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Alhamdulillah we continue with our Story Sunday with part two of Triumph in Adveristy: The Handsome Story of Yusuf alayhissalam.
In the previous episode, we talked about
o
the main protagonists,
Yusuf and his father, Prophet Ya’qub.
o
How his brothers had
conspired against him, out of envy
o
Where he was thrown into
the bottom of the well in the middle of the desert, complete isolation and
solitude
o
Discovered by slave
traders, whom, upon seeing him, immediately decided to sell him as merchandise
o
Was sold to a man from
Egypt, who was Al-Aziz – whom we will now refer to as the minister of Egypt –
where he was treated well, and raised as a child
o
Where he spent his days of
youth in loyal service of his master until he attained the age of maturity
And as we move into this Second Act of the story, we will
see a narrative shift from the previous portion of the story
o
For a large portion of the
story, the protagonist will basically only be Yusuf
o
We will not be making
mention of Ya’qub until much further down the story
o
Secondly, the antagonists.
Who were the antagonists – Perhaps you can say the “villains” – of the first
Act of the story? The ones who were on the opposing side of the conflict of our
hero and protagonist? The brothers of Yusuf, and also the slave traders who
discovered Yusuf. In this Act of the story these characters are no longer the
picture
o
But there is one common
antagonist to the story, that still lurks behind the scene at all times: the
ultimate villain who’s pulling the strings behind the scenes.
o
Do you remember who that
is?
o
It is mentioned in ayah
number 5: shaytan
o
He is the enemy who
triggered the desires of our father Adam, the enemy who triggered the enmity
and envy of the brothers of Yusuf, and the enemy who will trigger filthy
desires in the wife of Yusuf’s Master
Ayah 22: Wisdom
وَلَمَّا بَلَغَ أَشُدَّهُ آتَيْنَاهُ حُكْمًا وَعِلْمًا
ۚ وَكَذَٰلِكَ نَجْزِي الْمُحْسِنِينَ
﴿٢٢﴾
“And
when Joseph reached maturity, We gave him judgment and knowledge. And thus We
reward the doers of good.”
Even as a slave, Yusuf alayhissalam made the best to learn
and develop himself. He did not have that depressed, attitude of “why me ya
Allah?!”, or this entitlement mindset that “I am the son of a Prophet! I
deserve better”
Don’t simply be a victim of circumstance. Make the best of
what you have.
It was in this household that it groomed him to become the
future leader of Egypt
When I first learnt this surah, I was thinking to myself: This
idea of “slave” being “educated” might seem far-fetched. But when you look at
the history of Islamic scholarship, it’s amazing to note that some of the
greatest scholars were actually former slaves. The following scholars:
o
Mujahid ibn Jabir
o
Ikrimah
o
Sa'eed ibn Jubayr
o
Tawoos Ibn Keesan
Al-Yamani; and
o
Ata bin Abi Rabah -
These are great scholars of tafsir whom you would have seen
being heavily quoted in books of tafsir, including Ibn Kathir. All five of them
have two things in common:
o
They were all students of
Ibnu Abbas in Qur'an Tafsir –
o
They were all former
slaves! ( al-Itqan fi Ulum Al-Qur'an )
One of the most prominent teachers of Imam Malik ibn Anas
was in fact a 'slave' - by the name of Naafi' ibn Sarjis, the freed slave of
companion Abdullah ibn Umar ibn al-Khattab (radhiAllahu 'anhuma). Being slaves
was not a barrier that prevented them from thriving and becoming some of the
greatest scholars in Islamic history. Not only great scholars, but teachers to
other great scholars!
And so these true incidents are a direct reflection in a
context of Prophet Yusuf on how slavery is not a barrier to thrive and achieve
greatness.
Advice #1: Look at how these great righteous predecessors
treated their slaves. Not just treated them well, but educated them so well
that they eventually became great scholars.
Reminder to us: How do we treat the people under our
employment? How do we treat our maid servants, or helpers we employ in our homes
today? SubhanAllah it’s disheartening how poorly I see people treat their
maids. Perhaps the slaves of yesterday were treated better than our maids today.
Another important reminder: if this is how Ibnu Umar used to
treat and groom his SLAVE, how would he have treated his children?
How much effort have we put into grooming OUR children? Did
ibnu Umar treat his slave better than we treated our children?
Food for thought.
