Tafseer al Quran – Page 19 – Easy Quran Weekly Tafseer

Surah Yusuf #8

(It happened) when they said, Yusuf and his brother are dearer to our father than we are, while we are a whole group. Surely, our father is in clear error.
TAFSEER:
A few points to consider when evaluating the cause of this situation: It could be that Prophet Yaqoub actually did express more love and affection for his youngest two sons. However, given that he was a Prophet of Allah, this is highly unlikely. First, he already had 8 older sons – so why would he feel especially inclined towards the youngest 2? Second, why would he display open affection for Yusuf and Bin Yamin, when he was well aware of his older sons’ nature? This knowledge of his is obvious when he replies to Yusuf about the latter’s dream of future success and high worldly status (including becoming a Prophet):
The sons of Prophet Yaqoub were in the habit of thinking negatively, and prone to envy. It is clearly observed among people that some may possess stronger emotions than others. For example, some people are more short-tempered – easily flying into a rage at trivial matters. Others are impatient; they cannot stand waiting for what they want; they desire immediate gratification. Still others are extremely emotional – they jump to conclusions about things and get depressed. It is highly likely that, having raised his older sons, Prophet Yaqoub had identified their envious nature.

Not only that, but as Yusuf flowered into a handsome, talented youth, Prophet Yaqoub recognized his imminent prospects of success: wisdom, knowledge, lofty manners, gracious conduct when dealing with others, and last but not least, physical beauty.

It is also probable that, even before hearing the account of Yusuf’s dream, he had a strong inkling that Yusuf would be chosen as a Prophet. His intuition was confirmed when his beautiful son confided his dream to him.

Therefore, we can conclude that it was not that Yusuf tried to outshine his older brothers. He just did, because he had been blessed with numerous positive qualities from his Creator. This was something that his father recognized very early on.

They were all his brothers, but by unanimous consensus, they are talking about his full brother. Yusuf (‘alayhi salaam) only had one full brother from their mother, and the name of the full brother was Benyamin.

Benyamin and Yusuf were the ones who were from one mother, and they were younger than the other brothers. Benyamin was still a newborn baby and not talking at this stage. Most scholars say that Yusuf was 7 to 10 years old – in other words, a young child.

“When they said, ‘Yusuf and his brother indeed, without any denial or doubt about this, are more beloved to our father than all of us, and we are usbah…”

Usbah here means a gang or a group. The meaning of a gang or a group is not a negative gang but: ‘we are large in number and they are just two.’ The brothers were 10 and Yusuf and Benyamin were two. Not only that, but they were saying,

“We are older than them, and we are more useful to our father and take care of his needs and irrigate and take out the sheep. What can Yusuf do? What can his baby brother do? What is the problem with our father? We are the majority, older, and stronger, so how can he love Yusuf and his brother more than us?”

“‘…Surely our father has made a grievous, clear error.’”

“…Inna abaanaa lafi ddalaalin mubeen.” Once again, inna and la add emphasis. “Surely – there is no doubt – our father has made a plain mistake, a grievous, clear error.” Remember that Ya‘qub is a prophet, and to consider a prophet to be dhalal is a type of kufr, but the sons were not saying that their father was dhalal in righteousness and Islam but were saying that their father was misguided in something of this world. Had they considered their father to be misguided overall, then they would not be Muslim anymore.

EXPLANATION

f the children feel that they are discriminated against, their envy will be aroused.
Discrimination among one’s children will decrease their love towards their parents
The exercise of power does not engender love.
Envy crossed the frontiers of fatherhood and prophecy hence the brothers attributed deviation and injustice to their father who was, at the same time, their prophet. The verse says: “…Verily, our father is in manifest error’.”
To be loved is an inherent need of man. Lack of love and affection of others is one of the greatest sufferings of man.

LESSON:

Parents do know what’s right and what’s wrong for their kid, we should not disrespect their decision. As we keep reading this story we will understand how costly it can be not to listen to our father. And parents, there is a message for you too here: Don’t treat your children differently on the basis of gender or age, you will see the potential consequences of that in the next Verse.

Love your siblings.

–find safety in numbers –in UK, some cities resemble cites from other countries –so there’s safety in numbers there

Jealousness crooks your thinking

Do you see the effects of Jealousy? They knew that their father was a Prophet but they still said that he was in plain error. They made a plan to kill their brother.

The small issue of the love of their father to Yusuf became very big in their eyes and the big issue of killing a human soul became very small and insignificant. It is all because of jealousy.

