Al-A'raf 204: When the Qur’an is recited, listen to it and be silent so that you will be treated with mercy.

Surah Al-A'raf, verse 204: When the Quran is recited, listen to it and be silent, so that you may be shown mercy. The meaning here, the essence of the meaning, is this: the Quran is Allah's word. If the Quran is being recited, honoring it is honoring Allah. One must be silent and listen.

So honoring the Quran is honoring Allah. It is respect for Allah. That's why Allah Almighty says: it is My word. When it is recited, when you hear it, be silent and listen, He says. That silence and listening is obedience to Me, respect for Me, He says. Isn't that so? If there were three of us here, (?), or if we were four or five people, and two people were talking with each other, two people,

with each other — that is, if as a community our aim were to listen to each other, and when they spoke we were disrespectful to them and turned to someone else and talked, wouldn't that be an insult to them? Well, we were supposed to listen to him; well, if we had respect for that person, to his speech we would listen. So, showing respect to a person, listening to his speech to the end,

people who show him their respect, or else, with good manners and courtesy,

even if he does not want to listen to him, keeping silent and listening to him — civilization (?) they call it. They call him a civilized person. So the essence of true civilization is this verse of Allah Almighty. Listen. While the Quran is recited, it says, keep silent. Be quiet. So that mercy may be shown. So that mercy may be shown. Yes. So that you may be shown mercy. That is, you heard My word. As soon as you heard it, you said, my Lord is speaking, and out of reverence for Him you listened to your Lord's word. Your Lord's word. And Allah Almighty says: O My servant, you, My word, as soon as you heard it, stopped your talk, kept silent, showed respect to Me.

And I forgive your sin, He says. Is there anything greater, more beautiful than this? But today Qurans are recited, and no one listens to that Quran. Especially, especially these ladies just cannot stop talking. The hodja is reciting the Quran there, and here they go blah blah blah blah blah, talking. Stop, be quiet, don't talk for these few minutes, show respect to Allah's word. And so attain your Lord's mercy, may your sins be forgiven. But (?), she will talk no matter what. Because Satan prods her — she talked, didn't she. He will lead her to the opposite of this verse. So that her sin is not forgiven, he will stir her up, tempt her, make her talk.

Yes.

Look, in mosques, in mosques our hodjas recite some Quran after the prayer. We sit and listen. If you have business — your business — you're not obliged to listen. Your business is yours. Since that is so, you can listen to three short verses and get up and leave. What was it? Listen to three short verses and get up and go. You attain exactly that. You attain Allah's mercy. Yes.

When the Quran is recited, be silent and listen. Being silent and listening when the Holy Quran is recited is honor and obedience toward Allah.

Allah commands decency and manners, manners, justice. It is part of decency and manners. When elders speak, the young listen to their words out of respect for the elders. Yes, so, of Allah — the greatest of the great, the source of guidance and mercy for people — when His word is recited, people's being silent and listening to the Holy Quran is a respectful honoring of Allah Almighty. Yes.

For this reason, when the Holy Quran is recited, the people who hear it are silent and listen to offer their honor to Allah. And Allah is the Seeing and the Knowing. At the same time He is the Hearing. Whoever, when the Holy Quran is recited, because of the honor and decency they show toward Allah Almighty, keeps silent and listens to the Holy Quran — Allah Almighty too, such people, because of their honor and respect for His essence, grants His mercy and cleanses them of their sins. Yes.

If we sum up the meaning here: one, showing honor and respect to elders. Two, not losing our decency and manners. Our decency and manners. Yes.

Three, three, this is the most important point. Allah Almighty, with such little trivial deeds, because He loves people very much, devises excuses for forgiving their sins. Excuses. To forgive our sins. What will He say? Come here, My servant. You know that time when the Quran was recited — you were silent out of honor for Me and bowed your head, well, because of that I (?) you. Go on, He will say. So our Lord, who sent one percent of His mercy to the world and kept ninety-nine percent for Himself, devises excuses for people again and again. Excuses. To save them. He creates blessed Kandil nights again and again.

So that they may be forgiven with forgivenesses. In the three months, Rajab, Sha'ban, Ramadan — of the twelve months, three months — the other days, the other days, making every night of them a Night of Power, that is, by people turning to their Lord, remembering their Lord, Allah Almighty forgiving them — our Lord's infinitely great mercy.

I say, O man, wake up from the sleep of heedlessness. Say Lord, say Allah once, remember the One who created you. Look then, how that Lord of yours

showers those doors of mercy upon you.

But, you must be (?). Not one way now and another way then. On the straight path, you will go straight. Then your friend, your trustee and your protector — Allah — will be. Hasbunallahu ve ni'mel vekil, ni'mel mevla ve ni'men nasir.

Yes. Allah is not apart from His creatures; Allah Almighty is not apart from the world either. Look, like history, how beautifully He tells us; if He were not among us, would He tell it? A place where He is not — there is none. Look how beautifully it says He hears and knows. So do not think Me apart from the world, He says. Yes. And do not think Me apart from My creatures, He says. I am always with them. As the Prophet ascends in the Mi'raj, he hears a voice: O Muhammad, your Lord is performing salat. My Lord has no need to pray. What is this? he says. When he ascended in the Mi'raj, Allah Almighty: O Muhammad,

that word you heard — did you not ask? Won't you ask? My Lord, who knows me better than I do, surely

will explain it to me better, he says. I have no need to perform salat, He says.

The fulfillment of My duty toward the creatures I create every moment is in the state of salat.

Toward all the creatures He created, that is, whatever He created from atom to globe, His being with them, His giving them life through His attribute al-Hayy, and

this universe's order, its being in unity and togetherness within this order — this is His (?). That is the duty. That's why never see Allah Almighty as far away. Do not think Him apart from yourselves. 'In the world we are our own masters' — 'He'll question us anyway when we get there' — do not say that. If you like, go down to the seventh depth of the earth. If you like, seek a way in the heavens and go to the most remote corner. Surely your Lord is with you there too, and on the other side too. You are never apart from Him. For this reason, every- where, when alone — as you behave when you are among people, behave the same when you are alone.

As decent as you are among people, be equally decent when alone. The Prophet (peace be upon him) used to lie wrapped in his garment, out of modesty. O Prophet who lies wrapped in his garment, it says. Yes. In this case, if a person knows that at every moment he is face to face with the One who sees and (?), that person does not compromise his decency. Least of all does he turn to immorality. Yes.