ADNAN OKTAR:  "Do not direct your eyes longingly to what We have given certain of them to enjoy, the flower of the life of this world, so that We can test them by it." For example, people say to their sons and daughters that their futures now await them. Their sons or daughters ask "what will happen then?" They say; "now you are studying and you will graduate". "Then, after we graduate?" "You will become a man, you will find a job". "Okay I will find one." "You will earn good money," says.  They ask what will happen after that. They reply; "then you will get married and then have children." "Then what?" their children ask. "Then you will die", they reply.

It is really abnormal for a person to be fixated on this, isn't it? That is because the children they give birth to will die and so will they themselves. That means, this cannot be the purpose of humans. Human being's aim is the approval of Allah, His Mercy, and above all things it is to earn the approval of Allah. A Muslim may just go to school or work, seek to get married or may avoid risks. For instance, it is the same for me, if I wanted to be so; I could have just sit at home. Then I would never be arrested or imprisoned and no reports against me would appear in the press. I would not be put in a mental hospital or put on trial. Nothing untoward would happen to me. I could just live minding my own business. But in the end I would have probably gone to Hell, may Allah forbid. Right? That is why it would be an aberrant behavior to regard that as smartness. I mean, to see those devout Muslims who sacrifice themselves and strive for Allah's approval as feeble-minded and to consider himself wise in such worldly interests would be, on the contrary, just the opposite of wise. They will see that this is the case in the Hereafter. The life of this world is very short. We did not come here to be born, reproduce and die. That is what animals do. They are born, grow, reproduce and die. That is in the description of what an animal is. But this is not the aim of humans.  Human beings are born, become a servant of Allah, strive for gaining the approval of Allah, try to live the moral values of the Qur'an, sacrifice himself for the approval of Allah and aim to enter Paradise. Bediuzzaman Said Nursi did not spend 30 years in prison because he was naive or because he didn't think much. While he was serving those 30 years in prison, while he endured those ordeals, a great many families prayed, fasted, did business and ate and drank at home and got married. But they still regarded themselves the same, in the same category with him. That is not so. Allah will question them one by one. In other words, what Bediuzzaman did was right. In other words, to consider himself very smart in fact shows that he is not at all. The really smart person is he who fully submits to Allah. Right ?

For instance there are some such families. They say; "oh my, my children should not embark on such a thing. Please spare my daughter to enter such a mission. Her father shouldn't enter such things either." They avoid such things themselves. And so what? But let Muslims go and struggle. Let them go and be imprisoned, be subjected to slanders. Furthermore when they are thus slandered, he would say "Oh my goodness" and he believes in that, he believes the TV. What's more those, who are real strivers for Islam, those Muslims labor to convince him about those on top of all. I mean they keep saying: "There is no such thing, beware and don't believe." Whereas, in fact, there is no need for Muslims to struggle with them. Allah says in one verse in Surah Nur; "Why, when you heard it, did you not, as men and women of the muminun, instinctively think good thoughts and say, 'This is obviously a lie'?"  Right? Additionally they need to be convinced while they are sitting in their homes and one also has to protect Muslims against these people's gossip and to strive with these as well. Yet the funny thing is, these people still regard themselves as having takwa and being on the true path. They say they recite their prayer beads from morning till night. They say their headscarves are always perfectly in place. They say they pray punctually. That is okay, but everyone does that. A woman can wind a meter of cloth around her head in the comfort of her own home. She can pray in the comfort of her own home. A young person can go to school, graduate as he likes, get married and concentrate on his job and home. But that kind of Muslim is nowhere in the Qur'an. A Muslim will surrender himself completely to Allah. He does so by withdrawing himself from all the social aspects of life. For instance the Prophet(saas) withdrew from all social aspects and strove solely to serve Allah. Do you think that the Prophet (saas) wasn't perfectly capable of sitting at his warm home? But he went on the hegira instead. He hid in the cave of Hira. He travelled for years, and went on the hegira as far as Abyssinia. Those routes were very dangerous. They went round the edge of Africa, by the most difficult paths. Young people of 15-16 went on the hegira with the Prophet (saas), abandoning their families. But they said to other youngsters, "well done, you are very clever. You are very loyal to your families and have not run off after Muhammed (saas). That is what families are all about. You are a level-headed girl who is virtuous and prays. You are educated, you have a job, what business would you have running off after them?" And indeed, some stayed behind; they imagined they were being very clever. But those people, the Companions, went off with the Prophet (saas). They have earned the happiness of both this world and the Hereafter. Now we cannot even find the traces of them on the soil, can we? But their reward in the Hereafter is eternal. That is if they do believe in the Hereafter.

