Zia Sheikh – Tafseer of Surah Yusuf Ayah 53 onwards
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AI: Transcript ©
I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed
Satan.
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious,
the Most Merciful.
And I do not abase myself.
Indeed, the soul is a commandment for evil
except that which is merciful to my Lord.
Indeed, my Lord is Forgiving and Merciful.
And the king said, Give it to me,
I will give it exclusively to myself.
So when he spoke to him, he said,
Today you are with us a trustee.
He said, Put me on the treasures of
the earth.
Indeed, I am a knowledgable keeper.
And thus did We establish for Joseph on
the earth, that he may move about from
it as he willed.
We bestow Our mercy upon whomsoever We will,
and We do not waste the reward of
the doers of good.
And the reward of the Hereafter is better
for those who believe and are ever mindful
of Allah.
Joseph had been in prison before and he
interpreted the dream for the king.
And after the interpretation, the king said, Bring
Yusuf to me.
And Yusuf said, No, I am not going
to come until my name is cleared.
And the discussion between Yusuf and the representatives
of the king and the women that were
involved, they are all that was discussed last
week.
And we finished last week and we actually
started this first verse.
وَمَا أُبَلِعُ نَفْسِي إِنَّ النَّفْسَ لَأَمَّارَتُم بِسُوءٍ إِلَّا
مَا رَحِمَ رَبِّي And I did talk about
it briefly.
But inshallah, I'm going to go into a
little bit more detail right now.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, وَمَا أُبَلِعُ
نَفْسِي And this, there's a difference of opinion
as to who is saying this.
So based upon the opinions, inshallah, we'll translate
accordingly.
One opinion is that it was Imra'atul
Aziz.
The wife of the Aziz is the one
who's saying it.
Now, if it's her that's saying it, so
basically as a woman, she is saying that
the nafs, everybody has the nafs and everybody
has desires.
And the fact that she succumbed to those
desires, it's not something that should be taken
as a fault of hers.
Because every single person has a nafs that
continuously orders them to do evil.
So according to that, the translation will be,
وَمَا أُبَلِعُ نَفْسِي I'm not saying that my
nafs is innocent.
I'm not saying that I'm bari.
إِنَّ النَّفْسَ لَأَمَّارَتُمْ بِسُوءِ إِلَّا مَا رَحِمَ رَبِّي
Indeed, the nafs, it is أَمَّارَ بِسُوءِ The
nafs, it is أَمَّارَ بِسُوءِ meaning it continuously
orders people to do bad things.
And inshallah, I'm going to talk a little
bit about the three stages of nafs in
a minute.
So the wife of the Aziz is saying
that every single person has these desires and
each one has a nafs that continuously orders
the person to do bad.
إِلَّا مَا رَحِمَ رَبِّي Except for whom Allah
has mercy, otherwise everybody can succumb to those
desires.
So I as a human being should not
be held guilty for slipping up and falling
for those desires that were in me.
إِنَّ رَبِّي غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ Indeed, my Lord, He
is غفور, He is forgiving and He is
merciful.
So basically she, after saying all of this,
saying that every person can commit sins, but
I'm absolutely convinced that my Lord, He is
غفور رحيم and He can forgive our sins
because we can make sincere tawbah.
So this is when the translation is for
the Imra'atul Aziz.
If this is Yusuf a.s. saying this,
then the question is that how is it
that as a prophet he is referring to
the desires.
So Yusuf a.s., according to him, if
he is saying this, then he is saying
the same thing.
وَمَا أُبَرِيُ نَفْسِي I do not say that
my nafs is not guilty.
إِنَّ النَّفْسَ لَأَمَّارَةٌ بِسُوءِ إِلَّا مَا رَحِمَ رَبِّي
The nafs, every single human has it.
And now Yusuf a.s. despite being a
prophet, despite being a messenger of Allah s
.w.t. and despite his status, he is
humbling himself and bringing himself down to the
ground and not becoming arrogant because he is
saying to himself that I am so innocent
and I saved myself and I didn't fall
for the desires of the women.
No, despite the fact that he did save
himself and he did do all of those
things, he still wants to show his humbleness
and say that I as a human being
could have slipped up but Allah s.w
.t. is the one that saved me.
