Nadim Bashir – Surah Summaries #12 SurahYusuf
AI: Summary ©
The book Surah reassures the audience with multiple stories centered around trusting Allah to achieve stability and comfort in the heart of the book. The storytelling includes a brief recap of the storytelling and its meaning. The speaker also emphasizes the importance of patience and not losing hope in life, as negative experiences can happen in every situation. The speaker also discusses the struggles of people going through difficult times in their life and how Allah takes things away from them.
AI: Summary ©
Continuing with our series, inshallah,
we are now as Surah Yusuf. And Surah
Yusuf, of course, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. First
of all, as I said in the past,
that there's always a continuation, a connection
between the ending of 1 surah and the
beginning of the next
surah. So the ending of surah, Hud Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala says,
That the purpose of sending these,
sending the Prophets, or the stories of the
Prophets
to the prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam. As
I said last time, Surahud,
Surah, Surah Yunus, Surah Hud, and Surah Yusuf.
All 3 were revealed in consecutive order, and
they were all revealed at pretty much the
same time
after the death of Khadija
and the uncle of the prophet
Abu Talib. And this was of course a
very difficult time. So in order to console
the prophet
just like today, you know, a lot of
times we hear what's happening in Gaza, and
we go back to the Quran to console
ourselves,
to find some kind of peace, to find
some kind of therapy. This is how Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala would provide therapy to the
prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam. This is how
he would help Rasulullah salallahu alayhi wa sallam
by sharing with him the stories of the
past.
So Allah
says,
That the purpose of these stories were to
build some stability and firmness in the heart
of Rasulullah salallahu alaihi wasallam. And subhanahu wa'ala,
we come to Surah Yusuf. And Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala he says,
And Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, before this he
says,
So Allah
at the end of the surah, he's also
saying that all these stories, they serve as
a lesson and a purpose.
The primary theme
of Surah Yusuf
is to have confidence and to have trust
in the Qadr of Allah
To put your trust that no matter whether
I understand it or not, whether I understand
the hikmah of it or not, but I
have to put my trust in the qadr
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And it is
done through 2 ways. Number 1,
through sabr,
and number 2 is that putting, and not
losing hope in Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. And
we see this consistently
taking place throughout the entire Surah.
One thing that many ulama have said is,
why is this perhaps
There is no other story in the Quran
where Allah
has given
this honor.
Why
There are many there are many, opinions on
the matter. Some say that it is
perhaps because
that this was a very difficult time with
the prophet shalallahu alaihi wa sallam. And this
surah, the way it provides consolation,
many other surahs may not provide that same
consolation.
Another thing that we learned that why this
is perhaps
is because when you read a story,
of course you love to read a story
from beginning to end in one place.
And we see Sur Yusuf.
It is all revealed at the same time.
Sur Yusuf was revealed in one go. So
from beginning to end, it is all one
story regarding Yusuf alaihis salam. Because unlike the
stories of Musa alayhis salam, unlike the stories
of Ibrahim alayhis salam, there are scattered throughout
the entire Quran. We don't find this in
this case of Yusuf alaihis salam. His entire
story is mentioned from beginning to end in
one place known as Surah Yusuf.
Another explanation given, which is very beautiful if
you think about it is, that every single
thing that happened in this story
to Yusuf alaihis salam,
though it may start off in a negative
way, but it always turned positive.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, he made every single
negative
situation
into a positive situation.
For example,
he was thrown into the well with the
intention of what? Being, you know, they want
to make sure that he just He is
gone. They want to make sure that they
get rid of Yusuf alaihisam out of their
life. He was thrown into the well, and
generally when a person is thrown into the
well, they usually die. Allah
he saved him. Later on, number 2, he
was sold as a slave,
but Allah
he changed the condition of Yusuf alaihis salam,
and he put him into a palace. A
very lofty status.
We also see that he was lured by
women, and he was accused by other women.
But we see also how Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala
he eventually
He was acquitted
on all the charges and all the counts.
