Zia Sheikh – Tafseer of Surah Yusuf Ayah 89 onwards 1162017
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AI: Transcript ©
We're starting from ayah number 89 of Surat
Yusuf and we've been going through the tafsir.
In the last lesson we learned how the
brothers, they came back to Yusuf alayhi salam
and they basically pleaded with him to give
more grain so that they could take it
back to their family and in addition to
that return the brother back to them.
So at that point Yusuf alayhi salam, he
submitted himself that he is in fact Yusuf
alayhi salam.
So inshallah we're going to start again from
the verse that we started talking about last
week.
So Yusuf alayhi salam says He said do
you know what you did with Yusuf and
his brother when you were ignorant?
So first of all he asked them a
question rather than attacking them straight away and
telling them okay I'm Yusuf, this is my
brother and you know what you did to
me when you threw me in the and
so on.
He asked them a question and the purpose
of any question is to make the person
think and to contemplate and to basically come
to his senses completely and to put two
and two together by using his cognitive senses
and his mental calculation.
So this is actually something that a lot
of people use, teachers use to make their
students think and this is something that Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala uses throughout the Qur
'an when he wants us to pay attention
to something in particular and throughout the Qur
'an we find for example Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala says Al-Qari'ah, what is
Al-Qari'ah?
What will make you understand what Al-Qari
'ah is?
What will make you understand what Laylatul Qadr
is?
Do you even know what Laylatul Qadr is?
And so on.
There are many examples of that throughout the
Qur'an.
So asking a question with the purpose of
making the listener pay attention and contemplate and
think.
So this is basically the purpose of the
question.
And the second thing that I mentioned actually
last week is that Yusuf alayhi salam, in
his sentence that he used, he excused the
brothers by saying that you are ignorant, you
are unaware.
When you did what you did, it was
not your fault almost.
Because of your ignorance and because of the
fact that you are unaware, you are basically
excused.
So again, not accusing them and not making
a big deal about the fact that what
happened to him, rather he focused on trying
to give them an excuse and not blame
them for what they did.
So then they responded by saying, Qalu, a
'innaka la'anta Yusuf?
They said, are you really Yusuf?
A'innaka la'anta Yusuf?
There's a lot of taqid, a lot of
emphasis in this small portion of the sentence
that it's almost beyond belief that this is
their brother, that they have lost for so
long and they didn't know where he was.
So they said, a'innaka la'anta Yusuf?
Are you really, really Yusuf?
There is a lot of emphasis there.
Qala ana Yusufu wa hadha aqeeb.
I am Yusuf and this is my brother.
Indeed, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has bestowed
us with a lot of favors.
So again, rather than dwelling on the difficulties
that he's been through, rather than talking about
the fact that he was a slave and
then he was a prisoner for so many
years and the difficulties that he had to
go through because of everything that happened to
him, he focused on the men of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala, men referring to the
ihsan and the favors that Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala had bestowed upon him.
And again, he could have talked about the
difficulties to his brothers and accused them that
this was all your fault and I had
to go through so much because of what
you did to me.
But instead, he talked about the ihsan of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and the favors
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that he
had bestowed upon him.
Indeed, that person who has the taqwa of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and he's patient,
indeed, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala does not
waste the reward of the people that do
good.
So there are two things mentioned here.
Yusuf alayhi salam says that taqwa, the first
thing a person should have is taqwa and
obviously he displayed that taqwa on many occasions
and we know what taqwa is, most people
they translate it as the fear of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala, but it is actually
much broader than that.
It has a much broader meaning and the
meaning is basically, the meaning is that a
person, he realizes that Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala loves him so much, he loves him
more than 70 mothers combined and that Allah
who loves him so much, a person should
be afraid of disobeying that Allah.
He doesn't want to disappoint that creator who
has that love for him.
This is the best way of understanding what
taqwa is.
So it's not just a fear of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala that many people just
kind of make it sound like Allah is
just waiting to send down thunderbolts upon a
person who just commits a sin.
This is not the right kind of thinking
and this is not the right understanding of
taqwa and the people of non-muslims basically,
they jump upon this a lot and they
make it seem like Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala or as they say, the God of
the Muslims, he's a fearful, a wrathful and
a vengeful God and this is not what
Islam is about.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, we know like
I just mentioned the hadith that Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala loves his servants, his slaves
70 times more than a mother loves her
children and you know, there are so many
hadiths that talk about his mercy in the
rahmati ghalabat ghadabi or sabakat ghadabi, my rahma,
my mercy, it overtakes my anger and so
this is the understanding that we should have
and we should try to instill that love
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, first of
all within ourselves and into our children rather
than making Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala sound
like he is about to send down this
punishment at any given time and the thing
also is that to think, think about the
sins that people commit, how many sins do
people commit and so much so that they
even deny the existence of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala, people they deny the existence of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, they become atheists
and basically this couldn't be a worse sin
to declare that Allah doesn't even exist but
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala still gives those
people the oxygen, gives those people sustenance, he
continues to provide for them and he does
not punish them in this world at least,
otherwise you know if he had the choice,
if he wanted to, he could have punished
them immediately for what they are doing and
what they are saying but he doesn't do
that.
So despite all of the disobediences and all
of the sins that have been committed, the
anger of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala or
the wrath of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
is not apparent to us so that means
that he's more merciful than we say, so
the mercy of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
should be taken into consideration.
Also when Yusuf alayhi salam is saying there
are other verses in the Quran where Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala says whoever has the
taqwa of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, Allah
makes a way for him and he gives
him rizq and sustenance from where he cannot
even imagine.