Advice#2: You can be legendary
My Brother, sister. I am pretty sure you are NOT a slave. And
so if these slaves could succeed and becoming legends in the history of the
ummah, what is stopping you?
Especially in our day and age where authentic Islamic
knowledge has become so widely accessible, even from the comfort of your own
home? And now even more so! Ever since this global pandemic we see so many
Islamic institutions really develop their online learning modules and have so
much great content. It’s just up to us to access them and learn.
Gone are the days where you MUST go to middle east to learn
Islam. My father said in his times, you would have like 1 or 2 people from the
village folk, go learn in Egypt, and that’s it. Everyone learns from the
“yellow book”. Nobody has heard of Sahih Al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, Riyadus
Salihin. But fast forward only 40 years, and everything is accessible
The only thing stopping us from achieving this great
potential is our own selves. Our excuses, our lack of willpower, lack of
discipline, lack of passion. You have what it takes. All of you meet minimum
requirements. You just have to own it, make the choice to step up and be
legendary.
The only question is this: HOW BADLY DO YOU WANT IT?
Ayah 23: Seduction
In his adult years, Yusuf grew up to be a very good looking
handsome young man. The Prophet ﷺ
described that when he ascended to the heavens, he saw Yusuf
فَإِذَا أَنَا بِيُوسُفَ صلى الله عليه وسلم إِذَا
هُوَ قَدْ أُعْطِيَ شَطْرَ الْحُسْنِ
“..and I saw Yusuf (peace of Allah be upon him) who had
been given half of (world) beauty.” (Muslim)
And then the wife of his master started to get attracted to
him, where Allah tells us:
وَرَاوَدَتْهُ الَّتِي هُوَ فِي بَيْتِهَا عَنْ نَفْسِهِ
وَغَلَّقَتِ الْأَبْوَابَ وَقَالَتْ هَيْتَ لَكَ ۚ قَالَ مَعَاذَ
اللَّـهِ ۖ إِنَّهُ رَبِّي أَحْسَنَ مَثْوَايَ
ۖ إِنَّهُ لَا يُفْلِحُ الظَّالِمُونَ
And she, in whose house he was, sought to seduce him. She
closed the doors and said, "Come, you." He said, "[I seek] the
refuge of Allah. Indeed, he is my master, who has made good my residence.
Indeed, wrongdoers will not succeed."
This shows you the evil works of shaitan – even though their
intention was to raise Yusuf as their own son, shaitan plays on one’s desire.
Be very careful with these negative influences. This is why we have to be
careful of our own households. Shaitan can plant dirty thoughts into our head
and even desire family members – this is what triggers incest to occur, may
Allah protect us.
Yusuf’s response was “I seek refuge in Allah! He is my
master, he has treated me well!”
There is an interesting ambiguity here because Yusuf says
“rabbi” – my Rabb. “Rabb” in the Arabic language means the Master, the Lord.
The one in charge of All the affairs, the one who provides for them. But in the
shari’ah terminology, rabb refers to Allah.
And since the ayah uses the pronoun “he”, it could refer to
his master, Al-Aziz, or it could refer to Allah! So this could imply two
different meanings.
Who is Yusuf referring to? In the context of the
conversation with the wife of Al-Aziz who is seducing him, he is referring to
his Master.
Lesson = Gratitude should result in Loyalty. Yusuf refuses
the seduction of his master’s wife, on the grounds that his master has been
good to him. If we are grateful to people for the goodness they have done upon
us, this should inspire loyalty towards them and trigger us to reciprocate that
kindness.
Yusuf is also indirectly reminding her, that SHE should be
grateful for providing for them and providing a comfortable livelihood for the
household. So they both have an obligation to at least, not betray him behind
his back.
Many of us these days, people treat us kindly, alhamdulillah.
But the minute that kind person makes a mistake, we throw them under the bus,
we disown them. There is no gratitude, let alone a sense of loyalty and
friendship to help each other. I have been a victim of this myself
Lesson = gratitude to Allah should prevent us from sinning. Take
the other way we can understand this ayah, and this lesson is for you and me.
That “He is my Lord, he has made my stay comfortable”, refers to Allah. This
should remind us that if we genuinely are grateful to Allah, this should
inspire us to prevent ourselves from disobeying Him or doing what He dislikes.
Reflect back in our own lives. Perhaps the reason we are
being so disobedient is simply that we are not grateful enough to Allah.
The most important lesson in this ayah: Make the right
choice. Even if it’s difficult.
