“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.
- The meaning is the Owner. You call out to the One who owns you because ownership necessitates responsibility.
- The meaning of
the Allah is Nourisher / Sustainer, and fromthis we get the wordtarbiyyah , which isa 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.” - 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
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
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
- We should always seek to approach Allah by remembering all the good that He has done for us.
- 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. - We must never forget about the Hereafter. No matter how much we have been given of this worldly life.
- 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.