Fatima Lette – Exploring The Quran For Women Surah Yusuf #05
AI: Summary ©
The transcript discusses the complex relationship between praising someone's behavior and their relationship with the prophet. The importance of learning from experiences and building character is emphasized, as it is crucial for understanding who one is and finding the value of oneself and others. The story also touches on the importance of balancing capacity with responsibility, managing one's mindset, and not feeling alone. The importance of learning from experiences and mistakes is also emphasized.
AI: Summary ©
Whatever. Actually,
I don't mind. I don't care, actually.
It'll be okay. They'll be fine. They'll fix
it. The people that need to fix it
will fix it.
Yeah.
Alright. Everybody.
How are you guys doing?
Alrighty.
Welcome back to Exploring the Quran. Alhamdulillah. We
have been talking about the story of Yusuf
alayhi salam, insert to Yusuf, which is the
12th chapter of the Quran.
And it's such a beautiful story because we're
able to learn a lot about our faith
by means of different things that occurred in
the life of Yusuf alay salaam.
So today, inshaAllah,
we're gonna try our best to focus on
verses 19 through 22.
I say try our best because I actually
have quite a bit of,
different things that I kind of wanna talk
about today. So I wanna make sure that
we get through it all InshaAllah.
So Yusuf alaihi salaam, in the last portion
of the surah, we talked about a little
bit more about how his brothers
did this deception.
And that deception was telling their father that
we just wanna go out, we wanna play
with him, and we're gonna, you know, take
care of him. And then after it was
all said and done, they ended up obviously
not doing that, and throwing him into the
well. And we've spent a great deal of
time focusing on that last portion,
where Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells Yusuf alaihis
salaam that don't worry, you're gonna talk to
them again, and you're gonna present to them
something that they don't even know. Like, you're
gonna tell them about this moment while they
don't even recognize that, you know, you are
who you are.
And so,
we're gonna start now kind of from the
end of that place, at the at the
that last portion
where we see the brothers come and they
talk to Yaqub alaihis salaam. And when they
talk to Yaqub,
they say,
Allah shows us or tells us,
that they came with the shirt and the
shirt had this false blood on it.
And they said to their father that, like,
a,
that the wolf ate him.
And the response that the father gave was,
that your soul enticed you to do something
that is not good.
So I'm gonna have this beautiful
patience.
And Allah is the one that I will
seek help from, from what you guys create.
So this is where our craft or the
plan that you've made. So this is where
we stop.
Now when we keep going into the story,
you find that now it is going to
the
perspective of Yusuf alaihis salam. So now we're
not gonna be talking about much of what
Yaqub alaihis salam was feeling because we know
where he's at. And he's in a place
of deep despair, but like not losing hope.
So he's in a place of like sadness
because of what's happened to his son and
him not knowing the outcome of what's going
on with his son, but he's not he
has not lost hope from Allah in the
least bit. And so there is that one
aspect of him and that difficulty that Yaqub
alaihis salam was feeling,
but then there's this other second aspect and
that second aspect or perspective or point of
view, you know, when you read a book
and they have, like, different point of views
for the characters. So this is like a
different point of view.
It's now we're able to see what Yousef
alaihis salam is experiencing.
But imagine
that you live in a house with your
whole family. Your kid, maybe like let's say
you're like 12, 13.
How many of you guys have siblings?
How many of you guys
only kid, only child?
No, only children. That's good, that's good.
You know, they'll kind of ruin my whole
analogy.
So
imagine like you go in a grow up
in a house, you have your siblings, you
have your family members, whoever.
And it kind of keeps the house a
little bit like loud, like hustle and bustling
essentially.
And out of nowhere, now you're in a
foreign place,
out of nowhere, you no longer have that
companionship,
Whether good or bad, whether you're beefing with
your siblings or not, there's still noise that
is around. Right? You no longer have your
parents, you no longer have the security of
knowing this is my room, this is a
place that I sleep. You don't have that
security anymore.
And so this is what Yousef alaihis salam
is facing.
But instead of starting with the verses today,
I kinda wanna draw you guys back
to a portion of the life of the
prophecy where there's something very similar that is
happening.
And you know how we talked about
one of the backgrounds
of being revealed
was in the year of sorrow. Right? So
during this time when a prophet is experiencing
grief,
he's lost his mother
sorry, he's lost his wife,
he's lost his uncle,
and then on top of that, he goes
to Ta'if and like this
incredibly terrible thing occurs where he's stoned and
all of these things.
So now you fast forward to a little
bit later
and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has given the
command to the believers to migrate.
So many people are migrating, so there's a
story of Amr ibn Khattab and his migration
was very interesting because people were migrating in
secret. And Mohammad Khattab migrated with like 20
people. That means you're not migrating in secret.