We find in the story that he was
betrayed by his brothers, but eventually his own
brothers, they had to confess in front of
him. We find in the story that his
father lost his eyesight, but eventually Allah
returned the eyesight to his father. We find
in the story that he was separated from
his family
as a child,
but later on Allah
reunited him with his family. We also find
that they hated they
disliked Yusuf alaihi wasalam due to the fact
that he saw the very well known dream.
They disliked him for this, they hated him
for this. And subhanallah,
at the end of the story we find
that they all had to enact
on that same dream. They all fell in
sujood before Yusuf alaihis salam. So we see
that many ulama they say that this is
Asal Qasas
because every single negative experience
that Yusuf alaihis salam he went through, Allah
turned it into a positive situation.
Another beautiful thing about this surah is that
this is unlike many other Surahs in the
way, the way the layout is of the
Surah. If you look at this Surah, there
are 6 main storylines
to this Surah. There are 6 main storylines
of this Surah, and if you read these
storylines, they go in a certain order, to
the midway point of Surah Yusuf.
And then if you as you as we
proceed to the end of Surah Yusuf, in
the second half, each of those 6 story
lines, they go back in exact reversal order.
So the very first thing that that is
mentioned in the surah is the dream of
Yusuf That's the very first thing that's mentioned.
And follow along with me here. The number
2 thing is, the brothers plotted and planned
against Yusuf
Number 3 is, the
He's in the palace, and the wife of
Aziz Musad, she's trying to lure him. Number
4, the other women are trying to lure
him. Number 5,
Yusuf alaihisam,
he ends up saying,
He goes to prison. And number 6 is
the king sees a dream. These are the
6 story lines that take place.
The second half of Surah Yusuf.
All these 6 story lines in exact
reversal order. All these can only happen through
who? Through Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. This is
the beauty of the Quran. If you see
Then as soon as the king sees a
dream, then it goes in reversal order. The
number 6 was seeing the dream, number 7
is seeing the dream. The interpretation of the
dream. The number The 5th thing that happened
was, that Yusuf alaihis salam went to jail,
then that's the second last Then that's the
next thing that's mentioned, how he was released
from jail. Then the women who tried to
lure him, the wife of the king who
tried to lure him, they confessed to their
mistake. Then after that we find that the
key The brothers, they of course they threw
him in the well, they plotted a plan
against him, then we find the story of
the interaction that took place between Yusuf and
his brothers. And the very first thing that
happened in the Surah, which was he saw
the dream, that's the last thing that is
mentioned in the Surah, which is that they
all fell in sajdah before Yusuf alaihis salam.
Once again, very beautiful symmetry of Surah Yusuf,
if you think about it. That is why
Allahu alamadi say that this is considered as
That the most beautiful story in terms of
its placement,
in terms of every single story line, and
how it is perfectly placed in the surah.
Now to take a simple lesson from the
surah, that what can we take from this?
As I said earlier,
that to put your trust in the qadr
of Allah
through two things, through patience and not losing
hope. So,
we have to understand that in life,
we might have to go through challenges if
we want to get to our destination.
See, a lot of times people they say
that, Why am I going through this? And
wallahi,
I've met people who have gone through difficult
times in their life, and I've asked them,
that what is your situation now? And they
said, that my situation is much better. And
I would ask them that, how do you
get to this situation,
which is a much better situation in your
life now? And they would tell me that
I went through a certain difficulty,
then I went through a certain difficulty, then
I went through a certain difficulty,
and sometimes you have to remind them that
the reason why you're probably in this situation
is because you went through all those difficulties.
Sometimes you have to go through difficulties in
your life in order to get to your
destination.
Just like for example, if I'm sending a
package from here, let's just say to Canada.
If I'm shipping a package from here to
Canada, it's not gonna go direct from here
to Canada. It's gonna go from here to
the post office, to the regional post office,
to the UPS store. It's gonna have its
stops before it gets to its ultimate destination.
Likewise,
a likewise, a person sometimes has to go
through difficulties in their life in order to
get to their destination.
Think about it for a moment. You cannot
just take If Allah wanted to, he want
he could, of course.
