Best of Stories – Study of Surat Yūsuf #25

Similar to the last hour or so we learn how to vegetarian we get the name of Allah whole praise and glory be to Allah mais finest peace and blessings be upon His messenger Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and his family and his companions and all those who tried his path will welcome everyone back to the best of stories.

The Quranic telling of the story of Yusuf alayhi salatu salam and some of the lessons there in last week together We arrived at Yusuf Alayhi Salam

would it be appropriate to say dropping the bomb on his brothers just

the most unexpected thing in the world and the greatest shocker and the most humiliating reintroduction to their brother they found out who he was, and ultimately he forgave them as we discussed in last week's talk.

Now we move on to the instructions he gave them upon forgiving them and promising not to condemn them.

Yusuf Alayhi Salam said his habit will be a communist he had a coup who alleged he Abbe de basura, what dooney via la Commedia Marian, take this shirt of mine, and lay it over my father's face, he will return to being someone with eyesight yet he will see it or he will recover his sight. And bring me your whole family, what tuning and come to me be ethical with your family, all of them.

You know, a very

honest confession I will make about this ayah is that only one studying this surah

this time that it's fully registered for me that this was not the same shirt. Like, this shirt is reoccurring in the story of use of at least a lot over and over again. And there's a lesson in the recurring recurrence of the shirt. In principle shirts keep showing up. But these are different shirts. And for some strange reason that never that very basic, simple, obvious fact never registered in my head as I read the surah. Except in this

study of it, this current one. And that is a lesson for me and for anyone that we need to keep revisiting that.

This poor and as some have said, is like a friend. And you know, your friends only disclose to you their secrets. When you spend more and more time with them. That's when you earn to know their secrets. The province also loved it say that you know, a person that is sahiwal, or on the Companion of the hood idol Come on the day of judgment and find the hole and interceding for them. And may Allah make us of those people. But yeah, you have to just spend more and more time and you'll realize that, you know, the most basic elements sometimes are hidden from us for a wisdom that Allah only knows and for a dedication that Allah subhanho wa Taala lates. And so that that was my

discovery, that this is a new shirt. This is not the shirt in the beginning of the story, how could it be the brothers took the shirt, and they showed it to the Father, they threw some blood on it to remember. And so this is a new shirt for a new day, it heralds a new day. This is a day to forget, you know, the that other shirt that was supposedly Ripped by the wolf

you know, today's the day to just bury the excruciating years that have passed and

it's a shirt that only

kings possess. You know, that's what many of them for Simone mentioned that the shirt was a symbol of the king or of royalty at large. We don't, you know, have clear proof that use of Allah Salaam officially became the king, even if he may have been de facto just because he's the king is no longer mentioned in the story. As we discussed in episodes prior, he eclipses the king, but as they actually take the

chair or the Office of the king, we don't know. In any case, it is a shirt of royalty. And the scholars mentioned that a long time ago the same way a king would give his seal right that his ring that he seals with to someone to represent him and it was known that he must be coming from the king. Likewise, it was the shirt there's special kinds of shirts made from special kinds of fabrics apparently, that prove that this came from

royalty and so this taking that into context This is a shirt to the use of a celeb is asking to be brought back to his father that his father would recognize only royalty could have. And so not just are the brothers being honest. But it's now time to declare a new age a new day. This is time for the uncle ballets Salaam

finally discover that forget the rulers of Egypt, that the King of Kings Allah subhanho wa Taala what he has actually done from above his mighty throne subpoena with Allah with his son who has been gone for so long.

And so it's a new shirts for a new day coming from royalty to signify to his father that didn't evil are not contained in objects Good and Evil are contained in human actions. And that's a profound lesson for people that may

lose sight of that. We give artificial value to things that are actually valueless. It is really about what we do with them. Their value is relative to our usage of them. And the next verse

says what I'm a facilitator here, and then as the caravan sets out, meaning from Egypt, Paula boo whom their father says meaning back where he is,

in Nila edgy doody. Hi Yusuf. I find the scent of Joseph. The presence of Joseph I sense Joseph I you know, it's not even like

I'm imagining no hi fi experience this is real like there's something very obvious Joseph is back. Lola and Tiffany Dune, even though

you may think that I am too friendly, don't like,

have become senile, even though you may think I'm senile. I I sense, Joseph. You know, Abdullah have novellas just to explain what the level I know.