So Mohammad Khattab was like, listen, okay, I'm
a, I'm a do what I gotta do.
Right? So you have the stories of Mohammad
Khattab, you have the, the start of the
migration of of the migration of Salama that
doesn't end for a whole another year, so
she gets captured by her family and all
these things.
Then you have the Abu Bakr Siddiq who
heard that the migration
was now a thing that you had to
do, because it wasn't optional, hijra was not
optional.
If you had the means and you could
go, you you were supposed to go. So
Abu Bakr
he had constantly been hinting at the prophet
that he wanted to migrate with him after
the permission of migration came.
And the prophet
then told him, don't worry Ababa Baqarah, you
Ababa Baqarah, don't rush to go because Allah
will give you a companion on this journey.
But he didn't tell him who that companion
would be. And the thing about Ababa Baqarah
Sadiq, Radi Law Talanhu, we have narrations from
the prophet
where the prophecy says that Abu Bakr Sadiq
literally carried me. You know, he carried me
with his wealth, he carried me with every
single thing that he had with his family,
every aspect of who he was. And he
really provided that support to the prophecy
And And so Abu Bakr
he really wanted to migrate with the prophet
because of how much love he had for
him, but also because of how much loyalty
he had towards the faith.
So in this time, oh, the 7 PM
alarm is back, okay?
In this time, Abu Bakr Sadiq radiya allahu,
hearing what the prophet told him, that listen,
you don't have to rush, you're gonna go
and it's gonna go at a you're gonna
go at a good time. And him hoping
that that that time that he gets to
go will be with the prophet
he went and he spent 800 darahim.
He purchased 2 camels
and a bunch of other necessary things for
the journey, for Hijra.
And he did this because he wanted to
hopefully
migrate with the prophet
Then he went and he gave this camel
to a a keeper and told them feed
it, take care of it, take care of
them, make sure they're ready, and when I
give you the word, we gotta go.
So I know that when it happens, it's
gonna happen quickly.
So the prophet he will visit Abu Bakr
Siddiq in this time, especially every single day,
because the Muslims are experiencing a lot of
oppression.
So he will come every day, but he
will either come in the morning
And Abu Bakr Siddiq
knowing that the prophet was at the door,
he felt like something was up. But there
was like a bunch of things that could
be up. There could be an assassination attempt,
which we talked about last week that led
into the conversation of hijrah, which was true,
right? There was an assassination attempt on the
head of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam. So
Abu Bakr Siddiq is obviously like nervous, because
you know someone calls you at 2 a.
M. Your first question is, are you okay?
And if you have friends like mine then
their response is, yeah I just wanted to
show you this video I was watching. You're
like okay, relax, right? But prophet Sadiq shows
up and he's there in the middle of
the night and Abu Bakr Siddiq is like,
is everything okay? And prophet Sadiq says, yes,
I've been given the command to migrate.
And he's telling Abu Bakr Siddiq
before even telling him I've been given the
command to migrate, he's asking him like, is
anybody home? And Abu Bakr Siddiq
he's like, just my daughters and like my
son, like my family is just here. And
so he says, yes I've been given the
command to migrate,
And Abu Bakr Siddiq then turned to him
and he said, You Rasulullah,
Assufa You Rasulullah, can I accompany you? Can
I come with you in this journey of
migration?
To which the prophet
then said to Abu Bakr Siddiq, yes, you
will be the one to come with me.
Now, while all of this is happening,
the prophet
is still thinking about how we're going to
migrate.
Because it's not just like a journey does
down the street, you don't just hop in
your car, you can just go.
So the Abu Bakr Siddiq invites the prophet
to the innermost part of his home and
he basically takes him to the backyard and
everything is there. The supplies that is needed
to migrate, the 2 camels that they need.
And in addition to that,
he also
had a guide
that was there. K. So like, it's like
that friend that packs
everything you need, you know, they don't leave
a a single thing unturned. Like, they pack
you lunch and then you're like, man, I
really want something sweet. They're like, I got
a cookie for you. You know? You're like,
I could just hug you right now if
I was a hugger. You know?
Right? So that friend that has every single
thing you need.
So Abu Bakr
he had everything and not only that, he
also had a plan
because he knew that the Quraysh, once they
found out
that the prophet had gone away, the first
place they would come is to the home
of Abu Bakr because their friendship was not
something that was hidden and when they would
come there, they would then ask a bunch
of questions, of course, to the kids of
Abu Bakr.
So, Esma was there
and she would answer, like, Abu Jahal comes,
he bangs on the door, he's like asking
her and demanding her, where's your father? And
she's not responding to him, she's like, I
don't know where he is. He's like, you're
gonna tell me right now. She's not responding
and he smacks her And she still doesn't
give it up. She still does not tell
them, tell him where they went.
Why? Because this is the type of dedication
and commitment
that people had towards the deen.