So again the way Yusuf was at one
point in his life, he is a slave
and he has the taqwa of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala, he exemplifies it in so
many ways and Allah made a way for
him still after so many difficulties, so much
so that he became a governor and he
got a high position in the government.
So from a slave all the way to
where he ended up subhanallah, this is exactly
what this verse is that Allah provides a
way for him and gives him sustenance from
where he cannot even imagine.
And the second thing is sabr, so sabr
it comes in many different forms and we
see that in the story of Yusuf alayhi
salam, the sabr is demonstrated in all of
its forms.
One is these are the three types of
sabr that are mentioned by the scholars.
What are they?
Again means that a person has sabr when
he is faced with a difficulty.
All right, so we know like I said,
he went through so many difficulties and he
continued to have sabr upon those difficulties.
That a person he despite the fact that
he gets an opportunity to commit a sin
and there is nobody to actually question him
except Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in committing
that sin, Yusuf alayhi salam saved himself from
committing a major sin.
So this was a sabr al-maasiyah, he
stayed away from the maasiyah, he stayed away
from the sin and a sabr al-qa
'ah remaining steadfast and persevering upon the obedience
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
This is obviously he spent his life in
the obedience of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
There is no there is no episode or
incident that we can look at obviously being
a prophet.
He is masoom, he is protected from committing
sins, but all of the forms of sabr
are exemplified in the story of Yusuf alayhi
salam and combining all of these forms of
sabr about that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
says in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala he
is with the people who have sabr.
So all of the types of sabr are
the things that we need to put into
our lives.
So Yusuf alayhi salam said indeed the person
who has the taqwa of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala and he has sabr indeed Allah
does not waste the reward of the ones
that do good.
So the brothers obviously they're very surprised at
what has happened.
They're surprised at the position of Yusuf alayhi
salam in the society and they say to
him that Allah again, we mentioned it it
is an oath and it's usually used when
a person is showing astonishment.
I swear by Allah or we swear by
Allah indeed Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has
given you priority over us meaning he has
given you a status over us.
Where are we you know, and where are
you in terms of your position in society
indeed we were wrongdoers meaning we did commit
a wrong to you.
We did wrong to you.
They admitted that they had made a mistake
when they had thrown him into the well
because of their jealousy.
So again Yusuf alayhi salam said there is
no blame upon you today.
This word tharb you know, it's a bit
of a deep meaning but it refers to
the fat when you take when you cut
open an animal a goat or a lamb
the fat that is basically surrounding the entrails
of the intestines it is called tharb and
basically tharb is something that you do not
want in an animal you basically want it
to be lean less fatty so that you
can have a better kind of meat.
So in a you know roundabout sense means
that there is no blame upon you today.
There is no blame upon you today.
I'm not holding you accountable for what you
did.
So basically I have forgiven you there is
nothing to worry about and this again shows
the current the nobility of Yusuf alayhi salam
despite the fact that he has the upper
hand despite the fact that he has a
position.
He has authority.
He can take revenge upon his brothers.
He can punish them.
He can have them in prison.
All he has to do is tell his
guards to arrest all of them, but he
doesn't do that.
He says no blame upon you today.
May Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala forgive you.
This is his instead of blaming them.
He's even making dua for them.
May Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala forgive you and
the question may be that what if during
all of those years, they've already made istighfar
for Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala.
So what is the point of Yusuf alayhi
salam making dua for them again?
So the answer to that the mufasireen say
it is again to console them even further.
They might have made istighfar already and sought
forgiveness already from Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala.
But again consolation and putting their mind at
ease that I'm not only am I not
blaming you and even praying for you that
may Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala also forgive you.
So this from a victim who could actually
put a curse on you, dua of the
oppressed is always accepted instead of making dua
against them.
He made dua for them.
May Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala have mercy upon
you.
He is the most merciful of the merciful.
Then he says Yusuf alayhi salam says Go
take this shirt of mine and put it
upon the face of my father and his
eyesight will return.
So obviously maybe they had a conversation between
each other.
How's my father doing?
How is he and I haven't seen him
for so many years.
He must be missing me and then in
that conversation.
It must have emerged that he is actually
going blind.
So he says take this shirt of mine
and put it on the face of my
father and the eyesight will return back.
So this shirt was the eldest brother.
He who stayed behind if you remember when
binyamin was taken into custody the eldest brother
he stayed behind and said I cannot face
my father.
So go back.
He is the one who said okay, give
me this shirt.
I'm the one who took the shirt with
the blood on it the fake blood on
it and I showed it to my father.
I want to be the one who takes
the shirt and gives it to my father
so that basically that sin that I committed
it is basically it is forgiven and I
and I want to be the one who
puts the shirt or gives the shirt to
my father.
And bring your family all of you and
the question is again that instead of saying
bring my father and all of your families.
Why does he simply say bring all of
your families?
The scholars say again these fine points that
the scholars when they're making the seed they
go into them in great detail.
He didn't want to make it sound like
he is giving a command to his father.
Okay, which is kind of disrespectful, right?
Even though he has a position in his
in his government and so on so he
doesn't want to make it sound like he
is commanding his father to come instead of
saying bring your father to me or bring
our father to me.
He says bring all of your families to
me and obviously included in the family is
the father.
So again, the respect is maintained and the
purpose of the statement is also fulfilled of
bringing the father.
So inshallah, we'll stop here and we'll continue
next week.
I pray that Allah gives us to understand
and practice.