Lesson 2- Thrown in a Well - Tafseer Surah Yusuf - Ustadh Asim Khan

Ustadh Asim Khan

[THROWN IN A WELL – TAFSEER SURAT YUSUF]

Thrown in a Well | Lesson 2 At first glance, it seems like the first 3 ayaat aren’t really talking about the story of Yusuf ‫عليه السالم‬, but as we study it we realize that it has very much to do with it, and that it is laying down the foundation, and is an introduction to the story, giving us the right framework. And the main message from ayaat 1-3 is that only Allah, and Allah alone narrates the very best stories, and they are all in Qur’an and one such story is this one. And no one could know the detail of this story or narrate in a ُ . So the introduction to this surah is in 1-3. more profound and beautiful way other than Allah ‫س ْبحَ ا َن ُه َو َتعَالَى‬ At the end of the surah, the last 7-8 verses, similarly, we may think they don’t relate to the story but we will see that they also form a very powerful conclusion.

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Reflecting on the Surah | Sirat Initiative

[THROWN IN A WELL – TAFSEER SURAT YUSUF] Ustadh Asim Khan

The Difference between Tafseer and Tadabbur Tafseer

Tadabbur

The aim of it is to know the intended meaning behind the verse.

It is to perceive what lies behind the intended meaning in terms of guidance and instruction.

The objective of the mufassir is to know the meaning of the verses.

The objective of the mutadabbir is to benefit from the verses, act upon them, believe in them, and to be spiritually uplifted by them.

It is done by those highly qualified individuals that have fulfilled the conditions of tafseer.

It is required to be done by all people in general on condition the meaning of the verses is known to the reader.

It is the means for tadabbur. Tafseer is therefore the asl and tadabbur is what branches out of it.

It is the reason why the Qur’an was sent down.

Sirat Initiative | Reflecting on the Surah

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Ustadh Asim Khan

[THROWN IN A WELL – TAFSEER SURAT YUSUF]

ُ ‫ت إِ ِّني َرأَي‬ ‫ْت أَ َح َد َع َش َر َك ْو َكبًا‬ ِ ‫أل ِبي ِه َيا أَ َب‬ ِ ُ‫إِ ْذ َقا َل يُوسُف‬ ‫ِين‬ َ ‫ْس َو ْال َق َم َر َرأَ ْي ُت ُه ْم لِي َسا ِجد‬ َ ‫َوال َّشم‬ •4. When Yusuf told his father, ‘Dear Father! I saw eleven bright stars, and the sun and moon as well. I saw them all to me prostrating’ Many people ask what is the difference between Tafseer and Tadabbur? Tafseer is to uncover the meaning of the miraculous words of the Qur’an - what do they mean exactly. And that is the job of the mufassir. However, once the meaning becomes clear, what can we learn and derive from that? Look at the table on the previous page. Let us take the example of this ayah to understand the difference between tafseer and tadabbur. The meaning of this ayah is quite clear. The English translation is enough of a tafseer of this ayah. On top of that we know this is actually a dream. This is the meaning. Tadabbur is to say what do we learn from this dream? What does this dream mean? How does it impact on Yusuf ‫ ?عليه السالم‬On those that he tells about this dream – Yaqoob ‫ ?عليه السالم‬What do we learn from that? Can we take any benefit from this dream? Why did Allah choose to show him this dream this early on in his life? This is trying to extract guidance from the understood meaning. Tafseer is for an elite group of people who are qualified to do it. Tadabbur is for every single person. Allah mentions in Surat Muhammad:

‫ب أَ ْق َفالُ َها‬ ٍ ‫آن أَ ْم َعلَى قُلُو‬ َ ْ‫ُون ْالقُر‬ َ ‫أَ َف َال َي َتدَ َّبر‬ Then do they not reflect upon the Qur'an, or are there locks upon [their] hearts? [47:24] This is a question showing contempt and anger towards the munafiqoon. Don’t you make tadabbur of the Qur’an? Don’t you read it and try to reflect and act upon it? Don’t you do that? Who is Allah addressing here? Munifiqoon! If the munafiqoon can make tadabbur or are being asked why don’t you, then of course, as for the believer, then so much more so, that he is supposed to make tadabbur. And tadabbur is of different levels. In ayah 3, Allah mentions that he alone relates the most beautiful stories in the Qur’an. Now we dive straight into the story of Yusuf ‫عليه السالم‬. It starts off with him telling his father about a dream. In order to get as much benefit from this course as possible, you need to empty your mind of everything you already know about his life. Everything you know about this story, just pretend you don’t know any of it. Just focus on what is being said. If you are hearing the story for the first time, all you hear is, a child says to his father, I saw this amazing dream. Now you are thinking, who is this child? How old is he? Where exactly is this? Those details are not mentioned. Which means that you don’t really need to pay too much attention to that. With that in mind, we dive into the story at a particular point in his life. This point is the beginning of the story. What happened before doesn’t really matter too much.