This is the faith that they had with
the fact that was says, I'm gonna be
there for you, I got you.
And sometimes when we know or when we
hear or we feel like Allah got us,
we think it means like it's gonna be
easy.
And that's not necessarily
what it means, why? Because we're living in
dunya,
and dunya itself is not easy.
The nature of it is that it's difficulty,
it has trials and tribulations and hardships and
things that you have to face.
And this is why Allah tells Musa
Yes, like, don't get me wrong, I'm taking
you down memory lane, I'm telling you that
we did this for you, we did that
for you, we did that for you, we
brought you so many, like, so much good
to your life.
Well,
and I bestowed so much love onto you,
especially from me.
But then
acknowledges and says,
Yeah. We've tested you, we've trialed you, and
we put you through it, like you went
through it. But what?
But you came here at this precise moment,
that Allah has decreed, oh Moses.
So essentially,
our Bakr Siddiq's family knew
that this was going to be something that
was very difficult.
The second thing that he prepped
alongside his family
was also his son,
Abdullah.
And his son was appointed
to socialize in the community.
Okay? So, he would go, you know, put
his ears to the streets, see what someone
is saying, are they close, are they getting
warmer to where they're going?
Essentially, what the prophet and Abu Bakr
did when they left for Hijra,
they didn't go directly to Madinah.
They actually went to Mount
Okay? So, they went into they went into
the cave
And when they went into the cave, they
stayed there for 3 days.
They stayed there for 3 days, why? With
the assumption that the Quraysh will go towards
the route of Madinah,
and they would be 3 days off of
their journey.
So they stayed there. Now, we think of
a cave, I don't know, anybody been to
a cave before?
Some of them are really spacious and like,
they have really pretty water that's actually very
toxic and you should not jump into it.
Okay? And then some of them are really
really tight. Now, Cave Thode is really tight.
So it was very tiny, it was very
small.
And look at the dedication of Abu Bakr
Siddiq. When the prophet and him were going
into this cave, Abu Bakr Siddiq started
wiping around the cave with his hand. And
the prophet asked him, Yeah, but what are
you doing? And he said that, I know
that in caves there are like scorpions and
like all these things. Do you guys have
a friend that dedicated?
That's the question. He's like, I know that
there are harmful things in here, so I'm
wiping my head around to see to make
sure that you're okay.
So when they got into this cave for
the 1st night, like Abdullah was supposed to,
he would come in the night time and
he will update his father about all the
things that they had said. This is one
one group of people going down this route,
the other group of people are going down
that route. So this is where it was
happening.
When it got to the second day, or
the second night,
there were a group of bounty hunters and
they were amongst the Quraysh that came,
and they sent this really young boy up
up the mountain towards the cave.
And when they sent him there, they wanted
him to check inside of every single, like,
cave opening
to make sure that they weren't there. So,
the prophet was sitting there and he's very
calm.
He's very calm and the boy's voice is
getting closer and closer and closer.
And it gets to the point where now,
Abu Bakr Siddiq
he's very nervous,
and he's sweating,
and he's shaking,
and he turns to the prophet and he
says, You Rasoolullah,
I'm having trouble not making noise,
Because he was breathing really heavy and it
was almost like he was kinda almost panicking
a little bit. And so he was so
stressed
and the prophet
placed his hand on the hand of Abu
Bakr Siddiq radiAllahu ta'ala anhu
and he said to him something so powerful
that Allah shows us in Surat Al Tawba.
He says to him
that,
what do you say about
2 people when the 3rd person or the
3rd being there is Allah, like Allah got
you. And what's important about this is
that,
in that moment,
right, was feeling this anxiety of like, men,
we're all alone.
We don't have anybody here, there's nobody to
distract them, to take them off the scent,
there's nobody to like throw a pebble, maybe
they'll go run somewhere else, right? They were
feeling so alone.
So Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says,
that whether or not
someone helps
them, whether or not someone helps him, whether
or not you help him, whether or not
anybody helps the messenger of Allah,
then know that Allah will help him.
And then he
says, When those who disbelieve,
exiled them from their home.
And it was 2 of them.
And they both were in the cave.
When he said, referring to the Messenger
and he didn't just say this to the
person that he was with, he said it
to his companion.
When he said it to his friend, when
he said it to the person that was
right there, thick in the thick of it
with him, he said,
don't be sad.
Don't be sad,
don't be scared, don't have this extreme emotion.
Why?
Because indeed Allah is with us. It may
seem like we're alone.
And it may seem like there's nothing
that can help us in this moment,
but Allah is the one who can help
us. Now I brought up the the story
of Ta'if very briefly today,
but we started this series actually with the
story of Ta'if. But you see how the
response
now is very different from the response in
Ta'if?
