Classical commentaries (Ibn Kathir, al-Qurtubi) explain the word "bakhi" in Al-Kahf 18:6 as "one who destroys himself" and regard the verse as a consolation to the Messenger of Allah. The preacher's phrase "you will take your own life" is not a translation of the verse but his own Turkish rendering.

This note is not part of the sermon. It summarizes how the classical sources treat the subject, according to the editions in the library.

Al-Tabari, al-Qurtubi, Ibn Kathir and al-Baydawi explain the word "bakhi'" in Al-Kahf 18:6 as "one who grieves to the point of destroying himself"; reports from Mujahid, Qatada and al-Dahhak point the same way. Al-Baydawi and al-Alusi relate the word "asaf" as a combination of sorrow and anger; today's Turkish "üzülmek" (to be saddened) covers only the sorrow side of it. Ibn Kathir cites Ash-Shu'ara 26:3, Fatir 35:8 and Al-Kahf 18:6 side by side: all three point to the Prophet's intense grief over his people's disbelief. Al-Tabari reads the tone of the verse as a gentle admonition, while Ibn Kathir and al-Razi read it as consolation. The common emphasis is this: conveying the message is a duty, while placing faith in hearts belongs to Allah.

This note is not part of the sermon. It summarizes how the classical sources treat the subject, according to the editions in the library.

The responsibility of making known what one has seen is treated in the classical sources under the heading of emr bi'l-ma'ruf (enjoining the good) and naseehah (sincere counsel). On the words "let there be a group among you" in Al 'Imran 3:104, al-Qurtubi and al-Zamakhshari take the "min" (from/among) as partitive and regard the duty as a communal obligation (fard kifayah); al-Razi, however, also relates that "min" may be explanatory, meaning that the duty may extend to the whole community. For Al 'Imran 3:110, Mujahid says that being the best depends on the conditions of enjoining the good, forbidding the evil and believing in Allah. In his commentary on Muslim, al-Nawawi regards the hadith "religion is sincere counsel" as the axis on which Islam turns, and considers emr bi'l-ma'ruf obligatory by consensus (ijma'); the measure he relates from Qadi Iyad is to act gently and to refrain if it would cause greater harm. In Islamic political writing, al-Mawardi (al-Ahkam al-Sultaniyya) lists the differences between the official appointee and the volunteer; al-Ghazali (Ihya) describes the levels and etiquette of this duty.

This note is not part of the sermon. It summarizes how the classical sources treat the subject, according to the editions in the library.

The sources explain the word "anit" in At-Tawbah 9:128 as hardship, and "harees" as the zeal shown for their guidance and good (al-Tabari, al-Razi, al-Qurtubi). It is in Muslim that, on the return from Ta'if, when the angel of the mountains made his offer, the Prophet replied, "No, I hope that Allah will bring forth from their offspring those who worship Him alone"; al-Bayhaqi and Ibn Kathir also relate it. Another expression of the same concern in the hadiths is the parable of the flying insects (farash) that plunge into the fire and the person who tries to pull them back by the waist (Bukhari, Muslim; al-Nawawi's commentary). Al-Nawawi explains "farash" as the small flying insects that swarm to a fire; since the Turkish word "pervane" evokes a butterfly, the species is deliberately not named definitively here.

Umar and the monk: al-Qurtubi (al-Jami', 20/27) relates from Hasan al-Basri that when Umar came to Syria, an old monk in black clothing came to him; when Umar saw him, he wept. They said, “O Commander of the Believers, what makes you weep?” He said, “This poor man sought something and did not reach it; he held out a hope and missed that too.” Then he recited the verses “On that Day some faces will be downcast, toiling and weary, entering a blazing Fire” (Al-Ghashiyah 88:2-4). Al-Hakim (al-Mustadrak, 2/613) and Ibn Kathir (commentary on Al-Ghashiyah) relate it from Abu Imran al-Jawni in different wording: Umar passed by a monk's hermitage and called out to him; he looked at the monk and wept, and explained the reason by saying, “I remembered Allah's words, ‘toiling and weary, they will enter a blazing Fire’”; al-Hakim notes that this narrator did not live to meet the time of Umar. According to Sa'id ibn Jubayr, Zayd ibn Aslam and Ibn Abbas, the “toiling and weary” in the verse are the monks in their hermitages (al-Qurtubi); it is also reported from Ibn Abbas that they are “the Christians” (Ibn Kathir, citing al-Bukhari). The preacher tells the narration in his own words and explains what the monk had failed to reach as “he had not found the Prophet Muhammad.”