Yusuf was in a severely disadvantaged situation, a position
of weakness – he was living within her house, the husband of whom was his
master. She was the one who seduced him. The doors were shut and no one knows
of the situation. If he just surrendered, no one will know. In fact, he can
just give the excuse that “I’m just following orders”. I am just the slave boy.
How many of us have the strength to stand up when our bosses
tell us to do something unethical or illegal? How many of us will really put
our foot down and reject instructions that go against our principles?
People today and throughout history in the past have done
heinous crimes, all with the excuse of “just following orders”.
And if someone had this excuse, justifiably so, it will be
Yusuf.
But Yusuf is teaching us here: NO. We have a choice. It may
be difficult. It may be inconvenient. But we can make the right choice.
And if you can make the right choice – especially if it is
difficult, Allah will grant you a huge reward for your patience.
Is it easy? No! That’s why Allah gives special reward to
those who can do this. Allah has guaranteed that a person who can do this will
be guaranteed the shade of Allah on the day of judgment, when there is no shade
except his shade, as was said by Prophet ﷺ - among the seven groups
who will receive this:
وَرَجُلٌ دَعَتْهُ امْرَأَةٌ ذَاتُ مَنْصِبٍ وَجَمَالٍ
فَقَالَ إِنِّي أَخَافُ اللَّه
“.. A person who is seduced by a beautiful woman of high
rank and nobility, rejects her and says “verily I fear Allah” (Muslim)
To have that integrity to fear Allah and withhold from Zina:
even when no one is watching
Yusuf also says at the end here that people who are zhalim,
yakni who oppress themselves by sinning – even when no one knows except Allah –
they will never be successful. They might get away with it in this dunia, but
never from the accountability of those sins.
Remind us to be mindful of the things that we do in secret.
How are you spending your time in these days of isolation?
Ayah 24: Dangerous Inclination
وَلَقَدْ هَمَّتْ بِهِ ۖ وَهَمَّ بِهَا
لَوْلَا أَنْ رَأَىٰ بُرْهَانَ رَبِّهِ ۚ كَذَٰلِكَ
لِنَصْرِفَ عَنْهُ السُّوءَ وَالْفَحْشَاءَ ۚ إِنَّهُ مِنْ
عِبَادِنَا الْمُخْلَصِينَ
“And
indeed she did desire him and he would have inclined to her desire, had he not
seen the evidence of his Lord. Thus it was, that We might turn away from him
evil and illegal sexual intercourse. Surely, he was one of Our chosen, guided
slaves.”
Every human
being has desires
زُيِّنَ لِلنَّاسِ حُبُّ الشَّهَوَاتِ مِنَ النِّسَاءِ
وَالْبَنِينَ وَالْقَنَاطِيرِ الْمُقَنْطَرَةِ مِنَ الذَّهَبِ وَالْفِضَّةِ وَالْخَيْلِ
الْمُسَوَّمَةِ وَالْأَنْعَامِ وَالْحَرْثِ ۗ ذَٰلِكَ مَتَاعُ
الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا ۖ وَاللَّـهُ
عِنْدَهُ حُسْنُ الْمَآبِ
“Beautified
for men is the love of things they covet; women, children, much of gold and
silver (wealth), branded beautiful horses, cattle and well-tilled land. This is
the pleasure of the present world's life; but Allah has the excellent return
(Paradise with flowing rivers, etc.) with Him.” (Surah Ali Imran, 14)
Even a
prophet! The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ
himself said,
حُبِّبَ إِلَىَّ مِنَ الدُّنْيَا النِّسَاءُ
وَالطِّيبُ وَجُعِلَ قُرَّةُ عَيْنِي فِي الصَّلاَةِ
“In this
world, women and perfume have been made beloved to me, and my comfort has been
provided in prayer”
(Narrated by An-Nasa’ee, graded hasan)
Even the
righteous people of the past – the companions, the tabi’in, the 4 great imams,
any great sheikh you see today, they too have desires. Don’t ever think that
some people are “exempted” from this.
Allah
plants these desires in your heart. That is your beyond your control.
Desires are
not inherently evil – it’s what you DO with the desires that define who you
are. That is in your control. You have desire for the opposite gender – do you
channel that towards what is halal through marriage?
