Surah Yusuf #101

“O my Allah! You have given me to rule, and have taught me the interpretation of dreams. (O!) Originator of the heavens and the earth! You are my Protector in the world and the Hereafter. Cause me die a Muslim (in submission (unto you) and join me with the righteous.”

When they witness their own glory and power, the men of Allah are at once reminded of the Almighty. They are aware that everything that exists has its origin in Him.

O my Allah…..

Allah has three meanings to it. 

  1. The meaning is the Owner. You call out to the One who owns you because ownership necessitates responsibility. 
  2. The meaning of the Allah is Nourisher / Sustainer, and from this we get the word tarbiyyah, which is a spiritual nourishment. When you call out to Allah, , you are saying, “O the One who takes care of me. O the One who will nourish me.”
  3. The meaning of Allah is Lord and Master, meaning the One who is obeyed.

This is why the Name of Allāh Al-Rabb is one of the most comprehensive Names of Allāh. 

This is why it is the most common Name that is ever used in any du‘ā’. Rabbi zidni ‘ilma. Rabbana ātina fi’l-dunya ḥasanatan wa fi’l-ākhirati ḥasanatan wa qina ‘adāb’l-nār. 

All of these use Rabb – why? Because when you call your Rabb, you are calling your Owner, Master, Nourisher.

He mentions two things:

“_*You have given me something of power and something of the knowledge of interpreting dreams.”*_

Why does he say ‘something’? 

Because he is invoking Al-Mālik and the One who is Al-‘Alīm. 

He is saying, “O Al-Mālik, You have given me some mulk. O Al-‘ Alīm, You have given me some ‘ilm.” 

In contrast to Allāh ‘azza wa jall, who is he and what is his power and what is his knowledge? 

He is trivializing the knowledge that he has with “little-because in comparison to Allāh that knowledge is trivial and in comparison to Allāh that power is nothing even though at this point in time he is the most powerful man on earth, 

even more powerful than the king, because he controls food and people are starving. 

He is the minister of food, and people need food more than they need anything else.

What is the most prized possession of any human being? 

Power. When you have power, everything else follows – fame, prestige, money, all of your lustful desires can be satisfied whether it is food, drink or sensual pleasures. 

When you are king or prime minister, everything else follows. All of the other pleasures of this dunya cannot compete with the pleasure of power because when you have power, everything else is subservient to that.

The greatest blessing of this world, if it is used properly is power. 

The greatest blessing of the spiritual realm is knowledge. Yūsuf (‘alayhi’l-salām) is, therefore, mentioning the two blessings that Allāh has given and perfected.

And of the knowledge, he mentions the most rare type of knowledge, and that is the knowledge of the interpretation of the dreams. Of the most important of these sciences is the interpretation of dreams. A dream interpretation is a gift Allāh blesses you with. It is not something that you learn.

After Yusuf (AS) praises Allah, he then calls out to Him (swt) as “Originator of the heavens and the earth”. 

The Arabic word Fatir that Allah uses in this ayah to describe Himself does not simply mean “Originator”. Rather it gives the meaning of One Who opened something and from that the One Who let loose something. 

So, in the beginning, there was no matter whatsoever. Then Allah opened and this universe as we know it came out. Almost like a flower comes out from the earth. Such was the creation of all things. This is how Allah brought everything into existence. The beauty and magnificence of it cannot even be described in words. 

There was nothing, and He is the One Who brought it all into being. 

That is why in his prayer here before he asks Allah for his need, first he praises his Lord. 

He praises Him (swt) with a praise that cannot be given to anyone else. The Originator of the heavens and the earth.

Then Yusuf (AS) calls out to Allah by saying “You are my Protector and my Friend in this world and in the Hereafter.” In the previous part of the ayah, Yusuf praised Allah with a praise that belongs only to Him. Here he pra

In addition to being a Protector, Allah is also our Friend. 

What is an amazing friend is He? He is always closer to us than anyone else in this universe. 

He (swt) is One to Whom we can complain all of our difficulties and sorrows to. 

He (swt) will never become upset with us for no reason. 

He (swt) will never misunderstand us or forget about us. 

He (swt) Knows us better than we know our own selves? So what an amazing friend is He (swt)? 

This was how Yusuf (AS) took Allah as a friend and emphasizing to Allah that He (swt) is indeed his friend and that He is his only friend.

Finally, Allah tells us that Yusuf said: “make me die submitting, and join me with the righteous.” 

