Adnan Oktar A9 TV; October 7th, 2012

As the hadith relate; Prophet Jesus (as) will make Hazrat Mahdi (as) lead the prayer.

As the hadith relate; Prophet Jesus (as) will pray under the leadership of Hazrat Mahdi (as).

Hazrat Mahdi’s (as) praying in Damascus is an incident related in the hadith.

There is no compulsion in religion, no coercion in religion. People can think as ever they like. Allah puts us in a trial, what does trial mean? You decide with your free will.

Perform your prayers (Salat) 5 times a day. If you cannot do that perform 4 times, if you cannot do that, perform 3 times, if you cannot do that then perform twice- once in the morning and once in the evening- if you cannot do that pray for once- only in the mornings or in the evenings- or if you still cannot do that, perform Cuma (Friday) prayers, or else perform your prayers in feasts. Let there be no brothers, sisters of ours who do not perform their prayers, they should all perform their prayers by all means, insha'Allah.

Performing prayers is a must; it is an inseparable part of a Muslim. Prayers (salat) cannot be separated from the Muslim. Muslims and prayers are adherent to each other, it is like breathing in and out, it is like the beat of the heart. Can one live without thanking Allah? It is the expression of love towards Allah, it is the expression of thanks.

One would miss beauty. He would miss thanks, miss love. He would miss affections. How nice it is to thank Allah every single day! Performing prayers is a great blessing. Salat is a beauty. Salat is a relief. Salat is giving thanks, it is an expression of love.

On prostration you ignore your pride completely. You prostrate to Almighty Allah. That has nothing to do with sports, nothing to do with gymnastics. You show your humility there. You express your thanks.

Prayer(salat) is a demonstration of joy, a way of thanking. Invoking the name of Allah is a way of thanking. Eating dinner with Muslims is a way of thanking, it is a beauty. We are having fun that is a beauty as well.

One feels pity for the irreligious, so why are you attacking irreligious? You cannot pull an irreligious person towards your own religion by force. You have to give them freedom, you cannot interfere with their beliefs. You cannot drag them towards your own system, your own moral values. Unless they do harm to anyone, you cannot interfere with their values. You can only interfere with them if they do harm to you in person, to your environment or the society; in which case you would have a right to do so. But even then it would be within the framework of law and justice system.

There is no violence in the Qur'an; the only condition war in which is considered acceptable in the Qur'an is defense. When a persecutor attacks, we defend ourselves. There is no persecution, no pressure in the Qur'an. You simply defend yourself when attacked by persecutors. The verse is explicit. God says; "There is no compulsion in religion." (Surat Al-Baqarah; 256) God also tells us to say; "O you disbelievers! You have your religion, I have my religion." ( Surat Al-Kafirun; 6) How do you come up with compulsion with these verses?

One might be an atheist. Being an atheist is a crime in the Sight of God, not before His servants. You cannot interfere with that. In the verses of the Qur'an, God says; "Say; you have your religion and I have my religion." One might be an atheist, one might be devout, one might have another religion; all are possible. God says "There is no compulsion in religion."

The things demanded by the Qur'an are only a few: Performing prayers is explained very briefly in the Qur'an, fasting is explained very briefly and giving alms is explained very briefly. God commands us to be merciful, compassionate, to avoid telling lies, to be true. He commands us to have good intentions and to love one another, to love God a lot; to be of help to one another and to avoid worldly ambitions for goods because everything belongs to God. The commands in the Qur'an are very few. The rest is all about the foulness of the unbelievers, the impertinent behavior of the unbelievers, of the people of heresy and the responses given to them.

Saying "I do not like the opinions of this person, so I will bomb him," is not acceptable. You simply talk to him, explain things to him and if he doesn't acknowledge the truth, it is all you can do. If he does acknowledge the truth, that would be great. There is no compulsion in religion. There is no such method of knocking sense into a person with bombs and weapons.

Making religion difficult is a cruelty inflicted upon the whole world. That is because people suffer anguish when they become estranged to religion.

Some people think that they would get even closer to God as they complicate religion. Actually you would end up in Hell for failing to give an account for keeping people away from God's religion. One should show people the ease in religion, just like God has revealed.

Religion is love, it is relief, beauty, exhilaration and joy. It enables you to use the blessings of God legitimately in the most beautiful manner. An understanding of religion which claims that it is an offense to turn right or to turn left, to look upwards or to look downwards, is not acceptable. That would devastate people make them psychopathic and cause them lose their sanity. It is cruelty to complicate religion. And they are carrying out this cruelty without being aware of it.

The percentage of people fasting in Turkey used to be 15% in 1970s, now it is 82%. Back in those days Darwinism held sway in Turkey. Now modern religiousness based on the morality of the Qur'an is embraced predominantly by our people.

Both performing prayers and fasting is the expression of the lover to his Love.

Buddhism is a corrupt version of true religion. Acts of worship like prayer, fasting and giving alms exist in Buddhism, though in a changed form.

Unhealthy people should never fast by compromising their health. That would be a sin. God tells us that unhealthy people should not fast.

Muslims are immaculately clean in Ramadan, and pay particular attention to their dental hygiene.

It is no one else’s business whether a person fasts or not. Everyone is responsible for him or herself. There is no compulsion in religion.

Fasting brings people humility. People become more open to love and compassion.

Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh) will abolish all those made-up commands derived afterwards.