Mohammad Elshinawy – Best of Stories – Study of Surat Yusuf 16
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So
I'm playing in my head, how much I should review how many of you are following online? But we are we are studying sort of the use of right which Allah azza wa jal called The Best of stories, asset and fossils. And all of the stories of the Quran are the best of stories, in a sense that Allah azza wa jal does not give us stories for entertainment, right? Allah azza wa jal tells us that which we need to fulfill our purpose, not just as he tells us the most beneficial stories, but he shares them with us.
I hate to use the word without fluff, without extras, right, without randomness, what he chose to tell us of the stories. And what he chose to withhold of the stories is all beneficial. So that we focus on every single word and try to unlock some of the secrets behind it. And so also we do not get caught up with knowledge that is not beneficial. knowledge does not benefit.
And so it has been our habit throughout this series to read through the story of use of Allah, His salah and the story of Prophet Joseph, which is a unique story in the Quran, and that it's the only story really of the prophet that from beginning to end, at length, it's all in one place, which is in one chapter. It is not interspersed and repeated from different angles, from different perspectives throughout the Quran. And so we've been trying to share about three or five lessons from each verse and we are at the point in the story, where use of Alayhis Salam, the Prophet Joseph was forgotten about for years on end in prison, after being framed and wrongly accused by the wife
of advisees, who he refused to have haram prohibited relations with. She was so tempted by him and he refused. And so he was framed that he was thrown into prison, and people approached him in prison, about their dreams. And he explained to them their dreams, and then one of them when he was being released from prison, he told him mentioned me to the king, meaning so I can get absolved and justice can be served. And the man when he got out, he was distracted by his freedom, he forgot about everything, he was just so happy to be
spared the death penalty that he forgot about use of valet setup for a very long time for years on end.
And never made mention of him to the king, until Allah opened a door for use of Allah, His Salah to access the king himself, which is a dream that the king himself has now that none of his advisors none of the Royal Court could give him an interpretation for and we said, this is of, you know, the, the reminders that Allah has the Almighty, you could be the head of an empire, you could be the king of kings, and if Allah wants to busy you, and cause you to feel haunted or obsessed with even a dream,
your heart and your mind and your life is in his hands subhanaw taala and so the king wouldn't rest till someone brought him an interpretation of the dream. And so when they oil failed, the man finally remembered Oh, yeah, use of in the prison, that righteous man he, he was so accurate the way he explained our dreams. So he went back to us about a salami told him, it didn't tell him I'm sorry, or anything. He said, Listen, we have another dream, can you help us, and from the lofty, lofty heart that use of the prophet of God had, he didn't criticize him, he didn't blame him. He just gave him what he needed. He just gave him the interpretation of the dream. No strings attached,
he transcended above grudges, and above the resentment any of us would have, if someone left us out to dry like that, for so long. When we were wrongly accused to begin with, he gave him the interpretation of the dream and the man went back to the king. And that's where we are at the story. Now he goes back to the king and gives him the interpretation from Yusuf that nobody else could have given him.
Allah azza wa jal and says here, this is the 50th verse of the Surah 50. If 50 Allah says we'll call L medica. Toony v. And so the king says, Bring him to me. I need to meet this guy. No middlemen. No guys didn't come. I want to meet him myself.
falam magia who Russell and so on the messenger of the King meaning the king send someone to go get use of when the messenger came to him came to Joseph Joseph Farah, little jer ILA Arabic use of Allah His Salam now says, No, I'm not leaving prison. Go back to your Lord. Go back to the king. First l whomever who Nisswa and ask him what happened? You meaning you go investigate yourself. What happened in the case of the women allottee hopin idea Hoonah who got their hands the women as you know in the story when they saw use of Ali salaam, the click of the woman who tried to seduce him, from his great beauty and handsomeness the knives skid into their hands and they cut their hands and
it became a big story.
He said, Go find out what happened with those women first, go find out the true story. Go dig up the truth regarding the women that cut up their hands in Nairobi. BKD
Nadeem certainly my Lord, Allah is fully knowing of their affair fully knowing of their schemes. Meaning I am confident that God will allow the truth to come to light. Allah knows what happened and he will bring what happened to light.
And so there's a lot to be said here. The first of all, is that Allah is the best of planners. Like even though it was unfortunate that use of Alehissalaam was forgotten in prison for so long and suffered, He really did suffer a great deal in prison.
