Speech 5

The lecture of Mahmoud Effendi 5

Mahmut Efendi Hazretleri   Yavuz Selim Mosque 1997

“(Unto them say, Oh Mohammed!) ‘ Travel in the land and see the nature of the sequel for the guilty!’ ”  The Qur'an, Chpt.27 ‘An Naml-The Ant’ Verse 69

The Quraysh; the tribe of our Prophet were called mushrikuun (idolaters) since they associated partners to Allah. Those mushrikuun were not following the teachings of the Prophet. Thus, they became rebellious to the commands of Allah and became sinners. The word mujrimuun (sinners) means whoever that transgressed the limits of Allah with whichever part of his or her body. If, for example, you look or watch the men who are unlawful for you –you commit a sin with your eyes. If you listen to unlawful things, such as songs or gossips you commit a sin with your ears. A clever man is the one who pays attention to his neighbour’s death or the stories of the tribes and nations in the past.

The Qur’an says:

“Have they not travelled in the land and seen the nature of the consequence for those who were before them? They were stronger than these in power, and they dug the earth and built upon it more than these have built. Messengers of their own came unto them with clear proofs (of Allah’s Sovereignty). Surely Allah wronged them not, but they did wrong themselves.” Chpt.21 ‘Ar-Rum- The Romans’ Verse.9

There are ruins of old civilsations which had been destroyed on the account of their corruption and disobedience to the will of Allah. They tried to transform the earth into Heaven. They have been warned by the Messenger of Allah to stop rebelling against Allah but they denied all. And Allah has destroyed them. They had drawn the wraft of Allah and Allah caused the destruction of those nations. Allah did not wrong them. They wronged themselves.

The mushrikuun (idolaters) wanted to see a miracle. The prophet called a tree to come upon him and it obeyed. But they still did not believe, even after having seen this miracle.

In Sodom and Gomore, the people of the Prophet Lot, were commiting terrible sins. They were homosexuels. Allah ordered Angel Gabriel (Jebreel) to take five villages on his wings up to the sky and then put them upside down to earth.

From the Qur’an,

“Definitely, the eyes in their heads are not blind but the eyes in their hearts are blind.”

A man has four eyes. Two of them are in his head and two are situated in his heart, inside the chest. It is of no importance if a man’s eyes in the head are blind. He will be rewarded for that in the Heavens with such high degrees that those who had not been blind in life will want to have been blind. But it is of vital importance if one’s eyes situated in the chest are blind or not.

When the adhan (calling to the prayer) is heard (from the mosque), there are thousands of men walking in the streets. The mosques are empty. Only one million out of seventy million people in Turkey prays five times a day. The rest is not. We must obey the commands of Allah. Whosoever commits a sin with a part of his body causes this part of his body to be cut off (spiritually). When you steal something your hand is cut off (according to Islamic law). The one whose hand has been cut off is also called mujrimuun (sinner) in Arabic.

From the Qur’an,

“My beloved, do not feel sad because of those who are deceiving you.”

It is a very serious sin to mock about a prophet or a man of Allah. It will be punished severely. Those who are trying to deceive you are also trying to eradicate the religion of Allah. They say: “Tell us when the promised day is (the day of punishment) if your words are true.” They do not believe. They try to deceive Allah’s prophets. Allah responds to their intrigues in the same way but they do not see it.

Jesus’ compatriots wanted him to be killed. He hid in a house. The soldiers sent after him a man who was supposed to kill him but Allah raised Jesus up to the Heavens. Allah transformed that man’s face into Jesus’ face and so that man was killed.

Speech 4



Mahmut Efendi Hazretleri   Yavuz Selim Mosque 1997

Thank to Allah you all know that Allah created all mankind and geenies (the unseen creatures of Allah) to worship Him only. To worship Allah also means to know Him since it is not possible to worship Allah without knowing Him. He does not want sustenace from us. He is the one who gives it. He is Ar-Razzak (The Sustainer). Allah tells men that there are things which they can do and things which they cannot do. What they can do is to know him and worship him. And what he will do is to provide sustenance for men. Of course this does not mean that man will not trade, cultivate or be craftsmen. Men obviously will have to work but whatever they do will not be successful if Allah does not send rain down, for example.