Their father loved them all since they were all his children but just because he loved Yusuf a bit more, they saw that as a great thing and big deal.

Surah Yusuf #7

Allah (subhanahu wata’ala) then says,

“Indeed verily there is in Yusuf and his brethren [meaning in the story of Yusuf and his brethren], ayat for those who ask.”

TAFSEER:

We already talked about what ayah means, and Allah already mentioned ayah before this. The meaning of ayah is a sign, lesson, miracle to ponder over.

In some places in the Qur’an, Allah (subhanahu wata’ala) says there are lessons for those who think and in other places, Allah says there are lessons for those who reflect, and in other places, Allah says there are lessons for those who use their ‘aql.

This ayah is one of the only places in the Qur’an where Allah says there are ayat for those who ask (aayaatu li’l-saa’ileen). There are a number of points here. Why did Allah restrict it to those who ask?

An ayah is an indication. Scholars say that this story is an indication of primarily three things:

The indication of the Power and the Sunnah of Allah (subhanahu wata’ala).
The indication of the truth of the Messenger.
The indication of the lessons and morals within the story of Yusuf.

Let’s talk about each one of these briefly:

The Sunnah of Allah ‘azza wa jall. An ayah about who Allah is and how He deals with His servants.

From this, we learn that Allah is ever watching the servants, and in the end, victory is always given to the righteous and sincere. The ayah is that the righteous shall always inherit, and the righteous shall always be the victor. The reason why the surah was revealed was a consolation for the Prophet (sal Allahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) that: “Just like right now you are being ridiculed and humiliated and just like you had been thrown into the well of ignominy by your nation, so too was Yusuf before, but the end result is for those who have taqwa.”

This surah is also an ayah for the truthfulness of our Prophet Muhammad (sal Allahu ‘alayhi wa sallam).

The Yahud said, “None of you know this story. Only we know it because we are the chosen people. Go ask your prophet if he knows the story of Yusuf.” Allah says, “In this story there is an ayah that this prophet is a true prophet because he would not know the story otherwise.” Allay says in another verse, “You and your people before you did not know this story. You were not standing on the western side of Mount Sinai when We spoke to Musa. You were not in the room when Zakariyyah and the people were arguing over who would take care of Maryam.” Once again, all of these stories have nothing to do with the Arabs. You need to understand, the Arabs had no knowledge of these stories because it was not their people. This is an ayah that our Prophet (sal Allahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) is truthful.

The third we said is the lessons we learn from the story itself.

This is the whole point of the tafseer that we are doing: what are the lessons we derive? Allah is saying in the story of Yusuf and his brothers there are many lessons (aayaat).

Here Allah is saying: “These aayaat are for those who ask.” Asking is the least indication of inquisitiveness. Thinking, contemplating, yatafakar, and yaqib are higher levels because you ask the one who thinks, and you ask the one who knows. In this, Allah is saying, ‘in these are aayaat for those who ask.’ The meaning here is these aayaat are so clear you don’t need to be a grandiose, magnificent scholar and you don’t need to be a high-powered intellectual. All you need to do is turn to the surah and ask, ‘What are the miracles? What are the signs? How can I benefit?’ Allah is saying, “aayaatu li’l-saa’ileen” – all you have to do is turn to the surah and ask. Of course, no doubt, the more you ask, the more you will learn and know. In this there is an indication that asking is of benefit, and you should ask.

Asking is of benefit, and our Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) himself commanded us to ask. The Qur’an is full of ‘yasalunaka (they ask you about this and they ask you about that).’ In a hadeeth in Sahih Muslim, our Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, “Saluni, saluni. (Ask me. Ask me.) I will answer you.”

Asking is something that is generally speaking encouraged. Asking generally speaking is praiseworthy, and this verse shows it, but sometimes, Allah says in the Qur’an, “Don’t ask about things that will cause you harm or grief.” There are examples given in the seerah and the athar of the sahabah. This is more common amongst students of knowledge or amongst people who don’t have much knowledge when they ask about that which doesn’t concern them.

Allah ‘azza wa jall is saying that anybody who is eager to derive benefit from the story of Yusuf and approaches the story of Yusuf will be able to do so. “Aayaatu li’l-saa’ileen.” How much more so when we study this with contemplation and with tadabbur? This is the point that if you are a sa’il then you will benefit, so how about if you are tadabbur or ta’kiloon or tatafakarun? You will benefit even more. And that is insha’Allah the goal of this series of classes – we will go into a lot of detail.

