I welcome you all to the first of a series of halaqat that we will have about the tafsir or the explanation

of one of the most interesting, powerful, and moving surahs in the entire Quran, which is Surah Yusuf. This surah is a very, very unique surah in the Quran, and a one-of-atype of surah. Firstly, it is the only place in the Quran where the story of the Prophet Yusuf (alayhi salaam) is mentioned. No other surah mentions the story of the Prophet Yusuf (alayhi salaam). If you compare this to, lets say, the story of the Prophet Musa (alayhi salaam), the story of Prophet Musa is mentioned in over 25 different locations. The story of our father Adam (alayhi salaam) is mentioned in over half a dozen locations. The story of Isa (alayhi salaam) is mentioned almost a dozen times. The story of the Prophet Yusuf (alayhi salaam) only exists in this surah. In fact, even the name of the Prophet Yusuf occurs only once or twice in passing in Surah Al-Anm and Surah Ghaafir, but there is no story at all. The stories about what happened with the Yusuf (alayhi salaam) only occur in this particular surah. Secondly, it is the only surah in the Quran that has a unified story as its theme from the beginning to the end. The whole surah is nothing but a story. There is no other surah of length in the Quran we are not talking about the small surahs at the end of Juz Amma, but we are talking about any surah basically more than 10-15 ayahs there is no surah in the whole Quran that is a unified story from the beginning to the end. This is something that we all know. Read Surah Al-Baqarah, Surah Ale-Imran, and Surah Yunus you will find the stories of lots of people in one paragraph or one page or sometimes even five pages, but there is no place in the whole Quran where an entire 15 pages is dedicated to one story. It is a chronological story from the beginning to the end. This is not just very rare but unique. There is no other place like it in the whole Quran. We do not know the exact date of when this surah was revealed, but we know roughly that it was revealed around the tenth or eleventh year not of the hijrah but of the years of the dawah. In other words, with the hijrah of course we begin the Madinan phase. Before the hijrah, what do we call it? Some scholars used the term BH (before hijrah) just like the Christians have AD and BC, Muslims have AH and BH. So if you look at BH, 1 BH means one year before the hijrah and 2 BH means two years before the hijrah. Surah Yusuf is revealed around 2 or 3 BH, in other words right at the end of the Makkan era and the Makkan message. The timing of revelation is very crucial. Surah Yusuf was revealed after the famous year called the Year of Sorrow / the Year or Regret / the Year of Difficulty (aam al-huzn). In that year, three things happened one after the other which were the most painful for the Prophet Muhammad (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam), and there was no time in the seerah where the Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) was more demoralized than this period, which is why the scholars of seerah call this period aam al-huzn, the Year of Grief. The Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) was feeling grief throughout that year. What happened? What makes it worse is that these three things happened one after the other. The first of these three devastating things was the most personal and intimate, and that was the death of Khadijah (radliya-lLaahu anha). Khadijah (radliya-lLaahu anha) was his supporter and his moral source of strength. As they say, behind every great man there is a great woman, and this is exactly applying to the Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) and Khadijah (radliya-lLaahu anha). She was his source of comfort and support. Whenever

anything happened and even when the wahy came down and he was scared, he went running back to Khadijah (radliya-lLaahu anha). to be calmed down. Zambilooni! Zambilooni! (Cover me up! Cover me up!) Khadijah (radliya-lLaahu anha). was his source of comfort and his source of support. When a man has that comfort and love inside the house, he is able to face a lot outside. When that is deprived of him, then the problems outside become more difficult to bear. The death of Khadijah (radliya-lLaahu anha). was something that was very difficult for him. Within five or six weeks, a second death followed and that was the death of his uncle Abu Talib. Abu Talib was his support in society. Abu Talib sacrificed his own reputation and prestige in order to protect the Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam). When the Quraysh came to bribe, threaten, and intimidate the Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam), initially Abu Talib was scared and went to him (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) and told him to stop doing this. The Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) said, If they were to give me control of the sun and the moon, I would not give up what I am doing. Abu Talib said, Oh son of my brother, oh my nephew, do as you please, I am never going to come to you again to tell you not to do this. He was a man of his word for ten years, and not once did he approach the Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) after that. He never came and said why did you do this? / look what I have to face now. Not once. He was a man of his word. Abu Talib did everything he could, so much so that when the Quraysh boycotted the Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) and told him he must leave Makkah, Abu Talib went with the Muslims to live in the valleys outside of Makkah. Abu Talib was not a subject of that boycott because he was a pagan and a Qurayshi and a mushrik, but because he was a part of his nephew and loved him so much, he voluntarily went to live with the Muslims at the time of the boycott. He was the only non-Muslim to live with the Muslims at the time of boycott. He voluntarily gave up his privileges and his house in Makkah and gave up everything and suffered along with the Muslims because he felt that this was injustice and that he had to do this as the uncle and protector of the Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam). He did everything he could. As long as Abu Talib was alive, they could not do anything else to harm the Prophet (shallalLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam). With his death, the persecution reached its max, which is why eventually the Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) had to leave for Madinah because he could not live in Makkah anymore. Khadijah was his internal support in the house. Abu Talib was his external support in society. The both of them died one after the other, and it was a very difficult time for the Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam). To make matters worse, he suffered the single most depressing or difficult day of his whole life after the deaths of Khadijah and Abu Talib. As if there could be no low, there was one low after that, which was the incident of Taif. Aisha (radhi Allahu anha) said, Oh Messenger of Allah, was there any day that was more difficult for you to bear than the Day of Uhud? He (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) said, Yes. Aisha was too young to know anything about Makkah and did not remember Makkah. She knows Badr, Uhud, and Tabuk and the problems of Madinah and that the worst problem of Madinah was Uhud, so she asked, Was there any day more difficult for you than Uhud? Immediately without thinking, the Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) said, The most difficult day for me was the day when I was rejected by the chieftains of Taif. You all know the story, and we will talk about it in a lot of detail inshaAllah in the lectures we will start on the seerah. The Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) was humiliated

and publicly scorned and the children of Taif stoned him. This day was the most difficult for him. These three incidents occurred within six weeks of one other within two months, as if things could not get any worse. At this point in time, Allah (subhanahu wataala) revealed Surah Yusuf. When we understand this frame of revelation, all of a sudden the significance of Surah Yusuf increases many times. Why? Surah Yusuf is meant to uplift his spirits (shallalLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) and console him and strengthen him at a time of such trials and tribulations. Surah Yusuf is the light that will lead him out of this depressing time and time of pain and anguish. This is hope for us when we are feeling down and suffering from problems of society. This is the surah that we can turn to for an uplifting moment and to find some solace and comfort, which is why Allah revealed it to our Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam). Scholars also mention a number of incidents that also led to the revelation of this surah. Of these incidents is: as the persecution of the Muslims increased and the sahabah in Makkah were feeling more and more overwhelmed by all of the pressures, they came to the Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) and said, Oh Messenger of Allah, why dont you tell us the stories of those before who also suffered? When they wanted these stories, Allah (subhanahu wataala) revealed this surah. It was perfect timing when the persecution reaches its maximum, and that is why the hijrah occurs two years after this surah because they could not live in Makkah anymore. An assassination squad was sent for the Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) the night before the hijrah and surrounded his house. Allah miraculously saved him (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam). One of the direct causes of the revelation was that the sahabah wanted something to uplift their spirits as well. Another direct cause of revelation: it is said that the Quraysh wanted to try to outwit the Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) and show that he was not truly a prophet. They sent a delegation to the Yahud of Yathrib (the name of Madinah before it was Madinah), and they asked the Yahud, Tell us a question that only a prophet would be able to answer. Give us a trick question that we can show once and for all that this man is not a prophet. Tell us a question that you know the answer to but nobody else knows. Even though the Yahud were a different religion than the Quraysh, the Quraysh felt that the Yahud were superior because of their Book. The Quraysh did not have a holy book or scripture or revelation. The Yahud had a revelation, and the Quraysh felt a sense of inferiority that the Yahud were the people of the book and had knowledge that they did not and believed in prophets while they did not know any prophets from amongst them. The Yahud said, Ask him about the story of Yusuf and his brothers. Nobody knows this. This is an interesting point that we will come to again. In Makkah, there were no Christians and Jews. In Makkah, there were only idol worshippers and pagans. There were no centers of Christianity and Judaism. There were one or two private / secret converts to Christianity like Waraqah ibn Nawfal and others, but they were not inviting others to it and not preaching Christianity. There were no libraries of Christian or Jewish theology. Nobody in Makkah knew these stories. The people in Makkah had not heard of Yusuf because he was not their ancestor. They were descendants from Ismail and not of Ishaaq, and the tribes of Israil had nothing to do with the Makkans and people of Quraysh. They dont know these stories. The Yahud knew this and said, Ask him if he truly is a prophet to tell you what happened with Yusuf and his brothers because nobody knows this of your people. This is something we know. The Yahud lived far away in Yathrib, so how would anybody in Makkah know this?

The Quraysh went to the Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) and asked him, Tell us the story of Yusuf and his brothers if you are truly a prophet. Allah (subhanahu wataala) answered that question and revealed Surah Yusuf. In one of the last verses of the surah, Allah (subhanahu wataala) says, This is of the ilm al-ghayb that We sent down to you. In Surah Yusuf, Allah (subhanahu wataala) is telling the Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wassalam) that He is giving them ilm al-ghayb and that he (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) and his people did not know the story until this surah came down to him. Ayah 1: Alif-laam-ra tilkaayaatu-lkitaabi-lmubien

This surah begins with the letters alif-laam-ra. We all know that there are a number of surahs in the Quran that begin with letters. Alif-laam-meem, ha-meem, ayn-seen-qaaf, noon, qaaf, kaf-ha-ya-ayn-saad, ta-ha, ya-seen. These letters are called huroof almuqattaat (broken letters) by the scholars of tafsir. They are called the broken letters because they do not form words. Ha-meem is not a word. Alif-laam-meem is not a word. Scholars of tafsir call them huroof al-muqattaat broken letters put together. Scholars have wondered about the meaning of the huroof al-muqattaat since the very beginning of time. Since the time of the tabiun and taba tabiun, they began wondering what these letters mean. There are over fifteen opinions about what these letters represent. Some of these opinions include that these letters represent the Names of Allah (subhanahu wataala), so alif is for Allah, laam is for Al-Lateef, meem is for Al-Muhaymin. They have different opinions, but this does not seem to have a strong basis. One opinion is that we will never know what these huroof al-muqattaat mean. This is a valid opinion in so far as that we will never know for sure and only Allah knows for sure, but we can try to think and come forth with some type of opinion because why did Allah reveal these letters? There must be a wisdom. We can try to think of wisdoms of why Allah (subhanahu wataala) revealed these letters at the beginning of these surahs. One thing that we notice which is very interesting is that almost all the time in the Quran when Allah begins a surah with these letters, the very next phrase has something to do with the Quran. Think about all of the surahs you know. Ya-sin. Wal-Quran al-hakeem. Kafha-ya-ayn-saad. Dhikru rahmati rabbika This is what I am telling you in the Book. Alif-laam-meem. Dhaalika kitabu la rayba feehi Alif-laam-ra. Tilka aayaatul-kitabilmubeen. Ha-meem. Wal-kitabil-mubeen. There are some exceptions where it is not the second verse but it is the third or fourth verse. Every single time Allah mentions huroof al-muqattaat within the first few verses, something to do with the Quran is mentioned. Therefore, it would make sense that these huroof almuqattaat have something to do with this magnificent Quran. Every time, the Quran is praised after the huroof al-muqattaat. It is logical to make some connection. What is this connection? Scholars have tried to think about this and have compiled all of these huroof al-muqattaat. The huroof al-muqattaat number exactly 14 letters. How many letters are in the Arabic alphabet? 28. There are 28 letters in the Arabic alphabet, and 14 is exactly half of 28, so some scholars have read in some type of symbolic meaning that Allah (subhanahu wataala) is showing us that the Quran is composed of our letters and the

language that we speak, and yet, mankind cannot produce something similar to it. It is as if Allah is taunting the rejecters of the Quran by showing them that these are their words and letters, so produce a surah / ten surahs / a Quran similar to it if they are able to it. There are five verses of challenge (ayaat at-tahaddi) in the Quran. In one of these verses, Allah says, bring the whole Quran. In another verse, Allah says, bring ten surahs. In another verse, Allah says, bring something. In two verses, Allah says, bring one surah if you can. In these verses of challenge, it is as if there is a linkage with the huroof almuqattaat and these verses of challenge. It is as if Allah is saying here is half of the alphabet, bring the other half and bring something similar to the Quran. One of the wisdoms that scholars have tried to derive from the huroof al-muqattaat is to show the miraculous nature of the Quran. The Quran is composed of words that we speak, language that we know, and letters that we write, yet mankind is not able to produce something similar to this. Allah knows best. We will never know for sure the meaning of the huroof al-muqattaat, but it does appear that there is some relationship with the beauty and the majesty and the miraculous nature of the Quran. these are the verses of the clear / lucid Book. Tilka is an Arabic word which means this/these. There is a difference between tilka and haadhihi, which both mean this/these. Haadhihi is used for something close. Tilka is used for something far away. Allah (subhanahu wataala) is talking about the Quran with the far away word. He (subhanahu wataala) does this not only here but also in Surah Al-Baqarah: Alif-laammeem. Dhaalika kitab la rayba feeh. Kitab is masculine, so the word dhaalik is used. Aayaat is feminine, so the word tilka is used. Feminine and masculine aside, there is a difference between haadha / haadhihi versus tilka / dhaalika. We would say haadha kitab for a book here, but to point to something far away, you say tilka (over there, far away). Allah azza wa jall talks about the Quran in the pronoun that refers to something far away. Why does Allah mention the far away pronoun when the Quran is in our hands? To show the status of the Quran is exalted and to show that the Quran is worthy of being something majestic. Even if you have it, we should thank Allah that we have it, but its status is a high and noble status. Allah says, Tilka aayaatul-kitabil-mubeen. An ayah is a verse. This shows us that Allah has Himself divided the Quran into ayat. Where does this division come from? From Allah (subhanahu wataala). What about into surahs? Allah (subhanahu wataala says, when a surah comes down Allah mentions the word surah and the word ayah. Many other scriptures including the New Testament have man-made divisions. For us, the Quran is from Allah, and even the divisions within the Quran (meaning surah and ayah) are from Allah. An ayah also means a sign / indication / miracle. A verse is a sign, and a verse is a miracle. Allah uses the term that is loaded with meaning. What does ayah mean? Allah calls the miracles of creation ayah. Allah says that in your creation there is an ayah, and in the sun and the moon there is an ayah. Allah calls the verses of the Quran an ayah. It is not a coincidence, and Allah knows what He is saying, and no one is more eloquent than Allah. The meaning here is that every verse of the Quran has a message for you and an indication and a miracle.

