The Life of Yusuf (as) and the Pursuit of Justice

Oh

work

Al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil Alameen wa Salatu was Salam or I should have will Ambia you want more saline Nabi now I will say you know what have you been a Muhammad wa ala alihi wa sahbihi edge Marin, Allah Allah, Allah Allah Allah tena indica Montana and even Hakeem Allahumma alumni in one foreign Abby, my limp tena was in Yoruba Alameen Allahu Marina haka. hochkar was looking at tiba Arenal, belle de la belle de la was organized in Alba was said I might equal to what I meant, Allahu wa barakato.

You know, these days, one of the things that we've been talking about a lot, is the topic or the issue of social justice, justice on a societal level, as a society, are we just, and Hamdulillah? I believe that we as Muslims, if not, if we are, we're at least trying to be on the forefront of the fight for social justice. However, with that being said, one of the issues that we are going through today is the issue of justice. On a personal level, what I mean by that is, if we're calling for social justice, if we're calling for a just society, can we really do that? If in our personal lives, we aren't really just, can we really do that? If in our personal interaction, we may not be

just, can we really do that? If in our relationships, we aren't really just, you know, to criticize other people to say, you know, society is messed up. Those people are messed up. Sometimes, that's just more convenient. Sometimes it's easier, ironically, to look at the bigger problem and think that that is more solvable, be solvable, because to look at yourself seems far more complicated. It seems far more difficult. It seems like something that, you know, maybe I can accomplish that. And that is why sometimes we run away from our problems to a cause. We run away to things like social justice, instead of looking at the justice of ourselves. Are we as an individual? Are we as a human

being? Are we as a Muslim, a just Muslim? Are we just human being? And that is why we look at the life of the prophets. I know humans Salatu was set up. And we find that they embodied justice on a personal level. And then yes, also, on a societal level, they were able to call for justice in society, because they themselves as individuals, were just, they were known to be just the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam himself, he was known well before the message of Islam came to him well, before he received a revelation from Allah subhanho wa taala, the people of Makkah knew who the Prophet was SallAllahu ala he was setting them.

Can we say that about ourselves? Can we say that in the society that we are living in that when people think about Muslims, they say, yes, these people are just in my interaction with a Muslim. I saw that they were just with me. I saw that they treated me fairly. I saw that they had patience with me, I saw that they overlooked my flaws. Can we say that about ourselves? And so once again, we look at the lives of the prophets. Amongst them use of either he's set up now usually by the histogram, like all the other prophets was an example for us. And actually the story of use of it he said it was one of the most detailed stories we have in the Quran. Allah subhanaw taala tells us

about use of Allah he Salam Laqad Karna for use of most certainly in Yusuf well equity and his brothers there's signs there's a sign is to Alyssa Ilene, there are Signs for those who ask meaning you want an example of how to embody

justice how to live a just life then look at what happened between use of Allah he said and his brothers look at the life of use of it his setup and what's amazing about the life of use of ROM and the story of use of it said I'm which I would imagine most people have heard this story right we learn this story as kids from very basic level we we learn this story and if you look at this life of use of a set I'm use if I they said was Oh

wronged every step of the way, in his journey, every step of the way, in the story of use of we find him being wrong to the point where if you come across the story of us of how they set up for the first time in your life, you look at how he went from one situation to another situation to another situation, and you save yourself. No way. It's not possible.

We will say, That's just some extreme bad luck.

Right? You look at the major plot points of the story of us, every single one, until we get to the end, every single one

is him being wronged. Alayhi Salatu was Salam. We start off with the brothers of use of Allah. He said, I'm plotting to murder him, also to use of kill him.

Is there a more treacherous plot

than to murder someone to murder your own brother

out of jealousy.