The hadith of the Jewish boy is narrated in Bukhari (Janaiz) from Anas ibn Malik: the boy looked at his father, his father said "Obey Abu'l-Qasim," and the boy became a Muslim; as the Prophet left, he was saying, "Praise be to Allah, who saved him from the Fire." In al-Hakim's narration he further says, "Pray the funeral prayer for your brother."

This note is not part of the sermon. It summarizes how the classical sources treat the subject, according to the editions in the library.

Al-Bukhari placed this hadith under the chapter titled "Is Islam presented to a child?" The wording in Abu Dawud is "anqadhahu bi min an-nar", while in al-Bukhari it is "anqadhahu min an-nar". Visiting a sick non-Muslim is treated in fiqh with differing rulings: the Hanafi Ibn Abidin says it is permissible; in Shafi'i sources (al-Nawawi, al-Ramli) it is permissible, and its reward is tied to a respect owed, such as neighborliness or kinship; in Hanbali sources the main view is that it is disliked (makruh), and permissible if there is hope that the person will enter Islam. Imam Ahmad's measure is this: "If he will invite him to Islam, yes." On the Islam of a child, according to the Hanafi al-Ikhtiyar, the Islam of a child who has the use of reason is valid (Zufar differs); according to the Shafi'is, it is not valid until puberty. On the matter of the father's permission, no direct ruling was found in the sources examined.

This note is not part of the sermon. It summarizes how the classical sources treat the subject, according to the editions in the library.

Al-Dhahabi explains the Prophet's words "Had you left the old man at home" as a courtesy to Abu Bakr. The verb "yaquduhu" in the narration means to lead or guide, which is consistent with the father being brought by the hand because he could not see. In a variant in al-Bayhaqi, from Jabir, it says "Umar took him by the hand." On dyeing the hair, al-Nawawi relates that dyeing with black is forbidden in the Shafi'i school and that the early generations (salaf) differed on this. Because the year of Abu Quhafa's death is given differently in the sources, no year is written here.

Abu Quhafa and Abu Bakr: On the day of the conquest of Mecca, Abu Bakr brought his father before the Prophet. The Prophet said, “Had you left the old man at home, we would have gone to him”; Abu Bakr said, “It is more fitting that he come to you, O Messenger of Allah.” The Prophet passed his hand over his chest and said, “Become a Muslim and find peace,” and he became a Muslim. His hair was like thughama (a plant with white blossoms); it was said, “Change this with something, but avoid black” (al-Hakim, al-Mustadrak 3/295, “authentic (sahih)”; Ahmad ibn Hanbal, al-Musnad 44/518; al-Bayhaqi, Dala'il al-Nubuwwah 5/96; Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabaqat 6/79; al-Dhahabi, Siyar; Ibn Hajar, al-Isabah 4/453). Abu Bakr's tears are reported in al-Isabah (7/238) from Anas ibn Malik: when Abu Quhafa stretched out his hand to pledge allegiance, Abu Bakr wept; when asked why, he said, “If in place of his hand it were your uncle's hand, and he had become a Muslim, and Allah had gladdened your eyes, that would be dearer to me.” Ibn Hajar says that the chain of this narration is authentic (sahih) (al-Hakim: authentic (sahih) according to the criteria of the two Shaykhs). The chains of the narrations that give the same saying in the wording “I would rejoice more at Abu Talib's Islam than at my father's Islam”, however, are weak chains (Ibn Hajar); Qadi Iyad also relates it in al-Shifa (2/51). Ibn Hajar states that this does not prove that Abu Talib became a Muslim and that it contradicts more authentic narrations (the two Sahihs: in his last words Abu Talib said, “I am on the religion of Abd al-Muttalib”; Al-Tawbah 9:113 and Al-Qasas 28:56 were revealed).

This note is not part of the sermon. It summarizes how the classical sources treat the subject, according to the editions in the library.