There are numerous signs of Allah’s omnipotence at work in the life history of Hadrat Yusuf, each of which is an advice and a didactic lesson for the seeker of Truth. Among these Signs we can cite:

Hazrat Yusuf’s very sophisticated dream.
The science of the interpretation of dreams.
Ya‘qub’s awareness of the future of his son.
Yusuf’s remaining safe at the bottom of the well.
Becoming blind and then regaining sight.
From being abandoned at the bottom of a well and becoming high, exalted.
Being put in prison and finally to acceding power and government.
Being cleared off all accusations and hearing accusations of corruption.
Parting and reunion.
Servitude and accession to power.
Choosing prison over being polluted with sin.
Having the upper hand yet impelled to forgive wrong done to oneself.

Surah Yusuf #6

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.

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.

Surah Yusuf #5

He said, “ My son do not relate to your dream to your brothers, lest they should devise plan against you,

Surely Shaitan is an open enemy for mankind.”

TAFSEER;

When his father hears this, he says,

“Oh my dear son, don’t tell this dream of yours to your brothers. They are going to plot against you a severe plotting.”

One of the problems of doing tafseer in any language other than Arabic is that you lose a lot of the balagha.

Surly Shaitan is an open enemy for mankind

This type of double cannot really be translated into English. “They will plot against you a plotting.” It loses the whole beauty. “They will plan against you a planning.” There is no eloquence in English to say that. The meaning here is: “They will plot against you a very mighty / very severe plot.” The emphasis is a powerful plot and a strong plot and an effective plot.

One of the principles of life is keeping other people’s secrets. If the Muslims had put into practice what has been implied in this verse, our vast capital and potentialities, our manuscripts and scientific works, our works of art and antique objects would not have been found in foreign museums.

Hadrat Yusuf (as) told his father his dream away from the presence of his brothers. This behavior shows a remarkable perceptiveness on Yusuf’s part which definitely did not escape Ya‘qub.

The sun, the moon and eleven stars in prostration before his son, what did it all mean? Ya‘qub briefly pondered over the vision and then it became clear to him. Certainly, the moon and the sun represented Yusuf’s mother and himself, and the eleven stars represented his brothers.

He will be so exalted in rank and position that celestial beings will be subservient to him. It was a fantastic, fabulous, and interesting dream!

Therefore with a mixed feeling of anxiety and happiness, he responded his son not to tell his brothers about his dream for they would scheme dangerous stratagems against him.

BENEFITS from AYAT;

1. We only tell dreams to those whom we trust. Yusuf went to his father.

2. We see the dangers of jealousy and envy. This is a common theme throughout this whole surah.

The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, “I warn you against having jealousy. Jealousy eats up your good deeds like a fire eats up twigs.”

3. A believer should be wise and not make problems for himself. Do not boast about any type of blessing.

4. Shaytan is a clear and open enemy to you. Shaytan is an enemy, and we don’t need to go into a whole tangent about why this is the case. Allah warned the very first human being about Shaytan. Allah (subhanahu wata’ala) says in the Qur’an, “We said, ‘O Adam, this being [He didn’t even mention him. Over here, there is an element of despicability.] is an enemy to you and to your wife.’” The very first human beings are told this, so make sure that they do not cause you to be expelled from Jannah.

5. Ya‘qub (alayhi salaam) as a father is well aware of the nature of his children, and he acts to prevent this type of rivalry between them. This is the sign of a good Muslim and a sign of a prophet. He was concerned about equilibrium and peace and harmony. He does not want fitnah and does not want the breaking of ties of kinship, so he works actively and proactively to make sure the brothers do not fight with one another.

6. Ya‘qub says, “Your brothers will plot against you. Shaytan is an open enemy.” He blames two entities: brothers and Shaytan, but the primary blame is to Shaytan. He does not call the brothers ‘enemies’ or ‘evil’, but he says that they will plot and the Shaytan is the culprit. This is very deep because when it comes to criticizing others, it is of the Islamic etiquette to remove the blame from them and transfer it over to Shaytan as much as possible.

We see this in this ayah as well. Instead of getting jealous, Ya‘qub wants to make sure that Yusuf fulfills the dream. He wants to make sure that his brothers do not prevent it from happening and that eventually they will prostrate, and this is exactly what happens.

7. Yusuf did not tell his brothers about the dream, and despite that fact, they still plotted against him. Imagine if he did tell them the dream, it would have been even worse.