That's what happened. That's the first major plot point in the story of us if they sit down, and it's the murder of use of, but they resort to not murdering him. What did they do they want to exile him. So what did they decide? They decided to take him out of the city and throw him in the well. And you know, what's interesting about that Subhanallah, that when they plotted that part of their relationship with use of AI, they said, they went and sought permission from the father of use of AI. They said, I'm Yahoo, but I said, I'm who loved use device, and I'm dearly. And they asked him, they asked his permission if they can take him. And what does yakugaku He said, I'm saying, he says,

No, I fear that if you're not paying attention, a wolf is going to come eat him. And how do they respond to him? They say a wolf. We're a strong clan. We are we are there's a there's 11 of us.

There's 10 of us. There's were a large number of how can a wolf come? We will we will never allow that to happen. And then they take use of it. He said, I'm out.

And they throw him at the bottom of the well, right? What do they say? Allahu filha. But they'll throw him in the lowest part of the well, the very bottom of the well.

And then they come back to their father. And what did they say to Jacoba? They sit down. They say, you know, we weren't paying attention. And a wolf ate him. And you would think some Had Allah as someone listening to this story, he would say really? Like, that just seemed like a really flimsy excuse. Right? Because he was He already said, like, I fear a wolf is going to eat him. And they respond. Yeah, you know, a wolf ate him. But you know what the scholars say about this, that the brothers of use of it, he said, they knew that you use that Yaqoob or they said, I'm the father use of it. I said, I was already thinking he was already he already had that fear of a wolf eating use

of it. They said, they're like, You know what, if we go with that,

then that will seem very probable to jacobellis set up, and there's more of a chance that they will believe that he will believe them. And so they come back and they tell us about Islam, that he's eaten by a wolf.

plot point, wronged.

What happens next? He sold into slavery. Now you can imagine Subhanallah

the life that you have, and he said, I'm lives,

going from the bottom of the well, being in a state of uncertainty, darkness, not just, you know, some part of the well, they didn't say, let's put him they said, throw them at the bottom of the well,

to increase Subhanallah that would only increase somebody in despair. He goes from there to be sold into slavery. He goes from there to you know, we think maybe he's just situation is gonna get better, it's getting better, because he is serving a disease, a very powerful man, and they're going to treat him right. But what happens? The wife of a disease, she tries to seduce him unsuccessfully.

She tries to seduce him. And then when that doesn't work, she blames him. And because of that, he goes to prison. Once again, use of advice that I'm being wronged. In prison. There's a glimmer of hope. He meets two young men and he knows that they will be getting out at some point. And they asked for his help he helps them

and the only thing he asked from them is for them to mention him to the ruler. Just mentioned just mentioned who I am mentioned what I'm able to do mention that I'm able to interpret visions and dreams.

But what happens, they forget. And once again, like I said, You'll

Get the story of use of it is that um, and you're like No way How was that possible? Like every step of the way, just where it could go wrong, it went wrong.

Every place that that something bad could have happened or seemingly bad could have happened. It does. They forget they just forgot.

And then Allah's current data tells he just stayed in prison before I seen him for a number of years. Can you imagine being left in prison? And you know what you've had Allah. The brothers of us Friday said, um, they have forgotten about him. They're like we're done with him. The Yakuza. He said, I'm doesn't know he is uncertain. From the perspective of use of it. He said, um, there is nobody in the world who cares about him. Except Allah subhanho wa taala. No one in the world who cares about him. And now he came across to people.

That would have brought him some hope. And even they forget, they just forget to mention him. And now he's sitting in prison.

Feeling like there's no one out there. Now I bring up this point, because I really want you to feel what that would be, like. Just sitting in prison for years and years and years. That was the life of Yusuf alayhi salam until the end, we'll get to the end. How would you react? If you were to be able to meet the people who wronged you? How would we react in a situation where we get to face the people who have caused all the problems in our life? What do we do? Well, we'd probably want revenge,

we'd probably want to get back at them.

And that's why one of the lessons we learned from the story of use of it sit on is how he remained just, even when in the end, Allah Subhana Allah gives him victory. Not only is he freed from slavery, not only is he freed from prison, he becomes one of the main ministers of the king.

And Allah Subhana Allah grants him a lofty position.

