Zia Sheikh – Tafseer of Surah Yusuf ayah 108
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The importance of the Quroud Qada in the Islamic culture is discussed, including its use in practicing and bringing full faith. Basar is seen as something in one's heart that can be seen and touched, and is the responsibility of Islam for being invited to Allah. The responsibility is for non-Muslims and Muslims, and for non-Muslims who don't know anything about Islam and cannot practic. The responsibility is also for non-Muslims and Muslims, and for non-Muslims who have the responsibility for being invited to Allah.
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I seek refuge with Allah from the accursed
Satan.
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious,
the Most Merciful.
Say, This is my way, I invite you
to Allah.
Upon a vision of me and those who
follow me.
And glory be to Allah, and I am
not of the polytheists.
This ayah, it requires a lot of explanation,
especially related to the issue of Dawah, the
issue of our responsibility being in the Ummah
of the Beloved Prophet ﷺ.
And what this ayah entails, it's a very,
very heavy burden that we should all be
concerned about.
So, Allah SWT, He starts the verse by
saying, Qul, tell them, O Prophet of Allah.
So, the question is, why does the Prophet
ﷺ, why is the Prophet ﷺ addressed with
Qul?
Why is Allah SWT telling him to tell
the people, whereas the whole Qur'an is
a message to us from Allah SWT through
the Prophet ﷺ.
Each and every ayah came to us through
the Prophet ﷺ.
So, why does Allah SWT tell the Prophet
ﷺ, tell them, or say?
Say means tell them, inform them, O Prophet
of Allah.
So, the reason behind this, the scholars say,
is that what is coming afterwards requires particular
attention and particular focus that we cannot neglect.
So, wherever we have the word Qul in
the Qur'an, it is a very important
lesson that is being told to us or
taught to us at that point in the
Qur'an.
The whole Qur'an is important, no doubt,
but those specific verses which are followed by
Qul means that we need to pay particular
attention to them.
So, what is the message in this verse?
The message is, Hadihi Sabeeli, Ad'u ila
Allah.
This is my way, I invite towards Allah
SWT.
The word Sabeel has been predicated by the
word Hadihi.
Hadihi is usually for feminine things, so the
question is, is the word Sabeel feminine or
masculine?
And the answer to that is that the
word Sabeel is used in a masculine way,
in a masculine context, and also in a
feminine context.
Like, for example, in the Qur'an, Allah
SWT says, in another verse, I believe it's
in Surah Al-A'raf, وَإِن يَرَوْا سَبِيلَ
الرُّشْتِ لَا يَتَّخِذُوهُ سَبِيلًۭا So, in that
particular verse, Allah SWT uses the word Sabeel
in a masculine form.
Here, it's being used in a feminine way.
So, the reason is, the Sabeel, the word
Hadihi is used because Sabeel is used in
both masculine and feminine ways.
The next portion of the verse, it says,
Ad'u ila Allah.
I invite towards Allah SWT.
Now, the reason that a person invites is
because he has full conviction in that particular
thing that he's inviting towards.
For example, we're talking a lot about politics
nowadays.
When a person claims to be a Republican,
he basically says that I follow the ideals
of the Republican Party.
So, when he is following the ideals of
the Republican Party, and he encourages people to
vote, what does he tell them to vote
for?
What does he invite them towards?
He invites them towards the same ideals that
he stands for, the same principles that he
stands for.
He invites other people to call towards those
particular principles.
So, when a person says, Ad'u ila
Allah, I call towards Allah SWT, it means
that I have firm conviction and faith that
what I am inviting towards is the means
for success in this world and the hereafter.
And otherwise, if a person is doing it
without conviction, then there is almost a level
of hypocrisy there.
So, a person has to have full conviction
in what he's inviting towards.
Now, a person should not think, and this
is again something that there is a couple
of verses in the Qur'an that indicate
that a person, if he is doing what
he is doing, and he is following the
right path, then he is okay, and he
will not be held questionable.
One verse is, for example, Allah SWT says
in Surah Al-An'am, لَا يَضُرُّكُم مَّن
ضَلَّ إِذَا اهْتَدَيْتُمْ For people of Iman, as
long as you are guided, you are on
the straight path, then the people who are
misguided, they cannot harm you.
