Best of Stories – Study of Surat Yusuf #13

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smilla hamdulillah salat wa salam ala rasulillah hora ajmeri will begin the name of Allah or praise and glory be to Allah and mais finest peace and blessings be upon us messenger Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and his family and his companions and all those which are at his path may Allah azza wa jal make us and you people who adhere to his path and live by his example, may Allah illuminate our hearts with the Quran and purify our hearts to Quran and make genuine our faith and our EMA and through this Quran, Allah Ameen May Allah place these moments where we study and reflect on his book, in our scale of good deeds, and remind us about them and allow us to rejoice over them

on the day we will be standing before him and in need of every last good deed. Allahumma amin

we welcome everyone back to the best of stories, our 13th session now hamdulillah nearing the halfway mark in the surah. And we recited quite a bit today because I don't know how to

split these into two sessions. It's a single conversation,

or half of the conversation between Yusuf Ali his Salaam and those who entered prison with him.

And so Allah subhanho wa Taala says, and two

young men entered the prison along with him de madhusudhan authoritarian. One of them said, I see that I am meaning in a dream, I see that I am

squeezing for wine, meaning squeezing grapes or whatnot to make out of it wine. And the other one said I see in my dreams that I am carrying bread on top of my head on top of my head that birds are eating from inform us about the interpretation of these dreams. We see that you are of an masini you're of the people who lives by a by a code of excellence be a true good door.

And so

some context and then we'll begin reflecting on the

Verse, there are two men entering prison with him. That's straightforward from the verse. Why did they enter prison with him a large village knows best. There are some stories, it is not very important. There are laws, though they would have mentioned it to us. But it is said that these two men worked for the king. And one of them used to serve him wine basically. And the other one used to be his Baker is the Baker's bread. And so people that

wanted to

assassinate the king, bribe them into poisoning his bread and his wine, so that he would die. And so they agreed to do so. And

before they actually executed it, one of them had cold feet.

One of them had cold feet.

And that was

the person drinking, the person offering the wine, or the one who would cater to the the Butler, if you will, that would cater to the Super King, he refuse

to put wine in the drink. And then the baker did, in fact, put poison in the drink. And the baker, in fact, did put poison in the bread. And so someone informed the king last minute that his food might be poisoned. And so the king

said, we'll test it, this guy would poison my drink, go ahead and drink the drink. If it's poisonous, you'll die. And so he knew he didn't poison the drink. So he

he drank and nothing happened. And then the other one, the baker, I really hope not switching the baker and the butler. But the baker who did put poisoned refuse to eat from the the food. And so the king threw them both in present till investigations are completed or until they're both executed or whatnot. So they're in prison with him. And so they tell him we see in our dreams to dreams, this is from the verse Now this is the important part, we see in the

in the dream in this dream of ours, one of us sees that they are

squeezing wine, meaning going back to work with wine. And the other one says I see bread on top of my head being eaten from by birds. And there's so much at the scholars talk about the science of dream interpretation, how to actually interpret dreams, like some tips or guidelines for interpreting dreams.

And we'll leave that for the interpretation of the dream that we'll discuss next week. What he used valleys and actually said to them was the explanation. We'll talk a little bit about what we can take from that for other dreams,

as markers, placeholders and guidelines, principles for dream interpretation. But they said, Tell us the interpretation of our dreams in Iraq, Kevin and Marcin, we see that you are a good door. How did they know he was a good dude, it was it was evident, it was obvious. Some of the books mentioned that he was always praying or always checking up on the fellow inmates or he was always

the last to eat, he would serve others before eating himself.

Maybe this is it, maybe it's not maybe it's this and more. The idea is it was obvious and evident that he was a righteous person, his righteousness did not end with him going to present. And that is an important lesson, that regardless of your circumstances, these are always opportunities to earn a lot of love and earn a lot of pleasure. If you are satisfied with Allah, that means you're going to be satisfied with whatever Allah sends your way. And bla bla bla the low data. And he would say that poverty and riches are two amounts that I don't care which of the two, I ride to Allah, they're like two different two camels, I don't care. They're both camels, meaning they both carry me they both

transport me to a less pleasure.