It is impossible for a man to get to know Allah by himself. He needs a guide. When a man is born he knows nothing. Then, step by step, he starts learning. Over the period of the first seven years of a child’s life he should be taught things about emaan (faith) and many other things about Islam such as ablution, and prayer, etc.

Firstly, a child should be taught the principles of Islam there are six of them all together:

1- To believe in Allah by knowledge; If you believe in Him without knowing Him it will be like the faith of the Jews and Christans. They also say they believe, but wrongly, since they consider Jesus the son of Allah. Those who say that are definitely kafir (disbeliever). It is haram (unlawful) for them to enter Paradise. We must first learn properly about Islam from the righteous scholars of Ahla Sunnah (the people who are following our Prophet’s lifestyle). We can only be believers if we have the right faith in Allah. We must forbid the evil and command the good from whoever we meet. It is of vital importance. Our new generation is completely ignorant about Islam. No one is teaching them Islam. Neither their parents nor the schools they attend to give them a proper Islamic education. If you tell them to believe in Allah they ask: ‘How can we believe in something which we can not see?’ Allah hides Himself, it is up to Him. He can do what He wishes and nobody has the right to question him about His reasons.

Moses chose seventy men to be taken along with him when he was going to see Allah. Those men said they would not believe unless they saw Allah with their own eyes. Suddenly a thunder struck them, and they all got burnt. They were dead it was a warning for them for having exceeded the limits by Allah. Later Allah brought them back to life. Moses also asked Allah to be shown His face, but He did it whith extreme politeness. Allah told him to watch a mountain which was at a certain distance from him, and reflected His light there. Moses was so much dazzled that he fell down unconscious. When he came back to his senses he begged to be forgiven for having such demands. Allah told him that he had been chosen a prophet over all mankind, and orded him to take what he was given and not to go after what he was not given.

Allah can not be seen in this world but He will be seen in the Hereafter just as you see now the moon.

Stick to your prayers and carry them out in their time. Whoever prays five times a day will be able to see Allah in Paradise. Praying is a great thing. It is the mirajj (ascenscion) of muslims to Allah. Our prophet had been raised to Allah in a mirajj. He felt so much pleasure when he saw Him that he did not want to go back to the earth. Allah ordered him to go back to the mankind and invite them to reach the level of seeing Him then he returned.

Death is a bridge which brings together two close friends. If you follow the Messenger of Allah, Allah will love you and cover up all your sins, forgive them. How do you follow him? By learning the principles of eman (faith) and by practising the principles if Islam.

The first teachers of a child are his parents. If they are not able to teach them, then they should send their children to proper teachers of Islam.

Allah has eight attributes to describe Himself:
1. Life; He is alive forever; all kinds of life spring out of Him.

2. Knowledge; He knows everything nothing escape from his knowledge.

3. Hearing; He hears everything without any means.

4. Seeing; His sight is unlimited.

5. Will; He has the will power. He does what He wills.

6. Power; He is omnipotent; He has the power of making whatever he wills.

7. Speech; He is uttering words in His revelations.

8. Creating; He creates out of nothing.

He created man with the attributes similar to His own attributes. Man is alive, man hears, sees, etc. He created man after His own image. However, Allah has no image; what it means is that He had given man out of His own attributes.

2- To believe in His angels; We have come to this world not just to eat, drink, get married, but to know Allah and to worship Him.

3- To believe in His Books and Sheets given to His Messengers; There are four Books: Torah (given to Moses), Psalms (given to David), Gospel (to Jesus), Qur’an (to Muhammad p.b.u.h).

Allah created Eve out of the rib of Adam while he was asleep. When he woke up the angels asked him who she was. He answered she was his family. Allah told Adam to go and settle down in Paradise together with his wife. They were allowed to eat anything they liked except the fruit from one particular tree. But the satan(devil) approached them and told them that if they ate out of that tree, they would never be removed from the Paradise. He lied and they believed. The moment they ate the fruit they became aware of their nakedness. Allah said:

“ I told you the devil was your ennemy”.

They begged to be forgiven whoever believes and learns Qur’an and lives by it, need not to fear.