You know, it was said that when Yusuf Alehissalaam finally left prison a little later in the story, and now we Rahim Allah He mentioned this, remember no way. He says he before he walked out, he wrote on the door of the prison,
had the club rule here.
What he river told us the car wash em attitude.
He said, This is the grave of the living. Like it is worse to be in prison than to be dead. Sometimes this is the grave of the living. And the the test of true friends.
True friends are those that don't forget you even when you're out of sight. Most people may Allah protect us may Allah forbid when you go to prison, they may write to you, they may visit you the first six months the first year, and then that's it, their lives move on. So he said, just to inscribe what he felt this is the grave of the living. And the test of true friendship wishes that she was shamatha to Lada and the greatest satisfaction of the enemies, right better than killing us seeing us wither away in a prison cell. So he suffered a great deal. But despite this suffering, it was for the greater good. Because I want you to imagine the opposite scenario. If he had years ago
been remembered by the Butler, the guy who left the prison and been mentioned to the king,
he would have been requesting to meet the king, right to present his case to the king. But to now, the king is the one requesting him. It is very different. You know, Chef Amara Shoukry. I always forget his example on this.
You know, Chef Amara, very good. So Danny Brother, he is our community every once in a while, he says you know what it's like, it's like when you give someone your business card or someone's business card, and they have no need for it at the moment, they usually just lose it or throw it out, right? Because I don't need it. As opposed to when you're going out looking for a technician or a carpenter or a physician or otherwise. And upon your request, you get their contact information, you value that much more. And so now the king is the one who needs use of not use of needs the king is a bunch of better standing. But that wasn't enough use of Alayhis Salam here, what did he say
when the guy came and said, the king needs you? He said I'm not going to the king.
Tell the king to clear my name first. Now he's making demands.
And he would not have been able to do that if the king didn't need him. Right? Why did he clear his name first before leaving prison? Or why did he ask that his name be cleared first before leaving prison Hamza?
Yeah, it could have just you could just be Oh, that guy who like the king? did you a favor because he owed you one or something? Right? It doesn't fix the fact that in front of everybody's eyes, you're no good. You're a guy who tried to have a relationship with the minister's wife. You're not a good person. Right.
But and so you would have been basically a wicked man, they got a free pass by the king. But to now I'm going to be a free man with my reputation back. And so use of Allissa is more important than his freedom, which is a lesson on its own.
And so, he said, I'll wait in prison basically a little longer. I don't care. But my My name is more important, my reputation, my credibility, my dignity is more important. The Prophet alayhi salatu salam, our Prophet Muhammad, even in one Hadith, he mentioned to the Sahaba How admirable you know this reaction,
this nobility of use of voice, and he said in a longer Howdy, this is the end of the Hadith he spoke about Luke Alehissalaam. He said your Hula, hula, Bhutan, Kenya we located in Chedid. May Allah have mercy on load, Prophet lute.
He used to take refuge in a very strong corner, meaning he would he used to resign to Allah when his whole town turned on him and no one could help him.
And then he said, Well, hamdulillah who use of and may Allah have mercy on use of? He says, Lo lebouf to fish Sydney mela beef for an attorney at dari logic to if I remained in prison for as long as you said remain in prison, and the messenger of the king comes to me I would have obliged
I would have been there right away, I would have left. Of course, this is from the great humility of our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam but we see in his life story with his patients was like it was matchless. But there's just something really to admire that he refused to leave until his name was cleared
through the Kings investigation, not through the Kings favoritism.
There is also something that I always like to mention here, though, it can be mentioned that many verses in the story, Allah subhanho wa Taala says, we'll call al Malik, we'll call al Malik, who called Malik The King said the king said the king said the king said
of course this is this contains proof that we are allowed to say a person is a king if they're politically a king is fine. You know, the fact that Allah's name is Al Melaka. The true king doesn't mean that a person cannot be a king. That's fine. But no, there is something that I find far more interesting than that for us who who are constantly needing to remember and remind others why we believe the Quran is the word of Allah subhanho wa taala. Anyone know what I'm about to say?
Anybody? There's a secret in the word King.
Just like a little fire.
What country are they in right now?
Egypt,
all throughout the Quran. The king of Egypt is called what? frowned Pharaoh, the pharaoh of Egypt. Okay, so
the word Pharaoh shows up in the Quran.
But 60 times,
but it's always in the story of Musa alayhis salam Moses. It's never in the story of use of Alehissalaam. Joseph, and this is something to stop at.
There's something that we've only been able to appreciate about 200 years ago.