He said about this verse that Allah subhanho wa Taala calls the wind a breeze to pick up. And to carry the scent of that shirt, they just left Egypt with the scent of use of shirt to his father, even though between them was an eight days journey, eight days before they arrived, as mentioned to see it will be a few days before they arrive.

The father was smelling the scent of Joseph Eve, and he's saying I know you're gonna think I'm crazy.

You know, of the lessons here is that this is a miracle for yourself or for his father, or for both of them. Raja hammer has it is seems to be more for the father than anyone else.

Like a gift and honoring for the father for your whole ballet setup. But in any case, this is a miracle, but it's also not so much meaning it is it should not surprise us. You know, what is the difference between Allah subhanho wa Taala enabling Apple by the his seller to smell something from an you know, miles and miles and miles away. Like you're gonna say, That's super human, human smelling humans can't smell like that. Well, okay, they can't, but only because our laws determine that we have a certain capacity for our smell. But what about the animals that can smell like that? Who gave them that ability? Who gave you know, they say that a shark smells blood, you know, the

tiniest drop of blood through the water from so far away, you know that they have

you know, zoologist have these studies where they say that, like a black bear or grizzly bear, he tracks you know, straight line, he goes in a straight line for 18 miles meaning which proves that he's heading in a very clear direction, where he smells, you know, like, moose or something like this some sort of carcass or an animal to eat? How can he smell something from 18 miles away? Who gave him that power? It was a lot, so kind of went on. And you know, as she has an Alan Hello, hello, one of our mentors.

And advisors at the Athena Institute. He says, you know, people are always asking for miracles asking for miracles. He goes there miracles everywhere around us. It is not the absence of miracles that stopping you people from faith. It is the presence of arrogance, not the absence of miracles. And that's a powerful lesson. You know, Muslim is very rational in believing in miracles. And,

and that signs of God are all around us if we can just shed our arrogance. You know, even our chef Dr. Huxtable has also often says that, you know, Isn't it sad how some scientists today, all they can see like they're incapable of seeing past the molecules, you know, and the atoms of our physical material world, they can't see past that they never once realize what is beyond that. That in a sense is a form of blindfolding. It's sort of blindness. Like instead of being driven to God, by the incredible potential, the incredible design, the incredible power and potency of these creations that we can see even better now, because of telescopes and microscopes. We're driven away from God

by these things, but there's miracles all around us. And so a lot, you know, cause this

heightened ability to smell Yusuf Ali Salam from such a far distance, nothing hard to believe there whatsoever, but it was certainly was a form of honoring for jacobellis salaam and or his son.

And Dr. alamy

in his in his book on on to save souls use of he adds here that isn't one of like the the rare and fascinating events in human history, that those carrying this time to prove use valleys Sallam was alive which Brooks which is about to bring great joy to their father are the very same people who carried a shirt in the past to prove that use about a Salaam had died, which brought so much grief to their father.

It's just amazing that Allah subhanho wa Taala had that in store for them. And then he says lowland to find the dune, you know, even though you're going to think I'm crazy or think are just crazy old men senile.

And that is the next verse Carlota Lehane, Nicola theodoric, of Kadena they say By Allah, you are still in your body follicle. khadim your old confusion, your old misguidance they don't mean religious misguidance they mean misguidance in his discretion, if they meant religious misguidance they would not be Muslim, because this is a prophet of God, right? So they meant becoming senile, which is still horrible, right? And this is even worse than their sons, right? So these are like the grandchildren, and or whomever else. These could include the grandchildren, right? The the sons of jacobellis salaam are on their way back from Egypt. And so these people here are worse than them.

Because they're saying they're swearing by Allah.

To his face, they're not even saying like in the beginning of the story, the brother said, Our father is misguided, right for preferring use of their swearing by Allah to Yahoo's face, Allah has set up

about an event that took place before they were born, which is the quote unquote, preferential treatment of Yeah, Fulbright a synonym

or disproportionate love that you have already said, I'm had for use of. And is there a lesson here? Absolutely. I mean, assuming that among them or their sons, we know for sure they had sons, the children of Israel, right came from somewhere, right.