But if they do not, it is a grave error to assume that they can be able to balance the two sides. I mean to assume that they can balance both this world and the Hereafter, that is not possible. A person must either choose this world or the Hereafter. There is no such thing as balancing the two. They are just fooling themselves there. That is why Islam has not yet ruled the world. It has not yet ruled on account of those who consider themselves smart. That is because there is this cowardice, there is this timidity, this tendency to regard oneself as very smart and thus to avoid all risks. When this is the case, of course Islam does not rule the world. Furthermore, they cannot ever bear the words of a single person. For instance such people say; "I would preach but they disparage me". Or else they say "I might be put down as a troublemaker where I work." My brother, if everyone acts like that, Islam would not spread anyway. Everyone can be fond of comfort then.  For instance they say, my daughter's skin is precious to me. So is the daughter of the other's skin is precious. Well, what are the others then? Aren't they also humans, they also have a skin.  Then they shouldn't move at all. They say "My son's skin is precious for me and he has school." Doesn't the other know how to go to school? Doesn't the other have a precious skin as well? And they also encourage others saying "You are my brave ones," putting them on his mettle "I sincerely appreciate and congratulate you on what you do. But we have a family and kids, of course we can't get involved in that kind of thing." That is what the hypocrites in the time of our Prophet (saas) said. They said their homes were vulnerable. That they had families and children they had to look after. They had their futures to worry about. If we go to war with you, they will kill is, or something terrible will happen. Some of them said the weather was far too hot. How could they go off to war in such a heat? Others regarded our Prophet (saas) as very dangerous, and warned people against having anything to do with him. Because they might be martyred. The hypocrites who were not alongside the Prophet (saas) then said ; "Allah had protected us, fortunately we were not with them, had we joined them there, we would have died there as well." They said; " the others had all died there for nothing. And we nearly went along, too, in which case we would have died, as well. Allah protected us." They imagine they are very smart. They say "we do pray as well, we are also Muslims, but see I haven't gone with them and been very smart and thus saved my family". In one verse Allah says, "you thought that the Messenger and the muminun were not going to return to their families." Right? And it is also stated that "they ask the news of you from a distant". From the radio and television, in other words. They would say "Oh my, what is going on with them". In another verse Allah says, "The evil turn of fortune will be theirs." For that reason, Islam has not yet rule the world until now on account of these cowardly Muslims. It is the reason why it didn't happen and why Muslims are now so miserable and wretched. That is the reason for the collapse of the Ottoman Empire; cowardice, thinking of one's own comfort and self-interest and one's family and children. But when these are cornered in the Hereafter, when Almighty Allah interrogates them in the Hereafter, these people will say: "O Lord, I want to give my children as ransom. I want to give my spouse as ransom as well. Cast them all into hell, but save my soul, save me. I will even give you the whole world as ransom. And even as much again. Just so long as you spare me." Their selfishness and real self-interest all comes out in the Hereafter. They don't watch out for their children in the Hereafter. They do so in this world, but that is because they regard them as assets. Because daughters would mean reproductive machines for them, that will give them new grandchildren. They regard them just as a means of reproduction. Because they will marry those grandchildren off, as well and they will receive an income from them, too. They regard them as livestock, may Allah forbid. Their mentality is, the bigger the herd, the more the revenue from them. They have a son and immediately set about marrying him off. They make sure the girl involved is also wealthy so money will come in from her. So Allah says, in one verse of the Qur'an, it is "a cause of boasting among yourselves and trying to outdo one another in wealth and children." Almighty Allah says that in return, I seek refuge with Allah from satan; "If your sons, your wives" that is to say your eagerness to get married, "any business you fear may slump, or any house which pleases you, your tribe," in other words, their family and friends, their friends on Facebook and the like and everyone else, dearer to you than Allah and His Messenger and doing jihad in His Way.. " If we interpret this in terms of the End Times, " if it is dearer to you than the Mahdi (pbuh), striving on Allah's path, jihad and working for the global dominion of Islam, that is to say working for Turkish-Islamic Union" .. Allah says; "then wait". Do you know what does "then wait" mean? It means "I will take your lives and you will then see the reward for that behavior." That is it. People in their graves, women for instance, their wombs protrude from their stomachs under gas pressure. The waste products in their intestine emerge from their mouths due to that gas pressure in the grave. That happens to everyone, without exception. It happens in every death. It is a classic feature of what happens in the grave. I mean due to the strength of the pall the waste products in the intestines out through the mouth. Women's wombs are forced out. Chemical reactions take place in the body as it swells up under the pressure of gasses. The person has striven to that end, and the whole thing is over very soon, in a matter of a few decades. They imagine, may Allah forbid, in their twisted minds, that they can "manage" Allah for a side. I am saying this so people will understand. Of course such a wording is not at all appropriate, may Allah forgive, let us not say it like that. I just said this so that their minds would be understood, but we can find another word for that.