But he could not he did not just
take Yusuf alaihis salam from one family,
living in a faraway land, and just made
him the financial minister of Egypt. It didn't
happen like that overnight.
He went through stages.
He went through the well, then he went
through and he was being lord. Then he
went to prison, and he went through all
these different steps. And if you think about
it, if he did not, if he was
not thrown into the well, he probably was
not sold as a slave. He probably would
not end up in the palace. If he
did not end up in the palace, he
was not probably lord. He probably would not
end up in prison. He would not come
across people who would know his expertise,
which was what? Dream interpretation.
And then he ended up as the, the
financial minister of Egypt. That means that in
order for him to become the financial minister
of Egypt, he had to be thrown into
the well, and the process starts. So this
is why in life, when we go through
difficulties in life And ibn al Qayyim, he
says something very beautiful. He says that when
we go through difficulties in life, and Allah
takes something away from you,
perhaps Allah is freeing your hands
from something, so he could put something else
in your hand.
We don't realize this. If something is taken
away from our life, right away we began
to lose our trust in Allah. Right away
we began to the question of qadr of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So two things. Number
1 is, do not lose your hope in
Allah
And we find this in the case of
Yaqub alayhi salam.
Think about it for a moment. I want
you to put yourself in a position of
Youqb alaihi salam for a moment.
A father who lost his most beloved son.
And not only that, the Quran says,
His eyes became white. Meaning what? He became
blind.
Now, if you're in a situation Imagine you're
in a situation where everything is going perfectly
fine in your life, and someone comes to
you and says, brother, I'm going through a
lot of difficulties, make du'a for me. And
things are going perfectly in your life, and
you say, Brother, do not lose your trust
in Allah
It's very easy to say that, right? Yes
or no? Things are going perfectly fine in
your life. And you're telling someone who's going
through difficulties.
It's easy to say.
But imagine
a person who's going through difficulties in their
own life.
So many difficulties that now you are so
helpless, that now you have become blind.
And even in a situation like that,
he's telling his own children,
and their life is perfectly fine. It's normal.
They're not the ones who's suffering the way
the father is suffering. But
look at the iman of the father. He's
telling him,
Do not lose hope in Allah. SubhanAllah. A
man who's in the difficulty,
telling people who are
in a peaceful situation,
Do not lose your hope in Allah Subhanahu
wa ta'ala. Subhanahu wa ta'ala. Look at the
iman. Then what did Yusuf alaihi wasalam say
at the end of the story? He says
that, all this I have been given is
based on what?
Whoever has taqwa And by the way, when
a person is on this journey of taqwa,
which is This is the month of Ramadan,
the month of taqwa. When a person is
on the journey of taqwa, they're gonna have
to struggle. They are gonna struggle.
But it is taqwa
paired up with what?
That Allah
would not let their efforts go to waste.
So this is why in our life, we
might we are gonna have ups and downs.
And wallahi, you know, people will come to
me, people will come to many of us
here, and they will tell us we're going
through this difficulty and that difficulty.
And all that we can say is,
of course, take the proper means and steps,
but at the
lose our hope in Allah. Because if you
lose your hope in Allah, then will life
no hope in life. If you lose your
hope in Allah, there is no hope in
life. You cannot run to anyone else and
try to find hope. The only place we
can find hope is in these stories of
the Quran. Seeing a child go through what
they went through, and Allah subha'ala putting us
through a situation,
Allah will help us get through it. As
I said, gave you the example of the
package. Going through one stop one stop after
another stop before it gets to his destination.
So I ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that
first of all, if we're going through any
kind of difficulties, whether it's financial difficulties,
health difficulties,
family difficulties, relationship difficulties, any difficulties in our
life, may Allah
help us overcome these difficulties. And once again,
they can only be done, number 1 through
not losing our hope in Allah. And number
2 is by being patient and asking Allah
paired up with Taqwa. As long as we
have these three things insha'Allah, we will be
able to get through a difficulty in life.
I ask Allah
to help us get through all of our
difficulties.