And I as a human being also have
this nafs that is associated with me, attached
with me and that nafs could have ordered
me to do something bad and I could
have listened to it but Allah s.w
.t. had mercy on me and therefore Allah
saved me.
So as a prophet he is showing his
humbleness and also he is showing his humanity
that he is in fact a human being
and not an angel that he could not
fall for those sins.
So both translations basically can fit whether the
wife of the Aziz Zulaikha is the one
saying it or Yusuf a.s. saying it,
both of the translations can be fit accordingly.
So what is this nafs that Yusuf a
.s. or Zulaikha is referring to?
There are three stages of a person's nafs
and those stages basically a person needs to
be aware of and this is self-recognition,
recognition of one's own nafs and where one
is in terms of submitting himself to that
nafs or not.
So this is, I briefly mentioned it last
week that if a person listens to his
nafs at all times and listens to his
desires at all times.
Basically the nafs says eat this, the person
says okay I'll eat it.
The nafs says drink this, okay I'll drink
it.
The nafs says go to such and such
a place where haram is being committed, okay
I'll do that.
So this is where a person he does
not think of the consequences of his committing
sins that he will do whatever the nafs
tells him.
He has no idea of the consequence and
even if he has an idea he makes
himself forget and he does not think about
the consequence and he follows his desires at
all times.
Doesn't think about the consequence of this world
or the consequence of the hereafter.
This is a person who is at the
lowest stage and he is at the lowest
stage of his iman that he basically listens
to his nafs, whatever the nafs tells him
to do he does it.
Then there is another category and this is
the category where probably most Muslims fall into.
If anybody has any semblance of iman he
will fall under the category of having what's
known as النفس اللوامة.
What is النفس اللوامة?
اللوامة is from the word لَامَ يَلُومُ and
in Urdu we use the word مَلَامَة.
مَلَامَة and this is from the same root
letters.
مَلَامَة means that basically scolding somebody.
So when a person he falls pray to
his nafs, he listens to his nafs and
he commits a sin or he is about
to commit a sin, the nafs inside him
because he has some level of iman tells
him that what you are doing is wrong.
Another way to describe this نفس اللوامة is
a conscience or ضمير.
ضمير is another word which is used.
In Urdu we say ضمير.
Okay, that a person has a level of
conscience that prevents him, either prevents him from
committing a sin or if he commits a
sin he feels so guilty that he immediately
wants to make dawah.
Why?
Because the nafs scolds him and tells him
that what you've done is wrong.
What you've said is wrong.
The place that you went to was wrong.
What you ate was wrong.
What you drank was wrong.
What you said to your wife was wrong.
What you said to your son was wrong.
What you said to your neighbor was wrong.
So a person feeling this guilt inside him,
it's because he has this نفس اللوامة his
iman, you know, doesn't allow him to continue
to either commit the sin or doesn't allow
him to continue until he's made tawbah for
the sin and if he's wronged somebody he
will not feel at ease until he has
asked forgiveness from that person.
So this is the stage of النفس اللوامة.
And then there's a stage which is the
final stage and the best of the stages
that a person is in so much control
of his نفس that he knows 100%
for sure that he is not going to
commit any type of sin.
And this is the stage of النفس المطمئنة.
That a person can have the biggest kind
of attraction or the biggest kind of incentive.
For example, a person puts a million dollars
in front of him and tells him that
you know, this is stolen property.
I've stolen it.
You can take this money and I'm not
going to tell anybody about it.
It's yours.
But his نفس is so at ease that
he will not even be inclined towards taking
that money because he knows that it's wrong
to take that money.
Or he comes across something very valuable in
the street and a person with lesser Iman
would take it and pocket that valuable thing
but with his نفس المطمئنة he's at complete
ease and he will take that thing and
make sure that he finds the owner and
never have in his mind that he's going
to pocket that thing and keep it.
So this is again the stage of نفس
المطمئنة that we are supposed to strive for.
Now this is something that we also need
to keep in mind that a person can
have a نفس المطمئنة in some things and
then he can become weak in another thing.
And I often give this example that, for
example, a person who drinks alcohol.