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Reflecting on the Surah | Sirat Initiative

[THROWN IN A WELL – TAFSEER SURAT YUSUF] Ustadh Asim Khan Ibn Ashur says, Allah started this verse iz qaala Yusuf. Iz, usually translated to mean when. However, it has got two interpretations. It either means: 1. 2.

Uzkur, so remember: the prophet ‫ ﷺ‬is being told, remember when, or tell them to remember when this story happened. Remember how Allah just mentioned that he relates the best stories in the Qur’an? Well, one of those stories is this one here.

Yusuf ‫عليه السالم‬says to dad, oh father, indeed I have seen 11 stars/ planets. Kawakib can mean stars or planets. We will get to which one perhaps is more accurate to be used here. I saw 11 of them, then I saw the sun and the moon, I really did see them, dad, to me they were all prostrating. He tells his dad the dream. Some linguistic points to look at here:

Kalimah tasgheer First of all, how did Yusuf ‫ عليه السالم‬speak to his dad? He is supposed to be a young boy here. How old was he? Ibn Kathir ُ ‫ح َم ُه للا‬ ِ َ‫ ر‬says in Al-Bidayah wa an-Nihayah that he was below the age of puberty. However, do you remember what we said last week, that we are only going to rely on Qur’an to get the whole story? So here we are referring to a book of history to get that answer. However, we can actually come to a possible assumption of his age from the Qur’an itself, because after this scene, he is thrown into a well. Then the waarid (the well drawer) comes and pulls him out of the well. What does he say?

‫َقا َل َيا ُب ْش َرى َه َذا ُغ َال ٌم‬ This is a gulam. And in Arabic, you have a sabi (infant to 7 years old), and 7 to puberty is the age of a gulam. And then puberty is a shab (teenager). So from Qur’an we got some detail as to how old he is. He was below the age of puberty, so 8, 9 or 10. He is a young boy. Now imagine an 8 year old or 10 year old that you know in your family. He sees something amazing. Maybe he goes to school and sees something amazing at school. He is at home, dad comes home. Dad comes to the door, and the young kid is there. When a kid sees something amazing and he sees his mum or his dad, does he really say, ya abati, oh dear father, can I have a moment of your time, I want to tell you something I saw at school? He doesn’t, does he? He jumps straight in. Dad doesn’t even come through the door yet, and he’s grabbed on to his leg and says, do you know what happened today? Let me tell you. So here, one thing for sure, Yusuf ‫عليه السالم‬has got a lot of respect for his dad. He says ya abati. And he doesn’t just say oh dad, he says ya abati. This is known as kalimah tasgheer. It is a more affectionate and endearing way of saying o father, as in Urdu we would say abbajaan, oh my beloved father. Do kids really speak like that? So Yusuf ‫عليه السالم‬, already we are learning that he is very respectful because he said ya abati, he actually addressed dad before telling him this amazing thing, he says can I have a moment of your time. Secondly, the way he addresses him is very respectful.

Sirat Initiative | Reflecting on the Surah

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Ustadh Asim Khan

[THROWN IN A WELL – TAFSEER SURAT YUSUF]

He tells him, indeed I saw 11 stars/ planets and the sun and the moon, I saw. He already said “I saw”. He says I saw this, this, this, I really did see them. He is so sure about what he saw as being a true dream. He is so sure. And he is also quite excited as well, he is repeating himself.