8. The final point of this ayah that we can benefit from is also a very interesting and profound point. Regardless of whether Ya‘qub is represented by the sun or the moon, in the dream, Ya‘qub prostrates to Yusuf. This shows that Yusuf will be higher than Ya‘qub. Does Ya‘qub feel any jealousy? No, even though he is going to be prostrating to Yusuf as well.

He feels no jealousy.

Why is this?

Because of the miracle of creation that Allah (subhanahu wata’ala) made the father so perfectly that the only human being who has no jealousy of you will be the parent. No other human being will be completely empty of jealousy.

It is not possible for the father to be jealous of the son. Why? Because the father always considers his son to be an extension of him.

He feels: “This is my son. This is my child.” Yusuf (alayhi salaam) tells his father, and his father feels no jealousy. Rather, his father feels protective – “I want to protect you. Masha’Allah you are going to go higher than me, and I want to make sure your brothers don’t harm you.”

SubhanAllah,

this shows us the beauty and miracle of creation that parents are so loving and so selfless and so perfect in that love that no other human being will want to see somebody eclipse them and go higher than them other than their parents – not a brother, not a spouse, not a friend. There is always going to be an element of negativity (sometimes more and sometimes less), but for the father and the mother, there is no such element. This shows us the perfection of Allah’s creation.

Yaqub’s advice to Yusuf came w/ lessons:

–sibling rivalry is a reality [so he told Yusuf don’t tell your dream to your brothers]

–it’s a form of envy

–take your bothersome dreams to a qualified person to interpret it

–sibling rivalry is from the shaitan

–the shaitan runs in our veins the way blood runs in our veins

LESSONS;

1. It is necessary that parents be knowledgeable about the likes and dislikes as well as attitudes of their children so that they may be able to guide them effectively.

2. When a person has a good dream, he should keep it to himself and only tell it to those who love him/her.

3. One should distance oneself as much as possible from situations that can lead to an evil outcome.

4. A dream should not be related to before a person who is no expert in the dream interpretation

5. The believer should always be concerned about the well being of his family.

6. Jealousy an evil and anyone who falls prey to it harms him or herself and also the ones around him or her.

Surah Yusuf #4

“When, Yusuf said to his father: ‘O my father! Verily I did see (dreamt) eleven stars and the sun and the moon: I saw them prostrating themselves unto me’.”

TAFSEER;

We have discussed the first three ayat of Surah Yusuf. In these three ayat, Allah (subhanahu wata’ala) introduces the importance of the Qur’an. The point of these three ayat is that Allah is telling us: “This is the holiest Book, the clear Book, and We have given this to you in simple Arabic language so that you can understand. And We have narrated to you the best of all stories and that is the reason why We have revealed this Qur’an to you even though before it came down, you were not of those who knew and were of the ghafileen (i.e. you didn’t know the story of Yusuf, you didn’t know the details of right and wrong, you didn’t know the reality of Islam) until this Qur’an came down.”

These three verses set up the story. Immediately in the fourth verse the story begins.

“Idh qala Yusuf…”

The word idh occurs in the Qur’an usually right before a story begins. In English, what this means is ‘remember when / recall when.’ This is usually how stories begin in the Qur’an.

Lineage of Yusuf (‘alayhi salaam)

“When Yusuf said to his father…”

Yusuf is the son of Ya‘qub who is the son of Ishaaq who is the son of Ibrahim. Yusuf ibn Ya‘qub ibn Ishaaq ibn Ibrahim. The prophet, the son of the prophet, the son of a prophet, the son of a prophet.

Yusuf and Benyamin (his brother’s name) were from one wife, Rachel. This woman was the mother of Yusuf and Benyamin – two sons only. The other sons were from other women.

Yusuf (alayhi salaam) at this point in time is living in Filistin. This is the holy land that Allah chose for Ishaaq and his progeny. Ishaaq’s son Ya‘qub is in Filistin, and Ya‘qub has children. Yusuf is in Filistin. We are going to learn now that Yusuf will leave Filistin, but for now, they are in Filistin.

Yusuf sees a dream. “Idh qala Yusuf…” “When Yusuf said to his father…”

How old is Yusuf at this stage? Most scholars say he is seven years old. “Recall when Yusuf said to his father, ‘I saw eleven stars and the sun and the moon. I saw them prostrating to me.’” He repeats the verb ra’aytu twice because first he is setting up the picture of the eleven stars, the sun, and the moon, and then he repeats that he saw all of them prostrating to him. The story of Yusuf begins with a dream.

DREAMS

Before we go on, we need to talk about dreams.

What is so important about dreams? Why do dreams play a role in the story of Yusuf?

