Surah Yusuf (12) - The Best Of Stories 6/15
"Nahnu naqussu 'alayka ahsan al-qasasi bimaaa awhainaaa ilayka haadha al-Qur'an"(12:3) "We do relate unto thee [Muhammad] the most beautiful of stories, in that We reveal to thee this (portion of the) Qur'an".
A'udhu billahi, as-Samee', al 'Aleem, min al-shaytan al-la'een al-rajim. Bismillah, al-Rahman, al-Rahim. Al-hamdulillahi rabb il-'alameen, wa as-sallal-Lahu 'ala Muhammad wa 'ala ahli baytihi at-tayyibeen at-tahireen. Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad, wa aali Muhammad. Dear viewers, salaamun 'alaykum jami'an wa rahmat Ullahi wa barakatuh.
In this holy month of Ramadan, there is nothing better to discuss than the greatest book, the Qur'an, that Allah has revealed on the greatest night, the night of Qadr.
I would like to share with you two ahadith which emphasise how you and I should contemplate on the verse of the Holy Qur'an and not simply recite them for the sake of reciting.
The first tradition is from Imam Ali, 'alayhi as-salaam, in which he says that "Verily there is no good in the recitation of the Qur'an if it has no contemplation." He continues to say that "Verily there is no good in worship, if there is no understanding".
You and I know that when we pray, for example, the Salah. The Salah which is 'umud al-deen, which is the pillar of the religion. In the ahadith, we are told the Salah is that pole of a tent that if it is taken away, the entire tent collapses. We are even told that if it is accepted, all our other deeds will be accepted. And if it is rejected, everything else will be rejected. We know that in the grave, it is the first action that we have performed that we shall be questioned about. That prayer, if we have no understanding, no understanding of why we are praying, who we are praying to, who we are standing in front of, why we are doing what we are doing, what we are saying when we are saying it, then there is very little benefit to it. Imam Ali, 'alayhi as-salam, here says that there has there is no good in that worship if there is no understanding.
And in the same way, he says that this recitation, there is little good or no good in it if there is no contemplation behind it. Simply reading its verses is not why this Book was revealed. This intricate Book that has layers upon layers of understanding was not revealed just to recite it. It was revealed in order to contemplate. So if there is anything we can take away in this holy month of Ramadan and implement it before the advent of the next month, it is to make sure we contemplate on verses of the Qur'an.
Sometimes when our children start to recite the Holy Qur'an, we are in a rush to make sure that they finish it quickly. We want to celebrate the time when people can come home and celebrate the fact that my child is finished reading the Qur'an. That is good on one level, but on another level, we should be teaching the children and ourselves the Qur'an. Not teaching it's recitation, that is a given, but teaching what is mentioned in the Qur'an, teaching its principles, relating its stories.
You know in the night, at night-times, normally a parent sits with the child and reads a book. It is one of the best things to do, sit with your children, build up that bond, read to them. Why do not we also read something from the Qur'an for them? Why do not we take a story of the Qur'an, tell them about the story of Yusuf. Make it exciting for them. Tell them a bit of every single night. Let them wait for the next night to come so that you can speak to them and narrate to them the story.
Tell them the story of Musa. Talk to them about how Musa was left in a basket, how he ended up at the feet of the person who was trying to kill him, how Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala, looked after him. Tell them about the story of the Feel and how Allah protected His house. There are so many anecdotes and stories in the Holy Qur'an that even with our children, we can familiarise them with the Qur'an so they too can begin to think about it and contemplate on it from a young age.
In another tradition I would like to share with you, Imam al-Sadiq, 'alayhi as-salam, mentions that "I would not like it that you complete the Qur'an in one night." Again emphasising that it is not the the quick completion of the Qur'an that is our goal, that I can complete it in one night, or I can complete its recitation in three nights. Imam continues and he says, "I would not like for you to complete it in less than a month." At least take a month in reciting the Qur'an. It does not take a month to recite the Qur'an if one is reciting it day and night, but take a month, meaning recite it and contemplate on it. Think about it.
Even if every night before you go to bed you take one verse in the Qur'an, two verses, read it, think about it for two minutes before going to bed. That is much more beneficial for you and I than simply reading the Qur'an, ten pages and going to sleep. That is why Allah has created it, that is why Allah has sent it down, for you and I to contemplate and take from it.
In this most beautiful story that we are discussing, chapter twelve, the Surah of the great Prophet Yusuf, we find that Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala, cannot be fooled. There is a clear principle telling you and I that we cannot deceive Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala,. The brothers of Yusuf think that they are able to deceive their father, even that they were not able to do.
But the one thing we should remember is even if everybody else believes us, the one entity you and I cannot fool and cannot deceive is Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala. He has mentioned Himself in the Qur'an in a beautiful verse that "We have created man and We know what is being whispered within his chest, within his heart, what he says to himself, what he whispers to himself, "wa nahnu aqrabu ilayhi min hablil wareed"(50:16). Not only do We know what is being said within his chest, within his heart, the whispering that is going on that nobody else can hear, We are closer to him than his own jugular vein. There is nothing man can do but that Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala, knows about it before.
Therefore you and I cannot deceive Him. We cannot have an ill intention in our heart and do a different action externally. We cannot become hypocrites. Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala, mentions in Surah Al-Ankabut at the beginning that: does man think that he can simply say I believe and not be tested?(29:2) We have tested those that have come before him in order that Allah can filter out those who say the truth and that those who are the liars(29:3).
Every action that you and I do, we should know that the true intention of that action is known by Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala, even if people have understood something contrary. If I give charity in public, if my intention is sincerely to give charity for the sake of Allah and I am giving an amount so that others are encouraged to give charity as well, then whatever people say, let them say. So long as I know in the depths of my heart that I am doing it for the sake of God, He too knows that.