Mubeen is a description of the book. Allah calls the Quran many different names, but there are two names that are the most common: kitab and Quran. Kitab and Quran both occur around 75 times to describe our Book. Kitab and Quran are complementary to each other and put together tell us what this book is. Kitab means something that is written down, and Quran means something that is recited. The Quran is something that is written down and recited simultaneously. No other book from Allah has been preserved to this level. The Quran has been written down by the commandment of Allah, and it has also been recited by Allah, Jibreel, and the Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) and is recited to this day, which is of the miracles of the Quran that no other book has. All of the other books were written down by men and scribes and people after the times of the prophets. As for us, the Kitab and the Quran are complementary. Al-mubeen can have two meanings. The first meaning is the Book itself is a clear Book. Allah says in the beginning of Surah Al-Baqarah: dhaalika kitab la rayba feeh. There is no doubt / no ambiguity in it. The Book is clear. What does it mean that the Book is clear? It means that anybody who approaches the Quran will be able to get some message from it and find some level of benefit from it. What this means is that the Quran is a Book that is meant to be contemplated by every single Muslim. It is not something that only the elite have access to and is not something that only the scholars should read. Even the basic, average Muslim can benefit from the Quran. There is no doubt that the average Muslim can only benefit a certain level, and the more they grow in knowledge, the more they can benefit. This is a common misconception that alhamdulillah is getting more and more minimal these days, but once upon a time, it was very common to hear: Oh, anybody can interpret the Quran. I can open up the Quran and interpret it. No interpretation requires knowledge, but simple hidayah can be obtained immediately and even from a translation. Anyone can read the Quran for personal benefit and personal guidance. There are levels of meaning. Qul huwAllahu ahad. Alhamdu li-lLahi Rabbl-alameen. You understand these, but if you want to go deep and dissect why Allah said hamd and not shukr, then you need ilm. The average Muslim can benefit from the Quran, so the Quran is mubeen. Another meaning of Allah calling the kitab mubeen is that this Book is a clear message from Allah, and you do not have any doubt where it is from. Mubeen doesnt refer to the language but to the origin and the source of the Book. The Book has a clear-cut source, and everybody knows where this Book is from. There is no ambiguity in this Book. This may surprise you, but to this day, nobody knows who wrote the New Testament, and no one knows the biographies of these people. They were not the actual disciples of Christ but were anonymous people living in the second or third generation after Jesus Christ. To this day, nobody knows who wrote the Old Testament; it is completely shrouded in mystery. The Orthodox Jews believe that Musa wrote it, but no other group believes this because the Old Testament mentions the death of Musa and who buried Musa. People dont know who wrote it. Allah is saying that this is a mubeen Book you know the origin, you know the source, and everything is clear about it. There is no question mark. I cannot stress for you O Muslims that we take this for granted as if it is something that is no big deal. There is no other religious scripture on the face of this earth that is as unambiguous and as clear and demarcated from Al-Fatihah to Al-Nas in the origin of language as the Quran. There is such a massive confusion about the Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, and Jewish scriptures. In many religions, you do not even know what the scripture is. In almost all religions, the language is not the language spoken by the prophets. The original New Testament was written in Greek, and Isa (alayhi salaam) spoke Aramaic and not Greek. I am

trying to stress to you that we take these things for granted. Our Quran has no versions. To this day, the Orthodox Christians, Protestants, and Catholics have different Bibles. They are completely different books and different additions and subtractions and different versions. You can belong to any sect of Islam and differ in theology, but the Quran is exactly the same from Al-Fatihah to An-Nas, word for word, letter for letter, harakah for harakah you can purchase a Quran in India, here, or Timbuktu or the hand-written manuscripts. Alhamdulillah this is such a blessing from Allah that we take for granted that our holy Book is clear. All of this proves that as Allah says in a previous surah in the Quran: We have revealed this scripture and will protect it. Another way to understand this is that Allah is saying this surah in particular is something that is clear. You need nothing else besides this surah. This indicates the importance of this surah. To emphasize this point, Allah says in the second verse:

We have sent this Quran down as an Arabic Quran so that you may understand. A question that many Muslims ask is: why does Allah refer to Himself in the plural? In fact, many non-Muslims ask this question. There are two primary interpretations of this. The first of them is that the We is a royal plural, the plural of majesty, and the plural of izzah. It is allowed in the Arabic language that a singular person (one man) will say we when he is worthy of it, meaning king or royalty. Even in the English language, the Queen of England always says we and never says I, which is the we of royalty. When she says we, she doesnt mean her and her family, but she means I. She says we to indicate that majesty. In Arabic, this is called the royal plural. It is a permissible interpretation. Ibn Taymiyyah has another interpretation and says that every time there is a plural in the Quran, it is a reference to Allah (subhanahu wataala) along with the command of the angels. Allah tells the angels to do something. That is why and this is interesting Ibn Taymiyyah says that never in the Quran does Allah say worship us, but He always says worship Me. Allah says, We revealed the Book because the Book comes down via Jibreel. Allah says, We send the rain because every single drop of rain has an angel taking it right to where Allah said it is going to go. Allah says, We are the ones who blow the winds because the angels are the ones who take the winds. Allah said, We are the ones who take the souls because the angel of death comes and takes the souls. This is an interesting interpretation, which also seems to make sense. When Allah says We, He means, I am doing this and I am telling the angels to execute this command. The Quran comes down at the Command of Allah by the hands of Jibreel. Jibreel is the one who brings it down. This is one interpretation as well, and it has a good basis to it. Anzalah means to descend. Nazalah means to go down / to descend. This shows that the Quran physically came down. We know that the Quran did not come down onto a mountain and the book was there. What does it mean? There are a number of meanings here. Firstly, that Jibreel came down with the recitation of the Quran. Literally, the Quran is coming down with Jibreel in his memory, and Jibreel is reciting it to the Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam). Secondly, we learn from a hadeeth in the Mustadrak of Al-Hakim that on laylat al-qadr Allah azza wa jall physically sent down a divine copy of the Quran (a book), a part of Al-Lawh al-Mahfud. There is a copy of the Quran in Al-Lawh Al-Mahfud. According to one hadeeth, which is authentic, on laylat al-qadr, Allah says inna anzalnahu

fi laylat al-qadr, and in one interpretation, this Al-Lawh al-Mahfud portion of the Quran was literally sent down to the lowest heavens on laylat al-qadr before the wahy began upon the Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam). Jibreel (alayhi salaam) would take from there as well. There is a physical descent of a divine copy of the Quran, and so Allah says anzalah. There is also a metaphysical descent, meaning within Jibreel that he brings it down. This is also one of the many evidences that Allah is above us, which is why the Quran is coming down. If the Allah was not above us, then the Quran would not need to come down and nor would the Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) have to go up in isra wal-miraj to speak to Him. The Quran is coming down. We have sent down this Quran. Sometimes Allah says, We have anzalah and sometimes He says, We have nazzalah. What is the difference between these? There is a minor difference, but it is also very profound and deep. Anzalah means to send down at once. Nazzalah means to send down bit by bit. The Quran is referenced with anzalah and with nazzalah because both occurred. The Quran is sometimes anzal and sometimes nazzal how is this? Because both occurred. The Quran came down in its entirety on laylat al-qadr, which is anzalah. For the next 23 years, Jibreel brought it bit by bit, which is nazzalah. Allah speaks the exact truth, and both of these things are valid.

inna anzalnahu Quranan arabiyyan We have revealed this as an Arabic Quran. This is a very, very interesting verse. There are exactly 11 verses in the Quran that characterize the Quran as being Arabic. Allah says in 11 verses We have revealed an Arabic Quran. From this, there is unanimous consensus amongst all of the scholars of Islam that the Quran can only be in Arabic. Allah describes the Quran as being an Arabic Quran. This means that when we read a translation, we are not reading the Quran. We all know this, and this is an evidence of this. What this means is that when we stand up in salah, we cannot say All praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds. If we do so, our salah is null and void. We have to say, Alhamdu li-lLahi rabbl-alameen. If we were to recite it in a non-Arabic language, it is not Quran but is a translation. This shows us as well that the Quran has been revealed in the language that Allah azza wa jall spoke. This is a deep theological point, and I dont want to go to deep. Ahl al-sunnah wal-jamaah believe that the Quran is the kalamullah. Other groups deny this and said it is not kalamullah. What does it mean that it is kalamullah? It means that literally Allah azza wa jall spoke and recited the Quran, and Jibreel heard this recitation and brought this recitation down to the Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam), and the Prophet (shallalLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) recited it after he heard it from Jibreel. From Jibreel to the Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) and from the Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) to the sahabah up until this day we have a continuous chain, non-stop, and it is from Allah azza wa jall the recitation begins. This means that when Allah says, We have revealed an Arabic Quran, then that recitation was done in Arabic as well. When we recite the Quran, what we feel is something that is divine even if you are not Arab. When you recite the Quran, you feel that it is an amazing speech and a divine speech. When you understand Sunni theology, you understand where this came from. We believe that this recitation was recited by Allah azza wa jall; therefore, when we recite it, there is something divine about the Quran. The Quran must be respected you cannot put it on the floor and show disrespect to it and it is sunnah to respect the Quran. You should put it in a high place in the room, and you should

have wudu when you touch it. There are so many aspects of respect because the Quran is not just any book but is kalamullah and has a certain status that no other book has. Allah says, inna anzalnahu Quranan arabiyyan (We have revealed it in an Arabic Quran.) Another question arises: does this mean that all of the words in the Quran are Arabic? There are clearly words in the Quran that come from Persian, Greek, and even Roman. There are clearly words in the Quran that are not Arabic such as istabrak and abaareeq. There are Roman, Persian and sometimes even Sanskrit words. There are even words from Latin. These Latin words have also worked their way into English, which is an interesting point. We are native speakers of English, and English is based on Latin, and Latin is a very ancient language. Some words from Latin made their way to the Arabs as well. What is a word that is Quranic and English at the same time? Story al-saateer (this is not a pure Arabic word but is a Latin word). The English word story is from the Latin that also made its way to the Arabs and we find in the Quran. There are other words as well. The word justice in Arabic is qistaas. It is from the same root as the Latin root. This is just a side point and something for your benefit. Allah says that this is an Arabic Quran. The sahabah and tabioon and taba tabioon read the Quran and said that not every single word is Arabic, so what do they do? Imam Shafii, said, Anybody who says there is a single word of non-Arabic in the Quran is a jahill and does not know what he is talking about. How can there be a non-Arabic word in the Quran when Allah says inna anzalnahu Quranan arabiyyan? His love for the Quran was so much that he did not listen to any argument and said that every single word had to be Arabic. What do we do with these words from other languages? He said that they took the words from the Arabs. With all respect, it doesnt work that way. Later scholars said that there are lots of non-Arabic words in the Quran and it is not a problem. Imam Al-Suyuti wrote a book, and over 250 words in this book are claimed to be non-Arabic. He said sundus is a Farsi word. There are words from Aramaic and the Ethiopian language such as istabrak. How do we reconcile this? A great scholar Abu Ubayd Al Qasim ibn As-Salam (d. ~230 AH) said, Both groups are right. Every language interacts with other languages, and it incorporates words from the other language into its own and substitutes the letters of those languages with the letters of its own and changes the word to suit its own grammar. The word becomes a fluent Arabic word so much so that when an Arab uses the word, no one thinks of its Greek or Latin or Aramaic origin. It is an Arabic word even if it came centuries ago from another language. For example: Story becomes as-saateer and justice becomes qistaas. This is the way languages work; you bring in words from other cultures and then they become part of your language. They are Arabic words even if they were taken from non-Arabic languages. Allah has spoken the truth when He said inna anzalnahu Quranan arabiyyan. Imam Al-Shafii has said the truth when he said that every single word was Arabic even though his interpretation was a little incorrect. laalakum taqiloon. So that you may understand So that you may understand what? The sentence is not complete. Why? When you leave the sentence blank, then you encompass all meanings. If you finish the sentence, you limit it. When you leave it blank, it means so that you may understand [everything], and it doesnt need to be limited. This also shows us that there is a reason why Allah chose the language of the Arabs, which is because His Prophet is an Arab prophet and his immediate people are an Arab people. This tells us very frankly that the Arabic language is the most eloquent language. The opinion of Imam Al-Shafii and Ibn