What do we appreciate about this distinction now? Well, people always tried to claim that our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam copied the Bible from Jewish and Christian sources. Okay. Well, here's the difference. Here's an important difference, that in all Jewish and Christian sources, you go to what is called the Old Testament today.
The king of Egypt is always called the Pharaoh, always the Pharaoh. He's never called king. He's called Pharaoh.
Our Quran makes an important distinction. It is named as the king in the time of use of King, it just calls in King that title. Whereas in the time of Moses, he's called the Pharaoh. About 200 years ago when
when Napoleon basically Napoleon, the Napoleon, you guys know when Pauline Bonaparte he conquered parts of the Middle East. What he gave rise to many sciences, one of them was called Egyptology people would come from France, and they would study ancient Egypt, civilization, civilization that has been locked away, basically in the vaults in the tombs, right you know, Tomb excavation, you look at the artifacts and look at the history and all this. And they began to learn how to decipher to interpret the hieroglyphics the language of the ancient Egyptian This is very recent, very recent.
And they began to learn more and more about ancient Egyptian civilization. What were some of the things they learned this is established you go to like any non Muslim sources you go to like Encyclopedia Britannica, you will find this you go elsewhere, you will find this, that the term Pharaoh
was first coined during the time of I don't know if I'm pronouncing it right, but that's most of the third, third most th ut mlsc, the third. This was the
18th dynasty of Egyptian kings, the 18th of the of the dynasty.
And that's important why first of all, Yusuf Ali Salam was before that Musa alayhis salam was after that. So already, you see why the king in the time of Joseph could not have been Pharaoh because that word didn't even exist yet. That title was coined after the time of use of La Silla. That's one reason. The second reason is they said what this federal mean federal meant elite house like the top bloodline, the top house because they were a family, right? They passed down the rulership from their kids to their kids to their kids. It was a kingship, it was a royal kingship, it meant Elite Bloodline, which means that if you don't belong to their family, you can't be called Pharaoh. You're
the king. You're the ruler, you are the ruler, but you're not one of the pharaohs.
Am I making sense? So who then was the king? And why wasn't he called Pharaoh besides the fact that the word didn't exist, which is already one very cool, nuanced, subtle difference.
It is established historically now that the 15th 16th and 17th rulers of Egypt were not
Just from the royal family, they were not from Egypt at all.
The 15th 16th and 17th dynasties in Egypt were known as the Hyksos dynasties. And hexose means foreign kings. These were people that came from Palestine, who overthrew the kings of Egypt, the Indicative indigenous the native kings of Egypt for three generations, if you will, or three rains, before the Egyptians took back their rule. So the term Pharaoh didn't exist. And even if it existed, its meaning was not applicable, because these were not Egyptian rulers and the time of use of Ali salaam, these were foreign invaders, occupiers they were occupation in Egypt. And so it made perfect sense was perfectly accurate, that the king of Egypt in that time be considered a king, but not
considered one of the Pharaohs of the dynasty of Pharaoh. Isn't that amazing? How the Quran tiptoes around these historical facts without making these mistakes. You know, one of the
the lead researchers that were a result of Napoleon coming into Egypt and elsewhere was Dr. Maurice wu chi, and there's a long debate of Dr. Murray's book, it was a haven became Muslim or not. But the point is, he wrote three, four books on this issue. And he said, the choice of words in the Quran is absolutely thought provoking. Like how in the world did Muhammad choose his words so carefully? When the language of the Egyptians had vanished, had died? didn't exist anywhere on Earth? For hundreds of years, we'll find Mohammed was ever born on a salatu salam.
That is why by the way, and I guess we're not gonna get too far in the story today. But that is why by the way, even in the time of the Prophet Muhammad, not just Napoleon and then excavating and we decipher and hieroglyphics and all this long mess, archaeological, you know, no, even in time of the Prophet Muhammad, him simply being able to speak about personalities from far away cultures, for him to know the details of Abraham and his family. Joseph, Moses, David's, this alone was just a riddle for the Jews and Christians of his time. That is why you find in the life story of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi salam, that many of the learning like the Jews did not argue that he
wasn't a prophet. They just gave up on that the most because just he knew too much and there's they knew for sure, there's no way in the world you could know this stuff by yourself. So the only way they were able to escape
meaning in their head escape that feeling as we have to follow you is that they said, untenable, you'd only been fine. You're a prophet, but you apply to the Arabs only we got nothing to do with you. This shows you the fact that they could not deny that he was a prophet.
Even how we spoke about the details that existed in their books that they knew no one had access to their books. That's why you find in the Quran,
details like there being 19 angels that are the lead angels over guardians over the hellfire.
Allah Subhana Allah Allah says Allah decided to usher upon the Hellfire or 19 guardian angels.
What am I doing? I was having another dilemma that again, and we only appointed these Guardians of the fire to be angels. Well, my genetic data will lead me to tell levena Cafaro and we did not mention their number to the world except to be a trial. For those who disbelieve, they think 19 is a light numbers, no big deal. 19 We'll handle it right. We only revealed its number to try to you know, the hearts, the corrupt hearts of the disbelievers
Fidel Castro, Leah stakin Alladhina Otto Kitab, then move on in the eye. Allah says and so that the believers and those who received the scriptures before it may be certain may have been that this is from Allah. Why? Because that number 19 Angels was the same number that was in their books. And so they were blown away like how did you know that that God said Hellfire has 90 It was enough for them just to mention these facts, these this name, this number was already a lot for them. So what about this level of you know, like surgical accuracy. It's truly amazing the historical accuracy of the Quran and it's just one of many examples of it, but he led him okay.
So we spoke about the great dignity of use of Allah His Salam, we spoke about the nuance in this word
in this word king.
And then the scholars point out that use of Alehissalaam did something also that was very noble of him,
which was what he said, go ask the women who cut their hands. If you recall, or you want to go review our study of the previous verses. The women didn't just cut their hands and said Have a nice day and went home. Right? Use of AI
Laser lamps that was at one point in the story. A sigil Habu in a year may may ruin any la prison is more beloved to me, Oh Allah than what they the plural, are calling me to. So they were all calling him to haram either with them we said or pressuring him to accept the invitation of that woman. They were all calling to it.
But when it came time to speak to the king, look at how much chastity and dignity he has. He says, go ask the women that cut their hands, not the women that, you know, he was not explicit. And he was also not explicit in mentioning the Kings wife, the minister's wife, who was the the primary culprit, right? The big boss of the Haram, he didn't even mention her name.
And some scholars said that was because use of Allah he salams his morality, his moral code, refused to let him shame her publicly despite everything that she did.
And this is like, something worth talking about, isn't it? That use of Alayhis Salam
did not accept from her that he has to obey her just because she houses him. Right? He said, This is a beautiful lesson that some people think because they do you a favor, you have to like let go of your principles for them. You're in my house, you have to obey me. He didn't accept that logic at all. But at the same time, he didn't throw it all out. He remember that these are people that took me in these are people that took good care of me. I'm I'm not going to
smear them publicly. That balance is also very hard. And I talk about this as I told you a lot, that it's not all or none. When someone pressures you or gets you involved or in something that doesn't describe disqualify them of all their rights altogether, even in Islam. When you have a problem with a Muslim. Yes, sometimes you retaliating in certain ways is justifiable, like not talking to them anymore, like, you know, telling warning other people against them fine. But that still does not mean they have no rights whatsoever.
Right, you have to protect their honor. You have to return their salams you still have to prey on them when they die, you still have to visit them when they're sick. Not every crime involves a disqualification of rights. This is very important.
So Yusuf Ali Salam felt indebted to her on some level indebted to them, on some level, protective of them on some level. And that is an important balance that every believer has to understand. There is no time. So I'm just going to mention the last lesson I had in mind for this one verse before the conversation continues between him and the kink. And the women, which is the fact that the women tried to change the subject again.
When use of Alehissalaam I guess this builds up to next week use of our late Sam said ask the women that cut their hands about what really happened.
The King is going to go to them
and tell them what do you have to say about the use of and the charges being made against use of
meaning what what is your involvement? They said what? Hash le Lahemaa aalim Nalley human suit. They said no stop for Allah basically, stealth for Allah. We don't use of would never do something like this. That wasn't the question. The question is what did you do? So they're trying to say were innocent by saying you think Yusuf would have done anything. So they're trying to use his innocence as a as a broad brush by wish to paint the whole story as harmless misunderstanding.
But use of allihies salams plan and his confidence in Allah azza wa jal will force the wife of an ICS to confess herself and interrupt that attempt, as we will see next week in sha Allah Tada. Just so I finish on time as promised with 11 seconds to spare Subhanak alone we have the shadow Leila Elantra suffer connectivity just like a local
exceeding the sharpest
left. I like I said
just the worst and you keep some secrets.
You have to have to keep the customers