Rational ‫ين‬ ََ ‫اج ِد‬ ِ ‫ َس‬VS non-rational plural

‫ين لِي ساجدات‬ ََ ‫ َسا ِج ِد‬VS ‫ين‬ ََ ‫اج ِد‬ ِ ‫لِي َس‬

He doesn’t say they were prostrating to me, he says to me they were prostrating. This is humbleness. If you saw the stars and planets prostrating to you, you would start thinking that you are some big shot. But he is saying, to me they are prostrating. He is shocked, and humble about how he relates the dream. Within this ayah we come to know that although Yusuf ‫عليه السالم‬is a young boy, he already knows the meaning of the dream. How can we tell that he already knows the meaning of the dream? There is something about the wording that tells us that he already knows what the dream means. If you look at the meaning in Arabic, plurals can be made in the rational and non-rational form (living and nonliving plurals). Here, we see that Yusuf ‫عليه السالم‬, though he saw the sun and moon which are non-living entities, he never said ra’ayatuhum, he said it with the rational plural, as if they are living things. So in that wording, there is an indication that Yusuf ‫عليه السالم‬knows what the moon and the sun and the planets symbolize. Whom do they symbolize? Living beings. The 11 stars/ planets symbolize the brothers. What about the sun and the moon? Whom do the sun and the moon refer to? What living entity does it symbolize? Mother and father, or father and mother? There are some differences of opinion here. As for the 11 stars/ planets, there is an agreement that it refers to the brothers. As for the sun and the moon, there is a difference of opinion. Some said the sun refers to the father, others said the sun refers to the mother. Ibn Atiyyah ُ ‫ح َم ُه للا‬ ِ َ‫ر‬, in his tafseer, he made a good point. He said, well, the fact is that religiously speaking, the mother holds a greater station in regard to the child than the father. The prophet ‫ ﷺ‬was asked who is most deserving of my good conduct and he said the mother (3 times), and then the father. So 3 times over, she is given a higher station than the father. That is one thing – religiously speaking, the mother is always given a higher station than the father. Linguistically as well, shams is linguistically feminine, whereas qamar is linguistically masculine. So those two points show that perhaps the stronger opinion is that the shams refers to the mother, and the father is symbolized by the qamar. Then he says that I saw them all prostrating to me. So this is the verse explained.

Lessons So what do we learn from this? What kind of lessons do we learn?

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Reflecting on the Surah | Sirat Initiative

[THROWN IN A WELL – TAFSEER SURAT YUSUF] Ustadh Asim Khan Respect for dad One lesson we learn is the respect that Yusuf ‫عليه السالم‬had for his father shows us the respect that this deen commands of children towards their parents. Allah is teaching us here, that look how Yusuf ‫عليه السالم‬was with his father. That he asked for this attention and secondly, he spoke to him with kalimah tasgheer which is an affectionate, endearing way of speaking, so he is very respectful, and he is kind and gentle as well, with his words towards his father.

Dad is there for son The other thing is, the fact is, he is a young boy, and he has seen something amazing, and he actually goes and tells his dad about it. If you imagine, when you see a father-son or father-daughter relationship, if the child feels that they can tell their mum or dad certain things in their life, what does that mean about how they see their mum or dad? Think about parents who are very busy and don’t have time for their children. Mum is working, dad is also working. The child comes home, and mum and dad come home as well. They feed them, clothe them, brush their teeth and put them into bed. Five days a week, they see their children for about a half an hour or one hour. No quality time. Now the child is out there, school, teachers, friends and all the rest of it. Big things happen in the child’s life. If the child feels that mum and dad don’t really care that much about me, they are not really bothered about what happens in my life, would they go and tell them? They go and tell their friend, or the next door neighbour, or somebody else, the teacher maybe, about what happened. So here, Qasimi ُ ‫ح َم ُه للا‬ ِ َ‫ر‬, in his tafseer, he mentions that the fact that Yusuf ‫عليه السالم‬told his dad shows the dad, Yaqoob ‫عليه السالم‬played a significant role in his life. The fact that he, as a young kid felt that he could tell his dad this, that his dad should know this, that of all the people in the world, he wants to tell dad first. This is an interesting point. Already we are learning that there is another dimension to these verses. There are lessons on parenting here. The way Yaqoob ‫عليه السالم‬was with his child made him very close to him.