Taymiyyah and many scholars, including non-Arabs, is that the Arabic language is the best language. Even as non-Arabs we must acknowledge this. The Arabic of today is not that language, and this is referring to fuhsa (Quranic Arabic). Modern Arabic is a different language altogether and is not the language of that era. We are talking about that language, and that language was the most eloquent language, and we must believe this as a part of aqeedah. Imam Al-Shafii said, This is our aqeedah. Some of the scholars were very strict. In those days, the only other language that the Muslims spoke was Farsi. If anyone spoke Farsi in front of Imam Maalik, he would have him kicked out of the Prophets Masjid (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) and say, This is a place where we speak Arabic. Those were different times, and there is nothing wrong with speaking another language. They wanted to preserve the language of the Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam). I say this as a non-Arab: we should learn Arabic. It is not wajib to learn Arabic, but subhanAllah, this is our religion. The Quran and Sunnah are our religion, and learning Arabic is a big part of our religion. You cannot become a true student of the Quran until you learn Arabic. This is a simple fact. Reading a translation is meaningless. You have not read the verse yet, much less the tafsir, if you have to read the translation to understand it. Allah says, I have revealed this kitab al-mubeen in an Arabic language so that you can understand it. If somebody were to say, It is not fair that the non-Arabs do not understand the Quran. What do we do as a non-Arab and what are non-Arabs supposed to do with the guidance in the Arabic language?, the response to this is: 1. One language had to be chosen, logically. Even if Allah chose another language, then people of other languages would have said the same thing. This is not a solid response to criticize the revelation in Arabic. 2. Also, we say that Arabic is the most eloquent of all languages. All of the languages we know of that Allah revealed Books in are Semitic languages. He (subhanahu wataala) revealed books in Hebrew and Aramaic and probably in Syriac (the language of Dawud (alayhi salam)). Semitic is a family of languages: Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac, Arabic. There are Indo-Aryan languages, which is Latin and Sanskrit. If you study the differences between those two branches, you will find a world of difference. [Tangent: Nahw and sarf are a blessing because they show the structure and precision of the language. It is not found in English grammar and Latin grammar. Sarf is taking a three letter verb and adding an alif, a wow, or a meem. It is said from one verb you can derive 250 words. Once you learn one word in the Arabic language (one three letter root), you can instantaneously derive at least 250 words if you know sarf properly. This is an amazing language. This does not exist in English or any other language.] 3. The third response is even if you do not understand its full beauty in Arabic, a translation will give you a glimpse of it. We give non-Muslims a translation of the Quran, and there is no problem with this whatsoever. Some stricter Muslims say that we should not give them a translation of the Quran. [Refutation:] The Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) wrote to the Emperor of Rome, and in the letter, he wrote a verse of the Quran. When the Emperor received the verse, it was translated in front of him into Latin. This was the first time in history that the Quran was translated. This was in the lifetime of the Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam). How can anybody say that it is not allowed? It was in the lifetime of the Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam), and he knew it was going to be translated. The Emperor of Rome did not speak Arabic, and the Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wassalam) wrote to him in Arabic. It is our duty to translate the Quran into other

languages. The Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) had no problem doing it. It is not the Quran anymore, but the glimpse of beauty will remain. Why is Allah beginning this surah by mentioning that He has revealed the Quran to the Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam)? One of the reasons Allah (subhanahu wataala) is mentioning this is to remind the Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) of the favors that He has given to him. This is a standard motif of the Quran. Surah Al-Dhuha: Your Lord has not left you, nor has He abandoned youDidnt We find you as an orphan and take care of you? Allah is reminding the favors He has done to the Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wassalam). It is human nature that when you are spiritually down, you need somebody to cheer you up. Allah azza wa jall is telling the greatest positive thing: He has revealed the Quran to him (one person), and this is the greatest blessing. Ayah 3:

Nahnu (the plural) occurs because of Allah and the angels. We recite to you the stories. What stories? Ahsanal-qasas. The best of all stories. What is a qisah? The word qisah comes from qasah, which means to follow the footsteps in the sand. When the bedouins found somebodys footsteps, they would follow them in order to catch up to that person. Allah says about Musa in the Quran in Surah Kahf [v. 64]: Musa and Yusha followed their own qassasah (footsteps) back. Why does a story come from following the footsteps? You are walking in their footsteps and following them. When I tell you the qisah, what happens to you? You are living it. Why does everybody love a story? A story is mesmerizing. A person never grows too old to listen to a story. No matter how old you are, you love to listen to a story. What do we do when we put children to sleep? We tell them a story, and this is what children love. All of us are children in this regard, and we love stories. Allah is saying, We are going to give you the best of stories. It is called a qisah because we are walking the walk. When we hear the story it is as if we are following their footsteps. Allah is saying, We will give you the best of stories. If you read any book of how to speak and how to give an effective talk, there is always a chapter dedicated to the story. In one of the latest books that I read, it says to always begin a lecture with a personal anecdote or personal story. Why? Because it grabs the attention of the audience. It is human nature that stories are attractive. Stories are something that you like to listen to. Also, the lessons in stories are manifested. If I open up Riyadh Al-Saliheen and tell you the benefits of patience, mashaAllah it is good, but now I get to the story of the mother of Anas and how she reacted when her son died. Now those ahadith are brought home. It is not the same as saying, Whoever is patient, mashaAllah he has good iman. When I show you a story, those stories remain with you, and you are affected by them more, which is human nature. Allah azza wa jall is telling us stories. Another benefit of a story is that they are aqeedah (theology) in action. It is one thing to say that you put your trust in Allah, but when we hear the story of Ibrahim when he is going to be thrown into the fire and he puts his trust in Allah, it is theology shown in action. Aqeedah is manifested.

Another benefit of the story is that it is the reality of what has happened in the past. It is a real thing and not theory anymore. We know this happened to the previous prophets, and so we sense it more. Another benefit is that stories teach us that Allahs Sunnah is repetitive and what has happened in the past will happen again. What is the purpose of a fable or story we tell our children? There is always a moral to the story. There is always a lesson to be learned. The lessons of Allah and these rules of Allah are permanent. When we hear these stories, the rules are reinforced. One of the fundamental rules of the story of Yusuf is that righteousness will win in the end, and evil can never succeed in the long run. This is one of the main themes of Surah Yusuf. We are going to come to this. When we read the story, we see this manifested and in real life; therefore, this maxim is then implanted in us that righteousness will win out in the end, and that is why Allah says in the Quran: We will send you down stories to strengthen your resolve. It is not childish to find motivation in stories, but it is part of our iman. Reading the stories of the prophets and reading the seerah of the Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) is one of the greatest ways to increase iman. Reading the stories of the sahabah brings about a sense of taqwa and iman and courage in us. Stories are a part of the Quran and Sunnah and part of human nature. This whole surah is a story. We will be narrating to you the best of all stories. This has two meanings to it. First, every single Quranic story is the best of its kind. This is for many reasons: 1. They are all true and not legends or fables. A true story is always better than an imaginary story. 2. They have the best morals. No other story will give you those types of morals. 3. The eloquent manners of presenting these stories. There is no story that can be more eloquent than the Quranic one. 4. Every story that a man writes will have details and information that is not needed, and it distracts from the story and the moral. Allah azza wa jall will tell you exactly what you need to know and not more or less. This is one of the biggest differences between the story of Yusuf in the Quran and the story of Yusuf in the Old Testament. The Old Testament gives so many details that you get lost. The story of Yusuf [in the Qur'an] even a ten year old can read cover to cover and will understand everything. The details are not there that will cause you to become lost. Every story in the Quran is the best. A second meaning that has been derived is the fact that Allah has mentioned this verse in Surah Yusuf is an indication that Surah Yusuf is the best of all stories. There are two meanings that we derive: 1) Quranic stories are better than all other non-Quranic stories, and the Quran re-emphasizes this; it is pretty obvious. 2) The story of Yusuf is the best of all of these stories. This is why Allah begins the surah with nahnu naqussu alayka ahsanal-qasas. We are the Ones who will tell you the best of all qasas

bimaa awhaynaa ilayka

Bimaa means because / through this revelation We have given you the Quran. In other words, because We are revealing the Quran to you, it is Our duty to tell you the best of all stories even though before the Quran came down you were from the ghaafileen. Ghaafil means you did not have knowledge. Ghaflah means to not have knowledge, and sometimes that ghaflah is intentional, and sometimes it is unintentional. In this case, it is unintentional. The Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) did not have access to knowledge. Allah calls

the Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) ghaafil because he didnt have the knowledge, not because he did not study but because he could not have studied. Allah is saying, Because We have revealed this Quran to you, it is Our duty to give you the best of stories. Notice: Allah calls the Book Quran, and in the previous verse, He called it kitab. Kitab and Quran are complementary. The kitab is written, and Quran is recited, and the two put together form the reality of our Book. Allah mentions both in the beginning of this surah. We have revealed to you the best of all stories because of Our relation to the Quran even though before the Quran came down you were from the ghaafileen. This shows us a number of points, and with this inshaAllah we will conclude: 1. The Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) despite being the greatest human being before the wahy came down did not know these details. What does that show? This is a very profound point for modern philosophers and scientists. The Quran is the ultimate source for all of our guidance. We will never know ultimate truth from falsehood and good from evil without the Quran. The modern philosophy is that if you sit in a cave and meditate Im being a bit sarcastic here and if you use your intellect, you will be able to derive all of the wisdoms you need to know. You will be able to figure out what is right and wrong and what is the best way to govern and what is the best way to judge and what the best ruling is. The Quran tells us that even before the Quran came down, the Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) despite being the best of human beings was ghaafil. If our Rasool (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wassalam) could not have known all of these truths before the Quran came down, do you think that me or you or someone else would ever know the realities? Allah says in the Quran: You didnt choose to know what was iman, what was the Book. Allah says in the Quran, Wa wa jadaka daalan fahada (You were not on the path.) [Surah Dhuha: 7] The meaning of daal here is not misguided; the Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) was never misguided. Daal means, you werent on the path. You can be misguided or just not have a path, and in the case of the Prophet (shallalLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam), he did not have a path yet. This was the state of the Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) before the wahy (revelation) came down, so what then is the state of other than the Rasool without wahy? There is no guidance without the Quran, and this is a fundamental belief of all Muslims. This is why the Quran is a hidayah and siraat al-mustaqeem and kitab al-mubeen and kitab alhakeem. You will never be able to achieve ultimate truth without the Quran. Allah says, Even though before the coming of the revelation, you were from the ghafileen. 2. Allah is saying, You didnt know these surahs before I revealed them to you, and you were ghaafil about them, so how did you know about them? We mentioned this before. How did he living in Makkah without access to any library and without any Old or New Testament and without access to Jews and Christians know about the story of Yusuf? There is only one source and that is Allah (subhanahu wataala). This is of the greatest miracles that we as Muslims many times neglect and do not appreciate. Our Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) was living in an environment of complete illiteracy and complete ignorance. There were no libraries, and there were no universities and there were no scholars. The people in Makkah were bedouins. Imagine: in our times with the internet and cell phones, it is difficult to imagine. For those of you older than fifteen or twenty remember the time before cell phones imagine in that era coming across a tribe in Brazil or in the jungles of Africa, which are completely cut off from civilization, and they have amongst them a man who is talking about the histories of Rome and Persia and the stories of the Old

and New Testament, and he is in the complete middle of the jungle, and the people cant even read and write. They are literally backward tribesmen, lets say, but they have a man amongst them who knows all of these things. Isnt this something we cant imagine? It is a miracle of miracles. This was the case of our Prophet (shallalLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) in Makkah. He came forth with stories, issues, and statements that people had no access to. The only access could have been from Allah, and this is one of the clear signs that the Quran is indeed from Allah.

Part 2 Last week, we discussed the first three ayat of Surah Yusuf. In these three ayat, Allah (subhanahu wataala) introduces the importance of the Quran. The point of these three ayat is that Allah is telling us: This is the holiest Book, the clear Book (kitabal-mubeen). This is the Book that is very clear, and We have given this to you in simple Arabic language so that you can understand. And We have narrated to you the best of all stories (Nahnu naqussu alayka ahsanal-qasas), and that is the reason why We have revealed this Quran to you even though before it came down, you were not of those who knew and were of the ghafileen (i.e. you didnt know the story of Yusuf, you didnt know the details of right and wrong, you didnt know the reality of Islam) until this Quran came down. These three verses set up the story. Immediately in the fourth verse the story begins.

Idz qala Yusuf The word idz occurs in the Quran usually right before a story begins. In English, what this means is remember when / recall when. This is usually how stories begin in the Quran. When Yusuf said to his father Yusuf is the son of Yaqub who is the son of Ishaaq who is the son of Ibrahim. Yusuf ibn Yaqub ibn Ishaaq ibn Ibrahim. The prophet, the son of the prophet, the son of a prophet, the son of a prophet. Once a companion came to the Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) and said, Who is the most noble of all men? The Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) said, The most noble is the one who has the most piety. The man said, I did not mean in that sense. The Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) said, Are you asking about the tribes? Are you asking about nobility, meaning the lineage? In that case, the most noble person is Yusuf ibn Yaqub ibn Ishaaq ibn Ibrahim (the prophet, the son of a prophet, the son of a prophet, the son of a prophet). The bedouin had come and wanted to know which qabeelah was the best. Is it Quryash? Is it Thaqif? Is it Kinanah? Which tribe is the noblest tribe? As you know, Islam came to eradicate this type of racism. Basically, it is translating into: which race is the best? Is it the

