Zia Sheikh – Tafseer of Surah Yousuf Ayah 1 552016
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
Today, inshallah, I'm going to be starting the
beginning of Surah Yusuf and those who have
been listening to my lectures in the past
few years are probably aware that I've done
the Tafseer of Surah Yusuf already but I
wanted to just go back again and redo
the whole Surah with a little bit more
detail because really it is one of the
most beautiful Surahs in the Qur'an and
it holds so many lessons.
So inshallah, today is the first lesson of
Surah Yusuf and I'm going to talk about
just one ayah today.
First of all, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
starts this Surah with the words Alif Lam
Ra and this is known as Huruful Muqatta
'at or roughly translated the broken letters and
the Huruful Muqatta'at, they appear in many
of the Surahs of the Qur'an, Suratul
Baqarah is obviously the first one, Alif Lam
Meem when we read it, Ha Meem, Ta
Seen Meem, Ha Meem, Ain Seen Qaaf and
so on throughout the Qur'an there are
Surahs that begin with these Huruful Muqatta'at
and we read them, we recite them as
we heard them from the Qur'an that
taught us how to read.
So, it would not be appropriate for us
to read Alif Lam Meem as Alam, like
in Alam Nashrah Laka Sadarak, we're not allowed
to do that because the recitation of the
Qur'an, it is what is known as
Sima'i, we hear it from our teachers
and then we put it into practice and
this is why the whole concept of Sanad
and Ijazah, it is basically something that should
not be taken lightly, when a person is
getting an Ijazah from someone, from a Qari,
from a Shaykh who is teaching recitation, in
that Ijazah, in that Sanad, a person has
written that for example, Abdul Rahman learned from
Abdullah, who learned from so and so, who
learned from so and so and then this
whole certificate, it goes back all the way
to the Imams of Qira'ah and from
the Imams of Qira'ah to the Tabi
'een and from them to the Sahaba, from
the Sahaba to the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam,
from the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam to Jibreel
Alayhi Salaam and Jibreel Alayhi Salaam to Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
This is the Sanad, the chain that a
Qari has when he gets the Ijazah to
teach the recitation of the Qur'an and
this is actually one of the miracles of
the Qur'an, you know when we say
that the Qur'an is full of miracles,
one of the miracles is that obviously no
wording, no Harakat have changed from the very
beginning but it's not simply the Harakat, it
is also the method of recitation that has
been maintained and preserved until the Day of
Judgment.
So a person for example who recites with
Tajweed in India or Pakistan, he will be
reciting exactly the same as the Qari who
recites in Malaysia or Indonesia or China or
for that matter America.
The Qira'ah, the preservation of the Qira
'ah and where to lengthen, where to shorten
and where to stop, where not to stop
and all of the fine points of Tajweed
have been preserved because of this methodology of
learning from a teacher and the student basically
passing it on.
So this preservation is a miracle of the
Qur'an.
So going back to the point, Alif Laam
Ra, it is something that we heard the
Prophet a.s. teaching, reciting and we heard
it from him and this is how we
recite Alif Laam Ra.
So this is, like I said, is from
the Huruful Muqatta'at and those Huruful Muqatta
'at are from the Mutashabihaat of Allah s
.w.t. And I'll talk about the Mutashabihaat
in a minute but the Qur'an, a
linguistic miracle and a miracle of prose, a
miracle of poetry, a miracle of beauty, it
was revealed upon those people that used to
pride themselves in knowing the Arabic language and
knowing it with such depth that any person
who was not an Arab was known as
a'ajami.
So Arabi, a'ajami.
And you'll be astounded if you find out
what the meaning of a'ajami actually is.
So basically, if you're an Arab, you speak
Arabic and so on.
If you're a non-Arab, in Arabic, you're
known as a'ajami.
So a'ajami actually means, in linguistic terms,
it means a person who's dumb.
A person who doesn't know how to speak.
So they used to pride themselves on their
linguistic repertoire, on their expertise to such a
degree that any person who was not an
Arab, he was regarded as being dumb.