This was the actual dua that Yusuf (AS) made, this was what he asked Allah for. 

Everything else that he had said up to this point was only leading up to this. 

Look here at what he asks Allah for. 

He prays to Allah to allow him to die as a Muslim and to join him with the righteous. 

In other words to place him to the Garden which has been promised for the righteous. 

For those who make peace. For those who set matters right. For those who establish justice. For those who worship and serve Allah. This is what this noble prophet prays for. This is what Allah is pleased with us praying for.

Thus, in the end, we see that this was a story about the journey that Yusuf (AS) made to his Lord. 

We see how all of the trials and tribulations that he went through, as well as all of the joys and conquests, were but milestones on this path. 

This is a path that we have to walk as well. A path that leads to Allah. 

This path begins with us turning away from all that is displeasing to Allah, it progresses with us doing what is pleasing to Him, and it finds its pinnacle in us striving to call others to Him. 

That is the dawah, and that is what Allah brings our attention to in the ayahs that conclude this Surah.

Reflection

*•Miracles of the prophets 
(Yusuf’s (u) shirt restored his father’s eyesight).

In the absence of tangible objects a strange sense may bring things to reality as Yaqub said
when he mentioned that he smells Yusuf.

It is desired to be prompt in giving good news to the people.

Sometimes feelings can be stronger than the tangible evidence.

In ayah 95 ضالل means love.

It is permissible to throw things at your parents in case of necessity.

Seeking forgiveness from the parents in the occurrence of short-comings.

The necessity of admitting mistakes and consequence of denying them.

The power of the dua of a parent.

Utilizing the time when the prayers are answered by Allah.
Honoring ones parents.

The difference between prostrating in front of Allah and prostrating in front of others.

Interpretation of a dream may take place years after the original occurrence of the dream.

A believer should not be enthusiastic in hurting other people’s feelings.

‣ Appreciating the favor of your lord though it may seem insignificant to you at the time.

‣ The power of mentioning only good about the others.

‣ Allah is very forbearing to His servants.

‣ Allah may re-unite those when there is no hope for re-union.

‣ When Allah blesses one with the blessing of Islam they should not overlook it and should
ask Allah to take the soul away only in the state of Islam.

‣ The purpose of the story is to extract lessons and to learn from them.

‣ Be grateful to Allah.

‣ Allah is the wali of every believer until the doomsday.

‣ Allah is the Wali of the believers on the day of resurrection.

‣ The best thing is to ask Allah to allow you to die as a Muslim.

‣ If a righteous servant asks Allah, Allah will make him/her more righteous.

Lesson

  1. We should always seek to approach Allah by remembering all the good that He has done for us. 
  2. We also must acknowledge all of the knowledge that Allah has taught us. 
    Allah may not have given us the knowledge that He (swt) gave to Yusuf (AS) but He (swt) still has given us vast amounts of knowledge.
  3. We must never forget about the Hereafter. No matter how much we have been given of this worldly life. 
  4. The final lesson that we can take from this ayah is to see how Yusuf (AS) prays to die submitting to Allah. 

First, we should note that he is not asking here for death. None of us should ask for death. 

In other words, he asks his Lord that he die in a state in which he is submitting completely to Him (swt) in everything. 

Even though he was a prophet of Allah. 
Even though he was completely protected from both the major and the minor sins. 

This is a prayer that we must make as well. Just as we pray to Allah for the things of this world, we must also pray to Him (swt) for the Hereafter and to die as Muslim. If only we tasted the life beyond this, if we only know what existence beyond this world would be like, then we would see where our prayers must be.

Surah Yusuf #100

“And he raised both his parents upon the throne, and they fell down prostrating before him, and he said: ‘O’ my father! This is the interpretation of my dream of aforetime! My Lord has made it come true; and He was indeed kind to me when He brought me out of the prison, and He brought you out of the desert (of Kan‘an into Egypt) after Satan had made strife between me and my brothers. Verily my Lord is Benignant unto what He wills. Verily He is indeed the All-Knowing, the All-Wise’.”

*And he put his parents on the throne…”*

What throne? 

Perhaps he had a throne or perhaps, 

he actually put his parents on the throne of Egypt to symbolically show them that this is the respect he gives them. 

He is putting them on the throne of the mightiest kingdom at the time to show them respect as his parents. 

When he did that, they came off the throne and prostrated to him, and the brothers all fell into prostration.