whites, is it the blacks, is it the browns? This is the mentality. This person is coming and asking, Which tribe is the best? Initially, the Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) did not understand and said the best person is the best Muslim and the best righteous man. The man said, I dont mean in that sense. Immediately, the Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) understood and said, You mean in the sense that you guys are used to? If you really want to look at lineage, then who do you think you are in comparison to the lineage of Yusuf (alayhi salaam)? Lineage in and of itself has no role in the akhirah. Your father could be the greatest scholar or alim or even a prophet. The son of Nuh had a father who was a prophet. When Nuh (alayhi salaam) called out to his son to come and ride the ship, he said no and that he would save himself, and Allah said he was of those who were destroyed. Your husband or wife could be the worst human being. Wasnt the best lady on earth, Asiyah, married to the worst human being (Firawn)? Lineage plays no role in the akhirah. In a hadith in Al-Tirmidhi, the Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) said, The one whose deeds pull him back, his lineage will not push him forward. On the Day of Judgment, if your good deeds push you back and you do not have enough good deeds to go forward, then just because you are the son of so-and-so, it will not push you forward. The Prophet (shallalLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) is saying to the bedouin that lineage the way he is thinking of it does not matter, but if he really wants to know, then he would tell him that the most noble person is Yusuf, the son of a prophet who is the son of a prophet who is the son of a prophet. The story of Ibrahim is well known, and we do not need to repeat all of it over here, but to summarize for those of you who may be hearing it for the first time, Ibrahim (alayhi salaam) is considered to be one of the greatest of all prophets, and he did not have any children until old age. He was maybe 90 or 100 years old before he had any children. He was making dua to Allah. Allah blessed him first with Ismail from his servant Hajar. When Ismail became a teenager then Allah blessed him with Ishaaq from his wife Sarah. He had two sons: Ismail and Ishaaq. Ismail is the father of the Arabs, and Ishaaq is the father of Yaqub who is the father of the children of Israel. Yaqubs title is Israil or Israel (i.e. Israel is Yaqub), so the children of Israel are the children of Yaqub. Bani Israil are Bani Yaqub. Yaqub and Israil are the same person. Yaqubs children are the Jews. Ismail is the father of the Arabs. Ismails progeny had no prophets other than our Prophet Muhammad (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam). There were no prophets in the whole line from Ismail up until our Prophet Muhammad (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) other than one, and that is our Prophet Muhammad (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam). As for Ishaaq, the Prophet Ibrahim made a dua to Allah: Make me the imam to all of mankind. He wanted to be the leader of all of mankind. This dua of his was accepted, and all future prophets came from him. No prophet came after Ibrahim except that he was from his lineage. Because we just said Ismail only had one prophet in his lineage (the Prophet Muhammad (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam)), so this means that all of the prophets after Ibrahim other than the Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) came from the lineage of Ishaaq. Ishaaq and Yaqub and all of the prophets after him there were hundreds of prophets or at least dozens for sure. From Yaqub to his son Yusuf to the children of Yusuf, all the way there was a continuous line of prophets. This is something many Muslims are not

aware of, but Christians and Jews know this because it is a part of their culture and their books mention this. From the time of Yaqub all the way up until the time of the Prophet Isa (alayhi salaam), there was a continuous string of prophets that was not interrupted, one after another. The Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) said, The prophets managed the Bani Israil. Every time one prophet died, another prophet came in his place. This is a great blessing from Allah, and this is why Allah says in the Quran: I have preferred you [the children of Israil] over all the nations. In this sense, Allah preferred them even over us and that is that they always had a continuous prophet amongst them. Overall, we believe that Allahs Favor finished upon them with the coming of Jesus Christ. When they rejected Isa (or Jesus Christ), then Allahs Favor lifted from them and went to the followers of the Prophet Muhammad (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam). We are talking about Yaqub, who is the grandson of Ibrahim, and the son of Yaqub, and that is Yusuf. It is said that Yaqub had two wives, and some people say that he also had two maidservants. Before we get into more detail, we have to mention that the scholars say that we should restrict our information to the Quran and Sunnah as much as possible. To look to the other sources, in particular the Old Testament and New Testament, is not haram, but it is problematic because you are not sure if it is right or wrong. It could be right or it could be wrong. We will try our best in these series of lectures to minimize turning to other sources. When I do quote you these sources, then I will inform you that this is a source that is not part of our religion. Somebody may ask Why then do you even quote it? Why dont we just completely rely on the Quran and Sunnah? The response is found in Sahih Bukhari. The Prophet (shallalLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) said, You may narrate from Bani Israil from the Jews and Christians. [You can narrate their stories, and there is no sin in doing so.] When you narrate from the children of Israil, dont believe it but do not deny it. (i.e. be neutral). It might be true; it might not be true. According to certain reports in the Old Testament, the Prophet Yaqub (alayhi salaam) had four consorts, two were wives and two were maidservants. From these four, he had twelve sons. Yusuf and Benyamin (his brothers name) were from one wife, Rachel. This woman was the mother of Yusuf and Benyamin two sons only. The other sons were from other women. According to most reports that we have, and even Ibn Abbas said this, the mother of Yusuf died while giving birth to Yusufs younger brother Benyamin. Benyamin was born at the death of his mother. It was simultaneous; in other words, she died in childbirth in labor. It is said that Yaqub married Rachels sister. He married Yusufs khalah (aunt), and she became the woman who took care of Yusuf and Benyamin. He did not have any children from this lady. Yusuf (alayhi salaam) at this point in time is living in Filistin. This is the holy land that Allah chose for Ishaaq and his progeny. Allah (subhanahu wataala) started two holy lands with Ibrahim. The first of these was the Kabah, which was before Jerusalem. We know this because the Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) said, There were 40 years between the establishment of the Kabah and the establishment of Jerusalem. Ibrahim built the Kabah first. Most likely, it was Yaqub who really built Jerusalem or perhaps Ishaaq, but we know that it was not Ibrahim. Ibrahim did not make Palestine holy, but the children of Ibrahim did. It was holy, and we believe that it is still holy. Allah calls it in the Quran ard al-muqaddas, a holy land. Ibrahim and his progeny began two holy lands: Ismail in

Makkah and Ishaaq in Filistin. Ishaaqs son Yaqub is in Filistin, and Yaqub has children. Yusuf is in Filistin. We are going to learn now that Yusuf will leave Filistin, but for now, they are in Filistin. Yusuf sees a dream. Idz qala Yusuf When Yusuf said to his father How old is Yusuf at this stage? Most scholars say he is seven years old. Recall when Yusuf said to his father, I saw eleven stars and the sun and the moon. I saw them prostrating to me. He repeats the verb raaytu twice because first he is setting up the picture of the eleven stars, the sun, and the moon, and then he repeats that he saw all of them prostrating to him. The story of Yusuf begins with a dream. Before we go on, we need to talk about dreams. What is so important about dreams? Why do dreams play a role in the story of Yusuf? We learn in the Quran and Sunnah that dreams can occur from Allah (subhanahu wataala), and they can occur from Shaytan, and they can occur from your own imagination. Dreams fall into three categories. Dreams can occur from Allah, and this type occurs to the prophets. The prophets dont get the other two types of dreams. The only type of dreams that the prophets have are from Allah. Allah has protected their dreams from Shaytan, and Allah has protected their dreams from their own imagination; therefore, every time a prophet sees a dream, it is wahy (inspiration from Allah). We have already seen this in the family of Ibrahim before. Ibrahim (alayhi salaam) sees a dream about Ismail and that he is sacrificing him. The Prophet Ibrahim has already told us the reality of dreams. Now, his great-grandson Yusuf sees a dream. Dreams are something related to the prophets of Allah, but they are not only related to the prophets. It is possible that people who are not prophets also get these types of dreams. In one hadith in At-Tirmidhi, the Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) said, Nothing has been left of nubuwwa other than mubashiraat. The Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wassalam) was asked, What are mubashiraat , ya Rasula-lLah? He (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wassalam) said, A dream that you see. Either you or somebody else sees you in it. You see yourself in it, or somebody else sees you in it and comes and tells you, Akhi, I saw you in a dream, and this is what I saw. This is a mubashir. What does mubashir mean? Mubashir means good news. From this we learn that the dreams that Allah blesses a person with always have something positive. There is a positive message in what Allah tells you in your dreams. To talk about dreams a little bit more we said dreams are of three types: 1. Haditsl-nafs - Dreams from your imagination.

For example, if one of us wants a very fancy car and wants to by the latest model of the Mercedes or Jaguar and is thinking about it and daydreaming, and when you go to sleep, lo and behold, you are driving that car. This is your haditsl-nafs and imagination. There is a special group of scientists who study dreams. I find it very tickling that mashaAllah if they fall asleep on the job, they are the only group of people that can say, We are working while we fall asleep. There are scientists who study dreams, and these scientists tell us that this type of dream occurs every night. There is a phase in our sleep called REM (rapid eye movement) when everybody dreams. The sign of this dream is that when you

wake up, the dream is absolutely fresh but within a few seconds it is gone. This is the indication that it is this type of dream; it is your imagination. External impulses affect this type of dream. If somebody throws water on your face, then you dream that you are drowning. If you hear your alarm clock go off, it will somehow affect your dream. If somebody is calling you, Wake up! Wake up! It is time for fajr!, in your dream, it will be translated that somebody is waking you up. This type of dream has nothing to do with good or bad and is your own imagination. The sign of it is that you do not remember it at all. You wake up and by the time it is the middle of the day, you dont remember anything about it. 2. Huloom - a nightmare / evil dream

Huloom is an evil dream, and in English, we call it a nightmare. These types of dream are from Shaytan. The sign of this dream is that it terrifies you. You see something evil or disgusting. You see a loved one die a miserable death. You see yourself in a car accident. You see yourself being chased by evil aliens or beasts or something like this. This type of dream is just the shayateen wanting to irritate you. They are playing a practical joke on you. They are irritating you. Why? Because you are a Muslim, or even if you are not a Muslim. The non-Muslims have nightmares as well. This is the shayateen playing with you at your expense. These types of dreams are never, ever true. Nobody should believe these dreams. Nobody should believe nightmares. The Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wassalam) said that nightmares should not be told to anybody. If you see an evil dream dont go tell other people about it. Why? Because Shaytan is making a fool of you. Once a man came to the Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) and said, Oh Messenger of Allah, I saw my head cut off in a dream and it was rolling like a ball and I am running after it to pick it up. The Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) said, Dont tell other people how the Shaytan played with you last night. He is laughing now when you go tell other people because you believe this dream. What is the sign of this type of dream? The sign of this type of dream is that you wake up terrified and in a sweat. Shaytan does not know the future. If you see yourself in a car accident and the next morning you call and say that you are not going to go to work because you do not want to drive, then Shaytan is the one laughing at you because you believed him. You have to reject nightmares. There is not an element of truth in them. If you follow it and believe it, Shaytan is the one who will be the winner. The Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) said that if you wake up from a nightmare, then seek refuge in Allah from the Shaytan and you are allowed to spit on the left hand side as you do this. This spit that the Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) talked about is where the noise is made and nothing comes out. This is to expel Shaytan from you. Say: aoodhu billahi min al-Shaytan al-rajeem. Also, the Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wassalam) said to turn from whatever side you are on to the other side because when the Shaytan is teasing you, he is around you or sitting on you, so when you say aoodhu billah and turn around, he has to flee and run away. If it is really bad, then the Prophet (shallalLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) said to stand up and pray two rakah to seek refuge in Allah from the Shaytan and to establish that relationship with Allah. Whatever you do, you do not tell anyone: not your loved ones and not your spouse and not your friends.

Dreams of a vulgar nature (wet dreams) are also from Shaytan. A man or woman is not sinful from these types of dreams. The fiqh is that when you wake up from this type of dream, then you must perform an entire ghusl. This dream is from Shaytan even though there is no sin on you because you do not control your dreams. None of the prophets have wet dreams because this is from Shaytan. There is no reason for us to feel guilty about this type of dream. It is natural for a person to go through this, and it is not something to feel any issue about. We should realize that this type of dream is coming from Shaytan, and the Shaytan is showing us such images in our head and causing this to happen. We wake up in the middle of this freezing cold weather and have to go take a shower, and this is not something that is from us or from Allah, but this is from Shaytan. This is another type of evil dream. Once again, we dont tell people about these dreams, but if we wake up in that state, then obviously we have to do ghusl. 3. Mubashiraat / ruyah - Vision from Allah

The third type is mubashirat, or it is also called ruyah in Arabic, which is a vision from Allah. It is a positive dream. No dream from Allah will cause you to wake up in a frightened state. You will not wake up terrified, or else it would not be a mubashir. What does mubashir mean? It is from bashir and bashara. Glad tidings, good news, something optimistic. Even if it is not positive, it will be a factual statement. It will be something true and not something terrifying. What is the sign of this type of dream? You will wake up and remember the dream vividly, so it is not hadithl-nafs. You will not wake up in a terrified state. When these two conditions are met, then it is very possible and likely that it is a mubashir. Sometimes you will wake up in a positive state because you saw something positive. Sometimes you will wake up in a neutral state (not scared and not happy) and you may be confused about what you saw, but you will never wake up terrified. If you wake up terrified, it is not from Allah, but it is from Shaytan. Dreams from Allah are one of two types: 1) The first of them, which is less common, is that you see an actual event with you in it without any symbolism. You see something that will happen in the future, and there is no symbolism in it. It is an enactment of the future. The Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wassalam) saw a dream that he was doing tawaf around the Kabah in the sixth year of the hijrah. There was no symbolism, and when he saw the dream, he knew that it was not a symbolic dream. He (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) said, Oh Muslims, I saw a dream that I was doing tawaf around the Kabah. Lets go make umrah. That year they were stopped from entering Makkah, and the Treaty of Hudzaybiyah took place. [That we will talk about in perhaps maybe one or two years from now inshaAllah if Allah gives us every Wednesday to come, there will be long time ahead to the Treaty of Hudhaybiyah. Maybe even actually three or four years, but we will get there sometime inshaAllah. We will talk about in detail where the Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) was prevented from going into Makkah.] The Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) saw a dream with no symbolism. He saw himself doing tawaf and shaving his hair and it would happen. Allah said in the Quran: This dream that you saw is a true dream. You will enter Masjid Al-Haram. It happened in the next year.