Allah says, "They assign to Allah a share of the crops and livestock He has created, saying, 'This is for Allah,' – as they allege – 'and this is for our idols.' " Allah says; "Their idols' share does not reach Allah whereas Allah's share reaches their idols!". He says He will not accept them, He says He will not accept anything they do for His Sake, their prayers or fasting, nothing. The reason is that they have spared a share for their idols, says Allah. That is they imagine they can carry on acting for Allah and for their own egos, their own earthly desires. That is out of the question. Allah says He will only accept these things if they do them for Him. And that is called "spiritual purity." Sincerity, in other words. Spiritual purity; Islam has not yet ruled the world because there is no spiritual purity. Hazrat Mahdi's (pbuh) task will be to teach people this sincerity. Islam will rule the world with the spread of spiritual purity. The Torah contains a dialogue between Almighty Allah and the Prophet Abraham(pbuh). The prophet asks, "O Lord," and let me summarize here, "would You still destroy the region if there were 10 or 50 good men in it?" And Almighty Allah answers that He would not. Only 10 people, that is just 10 people are enough, insha'Allah. That is why 313 people will be instrumental in Islam ruling the world. Allah will make Islam rule the world for the sake of those people. Otherwise, there is unbelievable pain and suffering in Palestine at the moment. Everyone could send millions of lira, 100 million or 200 million. Or rather 100,000 or 200,000 lira in the new money, or 10,000 or 5,000 or whatever, they can donate. But they look away and think of their own children, their cars and homes, eating and drinking, and that is all. But to salve their conscience, they go to Hajj every now and then. And, they have a nice time looking around on the Hajj with their slippers on their feet. They do shopping and it becomes a nice change for them. Then they say they have become Hajji. They come back all full of airs. That is easy, not difficult at all. You just have to get on the plane, go on the Hajj and come back again. They say they pray and give alms, that they have given away 1/40 of all their wives' gold. They have their wives adorned in gold anyway. And their consciences are thus at ease. Whereas, although there are five general obligations in Islam, the global dominion of Islam is also an obligation, that is also a stipulation.  We have an obligation to strive for the global dominion of Islam. Being courageous is also an obligation, a commandment of Allah. It is also a divine service to wish to be martyrs for Allah. But where are those people who wish to be martyr? Those are very rare. People are terrified of being slandered or of the slightest risk of being martyred or something happening to their families and children. Right? And if they act such cautious, I mean if everyone is this cautious, if everyone is afraid, that the alleged organization Ergenekon emerges. They say since these people are all chickening out. That is how it has been in many Islamic countries and many other countries. The alleged organization Ergenekon does not only operate in Turkey. It also operates in Iraq and goes and bombs mosques there. They bomb Shiite mosques and then go and bomb Sunni mosques. They go to Pakistan and plant bombs there, they bomb mosques in Pakistan. The alleged organization Ergenekon, is not an organization that act within a limited scope. Of course it is not, but they act within a very wide framework. People are then surprised. In Pakistan they say there is no Sunni-Shiite conflict. They wonder who planted the bombs. I am now telling them. But there is a terrible sense of fear. For instance, during the times of Said Nursi, those heroic followers of Bediuzzaman were quite fearless. They didn't leave their Master on his own. But some were really cowards; they abandoned the Master. They simply said you do what you have to do yourself. They imagined they were being very clever. Whereas if they had persevered heroically like Brother Sungur, Fırıncı and the others, like Abdullah Yegin or Seyit Salih Ozcan, if they had undergone all sorts of hardship alongside their Master, an entirely different climate would have emerged. But they imagined they were doing the clever thing. They imagined the others were making a mistake, on the wrong path. And this has happened at all times. And Muslims are making the same mistake now. They make great show of having takwa, and if you ask them they will say they are very saintly. They say they recite the name of Allah 20,000 times a night. But when it comes to taking a risk, they would never. "It is corruption, I would never get into such a thing, may Allah forbid. Are you kidding? That is out of question," they would say. They call it to be corruption. But of course reciting the name of Allah 20,000 times in a nice warm room is very easy. They say they read the Book, after which they have a cup