4- To believe in His Prophets; We are bound to believe in all the Books before Qur’an since they are all from Allah. But they had been abolished by the practice of the Qur’an.

5-  To believe in the Resurrection after death; We have been made of  two things: soul and body. The soul can be removed from the body in two cases: in the case of sleep and in the case of death. When the soul goes away but life stays -it is called sleep; when both the soul and life go- then it means death. All the five senses (seeing, hearing, touching etc.) which belong to the soul disappear when it goes away, although their mean (i.e. eyes, ears etc.) remain in the body.

6- To believe in the destiny and that anything good or bad comes from Allah.

Speech 3

                           

Mahmut Efendi Hazretleri   Yavuz Selim Mosque 1997

The knowledge is just, the ignorance is unjust. The right has come, the wrong has gone. The piety has come, the rebellion has gone. Zuhd (abstention from the lustful desires) has come and the love of the world has gone. First we must purify our eyes and our nafs (souls). Then Allah will show Himself to us. Moses wanted to speak to Allah. He had been asked to go near a certain tree. When he approched the area where that tree was he saw a fire. When he got closer he reliased that it was not a fire but a light. He heard a voice from a side of the valley stating that it was Noor (spiritual light). Then he heard:

“ Inni ene Allah”

meaning in Arabic, definiteley I am Allah. The voice was heard from the tree in light. Obviously, the tree is not Allah but Allah made himself heard from that tree. The pharaoh also said: ‘Ene rabbikum ala.’ meaning to ‘I am your lord, the highest’. But since the pharaoh said this, while his ego (nafs) was still with him, it was a declaration of kufr (disbelief) to say this for him. There was a famous saint called Hallacı Mansur who said ‘Enel hak’ i.e. ‘I am lord’, but only when after his nafs has been wiped off. There was no more ego left in him. He perished in the existance of Allah. Thus, it was not actually him that who said ‘I am lord’, but it was Allah Himself using his tongue and his words. It is similar to the case of Moses hearing the tree talking to him. It is not the tree that is talking but Allah is talking through that tree. When the nafs (ego) disapears then it is no more that man or that tree acting but Allah does whatever is being done. When nafs disappears, body still remains but whatever the body does is guided by Allah.

“And forsake those who take their religion for a pastime and an amusement and whom the life of the world decieves. Remind (mankind) with this, lest a soul be destroyed by what it earns. It has beside Allah no friend nor intercessor, and though it offer every compensation it will not be accepted from it. Those are they who perish by what they have acquried. For them is drink of boiling water and a painful punishment, because they disbelieved.”

Nowadays, Islam has been taken as an amusement. Whoever amuses with Islam is in fact allured by the worldly life. Such people think that they will have the life in this world forever; they will never die. We must pay attention to it. A person can be destroyed by what he or she earns. Even if the whole world is giving a ransom, in case it was possible, it will not be accepted, besides, nobody will have any belongings with him, he will be completely nude.

“On that day the hypocrites, both men and women will say to the true believers: ‘Wait for us that we may borrow some of your light.’ It will be said: ‘Go back and seek some (other) light.’ Then a wall with a gate will be set before them. Inside there will be mercy, and out, to the fore, the scourge (of Hell)”. Chpt.6 ‘Al An’am-The Cattle’ Verse 70

On the Day of judgement, after the judgement has finished all mankind will be asked to follow one road. The hypocrites (munafiquun) will start talking among themselves: ‘We haven’t got light (Noor). The Muslims have it. While we were on earth we used to benefit from there light and now we must walk again with them in there light otherwise we will be left in complete darkness. But Muslims will be walking very fast. Some of them like lightnings; others will be flying just like airplanes, still others like racing cars. The hypocrites will not be able to follow them and will be left in darkness. They will beg the believers for some light. The Muslims will answer: ‘While on earth you used to call yourselves enlighted people. We have earned this light which we have now, from our life in the world.’ Go back to the world, if you can, and get your own light.
 