This first type of dream where you see an actual enactment of what will happen. This is rare but happens. It is more common to the prophets. The Prophet Ibrahim saw himself sacrificing his son there was no symbolism, and it was clear cut. With regards to such types of dreams, Aisha (radhi Allahu anha) tells us that the Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) narrates that for six months before the revelation of the Quran, every single night, the Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) would see one of these dreams. For six months non-stop, every time our Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wassalam) would go to sleep, he would dream what was going to happen tomorrow. He might dream being in the souq buying and selling, and the next day the exact same thing happens. He dreams he is going to meet somebody and the next day that person comes and he meets him. He sees the dream, and the next morning it happens. For six months non-stop, why? Allah (subhanahu wataala) is telling him that something special and great is going to happen, and He is preparing him for the revelation of iqra. For six months, this happens, and then iqra is revealed. 2) Symbolism This is the more common type. Sometimes the prophets have this type of dream. More commonly, non-prophets have this type of dream. In this type of dream, every object that you see symbolizes and represents something else. For example, an ear of corn represents a year of water according to the story of Yusuf. A very fat cow and a very thin cow represent a year of surplus and a year of drought. A tree represents this, or the Kabah represents that. Light represents something else. In one hadith, the Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) said, I saw men wearing robes of different sizes, and some of the robes were up to their necks and some were up to their stomachs. I saw Umar ibn Al-Khattab and his shirt was dragging behind him. They said, How did you interpret this? He (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) said, The religion. People have different sizes of religion. The religion of some is small and the religion of some is big. Umars religion was so strong, it was going all the way back there. A shirt means religion in this dream. By the way, this does not mean that in every single dream a shirt symbolizes religion, but in this dream it did. This type of dream is a symbolic dream. We see it right now in the story of Yusuf because he sees eleven stars and the sun and the moon. This is symbolic. Every color, animal, image, plant and inanimate object that you remember represents something. Not everybody can unlock or explain this type of representation. This leads us to the topic of interpreting dreams (tafseer ar-ruah or tawil of dreams). Contrary to common perception, interpreting dreams is not something that you can simply look up in a book and practice. Many books say The Dictionary of Interpreting Dreams, The Encyclopedia of Dream Interpretation. There is a fabricated book attributed to Ibn Sireen titled Ibn Sireens Dictionary of Dreams, which is a fabrication. Ibn Sireen never wrote any such book. It was written 700 years after Ibn Sireen passed away. This book is not correct. In any case, if you go to any Islamic bookstore, in Arabic, Urdu, Farsi, or English, you will find books about interpreting dreams. Let me be very clear here: The interpretation of dreams is not a science that can be taught by men to men. It is one of the few sciences that Allah blesses you with innately. There is no way you can study the science of interpreting dreams. For example, I studied in Madinah and

some scholars studied in Azhar and some scholars studied in Deoband. There are classes there for tafseer, hadith, fiqh, and there are classes for history and seerah and for Arabic language, but there are no classes for dream interpretation. I studied for ten years there, and I never heard of any class being offered even privately on interpreting dreams. Why? Dream interpretation is not a book science. It is a blessing from Allah, which Allah clearly says in these verses, I will teach you how to interpret dreams. He says it to Yusuf [12:6].

Therefore, dream interpretation is something that Allah blesses

the chosen of His servants with. Some people have it, and some people dont. If you dont have it, you cannot learn it. You can ask Allah to give it to you and you can make dua, but you cannot read a book. It is not like engineering, and it is not like hadith, and it is not like fiqh, and it is not like medicine. These are sciences that are codified. Dream interpretation is real, and the prophets of Allah, especially the Prophet Yusuf knew this science fully. Of course our Prophet Muhammad (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) knew this science. Not everybody is blessed with it. How do you know if somebodys interpretation is true or not? By experience. Another point here is the Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) said, When you see such a dream from Allah [the beautiful dream, mubashirat], dont tell anyone except someone whom you trust. You only tell the good dreams to those whom you trust because people might get jealous like we learn right now in the story of Yusuf and because people might think evil thoughts. Only tell the ones who are close to you. You are allowed to tell, and you should tell, but you only tell those whom you trust. When you tell those whom you trust, if you do not know how to interpret dreams, then you should be quiet. There is a danger for incorrectly interpreting dreams. In one hadith, the Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) said, A dream that has not been interpreted is like a bird flying above you. As soon as someone interprets it, the bird will fall down. You only want the most qualified person to interpret the dream. You may tell your loved ones, but the loved ones who are not knowledgeable of dream interpretation should be quiet. You should only go to those whom you trust who are knowledgeable to interpret the dreams. As we said, this is known by experience. In the community, there might be a person who is mashaAllah muttaqi and praying five times a day by the way, generally speaking, the more righteous you are, the more likely you will have this knowledge. The closer you are to Allah, the more this knowledge will be innate and natural to you. You go to those people and they interpret the dream, and then you will find out whether the dream was true or not. If somebody sees a dream, the dream interpreter tells him this dream means that he will pass the exam he is studying for, and lo and behold, he passes the exam, or this dream means that such and such will happen, and lo and behold, it happens. From experience we learn that this person mashaAllah knows dream interpretation. However, nobodys dream interpretation can be 100% accurate other than the prophets of Allah. It is only the prophets of Allah who have 100% accurate dream interpretation. What is the evidence for this? A long hadith in Sahih Bukhari. The Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) saw a dream and he told it to the people. Abu Bakr (radliya-lLahu anhu) raised his hand and said, Oh Messenger of Allah, I beg you by Allah to let me interpret the dream! The Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) said, Okay, interpret it. Abu Bakr took every symbol and said this means this, and this means this, and this means this and then asked, Am I right, oh Messenger of Allah? He said, You are right in some and you are

wrong in others. If Abu Bakr Al-Siddeeq could not fully master the science of dream interpretation, then no other human being after the prophets can. This means that even the greatest dream interpreter doesnt have 100% solid dream interpretation. One of the reasons why dream interpretation is not book knowledge is because symbols vary from society to culture to place. Therefore, you cannot just open up a book and look up what this symbol means. To give you a funny example, what a coconut symbolizes to a person living in a desert island is not the same as what it symbolizes to a person living in the city. For the person on the island, the coconut symbolizes life, water, and food. For me, a coconut does not symbolize any of those things. It is a very different thing. For example, in our culture in India and Pakistan, a white elephant symbolizes something those of us who are from there, we know that but if an American sees a white elephant, it doesnt symbolize to him what it symbolizes to people of other cultures. The point being symbols will be relevant to the culture of the people because Allah is communicating to him. There is no concept of a universal dictionary of dreams or a universal encyclopedia of dreams. Rather, dreams are very personal, and you go to the local people who know you and your background and tell them your dreams, and if they know they will interpret it. A very interesting hadith: The Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) said, Dreams from Allah are the only thing that remain from prophethood, and they represent 1/46th of prophethood. It is a very precise fraction. He (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) is saying that to be a prophet, you need 46 things, and one of them is true dreams. The door has been shut for the other 45 things, and they will not happen anymore in mankind. Maybe Jibreel coming down was one of them and seeing the angels was another, but we do not know the list. There are 46 things that all prophets do, and 45 have been shut for everybody until the Day of Judgment except for one door, and that is the door of good dreams. Where did this fraction come from? Scholars say that if you look at the life of the Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wassalam), he received wahy for 23 years (13 in Makkah and 10 in Madinah), and for six months before the wahy began, he saw true dreams. Six months is half a year, and 0.5 / 23 years = 1 / 46. This is the exact fraction. This is exactly what our Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) said that nothing is left of prophethood except dreams, and these dreams are 1/46 of prophethood. After this tangent into dreams, let us go back to the story of Yusuf: Yusuf says, I have seen eleven stars and the sun and the moon. I saw them He repeats the verb I saw to emphasize that something occurred in the middle of the dream. First they were stagnant (I saw them), and then: I saw them move and prostrate to me. Yusuf was a child and did not understand the meaning of the dream. He is seven. Right now, Allah has not taught him to interpret dreams. When he becomes older and in the prison and the king of Egypt sees the dream, he interprets it immediately. Right now he is a kid, and he doesnt know, so he goes to his father and says, Ya abati. Abati is a polite way to say father. In the Quran, it is generally always abati. Ibrahim tells his father ya abati. It is the most polite way to say father. He says, Oh my dear father, I have seen eleven stars and the sun and the moon prostrating to me. We all know the interpretation of this: The eleven stars represent his brothers, and the sun and the moon represent his parents. Some scholars say the father is the sun and the

mother is the moon, so I saw the sun and the moon meaning my father and mother. However, a lot of scholars say, and perhaps this is the majority opinion of earlier scholars, that the mother represents the sun and the father represents the moon because the right of the mother is more than the right of the father. A lot of early commentators say that the sun represents the mother of Yusuf and not the father because the right of the mother is three times more than the father. A minority says that the sun represents the father. What do the sun and the moon and the stars represent? They represent celestial objects and high individuals and individuals of nobility. They represent individuals who are shining stars. Even in English, we call somebody who is famous a star, meaning someone who is worthy to be looked up to. These are the stars, and the sun and the moon are even brighter than them. All of these indicate very high beings. The fact that they prostrate indicate that there is a being that is higher than them. There is a being that is nobler than all of them and that is Yusuf. Yusuf in his dream sees that these are not normal people prostrating to him and these are not average human beings prostrating to him. These are stars and the sun and the moon and the height of humanity at that time prostrating to him. Who else was better than Yaqub at that time? Nobody. Who else was better than his parents? Nobody. This means that eventually Yusuf will outshine the sun and the moon and the stars. Yusuf will become more famous and will rise to higher ranks and reach a level of nobility that even his mother, father, and brothers did not reach.

When his father hears this, he says, Oh my dear son, dont tell this dream of yours to your brothers. They are going to plot against you a severe plotting. One of the problems of doing tafseer in any language other than Arabic is that you lose a lot of the balagha.

This type of double cannot really be translated into English. They will plot against you a plotting. It loses the whole beauty. They will plan against you a planning. There is no eloquence in English to say that. The meaning here is: They will plot against you a very mighty / very severe plot. The emphasis is a powerful plot and a strong plot and an effective plot. Verily Shaytan is an open enemy to mankind. From this ayah, we derive many benefits. We can summarize them into seven points: 1. We only tell dreams to those whom we trust. Yusuf went to his father. The first thing his father said was, Do not tell your dream to others. We only tell our dreams to those whom we trust because telling dreams to those whom we dont trust can backfire. 2. We see the dangers of jealousy and envy. This is a common theme throughout this whole surah. We are going to come back to this point over and over again. What is jealousy and envy? It is a burning desire that a man or woman has to be given something that somebody else has. It is a burning desire that why was he given that? I should be given

that. It is some type of evil desire that the other person is not worthy of it but that you are more worthy of it than that person. The Prophet (shalla-lLaahu alaihi wa-ssalam) said, I warn you against having jealousy. Jealousy eats up your good deeds like a fire eats up twigs. This is a very interesting hadith because jealousy is a feeling, and the general rule is that we are not accountable for feelings and thoughts, but some feelings and thoughts we are accountable for and the number one is jealousy. Why? You must fight jealousy. If you do not fight jealousy, then the feeling of jealousy will eat up your good deeds because it is a feeling that emanates from an evil heart. Anybody who is jealous is accusing Allah (aoodhubillah) of being ignorant. This is what my shaykh said to me Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen (rahimahullah). He said, Anybody who is jealous is accusing Allah of dhulm and ignorance. How so? The jealous man is thinking, He doesnt deserve this. I deserve it. Who does he think he is to have that? I am more worthy to have it than him. What he is basically saying is O Allah (astaghfirullah), you have done an injustice and should not have given that to him. I am more worthy of it than him. Anybody who is jealous has a problem in his aqeedah (theology) and iman, and that is why jealousy destroys your good deeds. You cannot be a true believer in Allah and allow this jealousy to grow. This is why jealousy has to be battled. This is a disease in men and women. Generally speaking, men are jealous of wealth and power and women are jealous of beauty. This is just a fact, and Im making a factual statement here. In either case, this feeling of jealousy is a contradiction of iman in Allah because you are saying, O Allah, why did You make her so beautiful? O Allah, why did you make him the president or the prime minister or give him so much money? I deserve this as well. It is a problem of iman. Here in this ayah, we learn of the dangers of jealousy. 3. The third benefit of this ayah: A believer should be wise and not make problems for himself. Do not boast about any type of blessing. We shouldnt go and flaunt the blessings that Allah has given us because this type of flaunting and this type of boasting will cause people to be jealous even though it may be halal. That is why when later on in the story, we will learn when Yaqub tells his children to enter Egypt, he tells them, Dont enter from one door. Enter from different because you are all young, handsome men and it is obvious that you are all from one family, and everybody is going to get jealous. In those days, they liked lots of kids. In these days, the norm is to only want two kids generally speaking. In those days, they wanted lots of children, and for one man to have twelve sons who are mashaAllah grown up and handsome and young and powerful, Yaqub is worried people are going to get jealous of them. There is nothing haram for twelve brothers to walk in from one door, but this is wisdom. You dont need to go flaunt to make people feel jealous of the blessings that Allah has given you. There is either a hadith (scholars have differed about its authenticity) or a statement of one of the sahabah: Help yourselves to achieve your goals by secrecy. In other words, do not publicize what you are doing to everybody. If you want to purchase a business, or if you want to do something and you are worried other competitors are going to come and it is halal what you are doing, then dont cause problems for yourself by telling everybody and telling people whom you do not trust. We learn this as well in this ayah. 4. The fourth benefit is clearly mentioned: Shaytan is a clear and open enemy to you. Shaytan is an enemy, and we dont need to go into a whole tangent about why this is the case.