We have to mention here that lowering the head for respect was something that was allowed in the previous legislations if you did it to show respect. 

Lowering your head out of worship has always been forbidden except for Allāh. 

You had to lower it out of worship only to Allāh. 

When Allāh told the angels to prostrate to Adam, what type of sajdah is this? This is the sajdah of respect. 

In this sūrah as well, the brothers of Yūsuf and the parents of Yūsuf fall into a prostration of respect. I

Ya‘qūb and the brothers all fall down. 

A quick point here 

– the āyah says that he put his parents on the throne. 

We already said that the strongest opinion is that his mother had already died and that his father had married Yūsuf’s maternal aunt (i.e. his wife’s sister). 

Allāh calls them “parents” even though she is actually his khālah (mother’s sister). 

This shows us that the mother’s sister has the same rights and equivalent status of the mother because Allāh called them “parents.” 

SubḥānAllāh, it is amazing 

This is something that the Qur’ān clearly indicates that our Prophet (ṣallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam) explicitly said. The khālah is at the same level as the mother.

*Yūsuf says, ‘O my father, this is the actualization of my dream that I saw so many years ago.’”*

How many years has it been? We have no idea but some scholars say forty-five years have gone by. A lifetime has gone by.

*“*My Lord made it a certainty.”**

As we said, the dreams of the prophets are all true.

“And how generous He has been to me.”

Once again he is ascribing the blessings to Allāh. 

When they are showing him so much respect, he feels awkward and ascribes all of this to Allāh. 

When they prostrate to him, he reminds them of Allāh and says, “Allāh has been so generous to me when He caused me to be saved from the prison and caused you to come from the barren lifestyle after Shayṭān caused some problems between me and my brothers.”

SubḥānAllāh, once again amazing phrases. 

He is saying, “How generous Allāh has been to me when He caused me to leave the prison.” 

Notice he doesn’t mention when He caused him to be saved from the well even though to be saved from the well is a bigger blessing than to leave the prison because you are going to die in the well but you are not going to die in the prison. 

You are going to starve in the well but you are not going to starve in the prison. 

In the prison there is humanity around you and light and air. 

In the well it is much different. In the prison he was an adult, and in the well he was a child.

*Why doesn’t he mention the well? *

By mentioning the well, he is reminding his brothers of what they have done, so he completely glosses over it. 

He had said, “You are not going to be blamed.” 

So when he is recounting the favors of Allāh, he doesn’t even mention that because if he were to do so, it is as if he is putting some salt on their wound, and he is not going to mention that. 

He says, “How generous was Allāh to me when He caused me to be saved from the prison.

“After Shayṭān caused problems between me and my brothers.”

Notice once again you cannot think of phrases that are more beautiful. 

It is not even humanly possible. He is recounting the favors of Allāh, and of the biggest favors is that they are all one family together after they were split up and after Shayṭān caused problems. 

Notice he didn’t say his brothers caused the problems. 

*It was all Shayṭān. *

All evil is his fault and not his brothers. He says, “between me [sharing the blame 50-50] and my brothers.” 

What did he do that he has to mention his name? 

He didn’t do anything, and he mentions himself first. Isn’t this amazing? 

He doesn’t even say “after Shayṭān threw some evil into my brothers.” 

It is as if he has something to share in the blame even though he has zero.

*My Lord is Laṭīf to whomever He pleases.”*

What does Laṭīf mean? 

Laṭīf, as you know, is one of the Names of Allāh ‘azza wa jall, and it is a beautiful Name to use here. 

Yūsuf is saying, “My Lord is Laṭīf to whomever He pleases.” Laṭīf actually means ‘the One who is aware of the most intricate and hidden secrets.’ 

From this, there is a secondary to meaning to Laṭīf, which is to have a protective care, a nourishing care around somebody because you are very familiar with their faults, weaknesses, and problems. 

Because you know it, you will protect them. 

Because Allāh knew what was going on, He was nourishing and guarding over him.

“He is Laṭīf to whomever He please. Verily He is Al-‘Alīm Al-Ḥakīm.”

He is the One who knows everything and the One who is All-Wise. 

Once again two Names of Allāh ‘azza wa jall that are very relevant. 

He knew all along what was happening. He was Ḥakīm. He had a wisdom – Yūsuf didn’t know it, they didn’t know it, but now we see that wisdom. 

Ḥakīm means there is a wisdom of why He is doing all of this. 

