Mohammad Elshinawy – Understanding The Quran Surah Yusuf 21 To 27
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
Welcome to this week's Ikhna AyalaF
Understanding the Quran Series.
Insha'Allah, tonight we will be covering Surah Yusuf
Ayah 21 to 27,
and tonight's speaker is Sheikh Mohammed Al Shinnawi.
Assalamu
alaikum, everyone.
Bismillah.
We
begin the name of Allah. All praise and
glory be to Allah, and may his finest
peace and blessings be upon his messenger, Muhammad,
and his family and his companions.
And all those who adhere to his guidance,
we ask Allah to teach us that which
benefits us and benefit us with that which
he teaches us. And to increase us in
knowledge, we ask Allah to protect us from
knowledge that does not benefit,
and from a heart that is not humble,
and from an appetite for this word world
that is never satisfied,
and from a supplication, a prayer that is
not accepted,
We ask Allah to make the Quran the
spring that quenches our hearts and cause it
to blossom,
the spring and the rainfall that irrigates our
hearts, and to make it also the light
of our chests and the removal of our
sadness,
and the dispeller of our worries and anxieties.
May Allah teach us from his great book
what we do not know
and remind us,
of his great verses that which we've forgotten
and help us better observe them in our
lives.
So we continue, insha'Allah, as advertised,
or as announced with Surat Yousef. I believe
in your studies, you've left off at ayah
21.
And in ayah 21, Allah says,
That's the one
from Egypt who bought him, who bought Yusuf
alaihi salaam, meaning in the slave market,
said to his wife, make his residence comfortable.
So a a few things here. First of
all, you know, Yusuf alaihi salam
is
sold into slavery, purchased by this, you know,
elite figure in Egypt
who is known all throughout the story as
Al Aziz. Al Aziz, like the honorable or
the mighty of Egypt. Right? The king or
the minister, right, or something of this nature.
This is actually the only verse in the
Surah,
if I'm not mistaken, where he is not
called the Aziz.
The first time he's mentioned here, he is
called the one who bought Yusuf, the one
who bought him,
the one who purchased him.
And some scholars said that's interesting because
a person's most important quality
deserves to be mentioned first. Right?
His primary quality.
And in this case, it was not him
being Al Aziz.
It was him hosting Yusuf alaihis salam in
his home. So it was more of an
honor for him
to host Yusuf in his home than it
was for him to be the Aziz of
all of Egypt.
And, you know, it's not what people know
about him as, like, his most honorable quality,
but Allah described him as most honorable because
of that.
It's his most worthy quality.
And this is a lesson for all of
us that sometimes,
we may perform an action in our life
that we may not consider
a big deal, or the whole world may
just look over, but it redefines us. Right?
In the eyes of Allah,
all these external markers of our identity, our
degrees, our sort of honorifics,
doctor so and so or sheikh so and
so. At the end of the day, it
may have been one action that you're most
known by.
There's so much to be said there. There
are many hadith to this effect as well
that a person may be written named by
Allah
as a sadeek
or al kathab. You know, you're known to
people as some glamorous name, but you're known
to Allah as the liar, or you're known
to a you're not known to anyone. You're
a nobody, but you are in Allah's eyes
a sadeek. Like, you share a title with
Abu Waq radiAllahu 'am. And Yusuf alaihis salam
was also called a sudih later on in
the Surah.
Then another lesson here is he said to
his wife after he purchased Yusuf,
like, honor his stay. Make his stay with
us comfortable.
Perhaps he will benefit us.
This this intelligent man understood that under honoring
a child, Yusuf alaihi salam, and affording him
a stress free upbringing
plays a role in benefiting from that child
later.
You know, many people, foolishly,
they think that a a kid cannot become
a refined adult
unless they are harshly,
disciplined,
or they're humiliated,
at a young age. In many cultures, including
many Muslim cultures, there's this idea of shaming
and blaming children,
as a norm when the prophet never did
it. He never did it, alayhis salaam.
So respecting your child's dignity, respecting your child's
feelings,
teaching them how to express their frustrations,
never insulting their intelligence
is a big part of benefiting from that
child and allowing that child to benefit themselves
and maybe even the world around them at
a later time.
And then after, like, take care of him,
he may benefit us, Allah then says,
Yusuf. And in this way, we established Yusuf
in the land.
Like,
try to step into Yusuf alaihi salam's shoes
right now.
Like, the events unfolding from his eyes. He's
exhausted from the journey. His heart is heavy
with the memories of, like, the betrayal from
his brothers. He enters this new chapter of
his life as a slave.