“They will call out to them, saying: ‘Were we not with you? They will reply: ‘Yes, verily; but you tempted yourselves, you wavered, you doubted and were deceived by your own wishes until Allah’s will was done and the deciever (satan) decieved you concerning Allah” “So this day no ransom from you, nor from those who disbelieved. Your home is the Fire; that is your patron, and hopeless journey’s end”

Chpt.57 ‘Al Hadeed- Iron’ Verses 14-15

Then, a high wall will be drawn between them. Inside the wall the believers will enjoy the mercy of Allah and His bounties. Outside of it the hypocrites will be in darkness and dispair. And so, those outside the wall will be asking those who are inside: ‘Weren’t we together on the earth? Why do you leave us now outside? We used to sit at the same table, and we used to work together, talk to each other, marry each other, socialise with one another. Why have you made this wall now?’ The Muslims will answer: ‘Yes, we would be together but you have wronged yourselfves and had humiliated us. You detested Muslims in your hearts and you wanted them to be destroyed. You had done so until death reached you. Allah built this wall now to separate us’ Then Allah addresses to the Muslims:

“Is not the time ripe for the hearts of those who believed to submit to Allah’s reminder and to the truth which is revealed that they become not as those who recieved the Scripture of old but the term was prolonged for them and so their hearts were hardened and many of them are evil-livers?”. Chpt.57 ‘Al Hadeed- Iron’ Verse16

Will your hearts always remain hard? Isn’t the time close yet for you to feel fear when the verses of Allah are mentioned to you? Hasn’t that time of not following Jews and Christians arrived yet? You follow them in everything they do. In their fashion and everything else and you live exactly like them. Allah warns us in this verse. When will the time arrive when you stop imitating the Jews and Christians?

We must be strong in our dhikr (remembrance) of Allah. It must be a conscious remembering not just removing the lips. When a soul is expoused his own destruction for what he earned there will be no one to help him but Allah. There is boiling water ready for him, sixty times hotter than boiling water we know on earth. When this water is drunk, throats are torn and burnt. Drinking it is too much to bear.

How can we worship anything other than Allah? Something which we have no benefit from it like a cross, an idol. We have been ordered to surrender ourselves to the Lord of the Worlds.

We have been ordered to pray, to fast, and to give alms not to watch t.v and get lost in all sorts of amusement and games. You invite them to the straight path, they keep following Satan’s steps, and they get lost. You are being asked to obey the Messenger of Allah and Allah and not to disobey them. Whoever disobeys the Messenger of Allah actually disobeys Allah. We must obey the Messenger of Allah completely. Otherwise we will be making fun of our religon. Not to pray, not to read Qur’an, not to do things properly and not to respect the rules is making fun of the religon. Having Christian type of weddings and funerals, taking pictures during such ceremonies is also making fun of your religion.

Ali (prophet’s son in law) wanted to marry again, this time with the daughter of Abu Jaheel (a mushrik; associating partners with Allah). The Messenger of Allah heard it and during a hutba (speach) referred to this fact saying that once he had wedded a companion (aiming at Ali) who had promised not to marry a second time and that he was pleased with him. Then he added that his daughter Fatma (Ali’s wife) was very much beloved to him, that she was like a part of him and he swore that the Messenger’s daughter could by no mean be included in the same marrige contract as the daughter of the ennemy of Allah (Abu Jaheel).

It is not right to marry a second wife and worry your first one. It is better to stick to the one you have, especially nowadays since it is very diffucult to do justice to both of them.

Khadija (the prophet’s first wife) had warned women to care a lot about their husbands and not to give them any pretext to marry the second one. It is true that Allah permitted marrying two, three or four but He said if you think you may not be able to treat them adequatly, marry just one. It is tremendously diffucult nowadays to achieve this, so we should rather stick to one wife and turn to Allah and worship him properly rather then indulge in worldy pleasures.

Usama was Zayd’s son. Zayd used to be before our prophet’s slave. Our prophet appointed Usama as the general commander of the army and other companions complained about it. The messenger of Allah reminded them that they had complained before when he apointed his father as general commander. He also said that both he and his father were well worth being general commanders, even though some might have not liked that. He added he liked both of them very much.

In case of a theft Beni Israel (Sons of Israel) used to cut hands of the poor who stole but not of the well-off people. The Messenger of Allah said that even if his daughter Fatma had done such a thing he would have ordered her hand to be cut off. I have heard that there are girls who wear jeans under their jeelbaabs(outer garments).