So this, I believe it was Abu Bakr
Siddiq radiallahu ta'ala who said about this
verse, that don't let this verse fool you.
Don't let this verse fool you into thinking
that it's not your responsibility to invite those
misguided people towards Islam.
What it means is, that as long as
you have given them the message, and you
have invited them, and you have done and
fulfilled your responsibility, then after that, if they
remain misguided, then they cannot harm you.
At that point.
Otherwise, it's not that, as long as I
am on my right path, I'm doing my
Salat, I'm going to the Masjid, I'm staying
away from sin, I don't need to be
worried about anything else.
That's not what that verse means.
So that's one thing.
That's one verse.
Another verse, people often misunderstand.
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لِمَا تَقُولُونَ مَا لَا
تَفْعَلُونَ O people of Iman, why do you
say what you do not do yourself?
So a person, he thinks to himself, before
I start inviting people towards Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala, I need to perfect myself first.
Which is an impossible task, that we can
be completely perfect, 100%.
So, this verse, it means, when you say
لِمَا تَقُولُونَ مَا لَا تَفْعَلُونَ Why do you
say what you do not know, what you
do not do?
Then, what it means is, that as long
as I'm giving Dawah, and I try to
practice what I preach, then this verse does
not apply to me.
So, I try my best to practice what
I preach.
If I tell people to pray the five
times Salat, then I should be trying to
pray my five times Salat also.
If I tell people to stay away from
haram things, I should be staying away from
haram things.
And this is actually more important to parents.
Many people who are parents, they expect their
kids to pray, while they themselves don't pray.
They expect their kids not to smoke, while
they themselves smoke.
They expect their kids to open up the
Mus'haf and Qur'an and read it,
while they themselves do not read it.
So, if you want your kids to follow
into your footsteps, then practice what you preach.
And become an example for your kids.
Otherwise, this ayah will apply to you, لِمَا
تَقُولُونَ مَا لَا تَفْعَلُونَ So, it does not
mean that if I am not practicing something,
I should not be giving dawah of it.
What it means is, the thing that I
give dawah towards, I need to try to
implement that in my life also.
And sometimes maybe, out of shame also, a
person thinks to himself, I am inviting other
people, I am trying to guide other people,
and yet I am not practicing this.
It makes him ashamed into doing that thing
that he is preaching, but not practicing.
So, we should not be fooled into thinking
that the meaning of these verses is that
we should stop inviting people towards Allah.
And inshallah, later on, I am going to
talk about a particular verse.
اَنَا وَمَنِ اتَّبَعَنِي I am going to talk
about that inshallah.
So, اَدْعُوْا إِلَى اللَّهِ I invite people towards
Allah.
That means that I have full conviction in
what I am preaching, and I have full
knowledge about what I am preaching, and I
have full yaqeen and trust in Allah that
what I am inviting towards is the truth,
and I will be rewarded for doing this.
So, اَدْعُوْا إِلَى اللَّهِ I invite people towards
Allah.
عَلَىٰ بَصِيرَةٍ عَلَىٰ بَصِيرَةٍ There is a difference
between basar and basira.
Basar is something that you see with your
physical eye, something that is physical, something that
you can see and touch and feel.
This is basar.
Basira is an inner feeling, an intuition, something
that is in your heart that you know
to be the truth, to be correct.
So, you can say it's a wisdom, an
intuition, an inner feeling, an instinct, if you
will.
So, عَلَىٰ بَصِيرَةٍ means that when I give
da'wah towards Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
it is with this full conviction, and with
a basira, with an insight, with the correct
wisdom.
There are many, many things that we can
draw from this word basira, عَلَىٰ بَصِيرَةٍ One
of the examples that the mufassireen have given
of basira is the example of Musa alayhi
salatu wasalam's mother.
When Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, he told
her, he commanded her, فَإِذَا خِفْتِ عَلَيْهِ فَأَلْقِيهِ
فِي الْيَمْ وَلَا تَخَافِ وَلَا تَحْزَنِ إِنَّا رَادُّهُ
إِلَيْكِ وَجَعَلُهُ مِنَ الْمُرْسَلِينَ Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala commanded her to give him milk, to
breastfeed him, and when she feared that the
people of Fir'aun are going to come
and kill him, فَأَلْقِيهِ فِي الْيَمْ Put him
in the water, put him in the river.
