Al-Anfal 3: They are the ones who establish the prayer and who spend from the provisions We have given to them (on the path of Allah).

Surah Al-Anfal, verse 3.

They are those who perform their prayer properly and who, of what We have provided for them, spend in the way of Allah. Here, on that part, perform it properly, I too pray properly, if people speak about it with their dry reason, they are mistaken.

Who are these? They, it says, who perform their prayer properly. For whom does Allah Almighty say this? Ender. For whom does He say it, my child? He says it for the believers. For the believers. Why? He says it for the believers, and for the Muslims He does not say it.

Yes.

The believers perform the middle prayer. The middle prayer. What is this middle prayer? You know, the literalists say, the afternoon prayer. Morning and noon one, evening and night one, in the middle the afternoon prayer. I laugh at that.

Yes, it puts it nicely. For the believers who can perform the middle prayer. Of course. What do we say? (?), though. They who perform their prayer properly. These are people who perform the middle prayer. What is this middle prayer? Allah Almighty says in the verse, you know: pay attention to the middle prayer, it says. It is not, as the literalists say, the afternoon, nor the evening, nor the night, nor the noon, nor the morning prayer. This is the prayer performed in the heart before the manifestations. The prayer performed before the manifestation. What is it? The prayer performed before the manifestation.

Do you know what (?) says to the Prophet (peace be upon him)? For your two rak'ahs of prayer that you performed while erring, all the prayers I have performed in my whole life I would (?), he says. Yes. What is the reason? Because in the very presence of Allah Almighty it was the prayer he performed. In the heart. Outwardly; so that they do not misunderstand this, I will describe it now. Outwardly you perform the prayer. Outwardly. (?) and you are in the presence of Allah, you have folded your hands. You are face to face with your Lord. The spiritual world, not the world of the eye. The spiritual world.

I have performed it many times. Our Lord is before us.

(?). I both recite the verse and talk. What do I say? My Allah, do not separate me from Your essence. But at the same time I am reciting. Do not separate me from Your essence. Keep me under Your mercy in both worlds. I keep talking like this constantly. In bowing, in prostration, Allah Almighty too says: ask. Ask. I will give what you ask. Ask, He says. I never asked for the world. My Lord is witness. I always said, do not separate me from Your essence. Always in my supplication, in my prayer, I said so. That is the middle prayer. But later they twisted this middle prayer. Once someone performs the middle prayer, he has supposedly finished with prayer.

He supposedly will never pray again. These are the middle-prayer people. When a person performs such a prayer, he wants the prayer never to end. This, let the prayer never end. Yes. So they perform their prayers properly. That is, they perform it in My divine presence. They speak with Me. They make a little request of Me, He says.

This is the middle prayer.

And they are those who spend in the way of Allah from what We have given them as provision, it says. Look, they do not take for themselves. Those who reach that degree do not take for themselves. They spend in the way of Allah.

Let us see what we have written. Yes.

What is meant by the verse where it says they perform their prayers properly: those who pay attention to the middle prayer are meant. We explained what the middle prayer is in our earlier lessons, we wrote. As the occasion arises, it is useful to explain some verses by repeating them. Since we saw benefit in it, here too it is useful to talk about the middle prayer, we wrote. Some scholars say that the middle prayer is the afternoon prayer. Some try to explain that one of the other times is the middle prayer. The middle prayer, of the five daily prayers, is neither the morning, nor the noon, nor the afternoon, nor the evening, nor the night prayer.

The middle prayer: the prayer performed, while praying, in the world of the heart in the presence of Allah Almighty is the middle prayer. Indeed, the prayer is the mi'raj of the believer. This hadith I have mentioned explains what the middle prayer is and who the believer is. As we explained in the verse we covered above, the believer is the person aware of the manifestations, we said. So, the prayer he performs while praying, receiving the manifestation of Allah Almighty, in the presence of Allah Almighty, is the middle prayer. This prayer is a properly performed prayer. Because these people, as other people do while praying, do not wander through markets and bazaars, do not lay traps for people, and do not pray like those who pray without noticing how they are praying.

