ADNAN OKTAR: But people fail to comprehend this world very well; some people that is. That is why they let themselves be caught up in this world. A Muslim's first thought is to marry his daughter off to a rich man. It is enough for them if he has been to the Friday prayers a few times, even if he just performs the festival prayers. I see this in even the most devout families. They say she can make a proper person out of him even if he has no belief at all. Wealth is really important for them. You will gradually make a man of him, they say, the rest is unimportant. As long as he is physically complete and has money and assets, that is fine. You see young girls who have dedicated themselves to Islam, to the religion, who suddenly turn into housewives. They abandon all their activities, lose touch with all their friends and give up all their work. When you ask them they talk about family responsibilities and say they are now married. They thus regard themselves as in the right. They develop a logical basis for not serving Islam. But this is specifically set out in the Qur'an. Allah says: "If your fathers or your sons or your brothers or your wives or your tribe, or any wealth you have acquired, or any business you fear may slump, or any house which pleases you, are dearer to you than Allah and His Messenger and doing jihad in His Way. " In other words, "if you like them better than striving on the path of Allah, you should wait," Allah says. "I will punish you for that" He says. And they indeed see very soon afterward that life is very short. A young girl of 20 turns into a 40 years old middle-aged woman in 2 or 10 years. Their hands and faces wrinkle and then they go through the menopause and become very weak.  Don't they? Then diseases start appearing, cancer and ulcers, lots of things, and they realize how short life is. But they still ignore it. Because they look to society, to the multitude. Whereas Allah says, " If you obeyed most of those on earth, they would misguide you from Allah's Way," in the Qur'an. One must abide by the Qur'an, not by society. "If you obeyed most of those on earth,..." Allah does not accept this. The verse in the Qur'an is explicit. Even when they get married they ask the other person, their children, what their ambitions are. The reply is to have a career or whatever. But these are all irrelevant. What one must do is to fully submit to Allah and properly appreciate the marvelous nature of this world. Because we are in an extraordinary environment. We did not come here just to reproduce, enjoy ourselves and amass wealth. Even if they do amass possessions, the decades pass like a single year. You reach the result in a very short period of time. For example, if we ask young women of 40 watching us now, these women are the youngsters of yesterday. In other words, they have suddenly reached the age of 40. Their youth seems like only yesterday to people of 60. They reach that age unbelievably quickly. But young people imagine they will live for a very long time. But that is not the case at all. They will see this. It all comes to an end very quickly. Cancers, ulcers and heart diseases all follow immediately after. They struggle with those in hospital. Between 40 and 50 is the time in which cancer, ulcers and heart diseases are experienced most frequently. After that comes the death phase for people. They then try to stave death off, not to die. They try to keep themselves alive with medicines and treatments. I mean, left to themselves they would die, but they hold out against death. They try to live like that. This is what Allah emphasizes, not that He has any need for emphasis, but I am just saying it so that people will understand. There is something wonderful here. Allah says He sends us here just to be tested and to be His servants. But they insist on not understanding this. I mean, what is there in this world? They get food to eat with a thousand difficulties and they experience the difficulties of that food afterwards. They have to bathe every day, don't they? They have to take care of themselves every day. A woman will get in a terrible state if she does not look after. A man also gets in a terrible state if he does not look after himself. They spent 8 hours a day sleeping, don't they? Almost the half of it. Right? They spend 8 hours sleeping and 8 hours working.

OKTAR BABUNA: They also set aside hours for looking after themselves.

ADNAN OKTAR: Yes, then what remains they spend on eating and that kind of thing, bathing and the rest. There aren't enough hours in the day. Even if they live it just about. They even eat many meals standing up. For instance they just buy sandwiches and eat them as they don't have the time. In all this rushing about, many people are only interested in this world. As if they are going to gain something really great from this world. But there is nothing in this world. The best thing about this world is to love Allah, to be passionately devoted to Him, to love His commands and those of the Qur'an. It is very delightful to abide by Allah's pronouncements. It is really delightful to make no concessions on the deen. It is delightful to make no concessions on the Qur'an. It is such a delightful thing to cling tightly to the Qur'an. That has a depth all its own, a delight all its own. It is a special pleasure known only to Muslims. Loving Allah with a passionate devotion is a wonderful blessing, and we love people for Allah's approval, with passion, when He is loved with passion. We love them as manifestations of Allah. They then produce a very profound and powerful effect within us. Otherwise there is nothing particularly special about people. Human beings are otherwise just an assembly of flesh, made up of protein, bone, intestines, the liver, the spleen and all the rest. It is because they are manifestations of Allah we love them so much. The reason for this passion is that they are manifestations of Allah. Because Allah manifests Himself in human form in our brains, and that is how we see Him. We love people because we love Allah. Otherwise people would mean nothing to us. Nothing in the world would mean anything to us. The seas and mountains would frighten us. Other people would even frighten us. One would look for a hiding place when one saw other people. In other words, they would mean nothing to us. This love and passion is so strong in our souls because we love Allah. Because Allah is infinitely beautiful and has given us a soul for eternal love. When that feeling enters the equation, when that person becomes a believer, he loves Paradise with a great passion. He loves the trees of Paradise with a passion, and the plants, people there, the children and ladies there and everything of Paradise. He takes delight in them because of that. But if you put an irreligious person in Paradise he will just get bored. The mansions of Paradise will mean nothing to him. The people in Paradise will make him uncomfortable. That can only be delightful with faith.