He drinks alcohol and he basically doesn't think
anything of it.
He thinks he's at that stage in the
alcohol of أمارة بسوء.
His نفس tells him to drink and he
drinks it.
And he doesn't even think anything of it.
He doesn't even feel bad about it.
But then the same person, if you tell
him to eat pork, he will never ever
be inclined towards eating pork.
In terms of prohibition, they're both prohibited, both
حرام.
But how is it then that he can
drink alcohol but on the other hand he
cannot eat pork?
This is a very strange thing.
So his نفس is in the stage thing
of alcohol is because he's made a habit
of it.
He doesn't feel bad about it.
And when it comes to the issue of
pork, it's not something from childhood.
He's been brought up to think that this
is something impure, something unclean.
I cannot eat it.
And the thought has never even crossed his
mind that he will actually eat pork one
day.
So he just cannot make himself do it.
So for the issue of pork, he is
at a stage of نفس المطمئنة.
But for the alcohol, he's at the lowest
stage of النفس الأمارة بسوء.
So basically each and every Muslim should be
thinking to himself that where am I in
terms of listening to my نفس and following
my نفس and following my desire?
This is a question that we should all
ask ourselves.
And the thing that we tend to do
is we tend to blame the Shaytan for
everything.
And of course the Shaytan, he does what's
called وساوس, whispers in a person's heart.
But the Shaytan can never twist your arm
and make you do something.
Remember that.
The Shaytan, he has no control over you.
He cannot force you to do something.
All the Shaytan can do is put whispers
into your heart.
At the end, it's me and you that
actually does the deed, that commits the sin.
And that's where it comes down to that
understanding of one's own نفس.
That where am I in controlling my نفس?
Where am I in controlling my desire?
Am I just going to succumb to it
and follow it or not?
This is the thing that we need to
keep in mind.
The Shaytan has his influence and has his
whisperings and has his tricks.
But ultimately it is us that commits the
sin.
So anyway, this was a side note about
the issue of نفس and the following of
the نفس.
Now I also mentioned the issue of the
sin.
And I also mentioned that when a person
commits the sin, he forgets the consequence of
that sin.
Or the Shaytan makes him forget the consequence
of the sin and he makes that sin
attractive to him.
So there are two consequences of a sin.
The consequence of this world, the consequence of
the hereafter.
And of course if a person keeps both
things in mind, then he would never succumb
to the sin.
And this is again the hadith of the
Prophet ﷺ.
It's a very beautiful hadith in which the
Prophet ﷺ.
And a very profound hadith.
The Prophet ﷺ said, لا يزن الزن حين
يزن وهو مؤمن When a person he commits
Zina, he doesn't commit Zina while he's in
the state of Iman.
ولا يسرق السارق حين يسرق وهو مؤمن And
when a person he steals something, he is
not stealing while he's in the state of
Iman.
ولا يشرب الخمر حين يشربها وهو مؤمن And
a person doesn't drink alcohol while he's drinking
alcohol while he's in the state of Iman.
What does that mean?
That means that when a person he is
actually committing a sin, the Iman is actually
removed from him.
Because if the Iman stayed within him, then
he would never commit the sin.
He would never drink.
He would never commit Zina.
And he would never steal.
The fact that Iman is removed from him
for that millisecond or for the few minutes
to duration that he's committing the sin, that
is why he's committing the sin.
Otherwise, the Iman of a person cannot allow
for the human, for the bearer of the
Iman to actually commit the sin.
So the Iman is removed momentarily while he
is committing the sin.
The other thing is that the Prophet ﷺ
he said, حُفَّةِ الجَنَّةُ بِالْمَكَارِحِ وَحُفَّةِ النَّارُ بِالشَّهَوَاتِ
The thing is that as believers, we have
to understand that if we want to get
Paradise, then it is surrounded by things that
are sometimes very difficult for us to implement.
Now it's winter, it's not that cold in
Dallas, but still, to wake up in the
morning at Fajr time and then make Wudhu
and then go out in the cold and
even to start the car up and warm
it up and then while it's warming up,
by the time you get to the Masjid,
it's not even warmed up sometimes, to go
to the Masjid in that cold, this is
Makarih.
حُفَّةِ الجَنَّةُ بِالْمَكَارِحِ This is something which is
uncomfortable.
But Jannah is surrounded by these things that
are Makarih, things that are difficult for us
to implement.
And so many things, as Muslims, as believers,
there are so many challenges that we face,
right?
Our own small jihads that we have to
have, taking care of our children, making sure
our children get a good Tarbiyah, a good
education, and making sure that they don't slip
up and have bad company, making sure that
they learn how to pray, they come to
the Masjid.
And so many things that are associated with
being a believer, it's not just one's own
life that one is concerned about, rather there
are so many things that are attached to
a human being that he has to focus
on.
Otherwise a person can say, you know, who
cares?
I mean, why do I need to go
through so many things?
But the reality is that حُفَّةِ الجَنَّةُ بِالْمَكَارِحِ
If a person wants to get Jannah, then
it is surrounded by المَكَارِحِ meaning things that
a person dislikes.
And the hadith goes on to say, وَحُفَّةِ
النَّارُ بِالشَّهَوَاتِ that the hellfire is surrounded by
شَهَوَاتِ If a person just follows his desires,
and just follows what his nafs tells him,
and just has this temporary enjoyment for a
while, the temporary intoxication for a while, and
temporary relationships on one night stands for a
while, then this is all the شَهَوَاتِ he's
enjoying himself in this world, but the reality
is that he is this جَهَنَّةُ the hellfire
is surrounded by these شَهَوَاتِ If you want
to go to the hellfire, and if you
want to get punished, then just follow those
desires.
So this is a very profound hadith, and
a small hadith, but nevertheless it's something to
think about.
Going on, back to the تفسير, the king
again says to his people, وَقَالَ الْمَلِكُ أُطُونِ
بِهِ أَسْتَخْلِصْهُ لِنَفْسِهِ Remember he said, when the
initial interpretation of the dream was given by
Yusuf alayhi salam, the king had said, bring
him to me.
Yusuf alayhi salam refused, he said I'm not
coming, until you clear my name, and I'm
declared innocent, I'm not leaving this place, I'm
staying in prison.
So this was the first time that the
king said, اِطُونِ بِهِ, bring him to me.
Now a second time, the king is saying,
but with more conviction, and he's saying أَسْتَخْلِصْهُ
لِنَفْسِهِ I want to make him purely for
myself, meaning this is such a person, that
I know that I can benefit from, and
he can become one of my advisors, and
I can, my kingdom would become secure, by
having advisors like these around me.
Why?
Because the whole story of Yusuf alayhi salam
is in front of him, the fact that
he remained a pure and a chaste character
in the, while facing all of those difficulties,
and the things that took place with him,
he remained chaste and pure, and chose prison
over falling and succumbing to the desires of
the women, this made the king understand, that
he is a person worthy of keeping, because
he is trustworthy.
And the second thing, he is also knowledgeable,
because when this dream was said to him,
the dream of the seven thin cows, and
the five cows, and the seven ears of
corn, that were mentioned to Yusuf alayhi salam,
he immediately interpreted the dream.
So this is a person, who I should
keep with me, and he should become one
of my advisors.
The king said, bring him to me, I
wish to make him purely for myself, meaning
he is going to be my right hand
man, from right on.
When the king talked to Yusuf alayhi salam,
he told him, that from today, indeed you
are today, close to us.
Makeen meaning, a person of position, Ameen, a
trustworthy person.
The word Makeen, it is actually a very
powerful word, and it is reserved for the
position of Jibreel alayhi salam, next to Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala describes, Jibreel alayhi
salam, Jibreel alayhi salam, he is the powerful
angel, and he is Makeen, meaning he has
a position, with the bearer of the Arsh,
meaning Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
So Jibreel alayhi salam is Makeen, so the
same word is used for, the king is
using the same word for Yusuf alayhi salam,
that you are Makeen, you have a position
with me.
And Ameen meaning, you are trustworthy, based upon
the history of Yusuf alayhi salam, and the
whole story of Yusuf alayhi salam, he knows
that he can trust him.
So now Yusuf alayhi salam says, after he
is in front of the king, he says,
Make me responsible for the treasures of the
earth, meaning, make me responsible for the agriculture
and so on.
