for Moses, a certain place, came, Moses chooses 70 people from his people and they come to the appointed place. Meanwhile a white cloud surrounds Moses. They see a light shining above him. Allah Almighty begins an intimate conversation with Moses. The people there also hear this conversation. When this conversation ends, the cloud around Moses disperses, and some of the 70 people there said to Moses: Unless you show us your Lord openly, we will never believe you. People who react to these events this way in the face of so many miracles are people preparing their own destruction.

Yet it is impossible for Allah Almighty to appear to people in this realm. Yes, it is impossible for Him to be seen with these eyes.

As I said before, as I said before,

I don't see the need to open these up every time.

With the verse "even if he sees, he cannot comprehend; he comprehends, he cannot see" we explained these in the previous lesson. That is why it is not possible for Him to be seen and comprehended with these eyes. Indeed, Allah Almighty's (?) law caught these too. If Allah Almighty shows a miracle openly and people do not believe in this miracle, Allah destroys that people. Here, between these people and the other people who were destroyed, there is a distinct difference. Indeed, because of this distinction, this distinction, they were saved from destruction. The distinction here: people saw a miracle by Allah's will.

Those destroyed on the other side wanted to see a miracle. Now, the difference between the two sides. There is a person asking Allah for a miracle, seeing it and denying. And there is, among those Allah Almighty chose, those people not believing in this miracle. The difference between the two sides is different. These did not ask for it of their own wish. Because Allah Almighty chose them, because Moses chose them, our Lord shows a miracle with them. In this case He destroys them and brings them back to life. He brings them back to life. Well, let's not call this destruction. Let's not call it destruction.

Perhaps, since they cannot see Him in the world with these eyes, Allah Almighty makes them die. He shows them His Essence in the way He will be seen with His Essence in the realm of the Hereafter, and again brings them back to worldly life. And these people will not have seen Him in the world. What happened? They died in the world and came back to life again. Yes.

Hodja, doesn't this verse explain the verse "we are brought to life twice, we die twice"? Because these came to life once here, died once here, and came to life once more. That is, they tasted death and came back to life. Weren't there two comings to life and two deaths? No. Why?

The body did not rot away in the earth. This is a state like fainting that appears on the body. This body will rot; with the cell that does not die, on the other side, the nafs will find life, and after finding life again with that body, there will be a reunion, so that it is a second resurrection. The death here is a death like a form of fainting. Well, but on the same body. Let's say, with the person, the spirit has left, but there is still life in the body. Just like a dream. It is like a dream. There is still life in the body. That is, life is there: the body is warm, the heart has stopped.

The brain has (?), has stopped. Which is death anyway. It is death. But the body is still in place. In this case, the spirit entering the body again does not mean a second coming back from death on this body. It is the same, on this same body. Coming to life without rotting in the earth. Like a kind of fainting, as I just said.

Yes.

And Allah shows this miracle. If people do not believe, Allah Almighty destroys these people. That is, a person would ask Allah for a miracle. Like the people of Salih. Well, they see the camel. They see a miracle. And if they kill that camel, then Allah Almighty (?).

Well, He destroys these people. There, people wished for this miracle to be seen; it was their wish. Here, people did not wish for this miracle to be seen. Allah Almighty, by showing them certain miracles, summoned them to the place He appointed. And they, carried away by the excitement of what they saw, out of longing to see Allah Almighty, may have spoken like this. Indeed, they said: O Moses, unless you show us Allah openly, we do not believe in your Lord, we will not believe. Yet since it is not possible to see Allah Almighty with these eyes in the material world, an earthquake seized them and they died where they were from the severity of this earthquake. Moses, seeing this scene, prayed to Allah: O my Lord, will You destroy these people because of a few fools?

Will You destroy them? Surely this is Your testing of us — upon his saying this, upon his saying surely this is Your testing of us, these people were brought back to life.

Within this event there lies a great secret here. Namely, the destroyed peoples never came back to the world. But these, since they did not exceed the bounds, on this limit, tasting death, seeing Allah Almighty's Essence through death, came back to life through Moses' prayer. So, as I said just now, this is a state of passing through unconsciousness. A state of unconsciousness. Otherwise, if Allah Almighty had destroyed them, it would not have been possible for them to come into the world again. We already explained the difference between them just now. These are not destroyed. In a state of unconsciousness, because of these people's seeing Allah with loving devotion, Allah Almighty makes them die, and what they could not see in this world He manifests to them like that (?) realm, or like the realm of dreams; their seeing Allah Almighty, and finally, coming back to life, their hearts being satisfied.

That is what we explained about this event here. Through the miracles Allah Almighty shows, people, living their own destiny, according to the covenant they gave Allah Almighty, in the face of these miracles either go astray or find the right path.

So, that they were forgiven by the blessing of the prayer Moses made, we understand from their coming back to life after death. Upon Moses saying in his prayer: You are our Master, forgive us and have mercy on us, You are the best of those who forgive, these dead found life. Moreover, upon these people saying: unless you show us your Lord, we will never believe, they tasted death, our Lord showed them His Essence, and these people found reassurance. Yes.