There is much more to be said here. Since the verses are for the general public, this much is sufficient, we wrote. And we have passed on to you some of those words that are not often said. That is, we have explained how the prayer we perform in the presence of Allah Almighty is, and what we ask for.

As we explained in the verse we covered above, believers are people aware of the manifestations, we said. So, the prayer he performs while praying, receiving the manifestation of Allah Almighty, in the presence of Allah Almighty, is the middle prayer. This prayer is a properly performed prayer.

Because these people, as other people do while praying, do not wander through markets and bazaars, do not lay traps for people, and do not pray like those who pray without noticing how they are praying. These are people who perform their prayers in the presence of Allah Almighty, being with Allah. There is much more to be said here. Since the verses are for the general public, this much is sufficient, we wrote. Yes. Allah Almighty has shown you mercy; you are servants our Lord loves, since you came here; how beautifully you are learning the truths of the matter in the light of the verses. The believers are people who spend in the way of Allah from the provision Allah Almighty gives.

These people know this point very well: that according to the verse Every soul shall taste death, as souls taste death, from the world not even an atom will they be able to take along. Accordingly, as the verse The inheritance of the heavens and the earth belongs to Allah comes into play, according to this verse these believers are not those who seek the world but those who seek the hereafter. So when it is said, what you wish will be given: I want nothing but Your essence, my Allah.

In fact, Dhu'n-Nun al-Misri, Dhu'n-Nun al-Misri goes with a friend to Rabia Hatun.

Rabia Hatun asks his friend, why do you pray? Because I fear Hell, he says. She asks Dhu'n-Nun al-Misri, why do you pray? Because I long for Paradise, he says. She turns to his friend and says, Rabia Hatun: you, she says, are like a person who works out of fear of a beating, she says.

And you, she says, to reach it in return for something material, she says, a person who works, you resemble one. Well, and you, he says, what do you pray for? I pray because I long for my Lord, she says. Yes. To say to Him, give me this, would be absurd. To say to Allah Almighty, give me this, would be absurd.

Now why would it be absurd? Then should we not make supplication, Hodja? Now (?). The good deed of the common people is the bad deed of the elite. Shall I say it again? The good deed of the common people: he supplicates, O Allah, give me this, give me that, he says. He asks, and so he declares his helplessness. The bad deed of the elite. Its sin. Why? My Lord knows me better than I know myself. I am too ashamed before my Lord to ask Him for this. He surely gives what is best for me. What does it say in the verse? I have such servants, it says, that from remembering Me they can never ask anything of Me, it says.

And since Allah Almighty knows his heart, his heart; he knows too that far more than what he needs He will grant him. For this reason that elite one is ashamed to ask of Allah. What does this person ask for, then? Will he not make supplication? From Allah he asks only for His beauty and His mercy. He asks to turn toward good. He asks to walk on the straight path. He asks to, with Allah's verses, enjoin upon His servants what is right. He asks to tell about Allah. To tell you, to tell about my Lord, he asks.

Otherwise he never asks for the world out of desire for it. But Allah Almighty never leaves him in want in the world either. If you remember Him, will He leave you in want? Yes. So the believers are people who, from the provision Allah Almighty gives, spend in the way of Allah. These people know this point very well: that according to the verse Every soul shall taste death, as souls taste death, from the world not even an atom will they be able to take along. Accordingly, as the verse The inheritance of the heavens and the earth belongs to Allah comes into play, according to this verse these believers are not those who seek the world but those who seek the hereafter.

In the life of this world, however, according to the verse in which Allah Almighty says, build up your world, by working in the world, just as they spend the provision Allah Almighty has decreed on their own selves, they also spend on those in need among the servants Allah created, for the sake of Allah's pleasure, and give charity. In this way they have also built up their world. Yes.