The esma of Batin is one of the 99 attributes of Allah. It is the inner face of Allah. It is an attribute which shows the inner face of everything He has created. Last week we spoke of Zahir, the outer face, and this week we are going to speak, insha’Allah, of the inner face. I am going to try to explain this by joining the two together.
The attribute of Batin lets us know the hiddenness that Allah the Creator has put into everything that He has created. In the inner face of everything, the being of Allah is hidden. The esma of Zahir is the visible, reflecting outer face. It is the form of everything that Allah has created. It has a name, it has a body and it has a form. But the esma of Batin lets us know His hiddenness completely, and can only be felt with His being.

I am going to give an example. It is like this body and the ruh, the spirit. The Zahir is the body. It is seen, visible. It is known. It moves. But Batin is the inner side of this. This is not seen through the eyes. Existence is felt. And how is it felt? With the actions that it performs. With the art that is brought forth.
Now let’s think of a painting. You look at this painting; it’s quite beautiful. There is a beauty in its Zahir, its outer side. But this doesn’t happen by itself. When you look, you think, “There is someone who created this.” The person who painted it is not visible, but he has hidden himself inside of the art that he has created. That is the Batin.

I will give another example: a block of ice. Its name is “ice.” Its form is this block. This is Zahir. Its Batin is water. How are you going to understand that it’s water? When it melts, it softens and lets its water flow. Then we understand that its Batin is water, but its outside, set in a form, is ice. Zahir and Batin are like this.

Everything that Allah has created has two sides. If we are human beings, if we are living well and beautifully, then we have to see these two sides of Allah. For example, there are the events that we encounter every day. They are Zahir events, but there is also a Batin face to these, and we are not able to see it. How are we going to see this, then? In order to understand the hikmet, the wisdom, in it, we need sabur, patience, and we must not make an instant decision. Think well and beautifully. If we use these keys, we will open the door of Batin, and we will see inside of the mysteries.

The human being is like this. What you see is Zahir. Its inner face, its Batin existence, is the essential characteristic of Allah. We call this the latif vujud, the subtle body. This is hidden inside of people, and this is the Batin face. In order to bring this into being we have to work well with our Zahir. With this body we are going to serve everybody well, and make our thoughts beautiful and good. The more beautiful our Zahir gets, the more beauty Allah will manifest in the Batin. Do not forget these attributes of Zahir and Batin. See everything in these two ways.

For example, a letter comes. What is its Zahir? It’s the writing that is written on it. What is its Batin? When you read it, it’s the meaning, what you have understood. This means that in every outer form, every Zahir, what’s working inside and giving meaning is the Batin.

The Divine books have to be seen in this way. There is the Zahir writing, the outer writing. This is the Zahir judgment. But there’s also a Batin meaning, and to find this, we have to work towards good ahlak, behavior and conduct. Otherwise we can read and read the Zahir, and understand nothing.

Let me give an example. You have a child in another land, very far away, who has missed you very much. You wrote a letter from here: “I am well. This happened. That happened. We had some difficulties. We got better. Everything is beautiful.” You wrote your life as it passed, and you sent that to your child. He got it and read it. “Oh, it came from my mother and father,” he said. Even while he looked at its Zahir, he saw its Batin. What is that Batin that he saw? He saw the being of his mother and father there. He read the Zahir, and understood the meaning there, and his sense of longing became more intense, and he started to cry. He cried the tears of longing. A friend of his was sitting next to him. He took the letter and read it. He said, “Why are you crying? It’s a normal letter. Your mother’s well; your father’s well. This happened, that happened. Look, everything’s fine. Why are you crying?” And the child says, “The Batin that I have seen is here. If you had seen it as well, and felt this meaning, then you would cry too.”

All of the Divine books are like this. When we read these books, without reading like the child’s friend read the letter, in the Zahir, let us read in the way that the child saw his mother and father in the Zahir and understood the Batin face. When we read these Divine books, let us not be stuck in their Zahir. What is their Batin, their meaning, trying to tell us? This is what we have to understand.

Everything in life is like this. Everything has a Zahir face and a Batin face. Money has a Zahir face and a Batin face. What is its Zahir face? It’s the transactions that we perform to live our daily lives, and the services that we perform with money. This shows the Zahir side of the money that we use. So what’s the Batin face of money? If you are using this money on the road of Allah, if you are using it to serve humanity well, and if you are creating happiness among the people that you are using this money for, then this is the Batin face of money.

If we understand the Zahir and Batin like this, then we won’t make any hasty decisions. We will wait with time. If we have not been able to understand anything from the Zahir, we will try to see the hikmet in the Batin face. As we are always saying, to become aware of this meaning, as we live with good ahlak, gathering with beautiful people, and performing good service, we will clean the Zahir of this vessel and the Creator Allah will make its Batin beautiful.

Allah sent us to the world with this Batin. Even before our Zahir was seen, when our Batin was known, happiness and joy began. We came to this world with beauty and goodness; now we are looking for it. And when we return to Allah, we will return by bringing out this Batin, this goodness and beauty. Let us not forget the Zahir and Batin. These are twins. One face is Zahir; the other face is Batin. Let us see everything in this way. 

Allah Batin, Allah Hu.

Ya Rabb, we are trying to beautify our Zahir, our outer side. Please help us, and let us try to make our Batin, our inner face, beautiful and good. If You do not send us Your rahmet, Your compassion, if You do not help us, then no one will help us. There is no Allah other than You. All goodness and beauty is inside You. You are both Zahir and Batin. Make us beautiful human beings.

Amin.