Because when the prophet
was experiencing that difficulty and that hardship in
Ta'if,
and he was there and they stoned his
feet, and Zayd comes, Zayd bin Hanifah comes
and he's trying to help him and the
is like, no. Go away.
What does the do?
He's, like, in this intense moment of emotion.
He's sitting down on a tree trunk. His
feet is *.
He has been stoned, he's going through grief,
it's difficulty after difficulty, like when it rains,
it truly pours.
But, what does he say? He says,
Allah, it's only to you that I complain
of the weakness of my strength.
And the lack of support
and the humiliation
that I'm facing in front of people.
You. Oh, the one who is also ever
so compassionate and the most merciful.
You're the Lord of those who are weak
and those who people put down.
And you are my Lord.
Who are you gonna leave me to and
give power over me?
The people who are so far away
from
from kindness, they just have so much hostility.
Or is it to the one who truly
hates me, the enemy, that you will give
them control over me?
But if you're not angry with me, if
my if your anger is not on me,
then guess what? It's okay. There's no there's
no concern.
We'll do it again.
Your protection
is is more vast for me than anything.
The prophet teaches us what it means to
learn a lesson.
He teaches us what it means to learn
a lesson,
because the type
of of
grief and difficulty
that the prophetess is facing and thought,
you would say it's very similar to what
he could have been facing during the migration.
He had to leave his home,
he had to leave everything behind.
He couldn't even properly like, leave his home
actually.
You know, he had to leave his son-in-law
in his bed,
while people wanted to kill him.
Can you imagine that type of stress and
anxiety
that someone could be in? But the prophetess
teaches us what it means to grow from
a situation.
He's sitting at
and he's actually truly
alone in that moment.
And he's on the trunk of a tree,
and he's asking Allah, he's begging, he's talking,
he's communicating
to God.
And Allah
shows him
that Allah is always there with you.
And that's setting him up for this moment
here in the in the cave of Daul.
Why?
Because the prophet
how is he able to have this type
of strength
in talking to Abu Bakr?
It is not just that these people are
like right there, it's that they wanted them
dead or alive.
The bounty was you killed them a 100,000
camels.
That is like someone giving you 8 Lamborghinis
fully paid off.
That is that's wealth,
right? That's you setting up your great great
grandchildren.
It is wealth.
So, when it comes to money,
people will do the worst things to get
paid. The worst things. Do you think they
cared that the prophet had children?
Do they think do you think they cared
that Abu Bakr Siddiq Radeel of Talan who
had children?
They didn't
care. When Abu Jahal slaps
Asma,
she was pregnant.
She was expecting
a child.
Did he care?
He did not care.
So how is the prophet
so calm in this moment while all of
it is connected?
He learns from the situations
that Allah had put him in before,
that every single trial and tribulation that a
person goes through is a learning moment for
you.
It is a blessing.
Why? Because there's so much character to be
built,
and I know we say that as a
joke, well it builds character, but no, it
truly does.
You know what else it builds? Faith.
You know what else, it builds resilience.
You know what else, it builds patience,
grit, the ability to keep pushing and keep
going.
And so Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says,
that a result
of this, the prophet says I'm telling this,
to Abu Bakr Siddiq was,
That Allah sent down this
this tranquility,
and this just like sense of calmness on
him.
And he aided them with an army that
they couldn't see.
Aided them in a way that they thought
was impossible.
And he made the words that the disbelievers
would say, like, you guys are lowly, you're
gonna be killed, you're gonna be nothing, nobody's
gonna remember you. He made that to be
like
nothing, like dust.
And the words Allah
gives, the promise Allah gives, it reigns supreme.
Why?
Because Allah in and of himself is almighty,
And Allah in and of himself is all
wise.
And so, I brought the story of Hijra
because I think it's important
in light of the situation of Yusuf alaihis
salam and that loneliness that he's feeling,
For us to know that even in your
darkest and the most lonely moments of your
life, Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala is there.
Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala is there but we
have a responsibility
of showing up. And so now we get
to this portion of the story of, of
the story of Yusuf 'alayhis salam
and it says that now that he's inside
of the cave, it's time for us to
see from
his perspective.
And it says,
that a caravan of travelers, they came.
And they sent like the the,
they sent down the the bucket to go
and draw some water.
So they sent down the bucket to draw
some water, and when they sent the water
boy, so they sent the water boy to
go and get the bucket to draw some
water. I know you guys all went to
the movie Water Boy, not that type of
Waterboy. He wasn't a Waterboy for like sports,
okay? He went,
to the well to get water.
And he says,
he
says
He gets so excited
cause he puts the bucket into the well.
Anybody used a well before?
I did once, almost fell in.
Clumsy people should not.
Yeah, I,
almost met my lord quick, k?
It was it was a and I tried
to do it a second time.