Right? Chained to the will of a powerful
politician.
And
and then Allah says we here's how he
established him. Isn't it unusual?
And
it's almost like a riddle. Like, how did
he establish him? A child being sold into
slavery, being set up for a life of
slavery.
And it's almost like this it's like a
stuff for a lot, but almost like this
description is out of place. What authority, what
influence, what power did Yusuf have after being
robbed of everything in his life? His agency
to act, his freedom.
Because not every influence, not every power,
we learn from this verse is political in
nature.
Being loved by others is power.
Finding a home in people's hearts,
right, wields a special kind of power that
even rulers crave. The rulers don't necessarily have
the love of the people.
The prophet sallallahu alaihi wasalam was, you know,
an orphan that grew up in poverty, alaihi
wasalam. But the love Allah put for him
in the hearts of people is what grew
his leverage.
And so we established Yusuf in the land
that way. And in other ways of, as
well, of course. You know? But just for
now,
the context says, take care of him. Take
good care of him. That's how we establish
Yusuf, by putting in the heart of Al
Aziz this concern for him, this care for
him. It's just like the story of Musa
alaihi salaam
when,
like, he put in the heart of the
wife of pharaoh
so much love that she didn't let pharaoh
touch him. Right? Allah Azzaw did said about
Musa alayhi salam,
I bestowed upon you, oh Musa, love from
me. I cast into on you love. Like,
I afforded you the love of others.
And so that you would be brought up
under my eye. So that you'll be brought
up under my eye.
Then the verse ends here by saying,
And Allah has full power and control over
his affairs.
It's all his affairs,
and he has full control.
But most people don't know. Right?
Like, they don't know that,
like, yeah they don't know, like, how this
works. Like, Yaqub alaihis salaam,
this righteous man and prophet wanted him close,
but Allah said, no. I'm gonna move him
away. I'm gonna move Yusuf away. The brothers
wanted to send him down a well, but
Allah said, no. I'm going to elevate him
upon a throne. Right? Fast forward.
Some women are about to smear him or
want to smear him, and Allah is gonna
use that to give him the audience of
the king, to prove his integrity to the
king, not just to the the people in
his immediate circle.
But most people don't know. And subhanallah, this
phrase,
some scholars said it appears more frequently in
this Surah than any other Surah
because there's so many apparently
negative events. They appear negative at first glance
that occur in the life of Yusuf alaihi
salaam, that only with the passage of time,
that the wisdom behind these events becomes clear.
And so in our lives as well, many
apparently negative things happen, and we don't know
when exactly it'll eventually become clear to us
that they were actually positive. It may be
in this life. It may be in the
next. It may be in both.
Most people don't know. And, you know, one
last thing I'll say is,
in addition to, like, marveling at how Allah
orchestrates the events of life,
which is a central theme of the story
of Yusuf alaihi salaam and why we should
always have the best of hopes of him.
There's also
most people don't know.
This teaches us against stereotypes. Right? Like, Allah,
subhanahu wa ta'ala, did not say, and people
don't know. Right?
We
we cannot forget also that the majority of
humanity may be a certain way, but there
always remain these pure souls
who understand, in this case, for example, that
Allah works in beautifully mysterious ways. So when
you say most, you say less, you say
more, you say might, you say may,
you say perhaps, you say sometimes.
These are called hedges or qualifiers.
And when you incorporate these in your vocabulary,
this reflects your fear of Allah
because you're fear you're afraid of being unjust.
It's not everybody. It's not a sweeping generalization.
And it also increases
someone that's listening to you. It increases their
confidence in your words that you're accurate person,
you're a fair person, you're a credible person.
So this is the first verse. Moving on
to the next verse, Allah
says,
And when Yusuf
alaihis salam reached maturity,
we gave him judgment and knowledge.
So a few things here quickly because I
need to pick up my pace. The first
of them is that reached maturity here,
what does that mean?
Allah knows best,
if this means prophet proper
prophethood or not.
Like, no prophet was given prophethood before 40
years of age.
Some scholars said that. And it appears that
he's not exactly 40 years just yet in
the at this point in the story. Allah
knows best.
But also, like, judgment and knowledge, we gave
him hukm, judgment,
and knowledge
doesn't have to mean prophethood. Right?
Just,
number 1,
just focus on the fact that judgment meanings
to get things right. You know? And they
say, this kid just gets it. Like, they're
they're they're they're not lost in their young
years. They just get it. They're focused.
