Al-A'raf 202: And they (the devil/shaytan) lead their brothers/friends to transgression. And then, they don’t leave them alone.

it says.

Yes. Verse 202 — Allah Almighty, in the verse: As for the friends of the devils — the friends of the devils. Who are they? Those who leave Allah's sharia ruling, who out of the pride and arrogance of the nafs turn their backs on the truth, who live their lives in their transgression — people: as for the friends of the devils, the devils into transgression drag them. Actually this verse needs to be opened up very well. Satan has no power over people. With the (?) he gives them, a fine sentence needs to be (?) here. Instead of 'the devils drag them into transgression': 'Those who are dragged into the transgressions of the devils.' 'Those dragged into his transgression.'

The state of those dragged, sir — as for their state, the devils do not let go of their collars. Yes. Then they do not let go of their collars, it says.

People truly, as Allah Almighty says in His verse, are very ungrateful. Of course not every one of them, many. Very ungrateful. He benefits from the blessings Allah Almighty gives. He eats, drinks, gives no thanks. He runs after the whims of the nafs, pride, arrogance and people's praise.

Then, although he lives his life with a fine life span and health that Allah Almighty has given him, his own existence he deifies — people who live like that. Truly these are very ungrateful people.

Those who do not use their minds, who do not think of the hereafter; like the grasshopper who lived for the day and in winter needed the ant — with such interpretations; people do not take lessons from these either, they do not use their minds. Tomorrow, when they see that punishment (?), their regret will be of no use to them. If a person makes friends with Satan, man's enemy — even though Allah Almighty, with all His verses, with many of His verses, says the devils are your enemy, even though He says, O children of Adam, let him not strip you and make you naked — even so, a person to his Lord who created him does not return. In this case, if he makes friends with the one who is his enemy, then indeed the place he will go to is that of Satan, whom Allah has cursed and who is the preacher of hell — Satan's place, the place he will go.

And that place, it says, what an evil return, a resting place. A resting place is a bed. That is, a state of an eternal bed. Allah Almighty points out that he will stay there. Yes: as for the friends of the devils, the devils into transgression drag them. Then they do not let go of their collars.

Since the temptation Satan gives is pleasing to the human nafs, those who, carried away by these temptations, follow the devils are the friends of Iblis. The nafs never stands on the side of Allah's command. But if the one that governs that nafs is the spirit, if it is, from our Lord, the most honorable being given to man — that being, that spirit, by failing to govern that nafs, by following the nafs and being dragged along, without knowing its place, that spirit that follows the nafs, thus becoming subject to Allah Almighty's verse 'they are (?) like four- legged animals' — they become subject to that verse.

Then, according to the verse where He says 'nay, they are even more astray', people who carry on their lives accordingly. Yes, for this reason, if a person does not master his own nafs — that is, his true essence is what we call the spirit; the spirit is one soul with the nafs, the bodies are separate. That spirit is what makes a person perfect or makes a person lowly; according to the (?) it has given, that those who follow their nafs, the places they will go are places of punishment, and that in worldly life too, thinking 'I am living', they wander in swamps; if that spirit's longing for its Lord and its being governed by His verses — its becoming the noblest of creatures.

Yes, these are dragged into this transgression, with the temptations Satan gives; because it pleases that nafs, with the temptation Satan gives they are dragged into transgression. What is this transgression? Outside Allah's sharia rulings — commands. What is it? Commands outside Allah's commands. Be honored with Islam, He says.

If he leaves Islam.

Do not consume interest.

Do not consume what is unlawful.

Do not commit adultery. Do not violate anyone's rights. Do not take any life without cause. Despite (?), these do every kind of filth apart from this, spread every kind of immorality on earth, live unaware of Allah's justice. Where people do not see, thinking no one sees him, he steals and plunders, seizes people's rights, kills someone — these people have become Satan's playthings, living in their transgression — people.

The accursed one, working on these from (?) sides of people, either drags them into transgression (?) or with pride, arrogance, grandeur, ego, love of the world and many such temptations, by forming people's feelings of the nafs, they increase people's transgression.

These people, running after such traits, when they see themselves as somebody, cannot escape from their swamp worlds. Such people, those who spend their lives in drink, gambling and adultery, think they are living. Whereas they are poor people stuck in the swamp of this swamp world, lost in that swamp. For they are unaware of life, unaware of peace, unaware of the One who created them. Yes.

These people, running after such traits, when they see themselves as somebody, cannot escape from their swamp worlds. If people equipped with these traits could actually escape their own worlds and see the life of truth, that in the universe they have so little sway that it amounts to nothing — then they will understand. If they escaped that swamp world, even had they turned, then those to whom guidance has come say: alas. Alas, we truly lived through a period of ignorance, we truly have been dead, he says, and sees with what evil traits he was equipped, realizes how bad what he did was, turns to his Lord; if he (?) asks forgiveness, then surely, for a person who has no door to go to other than his Lord, there is good news that he will be forgiven by his Lord.

So the accursed one, with the temptations he gives to people, making the evil deeds they do look good to them, such people, after instilling these characters in them, in making such people do what he wants he never struggles. Satan never struggles in making them do what he wants. Yes.

People who live in those swamp worlds say of those who live Islam: they live like grass. Actually, the one who lives like grass — still, by his Lord's command, that being they call grass still lives in consent. Still lives showing consent. 'He lives like grass,' they say, don't they. Or he himself lives rebelling against Allah. There is a mountain of difference between them. With his own mouth, from his own swamp world, having turned his back on Allah, challenging Allah with the words 'I don't recognize You' — words. Yes.

Because such people have made dark paths their motto. That is, they have now adopted it. They take pride in it. They boast, they are proud.

They have taken swamps for life. Since Allah's command is heavy on their nafs, from Allah they have moved away. Themselves, with Satan's temptation, into unrest (?) dead ends, dragging themselves with Satan's temptation into unrest and dead ends, they are those who aspire to this way of life. When such people realize the evil of what they have done and want to turn back, the accursed one does not leave them alone, and these people cannot easily free themselves from their devils. Because, since such people are within the feelings of the nafs, from following Satan they can no longer hold themselves back.

Because the person has, from before, lived within a habit, that is, within rebellion, within the whims of the nafs. If his character is like that too, he has taken pleasure in it. Those characters of his abandoning — the pleasure he took, never can he give it up. But if his character is (?) toward Allah Almighty, that is, toward his Lord longing, he has love, good morals, yet in terms of his life in a bad environment. With every evil this person does, his conscience aches and he sees that they are evil; the moment he finds the chance he gives it up, and those traits he gives up no longer weigh on him.

He has found his own self. Our ancestors also say it so well. If tar boils, it says, does it become sugar — (?), it says. So if a person (?) toward Allah, even if he has lived in that swamp world, when he finds the chance and leaves it, he reaches that life. So that life is not heavy for him. Because while he lived that swamp world, what they did weighed very heavily on him. Because he was not hooked on it. Yes.