Allah sees what you wear even if you wear hundreds of clothes on top. Allah is aware of what you are wearing as western fashion clothes. He is Khabeer (All-knower) nothing can hide from him. He is Hakeem (most wise); He has no fault at all. I would not wear anything like that for anything in the world, it seems so ugly to me. We must be careful and protect Islam. Kufr is attacking it from all sides; we should not give in. A university girl says that she already knows English, why should she study Arabic? We care a lot about western languages but not for Arabic which is the language of the Qur’an, the Book of Allah. We should try to learn at least everyday. All we care about is how to earn more money and follow more western fashions. You have heard the verses above. Those who make fun of their religon will be exposed to severe punishment. Allah gave us the Book and its translater, interpreter -the Messenger of Allah. Nobody cares for the news of the Qur’an. Allah asks you what has happened to your hearts; why are they so hard?

Why do you stand still like rocks while My verses are being mentioned?

Speech 1

Mahmut Efendi Hazretleri   Yavuz Selim Mosque 1997

“This is sending down of the Book, wherein is no doubt, from the Lord of the Worlds.”  The Qur'an, Chpt.32 ‘As Sajda -The Prostration’ Verse 2

This Qur’an belongs to the Lord of the Worlds. Those who do not believe say- it is nothing but a lie. They say -it was concocted by Muhammad and that he was helped by others. Allah confirms that this Qur’an is definitely from Him; the Lord of the Worlds. He says:

“Now you can speak of it what ever you like since you have been giving the leave but the moment death comes to you I will catch you by the throats and I will not let you go ever.” Chpt.32 ‘As Sajda-The Prostration’ Verse 2

How great the Qur’an is and how bad it is to deniy it.

The disbelievers are asking: “How come the resurrection after death is possible?
Surely recreating after death is even easier than creating out of nothing. For Allah is the Great, creating a man is not more difficult than even creating an ant. Allah does not make anybody a kafir (disbeliever). It is the Satan (devil) who brings faith (emaan) or disbelieve (kufr) to a man’s heart. Satan hoped that he would separate man from Allah. It was a false hope since he has no power to do so. He can only whisper bad feelings into man’s heart. It is up to you to follow his steps. If you don’t follow him he won’t be able to force you to follow him. He has no such power. If you follow him then the kufr which is in you will come into the open.

“With it , came down the Spirit of Truth”. Chpt.26 ‘As Shu’ara-The Poets’ Verse 193

The sprit of Truth is Angel Gabriel (Jebreel). He was called so because he was a mean to refresh the hearts dying of ignorance and darkness of kufr(disbelief).

“Upon your heart that you maybe one of the warners” Same Chpt. Verse 194

From our Prophet’s heart it had flown to his tongue and from his tongue to our hearts. We did not belive in Muhammad(peace be upon him) for nothing. We believed in him through his miracles. In our Prophet’s time poetry was quite popular and advanced as was medicine in Prophet’s Jesus time and magic in Prophet’s Moses time. When our Prophet recited the Qur’an poetry had faded away. All famous poets had failed. There you have a miracle. Another miracle: one day, in the time of war, the army ran out of water. Prophet Muhammad(peace be upon him) plunged his hand in a bucket in which there was a little water left. When he took his hand out, streams of water were flowing from his fingers. The whole army drank the water flowing from his fingers.

“Nor does he speak out of his caprice.” Chpt. 53 ‘An Najm- The Star’ Verse 3

All the verses of our Prophet are completely true. There is no falsehood in him; whoever denies him will be in hell forever. Stubbornness leads one to deny and therefore to hell.

“And it is He who brought you forth from the wombs of your mother when you knew nothing”. Chpt.16 ‘An Nahl- The Bee’

We learned everything later. Even our Prophet knew nothing.

“And thus we have (O Mohammad) revealed a Spirit to you by Our command you did not know what the Scripture was nor what the Faith was, but We have made it a light whereby We guide whom We will of Our bondsmen. You are indeed guiding to a Right way”. Chpt.42 ‘As Shura- The Counsel’ Verse 52

Of course he had faith but he did not know it in detail. He has been taught by Allah through the Qur’an.