So be aware of the seeds that you plant, you know, a crime you commit could

grow exponentially and worse than it can be committed by those who receive the baton from you and watch you as they grow and follow in your footsteps like your children, right? And that is why, you know, the scholars of all these disabled burly men, either matter, matter tomorrow who say to lucky person is the one the fortunate person is the one who when he dies, his sins die with him. That's what we want. We want our sins to continue after us, meaning the sinful lives of others that we influenced that those are sins living after us. So we have to be very careful of the seeds that we plant and know that

this will all come back for us or against us. That's why for example, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam he said, in hater of

Makati and elsewhere, mammy Neff sin to Patel volman illa

Allah Keefe lumen wizardry her who will elevate them and send them

that there is no murder that ever happens on Earth, except that on Adams first son, the very first forefather, right, the first murder, right forefather of murder Adams first son, the one who killed his brother

on Adams first son is a share of that sin because he was the first person to initiate murder, he was first person to introduce murder into the human race.

May Allah subhanaw taala protect us. And, you know, also of the lessons here is that we do this a lot as well we have this horrible

tendency as human beings to accuse people of misguidance based on our subjective, you know, beliefs, right, like, how do you describe as misguidance laleli mubin are the radical khadim who he loves the you know, like, that's not guidance from his guidance. It's something in the heart that's like saying people that love chocolate, they're misguided and people that love vanilla or guided or like certain kinds of coffee or, you know, we have to be very careful of assuming that our subjective preferences or even our objective, you know,

beliefs that we think are objective, but they're not clearly true. They're not absolute truths have to be very careful, right, the person could be wrong and still not misguided. You know, that's still a,

an excess that we fall into. And also another horrible, you know, tendency that we have, which is I reflect and we should think about is the horrible tendency to over accuse or prematurely accused the elderly with being senile many times,

for whatever reasons, we say, oh, man, it's just he's just persons just, you know, they've lost their marbles. This person just, you know, crazy old person. And just because we don't understand what they're saying, or just because we assume that everything is coming from a place of you know, this orientation and lack of perception or old, old school ways or otherwise, this is a very horrible tendency. And it is very important to revive and remind you that our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said,

there can be on our

way out if

he is not one of us.

The those who do not revere the elders and have mercy on the youngsters and recognize the right of our learning of our scholars, scholars of sacred knowledge in particular. So they say you are in your old misguidance once again.

Then ally Zilla Genesis falam and Jaya al Bashir Oh, Allah, Allah g allergy that when the bearer of good news first person to arrive with the good news came he he laid it the cast this shirt over his face for 10, Debussy, Iran, so he regained his eyesight, he returned to being someone with vision he returned his vision returned to him and he said lm Aquila, calm. Didn't I tell you? Um, you know, me, I'm gonna let him tell me that I know from Allah that what you don't know.

I mean, what's wrong with you? Why didn't you believe me? A lot told me this a lot told me you know,

things that make me hopeful. And

why didn't they believe because it doesn't make sense to them. It's been so long, it's pretty clear usage is gone right now, or that we'll never see him again if he's not dead. But, and that is, you know, a shout out to him alone. He spoke about this. He said, and this is, you know, the epistemic framework of the believer, the believer Where are where are his sources of truth, the believer should never be mistaken. That revelation, of course, when understood correctly, is truth. And so the prophets are Muslim, they're infallible in the revelation they receive from Allah and relate to the people, they have a direct, you know, protected link of communication with Allah subhana wa,

tada, the fact that you may think that something is not rational, is irrelevant, because people's rationales are all different. So they can't, it's too, you know, unstable, have a gauge of a metric, you know, and some things have to stay beyond our rationale or else we're not submitting to a law, we're submitting to what we have concluded makes sense. And so rationale has no place in offsetting revelation, that is extremely important.

Some things are just super rational, which means beyond the rationale, so don't ever belie them, even if you don't understand them. He said to them, I know from Allah what you don't know, you know, how can you think I'm wrong? And also, this could be cited as proof that there is nothing wrong with reminding others of previous times when you are correct. So long as it wasn't a hunch, so long as you weren't just guessing. Because in that case, you are telling them you are unexcused for not following my assertion following my my advice, but if you just like guessed something, and it came out, right, you can just say see told you so it doesn't count. But there's nothing wrong and nothing

arrogant with citing the past as a source of credibility on your, your correctness, you're rightly guided pneus.