Etiquette in relating dreams The other thing is, there is another lesson here of the etiquette of relating dreams that Allah is telling us about. Which means, as as-Sa’di said, that some dreams are true. And not just true, some dreams are inspired by Allah ‫ ُس ْبحَ ا َن ُه َو َتعَالَى‬and given to people. Yusuf ‫عليه السالم‬will become a prophet. He is not a prophet now. This is another lesson that Allah sometimes inspires people by way of dreams. And we know that there is a hadith that true dreams are 1/46 th parts of prophethood, which means there are such things as true dreams. Sa’di ُ ‫ح َم ُه للا‬ ِ َ‫ ر‬said that this is a true dream, and Allah inspires people with true dreams. However, most dreams are adghasu ahlam, dreams that are a figment of your imagination, or things that you have been thinking about during the day. Sometimes you think about something a lot and then it ends up coming in your dream. That is just something from human nature. As for adghasu ahlam, these pointless dreams, as well as the nightmares that we get from shaytan, the prophet ‫ ﷺ‬told us that we shouldn’t be relating them to anyone. As for good dreams, like this one here, you have a feeling that it was a good dream. You might not know the interpretation. Whom do you tell about this dream?

Sirat Initiative | Reflecting on the Surah

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Ustadh Asim Khan

[THROWN IN A WELL – TAFSEER SURAT YUSUF]

Here we learn a lesson. From all the people, Yusuf ‫عليه السالم‬told his dad. After this, his dad says don’t tell the brothers. So here Sa’di ُ ‫ح َم ُه للا‬ ِ َ‫ ر‬says that one point that we learn here is that good dreams should only be related to certain people, to people who want khair (good) for you. Those are the people you should tell about the dream, not just anybody.

Foreshadowing & Flash-Forward Another lesson that we hear here is something called foreshadowing and flashforward. What does that mean? It means that in storytelling, there are certain techniques about telling good stories. Some stories are okay. Some stories are amazing. Some stories captivate the imagination. And of the techniques used in storytelling is this, which is called foreshadowing, which is hinting to something that is going to happen later on. What does that do? It makes a person anticipate what is going to happen. If you don’t know anything that is going to happen, you are thinking what is this all about? What is going to happen later on? The other amazing things about this all, is that it is actually a snapshot of the end scene. This symbolic prostration that happens, it does actually happen at the end, and sometimes in the movies, people who watch movies or cartoons and sometimes, they use this way. In the beginning they show you a scene, and it is actually the scene that happens right at the end. And you are left thinking, what is this about? And then slowly, the image is drawn up, and then right at the end, it is presented to you. It is like capturing the ending in the beginning. These things, we come to know about them 1435 years later on. People speak about them and learn about them at university, but going to the Qur’an and we can see all of these things clearly laid out, wonderfully.

My Reflections When Yusuf narrates the dream, he describes it as if he really saw it. He doesn’t mention the word ‘dream’. This could be an indication of his age, because he is so excited as he describes it, and is repetitive in his description. It could also mean the dream was so vivid that he really feels he saw it, or again, because he is so small, he isn’t able to distinguish between a dream and something he saw in reality. Interesting that Yusuf ‫ عليه السالم‬saw 11 planets. And all these years we had been taught about 9, and only recently the count (according to science) has changed. Many of the wives of the prophet before they married him would see a dream that the moon fell in their lap. So the prophet was depicted as the moon in a dream. I wonder if any scholar gave this as a proof that the moon was the father. (Seeing as this was also a dream)

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Reflecting on the Surah | Sirat Initiative

[THROWN IN A WELL – TAFSEER SURAT YUSUF] Ustadh Asim Khan

Activity What purpose does this dream serve with respect to: 1. 2. 3.

Yusuf ‫عليه السالم‬ Yaqoob ‫عليه السالم‬ You?

Impact on Yusuf ‫عليه السالم‬: Through this dream does Allah prepare Yusuf ‫عليه السالم‬to become a prophet and a person of authority. How exactly? Because when Allah shows you that in the end you will be someone of high standing, where other people will show you so much respect or honour, Allah is already preparing you for that. As a young boy, Allah showed him the dream and through it, He is showing him that you are going to become like that. It is a form of tasliyah (consoling). Would he just become like that? No. He is going to go through tremendous tests, trials and tribulations. The thing is, when he is thrown into the bottom of a well, a kid, that’s staring death in the face. Allah already gave him the dream before that happens. So when he is at the bottom of the well, he is thinking, is this the end? It is not the end. It can’t be the end. I had that dream. That dream showed me not inside the well, it showed me on top of an arsh. So here, Sa’di said Allah is preparing Yusuf ‫عليه السالم‬for prophecy and high standing later on. For Yaqoob ‫عليه السالم‬, we have to understand that Yaqoob ‫عليه السالم‬loved Yusuf ‫عليه السالم‬dearly. And when he is taken away from him, and a kidnapping occurs, where he knows his son is not dead, but he doesn’t know where he is, like a kidnapping – his own children kidnapped his son for many years, and that has a tremendous impact on him. He becomes extremely sad, up to the end, where a double trauma happens, where the youngest son Binyameen is also kidnapped, then his eyes turn white (he becomes blind), from extreme sadness. Yaqoob ‫عليه السالم‬is going to experience extreme sadness, yet at the beginning, he knows his son told him that dream. So he knows it is not the end, and he is given something to place his hope in, that Allah has something in store for my son. He continues to have hope in Allah, even telling his sons:

ۖ ‫للا‬ ِ َّ ‫ََل َتيْأَسُوا مِن رَّ ْو ِح‬ Don’t give up on the mercy of Allah. Yaqoob is telling his sons, because one of the things is the dream of Yusuf. The way it impacts us is that we have to appreciate that before Allah puts Yusuf ‫عليه السالم‬through these tests, He gives him the strength to bear the tests. And Allah deals with us in a similar way. Allah mentions in Surat alBaqarah, Allah doesn’t burden anyone beyond their scope. Meaning, whatever tests come our way, Allah has given us the strength to bear them. He has given us what we need to overcome them. Yusuf ‫عليه السالم‬was given many things, and one of them was the dream. He was given this dream, and the dream became a source of strength for him to overcome and stay firm in the well, stay strong in the house of Aziz, stay strong again in prison and keep his cool when he becomes the state treasurer of Egypt.

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Ustadh Asim Khan

[THROWN IN A WELL – TAFSEER SURAT YUSUF]

One more major lesson mentioned by al-Alusi in Rooh al-Ma’aani, he was a recent scholar and passed away in 1342. He said all of the people in the story, or the main characters, are portrayed as light; the mother, father, even the brothers. Who has the strongest light? The sun, then the moon, and then the stars. But stars nevertheless have light. So he said, just based on the dream itself and telling us about the ending, it teaches us that l’ibrah bil khawateem – the judgment placed on a person is based on how he ends his life. That is one symbolic lesson that we can learn from this dream. So with that in mind, what do we say about the brothers of Yusuf ‫عليه السالم‬who were incredibly cruel towards him – they dump him in a well and leave him to die? And later on as well, they even accuse him of stealing? What can we say about them? How do we talk about them? This dream, as well as what we see later on in the surah, teaches us that in the end, they became righteous people. That is something Ibn Kathir mentions. In the end they became righteous people. And how you end your life, whether that is today or in 40 years time - that is what really matters. And the prophet ‫ ﷺ‬said this in a clear hadith, that innamal amalu bil khawateem, that indeed the actions are based on their endings. Ending of your life, ending of your week, ending of your Ramadan. This dream ties in to that.

(From Lesson 3: Does kawkab mean star or planet?) Kawkab can refer to either stars or planets in Arabic. There is a way that some of the scholars said they can determine which meaning it leads closer to. And what they said is, because the brothers are represented as kawakib, and later on those stars/ planets are shown to be those brothers doing sujood to Yusuf ‫عليه السالم‬, it shows that they are more like planets than stars because planets are what revolve around the star, and in the end we see they are revolving around someone superior (the star), which is Yusuf ‫عليه السالم‬. So ultimately planets orbit stars and not vice versa, and therefore it is planets and not stars. Were the brothers of Yusuf ‫عليه السالم‬al-Asbat? Asbat were mentioned in the Qur’an as prophets from amongst many prophets. Were they prophets? If they were, it makes it difficult to understand how they were so cruel, they were going to kill him, they lied to their dad, would they become prophets? There are 2 opinions: 1. 2.

One opinion is that the sons of Yaqoob did eventually become prophets. The second opinion is that the offspring of Yaqoob, children that came afterwards became prophets and they were al-Asbat.

Ibn Taymiyyah ُ ‫ح َم ُه للا‬ ِ َ‫ ر‬says the first view is a weak view, and he mentioned many reasons. The second view that those offspring are al-Asbat. As for these children of Yaqoob ‫عليه السالم‬, in the end they made tawbah and ask Allah to forgive them and Yusuf ‫عليه السالم‬also pardons them.

My Reflections

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Activity | Sirat Initiative

[THROWN IN A WELL – TAFSEER SURAT YUSUF] Ustadh Asim Khan

َّ‫ك َك ْي ًدا إِن‬ َ َ‫ك َف َيكِي ُدوا ل‬ َ ‫ك َعلَى إِ ْخ َو ِت‬ َ ‫َيا ُب َنيَّ ََل َت ْقصُصْ ُر ْؤ َيا‬ ٌ‫ان َع ُد ٌّو م ُِبين‬ َ ‫ال َّش ْي َط‬ ِ ‫ِْل ْن َس‬ ِ ْ ‫ان ل‬ •5. He said, ‘My dear son, don’t tell your brothers your dream lest they devise some scheme to injure you, Shaytan is a clear-cut enemy to man.

Kalimah tasgheer So you saw that Yusuf ‫عليه السالم‬told his dad first of all. And the way he told his dad was using affectionate words. He said ya abati instead of saying ya abi. Dad answers in the same way. Instead of saying son, he says ya bunayya, which is kalimah tasgheer again, it is an affectionate way of addressing your child. It is like saying, dear son. It is an affectionate way. Yaqoob ‫عليه السالم‬gives him a piece of advice based on what he said. Yaqoob ‫عليه السالم‬actually listened to his son in order to give him advice. Imagine you as a father and your young kid comes and tells you, dad today I was at school and I was in the playground, and I saw all the trees, they were doing sajdah to me. You would say, you watch too many movies, or, go talk to your mum. Yaqoob ‫عليه السالم‬gave him the time of day. And secondly, the way he spoke to him, my dear son. Let me give you a piece of advice. Don’t tell your brothers about the ru’ya. He mentioned the word ru’ya. Ru’ya means dream. Yusuf ‫عليه السالم‬never used the word dream. He just said, I saw. Yaqoob ‫عليه السالم‬understands, not just that he had a dream, but he understands the interpretation of the dream. That’s why he says, don’t tell your brothers about the dream. Why? Because the brothers are very envious of you. That’s why I am telling you. However, he even elaborates why he is telling him this. Fa of sababiyah (reasoning), because they will plot and scheme against you, a real plotting. Then at the end he says, indeed shaytan is a clear cut enemy to man. There are so many lessons just from this one statement of Yaqoob ‫عليه السالم‬.

Who are the IKHWA? He says, don’t tell your ikhwa (brothers) about this. Yaqoob ‫عليه السالم‬has 2 wives. From one wife he has Yusuf ‫عليه السالم‬and Binyameen, from the other wife, he has 10 other sons. So, for them, Yusuf ‫عليه السالم‬is from that step-mum. That’s already one thing. Later on we hear that they are extremely jealous of Yusuf ‫عليه السالم‬ because they are more beloved to dad than us. So it is the fact that Yaqoob ‫عليه السالم‬loves Yusuf ‫عليه السالم‬and Binyameen more that makes them so envious of them.

(From Lesson 3: What is the evidence that Yusuf and Binyameen were brothers from another mother) We said one of the features of this course will be that we will take only from Qur’an and no books of history or other resources. From the Qur’an is there any proof that they are two brothers from another mother as opposed to the other 10? There seems to be proof in the Qur’an later in the surah where the brothers are in Egypt talking to Yusuf ‫عليه السالم‬unknowingly perceiving him to be the state treasurer of Egypt and not Sirat Initiative | Activity

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Ustadh Asim Khan

[THROWN IN A WELL – TAFSEER SURAT YUSUF]

recognizing him as Yusuf. When they bring Binyameen, and Binyameen is taken away from them against their will, Yusuf asks, what do you say about this, we found the king’s cup on your brother. They say, if he stole, then his brother stole before. The fact that they said his brother and not our brother, then it seems to be evidence in the Qur’an that they identified as being brothers from different mothers.

Lessons Affection > impact it has > reflects type of relationship you have with child Parenting skills Affection given by the father and the impact that it has. You need to really appreciate this point. It seems like a small thing that Yaqoob ‫عليه السالم‬said ya bunayya. But when you give advice and it is said with affection, it has much more impact. And one brilliant way that we can understand this is by looking at what Allah said to Moosa ‫عليه السالم‬and Haroon when He sent them to Firawn. The last person you speak nicely to is Firawn. He is the worst person. He said he was god. Allah told them:

َ ُ‫َفق‬ ‫وَل لَ ُه َق ْو ًَل لَّ ِّي ًنا لَّ َعلَّ ُه َي َت َذ َّك ُر أَ ْو َي ْخ َشى‬ And speak to him with gentle speech that perhaps he may be reminded or fear [Allah]." [20:44] Firwan, Allah is telling them to address him in a gentle way. A gentle way is more effective in communicating your message. You have to differentiate between a strong message and gentle wording. He did not tell them to give him a watered down version of Islam. The message is going to be strong. But the way he says the message will be nice, kind, gentle words. The prophet ‫ ﷺ‬said, inna Allah Rafiqun, yuhibbul rifq – Allah is gentle and He loves gentleness. And He places in gentle actions that which He doesn’t place in harsh actions. So the impact of using gentle words is something that we learn just from Yaqoob ‫عليه السالم‬here. What is not classed as ‫سوء الظن‬ Now he says a few things which seem a bit problematic. Problematic in the sense that nothing has actually happened yet. The brothers haven’t done anything to Yusuf ‫عليه السالم‬. And we are supposed to have ‫حسن الظن‬, good assumptions about other people. And we are supposed to stay well away from ‫سوء الظن‬. Allah mentions in Surat al-Hujurat:

َّ ‫ض‬ َّ ‫ِين آ َم ُنوا اجْ َتنِبُوا َكثِيرً ا م َِّن‬ ۖ ‫الظنِّ إِ ْث ٌم‬ َ ْ‫الظنِّ إِنَّ َبع‬ َ ‫َيا أَ ُّي َها الَّذ‬ O you who have believed, avoid much [negative] assumption. Indeed, some assumption is sin. [49:12] Here, Yaqoob ‫عليه السالم‬tells his son, don’t tell anyone your dream, because they will plot against you. Have they plotted against him yet? No. So it is an assumption that they may well plot against you. So how do we reconcile between having good assumptions about people, yet Yaqoob ‫عليه السالم‬is saying that they may plot against you? Imam Sa’di said there is no ‫ سوء الظن‬really here, or that the ‫ سوء الظن‬is based on other factors, evidences. So Shaykh as-Sa’di is saying sometimes you are allowed to have evil assumptions about other people, when it is based on evidence. In that case, it isn’t based on assumption. 30

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[THROWN IN A WELL – TAFSEER SURAT YUSUF] Ustadh Asim Khan For example, if you are walking on the street at 2 am, and you see a group of hooded guys smoking, and they approach you, you don’t stand there and have good assumptions, you cross the road! You have ‫ حسن الظن‬if you have seen nothing to suggest otherwise. However, if the person behaves in a way that shows that, in particular area he is a bit shady, then you take your precautions. This is what we learn. This is an important lesson.

What is not classed as GHEEBAH Isn’t this a kind of gheebah? Talking about them behind their back, saying about them, they are people that plot and scheme against others. How do we reconcile here as well? Gheebah is to speak about somebody else in a manner that they would not like. Now would they like being talked about like that? They wouldn’t, would they? But it is not gheebah. If a person is fairly sure that another will end up doing harm to someone, then they assume the position of giving advice. When one gives advice about somebody, it has to be truthful. For example, if someone asks for your advice, and you know the person well, you are allowed to say, he has these good qualities, and these bad qualities. And the bad qualities, if you didn’t intend them as a piece of advice, based on evidence, it would be gheebah. But if you are in a position of giving advice and are saying it based on evidence, it is not gheebah. Similarly, Yaqoob ‫ عليه السالم‬is giving advice, and his advice is based on evidence, it is not based on assumptions. Then this does not count as gheebah. When it is time for marriage, and a sister’s family enquires about the brother, you can say, he has these good qualities, but as for this area, it is not looking good. This is not considered gheebah.

Sometimes its WAAJIB to cover up your blessings > protect yourself from hasad Ibn Arabi mentioned another lesson. Yaqoob told him don’t tell your bothers. He said sometimes it is waajib for a person not to relate their blessings to others. Why? Because when you tell those others, you end up putting yourself in harm’s way. Once he tells them about the dream, he will expose himself to harm, so he won’t tell them. Many people become jealous when you tell them about a blessing.

Why is Shaytan mentioned too? What does the last statement have to do with the advice? How do we understand this as one whole piece of advice? What is Yaqoob ‫ عليه السالم‬trying to tell is son? Yaqoob ‫ عليه السالم‬is telling him his brothers are envious, and reminds him that shaytan is the one who incites the person to do evil.

Shaytan incites the evil in our nafs > wiswaas > impact on Yusuf The nafs wants to be evil sometimes. Nafs ammarah bis-su. Shaytan calls the person to evil.

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Ustadh Asim Khan

[THROWN IN A WELL – TAFSEER SURAT YUSUF]

The evil inside the brothers was hasad. They festered hasad in their hearts. Shaytan does wiswas and incites them to get rid of him. He incites because he sees evil in your nafs. Had you dealt with your nafs properly shaytan would have no authority over you at all. We are responsible for evil because it originates from us, and then we are led on by shaytan. This has an impact on Yusuf ‫عليه السالم‬. Later on in Yusuf ‫’عليه السالم‬s life we see the advice of his father lived with him for more than 40 years and helped him to deal with what happened when he was just a young boy with his brothers. When he is summarizing his life and he has become the state treasurer of Egypt, and his family have reunited with him, he says:

ْ ‫ت َه َذا َتأْ ِوي ُل‬ ‫اي مِن َق ْب ُل َق ْد َج َعلَ َها َربِّي َح ًقاا ۖ َو َق ْد‬ ِ ‫ش َو َخرُّ وا لَ ُه سُجَّ ًدا ۖ َو َقا َل َيا أَ َب‬ َ ‫رُؤ َي‬ ِ ْ‫َو َر َف َع أَ َب َو ْي ِه َعلَى ْال َعر‬ َ ‫أَحْ َس َن ِبي إِ ْذ أَ ْخ َر َجنِي م َِن السِّجْ ِن َو َجا َء ِب ُكم م َِّن ْال َب ْد ِو مِن َبعْ ِد أَن َّن َز َغ ال َّشي‬ ‫ْطانُ َب ْينِي َو َبي َْن إِ ْخ َوتِي إِنَّ َربِّي‬ ‫لَطِ يفٌ لِّ َما َي َشا ُء إِ َّن ُه ه َُو ْال َعلِي ُم ْال َحكِي ُم‬ Allah has done good to me. He saved me from prison, and he brought all of you, my family from living as Bedouins living in the arid desert after Shaytan caused enmity between me and my brothers. He remembers what his father told him all those years ago. Shaytan is part of the picture and was the reason my brothers were incited to create enmity. And that allowed him to show compassion to them. He says, no blame on you today. How did he find it in his heart to show compassion to them? It was his father’s advice. He said, they do evil, but shaytan is also there. And shortly we will see his father also tells him about Allah, and going to ayah 100, right at the end, after going through all the tribulations in his life, he says innahu huwa al-Aleem al-Hakeem, Allah is all knowing and Wise.

My Reflections We saw in the introduction, that this surah was revealed to comfort the prophet. And we see many correlations between the lives of the 2 prophets, for example, Rasoolullah was soon to do hijrah as well. We know Rasoolullah also saw true dreams 6 months before his prophethood. So I wonder if this is also one of the ways for Rasoolullah to relate to Yusuf as the surah is revealed. Related to this point, as Rasoolullah said true dreams are 1/46th of prophethood, I wonder if this is how Yaqoob interprets the dream to mean he will become a prophet (Allah will complete his favour)? As a father, Yaqoob ‫عليه السالم‬had a good read about each of his kids. Many parents are unable to see their children’s flaws, and are often in denial. But here, we see he is aware.

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