Allāh knew everything that is happening to all of them. 

He was doing everything for a wisdom, and now we see that wisdom in front of us.

Lesson

  1. Your parents are superior to you, and you must always give them a higher status. 
  2. Forgiving someone when you have full power to take revenge 
    Is the height of excellent character 
  3. Forgive and try not to mention the faults and crimes done against you .
  4. Never Lose hope regarding anyone’s bad condition .
  5. Allah has the power to change the hearts.brother started off evil but changed at the end after year
  6. Treat parent with honor and respect.
  7. Everything Allah chooses for us; evil or good, pleasure or affliction, is for our benefit. 
  8. Allah alone knows how things will turn out in the end, and how it will benefit us.

Surah Yusuf #99

Then when they entered unto Yusuf, he lodged his parents with him and said: ‘Enter Egypt, Allah willing, (all) in security’.

The verse says:

“Then when they entered unto Yusuf, he lodged his parents with him…”

When they arrived at his palace, and Yusuf embraced his parents, this was the sweetest moment in Ya‘qub’s life. 

It was a meeting that had come about after many years of separation.

Every moment of this meeting and embracing Ya‘qub and Yusuf was so exciting that only Allah knows what happened and none else. 

In these sweet moments of reunion, then, only Allah knows the intensity of the bliss shared between the father and his beloved son.

Yusuf told every one to enter the land of Egypt and assured them that they would be safe and secure there.

The verse continues saying:

“…and said: ‘Enter Egypt, Allah willing, (all) in security’.”

One can conclude from this statement that Yusuf had come out of the gates of the town to welcome his parents. 
Perhaps the sentence ‘they entered unto Yusuf’ means that he had ordered tents to be erected there to receive and entertain preliminarily his parents before they entered the town.

He said, ‘Enter into Egypt. With the permission of Allāh, all of you will be safe.’”

The meaning of ‘inshā’Allāh’ here is ‘in the Name of Allāh, you shall be safe.’ 

This is difficult to translate into English. 

Our Prophet (ṣallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said, “When you make du‘ā’, don’t say ‘inshā’Allāh’ at the end” because you don’t make du‘ā’ by assigning it to Allāh. 

You have to beg and plead because you need Allāh’s forgiveness. You say, “O Allāh, I need your forgiveness, forgive me.” 

You say, “O Allāh, I need this.” The Prophet (ṣallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said, “When you make a du‘ā’, be firm in your request.” 

Don’t be wishy washy and add the inshā’Allāh because Allāh will not change the decree because of your inshā’Allāh. Allāh will give you if He wants, inshā’Allāh.

The reason of this is because some people may ask why Yūsuf made a du‘ā’ and said “inshā’Allāh.” 

The response is, to put it simply, that this “inshā’Allāh” is not that “inshā’Allāh.” 

This “inshā’Allāh” is “with the blessings of Allāh” and “in the Name of Allāh.” 

Yūsuf promised them safety, and they were safe, but their descendants were not safe, and that is what happens centuries later when Fir‘awn comes and starts persecuting the children of Israel, which is a story taken up later in the Qur’ān. Now he says, “You will be safe.”

Lesson

  1. Treat our parents with honor and respect. We know this for a fact. No human being is more worthy of your veneration other than your parents. In terms of natural love and dedication, there is no second to them.
  2. Respect your parents.
  3. Look for good in bad situations. 

If Yusuf was not in prison and if he didn’t meet those two prisoners, a drought would have happened regardless, but there would never have been someone to give the suggestions that Yusuf gave. 

Many people would have starved to death if Yusuf didn’t go through what he went through. 

This also included the survival of his own family too; his brothers and father would have starved to death too. 

There was a greater good that needed to be accomplished. And by the way, he was able to sponsor all his family to move to Egypt. 

All of this begins with the trials of Yusuf. If that didn’t happen, none of this would have happened.

Surah Yusuf #98

Soon I will ask forgiveness for you from my Lord; He is the Forgiving, the Merciful.

The great old man, who possessed a magnanimous spirit and with immense generosity, refrained from blaming them; instead he promised them that he would soon ask forgiveness for them from Allah.

The verse says:

“He said: ‘Soon I will ask forgiveness for you from my Lord;…”

Why did he delay? 

Pretty much all of the scholars say that he delayed the du‘ā’ until the last third of the night in his tahajjud prayer. 

