Al-Anfal 52: (Their state is) just like the family of Pharaoh and the state of the former ones. They denied Allah’s verses and Allah seized them for their sins. Verily, Allah is Qawiyy (Mighty), Allah’s punishment is severe.

Surah Al-Anfal, we have come to verse 52.

Their way — that is, of those who turned their backs on Allah, who denied Allah — the way of those people is just like that of Pharaoh's family and those before them. They too had denied Allah's signs, and Allah, for their sins, had seized them. Allah is strong; His punishment is severe. Yes, man in this world must know his helplessness, must know he is created, must know the Owner of the worlds, must know the Owner of the worlds' book that holds a light before people, must know He sent prophets to bring them to salvation, and man must know his Lord is full of mercy. Again, man must know he is in need of the Owner of the worlds and lives by the provisions He gives, and finally that every living thing will taste death and go before Allah Almighty, he must know, and accordingly man must, in the world, his work (?).

Otherwise our state is bad. If we do not think about these, if we do not grasp these, we cannot know Allah. And we live by our own ego, so that we follow Satan's deception, see the world through rose-tinted glasses, turn our backs on Allah and drift away from our religion. Today I see, I see the counterpart of the verse. Let not Satan deceive you and strip you stark naked, it says. Today there is a nakedness race. A nakedness race. Whoever goes about the most naked is the more modern, the more high-society, a great person. How does Satan deceive with this? What kind of pride and arrogance does he give with this?

Yes. Satan's deception.

Whoever lives the most naked and takes pride in his nakedness, with that temptation Satan gives him, this person, in such a trait, drifting from his religion, recognizing neither Allah nor the Prophet, lives deifying his own ego. And this fire spreads more and more around. The fire is this fire. It spreads more and more.

A man's wife does not walk around like that even beside her husband. These go about outside in shorts. A strange state. May Allah protect us.

In the past some people (?) would withdraw into seclusion. Seclusion, seclusion, they would say, that is: let us not see these, let us live alone, they would say. They withdrew to mountains, caves, high places.

We can't withdraw either, but I live far from the city.

I'm far from the city. Only at lesson time — I have a 15-20 minute drive. I come by car to the house in the city. I give my lesson. Then at night I leave again. At night. Don't you have needs, Hodja? I do have needs, but. We apply the hadith of the Prophet. When you come to the market, he says, when you shop in the market, get your business done there quickly and leave, don't linger, he says. And there, he says, while doing your business, say this. Lâ ilâhe illallâhu vahdehû lâ şerîke leh, lehu'l-mülkü ve lehu'l-hamdü yuhyî ve yumît ve huve hayyun lâ yemût, bi-yedihi'l-hayr. Ve huve alâ külli şey'in kadîr — say this, he says.

Repeat this. Do your business and get out of there, he says. Yes.

We are human, of course we have needs. We go down there. This fire of fitna has surrounded everything. The fire of fitna. By Satan's temptation, egos have become deified. In this state, these people do not recognize Allah, the Book, or the Prophet. And when spoken to like this, they go into crisis. I say: O man, which head, which mind are you serving? For the pleasures of this passing, momentary world, abandoning the abode of eternal bliss and leaving yourself to punishment — is that life of yours worth it? Well, thinking yourself clever, and with that mind, on yourself, on your own ego taking revenge — would you be called clever?

Yes.

May Allah set us right.

Allah's, He says, punishment is severe, He says. In every age, the course of those who denied Allah, as an example to the worlds, remaining as an example. O Pharaoh! Today I will leave your lifeless body, He says, as a lesson for the worlds, He says. Look, the verse says so.

Let us read that part.

Yes, verse 92 of Surah Yunus: O Pharaoh, so that you may be a lesson for those after you, today We will save your body lifeless, it says. Indeed, many of the people are truly heedless of Our signs, it says. Is it fitting for this honourably created human to forget his Lord? Is it fitting for this honourably created human, though his Lord gives him every kind of provision, to be ungrateful to his Lord with such callousness? Then, regarding himself as having a dignified self, seeing his ego as in the right, talking of fairness, he justifies himself. What right? What right are you talking about? If, in return for all this provision given you, you are ungrateful to your Allah, to the One who created you, what right are you talking about?

Yes. People, with their own minds, the feelings of the ego, having engulfed the mind