of tea and naturally begin feeling sleepy and start dozing off as the conversation goes on. But this insincerity is smothering Muslims. Look, even though Said Nursi stated quite explicitly that Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh) will be coming and spent hundreds of pages on the subject, and they adopt a kind of language that denies the system of the Mahdi(pbuh) in order not to make them uneasy. They say that is not what the Master really meant. What did he mean then the other asks. Some religious type turns up and says that what the Master was really talking about was a collective personality. But he speaks of a person everywhere. He says "that person" and gives a date, saying that Islam will rule the world, that there will be Islamic union and that there will be Islamic armies of millions of people, doesn't he? He says Islam and Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh) will rule the whole world. But these people still object, saying that the fact he said that does not really matter. They say the Master may have said these things from time to time, but he says so on condition. That is when that condition does not come true, what he said would not happen. My brother, on condition you say, did our Prophet(saas) talks about the coming of Hazrat Mahdi(pbuh) on condition? Sahih al-Bukhari, Muslim, Tirmidhi, Ibn al-Majah, Sunan an-Nasai and Sünnen-i Davut all state it quite explicitly. What is ambiguous about that? Said Nursi is not in the least ambiguous. He is quite explicit. He says there will be Islamic union. But since this will upset their comfort, they put forward a claim that states it is all ambiguous. They go even further and call it a collective personality. They follow a policy of avoiding anything that might spoil their own ease and comfort in the religion, and these people enjoy respect. Then as a result, Muslims encounter these kinds of difficulties. That is what lies behind them. They must be honest here. The Master made no mistake. He was completely accurate. Spending 30 years in prison was no mistake, it was the right thing to do. It is those who did not behave like him who made the mistake. Brother Sungur did not make a mistake. He did the right thing. They went and heroically remained alongside the Master. They were with him in the most dangerous places. They never abandoned him. Zubeyir Gunduz Alp, that lion from the Caucasus, that hero, never abandoned the Master. People said that Bediüzzaman was a very dangerous man, that he would wreck their futures. They would say; Go and study, my son, look to your own future, they said. If you want to learn about the religion, go and learn from the imam in the mosque. Open the Qur'an and read it if you want. What do you need the Master for? And why do you need Bediuzzaman? And the other says; yes you are right, you are definitely correct, we should better sit at home, pray and mind our own business. They said "What is it got to do with Bediuzzaman?" And many people left Bediuzzaman alone and imagining they were being very clever. However they in fact missed a big historic opportunity. They missed out on the honor of following the great mujaddid and restorer of the faith of the End Times. Look, he has very few followers now, whereas he should have had a great many, shouldn't he? But this is all for the best, of course. This spirit of insincerity has to be eliminated. It becomes harder for Islam to rule the world when everyone's own skin is so precious. That is the reason for the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. People like that sat down and bemoaned its collapse. But it is exactly because of people like them that the Ottoman Empire collapsed. It collapsed because of your mentality, your mindset. Things reached this state because of your attaching such importance to property and possessions, to your families and children and to your disregarding the interests of the nation and of Islam. Saying "my friends, let us go and live in our homes happily", well I can go home and sit back, and let everyone sit back at their homes. Is it at all acceptable? They regard Muslims who face dangers as very odd. They regard Muslims taking risks very odd. But they call those people who avoid all risks and difficulties, and think only of their own comfort, devout, highly sane and rational. They say those live level-headed lives. He says those live an upright, quiet life. Living an upright and quiet life; that is wrong. But the life of Rasulullah (saas) was nothing like that. He waged jihad every day. The Companions had their faces and arms chopped in jihad every single day. Were the Companions wrong to do so? They did the very best thing. But many of their families condemned them, afraid that harm would befall their children, and some still claimed to be Muslims themselves. For that reason, the fundamental problem lies under this, lies here. That spirit of fear has to be done away with. People have to stop regarding their own skins as so precious.