Ya‘qūb (‘alayhi’l-salām) wanted to delay the du‘ā’ to the most blessed time. He wanted to ask Allāh in the best state, which is sajdah, and at the holiest time, which is the last third of the night, and many scholars add that it was on the Friday as well, the holiest day of the week. 

We know that our Prophet (ṣallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said that Allāh ‘azza wa jall descends down to the lowest heavens in the last third of the night in a ḥadīth in Bukhāri and Muslim. 

He descends down to the lowest heavens in the last third of the night and says, “Who amongst My servants is asking Me, so I shall give him what he wants. 

Making du‘ā’ in the last third of the night is the most blessed time to make du‘ā’. There is no time that is more blessed than this in our 24-hour cycle.

STATUS of PARENTS:

Status of parents in Islam has been given great importance . In this Surah, it is narrated that Yusuf AS always respected his parents. 

He never went against them and always loved them unconditionally. 

Despite acquiring a position in Egypt, he welcomed his parents with the utmost respect and love and made them sit on the throne.

And We have enjoyed on man to be dutiful and good to his Parents
(Luqman 14)

Lessons:

  1. One should supplicate during in which supplication are more like to be answered.
  2. Allah is the most forgiving, and there is no sin he won’t forgive, other than shirk. No matter how big the sin is, Allah will always be there to forgive it. Allah’s actions can never be questioned. 
  3. It is best to make of our prayers in private. When we make our prayers in private we built a special and personal relationship with our Allah . No one knows how close we are to Him except us. It is also a proof of our faith that we would make dua in private.
  4. We are calling out to Allah because we are certain that He (swt) is there, we are certain that He (swt) hears our prayers. 
  5. Accept the apology of your children no matter what wrong they have done to you. Make Dua for them

Surah Yusuf #97

“They said: ‘O’ our father! Ask forgiveness of our sins for us, verily we were guilty’.”

This amazing miracle made the brothers think deeply about their dark past. In so doing they regretted their past misdeeds and asked their father to seek forgiveness for their sins.

The verse says:

“They said: ‘O’ our father! Ask forgiveness of our sins for us, verily we were guilty’.”

Here they say the exact same thing for a second time.
They said it once to Yūsuf and now they say it to their father.

Clearly they are repentant.

SubḥānAllāh, the number one stepping stone to repentance is acknowledgement of guilt.

You cannot repent until you acknowledge guilt.

This is why the Prophet (ṣallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said, “Feeling guilty is the essence of repenting.”

Unless you feel guilty and acknowledge the sin, there is no repentance.

If you simply say “I’m sorry” but there is no genuine guilt, this is not tawbah.

We can clearly see the brothers are feeling guilty.

They have asked Yūsuf to forgive, they have asked their father to forgive, and they have admitted they made a mistake.

Until you admit to making a mistake, you are not repenting to Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta‘āla).

Lesson

1) One lesson that we can take from this is that we too must always be seeking the Forgiveness of Allah. The true believer would give up this entire world only for the Forgiveness of his Lord.

Look at how many sins these brothers of Yusuf had done. Yet despite all these sins they still hoped for the Forgiveness of Allah.
How then can we give up on it? How then can we think that we are beyond it?

No, rather we must ask Allah for forgiveness and we must believe with utmost certainty that He (swt) will forgive us.

He (swt) can do all things and nothing whatsoever is beyond Him (swt). Not even forgiving terrible sinners like you and me.

2) Another lesson that we can take from this ayah is that we must realize that the first step in seeking Forgiveness from Allah is to, first of all, admit that we were wrong.

How can you hope for Allah to forgive you if you yourself will not even admit that you were wrong?

We have to humble ourselves before the Glory and Majesty of Allah.

We have to admit our mistakes. We have to admit our sins.

This is the first step in the path to seeking the Forgiveness of Allah.

May Allah  help us to realize our mistakes! May Allah allow us to turn to Him again and again.

3)  That  we learn from this sūrah is that asking people’s forgiveness for wrongs that you have done and publicly announcing your public sins is a part of īmān.

The general rule is that your sins are private.

If you have made a public mistake, then you need to issue a public apology.

The brothers made a public mistake and harmed their father.

They come in public and say, “ya abbāna-staghfirlana dhunūbana inna kunna khāṭi’īn.”

A public mistake requires a public apology.

A mistake that is done to a person requires that you seek forgiveness from that person.

This is not a private sin between you and Allāh ‘azza wa jall.