Or two guests, and I don't care which of the two is visiting me. So they're both going to visit. That's the beautiful part. It's never forever. But while it's here, it's not like downtime. It is just yet another opportunity, a different kind of opportunity to worship, a lot of diligent. And I think many of us understand why I'm highlighting this because many times shaitan tricks us into

number one, feeling hopeless, in our religion because of some hardship, you think Allah hates you. And that is preposterous. The people that had the hardest test were the prophets. We're talking about a noble prophet of Allah zodat here use Valley Solomon prison and all of the profits one of the hardest tests compared to everyone else.

And so you give up praying when you go through a calamity in your life and that's the that's the worst possible thing you can do. Right because even if you get out of the calamity, what you haven't gotten closer to Allah in it, then you missed out on the best part of it.

And the greatest potential of it. And other people in their love forbid, they go even worse, and they become resentful of a loss of a gentleman. So it's as if they're doing him a favor. And so they stop praying when things don't go their way. And Allah, you know, cautions

us against such behavior, such inappropriate behavior, such arrogant behavior, when he said, and among humanity are those who worship a lot on edge. when good things happen to them, they're reassured, and when they go through some trial, they turn about face, they go the opposite direction hasil adonia laughter and he misses out on this world and the hereafter because of it. And so they saw that even in prison, he was still righteous. And so make sure that wherever your circumstances place you, the one thing that does not change is your uprightness and your commitment to Allah subhanho wa Taala as guidance, then

the fact that they came to him because he was righteous for their dreams.

People in general, come to what they perceive as religious people.

Of course, here he actually is right is very righteous, don't doubt the prophet of God. But they come to religious people whenever they're confused whenever they're going through a difficulty. And that is the importance of accommodating people and realizing, you know, the concept of emotional intelligence and our this whole session today will be smothered in Dallas zips because you survived a solemn does it like nobody can

be pleased with him and raise his rank and send his peace and blessings of Allah be upon him and our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is just amazing. And so.

But keep in mind, when people come to you for advice, they usually also want you to hear them out. They also want you to validate their emotions. And you will see use valet senemo do this absolutely. I'm gonna, you know, tell you the interpretation of your dreams. Even though dreams usually don't have much value at all. The most, they can offer you some reassurance, and so that they come when they're confused.

To religious people in general, right? For for what they want, which is some reassurance. And so try to offer them the reassurance, not just because that's what they want, but because you you want to give them what they need. So don't just give them what they want some reassurance, some religious reassurance,

some

you know, beautiful words, some encouragement, some near a shoulder, not just that that's very important having that emotional intelligence. But why am I having that? Because I want to give them not what they want, but what they need, and I'm going to have to give it to them this way. Give it to them what they need, in a way that they want, which is by as you're gonna see indulging them indulging people it's amazing. I don't know sometimes I think about the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam This is a man who has shown paradise was shown the Hellfire, like how could he Allah His Sato cinema, this is from his perfect character, I would think how can he like enjoy conversations

with fellow human beings like How can he like dunya conversations, but he was so agreeable, he was so agreeable, so approachable, they did a fair bit of their lavon said that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam used to be just like one of us, when we would speak about dunia, he would speak ladonia with us without harm, of course, but like he would indulge us, right. And when he would speak about the affair or the Hereafter, he would speak about the hereafter with us. And so here they want to talk to him mean so much to them, because these are just just, you know, give us some, you know, an inside scoop on our dreams? Absolutely. Let's do it, you know.

And that's a skill we all need to learn. And so how did he do that? And he said, and he said to them, lay a tee come up on top farm tours are funny, he, no food will come to you, that you are provided with Indiana back to come up with a really horrible idea to coma except that I will inform you of the interpretation of it of the dreams before it comes to you. In other words,

you're gonna know the meaning of your dream before your next meal. So like, you know, settles them, it comforts them. But But look at what he did. He didn't say no food will come to you before I inform you. He said no food will come to you that you are provided with. Did you see that slip, not slip as an accidental slip, meaning he slipped something in there. He slipped a wedge, a conversation starter. He mentioned the word that is provision. If you would have said there's no food coming to you before I tell you, it would have made perfect grammatical sense. For him to say there is no food that is coming to you, that God will provide you with is what he's saying. He's