They're well mannered. They they see the big
picture. They have a sense of purpose. You
know, all of that, that's the difference between,
like, knowledge and judgment.
It's how to apply your knowledge as they
often say. Right?
But it also says that Allah didn't give
him this
until he reached some sort of maturity.
And so that shows you that some things
will only be given to you if you're
receptive to them at the time that Allah
chooses to give them to you.
In other words let me stop complicating things.
In other words,
as he matured, Allah gave him opportunities
to develop sound judgment,
and then
he capitalized on those opportunities, and it increased
him in judgment. You know, some people,
everyone gets opportunities to become mature, to become
experienced, but they still commit the same mistakes
over and over and over again. But as
he matured,
he was grateful for the opportunities and he
was able to develop in his young years
great discernment, great judgment, great discretion.
And so some wisdom will only come with
years. But some people, even with their years,
they don't get wisdom. Right?
There's one more factor I have to mention
about this.
Allah
says, when he reached maturity, we gave him
knowledge, and we gave him,
judgments, like wisdom and knowledge.
He says,
the end of the verse. Right?
And this is how we reward the good
doers.
Which means that it wasn't just about his
age.
Like, age may be a sir may certainly
be a factor
towards experience,
but it's not the most important one.
Trials also. Going through trials in life may
also add to your life experience. Right? You
know, they say that,
like tribulations,
difficulties are the hammers
that forge a man's strength, and he refined
his intellect. Right?
But Allah in this verse is not saying
it was his age,
nor was it his
difficulties, his hardships, his trials.
He
said,
this is how we reward
his, the good doers. It was his good
doing. It was his purity of spirit, and
it was his pious conduct
above anything else.
And so your heart's piety will always outweigh
the pages that you memorize.
And then the opposite is also true. The
sins you commit, the violations you commit will
always turn your smarts against you.
Let's move to the next verse inshallah.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala then moves on
and
says
And
she, the one in whose house she live
he lived, in whose house he was,
sought to seduce him. She tried to seduce
him.
And she locked the doors tight.
And she said,
come, you come here. Right?
He
said,
He said, I seek the refuge of Allah
He is my lord
or he is my master
who has made good my residence,
who has like, he he took care of
me.
Indeed, wrongdoers will not succeed.
So my
what what can we say about this verse?
First of all, notice the extreme brevity, how
brief the description is of this scene
as opposed to the other scenes around it.
Like, the scenes before it and after it
are a little bit more detailed. This one
is very clip very quick. Like, her name
was not mentioned,
and this dark moment was not described in
much detail.
And this shouldn't this teach us how we
should retell
evil stories? Like, you know, when you romanticize
evil, it promotes evil.
And so Allah did not share this in
a way that would stir the lusts of
any devil, like the desires of any person
going through some, like, devilish ways or some
weakness. Right?
When we recount crimes, it should be done
with reservation. It should be done with being
appropriate, being proper, having because
there's a lot of reasons. I mean, reason
number 1 is that this person who committed
that crime may one day repent.
Right?
And we don't wanna sort of, like, help
the world remember his crimes and hold them
against him and so on and so forth.
The other reason is that the the listener
up to the story, they may be stimulated.
Their lust may be stimulated by the details.
You know, sometimes
even when people talk about their own Tawba
story, like I made repentance from this past
of mine,
the youth latch on to the wrong side
of the story. Like, the youth are like,
oh, okay. So they went down a dark
path and they came out safe. And so
their appetite as youth for, like, adventure
may say, okay. Let me try it as
well. Let me see if I can also
escape the, you know, the the downward spiral.
That that that's why you have to be
extra careful. Let alone when it comes such
a vicious appetite, like the sexual appetite.
That's why the prophet
reminds us
that every deen, every religion
has its signature character trait. And the signature
character trait of Islam is like modest
shame. Allah hates that evil and indecency become
public like discourse, public discussion,
whether in movies, whether in news, whatever it
may be.
If it must be stated, it must be
stated as necessary. Like, you're in court. You
have to explain a certain detail to make
sure justice is dealt. You may have to
acquire inquire to make sure that you're not
sort of wrongly accusing someone.
Okay. Right?
So she invited him, and he said, Mahadullah.
That's what the verse says.
And, subhanAllah, look at how
the verse says the verse says,
and the one in whose house he was
invited him.
Right?
Like she saw him that you're my slave.
You live in my house. You're powerless.
But he didn't care how she saw him.
He cared how he saw himself,
and this is a powerful lesson.