So the Qur'an, the linguistic miracle was
revealed to those people who used to pride
themselves in such a way.
And this was the unique thing that the
prophets, the Anbiyaan-e-Musallat-ul-Salam were
sent to such people with the miracles that
were relevant to the people of the time.
For example, Isa a.s. was sent to
people who used to delve into medicine and
to treating the sick.
So Isa a.s. came and with the
touch of his hand and with the permission
of Allah swt, he cured the sick.
He cured the blind.
He cured the lepers.
This was a miracle because people at that
time used to delve into the issue of
medicine and treatment.
Musa a.s. was sent at a time
when people were involved in sorcery and magic.
So he was sent with the miracles that
overcame that magic.
The initial claim was against Musa a.s.
that the stick that he has, this is
magic.
And the right hand that he has, it's
magic.
But when competing against the magicians of the
time, the sorcerers of the time, Allah swt
defeated those magicians at the hand of Musa
a.s. So the miracles that people were
given, the prophets were given, were relevant to
what the people used to hold important in
that particular day and age.
So in the time of the prophet Isa
a.s., people used to hold poetry very
dearly and talking, narrating stories and using, you
know, rare terminology.
This was what the people used to do
at the time.
So those people who used to hear the
Quran the first time, they used to realize
that this is not any work of any
human being.
And they used to, many of them, you
know, if they didn't have any other ulterior
motive, many people realized that the prophet Isa
a.s. had brought something from Allah swt.
But the majority of the people that used
to hear the Quran immediately knew that it
was from Allah swt.
So Alif Laam Ra, Alif Laam Meem, was
kind of a challenge to those people that
you think that you are so smart and
you pride yourself on knowing the Arabic language,
work this out.
So these Arooful Muqattaat, they were from the
Mutashabihaat, like I said, and what is the
Mutashabihaat?
Allah swt, He has divided the Quran into
two things, Ayat which are Muhkam and Ayat
which are Mutashabihaat.
Allah says at the beginning of Surah Al
Imran, It is He, Allah swt,
who revealed upon you the book.
And from it, there are Muhkam Ayat, Muhkam
meaning that the meanings are very very clear.
There is no doubt as to what the
meaning is, very very clear.
And there can be no discrepancy or misunderstanding
about what the meaning is, what Allah swt
is trying to tell us.
So these are known as Muhkam verses.
And then there are some verses which are
Mutashabihaat.
And these are the minimum, there are very
few verses in the Quran or words in
the Quran that are known as Mutashabihaat.
And then these Mutashabihaat are distributed into two
parts.
There are two kinds of Mutashabihaat.
One type of Mutashabihaat is that thing for
which we have an example in this world.
For example, when we say, Yadullah, the hand
of Allah swt.
When we think about the hand, we think
about our hands, but when it is referring
to Allah swt, then we drop our hands
and say, we don't know what it means.
Allah has a hand, but what does that
hand mean?
It cannot be like our hands because there
is nothing similar to Allah swt.
So we simply say, we believe in the
hand of Allah swt.
The shin of Allah swt.
The Istiwa of Allah swt upon His Arsh.
How is it?
We really say simply that we don't know.
We believe in it and we have firm
conviction in it, but we don't know.
So this is one type of Mutashabihaat, that
there is a worldly example of it, but
when it comes to the Mutashabihaat in the
Quran, we still say, we don't know what
it means.
And then the other Mutashabihaat is like the
Huruful Muqata'aat, that we don't have anything
similar to that in this world.
And again, we refer that back to Allah
swt.
So Allah says at the end of that
same verse that I was mentioning, Those
people that have crookedness in their heart, they
try to pursue the meaning of these Mutashabihaat.
Why?
Because they want to prove a point, they
want to show that they are, you know,
clever, or they want to simply put doubts
in the minds of the believers by claiming
that they know what these Mutashabihaat are all
about.
So, Allah swt says, they are seeking a
trial, or seeking fitna, and seeking its ta
'weel, or seeking its meaning.