That was the reward

of his trust in Allah subhanaw taala. That was the reward of understanding the bigger picture and Allah's Panama data reminds us of this as believers. Allah subhanaw taala tells us in Nadine mattina Mufasa for those who have Taqwa for those who are conscious of Allah, there is success. How many times in the Quran, there's Allah's pannacotta remind us when

to clean.

And the good outcome, the successful outcome is for those who have Taqwa, yet we're caught up in these petty cases of revenge. You know, he said this about me, I gotta say this about them, this person wronged me, and they did this to me, I got to do this to them. And you want to know, like the simplest, plainest clearest example of this. Just ask yourself, how you behave, or how we behave. When somebody wrongs us on the road,

when somebody cuts us off, or somebody drives in a way that we don't like,

that is a testimony to our character. That is a testimony to our sense of justice, because you don't want we always feel like we're right when we're in the car. You know, as one person said, that, if somebody's driving faster than you, then they're a maniac. If somebody's driving slower than you, then they're a dummy. All right, somebody zooms past you're like, Look at this. Look at this crazy guy. He's gonna kill somebody. Right? Too fast. This is insane. Fight. Now you're driving fast, and somebody's going slower than you like, Oh, look at this idiot. He's got nowhere to be today. Right? Probably doesn't have a job probably has nothing to do in life. Nothing's going on. I know where to

go. Right. We always feel wronged on the road. Well, there's hundreds and 1000s of other drivers, they all feel the same way. And our sense of justice kicks in on the road, right? How dare this person do such and such to me, and our character begins to reveal itself, our personal sense of justice begins to reveal itself.

That's personal. Just as I said, that's, that's the justice on our on an individual level. And that's why if you want to know the true character of someone,

then there's two parties who will really, really be able to tell you what the true character of an individual is, number one, your spouse, and number two your children.

We can pretend to be whatever we want in public. We can go to the messages and be like the nicest, kindest person ever. We can be in the grocery store and here and there and be nice to the whole world. But you're not fooling your spouse. She or he sees the date.

To date, your children, our children, you know what they are? They're silent observers at times, especially when they're young. They may not react

to what we do. They may not say Hey dad, hey mom that's wrong or whatever. But they see it. Our children know our true character. Our children know what happens when we go through a difficulty what happens when we go through a hardship and that is why the Prophet said like setting them reminded us of what our behavior should be when we feel wronged. When we go through a difficulty in nama sub Rwanda saga, Mata Lula

true patience

is at the onset of a calamity.

Patience is, is as you know, the way the precedent word of this hadith is as if patience is only at the onset of a calamity, because later on, yeah, we can we can act like we're a patient person. And I often say some people are really some people just delusional about their sense of patients. Right? Like, they'll flip out or whatever, get mad yo, all this kind of stuff. But if you speak to this person, they'll be like, Yeah, I'm pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty patient guy, right? I'm a pretty patient woman, I think I'm, I'm pretty good. I have control over my knifes, like, really, you just flipped out on the road, you just flick somebody off as a Muslim, right? You think nobody saw it,

but I saw it right?

On the onset of a calamity, at the onset of a calamity. That is what our true character is. And it is in moments like that that we find use of out of his set I'm maintaining onto his morals and his ideals

as a Muslim, as a believer, and you know, the father of Yaqoob they said um, he knew this as well. Because this is a characteristic

that was found in him use value system and his father. And that is why when use of it said I'm just taken away from Jacoba they said um, when another son is taken away from Iacobelli salaam, one of the things that Yaqoob alayhi salam he says is for southern Jamil, he says patience is beautiful.

He calls the beautiful, beautiful patience. What is beautiful patience.

Like I said, some of us were delusional about our sense of patience. But you know what this beautiful patience is the amount given to him Allah to Allah in His Tafseer of this idea, he says beautiful patience he called patients beautiful because there's something that yeah, who've either he said I'm new, in the moment Allah He may Allah Tala mon I know from Allah that what you don't know, what did he know? He knew he knew, to only expect goodness from Allah subhanaw taala sooner or later. And that is what gives us our sense of justice. That is what gives us the ability to be patient.