Girl. My mom was like, girl, get in
the house. K?
So he puts the bucket, you put the
bucket in,
goes all the way down, then get the
water, and then comes up. So when he
brings it up, it's kind of heavy,
it comes up, there's a whole buoy in
it. So he gets so excited, he says,
means good news,
means you're calling a person. So usually you
say,
that's how you will call a person.
I'm calling good news, oh good news? That
doesn't make any sense, you can't call good
news. Essentially, he was so excited
of what he saw, he's like, this is
the best thing ever,
Like, this is incredible.
So it's a young man.
So then, they went
and they sold this boy.
They, sorry. They went and they hid him
like a piece of merchandise, because they didn't
want anybody to come and like claim him.
So they said, okay. We're gonna just put
him in here.
And Allah
truly knew what they were doing.
And they then went and they sold him
for something that was like nothing.
It was like a small
amount.
Some,
they actually even say
that they sold him for like counterfeit money.
Like, it was like they sold him and
then when they got back it was like
not even real, so they couldn't even use
it.
Others say they sold him for 2 ropes
and a pair of slippers.
Like not realizing
how valuable what they had was,
right? Not only that he was a human
being obviously,
but in addition to that like, Yusuf alaihis
salam is a prophet
and he's gonna be someone, spoiler alert, that
people are gonna be
seeking him
to come and like give answers to their
dreams and we need them and we need
him in the court and he needs to
be this leader and this like prince and
all of these things.
But it's important for us to learn
that just because someone does not value you
doesn't mean Allah does not value you.
And I think that is an issue that
a lot of us have,
that we're constantly
seeking the value of who we are, or
who our personal what our personality is, or
what type of character we should have based
off of the interpretation or the expectation of
someone else. But we don't ever really take
into account what Allah expects from us, when
he's actually the one who's al Khaleq, he's
the one who created us. So, your creator
is telling you, Hey, you're the most value,
you're so valuable, you're the most valuable creation.
Why? Because that's what he says about human
beings,
that he says,
I have given honorability,
decorum, respect, this level of dignity
to the children of Adam, to human beings.
But we go and we make ourselves lowly
based off of someone else's opinion.
Even worse, based off someone's comment on the
internet, you don't think of yourself to be
valuable.
And so here we see an actual situation
where Yusuf alaihis salaam is being sold for
something that is like nothing,
in comparison to what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
has him in value of, and Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala says,
and they considered that he had no value.
There was no they didn't even Allah doesn't
say that they made it that he was
he had no value. They didn't Allah didn't
say that. He says,
And this is what their true thought was,
that when it came to him,
when it came to Youssef,
he was of the things that had little
to no value.
Like, he could have been left to the
wayside and they would have been okay with
it.
But when Yusuf alaihis salam's brothers
were trying to plot against him, the older
brother said what to him? They said, the
older brother said, don't go and kill him.
Rather, go cast him away and let somebody
else deal with it.
Cast him away. Remember, it was like leaving
something to the side that you felt like
had no value? And that's exactly what they
did to Yusuf alaihis salam. They cast him
away as if he had no value.
And then Allah says,
that the one who brought him
from the city
said to his wife, Limra'atiha,
a karimi
mathwahu,
that give him a very noble place in
the home.
Okay. Give him a noble
place in the home. And then he says,
That maybe this young boy will provide some
type of benefit to us.
Or maybe we can take him as a
child.
So then Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says
that,
And this is how we gave Yusuf
a place in the land.
Now, this is actually the start of Yusuf
alaihis salam's story.
Because all of the back end, all of
the things that happened before this, was very
much so the story of Yaqub alaihis salam.
It was very much so the difficulty of
Yaqub alaihis salam and the hardship of Yaqub
alaihis salam.
Now we get into what Yusuf alaihis salam
is experiencing,
but as we get into that, it's important
for you guys to remember that loneliness
that Yusuf alaihis salam could be experiencing in
this time. And it's important to realize that
there are so many people in the life
of Yusuf alaihis salam that kept devaluing him,
from the moment, from his brothers,
to the people who sold him, to now
the home that he's in.
But what did this this he was actually
a minister. The minister said,
he literally says, give him a noble place
in the home
because we want to use him, give some
benefit.
And now
says
that, Oh yeah, and there's also something else
that we wanted to do for him. We
wanted to teach him
how to interpret dreams.
But if Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala were to
teach Yusuf alaihi salam that while he was
in a well,
and let's think about it, he was like,
most narrations say like 11.
It would have been any benefit to him
actually,
because he may not have ended up in
the place that he needed to end up
in, for the life journey that Allah had
him set up for.
Because somebody can ask,
well why didn't Allah SWAN WAH
make it that the prophet didn't go to
thought first, he just went straight to Madinah.