Allah warned the very first human being about Shaytan. Allah (subhanahu wataala) says in the Quran, We said, O Adam, this being [He didnt even mention him. Over here, there is an element of despicability.] is an enemy to you and to your wife. The very first human beings are told this, so make sure that they do not cause you to be expelled from Jannah. Allah tells us in the Quran: Shaytan is an enemy to you, so make sure you treat him like an enemy. Shaytan is ever eager to persuade you and cause you to go astray. One thing we need to be very clear about is Shaytan does not have control over you. In the Quran, Allah tells us that on the Day of Judgment people will come and blame Shaytan and say, O Allah, it is all Shaytans fault. He is the one who caused me to go astray. In the Quran, Allah tells us Shaytans defense: I had no power over you. I had no control over you. I could only do one thing I called you and whispered and enticed. You were the ones who responded. Dont get angry at me. Dont criticize me. Go criticize yourselves. You were the ones who followed me. I did not force you. I whispered and enticed and made it alluring, but you were the ones who actually did the action. Shaytan is not used as an excuse for committing sins. Shaytan is an ever open enemy to us. 5. The fifth benefit of this ayah: Yaqub (alayhi salaam) as a father is well aware of the nature of his children, and he acts to prevent this type of rivalry between them. Even though he is a father and loves all of them, he knows that they are not all the same, so he takes active steps to make sure that the siblings do not fall into fighting one another. If this is what he does as a father, then we should do the same not just with our children but also with our friends and relatives. Take an active role to make sure that no problem happens. This is the sign of a good Muslim and a sign of a prophet. He was concerned about equilibrium and peace and harmony. He does not want fitnah and does not want the breaking of ties of kinship, so he works actively and proactively to make sure the brothers do not fight with one another. 6. The sixth point of benefit is very deep. Yaqub says, Your brothers will plot against you. Shaytan is an open enemy. He blames two entities: brothers and Shaytan, but the primary blame is to Shaytan. He does not call the brothers enemies or evil, but he says that they will plot and the Shaytan is the culprit. This is very deep because when it comes to criticizing others, it is of the Islamic etiquette to remove the blame from them and transfer it over to Shaytan as much as possible. This opens the door for them to repent and come closer to Allah. But when criticizing the self, you cannot use the Shaytan as an excuse. I repeat: When you criticize others for something they are doing, it is the perfection of Islamic etiquette to bring along Shaytan in that sentence I.e. Shaytan caused you to do it, and I know it is not your fault.. Imagine if you made a mistake and your brother / your father / your wife / your child comes to you and said, I know you got angry and it is not your fault. Shaytan caused you to do it. How does that make you feel? It makes you feel calm and better and more open to apologize and more open to move on. This is of the Islamic etiquette. When you criticize others, blame it on Shaytan as well. They do have some fault. Fayakeedoo laka kayda. They are the ones plotting; Shaytan is the one who is going to entice it. When you blame yourself and criticize yourself, do not say that Shaytan made you do it. Thats not the time to do so. Therefore, later in the story, when the wife of Aziz who tries to seduce Yusuf is finally forced to confess, and the king asks her, Did you or did you not? What does she say? She says, The soul commands me to do my own evil. She does not say that Shaytan told her to do it

even though Shaytan was also a part of that, and there is no doubt that Shaytan was the one who primarily enticed for her, but she does not blame Shaytan and knows it is her fault. At the end of the story when Yusuf talks about his brothers, he says, Shaytan was the one who caused me and my brothers to go apart. Are you guys following this point here? Yusuf is criticizing Shaytan for what his brothers did even though his brothers actually did it. He doesnt criticize his brothers, and he says, Shaytan was the one who split between me and my brothers. Why? Because Yusuf is the one telling his brothers they did it. When the brothers come to the father at the end, they dont say that Shaytan caused them do it. You see the difference here, right? The brothers say, Father, we made a mistake. Father, it is our fault. This is being a Muslim: you cannot blame Shaytan. When you are accusing, you let your brother off, and you give him the way out, and you bring Shaytan into it. This is a very beautiful point that we learn from this ayah. 7. The final point of this ayah that we can benefit from is also a very interesting and profound point. Regardless of whether Yaqub is represented by the sun or the moon, in the dream, Yaqub prostrates to Yusuf. This shows that Yusuf will be higher than Yaqub. Does Yaqub feel any jealousy? No, even though he is going to be prostrating to Yusuf as well. He feels no jealousy. Why is this? Because of the miracle of creation that Allah (subhanahu wataala) made the father so perfectly that the only human being who has no jealousy of you will be the parent. No other human being will be completely empty of jealousy. It is not possible for the father to be jealous of the son. Why? Because the father always considers his son to be an extension of him. He feels: This is my son. This is my child. Yusuf (alayhi salaam) tells his father, and his father feels no jealousy. Rather, his father feels protective I want to protect you. MashaAllah you are going to go higher than me, and I want to make sure your brothers dont harm you. SubhanAllah, this shows us the beauty and miracle of creation that parents are so loving and so selfless and so perfect in that love that no other human being will want to see somebody eclipse them and go higher than them other than their parents not a brother, not a spouse, not a friend. There is always going to be an element of negativity (sometimes more and sometimes less), but for the father and the mother, there is no such element. This shows us the perfection of Allahs creation. Another point we can derive from this: When Ibrahim (alayhi salaam), the grandfather of Yaqub, is arguing with his father Adham, he puts a phrase in there that is very strange: Ya abati (O my father), I have been given knowledge that you have not been given, so follow me. I will lead you to the right path. This is in the Quran. If any person comes to you and says, You are ignorant and I know more than you. I am the alim. Allah gave me knowledge and not you. Even if Allah did give him knowledge, would you want to take it from him? No. What type of dawah is this? This is the dawah that only the son can give to the father in the proper way. (i.e. Allah has blessed me, so be proud of me. I am your son, and Allah has given me a knowledge. I am your son.) Ibrahim (alayhi salaam) is evoking the fatherly feelings of being proud inside his father and the feeling of: Be proud! I have this knowledge that Allah has given me. I am your son! Unfortunately, his father was deaf, dumb and blind and said to his son, Get out of here! Leave me alone, and I will stone you if you continue saying this. Why did Ibrahim say this? He wants to bring out the feeling of protection and feeling of pure love that only a father can have for a son.

We see this in this ayah as well. Instead of getting jealous, Yaqub wants to make sure that Yusuf fulfills the dream. He wants to make sure that his brothers do not prevent it from happening and that eventually they will prostrate, and this is exactly what happens. There is one point here we can also add, and then we will open the floor for questions. Yusuf did not tell his brothers about the dream, and despite that fact, they still plotted against him. This shows that had he told them the dream, the plotting would have been even worse. Without the dream, they almost killed him but they let him live in the end as we will come to inshaAllah next week. He didnt tell them the dream, and they basically let him go in the well. Imagine if he did tell them the dream, it would have been even worse. With this, we come to the conclusion.

http://muslimmatters.org/2011/05/06/the-best-of-stories-pearls-from-surah-yusuf-part-3/ In our last halaqah, we mentioned the dream of Yusuf (alayhi salaam) and the fact that his father understood immediately that this was a dream of importance and significance and that Yusuf would rise much higher than his brothers. He realized immediately that his brothers would wish to harm him because of that jealousy, so he told him, Dont tell your brethren. Keep it secret. Dont tell anybody about this dream. Ayah 6 Allah (subhanahu wataala) then says,

And this is how your Lord has chosen you and has taught you the interpretation of dreams so that He may perfect His blessings upon you and upon the family of Yaqub just as He perfected His blessings upon your two fathers before you Ibrahim and Ishaaq. Verily your Lord is All Knowing and All Wise. Allah says, And this is how When Allah says, Wa kadhalik, it can mean one of two things: Either through this dream Allah will protect you and Allah will choose you, or Allah is saying through this protection of you not telling the others your dream. In the ayah before this, the father says to Yusuf, Dont tell your dream. As we said last week, if Yusuf had told the dream to his brothers, then much worse would have happened. He didnt tell the dream so much less happened. They still tried to do much harm, so imagine if he had told the dream what the harm would be. Allah is saying, Wa kadzalika yajtabeeka rabbuk [and this is how], meaning through you not telling the dream your Lord will yajtabeeka. Ijtiba means to sift through and get the best. Three things are mentioned:

1)

Ijtiba is sifting through and choosing the best. Allah is saying, We will choose you.

[.Wa yuallimuka min taweelil-ahaadeeth. [We will teach the interpretation of dreams (2 3) We will perfect Our blessings on you and upon the family of Yaqub as We perfected it upon your two fathers Ibrahim and Ishaaq. What are these blessings that Allah azza wa jall is perfecting upon Yusuf? Allah says, We will protect you and give you these blessings. 1. The greatest blessing right now is prophethood.

2. Of being the most noble of all human beings in one sense and that is the sense of lineage. As we mentioned two weeks ago, the most noble of all people in terms of lineage is Yusuf (alayhi salaam). 3. We will choose you above the rest. Allah chose Yusuf by making him the one whom his brothers turn to for help even though he was the one whom the brothers abandoned and threw into the pit. Even though his brothers abandoned him, Allah chose Yusuf and forced the brothers to come back to Yusuf. When did they come back to Yusuf? When he was the minister of finance, the minister of grain, and the minister of agriculture. At that point in time, the brothers of Yusuf were forced to come back. And no doubt, as the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, the upper hand is better than the lower hand. Yusuf had the upper hand because he was giving, and his brothers had the lower hand. 4. Also, of the ways that Yusuf was chosen, Allah mentions this: Wa yuallimuka min taweelil-ahaadeets. He is teaching you the interpretation of dreams. And as we said last week, the interpretation of dreams is not a science that can be taught man to man, and this ayah proves it. Allah is the One who teaches this science directly. In fact, it can be said that this is one of the very few sciences that cannot be taught. We as Sunni Muslims believe that all sciences of Islam can be taught from person to person through books. This is a difference between us and some of the mystical groups of Islam who say that you cannot teach any science and that all sciences are directly from Allah (subhanahu wataala). They make fun of people studying fiqh and hadeeth and tafseer, and they say, This is backward. This is knowledge of the books, and we have the knowledge of the heart. This is something that generally speaking, academic Islam and Sunni Islam looks down upon because we are a structured religion and a religion of science and a religion of academics and that is why the first ayah is iqra. There are a few sciences that we agree cannot be taught by men, and of these is the science of dream interpretation. This shows us that Allah is saying, I will teach you how to interpret dreams. This is why I said, those books that you find and the encyclopedias you find on dream interpretation are by and large fabricated and just money making things. The fact of the matter is dream interpretation is something that Allah blesses His chosen servants with. The scholars say that the more righteous a person is, the more likelihood he has to learn this science from Allah. This is proved by many verses in the Quran including in one of the last

verses of Surah Al-Baqarah where Allah (subhanahu wataala) says, Have taqwa of Allah and Allah will teach you ilm. When we have taqwa of Allah, this ilm will be given to us. 5. What else has Allah blessed Yusuf with? Allah says, I will bless you and choose you above others. One thing we all know: Yusuf was blessed with beauty and looks. Our Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, Yusuf and his mother have been given half of all beauty. In another version, he says, Yusuf has been given half of all beauty. The point of this hadeeth is that it is as if all of the beauty of mankind was split into two, and half of it was divided by the billions of human beings and one-half of it was given just to Yusuf or just to Yusuf and his mother. This really shows us how handsome Yusuf was. 6. Also of the fulfillment of Allahs blessings, Said ibn Jubayr, the most famous student of Ibn Abbas, said, When Allah is saying He will fulfill His blessings, of the perfection of blessings is that Yusuf shall enter Jannah because Allah will never fulfill blessings until the person enters into Jannah. You cannot have the completion of nima without going to Jannah. In this verse, automatically Yusuf is given the good tidings or bashara of entering Jannah. And this is how your Lord has chosen you and has taught you the interpretation of dreams so that He may perfect His blessings upon you and upon the family of Yaqub Allah says, Allah will choose you and teach you the interpretation of dreams and perfect His blessings upon you and upon the family of Yaqub. Yusuf is from the family of Yaqub; he is from the children of Yaqub. Allah is showing the special status that Yusuf has. It is as if Yusuf is one and all the rest put together are also one. All the rest do not equal the blessings of Yusuf, soYusuf has a separate category. We know in the Quran that the aale of Yaqub (the family of Yaqub) is also called the asbaat, and the asbaat were also prophets. These brothers, who we are going to talk about, were also prophets. The question arises: How can these brothers be prophets and they are going to do the crime that they are going to do? The response is that the scholars agree that when this incident occurred, they had not yet been made prophets. They were going to be made prophets later on. When this incident occurred, they are still young, and they have not become prophets. How do we know that eventually they will become prophets? Allah says, Say, We believe in Allah and what has been revealed to us and what has been revealed to you and to Ibrahim and to Ismail and Ishaaq and to Yaqub and the asbaat. Who are the asbaat? These are the asbaat. The asbaat are the sons of Yaqub. Allah is saying, I will choose all of you and fulfill my blessings upon you and upon the aale Yaqub just like I did it to your two fathers. just as He perfected His blessings upon your two fathers before you Ibrahim and Ishaaq. Allah (subhanahu wataala) mentions, Just like I fulfilled My favors to Ibrahim and Ishaaq. What are the favors of Ibrahim (alayhi salaam)? This is worthy of a few hours lecture. We know so many things just from the Quran, and what is from ilm al-ghayb Allah alone knows. The Prophet Ibrahim (alayhi salaam) was the father of all nations and the father of all future prophets. The Prophet Ibrahim (alayhi salaam) was the first khalilullah, and he was one of only two khalilullahs, the second being our Prophet Muhammad (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam). The Prophet Ibrahim (alayhi salaam) was saved from the fire in this world, and of course he shall be saved from the fire in the next. The Prophet Ibrahim (alayhi

salaam) was blessed with prophethood when there were no other Muslims on this whole earth. All of the prophets came from his progeny after him. Ismail (alayhi salaam) was saved from Allah (subhanahu wataala) from the dhabh (slaughter), and he was saved by the sending of the sacrificial ram, and Allah (subhanahu wataala) made him and his progeny a great nation, and that is the nation of the Arabs. In fact, there is more than one nation coming from Ismail. For example, the Nabatioon (Nabateans) are descendants of Ismail as well even though they are not the descendants of the Arabs. The Arabs are a separate category than the Nabatioon. Ibrahim (alayhi salaam) was chosen that all future great nations came from Ishaaq and Ismail, his two sons. Allah says, We will perfect My favors upon you as We perfected it upon Ibrahim and Ishaaq. In this, there is an allusion (isharah) that if a father is righteous, the children generally speaking shall also share in that righteousness. This is from the wording: I gave Ibrahim favors, I gave Ishaaq favors, do you think I will deny you the favors? This shows us that one of the best ways to guarantee that your children are righteous after you is for you to be righteous yourself. This is proven not just in this verse but in many other verses, most significantly in Surah Kahf and the story of the wall. Khidr and Musa pass by the wall, and the wall is broken. Khidr builds the wall, and the people were rude to them. Musa says, Why did you build this wall when they were so rude to you? What was the purpose of this? Khidr at the end of the story says, This wall is in a land belonging to two orphans, and their father was a righteous man. These two orphans are babies now. If the wall collapsed and the treasure underneath it was known, the villagers would take it, but I built the wall so it will last 15-20 years and the kids will grow up and then when they will rebuild the wall will find the treasure. What will happen? They will get their treasure that their father stored there. The point being the righteous father blesses the children in this world and the next. In this verse we also find the allusion that Ibrahim and Ishaaq are so great, do you think that Yaqub and Yusuf are not going to be great? Father to son and mother to daughter are generally speaking how religiosity and Allahs Favors are passed down. Of course, this is a general rule, and there are hundreds and millions of exceptions. We as Muslims understand that one of the best ways to guarantee our children are good after us is by us being good and by us being good Muslims. Verily your Lord is All Knowing and All Wise. Also, Allah (subhanahu wataala) concludes this verse by saying, Your Lord is Aleemun Hakeem. Allah uses two Names. Al-Aleem means the One who knows everything. AlHakeem has two meanings to it. The first meaning comes from hikmah, which means the AllWise. The second meaning comes from hukm, which means judgment. Allah is the One who is All-Wise and Allah is the One who judges. Why does Allah end this verse with Al-Aleem Al-Hakeem? It is as if Allah is saying, I know what I am doing, and I am doing everything with a wisdom. Realize that whatever is going to happen to you, realize that I am Hakeem. I have a divine plan. Dont give up. Dont think that I am doing things randomly or haphazardly. I know the past, and I know the future. I have saved your grandfather Ishaaq from being slaughtered, and I have saved your great-grandfather Ibrahim from the fire, and I shall save you also from the well. I am Al-Aleem. I am Hakeem in that I put them through

trials and tribulations, and they became who they became. I will put you through trials and tribulations, and you will become who you will become. Allah is saying, I know what I am doing. Put your trust in Me, and know that everything I do is done for a wisdom. As a side note here: Allah (subhanahu wataala) calls Ibrahim and Ishaaq the father of Yaqub ala abawayka. Abb means father, and He does not call them jadd, which means grandfather. From this, some of the scholars of fiqh have derived this is a side note of fiqh not related to aqeedah or tafseer that the grandfather takes the place of the father when the father is not alive. This is generally true in issues of becoming wali. Some scholars have even said that the grandfather takes the place of the father in inheritance when the father is not there. This is a longer chapter of fiqh not related directly to this. The point being this verse is one of the evidences used because Allah calls the grandfather father. The scholars say that when a person dies and has brothers and sisters and a father, then by unanimous consensus, if the father is alive, then the brothers and sisters will not inherit because the father gets the money. The father blocks the brothers and sisters. There is an ikhtilaaf that comes if the father is dead but the fathers father (the grandfather) is alive. Does he also block the brothers and sisters? Some of the scholars, including Ibn Taymiyyah and Abu Hanifah, say that the grandfather does block. Again, we are getting into inheritance, but the point being that they use this verse as one of the evidences: Allah calls Ibrahim and Ishaaq the father of Yusuf even though they are not the father; they are the grandfathers. Ayah 7

Allah (subhanahu wataala) then says, Indeed verily there is in Yusuf and his brethren [meaning in the story of Yusuf and his brethren], ayat for those who ask. We already talked about what ayah means, and Allah already mentioned ayah before this. The meaning of ayah is a sign, lesson, miracle to ponder over. In some places in the Quran, Allah (subhanahu wataala) says there are lessons for those who think and in other places, Allah says there are lessons for those who reflect, and in other places, Allah says there are lessons for those who use their aql. This ayah is one of the only places in the Quran where Allah says there are ayat for those who ask (aayaatu lilsaaileen). There are a number of points here. What is the meaning of ayah in this context? Why did Allah restrict it to those who ask? In other verses Allah said: la aayaatu liqawmin yaqiloon, liqawmin yatafakkaroon, liqawmin yadhdhakkaroon. In this ayah, Allah says, aayaatu lil-saaileen. In this ayah, Allah says, aayaatu lil-saaileen. An ayah is an indication. Scholars say that this story is an indication of primarily three things: 1. 2. 3. The indication of the Power and the Sunnah of Allah (subhanahu wataala). The indication of the truth of the Messenger. The indication of the lessons and morals within the story of Yusuf.

Lets talk about each one of these briefly: The Sunnah of Allah azza wa jall. An ayah about who Allah is and how He deals with His servants. From this, we learn that Allah is ever watching the servants, and in the end, victory is always given to the righteous and sincere. The ayah is that the righteous shall always inherit, and the righteous shall always be the victor. The reason why the surah was revealed was a consolation for the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) that: Just like right now you are being ridiculed and humiliated and just like you had been thrown into the well of ignominy by your nation, so too was Yusuf before, but the end result is for those who have taqwa. This surah is also an ayah for the truthfulness of our Prophet Muhammad (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam). We already mentioned the story of the Yahud that the Quraysh asked the Yahud, Give us a trick question that nobody would know except a prophet. The Yahud said, Nobody knows the story of Yusuf except us. They were in a land we kept on mentioning this before that does not have books. They were in a land that does not have an encyclopedia. They were in a land where the people were not the children of Yaqub. They were from the children of Ismail and had nothing to do with this branch. The Yahud said, None of you know this story. Only we know it because we are the chosen people. Go ask your prophet if he knows the story of Yusuf. Allah says, In this story there is an ayah that this prophet is a true prophet because he would not know the story otherwise. Allay says in another verse, You and your people before you did not know this story. You were not standing on the western side of Mount Sinai when We spoke to Musa. You were not in the room when Zakariyyah and the people were arguing over who would take care of Maryam. Once again, all of these stories have nothing to do with the Arabs. You need to understand, the Arabs had no knowledge of these stories because it was not their people. They were uneducated and illiterate and had no books and no madrassas. When we read these stories, for us we know the Old Testament and the New Testament has them, but the Arabs of the time never had the Old Testament and the New Testament. This is an ayah that our Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) is truthful. The third we said is the lessons we learn from the story itself. This is the whole point of the tafseer that we are doing: what are the lessons we derive? Allah is saying in the story of Yusuf and his brothers there are many lessons (aayaat). What are the rest of the aayaat? Through the rest of the tafseer, we will derive these aayaat. So we have said that there are three types of ayat in this story: 1) the Sunan and Powers of Allah, 2) the truthfulness of our Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam), and 3) the lessons and morals of the story of Yusuf, which is what we are talking about through these halaqat. Here Allah is saying: These aayaat are for those who ask. Asking is the least indication of inquisitiveness. It is the lowest level of being inquisitive. Thinking, contemplating, yatafakar, and yaqib are higher levels because you ask the one who thinks, and you ask the one who knows. In most verses, Allah says in these are aayaat for a people who think, for a people who ponder. In this, Allah is saying, in these are aayaat for those who ask. This is the lowest level. The meaning here is these aayaat are so clear you dont need to be a

grandiose, magnificent scholar and you dont need to be a high-powered intellectual. All you need to do is turn to the surah and ask, What are the miracles? What are the signs? How can I benefit? This is why when every one of us reads Surah Yusuf, it just appeals to us. We learn so much; even if we dont know Arabic, we read the translation and benefit so much from this surah. Allah is saying, aayaatu lil-saaileen all you have to do is turn to the surah and ask. Of course, no doubt, the more you ask, the more you will learn and know. In this there is an indication that asking is of benefit, and you should ask. Asking is of benefit, and our Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) himself commanded us to ask. The Quran is full of yasalunaka (they ask you about this and they ask you about that). In a hadeeth in Sahih Muslim, our Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, Saluni, saluni. (Ask me. Ask me.) I will answer you. In one hadeeth, the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) sent an expedition out to a ghazwah to fight. It was in the middle of the desert night and very cold. One of the men became injured in the war, and he woke up one night in a state of janaba. He was in a state of janaba and had an injury on his head, and the people were wondering if he should do ghusl or not. One of them said, I think he must do ghusl. I dont see any excuse for him. They did not have any knowledge and were just thinking as we find so commonly people say, I think Islam says this, and I think Islam says that. So this man says, I think he should do ghusl. The man did ghusl, but the wound in his head was not fully healed and so the cold killed him. When they came back and informed the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam), he became so angry, and he said, Why didnt they ask when they were ignorant? Verily, they killed him! May Allah curse them. Verily the cure to ignorance is asking. Asking is something that is generally speaking encouraged. Of course I have to point out here sometimes asking is discouraged in Islam, and that is when the asking becomes takalluf and too much detail and going beyond what you need to know. Asking generally speaking is praiseworthy, and this verse shows it, but sometimes, Allah says in the Quran, Dont ask about things that will cause you harm or grief. There are examples given in the seerah and the athar of the sahabah. This is more common amongst students of knowledge or amongst people who dont have much knowledge when they ask about that which doesnt concern them. For example, what is the verdict on those group of Muslims? or what is the verdict on this or that? when they themselves dont know the basics of fiqh or taharah. This shows that their questions are going too far. Once one of the students of Aisha (radhi Allahu anha) came and would ask a lot of questions of this obscure nature and this minutia. She said, Oh my nephew, have you perfected your salah? Have you prayed your tahajjud regularly? Have you done your ibadah the way that it should be done? The man began giving one hundred and one excuses as we all give. Then Aisha said, Then dont increase Allahs evidences against you by asking about these things. Dont increase these minutia knowledge and then Allah will ask you even more about why you didnt practice what you knew. Dont increase all of this. Asking is generally speaking praiseworthy, but sometimes it becomes negative. Allah azza wa jall is saying that anybody who is eager to derive benefit from the story of Yusuf and approaches the story of Yusuf will be able to do so. Aayaatu lil-saaileen. How much more so when we study this with contemplation and with tadabbur? This is the point that if you are a sail then you will benefit, so how about if you are tadabbur or takiloon or tatafakarun? You will benefit even more. And that is inshaAllah the goal of this series of classes we will go into a lot of detail.

Ayah 8

When they [meaning the brothers] said, Yusuf and his brother indeed are more beloved to our father than all of us, and we are usbah (a gang / group). Surely our father has made a grievous, clear error. Idh qaaloo (Remember when they said) Remember, we said that idh means recall or remember. Idh is how you narrate a story in Arabic. In English, we dont have this; therefore, for the English reader, the word idh doesnt really make sense. Remember when, remember when we dont have this narrative. In English, we start a story with once upon a time and go to the end of the story. In Arabic, idh is how they narrate a story, and so in the Quran, you always find the word idh (i.e. idh qala rabbuka). The idh here is simply remember or recall, and it is one of the ways that the Arabs would tell their stories. Idh qaaloo: when they said (meaning the brothers) La Yusufu wa akhoohu: The extra laam is for takid or emphasis, and it is as if they were saying: This is an undeniable fact / we know this to be real / there is no dispute / indeed (we say this in English) / there is no question Yusuf and his brother They were all his brothers, but by unanimous consensus, they are talking about his full brother. As we said two weeks ago, Yusuf (alayhi salaam) only had one full brother from their mother, and the name of the full brother was Benyamin. Some say that Yamin is the Hebrew for power and Benyamin means the one of power. Others say that Yamin is pain and because his mother died in childbirth and in pain, he is called the one who is born in pain or anguish. Benyamin is the Hebrew and Arabic for Benjamin, which is the English version. There was no j sound in ancient Aramaic. There was no Jesus, it was Isaw in Aramaic and Isa in Arabic. The name Jesus came from Latin, Greek, and other languages. Benyamin and Yusuf were the ones who were from one mother, and they were younger than the other brothers. Benyamin was still a newborn baby and not talking at this stage. Most scholars say that Yusuf was 7 to 10 years old in other words, a young child. When they said, Yusuf and his brother indeed, without any denial or doubt about this, are more beloved to our father than all of us, and we are usbah Usbah here means a gang or a group. The meaning of a gang or a group is not a negative gang but: we are large in number and they are just two. The brothers were 10 and Yusuf and Benyamin were two, so they were saying, we are usbah Not only that, but they were saying, We are older than them, and we are more useful to our father and take care of his needs and irrigate and take out the sheep. What can Yusuf do? What can his baby brother do? What is the problem with our father? We are the majority, older, and stronger, so how can he love Yusuf and his brother more than us? Surely our father has made a grievous, clear error.

Inna abaanaa lafi ddalaalin mubeen. Once again, inna and la add emphasis. Surely there is no doubt our father has made a plain mistake, a grievous, clear error. Remember that Yaqub is a prophet, and to consider a prophet to be dhalal is a type of kufr, but the sons were not saying that their father was dhalal in righteousness and Islam but were saying that their father was misguided in something of this world. Had they considered their father to be misguided overall, then they would not be Muslim anymore. The scholars interpreted this phrase and said that the brothers are saying that their father is mistaken in this one issue of this world and not to do with the religion. Immediately, we see that the brothers are not to the level of Yusuf; otherwise, they would not be speaking like this. We already see that Yusuf and his brothers are not at the same level because they are thinking about something that Yusuf is not thinking about, and they are getting angry about something that Yusuf is not thinking about. These brothers are inherently less righteous than Yusuf. Automatically, by this statement of theirs, we see that the father loves the more righteous of the children; otherwise, they would not have been jealous. Had they truly been righteous, they would have ignored this and overlooked this. They are not as righteous, and the father loves the more righteous of the children, and that is Yusuf. Also notice that they are saying our father loves. Love is an emotion, and they know that he loves Yusuf by the tenderness and by how he looks at them. They cannot accuse the father of giving Yusuf more than the other children. This is the point here. In our Shariah, we are obligated to be equal with our children. We cannot prefer one child over another in material blessings. As for the heart, it is not in our control. When it comes to material blessings and physical blessings, all children must be equal. Once a man came to the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) and said, Oh Messenger of Allah, I want you to bear witness that I am giving this son of mine one of my servants as a gift. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, Do you have other children? The man said, Yes. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, Did you give all of them the same gift? He said, No. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, Dont you wish that all of your children love you the same? [In another version: treat you the same, give you the same good]. The man said, Of course. He (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, Then dont do this. Dont give one child a gift that you are not going to give to the other children. Fear Allah and be fair amongst your children. [Hadeeth in Bukhari and Muslim] Fear Allah, and be equal amongst your children, and dont give one child a gift that you dont give to the other children. The point here is the brothers of Yusuf could not say that their father gives Yusuf more because that would be unfair. All they could say was that their father loves Yusuf more. Loving is an emotion of the heart, and Allah does not call you to task for the emotions of the heart. You cannot be blamed for loving one more than the other. They simply know this by the gentleness and mercy and the look in his eyes and not by physical gifts. Ayah 9

Kill Yusuf or throw him to some [unknown] land. The face of your father will become solely dedicated to you and after this become righteous, good people.

Ardaa here means some land we dont care about / some unknown land. The extent of their jealousy is so much and it is burning them so much that they reached the level of thinking why dont we kill Yusuf? Remember, they are talking about this when Yusuf is not there, and as for his brother Benyamin, he is too young and still a baby at this time. We have talked about the dangers of jealousy. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, Beware of jealousy because jealousy consumes good deeds like a fire eats up twigs. We learn from this that jealousy drives people insane and makes them do things that are absolutely ridiculous. What is really sad here is that they were jealous for something noble and not for something evil. They were jealous for their fathers love, which is something generally speaking a good thing. You want your father to love you. Even a jealousy for something good can lead you to do something evil. It is not just jealousy for wealth or fame or power, but jealousy for something positive can drive you insane. They said, Lets kill Yusuf. Another one said, Lets exile him (i.e. kidnap him and take him to a faraway land or an unknown land).

and after this become righteous, good people. wa takoonoo min badihi qawman saaliheen. (and after that become righteous people.) This is an interesting phrase. Lets do the deed and then lets be better after it. Lets do the worst of all evils [killing], and after we murder, we can be good people. These thoughts come to us from Shaytan. It is so common that when we think of something bad, Shaytan says to us, Lets just make it up afterwards. You are not the first person Shaytan is deluding in this manner. You are not the first one who is thinking of bad thoughts and then thinks, Lets make it up afterwards. We can see from this story that this is an age-old tactic of Shaytan. He dangles the bait and then says, Dont worry, eat it and afterwards you can live good lives. You are not the first one to do so. As we shall see, sins lead to other sins. They thought that they would do one deed and that would be the end. They didnt realize that once they did one deed that then they need to lie and swear upon the lie and build upon the lie and do more things after that and cover it up. They dont realize that sins lead to more sins and evil leads to more evil. There is no way that when you do a deed that it would then be the end of the story. This is the tactic of the Shaytan, and Allah azza wa jall warns us about this through the story of Yusuf. Some of the commentators of the Quran mention here that these brothers were still young and hadnt reached puberty. They say that because they are trying to get out of the problem of knowing that these people are eventually prophets of Allah. The question is: How can prophets of Allah do this? The minority said that they did this when they were pre-puberty (i.e. 11, 12). As we know, when we do a sin or a crime pre-puberty (i.e. 6 years old, 5 years old, 10 years old), Allah does not write it for you in your hisab because you havent

developed the mind yet and are not mukallaf yet. Others refuted this and said that the brothers of Yusuf were adults and this verse shows it because had they still been children, they would not be thinking in this manner. The first group refuted them again and said, The brothers asked for Yusuf and they said they were going to go play. Do adults play? The debate amongst classical scholars is whether the brothers of Yusuf were kids or adults. A minority says that they were still children and were going to play. The response from the majority is that it is allowed (mubah) for people to play. They can go racing and do this and that. Aisha and the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) played. There is nothing wrong with playing if it is a mubah or an allowed playing. Also, and this is what really proves the point completely at the end of the story, the brothers say, Oh our father, forgive us. We made a grievous mistake. Had they been children, they would not made a khata and nor would their father have had to ask for forgiveness for them because in our Shariah, a child is not mukallaf. Quite clearly, they are adults. Another interesting point here: Religiously, their motivation was that they would do the deed and then they would do something good so that Allah would forgive them. In terms of this dunya, what was their motivation? Their motivation was that if they got rid of Yusuf, then their fathers attention would be on them. Did this even come true? By getting rid of Yusuf, did they get their fathers attention? No, they lost both things. Both of their goals were not met. The first goal was to make one mistake and that they would be fine after that, but this did not happen because one mistake led to another problem and another problem. The second goal was this dunya: Lets get rid of Yusuf. Our father will forget about Yusuf, and we will become number one. What happens? Their father turns away from them. The Quran says that literally, their father turned away from them, and there is a metaphorical meaning that we will discuss when we get to that verse. Tawalla anhum (He turned away from them) What they did actually defeated their goal rather than aided it. Had Yusuf been there, the father would have loved the other children to a reasonable level. By depriving him of Yusuf, the father turned away from them completely. This shows us that you cannot get the halal through the haram. You cannot get blessings by turning away from the commandments of Allah. If you want happiness and richness, you will not get it by doing the haram. These people wanted something halal that human nature and one of the most desired goals of every man: that his father loves him and his father is proud of him. This is human fitrah Muslim or non-Muslim and they wanted this noble goal that their father would love them, but the way that they approached it was through the haram. From this, we learn that you will never get the halal and the blessings of Allah through the haram. Rather, by turning to the haram, the very goal that you seek will be lifted up, and you will not get it. They wanted two things, and both of them were lifted. In the middle of the story, the father is so grieved that he goes blind. He keeps on saying, Woe to me! Where is Yusuf? How much I miss Yusuf! He goes blind because of Yusuf. The brothers are so irritated and say, When will you stop mentioning Yusuf? The brothers wanted him to stop mentioning Yusuf by killing Yusuf, but he never stops mentioning Yusuf, and in Yusufs absence, the mentioning of Yusuf increases. This really shows us that the Promise of Allah is true and the promise of Shaytan is false.

Some scholars say and this is a deep point [Allahu Alam], an interesting point: No doubt that this is the deception of Shaytan that when they wanted to do this, they said that they would be good afterwards. There is no doubt that any time when we think of an evil deed and then think that we will just do it and then make up for us that this is the Shaytan whispering to us. Some scholars have said that at least this attitude is better than the one who does not even think of tawbah at all. At the end of the day, these were children of a prophet. They were not completely jahill. Yes, they did a major sin, but their father did raise them to be good Muslims. This is a point that requires a little bit of thought but I guess overall it is worthy of attention: Having regret even before you do the act is better than having no regret at all. This also shows us that Allahs Mercy is so vast. These brothers were plotting a dastardly deed and said, Allah will forgive us, and in the end, Allah did forgive them. This is a powerful message. Their attitude was so flippant and unbecoming of a Muslim (Ill do a bad deed and kill Yusuf and be good after that). Imagine if someone did something like this to you [i.e. Im going to steal his money but he is good and hell forgive me], how angry would you be when you heard that? Allah is telling us that this is how they thought and this was their frame of mind. Despite that fact, eventually Allah did forgive them. This really shows that Allah is the Most Forgiving and the Most Merciful. Ayah 10

One amongst them said, Dont kill Yusuf, but throw him into the ghayaab (recesses) of the well. Some travelers will find him, and they will take him. Ghayaab here means recesses / crevices / bottom; from ghayb, you dont see it. The jubb is a type of well that doesnt have a built wall around it. A bir is a more constructed well while the jubb is a more primitive well. Because they said throw him into the jubb (well), they know exactly which well they are talking about. There is a well that is well-known and famous which they know. This is a rudimentary well and not the well that they are regularly using. If it was the well that they were regularly using, then it would be the built-up well. This is a faraway well, which some of the travelers would use, and not frequented by the local people, otherwise it would be built up. This is a well that everybody knows of but is not used on a daily basis. Sayyara here doesnt mean a car but means those who are travelers. Iltiqaat means to pick up or to find. The word is very precise. Iltaqata means you pick it up / found something you didnt expect. Some travelers will find him, and they will take him. One of them said Some people say that this was the oldest because he will come again and again in the story. Others say that this was another brother. Regardless, this is the perfection of Allahs storytelling in that He does not give us details that are useless. If you read the Old Testament or any book of history, you get bored so fast because there are so many details that are

irrelevant. The beauty of Quranic stories is that you never get bored because Allah tells you what you need to know and does not tell you what you do not need to know. Who cares which brother it was? How do we benefit? There is no relevance at all. If we were to say, Simon said this or Rubiyal said that or Raqiem said that and then in the next story another one and then the next version, we would all get confused who did what. In Allahs Mercy, He said, One of them said. This is perfection. No doubt, the one who said this is the one who has more intelligence and more piety than the others. if you must do something, This shows that he doesnt like what is going on, but he does not oppose it. His evil is less than the evil of the other nine. If this is the oldest brother, and this is the strongest opinion, then it appears that he is trying to minimize the evil and make it lesser than what they wanted to do. They want to kill him or exile him alone in the desert while he is saying to put him in the famous well that the travelers and caravans go by which has water, and he will stay there for a day or two and eventually somebody will pull him out. In that day and age, that boy would automatically become a slave, or they would take him to the next stopping post and leave him there. He would be looked after and at least would not die and would not be killed. This brother suggests the lesser of the two evils. This is a well-known principle in our religion. There is a rule in usool al-fiqh that if you must take one of two paths or more than two and all of them are negative or haram, then you must choose the lesser evil of the two. This is something that we can apply in so many situations, especially in the times that we live in. Sometimes you are forced to do some type of evil or some type of thing that you do not like, and the scholars say the lesser of the two evils is to do this. A classical example I dont want to get too controversial, but it is always used in our times: The issue of voting in the elections. People are going to be elected regardless of whether we vote or not. Some hardline scholars say that you should not vote and it is haram to vote. I personally dont agree with this, and one of the reasons being we apply this rule. If you dont do anything, regardless of what you do, somebody will get into that position. By getting involved and petitioning and campaigning and getting the Muslims to see which of the two candidates is better nobody is going to be perfect, especially in politics then you can get the lesser of the two evils, even if you have to pollute your own hand a bit in the process. This is a rule that we find we have to use a lot in America. There are certain things that are going to happen, and we are going to just have to choose the lesser of the two evils. We get this from the story of Yusuf and his brothers. Notice here that Allah (subhanahu wataala) is describing their evils, and their evils are numerous: 1. They are breaking the ties of kinship. This is their brother.

2. Yusuf is not just a brother but a young brother and a child. They are breaking the bonds of the young child. 3. They are going against the rights of their own father because the one they are harming is not just related to them by blood but is also the son of their father. It is not just that they are harming a stranger, but they are harming their father and brother simultaneously. The Prophet

(sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, Whoever does not show mercy to the younger of us and respect the older of us is not one of us. This is a beautiful hadeeth. By doing what they are doing, they are breaking both of these commandments. They dont have mercy for the younger Yusuf, and they dont have respect for the older father. 4. They are also ignoring the love that their father has for that son.

Because Yaqub is a prophet, all of these sins are magnified. This is not just any person but a prophet of Allah. Once again, this shows the dangers of hasad and evil. In another hadeeth about hasad, which is very relevant here, is in Tirmidhi; the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, One of the diseases of the people of the past has crawled amongst you as well. They said, What is this? He said, Being jealous and hating others. Jealousy and hatred are diseases, and unfortunately they have crawled into us as well. And then the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, And these are the things that shave. Im not saying that they shave the hair, but they shave the good deeds, and they shave the religion. Shave the religion means that you do not have the religion left. Too much of hasad and jealousy and enviousness will destroy you. And then he said, I swear by the One in whose Hands is my soul, you will never enter Jannah until you love one another. [This is the opposite of hasad.] Should I not tell you about something that if you do it you will love one another? Spread the salaam amongst you. The point is once again that jealousy, hasad, and enviousness will destroy the deen. Ayah 11

They said, Oh our father, why dont you trust us with Yusuf? Why dont you give us Yusuf? Indeed we are going to be his well wishers. We are going to wish him the best. We do not want for him any harm. They devised the plan and agreed that they would take Yusuf and throw him into the well that was known to them. They know their father will be suspicious, so they already present the excuse and get rid of it. They say, Oh our father, why dont you trust us with Yusuf? They didnt come to him and say send him with us, but first they say, Why dont you trust us? They catch their father off guard; this is human psychology. They immediately get rid of the suspicion and say, We are eager to protect him and are sincere to him. Ayah 12

Send him with us tomorrow. He will play and enjoy himself. We will of a surety guard him. Once again, they set up the stage by calming their father down and by firstly disarming his suspicion, showing him that they are so good and will not do anything. The petition comes after allaying their fathers fears. Send him with us tomorrow. He will play. In another qiraa, it says he will eat and he will play. and we are going to protect him.

The Arabic here is very precise. I dont want to go into too much irab because I will lost most of you, but the point here is that there is a triple emphasis: wa innaa lahu lahaafidhoon. There are three ways that there is an emphasis here. They didnt say nahfadhuhu, which would be the bare minimum. This is a chapter in Arabic which simply does not exist in English, and when you translate it into English, it sounds very dry: Indeed, verily, surely we will guard this doesnt work. In English, we do not really have this emphasis too much. There is no emphasis in English; it is a rather dry language whereas in Arabic, there are ways to emphasize, and generally speaking, the triple emphasis is the highest. They are speaking in the most eloquent, pressing, and sincere manner possible. They have already plotted and planned and are convincing their father saying, Trust us and we are going to be fine. We love him and he is our brother. Let him go and enjoy. Tomorrow we are going to eat and have a good time and we will protect him and we will take care of him. We want his best interest. He is our younger brother. We want him to enjoy and have a good time, and we are the elders, so we will protect him. We will stop the story here and inshaAllah we will resume next week.