trying to open the door for a conversation about

Got to reserve Connie no food will come to you that you are receiving as your provision your risk from Allah except that I'm going to inform you before it comes. And then he does it again. He says there likoma Mima, Alemany Robbie, that is of the things that my lord has taught me. When I love gives you a gift, you use that gift to call people to him, so kinda dad. You praise him for it. You use it to serve others so you can tell them God is the one that allowed this to happen. And you bring them to Allah. And then he says, This is what my lord has taught me. And then he says in Nita rock to Milan letter como la mina biLlahi, humble Pharaoh, to whom Cafiero

I have just left the people out there outside the prison

that do not believe in Allah, and they are regarding the Hereafter, disbelievers. And there's a lot actually in that one sentence. Number one, just very quickly, he these guys are just believers to what he's giving them that well for a reason. He's inviting them to believe for a reason because they're not upon belief. They're upon unbelief, this belief. But he's, he's not speaking in the first person. So it's not as callous as not as abrasive. It's not as provoking of their defenses. And that's the whole trick and our when our law says odourless, abelia. Rob Baker, Bill hikmah. invite to the way of your Lord with wisdom. What is wisdom? wisdom is the the tactics that are going

to work around people's defenses. That's of the nicest ways to define wisdom. How do I get someone to accept this message? Right? And so

he says, I left out there he made the guys outside look like the bad guys, not you, too, in front of me, as if we're all on the same page. But we're obviously not that's why I'm speaking to you. But that was just from his gentleness, the gentle approach and the wise approach and the dour. He said, I left some people out there that don't believe in God. like can you believe those guys?

So instead of attacking them, he spoke about other than them. And this is genius. Because when you attack something that someone has, like your belief,

directly, that way they become protective of it, even if they on their own feel like it is, you know,

problematic if it is not very justified, but the fact that you attacked it, made them want to defend it. So he didn't do that. He said those people's religion. There are people out there, let you know Nabila they don't believe in God.

And then he said, We're home Bill herati home care for your own. This is hard to translate. But it says and they regarding the hereafter. They are disbelievers. So like home the pronoun they it said twice. Why is it said twice some of the scholars said this is to emphasize the tone in which use of alayhis salam was speaking like he was saying, how could anyone disbelieve in Allah, as if he's saying, Let me try to give a liberal translation and, and them regarding the hereafter. They actually are disbelievers that we're going to get resurrected. You know, he just as if he went through the sentence and repeated that sentence twice.

They're actually disbelieving in this. And that's important as well, while you don't want to

attack the person in front of you, or make them feel like they're under attack, you do want to make disbelief in our law.

And especially nowadays, when people want to talk about God not existing, we're talking about God not being singled out as the only deity worthy of worship. But if you go into God existing this becomes even more true. You want to make them feel like this is like

insane, right? Like you actually how can someone act it's not like you know that tongue that tone of

relativity relative truth. Like yet I the way I look at it there, you know, there is a God because there's concern that's problematic, like if you don't believe that this is something that should be a given. Right? That's the what you want to impress on the person in front of you that this is a preposterous claim. It's wild, how can you not believe in this, while not foregoing your your calculated, wise, gentle approach, but you want to emphasize the ugliness of code, right? That is important, and he did that by saying and they regarding the Hereafter, they are actually disbelievers. Like how can this be possible? And then he went on to say the next verse, what about

to midlet

and I followed the religion or the tradition, religious tradition would mean here so religion is still fine. I follow the religion of my

fathers and grandfathers

Abba it means my father's multiple so it goes back multiple generations then he spells it out Ibrahim and is have any Apple I'm following what they were all on by the way, Americana Atlanta and usually can be let him in shape we would never associate anything mean cheap whatsoever with Allah subhanho wa Taala Valley, Kevin de la jolla. Elena that is from the bounty of Allah over us, what a nurse and upon people as well. It's not just the religion of the prophets. It's upon whomever subscribes whomever embraces, well, I kidnap Farah nursey lash guru, but most people are not thankful. So a few stops here, first of all,

and I'm following the religion of my forefathers, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. And we would never, ever associate anything whatsoever with Allah.

You know, the four and so many times speaks about the, the herd effect, group ism, that so many people were just so stubborn in the ways of their forefathers. And that is why they never accepted the religion of the prophets. Right? They were too tribalistic. They were too

fixed in their ways. And so they they didn't consider and accept the religion of the prophets.

Here, we're seeing the opposite narrative that use of rallies

is justifying his belief by the fact that it's the belief of his forefathers. So how do we make sense of this? Why is that there? What does that teach us this departure from the norm?

Regarding the the way of the forefathers, that is to point out that just because something has been happening for generations, doesn't mean it's wrong.

Even though most people that take part in wrong, they'll justify it, because it's been happening forever.

So let me say that a different way, just in case I've confused anybody. The truth is the truth.

By virtue of it being the truth, the fact that there have been great people on the truth before you

adds to your justification. That's it. The reason I say that is because some people think that I need to be principled. So I'm going to follow the ways that my forefathers, that's just their idea of being principled when that's it shouldn't be done on an absolute level, right.

Other people have the same exact proof, they'll say, I need to be principled, and not accept the religion of my forefathers, I have to have my own path, or else I'm just being stubborn here. And that should not be absolute either. And so you need to be objective about the truth. And also look at those because these people are probably people that are known to the people of Egypt, Ibrahim, and it's happening I've been known to the people of Egypt,

as righteous men and so justifying that by the righteousness of the prophets

and the righteousness of you know, the, the scholars and the sages and you know, the the saints, even though that word is tricky, because it has Christian connotation many times in English, this is

a valid substantiation or supplementary substantiation for why we have the faith that we have.

Okay.

And then he says, that is from the bounty of Allah upon us and upon the people upon the people means you're invited, but upon us, the greatest bounty of Allah is what

after he to single Allah subhanho wa Taala out and he man to have true faith, authentic faith

in Allah subhanho wa Taala. And most people are not grateful, meaning most people don't realize this. And so they're not thankful for it. They don't realize how much of a blessing it is. And that is why By the way, you always say in effect, you have what you say, Guide us to the straight path, the path of those who have your favor. So what does it mean the path of those who have your favor, what favor the favor that you just asked for the favor of guidance. So because Alabama law has and this is of the proofs that this reminds us that the greatest favor you can have is faith is a man is he Daya is guidance because any other favor is relative could be for you could be against you could

benefit you could destroy you anything right life that wealth, poverty, any of that nothing is a pure blessing. But guidance and that is why when you said guide me You said the ones who have your favorite because those are those who are truly favorite.

But most people don't realize that and most people don't know the value of this and so

The next verse then goes on to say that he tries to evoke in the realization of the value of believing in only one God.

He says, Yeah, so I have a session, oh, two companions of the prison cell. All my friends who are locked in prison with me basically, even though this may not mean friends, it could just mean hey, we're in it together, doesn't necessarily necessitate a relationship, but it doesn't necessitate or infer common ground. And that is part of that as well. Like, look at how the prophets did it. You start with the common ground. Oh, you who are in the prison with me. That is, once again he's he's giving them the truth and working around the difference, give them the truth, and making sure he still has their hearts open and receptive to the truth that he's sharing. He says, Yes, I have a

situation Oh, two companions of the prison, out of Babylon with a federal quantifier. On Me law, who I had to call her are many are multiple Gods better? Or the one who kept compelling

the one and only compelling God, Allah, and we're headed on only alcohol, who is compelling, who cannot be resisted? Because

if you don't believe that there is one Almighty, what are you going to believe,

that might sub divided power and influence are sub divided into his creation into the phenomena of the world? Even if you don't believe that? And you just believe that, like in duality, right, like, there's god, there's the force of good and the force of evil. Let me be very abstract here, that is very tormenting to your psyche. Like, yes, God's gonna take care of me. But what if the bad guys or the bad powers or the bad spirits, right? And so believing in the one and only, aside from the fact that it's logical, that's a part of it as well, it is not, you know, not conflicting with your rationale, it makes perfect sense. At the same time, it is emotionally satisfying, you're not pulled

in all these different directions that you have to appease these contending forces in the universe, if you will, there is only one that I answer to only one that I rely on only one that I'm concerned about. He has Oh, companion to the prison, what's better?

Multiple gods or Allah, Allah subhanho, wa Taala. And the last verse, he says, after all of this build up, he says, Matt, taboo, dooner, Illa, usma, and semedo. All you are worshipping are these names that you called them with, meaning those Gods you made them you made up their names, mean, you call them God, right? You gave them their names, you and your forefathers, you just guys, just it was a creative project, you made up names. And Allah never authorized any of this.

And that's a powerful lesson, that we give artificial value to things all the time. And that has always been a trick of shavon to allow you to assume

or misperceive, or misunderstand the world around you and confuse it with the Lord of the worlds of Hannah Donna. So even though I am gives an example to this, he says, we know that Allah created certain things to nourish us, and certain things will not nourish us. So we'll compare a piece of steak, lots of protein, with the skin of an onion, I think as the example he gives me with the skin of an onion. He says, If I called if I change the name, I just arbitrarily gave the skin of the onion, the name steak, the name meets the name, protein, will that benefit me in any way? No, just lying to myself, I'm gonna have to suffer the consequences of believing the lie that I told myself,

of allowing myself to become diluted about the reality of this skin of an onion.

Likewise, all of those who delude themselves about Allah subhanho wa Taala, and attribute power and influence and God, godly qualities to anything else, you are just worshiping the name that you gave, it doesn't change the reality, meaning you're worshiping thin air, you're worshipping an imaginary identity that doesn't actually exist. And this has always been a trick of, of shavon. As a matter of fact, it's not just about God, it's even about the legal realities. The Prophet salallahu alaihe salam warned us that there will be there will come people in the oma he has tribunal hombre, you say Muna who will use a manipulative smear, you say manavi racemate. They will drink wine while calling

it other than its actual name. Would that make it Helen? They're going to lie to themselves and say this is not actually wine.

And just for the

record in case anyone's wondering the word hum. Like the words kaymar like headcovering hombres that which covers your head meaning covers your mind, and that is why the province also them double clarified that even though the linguistics are enough, he went further to elaborate kolomoisky income, waku, Muscatine haraam, every intoxicant is come. It's not just alcoholic beverage. No, every intoxicant is

an every intoxicant is unlawful is prohibited by Allah subhanho wa Taala. So he tells them all that you're worshipping. By the way, this seems to be the first time he says you it is those guys? What would it be good to worship one God or multiple gods? Doesn't it make more sense? Then at the end? All the way he deferred the direct, he actually had to be direct now and say,

You are not worshiping anything in reality, but these names that were given to these gods, and how can we learn in law? There is no the ultimate decision the ultimate rule, the ultimate authority belongs to Allah, He commanded us that no one be devoted to him, then he can Dino Iam, that is the uprights religion, or that can act on NASA, moon, but most people

they don't realize, then he's gonna go on to interpret the dream. And we will discuss that next week and shout low to Allah that these guys become Muslim.

We don't know. Why don't we know?

Because a lot. So Joseph, tell us.

What's the benefit of knowing? Is there a benefit of not knowing? Maybe, for sure there is but maybe there's one that's knowable to us. Some of the scholars said we were not told whether or not they became Muslim.

To remind us of the fact that they're our is to be continued to invite peoples To be continued in the most perfect way, regardless of the outcomes, right. The point was that he did his job with them. He finessed the invitation.

alehissalaam and that is what we need to learn from him that they are you the color to a law. Yes, he is sad. And when people don't respond to their own prosperity. Yes, he is happy when people accept the message. But this does not affect his resolve, he will continue to give the message even if no one accepts it.

And that is certainly a lesson and perhaps what is worthy of focusing on and that is why some scholars said it was not mentioned the outcome of the invitation because what's most important, was the invitation that we learned from Yusuf Ali Salaam here. That's all. Next week, we discussed the dream, the interpretation, the dream itself, and the exit of one of them from prison is like a little hidden. And may Allah azza wa jal teach us and do that which will benefit us and benefit us. He has taught us please remember us in your door and also remember the masjid at the link below with your generous donations support these projects and more. So now I want to get