Knowing that Allah Subhana Allah to Allah,

as we see, instead of use IV, in know who will le will, Hakeem, Allah is the one he is the most knowledgeable that he has all He is all knowing. Not only that, he is all wise.

And that means that nothing, nothing happens except that Allah Subhana Allah knows about it, nothing happens, except that a person will have to answer for the injustice that they did. So maybe in this life, we are wronged. Maybe in this life, someone did something to us, a Muslim, a believer knows that if they are conscious of Allah, if they hold on to their piety, if they hold on to their sense of justice, if they are patient, that Allah subhana wa Tada will take care of everything. Maybe in this life or maybe not. But at least in the afterlife, Allah subhanaw taala is the ultimate judge Allah who will give everyone what they deserve. And that is why my brothers and sisters, there is a

day of judgment. That's one of the wisdoms of a day of judgment. You know, sometimes we look at the day of judgment as a negative thing.

That's the day when you know, hurt us, we're all have to we're gonna have to answer for everything. But have you thought about the other side of that equation? That anyone who has wronged you, anyone who has harmed you in any way that they will have to answer on that day? And they're not going to have to answer to just any judge. They're going to answer to a judge who knows every single thing that happened.

There is no one on earth like that. There is no human being who knows everything, all of the facts of every situation, but Allah subhanaw taala Eileen knows, he knows everything. So there

can be no one more just than Allah is Panama to Allah, and he is Al Hakim, he is the most wise, meaning Allah subhanaw taala has no bias.

Can we say that about human beings? Can you say that about any human being? Is there any one of us that can say, Yeah, I have no biases.

Right? Somebody comes to me for advice or this and that

we all have some type of bias, whether we admit to it or not. And it factors in on in how we view things, what we say, what type of judgments we make between people, sometimes someone comes to us with a dispute an argument, and we take sides or not take sides and all our bias factors into that. But Allah has Panama data, has no bias. There is no one more fair than Allah subhanaw taala. And as a believer, we take solace in that, as a believer, when someone wrongs us, when we're going through these challenges, and yes, we're going through challenges without a doubt.

We've heard this, we know this, we're living this, but we never

went across the boundaries of Allah subhanaw taala we never want to treat someone unjustly. Because we have felt wrong because we know

that if we are patient, that if we do nothing but leave matters in the hands of Allah subhanaw taala which is not what I'm saying.

I'm saying we shouldn't be just, but we err on the side of caution. We don't want to cross the limits of Allah subhanaw taala we don't want to cross the limits of justice.

If we are going to preach justice, we have to live a just life. And that is why loss penalty Allah when describing this ummah, when describing you, oh Muslim, Allah Subhana Allah says what cada Lika Jaya, I now come on my tongue was alpha. And thus we have made you

the Wasatch nation,

the worst people,

the most balanced people, the most just people lead the coup shahada, either nurse so that you may be a witness over mankind.

But we cannot be witnesses over mankind. If we don't have that justice. The moment we are no longer just we don't have shore footing. What can we say to others when we ourselves are not just

and so my, my message my brothers and sisters, is to look within yourself? Yes, fighting for social justice is a good cause. And yes, and hamdulillah we're involved in that. And the plight of others affects us. And it bothers us when we see other people being wronged. Of course, when we see someone being treated unjustly on a societal level, it should shake us to the core. But don't forget about yourself. Because first and foremost, you're going to have to answer about your knifes on the Day of Judgment enough, see enough, see people are going to say myself myself on the Day of Judgment. So we ask Allah subhanaw taala to make us truly this wasat nation, this moderate, balanced and just nation

and we ask Allah subhanaw taala to make us the means of peace and goodness, wherever we may be. I mean, what Allahu Allah, that Allah Subhana Allah humo behenic A shadow Allah in Estelle Furukawa to be like, what is that Kamala Hara was Salam alaykum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh