Zia Sheikh – Tafseer of Surah Yusuf Ayah 67 onwards
AI: Summary ©
The evil eye is a combination of Jeeki and the looking, and individuals can develop it through various techniques. Removing fears and jealousy from one's hearts is crucial to preventing the spread of the evil eye. The importance of avoiding hatred or jealousy in one's eyes is also emphasized. The conversation between Allah and the Prophet is discussed, along with the use of "has been" in various context. The transcript describes different approaches to taking action towards Iran, including taking precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19, not taking any medication, and reciting a qu qu quran. The speakers emphasize the need to remove any fears or jealousy from one's hearts and prevent others from becoming pages with the evil eye.
AI: Summary ©
I seek refuge with Allah from the accursed
Satan.
In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent,
the Most Merciful.
And he said, O my children, do not
enter from one door, but enter from different
doors.
And I have not availed you of anything
from Allah.
The judgment is only for Allah.
Upon Him I have put my trust, and
upon Him let the trustworthy put their trust.
And when they entered from where their father
had commanded them, there was nothing that could
avail them from Allah except a need in
the soul of Jacob, which he fulfilled.
And indeed, he had knowledge of what We
taught him, but most of the people do
not know.
And when they entered upon Joseph, he turned
to him his brother.
He said, I am your brother, so do
not despair of what they used to do.
And when he had prepared them with their
equipment, he placed the cup in his pocket.
Then a man called out, O you thieves,
indeed you are thieves.
The brothers, they came back to their father
and requested him to send Binyamin, his blood
brother, Yusuf's blood brother, with them so that
they could get his share of the grain
that Yusuf was giving per person.
So initially there was resistance from the father,
but ultimately he agreed.
And he made them promise that they are
going to bring Binyamin back safe and sound.
And after they made that promise, then he
agreed.
So this is where we start the story
now.
He is advising his sons as they are
leaving with one important piece of advice.
What is that?
He says, He said, O my sons, لا
تدخلوا من باب واحد.
Do not enter from one door.
واذخلوا من أبواب متفرقة.
Enter through separate doors.
So what was the reason for him saying
this?
The scholars say that he wanted them to
be protected from jealousy and عين, meaning the
evil eye.
So the question is, why did he do
that?
Obviously, these were the sons of Yaqub, and
they were ultimately the brothers of Yusuf.
And Yusuf, his handsomeness, his beauty, he was
very very unique.
So even though his beauty was unique, it
was quite possible and probable that the beauty
and handsomeness of his brothers was not too
far behind.
So that's why the inclination of Yaqub was
that rather than entering one door at one
time and everybody looking at you simultaneously, it
is better for you to go through separate
doors so that the eyes of the people
do not get attracted to you all at
one time and then you become the victims
of the evil eye.
And this concept of the evil eye is
something that we should be aware of.
What exactly is it?
First of all, we have to realize that
it is the truth.
Prophet ﷺ said, العين الحق, the evil eye
is the truth.
And it does take place, it does happen.
And how does it happen?
The thing is that each and every single
one of us, we have our eyesight, we
can look at things, but what makes that
eyesight evil and what makes the ill effect
of it from coming into existence is jealousy
that is in the heart.
So these two components, they make up what
is the evil eye.
Jealousy and the looking, combined it makes up
the evil eye, which then makes deficiency in
the thing that is looked at.
And there are countless incidents of things that
happen in the life of the Prophet ﷺ.
Once one of the Sahaba, he was taking
a shower, obviously behind a screen, but part
of his body was exposed and somebody looked
at his body which was very white and
looked very handsome and he praised that person's
body, the Sahabi's body and immediately the person
who was being praised, he fell down on
the ground with a very very strong fever.
And when this was brought to the attention
of the Prophet ﷺ, he said that this
is عين and he instructed the person that
praised the Sahabi to make wudhu and the
wudhu water that was accumulated from that person's
wudhu, it was taken and poured over the
Sahabi who became the victim of the evil
eye and he then became well again.
So this is the actual procedure of removing
the evil eye.
If you know where the evil eye came
from, the problem is that in many cases
a person, even if he approaches somebody and
says, well it was because of you this
happened, it's likely that the person will be
insulted and will say that why are you
accusing me of this and it may cause
problems.
So in lieu of that, a person can
recite the Mu'awwilatayn and other specific ayat
which are related to the evil eye and
that way a person can remove the evil
eye that has taken place.
So again the evil eye is a combination
of jealousy and the looking which results in
a person becoming affected negatively.
So they're saying another person who looks at
something beautiful or someone beautiful or a beautiful
baby and he looks with a genuine love
and a genuine affection and obviously he vocalises
and verbalises like mashallah, tabarakallah, then that person
will not be afflicted with the evil eye.
So this is what we need to do.
We should remove any kind of hatred or
jealousy from our hearts and that will prevent
other people from becoming afflicted with the evil
eye.
So this was the reason that Yaqub alayhi
salam, he told his sons do not enter
into one door but go from separate doors
so that people's eyes cannot target you all
in one go.
You are going from different places so you
will not become a bigger target so to
speak.
But at the same time Yaqub alayhi salam
he also said one thing وَمَا أُغْنِي عَنْكُم
مِّنَ اللَّهِ مِّنْ شَيْءٍ that if Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala wants something to happen and
he has decreed it to happen then I
cannot help you when it comes to facing
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala or opposing Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala.
The wording is a bit complicated to translate
وَمَا أُغْنِي عَنْكُم مِّنَ اللَّهِ مِّنْ شَيْءٍ basically
it means that if it comes to Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala then I will not
be able to help you in the least.
I will not be able to help you
in the least meaning if Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala has decreed something for you then
I cannot do anything.
But at the same time while he realizes
that if Allah decrees something I cannot do
anything if Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala wants
something to happen I cannot do anything that
did not stop him from taking the asbaab
and adopting the asbaab and there are so
many examples of this that a person can
think about for example a person he takes
medication he should not be taking the medication
with the understanding that the medicine itself is
the cure he should take the medication with
the understanding that first and foremost is the
sunnah of the prophet a.s. he said
بِكُلِّ دَاءٍ دَوَاءٍ for every illness there is
a medication and also with the understanding that
with the understanding that the cure that Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala has put in the
medicine it is from Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala himself and if he wants he can
not allow that medication to take effect and
he may not cure me so at that
point if Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has
decreed for me that I would not be
cured then that is in the hands of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and I cannot
do anything in opposition to that but at
the same time I should not just say
no I have tawakkul, I have trust and
not take medication so these are two components
taking the asbaab meaning the means, adopting the
means and at the same time understanding that
the real power is with Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala and there are other examples for
example putting water into plants putting a seed
in the ground and then putting water on
it and taking care of the plant so
these are the means that a person adopts
to make sure that the plant grows up
healthy and strong but if a person just
puts a seed there and says ok I
have tawakkul in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
that it is going to grow then this
is foolishness and it's not what a sensible
person does a person does everything that he
can and then after that he trusts Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala that he will make
that plant grow because of the asbaab that
have been put into place and that's what
the Prophet a.s. said we hear this
hadith all the time tie your camels and
then have tawakkul in Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala that those camels will not get lost
so this is al-ithab bil-asbaab taking
the asbaab but keeping in mind that everything
is in the hands of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala so he said wa maa'uni
aankum min Allahi min shay in front of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala I cannot help
you in the least if Allah has decreed
it inil hukmu illa lillah the decision is
with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala meaning the
judgment, the decision Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
He decrees it it's not in my hands
Yaqub a.s. says alayhi tawakkalt only upon
him I have tawakkul only upon him I
have trust wa alayhi fal yatawakkalil mutawakkiloon and
upon him should the people of tawakkul have
tawakkul upon him should the people of trust
have trust meaning we only have tawakkul and
trust in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala but
again tawakkul and trust does not mean that
we stop doing things we do everything that
we possibly can and there's a famous hadith
that some people quote sometimes and they misunderstand
the real meaning of that hadith lau annakum
tatawakkaroon ala Allahi haqqa tawakkuli laa akaltum kamaa
ta'kulu tayyid taghdu khimasan laahu hu bitanan
if you had the tawakkul in Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala as you're supposed to then
you would eat just like the birds eat
alright so the question the proof that people
who quote this hadith they put forth is
birds don't go for a job they don't
have a job they don't go 9 to
5 they don't have a degree so I
should be like the birds not do a
job, not have a degree not get an
education and have tawakkul in Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala and he will feed me but
the rest of the hadith what does it
say taghdu khimasan the birds leave the nest
in the morning leave the nest they don't
sit in the nest and wait for the
risk to come and the ruhu bitanan they
come back with a full stomach so I
remember this hadith very clearly when I was
studying the scholar when he pointed this out
to me my sheikh al hadith when he
pointed this out to me it was like
a light going off that how people understand
or misunderstand this hadith is the true meaning
of it so tawakkul does not mean that
you just sit rather you do things you
do everything that you can and then after
that have trust in Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala he will provide for you and he
will do what he wants for you the
next ayah Allah says when they entered from
where their father had ordered them again Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala says the same thing
from his end Yaqub al Islam said it
in the previous verse that I cannot help
you in the least if Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala wants to decree something but here
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says from his
end Yaqub al Islam could not help them
in front of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
except then why did he do this why
did they do it because of the need
that was in the heart of Yaqub al
Islam they wanted to fulfill it they fulfilled
the command of Yaqub al Islam they fulfilled
his desire they fulfilled what he wanted from
them which was to take the asbab to
take precautions to do what they could from
their end Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala declares
about Yaqub al Islam that he was a
person of knowledge because of the knowledge that
we had given him so the question is
why did he tell them to take precautions
because a person who has knowledge he will
understand the true meaning of tawakkul and he
will understand what we are supposed to do
taking the asbab and he will not just
say that I have tawakkul and not do
anything and leave it only in the hands
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala he will
not do that he was a person of
knowledge because of the knowledge that we had
given him meaning Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
had given him but most people they don't
know and the scholars of tafsir say that
most people not knowing here refers to the
misunderstanding that people have about tawakkul either they
have they take all the asbab alright let's
take the example of a person who is
sick take all the medication possible and assume
that it's only in my hands and I
have to do everything and it's nothing to
do with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala so
that's one extreme that you basically leave Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala out of the picture
completely and the other extreme is not to
take any sabbath and not to take any
medication and then say that Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala is going to cure me both
of these extremes are wrong so we have
to be on the ground to take the
sabbath and then at the same time to
say that it is truly in the hands
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala so most
people not knowing is taking those extremes in
the wrong sense after that Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala says when they came to Yusuf
alayhi salam he took Yusuf alayhi salam took
his brother aside he gave him kind of
refuge, protected him a little bit he said
indeed I am your brother so do not
be despondent and upset at what they have
been doing meaning he knows that the brothers,
the other brothers they don't like bin yamin
and they don't like Yusuf Yusuf alayhi salam
and bin yamin were from one mother and
one father and they were from other mothers
and one father Yaqub alayhi salam so they
had this kind of jealousy sibling rivalry you
can say with both bin yamin and Yusuf
alayhi salam so Yusuf tells his brother do
not be upset at what they have been
doing and obviously at this point Yusuf alayhi
salam tells bin yamin a plan that he
is going to have to bring back everyone
and the first step of the plan is
to put into the luggage of the brothers
when he gives them the grain and the
food and everything he is going to put
his cup, his special cup that he uses
for measuring purposes he is going to put
it in with the grain and the accusation
is going to be put upon them that
you stole this cup and it will be
in the luggage of bin yamin and the
rule is in those days that the person
who steals something when that thing that is
stolen is found in his possession that person
becomes the slave of the person whose property
was stolen so this was the rule of
that time so he makes a plan with
bin yamin that this is what they are
going to do so the question would be
that why would bin yamin allow that to
happen why would bin yamin allow this thing
to happen when he knows that his father
is already upset with the loss of yusuf
a.s why would he then allow yusuf
a.s to kind of keep him behind
and also put yaqub a.s in much
more torture so the answer to that question
is found in the quran itself and that
is that the loss of yusuf a.s
is so overpowering that the loss of bin
yamin is you know it kind of shades
in comparison in comparison to the loss of
yusuf a.s and that is why later
on in the quran some verses later on
when the brothers come back to yaqub a
.s he still remembers yusuf he doesn't remember
bin yamin he says that he is still
sorry for the loss of yusuf a.s
he only mentions yusuf a.s and at
that point he is crying so much that
he then becomes blind so the mention of
yusuf a.s is there so this is
the reason that bin yamin says ok go
ahead with this plan we'll do this plan
and i'll stay behind with you so the
next ayah it talks about this when he
prepared for them their jahaz meaning their goods
that he was giving to them the grain
and everything he put the measuring cup into
the baggage into the luggage of his own
brother meaning into the luggage of bin yamin
the word siqaya it has different meanings in
surah al-tawbah Allah s.w.t uses
this word to denote the feeling of the
pilgrims giving them water so
siqaya over there it means to give water
to pilgrims and so on this is siqaya
and in this context siqaya means a measuring
cup which is used yusuf a.s used
to use for drinking and for also measuring
the grain that he used to give the
people that were coming for charity when he
prepared their luggage with the grain and everything
he put the siqaya this cup into the
luggage of his brother then a person made
the announcement O people of the caravan refers
to a caravan of animals, camels, donkeys, horses
whatever it is that is taking a load
that is called eid in Arabic O people
of the caravan indeed you people are thieves
so they said they said while turning to
them what did you lose and of course
the people say that we've lost this cup
and we're here to find it and there's
a reward for the return of it and
inshallah that's going to be the next verse
we'll continue with this next week I pray
that Allah s.w.t gives us sufiq
to understand and practice what has been said
and heard