Allah says, Only Allah swt knows the meaning
of these Mutashabihaat.
Nobody else knows the meaning.
As for those people who are embedded in
knowledge, they say that we have Iman on
them.
Everything is from our Lord.
Only the people of understanding will take heed.
So, people who are immersed in knowledge, they
are engrossed in knowledge, they have made knowledge
part and parcel of their life, they simply
say that we do not know what these
words mean.
We do not know what these words mean,
and this is exactly what we should believe
in also.
A way of understanding this is that Allah
swt, He bestowed upon us five senses, and
an internal sense of, what you might say,
logic or intelligence.
So, even those who have the best of
the senses, the best eyesight, for example, there
are still limitations to that eyesight.
A person who has 20-20 vision, but
he cannot see beyond a wall.
A person whose hearing is spot on, but
he cannot hear outside anything when people are
talking.
He cannot hear something that is going on
in the next room.
A person's touch, it is limited to the
things that he is actually touching.
So, similarly, the intellect is something that has
limitations.
Allah swt gave us an intellect.
He gave us a lot of knowledge, but
somewhere along the line, we have to draw
a line, and we have to say that
this is only in the realm of Allah
swt.
It is in the treasures of Allah swt,
and we don't know what Allah swt means
with this.
As for the wisdom behind these things, there
will come a time when we will probably
find out what the wisdom is.
But until that time, we carry on believing
in those words.
And a person who actually refers these things
back to Allah swt and believes, understanding that
the power of Allah swt is there, he
is actually doing what a believer is supposed
to do.
So, for example, a person, he drinks alcohol.
But then he comes across scientific research that
says, well, if you drink X amount of
alcohol, this just is going to mess up
your liver.
And he reads the research, and after reading
all the research, he makes tawbah from drinking
alcohol.
So this person actually didn't stop alcohol because
Allah swt told him to.
He stopped drinking alcohol because of the scientific
research that went into it, and he believed
in that scientific research.
So a believer, he goes the opposite way
around.
He closes his eyes and believes simply in
what Allah swt is saying, whatever he is
ordering, he knows that there is a wisdom
behind it, and that wisdom only Allah swt
knows, and he will practice what Allah swt
is telling him with his eyes closed.
And an example of that might be that
a person, for example, he goes to see
a doctor, and the doctor tells him that,
you know, you've injured your foot, for example.
So you have to take X, Y, and
Z precautions until your foot gets better.
So the person thinks to himself, no, I'm
not going to do that.
I think I'm strong enough to go against
the precautions that the doctor gave me.
It's highly likely that the person is going
to get injured again.
So a person really has to put his
trust in the doctor who has spent many,
many years in the field, treating those kinds
of injuries, and basically putting his injury according
to, or treating his injury according to the
advice given by the doctor.
So this is similar to the commands of
Allah swt.
We accept the commands of Allah swt simply
because Allah swt tells us to, and not
because of any type of research or anything
like that.
Yes, if we come across research that fortifies
our opinion, this is simply something of a
bonus rather than the reason why we practice
that thing in the first place.
And there are many, many things.
For example, the issue of Allah swt mentioning
Zaytoon as being Shajaram Mubarakah.
It's a blessed tree.
So the oil from that tree is also
blessed.
The Prophet a.s. said, consume this oil,
drink this oil, and also use it to
massage yourself with.
Massage your skin with that olive oil too.
So simply we accept it.
Yes, more and more scientific research tells us
that this is the best kind of oil,
high in monounsaturates, low in saturates, good for
the heart, good for the body, good for
the sugar.
Allah swt told us that 1400 years ago.
Prophet a.s. told us that 1400 years
ago.
So there are many examples of that.
So we accept what the Prophet a.s.
told us, what Allah swt told us.
So this is the issue of the Mutashabihat.
Alif Lam Ra, we believe what Allah swt
said about it.
We don't know what it truly means.
Allah swt knows best what he is referring
to.
After that Allah says, Those are the verses
of the clear book.