And so at that point, Alia abana they said oh, our Father,

Stepford Lana, zunow bana. seek forgiveness, pray for forgiveness for us for our sins. In the end, we were certainly sinful, we were certainly faulty.

So they just said our sins, period they didn't detail it and that's the right thing to do. When you want someone to forgive you for something or to pray for Allah forgive you for something you don't retell the story because that could open up wounds.

You know, when you backbite someone some scholars are to be honest, the majority of scholars say go tell them I am not very convinced of this opinion.

Unless they already knew so if they already knew then you asserting Yes, I did. Please forgive me. But if they didn't know

backbiting is hot, um, so that

we don't ruin the fabric of trust and, you know, solidarity and love between the people. And so if they didn't find out you don't go tell them right? You say I have to give them their rights back. Yeah. But this defeats the whole purpose of the prohibition of backway give them the rights back, if you stole money or took money, and you have to give it back, that's their right. But this will only just boiled our hearts over. And so it would be better for you to praise them in the gatherings that You've insulted them or for you to

pray for them in place of you know, your criticisms or your mockery of them.

But when you're in front of them, don't retell the story. That's the whole point before so that we don't just branch out too far.

And, you know, they said in lacuna Helton, we make mistakes when a person asserts their mistake and they you know, appear remorseful, then we should try that's when we should try to be forgivable forgiving of people.

And people make mistakes. I mean, according to some scholars, these became prophets, right? Some scholars reject that notion because prophets even before they come become prophets would not commit something this atrocious as if Nicosia himolla said, but they were definitely righteous people after that,

and so that's another lesson on its own that some people make mistakes, and they're not, you know, ultimately forever horrible people because the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said, in MLM our team, what matters most are the actions we seal upon how things end, you know, slams, Panama is such an optimistic religion, such a hope filled religion that we are told, no matter what your past is, you're still not doomed. It's not over until it's over. A love will continue to accept your repentance man, and you'll love it, so long as his soul his throat doesn't rattle meaning with the soul as it exits.

And so the past does not determine your future or your destiny in Islam.

And so they sought forgiveness.

And they sought it from a prophet and seeking Do you know, supplication from righteous people, so long as they're alive, of course, not going to the grave and speaking to them as if they're semia only allows all hearing only Allah is eternal and ever living right. So you can derive from the righteous also of the ways you get your dog accepted. And then the last verse, I will mention,

RSL festival, Robbie. He said, I will ask my Lord to forgive you know who? Rahim he is the forgiver He is the Most Merciful. Why did he say I will ask Allah to forgive you? Why didn't you just say Allah forgive them? The scholars discussed, you know, many possibilities.

And they're worthy of discussing because Allah subhanho wa Taala did tell us that he deferred it or that he said I will write there's no extra words in the Quran and there's a meaning there. And so Allah Subhana Allah wants us to think about the meaning.

And so some said he wanted to defer it to the best possible time, like the end of the night, right where your dog is most accepted or Juma on time, some said.

Other said, he wanted to make them feel like I'm not gonna make this dog for you until I examine your condition. Because you've, you've acted regretful in the past, and I've seen critical crocodile tears from you prior. Other said that he wanted to wait till he asks us to follow his setup because Yousuf was the most wronged party here. And so if he forgives them, then I'll ask a lot of forgive them.

And, you know, that's very wise of him, right? Do not endorse someone or dismiss someone or forgive someone right away, there's no reason to.

If you have not confirmed that they're, they're needing to be forgiven.

And it could have also meant some of the scholars said it could have meant I will seek forgiveness for you at a later time in the sense that your crime is so big that I need to pick the best time for it. So in almost to tell them you need to realize the gravity of what you've done.

But other scholars said, towards the same justification, but I will seek forgiveness, he meant I will continue not that I'll do it only later and not now that he meant I will continue to seek forgiveness for you. And that also would be an inference to the fact that your sins are unlike others. And so the permissibility of delaying to offer a better time and permissive permissibility of delaying a good deed such as forgiveness for a greater benefit or to ensure a greater interest. That's that's fine as well.

And then the next scene Sharla is when they enter upon Yusuf Ali Salaam, altogether in Egypt. I recited that verse at the onset of this talk, but I'll I'll combine it together the entrance with the conversation and the use of Ali Salam in our session together next week in Sharla. is like

I said, I want to live where a cattle so panic alone.