In Verse #5 we talked about the dream of Yusuf (alayhi salaam) and the fact that his father understood immediately that this was a dream of importance and significance and that Yusuf would rise much higher than his brothers. He realized immediately that his brothers would wish to harm him because of that jealousy, so he told him, “Don’t tell your brethren. Keep it secret. Don’t tell anybody about this dream.”
Verse#6
Allah says then
“And this is how your Lord has chosen you and has taught you the interpretation of dreams so that He may perfect His blessings upon you and upon the family of Ya‘qub just as He perfected His blessings upon your two fathers before you – Ibrahim and Ishaaq. Verily your Lord is All Knowing and All Wise.”
TAFSEER:
Allah says, “And this is how…” When Allah says, ” it can mean one of two things: Either through this dream Allah will protect you and Allah will choose you, or Allah is saying through this protection of you not telling the others your dream. In the ayah before this, the father says to Yusuf, “Don’t tell your dream.”
As we said last week, if Yusuf had told the dream to his brothers, then much worse would have happened. He didn’t tell the dream so much less happened. They still tried to do much harm, so imagine if he had told the dream what the harm would be.
“And this is how your Lord has chosen you and has taught you the interpretation of dreams so that He may perfect His blessings upon you and upon the family of Ya‘qub just as He perfected His blessings upon your two fathers before you – Ibrahim and Ishaaq. Verily your Lord is All Knowing and All Wise.”
Three things are mentioned:
1) sifting through and choosing the best. Allah is saying, “We will choose you.”
2) “ [We will teach the interpretation of dreams.]”
3) “We will perfect Our blessings on you and upon the family of Ya‘qub as We perfected it upon your two fathers Ibrahim and Ishaaq.”
What are these blessings that Allah ‘azza wa jall is perfecting upon Yusuf? Allah says, “We will protect you and give you these blessings.”
1. The greatest blessing right now is prophethood.
2. Of being the most noble of all human beings in one sense and that is the sense of lineage, the most noble of all people in terms of lineage is Yusuf
3. “We will choose you above the rest.” Even though his brothers abandoned him, Allah chose Yusuf and forced the brothers to come back to Yusuf.
4. Also, of the ways that Yusuf was chosen, “He is teaching you the interpretation of dreams.” Allah is the One who teaches this science directly. The scholars say that the more righteous a person is, the more likelihood he has to learn this science from Allah. This is proved by many verses in the Qur’an including in one of the last verses of Surah Al-Baqarah where Allah (subhanahu wata’ala) says, “Have taqwa of Allah and Allah will teach you ‘ilm.” When we have taqwa of Allah, this ‘ilm will be given to us.
5. Allah says, “I will bless you and choose you above others.” One thing we all know: Yusuf was blessed with beauty and looks. Our Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, “Yusuf has been given half of all beauty.” This really shows us how handsome Yusuf was.
6. Also of the fulfillment of Allah’s blessings, Sa‘id ibn Jubayr, the most famous student of Ibn Abbas, said, “When Allah is saying He will fulfill His blessings, of the perfection of blessings is that Yusuf shall enter Jannah because Allah will never fulfill blessings until the person enters into Jannah.” You cannot have the completion of ni’ma without going to Jannah. In this verse, automatically Yusuf is given the good tidings or bashara of entering Jannah.
Allah (subhanahu wata’ala) mentions, “Just like I fulfilled My favors to Ibrahim and Ishaaq.”
What are the favors of Ibrahim (‘alayhi salaam)?
The Prophet Ibrahim (‘alayhi salaam) was the father of all nations and the father of all future prophets. The Prophet Ibrahim (‘alayhi salaam) was the first khalilullah, The Prophet Ibrahim (‘alayhi salaam) was saved from the fire in this world, and of course he shall be saved from the fire in the next. The Prophet Ibrahim (‘alayhi salaam) was blessed with prophethood when there were no other Muslims on this whole earth. All of the prophets came from his progeny after him.
Isma‘il (‘alayhi salaam) was saved from Allah (subhanahu wata’ala) from the dhabh (slaughter), and he was saved by the sending of the sacrificial ram, and Allah (subhanahu wata’ala) made him and his progeny a great nation, and that is the nation of the Arabs. In fact, there is more than one nation coming from Isma‘il. For example, the Nabati’oon (Nabateans) are descendants of Isma‘il as well even though they are not the descendants of the Arabs.
Ibrahim (‘alayhi salaam) was chosen that all future great nations came from Ishaaq and Isma‘il, his two sons.
Allah says, “We will perfect My favors upon you as We perfected it upon Ibrahim and Ishaaq.” In this, there is an allusion (isharah) that if a father is righteous, the children generally speaking shall also share in that righteousness. This is from the wording: “I gave Ibrahim favors, I gave Ishaaq favors, do you think I will deny you the favors?” This shows us that one of the best ways to guarantee that your children are righteous after you is for you to be righteous yourself.
“Verily your Lord is All Knowing and All Wise.”
Allah uses two Names. Al-‘Aleem means the One who knows everything. Al-Hakeem has two meanings to it. The first meaning comes from hikmah, which means the All-Wise. The second meaning comes from hukm, which means judgment.
Why does Allah end this verse with Al-‘Aleem Al-Hakeem?
‘I know what I am doing, and I am doing everything with a wisdom. Realize that whatever is going to happen to you, realize that I am Hakeem. I have a divine plan. I know the past, and I know the future. I have saved your grandfather Ishaaq from being slaughtered, and I have saved your great-grandfather Ibrahim from the fire, and I shall save you also from the well. Allah is saying, “I know what I am doing. Put your trust in Me, and know that everything I do is done for a wisdom.”
‣LEARNED FROM VERSE:
‣ It shows the strong relationship between the father and the son, which is needed otherwise
our children may seek that closeness elsewhere.
‣ Children should be called by the most beloved names to them.
‣ Children’s dreams may take place in their lives and it should not be taken lightly.
‣ Grandparents are called “Aabaa”.
‣ The Father must build trust between him and his child.
‣ Fathers must take care of their children especially those who show interest in learning the deen.
‣ Gentleness is the secret recipe in raising children (O’ my son).
‣ It is permissible to conceal a bounty for a purpose.
‣ Shaitan (Satan) gets between brothers as he gets between any other people.
‣ Father must treat all children equally and if one of them is in need, the father must take care of it without causing ill feelings in the hearts of other children.
‣ Allah chooses from His slaves as He wishes.
‣ Allah had favored Yaqub, Ishaaq, and Ibrahim over other people.
‣ Righteous parents will most likely produce righteous children.
‣ When you are blessed with something you should referred it back to Allah.
LESSON:
The blessing that Allah bestows upon the servant is not simply restricted to that particular individual, rather it is a blessing that encompasses him, his family and his friends. And whatever good is obtained is because of that person based on the statement of Allah,
Allah chooses certain people over others to bless with His bounties. The existence of this fact is confirmed in this Verse, we can use this fact in our lives to reduce envy and hatred between ourselves instead of increasing it.
One of the best ways to guarantee that your children are righteous after you is for you to be righteous yourself.
We as Muslims understand that one of the best ways to guarantee our children are good after us is by us being good and by us being good Muslims.