The word Tilka, in Arabic it is known
as Ishara Ba'id.
Meaning it is for referring to something that
is far away.
And the same thing you have at the
beginning of Surah Al Baqarah.
That book, if you literally translate it.
Even though the book is right in front
of you, it is supposed to be And
in this ayah, it is supposed to be
These are the verses of the clear book.
So why does Allah swt use wording that
indicates that the Quran is far away?
The answer to this question is that Allah
swt uses this wording to denote the grandness
of the Quran.
And this is an Arabic thing that is
in the Arabic language.
That when you want to denote something as
being big, you refer to it as being
far away, even though it may be close
to you.
These are the verses of the book.
Whenever you have the book in the Quran,
mention Al Kitab.
It is referring to the Quran itself.
And then Al Mubeen, clear.
So all of the verses of the Quran
are clear.
And they explain a lot.
Allah swt says in the Quran, That we
didn't leave anything in the book.
Everything is mentioned there.
So this, I'll finish with this inshallah.
This verse in the Quran, it says that
there is nothing left in the Quran to
discuss.
Everything is found in the book.
Nothing was diminished from it.
Nothing is deleted from it.
So an orientalist, Sheikh Sha'rawi mentions the
story, that an orientalist, we refer to a
person who uses and basically spends his life
trying to criticize Islam.
Professors and so on that teach in universities,
they teach Islam with a critical eye, with
a critical view.
And many have actually written tafsirs of the
Quran, translations of the Quran, and then explaining
it, but full of criticisms against Islam, with
a view to kind of undermining and demeaning
Islam.
So this orientalist, he came to a sheikh,
a scholar, and said that your Quran, it
says that we've not left anything left in
the Quran.
So here's a piece of bread.
Can you tell me how many grains of
wheat were used to make this piece of
bread?
So the sheikh, he said, okay, yeah, just
call the baker from next door.
Call the baker and we'll ask him.
So the baker came and asked him the
question.
He said approximately X amount of grains of
wheat are used to make this size of
bread.
So the orientalist said, why didn't you bring
me an answer from the Quran?
Why didn't you bring me an answer from
the Quran When your Quran says we've not
left anything there, so why didn't you bring
me an answer from the Quran?
So the sheikh said that the Quran tells
us, Ask the people of knowledge if you
do not know.
So in this case, the person of knowledge
is the baker.
This is a very important principle in Sharia,
in Fiqh.
Many principles, many rulings are derived from this
concept of asking the people of knowledge.
The doctor tells you that, for example, the
wife is pregnant.
There's some kind of deficiency in the pregnancy.
And the doctor says that it's better to
abort the fetus rather than let it carry
on because it's going to be extremely deficient
and not going to have a proper life
that you can say that there is a
life that that person is living.
So the doctor advises that you need to
abort the fetus.
You come to the sheikh, the sheikh is
going to tell you that do what the
doctor is telling you.
Do what the doctor is telling you.
The concept of fasting in the month of
Ramadan, Generally speaking, the doctor, Muslim doctor, he
is a little bit more aware of the
ins and outs of fasting.
So if a person is sick and he
asks the doctor and the doctor says you
should not be fasting, then he should pay
attention to what the doctor is saying.
And preferably in this case, a Muslim doctor
who knows when the fast begins, when it
ends and so on.
And he can give you some kind of
alternative to take medication at the beginning, at
the end, so that the person can fast
because he has some kind of idea as
to what goes into fasting.
As opposed to a non-Muslim doctor, he
might say to you, no, no, no, absolutely
not.
Staying hungry all day, you're going to get
more sick.
So because they have a completely different mindset
and don't know the ins and outs of
fasting, so they may not know.
So in this case, a Muslim doctor would
be better to refer to.
So the concept is, Ask the people of
knowledge if indeed you don't know.
So this was the first ayah of Surah
Yusuf.
And inshallah, we will be continuing this surah
from next week.
I pray that Allah SWT gives us tawfiq
to understand and practice what has been said
and heard.
Ameen.