Right? She saw him as weak, but he
saw himself as strong in his chastity, strong
in his integrity. He saw himself as a
man of Allah,
a man of God. And, ultimately, it is
your self image, how you see yourself that
dictates how you behave in life.
People will try to insist their narrative, their
perception of you on you. You're this or
you're that, but it's entirely your choice. We
always have to remember that. Entirely your choice.
Whether you become a mirror
for what they see, like, you you
echo back what they see. You reflect back
their perception of you. You say I'm a
loser. Okay. I'm a loser. You say I'm
weak. Okay. I'm weak. Right?
You become the mirror that reflects back their
perception, or you become the hammer, as they
say, that shatters that perception.
Any metric, any sort of measuring stick that
Allah does not validate,
you break it. People think you're less because
of your paycheck. You're not less. People think
I am I'm, you know,
I'm weak because I stay silent. No. I'm
not weak because I don't respond to insults.
I I am not weak because I refuse
to be a mannequin. You know, those mannequins
in the windows of stores. Right? I'm not
a mannequin for for society's,
like,
fluctuating
fashion sense. Right?
I'm not, like, some cog, just some piece
in in the corporate engine that has no
say, has no morality,
has no sense of accountability.
Right?
I'm not clay. I'm not this soft clay
that anyone else gets to mold.
It's it's liberating. This is how Islam liberates
a person. It's powerfully liberating
to decide that my job in life is
not to appease you.
I don't belong to you. Right?
My job in life is to appease the
one who made you from dust and will
soon return you to dust.
Right?
And also, you know, Azib al Jaws
he
said that
your greatness is defined by your moments of
triumph. You're conquering your desires.
When they join forces against you like, Yousuf
alaihi salam had everything. Right? Like, he was
young. He every everything meaning stacked against him.
He was young. He was unmarried. He was
unknown. Right? No one's gonna shame him that
his family is not around. He was trusted
by Aziz. He was secured behind closed doors.
He was invited by her. You know, like,
she's not gonna, decline. She's the one inviting.
Most times men that don't fear Allah fear
the embarrassment of rejection.
Right? She he, she invited,
and she threatened,
and he was attracted to her as we'll
find out from the next verse. Right? And
more, and there's more.
And despite all of these odds stacked against
him,
he, as they say, conquered the moment.
And so
those moments are what define you. Like, if
Ngozi, what he when he was describing this,
he said, like, think
of of course, not the he's a prophet,
and Allah chose the prophets right. But think
about, like, us not knowing the full story.
Imagine
Yusuf alaihi salaam was like any other person.
And in that moment, he fell. He just
got weak and he fell. He had a
moment of weakness.
What would he have been?
Nobody. He would have been a nobody. Like,
he would not have been worthy of mention.
Maybe he made Tauba, alhamdulillahi, made Tauba, maybe
he didn't and just
continued to spiral out of control into his
guidance. May Allah protect. Right?
But it's because he did take that stand,
is he did have that conquering of the
moment that made him use salam.
It made him a legend. It made him
lauded, celebrated throughout history
for his moment of self restraint.
Right?
And, also, you know, Ibniqi, he says about
this I there's so much to be said
about this ayah, but, share with you just
one more anecdote.
Ibn Said,
it took greater patience
from Yusuf, alayhis salaam,
to resist the wife of Al Aziz
then it took patience
to endure being thrown into the well by
his brothers and be separated from his father.
Why? Think about it. Why? Those two moments
of patience.
He said because
these first events, being separated from his dad,
being thrown into a well, these occurred against
his will. Right? You have no choice but
to be patient. You go be patient or
or go crazy. There's no choice.
But when you patiently resist sinning,
this is a patience that involves choice.
It involves being content
with Allah's law,
and it involves going to to war with
yourself, combating your nafs, your inner self.
And that's a general rule in all of
Islam in general
that
being patient upon the commands of Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala
and being patient in staying away from the
prohibitions of Allah
Right?
Like, basically, patience with the halal and haram.
This is more even more important because it
is even more beneficial for you, right,
than being patient with the of Allah, with
the painful, you know, calamities that that may,
cut and bruise someone in life. The destiny
that we have to,
encounter.
You know, one last thing in Fatima's essence
is like we're talking about the Fatima,
He said, and whenever you depend on people,
even for a sip of water,
your respectability
in their eyes shrinks
to the degree that you depend on them.
This is really nice. Right? Like, where did
he get like, why am I even quoting
this? Because
she thought she did not respect him. Like,
she thought he would automatically accept why because
he lives in her house. Right? Some people
think that because they've invited you into into
their home or they've done some favor for
you that they deserve your loyalty,
even at the expense of, you know, your
relationship with Allah.