Indeed I am Hafeel, meaning I am, I
can take care of this position, and I
am knowledgeable about this issue.
So there is one thing that you probably
heard me mention, during the elections right, that
the person should not ask for a position.
And there are many hadith that talk about,
the prophet alayhi salam said, that if a
person asks for a position, the prophet salallahu
alayhi wa sallam never used to give it
to him.
So in this case, how come Yusuf alayhi
salam is actually asking for a position?
So the answer to that question is, that
being a prophet, being a messenger, he knew
from his wisdom, and from what Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala had put into his heart,
that he was the person who can take
care of the whole situation, that is going
to take place over the next 15 years
or so.
Remember the whole interpretation of the dream, that
7 years you are going to make sure
that you work hard, and you make sure
that you grow the crops, and then you
store them, and then the next 7 years,
there is going to be hardship.
So he knew that he can take care
of this whole situation the best.
And the best example to understand this situation,
is that for example, a plane is flying
in the air, and the pilot has a
heart attack for example.
And there is no other pilot, there is
no co-pilot, maybe it is a single
pilot plane.
So there is nobody to fly the plane.
One person in the back, who is a
passenger, he says, I have flown this plane
before, and I have had training to fly
this plane.
At that point, you don't question that person's
sincerity, and the fact that he wants to
do a good job to save himself, and
the rest of the passengers.
This is not an issue of arrogance, and
an issue of wanting the position, solely for
the sake of the position, or so that
somebody can call me a pilot, or the
captain of the plane.
This is really and sincerely, to save the
plane and the passengers.
So this position was such, that the whole
of Egypt was to, if it was to
be saved, a person had to be at
the helm, who knew what he was doing.
So that's why Yusuf A.S., he presented
himself for this position.
Otherwise, yes, the rule is, that if somebody
asks for a position, you do not give
the position, and it's not encouraged in Islam
to do that.
And also, keep in mind, there are two
benefits of him asking for the position.
First of all, he is capable of running
the position, and by asking for the position,
and being given the position, he is preventing
somebody else, who is not capable of doing
it, and he can mess up the whole
situation.
So, he is actually preventing that from happening,
and preventing this incapable person, to do this,
to fulfill this responsibility.
So now, according to the Farsi, how did
Yusuf A.S. fulfill this responsibility?
It is mentioned that, of course, for the
seven years, they did their best in terms
of harvesting, and gathering, and putting all the
crops together, storing them, and then over the
next seven years, what did they do?
Whenever anybody came to ask for grain, Yusuf
A.S. took money from them, gold, silver,
diamonds, anything that they could, Yusuf A.S.
took the money, and the diamonds and so
on from them.
And if they did not have these things,
then Yusuf A.S. used to take one
of the sons, the older sons, and use
him in the employment of the government.
Now, the question was, why did he do
that?
So, after the seven years had passed, and
the austerity measures had been implemented, and the
people survived after seven years, and the crops
started coming again, after actually 14 years, seven
years of good crops, seven years of difficulty,
and then after that, ease again.
So, after the seven years of difficulty were
over, Yusuf A.S. called everybody back, and
gave them back the money that they had
given to Yusuf.
So, the thing was, why did he do
that?
The answer to that question was, that if
a person is being given something free, from
the government, then he takes advantage of it.
He wants more and more, right?
But, because they were paying for it, then
they will take only what they need, and
then, basically, they would obviously cherish and value
whatever they had purchased.
It wasn't a freebie.
So, they took whatever they needed, and then
after seven years, basically, they got the money
back, and that way, Yusuf A.S. controlled
the flow of the grain, and the distribution
of the grain that had been stored for
seven years, and this was his wisdom, that
he used to make sure that everything stayed
under control.
With that, inshallah, we'll finish, and we will
continue with this next week.
The final ayah was, قال جعلني على خزائن
الأرض Yusuf A.S. said, make me responsible
for the treasures of the earth, make me
the agricultural minister, indeed, I am a guardian,
indeed, I'll take care of the responsibility, and
I am knowledgeable enough to take care of
this position.
I pray that Allah SWT gives us tawfiq,
to understand and practice what has been said
and done.