ADNAN OKTAR: To become a saint, well, anyone who fully abides by the Qur'an will become a saint. Anyone who fully lives by the Qur'an, who fully obeys Allah's commands and who is sincere, will be a saint. Let me see the question.

PRESENTER 2: It is the one from Ishak Davud of Mugla.

ADNAN OKTAR: “They are the saintly manifestations of Allah. What is the rank of the Awliya Allah (Friends of Allah)? Could you provide some brief information about the Awliya Allah?” Yes, these people we have described are the Awliya Allah. The rank of Awliya Allah means, Allah loving someone very much, being pleased with him, vesting His approval on him. It is being someone whom Allah approves. It is a rank of approval. If Allah is pleased with someone, he is Allah's saint (awliya). Allah becomes his friend from that point on. Allah will create all kinds of means for his good and well-being, insha'Allah.

PRESENTER 2: They also talk about women achieving the rank of Awliya Allah if they spend 40 days indoors worshiping, and men if they spend 40 years. There are popular ideas to that effect.

ADNAN OKTAR:It is not gained in such a short space of time, but within the course of a lifetime, when one retreats from all the social aspects of life, when one puts one's own advantage into the background, when one ceases to concentrate on his school, business, marriage or business, and when one devotes himself to serving Islam, the Qur'an and Allah, only then the saint character develops. Bediüzzaman spent 30 years in prison, for instance. He could have gone into a place of suffering where novices undergo their ordeals and become a saint in 40 days. If such a rank exists. But that is not the case. It is wrong to seek the rank of being a saint in easy matters. The rank of being a saint comes from troubles, difficulties and danger. For example, the Companions were fighting alongside the Prophet (saas). They were attacked on two fronts. It is a terrible thing to be pressed on two sides. That is because in terms of military tactics they will crush you underfoot from two sides. The believers there said, “This is Allah's promise to us.”  It is said in the Qur'an that this " increased their faith”. But there are also people whose wisdom and faith is weak, and they had a very different mindset. Allah says in one verse, “you thought unworthy thoughts about Allah.” They began imagining various things about our Prophet (saas). In other words, people's character in times of difficulty is most important. No matter how much you press down on a saint, he will always have superior moral values. He will never do anything vulgar, bend or break. For example, someone may spend 40 days or 40 months in a house of suffering, but he still becomes very aggressive and unpleasant the moment anything conflicts with his own interests, and displays a character you had never imagined him possessing. You then realize he is not sincere. We can see he is not honest. The important thing is that when a person of good character is pressed, when things come down on him, when things conflict with his own interests, he still makes no concessions regarding the Qur'an, Islam and proper moral values and continues to follow his conscience. There are many people who are very nice, but if you go on to them a little, they would act loathsome instantly. Their true face suddenly appears. A face you never guessed at. They immediately start snarling. They suddenly turn into this strange creature. You know, those stories about werewolves appearing when the Moon comes out. Just like that. One needs to emphasize that. It is very important to display the character of a saint in hard times. There are those people with a beard down to their navels, robes and turbans, who say, “Come and sit down” when you go to their house. Prayer beads in their hands. Mujahiddin(strivers) of the armchair. They sit on a high chair in a corner and people appear before them. They say this holy man recited the names of Allah 10,000 times a day. He never goes out, just eats half a loaf of bread and can survive for a month on just one jug of water, that kind of thing. Okay, on top of this, let us suggest he gives up his belongings, let us say house for Allah's sake, then his saintness suddenly vanishes. He turns into a public place crook, in an instant. A cheap and insolent expression shines in his eyes.

PRESENTER 1: It conflicts with his own interests.

ADNAN OKTAR: Of course, it harms his interests. After all, the greatest idol for people is the idol of marriage. They stress a lot on it. Marriage and sexuality. It is such a vital matter for them. It is an idol for 90% of the people. Followed by property and possessions, business, money and the like. It is the possessions and money. People loose control over their most sensitive issues. Look, note that even people regarded as the most devout of all, when members of devout families are to get married, if there is someone rich, someone with money, about the same age and brilliant available, then they accept that person and marry him. But they do not seek Allah's approval. They do not abide by the measure of His approval. This was also valid in the time of our Prophet(saas). This had even been seen in some of the wives of our Prophet (saas). Our Prophet (saas) even says, "If you desire the life of this world and its finery, come and I will give you all you need and release you with kindness" Look, “If you desire the life of this world and its finery,” he says, because there are also idolized interests outside. For instance, she looks at the others, at the wives of the Companions, they are all beside their husbands day and night. They sit at home together, go on business together and mind their own affairs. But the Prophet (saas) was always fighting, striving and preaching. He found it difficult even to go home. He is aging. He rose in the middle of the night to pray. He preached and talked, and you know there was a special command for our Prophet (saas). He rose at night separately. They looked in that situation and there was no money or possessions around and few means available. Well in fact, they had the means, as our Prophet (saas) was wealthy. There is also a verse about it. I mean it appears that some certain benefits they desired were missing. At the very least it was impossible for our Prophet (saas) to take a great interest in them or devote much time to them. It is understood that a problem arose. Look, we see in the verse, the Prophet (saas) says, “If you desire the life of this world and its finery”. Who knows what they have asked for , “come and I will give you all you need and release you with kindness.” I mean the Prophet says " Come I will release you". In other words it is over for a person when she hears this. May Allah forbid it, that is a real big disaster, that word is. And this is a verse, it is in the Qur'an. "But if you desire Allah and His Messenger and the abode of the akhira.. " See that the verse says : "if you desire Allah, His Messenger and the struggle on Allah's path", then what does that mean? It means if you agree to put up with all difficulties and hardships on Allah's path, completely abiding by the Qur'an. Then you will be patient. And expect good results, insha'Allah. Allah issues a threat in Surat at-Tahrim. This weakness of humans is clearly seen there if you look carefully.

PRESENTER 2:So can we say that there are invisible idols in our days, like the marriages that do not seek to gain Allah's approval?

ADNAN OKTAR:Of course. And what idols!  That is why they cannot be happy, why Allah inflicts troubles on them and they suffer. Yet they imagine that they are so very wise.