It's crazy. Right? Because
even if they are so blind to realize
that Allah has done more favors to you
than they've done to you, you should not
be blind to that. Right?
That's number 1. But number 2, it reminds
you of the importance of being as independent
as possible so people's leverage over you gets
minimized.
Right?
The less favors people do for you, the
less leverage, like emotional leverage,
guilting, they will have over you as well.
And so the less you can depend on
people,
the more independent,
autonomous you will be.
The next verse says,
And
there's 2 different ways to interpret this phrase,
and
whichever way you interpret it
will obviously come across in the translation. Right?
And so the I'm just gonna use one
of them, but just know there's another interpretation,
and and that's it. You can go look
it up in the books
of.
There's actually a book called When the Star
is Frustrated,
that,
myself and sister Rania Busnina,
put together.
It's basically demonstrations or exercises into the book
in how to reflect on the Quran, kinda
like we're doing here and now. It's Surat
Yusuf. It's called,
when the stars prostrated meditations on Surat Yusuf.
You can pick it up on Amazon.
I don't make a penny from this stuff.
It, it's it goes to, it goes to
an endowment. It's a good cause,
But I would recommend grabbing the book if
you, want to build on our session today
because we are winding down in the last
6 or 7 minutes.
And so
she was certainly let me see here.
She made for him,
and he would have succumb to her
if he had not seen evidence the evidence
of his lord. So that's how this translation
is saying it.
The preferred
for me. Just don't take it.
Don't, like, take me too seriously. This is
one of the 2 scholarly views. It's not
the by all end all.
She was certainly determined,
meaning to have him, seduce him.
And he was
inclined to her as well,
were it not foreseeing the proof of his
lord.
Long story short,
she desired him
and acted on it, and she was blameworthy
for acting on it.
He desired her
and did not act on it, and so
he was rewarded
for that.
Yes? Like the Hadid says, whomever intends an
evil deed and performs it gets an evil
deed. Whomever intends an evil deed
and stays away from it gets a good
deed. So he did not fully intend. He
was sort of, like,
conflicted.
That's the idea. The
the word is the whole debate here. Like,
what does mean?
Because
hem could mean a passing thought, and hem
could mean, like, a firm decision.
And that's also pretty amazing because there's actually
a fine line between your ideas and your
intentions.
You know, they say don't look because if
you look, you're gonna start thinking. And if
you start thinking, you're gonna start, like, fantasizing.
And if you start fantasizing, you're gonna start,
like, intending. And when you start intending, you
start planning and then acting, and then, like,
it becomes your habit. It's a it's a
slippery slope. Right?
And so
he inclined to her. Why is Allah telling
us this? Because that's what makes him rewardable.
Like, if he had no desire for her,
how would it be praiseworthy that he resisted
her? Right? It's when the fact that there
is attraction there,
and fulfilling that desire is accessible,
that is when those
who claim to live by certain principles are
actually tested.
Right? That's when they can display their heroics.
It's almost like an invisible line, and they
say, no. This is a red line. Absolutely
not.
And, you know, like, it says he saw
the proof of his load. What does it
mean he saw the proof of his load?
The scholars
discussed this at length. But,
basically, his iman flared.
Right?
You know? Like, he he his
faith was
was chasing away his desire in that moment.
Right?
It it's like, it you know, like, when
you're a desire or something and then you
get scared all of a sudden, like, you
forget you forget about the dessert on the
table, or you forget about the opportunity, like,
the big,
business opportunity. You get it. Like, wait. My
kid is hurt. Someone's in the hospital. What
happened? Right? So fear chases away. Right? So
the fear of Allah flared inside of him,
and it kind of incinerated,
and it would not in other words, like,
Allah gave him more faith in that moment
to handle what he was about to go
through. Why? The verse ends by saying,
because he is our of our servants that
we chose.
Not. He was sincere to Allah.
Allah made him sincere,
meaning more sincere. It's profound
to think that it's because Allah chose to
make him strong enough for that moment. And
so if you are close to Allah,
he will continue to supply you with the
resources to fulfill your task. Right? And fulfill
give you the faith to withstand whatever you're
going through.
Going on to the next verse,
and we're down to 3 minutes.
They race for the door, and she tears
his shirt from behind, and they found her
husband at the door.
And she quickly says, what's the consequence for
someone who intended evil
for your wife with imprisonment
or a painful punishment?
Like, they raced for the door. He ran
for the door, but what happened?
She chased him.
