Al-A'raf 195: Do they have feet with which they walk, do they have hands with which they hold, do they have eyes with which they see, or do they have ears with which they hear? (What do they have?) Say, “Call your partners and set up any ambush (you desire) against me and do not even let me open my eyes.”

SURAH AL-A'RAF, 195TH VERSE. We now come to Surah Al-A'raf, the 195th verse. So the proof of the words I just said my Lord states here. Remember, I was saying my Lord speaks, my Lord is seen, my Lord is like this, I was saying. So: do they have feet to walk with? Or do they have hands to hold with? Or do they have eyes to see with? Or do they have ears to hear with? What do they have, He says. What do they have? What do they have? So, in that address "Alastu bi-Rabbikum", the one who sees Allah Almighty like himself, that is, sees Him in human form, and Allah Almighty, who created man as the noblest of creatures, gave him a part of His essence and took man as a mirror to His essence, how beautifully He, with this verse here, what I have said proves. What does He say?

Do they have feet to walk with, or hands to hold with, or eyes to see with, or ears to hear with? What do they have? Say: Call your partners, then set whatever trap you wish against me and do not even let me open my eyes. Yes, I say the same. If, against what I say, against my explaining the verses to people, they still do not believe, let them set whatever traps they want. Yes, we return to the verse again. Do they have feet to walk with, or hands to hold with, or eyes to see with, or ears to hear with, He says. What do they have? Say: Call your partners, then set whatever trap you wish against me and do not even let me open my eyes.

The way the verse is opened up, let us read it. With this verse Allah Almighty opens the doors of many secrets to people, we say. And we have told you about those secrets. Which people truly do not accept.

"Now, Hodja, you are talking about spirits, whereas Allah Almighty says: They ask you about the spirit; say: It is of my Lord's command. You have been given only a little knowledge of it." A little knowledge of it.

So, look, we do not say what the spirit is. We do not say it is this or that. Yes, it is something luminous, but we cannot know what it is. But we can speak of the little knowledge of it. A little knowledge has been given, it says. I am telling you from this little knowledge. And after that there is nothing more anyway. After what I tell, there is nothing more. Because what comes after that belongs to Allah alone. That is, if you ask, "Which part did you tell, Hodja, that there is nothing more?": if from a part of Himself He created the spirit of the Prophet (peace be upon him), and from his spirit the spirits of billions of people, then Allah Almighty, who is the universal spirit, can send His essence as messengers to every particle of the universe.

There are examples of this too: as He was seen by Mary, as He was seen by Moses at Sinai when (?) fire, He changes form after form.

Now as if He, again I will call them short minds, they shouldn't mind, perhaps they will learn better, by reflecting they will learn better. If Allah Almighty were single, single in their minds, that is, if He were a single body like us, a single body, when He came to Sinai He would be unaware of the other parts of the world, and of the universe too unaware.

If He were a single body. A single body, that is, outwardly single like us, if He were like that.

When He met the Prophet at the Mi'raj, at that moment of meeting He would be withdrawn from the whole universe. And with Moses at Sinai He would be apart from the whole universe. Whereas if He withdrew His gaze from the universe for an instant, the whole universe would fall into chaos. Yes. In this case Allah Almighty shows His essence in measures, in a way people can understand. "But Hodja, wasn't He invisible?" To Moses at Sinai He did not appear with the attribute of His essence, He appeared with the attribute of fire. With the attribute of fire. Not with the attribute of His essence.

But to the Prophet (peace be upon him), again not in the world but at the Mi'raj, He appeared with the attribute of His essence. And again, on returning from the Mi'raj: "when the Sidrat al-Muntaha was covered by what covered it," it says. "And he stood upright in his true form."

Allah revealed to His servant what He revealed, that is, He (?) as close as two bows' length and drew near, Allah revealed to His servant. Again, not in the world. Not in the world.

Outside the world. Well, again outside of His creation. Completely outside of space. Yes. Understanding these parts well, the verses (?), without contradiction, so that even their meanings do not contradict each other, in that way one must grasp them.

So with this verse Allah Almighty, to people, the doors of many secrets opens. To those who say Allah Almighty is free of form, that Allah Almighty is not free of form but free of a particular form; to those who use things such as mind, hand, foot, eye and ear for Allah in a figurative sense, that this is not so, that He has such organs, but not as matter, rather that He has them in the form of His own being; that the universal spirit is Allah Almighty's; that, since a part of it is in man, man, as a part of his Lord, is of the attributes of Allah Almighty's essence; and the secret of many misunderstood meanings is expressed in this verse, we said.

How beautiful. We have tied the sentences together, that is. Yes. We have tied the sentences together. What does Allah Almighty say? Do they have feet to walk with? So He has feet. So here a question like this may come to my mind:

My Allah, do You have feet to walk with? You say it like this. In answer we say: surely, if He did not, He would not use these words. It continues in the same way. Or do they have hands to hold with, or eyes to see with, or ears to hear with? So Allah proves that He created man close to His essence in this case. That He created him close to His essence. By giving him of His spirit, entirely, from the forms of His essence giving (?), the shape,

giving life. The nafs, on the other hand, is desire and wish. (?). Life is aliveness anyway. But the spirit is like these forms. Yes. So Allah proves that He created man close to His essence. For example, if we look at Surah Al-Fath, here in Surah Al-Fath, Adh-Dhariyat Surah, Surah An-Najm, Surah Ar-Rahman.