The scene of Abu Talib's death is in al-Bukhari and Muslim; al-Nawawi explains the phrase "lamma hadarat" as the moment before the death-agony (witnessing the angels). It is reported that Al-Qasas 28:56 and At-Tawbah 9:113 were revealed on this occasion (al-Tabari, al-Qurtubi, Ibn Kathir); al-Qurtubi corrects al-Zajjaj's word "ijma'" (consensus) to "most of the commentators." In kalam (theology), guidance is understood on two levels: showing the way (irshad) and granting acceptance in the heart (tawfiq). According to al-Razi, what belongs to the Prophet is the invitation and the clear explanation. The Ash'ari commentators (al-Taftazani, al-Iji) understand guidance as the creation of faith; the Mu'tazila view is known through the reports of these commentators. On faith at the moment of death, the sources say this: faith and repentance before seeing the punishment are accepted, while acceptance after seeing it is not (An-Nisa 4:18, Yunus 10:90-91; al-Taftazani, Ibn Abidin). Ibn Hajar finds the reports that Abu Talib became a Muslim weak and considers the narration of the two Sahihs sounder (al-Isaba). The death of Abu Talib and of Khadija in the same year is called the "Year of Sorrow" ('am al-huzn) in the biographies of the Prophet. Ibn Hajar deems the Anas narration reporting Abu Bakr's words "sahih" (authentic) and explains its meaning in the conditional mood, as "had Abu Talib become a Muslim."

This note is not part of the sermon. It summarizes how the classical sources treat the subject, according to the editions in the library.

The darkening of the heart is described in the Qur'an with the words "ran" (Al-Mutaffifin 83:14), "khatm" (sealing) and "tab'" (imprinting). Al-Tabari, al-Qurtubi and Ibn Kathir explain ran as sins piling up one upon another and covering the heart. According to the hadith attributed to the Prophet, a sin leaves a black spot on the heart, and the heart that repents is polished clean. In kalam, the Ash'aris (al-Iji, al-Taftazani) understand these expressions as Allah's creating misguidance; the Mu'tazila explain them through interpretations (ta'wil) such as the withholding of divine favor (lutf).

Ibn Mas'ud said of An-Nahl 16:90, "This is the verse in the Qur'an most comprehensive of good and evil" (al-Tabari, al-Qurtubi, Ibn Kathir).

This note is not part of the sermon. It summarizes how the classical sources treat the subject, according to the editions in the library.

For An-Nahl 16:90, Ibn Abbas explains "adl" as tawhid and "ihsan" as the performance of the obligatory duties; al-Qurtubi relates "adl" as fairness and "ihsan" as virtue (al-Tabari, Ibn Kathir, al-Razi). On the recitation of the verse at the end of the sermon, no sunnah report going back to the Prophet was found in the Sunni sources. The Maliki Hashiyat al-Dasuqi and Ibn al-Athir attribute this practice to Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz; al-Dasuqi also writes that the practice of the people of Medina was the opposite of it. As the surah the Prophet recited in the Friday sermon, Surah Qaf appears in Muslim and Ahmad. In Al-'Ankabut 29:45, the prayer's restraining from indecency and wrongdoing is read in three ways: the prayer itself, the Qur'an recited in the prayer, and performing it with humility (khushu') (al-Tabari, Ibn Kathir, al-Qurtubi). Al-Qurtubi says the effect depends on humility and an awareness of Allah's presence.

Muztarip: One in deep, painful distress.

Kalak: Restlessness, anguish of heart (Arabic).

Bitap: Exhausted, with no strength left.

Darussalam: The Abode of Peace; Paradise.

Serfuru: To bow one's head; to submit.

Ihsan: Worshipping as if seeing the Truth; the most beautiful form of goodness.

Prophet of prophets: The Prophet of prophets, Muhammad.

Hujra-i saadat: The Prophet's blessed chamber.

Audio recording: Çınar Media (YouTube)

Verses: Al-Kahf 18:6 · Al-A'raf 7:204 · Al-Ahzab 33:45, 56 · An-Nahl 16:90 · Al-'Ankabut 29:45

Hadiths and narrations: Bukhari, Janaiz (the Jewish boy) · al-Hakim, Musnad, al-Bayhaqi, Ibn Sa'd, Ibn Hajar (Abu Quhafa and Abu Bakr) · al-Hakim, Ibn Kathir (Umar and the monk)