You you gotta know this,
that
some people will continue to pressure you into
doing the wrong things. Like, oh, I said
no, but they still pressured me. No. That
that's not the way it works.
So your polite decline
will not deter everyone.
Yes?
If you don't have deep roots in your
principles, you're gonna be sort of pushed off
of your moral stance. Right?
And so we are a weak creation. We
are all sinners, but
with Allah
guidance, like here in this ayah, we can
withstand.
He ran for the door.
Right? He ran for the door. You know,
the same way we're told not to sit
at the table or wine is circulated, as
the hadith mentions. Not to be alone with
a non mahram,
man or woman. Right? Only a man and
a woman alone behind. No. Unacceptable.
Right? The people who think they're strong
are the people that always wind up saying,
how did I do that? I never thought
I would get there. Well, Allah knew you'd
get there. Allah who created you and your
strengths and your weaknesses and understands your psychology
better than you do because he's the he's
its maker. Right?
And then she tore his shirt. He ran,
and then she tore his shirt. And this
is also something like,
doctor Alififi in his book, Yusufiyat,
wonderfully
says, don't ever be too critical of people
with ripped clothing or with a dusty face
because maybe it was their dignity which caused
them to appear this way.
Isn't that wonderful? Like, it's because he had
dignity that his shirt got ripped. And sometimes
people,
like, refuse to stick their hand out to
beg or whatever other reason. It's their dignity
that caused them to,
be seen by others,
judge superficially as,
you know,
this poor soul,
this broke person or whatnot.
Some of those people that have, like,
marks on their skin from sujood or on
their clothing sometimes
or, you know, sometimes you'll pray in public,
and you you get a stain on your
knee or something because the floor is a
little bit moist.
And people look at them like, it's not
that serious, but you gotta be upset about
your religion for it.
That is very dear to Allah, Azza wa
Jal. I'm not saying deliberately do it, but
if you had to go through that to
catch your prayer on time or do the
right thing. Right?
And so they ran to the door. She
spoke up first. Obviously, that's a sign of
her weakness, by the way. She spoke up
first. Usually, when someone's, like, not letting the
other people speak, and they're,
playing victim all the time, and they're they're
raising their voice. Sign of insecurity. Right?
And then Yusuf alaihi salam, the very next
verse, I'll stop there.
He he defended himself. He said, she's the
one that tried to seduce me. You know,
this idea of I don't care if people
think about me is also, like, yeah, don't
obsess, but
clearing your reputation is important. The prophet salallahu
alayhi wasalam, you know, was put into a
family that was honorable for a reason. And
so whenever without compromising your values,
you can defend your honor. It's important.
Even the other hadith that says, I will
not let people say Muhammad killed his companions.
Why? Because it would discourage them from coming
close to the prophet Muhammad and hearing about
Islam. Or when he was walking with his
wife in the dark, he said, hey. Hey.
This is my wife. Like, hey. Don't think
I'm walking with anybody else, like, who's not
halal for me.
Reputation is important.
So he said so he he didn't say
I'm not gonna defend myself. I'm gonna be
better than that. No. He said she did
it. He he defended himself and cleared his
own name. Allah says, and a witness from
her family testified.
And
when when someone fears their lord, Allah grants
them relief from every anxiety and an exit
from every dilemma. Sooner or later, you may
find the people closest to your enemy
testifying in your favor and supporting your cause.
Right?
And, also, the strongest testimony this eye reminds
us the strongest testimony
is the testimony
of the outsider.
Right?
Like, the Sharia
sometimes also may forbid
a parent testifying for their child in court
and vice versa. Why? Because it's unlikely that
the parent is going to it's harder for
the parent to be fair when their child
is on the line. Right?
And also why the Quran often cites
the rejecters of faith,
on the fact that you know Mohammed has
a flawless reputation.
Right? Because if you're the most critical person
of Mohammed,
then you admitting his good qualities becomes one
of the strongest admittals in some people's eyes
at least. Right? So you think of, like,
quoting non Muslims, honest non Muslim historians about
Islam or about Muhammad alayhis salatu wa sallam,
the value of that comes from this verse,
that someone from her own family testified
as verse 27 says. That's it. I went
1 minute over, and I'm sorry. Let's stop
here for questions
Insha'Allah.
We'll start the q and a now.
So the first question we have
is about the first ayah that was covered
where Allah
said,
that this is how we established Yusuf in
the land. So I know you discussed this
a little bit, but can you just talk
a little bit about,
Yusuf's journey and the ups and downs that
he went through and the ups and downs
that he will go through even after this
moment?
And how many times we don't know the
true nature and the wisdom of Allah's plan,
but we just have to trust in it.
Yeah. So
as I said,
what does it mean that he established him
in the land in this moment?
It appears that the closest meaning at hand
was that take care of him.
He may benefit us. This is how we
establish him on earth. Right? So it was
like establishing him in the land through placing
love for him in the hearts of important
people. Right?
But the the other and then these are
compatible, not necessarily, like, either or. The other
compatible meaning was that and this is how
we set him up
by giving him a comfortable stay within this
particular house.
Because how else would you get a bird's
eye view of, like, what do they call
it? The the sociopolitical
landscape
and the economy and the commerce
to set you up to be qualified
to benefit people on earth,
except being, you know, bought by this family
and so on and so forth.
And so,
also, the other way you can, think about
this from a third factor, like another trial
that he will go through that I'm sure
the students will will cover in future verses
is that he puts him in a house
with a woman that was infatuated
with him and would frame him
out of just, like, a grudge
that he will kept refusing to be with
her. And so he'd go to prison and
through only through prison could he meet the
butler of the king
to,
have access to the king later on and
not just Aziz, not just the minister.
And so we established him by causing love
for
him to to land in the hearts of
the right people.
We established him by allowing him to grow
up in the shadow of Al Aziz and
to learn from
being at the joints of society,
and then we established
him by setting him up
to dive into the dungeon
and from there into the palace.
Only Allah does all of that at once.
It's
like life is a mess. Life is a
mess
because we're so close to the you know,
my Sheikh gives the example of, you know,
being on a carpet like an ant, and
all you see is, like, random jungle of
colors and everything is chaos. But if you
were to zoom out, if you were the
carpet maker, you'd see this beautiful tapestry.
And so, likewise, the problem of evil and
suffering and tragedy, and from very close, it
is just abhorrent.
But if Allah were to permit you to
zoom out, you know, to the carpet maker,
if you will,
it's a masterpiece.
And so Yusuf alaihis salam is the the
story the story of it being the masterpiece.
We may not be able to see the
masterpiece in every single one of our lives,
so Allah gives us the Surah of Yusuf
to help us assume the best of Allah
until he shows us the full story.
He show and for those you know, I
I do wanna say one more thing about
trials, which is that
if you believe
that Allah is the most affectionate, most compassionate,
most wise,
then he will show you some of his
compassion and wisdom.
But if you don't believe he is in
the first place, you will not see any
of it. So if you don't believe it,
you won't see it. And if you believe
it, he'll show you some of it. Some
of it.
But enough of it to get you to
the highest levels of jannah. May Allah grant
us a new safe passage there.
Very beautifully said, I really like that carpet
analogy. I've never heard that before.
There's another one, actually. I forgot which writer
said it. He said it's like
the the butterfly in the cocoon.
Like, you think of the the worm that
becomes the butterfly, it has to get sort
of, like, pulled into a cocoon. He said,
like, the walls of life have to come
closing in for you to evolve,
right, into that butterfly.
And so a a lot of times, we
we just see our the walls closing in
on us, and we don't realize this is
just a necessary
growth moment in our relationship with Allah and
even in our,
in our greater existence.
You gotta die to get to to Jannah.
Right? Yeah. You gotta go through the difficulties
to to increase in your iman sometimes.
Another question that we have is,
can you give us some advice on how
we can resist our desires and temptations, especially
when we're put in difficult situations?
So Surat Yusuf.
The whole Surat Yusuf.
But, of course, the part we were discussing
today in particular, we didn't cover all the
verses,
but
there are a few things. Right? Number 1,
he ran for the door,
and we need to run for the door.
You can't just say I fear Allah, and
you regret it, and you keep doing it
all over again. And the the the fear
of Allah needs to constitute
making a move. You know? Even Albert Einstein,
like, it's just logic. Right? He he used
to say that insanity is to do the
same thing over and over again and expect
different results.
Right? You gotta set there has to be
a framework,
a change in, like,
behavior, conduct.
So new friends,
don't put the device in that room anymore.
Whatever it's gonna be, change.
Number 2, you know,
your your credit with Allah
increases your your fear of him, or, like,
your devotion to Allah increases your fear of
him.
As we said today, the fear of Allah
is what, like, burns, you know, the desire
away,
or, you know, like tempers it at least.
We can't fully get rid of our desires.
Probably not. It's, like, unnatural, unhuman. But how
do you regulate it with with, like, a
flame?
Wave the flame at it.
How do you grow that flame? It's through
Ibadah.
You know,
He was of our chosen servants. Allah chooses
those not randomly, not favoritism,
based on those that are putting in work.
So there has to be spiritual labor. There
has to be work.
And thirdly and lastly for now is,
the next verse is mentioned, like, Istasam.
He sought refuge with Allah.
So you you have to constantly plead to
Allah, you Allah, you've shown me my weakness
over and over again. You Allah protect me.
Yeah. You Allah, I can't do this on
my own. Right?
Don't leave me to myself for the blink
of an eye ever. That's a dua even
the prophets used to make. The prophet Muhammad
SAWSAWA will say this every morning and evening.
And so seeking refuge with Allah all the
time,
and with his book,
and running from the areas where you will
get weak,
and
increasing your spiritual labor to build up your
defenses, your walls,
are the advice I would give you for
now.
As I and, of course, if you mean
specific desire, there's specific advices, but this is
just in general for all of them.
It just not gonna allow, Aaron.
K. I think the last question we have
is,
you talked about how
Allah
gave use of,
wisdom and knowledge when he reached maturity, and
that part of that was that he learned
from, like, the situations that he was in
and he grew from those. So how can
we, like, try to implement that in our
lives too?
I mean,
the fast paceness of life
does not allow us to benefit from,
like,
prior experiences, to be honest. Like, Islam tells
you to benefit from experiences
all time. Prophet
says in one hadith, the believer is not
stung from the same hole twice, for instance.
Or the prophet, Musa, alayhi salaam,
prayers. Go ask Allah for a reduction. So
these are all, like, validating
the importance of life experience.
And so life experience,
some of it is firsthand. Like, you've gone
through this work to this didn't,
but you just never stopped and reflected. Like,
it's a glaring pattern if you would just
give it the time of day.
Also, experience through others. Like, the miserable person
is the person that does not benefit from
the experiences of others. Right? Like, we all
benefit from the experience of others, maybe in
less important things. Like, I don't create a
map for myself. I go on Google, and
this is a map that someone else contributed
to. Right? Social trafficking and social,
marking and stuff.
Knowledge. We read a textbook that someone else
that experienced and experimented, handed off. And so
also, most importantly, for, like, to live a
life of of value, of meaning, of purpose,
You you go to mentors, and you ask
them how you did this and how you
didn't do that. And don't think you're some,
like, superhuman,
superstar,
superhero that's gonna, like, do it a little
different than get get a like, get the
results. There's no shortcut. They'll tell you, listen.
This is the way it works. Or or
if there's a little bit of a shortcut
here, it is not there.
And so I would say number 1, giving
yourself time for self reflection.
And self reflection and learning from your own
experiences
and what Allah has given you already. Number
2, benefiting from elders.
You know? Benefiting from the elders.
What their sort of realizations are, what their,
regrets are, and all of that.
And you just ask Allah to give you
hikma. Ask Allah to give you.
You know? Like, as I said, it it
doesn't seem like he was 40 years old.
And, you know, even Yahya alayhi salam in
the Quran also, it seems like no. It
seems like. That one's even clearer because Allah
says about Yahya alayhi salam,
We gave him sound judgment as a child.
And if you go in tafsir books, it
says in tafsir books what that looked like
was the kids would tell him, come. Let's
play. And he would say,
we were not created to play.
It's, you know, like, that's from Allah. We
don't expect children nor whole children to that.
You know? But the fact that Allah can
give you wisdom beyond age, beyond your years,
make you at 15 wiser than
99.999%
of those that are 65,
he can certainly do that. So benefit from
yourself by slowing down, like, turn off your
devices for hours at a time every single
day and be super strict on that, or
else you lose out on the treasures benefiting
from others and the company of others.
Sitting through those boring gatherings
with elders,
it's like standing under a tree and nothing's
happening for days, and then finally,
the gem drops or the apple drops. It
could be life transforming for you, the elders,
being patient upon the company of the elders.
Obviously, there's a generational gap, and that's why
I'm saying patient. They can't stand you guys
as much as you can't stand them.
Half joking.
And the other one is ask Allah for
hikmah. Right? Oh, Allah grant me wisdom.
The verse says, Allah, you know, gifts with
wisdom whomever he wishes, and whomever he gives
that gift of wisdom to has been given
abundant good. And Allah knows best.
May Allah reward you, and may Allah allow
us to act upon what we have been
taught, Ameen.
So, inshallah, we'll stop here, and we'll continue,
Surah Yusuf, next week.