The oft repeated verse in the Qur'an where Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala, says, "wa makaru wa makar Allah wa Allahu khayrul maakirin"(3:54). Often this verse is mistranslated. People tend to translate it as saying that "they plan and Allah plans and Allah is the best of planners". But if you look at the Arabic, it does not say plan. It says that they try to plot, they try to deceive and Allah will deceive, and Allah is the best of plotters. Individuals who plot against Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala, who try to deceive God have not understood the fact that He knows their plan before they even carry it out. He knows their trickery before they even enact it. And so Allah says He is the best of plotters, meaning Allah will use the deceiving nature of these evil people to deceive their own plan and their own selves.
And this is exactly what we see that what unfolds with the brothers of Yusuf. They have a plan in mind, they want to go and throw their brother into a well, but they have no excuse to come back to when they come back to Ya'qub. And Allah uses their trickery in order to unfold His own plan.
Allah uses the trickery of the brothers, the deceit of the brothers, where they put Yusuf into the pits of the well, in order to take him out of the well. He uses their trickery in order for Yusuf to be sold as a slave. He uses their trickery in order for Yusuf to be bought, in order for Yusuf to go to jail, in order for Yusuf to be freed, in order for Yusuf to become clean and understood by people that he did not do anything wrong to Zulaykha. And finally, the same trickery that started off as throwing him in the well ends him at the head of the Treasury. This is how Allah unfolds His own plan by using the trickery and the deceiving nature of evil individuals.
In verse number thirteen, Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala, says regarding the story when the brothers come to Ya'qub, and Ya'qub is asked whether or not they can take Yusuf out to go and play. Ya'qub throws bait at the brothers, he gives them an excuse and tests whether or not they are going to take this excuse and use it against him.
It says: "Qaala inni la yahzununi an tadh-habu bihi wa akhaafu an ya'kuluhu-l- dhi'b wa antum 'anhu ghafilun"(12:13). Ya'qub says, I am saddened, it saddens me to think that you shall take him and go with him, and I am afraid -so firstly, he is saddened that Yusuf will go away from him, that they shall part company. And then he says, that I am afraid that maybe a wolf will come and devour him and eat him whilst you are unaware of it.
This is bait that he is throwing to the brothers. He is giving an excuse to the brothers that are you going to take this or not? Maybe your plan is not complete, your deceiving nature is not complete, you have not thought this process out very well, so I am giving you a possible excuse that you might use.
The brothers of Yusuf then come back to Ya'qub and they tell their father that we were playing and we left Yusuf and a wolf came and devoured him. They used the very excuse that Ya'qub had used as bait and they tell Ya'qub that we are saying the truth, even though you will not believe us, even though you will not accept what we are saying.
The principle that we learn from this verse is that in order to cover up one sin, one has to do another. Sinning becomes addictive. It is not possible to tell yourself that I will do one wrong and I will stop thereafter. As soon as you do wrong, it tastes sweet, the pleasure is short lived. Like the 4th holy Imam says "Allah, I ask you for forgiveness of my sins, whose pleasures were short lived but whose negative effects are everlasting." It is a short lived pleasure. You do something wrong, you lie, you get out of trouble very quickly for a short amount of time but when somebody finds out that you lied, you lose all trust with them, they lose all trust with you. You have lost your reputation. That is a continuous effect that will stay with you.
In the same way the brothers of Yusuf, they threw him in the well, that was not the only evil they did. Now they had to lie to their father as well, then they had to come with blood-stained shirt and again lie to the father that this is the shirt of Yusuf that has been devoured by a wolf.
I would like to mention an interesting hadith here regarding this shirt. When the brothers brought this shirt, which is blood-stained to Ya'qub, they forgot to do something. And this is another principle we learn, that an individual who does wrong will be caught, if not today, then tomorrow, but their time will come when the truth will come to surface, because truth will always come to surface because truth will always be victorious.
They come with this blood-stained shirt and they give it to Ya'qub. Ya'qub, 'alayhi as-salaam, mentions an interesting statement. He says "Kaana dhi'ban rafiqaa". He says this is a very friendly wolf because he did not tear up the shirt. The shirt is intact, nothing has happened to the shirt is just has blood stains on it. This is another proof for Ya'qub that Yusuf is still alive.
We end by reminding ourselves that so long as we stay on the path of Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala, within the boundaries of the Shari'ah, everything that comes to us can only be good. "Inna Allahu jameelu wa yuhhibul jamaal", Allah is beauty and He loves beauty. Everything He will do to you, every illness that you might be given, every rizq and every wealth that you might be given, every house that you buy, every child that you give birth to, can only be good for you so long as you and I are adhering to these boundaries and remaining within the Shari'ah.
The brothers of Yusuf tried to go outside of the Shari'a, they transgressed the path of God, they transgressed His boundaries and they had to cover up their tracks one after the other but the truth came to surface and the plan of Allah unfolded. As we say in a beautiful du'a "Maa shaa'Allah, laa maashaa' al-naas, maa shaa 'Allah wa in karih al-naas". What Allah wills will happen, not what people want, what Allah wills will happen even if people detest it and hate it.
We ask Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala, to make us among those individuals who uphold His boundaries and Shari'ah, who remain within it until our final breath. There is no better time to ask for istighfaar and seek repentance from Allah for any sin that we have committed in this holy month of Ramadan. It is passing away, let us not leave it too late such that Eid comes about and we still have not been forgiven for our sins.
With that I end and I greet you. Wa as-salaamu 'alaykum jami'an, wa rahmat Ullahi wa barakaatuh.