He would have avoided the whole difficulty in
But you remember how we talked about perhaps
the difficulty
of is very similar to the difficulty of
hijra?
And maybe
if the prophet
had not experienced
that difficulty of Ta'if, he wouldn't have known
how to diff
experience the difficulty going to making the hijra.
And imagine Abu Bakr Siddiq, or imagine
Salama, or imagine O'mal Abdel Khatab
Imagine all of them, they gave up halfway
through their journey
of Hedra,
then what would Madinah be to us today?
That's the question.
They know what the prophet experienced
and thought if. They know the loneliness he
experienced and thought if. They know the dua
that he made. They know how Allah came
and helped him. They know about the conversion
of the adas. They know about all the
ways that Allah had given the prophet
this refuge and this saving.
And that gave strength
to them on their journey.
So I say this to you all,
what are the difficulties that you've gone through
in your life?
And the hardships and the times that you
felt so alone,
not realizing that Allah was giving you strength
by means of other people.
It is actually a reality
that sometimes Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala puts community
in your life,
and maybe they're not your closest friends, okay?
That's okay.
Maybe they're not your BFF, they're not your
sister,
it's okay.
But there is someone, there is something that
Allah has given you, has placed in you,
and placed in your life for you to
find that means of strength,
for you to keep going,
so that he can place you in the
place that you're in, in this world,
and he can give you the blessing that
you're meant to receive.
So Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says,
that,
and thus,
We
made him stable.
We established him. We gave him this position
in the land.
Because it was meant for him to go
through that to unlock the next part of
his life.
And, that is for Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
to teach him what is his
gift.
Prophets, different prophets came with different gifts,
and they came with different miracles.
Musa, alayhis salam, came with the staff,
the prophet came with the Quran,
Yusuf, alayhis salam, got the gift of interpreting
dreams.
And Allah is telling him, you came here
at this moment.
Why so Allah can give you this? And
then Allah says,
Allah
will always
have victory in whatever he promises.
And every single
purpose that God has set forward, Allah will
carry out that purpose.
And people,
they just don't realize it.
If you pay attention to the strength
that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has given you,
you can actually get through anything in life.
But when you forget
that the ability to get through life is
not based off of your own ability but
based off of what God has given you,
you will fall short every single time.
And the reason why this is important
is because you cannot save the world by
thinking that you're the one who can do
it, you really can't.
It's gonna be overwhelming.
You think about your to do list for
tomorrow and you're like, nap,
forever actually.
But who carries you through the day?
It's certainly not your coffee, let me tell
you that. It's certainly not your matcha, let
me tell you that.
It's certainly not your own ability, let me
tell you that. It is Allah.
Allah is the one who carries you through
your day to day.
So don't you think
and don't you reflect
that in the difficulties and the hardships and
the times that you feel lonely that Allah
is there to carry you through?
It's important to have that reflection.
And then, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says,
and when Yusuf alaihi salaam he reached
he reached an age of maturity.
And that age of maturity is like he
reached a time, like he reached puberty,
but he also reached the age of being
able to decipher right and wrong.
Right? So he he reached a very cognitive
time in his life.
We gave him 2 things,
we gave him wisdom
and the beauty of the word wisdom
is as actually like judgment.
Okay? Because knowledge and and we gave him
knowledge.
And knowledge is all fine and dandy if
you're like the type of person that likes
to give like a bunch of just a
list of things. You know, like those fact
check people.
They're like, did you know that there's like
800,000,000
different types of rocks in the world? And
you're like, I didn't know and I don't
know what this is useful for, but okay.
Okay. So someone can have a lot of
information,
but that doesn't actually mean anything.
Your knowledge is information,
your wisdom is how to use it.
So you ever
been in a situation
where maybe it's like really awkward,
like a really, we've all had awkward situations
before, okay relax, right? It's like really awkward
and in that moment,
someone says something that is true
but it makes the situation worse,
that is called an unwise human being.
That is called a person who has knowledge,
but they do not have wisdom.
And what we know of prophets is that
they have knowledge, but they also have wisdom.
They know when to say something, they know
how to say something. And your wisdom
helps you tap into your understanding of who
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is to you.
Because logically,
when you're going through it,
and the tough is tough and then you're
down bad,
your your logical
mind tells you, oh, this is the worst
case scenario.
There has never been a moment that I've
had a good time in my life, I've
never seen happiness before, like you're just down
bad in the trenches of your mind.
Your wisdom takes you out of it. Your
wisdom is what tells you, actually made me
think about it from this perspective.
It tells you maybe it's not actually the
worst thing that's ever happened to you. And
so Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is telling us
that he gave, he gave Yusuf alaihis salam
both.
But these are not things that are unlocked
just by existing.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says, that thus, this
is how we reward those who have ihsan.
A muhsin
is someone who knows or who does right
by the cards that they've been dealt.