And at the same time, لا تَخَافِ وَلا
تَحْزَنِ Don't be afraid and don't have any
kind of worry.
So if you look at that from a
logical perspective, you have a newborn baby that
has been born recently, and somebody is telling
you to take that baby and put it
in a basket and just put it into
a river.
A logical person cannot and will not do
this, undertake this kind of action.
It's not going to happen.
But Basira, an insight and the ilham that
is coming from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
and putting inside the mother of Musa a
.s. a confidence that Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala is inspiring me to do this, I
need to do it, and he's telling me
not to be afraid, I will do it.
So that's what she did.
And ultimately, we know the whole story.
Fir'aun and his family are walking in
the garden, they see this box, they open
it up, and Musa a.s. is there
and he's picked up and he's raised in
the palace of Fir'aun himself.
And also, the mother of Musa a.s.
gets him back in the sense that he
doesn't take anybody else's milk until she finally
comes and he takes her milk and he
stays alive because of that.
So he is under the care of the
mother and under the care of the palace
at the same time.
So this is to do with an intuition
or an inner wisdom or an insight, this
is what is called Basira.
So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, with
Basira, with this insight, with this wisdom, I
give dawah.
It is not just something that is superficial,
but it is complete in every sense, that
it's with this complete wisdom that Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala gives me.
And then, the next portion of the verse
is something that we need to focus on
and understand.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, I do
this and whoever follows in my footsteps, he
also does this.
This is a clear message to all of
us, being in the Ummah of the Prophet
ﷺ, that this responsibility of inviting people towards
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala was not limited
to the Prophet ﷺ himself.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala told him, وَمَا
أَرْسَلْنَاكَ إِلَّا رَحْمَةً لِّلْعَالَمِينَ O Prophet of Allah,
we sent you as a mercy for the
worlds, the world of humans, the world of
jinns, and that means until the Day of
Judgment.
وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَاكَ إِلَّا كَافَةً لِّلنَّاسِ بَشِيرٌ وَنَذِيرًا O
Prophet of Allah, we sent you for the
whole of humanity as a warner, as a
giver of glad tidings, and a warner against
the punishment of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
So, he has been sent until the Day
of Judgment.
مَا كَانَ مُحَمَّدٌ أَبَأَ أَحَدٍ مِّن رِجَالِكُمْ وَلَكِ
الرَّسُولَ اللَّهِ وَخَاتَمَ النَّبِينَ He is the Seal
of Prophets and there is no Prophet to
come after him, but yet his life of
prophethood was only 23 years.
So, how could he be the Prophet for
the whole of humanity until the Day of
Judgment and he is only given 23 years
to do that work?
It's impossible for him to do that in
23 years.
We look at the life of Nuh alayhi
salatu wasalam, and he was sent as a
Prophet, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us
clearly in the Quran, for 950 years.
But he was sent for a select group
of people.
وَلَقَدْ أَرْسَلْنَا نُوحًا إِلَىٰ قَوْمِهِ فَلَبِثَ فِيهِمْ أَلْفَ
سَنَةٍ إِلَّا خَمْسِينَ عَامًا He stayed amongst them
for 950 years, and he invited them.
But it was for a select group of
people, for a select amount of time, for
a limited amount of time, and yet he
was given 950 years.
So, how could our beloved Prophet salallahu alayhi
wa sallam, how could he be the Prophet
until the Day of Judgment, and yet he
is only given 23 years.
We understand from this that the responsibility of
inviting people towards Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
is not simply his, but it's also the
responsibility of each and every follower of the
Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam as this ayah
indicates.
So, from every capacity that we can, from
the capacity and the strength and the ability
that we have, we need to do whatever
we can.
As the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam said,
بَلِّهُ عَنِّي وَلَا آيَةٍ Make tabligh from me,
propagate my message, even if it's one ayah.
If you learnt one ayah, you need to
propagate it, and you need to tell people
about it.
The responsibility is for non-Muslims and Muslims
alike.
We need to be inviting them towards Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala.