Mothers and fathers, please, please, have pity on your own children. Do not send them to the schools of kufr which are the cradles of kufr. Teach them Islam properly. I swear you again that having faith is much more precious than becoming a prime minister or a president. Your faith will make you president forever. If you care for your children you will be saved as well. We should not be wasting our time in amusement places. We should keep on working and trying to make us closer to Allah, to make our relation with Him much better.

A Hadith:

The Messenger of Allah (sallallahualeyhiwesellem) asked Angel Gabriel one day: “Allah told me that I am a mercy for all the worlds. How did I become a mercy for you? ”.

Angel Gabriel replied:

“The devil was preaching to the angels for 21 years, but it had not stopped him from going astray. Seeing this we got frightened. Then, Allah ordered me to convey the verses to you and He called me - Al Ameen- the trustworthy. I was very much relaxed hearing this. In this way you had become a mercy for me”.

We do not know how to appreciate correctly our Prophet. We are going to face Allah in the Hereafter. There are great difficulties awaiting us in the Hereafter. How shall we overcome those difficulties without learning properly how to deal with them? We must get the knowledge of Islam. Allah guaranteed our sustenance from most unexpected sources for whoever seeks this knowledge.

There are two things which devastate the community of Muslims in our days: The first is ignorance about Islam. The second is the fear about the lack of sustenance.

There are three things which deprive one’s faith:

1. Istihfaf i.e. Not taking seriously the commands of Allah.

2. Istihlal i.e. Exchanging halal (lawful) with what is haram (unlawful) and haram (unlawful) with what is halal (lawful).

3. Istihza i.e. mocking about Islam, the Shariat (Islamic Jurisprudence) and the commands of Allah.

“And verily we have written in the Zabur(Psalms) after the reminder: My righteous slaves shall inherit the earth”. Chpt.21 ‘Al Anbiya- The Prophets’ Verse 105.

A hadith (saying) from the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him)

'Whoever says shahada that is: La ilahe illallah Muhammed rasulullah (there is no god but Allah and Muhammed is His messenger)

and whoever then believes that Jesus [Isa (aleyhisselam)] is the slave, the word and the Messenger of Allah, and moreover believes that Hell and Heaven exist, then, whatever his or her deeds are he or she will enter Paradise.'

Jesus was created by the word kun (be) of Allah;

and he came into existance. Angel Gabriel came to Mary in the form of a young man.

Angels have no gender. They are neither male nor female, but they can take on any form.

Mary got frightened when she saw this young man and asked Allah to protect her from him. Angel Gabriel; comforts her and tells her that he had been sent by His Lord to give her a son. Mary could not believe it was possible for her to have a baby since no man had ever touched her and she was not a bad woman. Angel Gabriel said it was very easy for her Lord. Her son would be a sign of mercy for all mankind. Then Angel Gabrial blew into her through her collar from the Spirit of Allah and she became pregnant. When Jesus was born she took him to her Jewish community. They started to interrogate her. She kept silent, but it was her son who spoke from the cradle to answaer them. The baby boy said:

“I am indeed a servant of Allah. He has given me the Scripture and has appointed me a prophet. And He has made me blessed wheresoever I may be and has commanded me to pray and to give alms to the poor as long as I live. And has made me dutiful to my mother and has not made me oppressive, wicked. So peace be upon me the day I was born and the day that I die and the day that I shall be raised up to life (again).”

“It is not befitting to (the majesty of) Allah that He should beget a son. Glory be to Him! When He detremines a matter, He only says to it –Be! – and it is. (And Jesus had declared): ‘Assuredly Allah is my Lord and your Lord. Therefore serve Him. That is the straight path.’ Chpt.19 ‘Maryam- Mary’ V.30-36

Jesus was created by the word –BE– of Allah, and he became. He was given a Book called Injeel (Gospel). He mentioned this book when he was just a baby in his cradle. This was a real book with the commandments of Allah written down in it. We don’t know how it was written down or what happened to it. All we know it was a real book which Jesus mentioned when he was a baby. When he reached maturity and his prophethood started formally he had this book with him and preached from it. It was a complete book, not just a few pages. But this book is lost now. And the so called Bible the Christians now have has not much to do with the original Injeel.