Probably page 512. Five hundred. (?)

Surah Al-Fath. Look what it says.

This is on page 511, verse 10; I will read a part of it. Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. Innellezîne yübâyiûneke innemâ yübâyiûnallâh. Yedullâhi fevka eydîhim, fe men nekese fe innemâ yenküsü alâ nefsih. It says. "Surely those who pledge allegiance to you pledge allegiance only to Allah. Allah's hand is above their hands." In many places Allah Almighty, in response to this verse, if here too He has a hand, and people still say Allah has no hand, He said it figuratively, if I say that, am I the one interpreting these or are they interpreting? Now, about some things they say what Allah Almighty said must not be understood in the same sense, they say. Fine, right, it must not be understood in the same sense, but what is it that must not be understood so?

For example: "They will be gathered blind and sightless." For example, that is said figuratively, because they from this world, from this world to the hereafter, with a (?) spirit went. So although they see Allah's existence in that world too, because of denial, because of denial in the state of the blind, the sightless, as they lived in the world too, and when they are gathered in the hereafter, since they went on that nature they will still not be able to know Allah. And they are truly blind and sightless. That is, a state of not recognizing, not knowing, not believing in Him although facing their Lord.

A figurative meaning. Well, if Allah Almighty says in His verse, I have feet to walk with, I have hands for you, I have eyes that see, I have ears that hear, whatever attribute He names, what do you understand? "Those who pledge allegiance to you pledge allegiance to Allah, Allah's hand is above the other hands": when we say that, what does allegiance mean? From one another's hand. I believed in this, in him. I am with you. Hand to hand, up to the Prophet (peace be upon him). And from there, there is a hand above the hand. When they say (?), it rests on Allah Almighty Himself. In this case, if you become a servant to His Beloved, a community to His Beloved, a servant to Allah, if you become a servant, pledging allegiance to him is pledging allegiance to Allah.

Now, figuratively, the Black Stone is Allah's right hand, that is, His hand. Yes, this is a figurative meaning. You go there and kiss it. Allah Almighty perhaps, to this Black Stone, you know, you say Bismillah Allahu Akbar and stand before it. Now, approaching the Black Stone while saying the takbir like this and kissing it is, figuratively, kissing Allah's hand, as Allah's hand, figuratively. Now, in contrast, not Imam Shafi'i but Imam Malik says Allah has no hand. Allah has no hand. It is a simile, it is in a figurative sense, he says.

One of the great figures says this: We say it with a good opinion, he says. With a good opinion. He too knows that Allah Almighty has a hand. But he said it this way so that interpretation would not open a breach, he says about Imam Malik. We too affirm what that great figure said. Yes, he too knows that Allah Almighty has a hand, and that in that court He is the judge of judges, knowing that we will be called to account in His presence.

So Allah proves that He created man close to His essence. It is worth reminding once more. Süleyman Çelebi, in (?), says: "I took My essence as a mirror to your essence," he says. That is, Allah Almighty: "I created you to see My essence in you. For this reason I gave you of My spirit," He says. Allah Almighty, in His verse, says: "I created man in the most beautiful form," He says. Again in His verse: "The most beautiful forms are Mine," He says. According to these verses, Allah Almighty has proven that He does not separate man from His essence. Again, in those short minds: here it says form to you, there it says attribute. What is an attribute?

What is form? If I had no form, could I have an attribute? Can you call my attributes my character traits? Saying "your attribute is this". My attribute is this. This is my shape. If you confuse character traits with attributes, you become like a bird flying on one wing. Yes.

These lessons are probably becoming entirely esoteric and heavy. That is how it seems to me.

Or should we take a shortcut? I wonder. Without explaining. Should we take a shortcut?

Yes.

So Allah, who is endowed with the most perfect attributes, the whole world, the idolaters, He challenges. He says to His Beloved: "O My Beloved, say: Call your partners, then set whatever trap you wish against me and do not even let me open my eyes." What can their partners do anyway? Their partners have no power even over themselves. Their partners, on the Day of Judgment... So Allah, endowed with the most perfect attributes, challenges the whole world, the idolaters. He says to His Beloved: "O My Beloved, say: Call your partners. Then set whatever trap you wish against me and do not even let me open my eyes." They will call those partners on the Day of Judgment too.

Allah Almighty will say: Call your partners. And they will call. But no one will answer them. In this case they themselves will be shown to be liars. In fact, their partners, in one verse, in fact in the previous verse, their partners, that is, the idols, will come. They will say this; Allah Almighty will make them speak: "Our Lord, we were unaware of ourselves; that these worshipped us, we knew nothing," they will say, and they will move away. That is, since those lifeless beings have no (?), since they have no (?), Allah Almighty (?) they will move away. There is no punishment. It is not like: he worshipped you as god, so now you suffer your punishment too. No.

Allah Almighty is just. Now, in this case they that they associated partners with Allah will have proven themselves. So, since all existence and all beings are under Allah's rule, since Allah's power suffices for everything, the temptations and traps of people and of the jinn who are their partners, the idols that the idolaters worship, whatever there is, even if mankind and jinn gathered, beside Allah they cannot overpower Allah. That according to His verse they will remain helpless, He announces to the worlds through His Beloved. By making His existence known in this way openly, outwardly, to all beings, and while people of sound reason, to use their (?) and their reason, He invites, He proves Allah's existence upon people.

By making His existence known inescapably to mankind and jinn, Allah Almighty proves it. He proves His existence. Yes.