We learn in the Qur’an and Sunnah that

dreams can occur from Allah (subhanahu wata’ala), and this type occurs to the prophets
and they can occur from Shaytan,
and they can occur from your own imagination.

The only type of dreams that the prophets have are from Allah. Allah has protected their dreams from Shaytan, and Allah has protected their dreams from their own imagination; therefore, every time a prophet sees a dream, it is wahy (inspiration from Allah).

The Qur’an has named some dreams as those which have proven to be true and became fulfilled; as follow:

The dream of Hadrat Yusuf (as) regarding the prostration of eleven stars, the sun and the moon
The dream of the two prisoners who were companion inmates with Yûsuf
The dream of the Egyptian king
The dream of the Prophet of Islam (S) about the small number of pagans in the Battle of Badr
The dream of the Prophet of Islam (S) about the entry of the Muslims into the Masjid ul Haram with shaved heads
The dream of the mother of Hadrat Moses who had placed her infant in a box and cast it into the water.
Hadrat ’Ibrahim’s dream of sacrificing of his son ’Isma‘il8 which says:

DREAM INTERPRETATION;

Dream interpretation is not a ‘book science’. It is a blessing from Allah, which Allah clearly says in these verses, “I will teach you how to interpret dreams.” He says it to Yusuf [12:6].

So, as was mentioned earlier, the Qur’an begins the story of Yusuf by narrating his extraordinary and meaningful dream, for this wonderful dream is considered the first highlight of his adventurous life.

The Dream of Yusuf (‘alayhi salaam)

Yusuf says, “I have seen eleven stars and the sun and the moon. I saw them…” He repeats the verb ‘I saw’ to emphasize that something occurred in the middle of the dream. First they were stagnant (“I saw them”), and then: “I saw them move and prostrate to me.”

Yusuf was a child and did not understand the meaning of the dream. So he goes to his father and says, “Ya abati.” Abati is a polite way to say father. In the Qur’an, it is generally always abati. Ibrahim tells his father ‘ya abati.’ It is the most polite way to say father.

Yusuf told his father that he had had a dream where eleven stars descended from the sky, followed by the sun and the moon and all lay prostrate before him.

What do the sun and the moon and the stars represent ?

They represent individuals who are shining stars. These are the stars, and the sun and the moon are even brighter than them. All of these indicate very high beings. There is a being that is nobler than all of them and that is Yusuf. Yusuf in his dream sees that these are not average human beings prostrating to him. These are stars and the sun and the moon and the height of humanity at that time prostrating to him. Who else was better than Ya‘qub at that time? Nobody. Who else was better than his parents? Nobody. This means that eventually Yusuf will outshine the sun and the moon and the stars. Yusuf will become more famous and will rise to higher ranks and reach a level of nobility that even his mother, father, and brothers did not reach.

REFLECTIONS;

Of these stories mention] when Yûsuf said to his father, “O my father, indeed I have seen [in a dream] eleven stars and the sun and the moon; I saw them prostrating to me.”

‣ Said something interesting from the beginning, something that grabs the attention

‣ Prophet said “dreams are 1/46th of the prophecy”

• What 1/46? If you look at the life of the prophet, he spent 13 years in mecca after revelation, and 10 years in madinah. Total 23.

‣ Three types of dreams:

Those of our subconscious thoughts

This has no meaning
What are the signs of this type of dream?
You wake up and after 1 second, you can’t remember anything at all except a few details
Really in depth and long dreams, but can’t remember much

Nightmares (ahlam)

They are from the shaytan
Don’t tell anyone. Seek refuge in Allah from the evils of it
The shaytan is trying to scare you
Don’t act upon it
Sometimes, we see dreams about the hereafter, punishment of the grave, coming out of grave
Ask Allah to save you from hellfire
These increase your iman, and they scare you to do something good

Dreams from Allah

These are blessings
Does a dream really give you information about the future?
Does this nullify aqeedah because only Allah knows the future?
We can’t really know for sure
We don’t really know for sure the future
These are glad tidings

LESSONS;

–a true dream is from Allah, pious people get a true dream, whenever you have a true dream,

–don’t tell it to evil people, it’s not permissible to do sadjah

There are at least 5 lessons:

1. pious people get true dreams

2. sadjah from man to man WAS permissible in the Shariah of Yusuf (so Yusuf saw it in a dream)

3. a true dream is from Allah tala

4. you are not allowed to tell your dream to anyone but a righteous person they will interpret it for you

5. the father and son relationship between Yusuf and Yaqub was excellent