The non-Muslims that don't know anything about
Islam, and the Muslims that have strayed away
from Islam, and are not practicing it, and
are only Muslim by name.
So, the invitation towards them of أَمْرُ بِالْمَعْرُوفَ
النَّهِيَنِ الْمُنكَرِ it becomes our responsibility.
And this is also highlighted in many verses
of the Qur'an, many hadith of the
Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam.
We don't have time to go into them
all, but it's a very, very clear understanding
that we're supposed to have, and we will
be held questionable about it on the Day
of Judgment.
Many scholars go as far as to say,
that if a person is living in a
non-Muslim environment, and his intention is not
to give dawah to the people, then it
is not permissible for him to stay in
that non-Muslim environment, because it's going to
affect his deen, it's going to affect his
Islam, he may lose his Islam.
So, when that's the case, when we are
in a non-Muslim environment, and we are
not giving dawah, then how could we face
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala on the Day
of Judgment?
So at the very least, we need to
be telling people about Islam, and informing them,
and from our actions, we need to be
living Islam.
We need to be living Islam as a
good example, we need to be honest, truthful,
trustworthy, we need to be good neighbours, we
need to be clean neighbours.
Every single thing of ours is scrutinised and
looked at in this day and age.
Once a person finds out that his name
is Abdullah or Abdur Rahman, and he's a
Muslim, then each and every person is looking
at us at work.
Our negative actions will reflect negatively on Islam
and the religion, not on us personally.
It will reflect negatively on Islam and the
religion of Islam, and not just upon ourselves.
But our positive actions, our honesty, our trustworthiness,
our truthfulness, that will reflect positively on Islam.
And just, we need to keep this point
in mind, that if any of our actions
become the means of pushing people away from
Islam, then this will be a huge means
of trouble for us on the Day of
Judgement.
That Allah SWT is going to ask us,
that you did this, and such and such
a co-worker of yours saw that, and
he was put off from Islam, he didn't
want to learn Islam, because of your actions,
what do you have to say for that?
So this is a very dangerous situation to
be in, and it's an amanah on our
shoulders that we need to understand, that we
have to implement while we're living in this
non-Muslim environment.
So, you know, we could do a huge,
hours-long lecture about this issue, but again,
Allah SWT says here, أنا ومن اتبعني I
do this work of da'wah and call
people towards Allah SWT, and whoever follows in
my footsteps, he has to do the same
thing.
وسبحان الله وما أنا من المشتقين And I
glorify the purity of Allah SWT, or I
proclaim the purity of Allah SWT.
سبحت سبحان الله I proclaim the purity of
Allah SWT, that Allah is pure from all
faults, Allah SWT is pure from all needs,
Allah SWT is pure from all wants.
What that means is, that what's the correlation
between the two verses, that when we invite
people towards Islam, or when we practice Islam
itself, it's not because Allah SWT needs us.
Allah SWT doesn't need anything from us, He
doesn't need our worship, He doesn't need our
da'wah, He doesn't need anything from us,
Allah SWT, He is Ghani, He is As
-Samad, He has no need for anything.
So when we do what we do, in
terms of being obedient to Allah SWT, inviting
people towards Allah SWT, it is for our
benefit, and the benefit of the people that
we are inviting.
So Allah is pure from all needs and
wants.
وَمَا أَنَا مِنَ الْمُشْرِكِينَ And I'm not from
the Mushrikeen, I'm not from the people that
associate partners with Him.
And we discussed in detail last week, the
different categories and forms of shirk, that can
occur amongst a person.
One is the main form of shirk, which
is the unforgivable sin, then there is the
shirk where people don't realize, and yet they
commit shirk, and then there's a lesser form
of shirk, which is called shirk khafi, that
a person does deeds without ikhlas and without
sincerity, so that's also a form of shirk.
So when we say وَمَا أَنَا مِنَ الْمُشْرِكِينَ
it means that we're not supposed to be
the people that adopt any of those forms
of shirk, we have to be pure and
clean internally and externally, from all the aspects
of shirk that have been mentioned.
I pray that Allah SWT gives us tawfiq
to understand and practice what has been said
and heard.
Insha'Allah we'll continue with this next week.