Right? If Ihsaan is to worship Allah as
if you can see him, but even though
you cannot see him, you know that he
can see you. And it truly means to
have depth in your action.
It is to do something with the best
of intention,
it is to do something in the best
possible way that you can.
And essentially, what we know of this is
that my ihsan looks very different from someone
else's.
Right?
A person
who
maybe doesn't have a job,
maybe they
slept
10 hours at night, okay, and maybe they
have a meeting the next day at 9
AM and they get there exactly at 9
AM, that is their ihsan.
Why? Because that's the cars that they've been
dealt. They were able to get the sleep
that they needed,
they were able to, you know, they didn't
have last minute things that they need to
fix up, and they got there at exactly
9 AM. Or let's say they even get
there at 8:45, that's their ihsan.
They put, they beautified it, they put more
effort into that. Someone maybe, let's say,
I know my friends with kids, they like
to use their kids as excuses, I love
to do that too. Someone has kids, trying
to get the kids out the house,
right? Everybody get ready, let's go, let's go.
You finally get one kid together, the other
kid don't run off, right? Or maybe someone
doesn't have kids but they have parents
that they live with and trying to get
their parents out the house is a little
tough too. Or maybe you just have a
job, you're trying to get out, it's really
hard.
And maybe that person gets there at 9,
10.
Guess what?
Is that their
That's their
why? Because they tried their best. They weren't
just sitting down,
chilling and twiddling their thumbs and then they
were like, oh man it's 9 o'clock I
need to go make it to the place
that's 10 minutes away.
No, that's what issan is. So, Allah Subhanallah
says when a person has this level of
issan, when a person has issan
and they do the best with what they've
been dealt, then for them Allah
blesses them with more knowledge of who he
is and Allah blesses them with wisdom.
He blesses them with the ability
to be able to get through the difficulty.
He blesses them with the ability to be
able to weather the storm.
And it's so important
that we recognize that Allah
will never put something on us that we
cannot bear. Allah says in
The Allah SWT does not
put a burden on a soul greater than
it can bear. What's interesting is actually,
The Allah SWT will not put the weight
of responsibility
in
the except what that
which is within the capacity of a person.
You know what's interesting about capacity?
Is that it actually grows.
A person's capacity can grow and capacity also
is a little tough
because just because
it's kind of heavy to weigh all of
these different things and balance it, doesn't mean
it's not within my capacity.
You see, you see what I'm saying? Your
capacity can be filled to the rim,
your cup can be up here, it's full
but it's not spilling over.
Which means you can do what?
You can hold it.
And so, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is telling
you, hey, guess what? You're growing.
And sometimes growth is a little uncomfortable,
sometimes it's a lot uncomfortable.
But if you're growing in the direction that
Allah wants you to grow in,
then who are we to say, Hey God,
I don't wanna grow anymore.
Who are we to block off the blessing
that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala has in store
for us?
So it's important to remember that, and it's
also important to remember that Allah is the
one who is in control.
So whether you wanna go through this or
not,
news flash,
it's gonna happen.
So, what does that mean? It's either I
carry this burden with grace,
right? Or I carry it in a way
that incurs
sin.
And the way that I incur sin is
by losing hope in Allah. But the way
that you carry it with grace is by
knowing
That there is nothing that will afflict us,
nothing that will come to us, nothing that
will be on our plate,
except that that is what Allah has written
for us.
That he is our protector.
And it's upon Allah that we, the believers,
should put our trust.
In a narration
that is a narration,
which is a hadith
Qudsi, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us, tells
the prophet
to tell us
that,
that I am how my servant thinks of
me. And if you think of Allah to
be the one in control,
you think of Allah to be the one
who holds your capacity, you think of Allah
to be the one who can help you
out, you think of Allah
to be the one who's there when you
feel the loneliest,
then you will find Allah
there. You will find him there. And I
know that sounds like
positivity
mumbo jumbo type of stuff, but it's really
truly not. It's truly not because
if you don't start thinking about God, you're
not gonna find him.
If you just like,
just want to randomly
walk into a store and happen to find
what you're looking for,
that's a chance that you're taking.
But if you want to truly have a
relationship with Allah,
and you want to be intentional
about your relationship with Allah, it starts by
thinking about Allah. This is why
is so important.
Because dhikr is your remembrance,
it is your reminder, it is your thinking
about Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
The last thing that I wanna share, also
it's really dark outside but it's not mabrook
time.
Okay. I'm tripping.
The last thing that I wanna share is
that in this
realm of understanding trial and tribulation,
it's so important, like, Yusuf alaihis salaam is
in this situation.
He gets into the bucket,
right? The bucket didn't happen to scoop him.
Okay? If the narration says he's 11 years
old and they put a bucket down into
a well, the bucket probably hit him in
the head or something.
Like, he got into the bucket.
You have to put in your effort
when Meneya alaihi salaam is having a child,
okay, she's having a child,
unwarranted,
did nothing to deserve a child,
unwarranted,
not deserved like in a bad way, like
Morrisville, like this was actually a difficulty for
her. So she's unwarrantedly
having a baby
and she's sitting there and she's stressed
and she's in distress,
right? And she says,
Oh, how I wish I died before this
moment and I was long forgotten.
She's going through it.
She is going through it. People have family
around them when they give birth. She has
no one around her.
She's alone.
She's by herself.
And then what does Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
tell her? He tells her there's a river
beneath you.
And he says,
Take the date palm tree,
shake it.
K. Shake the date palm tree and you
will find that fresh dates will come down.
Shake the date palm tree.
She's having a baby?
That takes a lot of that that in
and of itself means you can't shake anything.
K.
But she's having a baby.
It's a date palm tree, it is not
a fig tree,
even though fig trees are strong too.
It is not a snake plant,
it is not a branch,
it is a date palm tree. Do you
know how thick those things are?
The way that people get dates down is
actually by scaling and climbing up.
It is not by shaking it and things
are falling down.
But what is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala telling
her?
Put in that effort.
You shake it,
it's not about the ability, it's about
that striving.
You strive, and guess what Allah gives you?
So much more.
You put in a little bit of effort,
a little bit.
Gives you so more than you can even
imagine.
So, says,
and as for those who strive,
and they put in that effort for us,
for Allah,
they are consistent and they try and they
try and guess what? Jahadu doesn't mean that
you just was strolling
through your difficulty.
You're like, oh yeah, I'll just tap a
little here and God will save me. Tap
a little, no.
It means you were sweating
and it was hard. And there were some
days you were throwing yourself at the prayer
rug and you were really feeling that difficulty,
but you were really trying to get out
of it. Allah
says,
We'll surely guide them to our path.
You put in a little bit of effort
and Allah will give you so much more.
Because indeed Allah is with those who do
good.
Again. He's with those who put in the
best that they can with the effort and
the cards that they have been dealt. So
what we learn
from the story of Yusuf alaihis salaam today,
is number 1, you're actually never alone.
Okay. That Allah truly is with us. He's
truly with us. And even in moments where
someone may make you, try to make you
feel like you're alone, try to make you
feel like Allah is not there. Allah has
shown us with everything around us, he he
has shown us with the people that he's
put in our lives, he has shown us
with the blessings that he has blessed us
with, that he has never left us alone.
So that's the first thing, is that we
need to fix our mindset
and we need to make sure that we
remind ourselves of who Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
truly is because Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala tells
us that I am to my servant, how
my servant thinks of me. Number 2, your
small effort that you think is so tiny
is big in the eyes of Allah.
So keep it going. If today, the only
thing that you can manage is praying your
5 daily prayers, pray them.
If today, the only thing you can manage
is, okay, I prayed, maybe I can make
a little more du'a today, make that du'a.
But make sure you're pushing yourself, if today
only thing you can manage is your sadaqah,
and maybe your sadaqah is not a lot,
it's like $2 give that $2.
Put in that effort,
because the companions did not get us all
here by not putting in effort,
they all sacrificed and they did so much
for us to be able to be in
comfort,
and learning about our deen 1400 something years
later.
The third thing that is very important
is that remind yourself that Allah is in
control,
that you don't actually have control over this
difficulty.
If it was up to us, the moment
a problem arises,
we shall swipe to the left and keep
it out.
Be like, actually not today, not really filling
you, new problem, maybe next week, not this
one. If it was up to us, we'll
we'll choose our difficulty.
That's why we would, and we're human, so
we would choose something easy. You'd be like,
you know what, I don't struggle with drinking
water, my difficulty is gonna be drinking water.
Right? You would choose something that is easy
for you to do.
It's not up to us.
It is up to a lot. And the
last thing, number 4, is remember that every
single situation that you're in is a learning
moment.
So be a student of life.
Every single situation that you're in,
it is a learning
moment.
So why not be a student of life?
This is why Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says,
We gave him wisdom, we gave him knowledge.
Why? Because that is what he attained out
of his difficulty.
So I pray that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
allows us to benefit from everything that we
heard here today. I pray that Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala forgives us of our shortcomings. That
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala allows us to be
people who are people of the book, people
of the Quran and the scripture. I pray
that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala allows us to
gather in a gathering much better than this.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala allows us to drink
from the blessed hands of the prophet Muhammad
on the day of judgment. I pray that
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala enters us all into
janitor for those. And those of of our
family members and our community members around the
world who are experiencing difficulty and hardship. That
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala alleviates their difficulty and
their hardship. And the oppressors that Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala deals with them in whatever way
that he sees fit.