What
prevented Yusuf from succumbing to the temptation of his desire? Allah
describes to us here: that he has witnessed the evidence of His Lord
Lesson: We
all like to acknowledge the “miracle of Islam”. Sometimes we boast about it and
take pride in it, and there is nothing fundamentally wrong with taking pride in
our deen, but here’s the thing: if you truly bear witness on these signs, it
should drive you to action. It’s not about “wow, cool, awesome story”. This is
not pop corn entertainment. To be convinced about the truthfulness of the
message of Islam is to drive us into ACTION.
To drive us to TAQWA. And in this
case, that TAQWA should prevent us from committing evil shameful deeds such as
zina
A lesson
that will be repeated in Ayah 53
وَمَا أُبَرِّئُ نَفْسِي ۚ إِنَّ النَّفْسَ
لَأَمَّارَةٌ بِالسُّوءِ إِلَّا مَا رَحِمَ رَبِّي ۚ إِنَّ رَبِّي
غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ ﴿٥٣﴾
"And
I free not myself (from the blame). Verily, the (human) self is inclined to
evil, except when my Lord bestows His Mercy (upon whom He wills). Verily, my
Lord is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful." (53)
To have the
strength to withhold from sins is actually a MERCY from Allah. If you find it
difficult to abandon your bad habits or sins, then work on improving your
relationship with Allah. Your gratitude towards Him. The more you
o
The weaker our iman, the weaker our ability to
resist sins, the more difficult we find it
o
The stronger our iman, the stronger the signs
of Allah is established in our hearts, the stronger our willpower to ignore it
and push it away, and the more Allah will shower you with the Mercy to abstain
from it.
Ayah 25: A Violent Obsession
وَاسْتَبَقَا الْبَابَ وَقَدَّتْ قَمِيصَهُ مِنْ دُبُرٍ
وَأَلْفَيَا سَيِّدَهَا لَدَى الْبَابِ ۚ قَالَتْ مَا
جَزَاءُ مَنْ أَرَادَ بِأَهْلِكَ سُوءًا إِلَّا أَنْ يُسْجَنَ أَوْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ
And they both raced to the door, and she tore his shirt from
the back, and they found her husband at the door. She said, "What is the
recompense of one who intended evil for your wife but that he be imprisoned or
a painful punishment?"
Her desire for Yusuf was no ordinary “attraction”. She was
obsessed with him. So obsessed that she ran to him and grabbed him by his
garments; and Yusuf was so eager to avoid this adultery, he ran so fast that
his shirt was torn from behind. Yusuf was AGGRESSIVELY RUNNING AWAY FROM ZINA!
And by the end of that ordeal, they discovered the master –
al-aziz – returning home.
So how does she handle this super awkward situation? How do
you explain a shirt torn apart and a person in the household being chased by
another?
She immediately twists the story. Shifts the blame to him –
so how should we punish a guy of bad intentions. This is the common trick of
the guilty. Shift the blame quickly, divert attention so you can cover yourself.
Create a credibility story.
Once again, just like the case of the brothers of Yusuf,
Yusuf once again becomes a victim of storytellers. Storytellers have this
tendency of manipulating the story to get you to do things beyond the ordinary
(Ironically this coming from the storyteller guy who is
delivering Story Sunday. I know, right!)
But yes, this is something that I am aware of. I understand
the responsibility that I have. I have a
professional obligation to make sure I am 100% certain of what I share, and
that I do not mask facts just for popularity.
Finally, at this point of the surah, Yusuf speaks again in
ayah 26–
قَالَ هِيَ رَاوَدَتْنِي عَنْ نَفْسِي
He said, "It was she who sought to seduce me."
Finally a witness came forward and proposed a criteria: if
his shirt is torn from the back, then he is telling the truth. Makes sense?
Obviously you can’t tear the back of your shirt. Someone must have torn it for
you. You can try. And if you are successful, please let me know in the comments
section.
So his innocence in finally proven. Yay. Right?
Oh no, sir. Listen to the response of his master:
Ayah 29: Innocence Ignored
يُوسُفُ أَعْرِضْ عَنْ هَٰذَا ۚ وَاسْتَغْفِرِي لِذَنْبِكِ ۖ إِنَّكِ كُنْتِ مِنَ الْخَاطِئِينَ
Yusuf,
ignore this. And, [my wife], ask forgiveness for your sin. Indeed, you were of
the sinful."
He simply
says: Just turn away. Look away. And he turns to his wife, who tried to
violently seduce their boy-slave – whom they raised as a child – censures her,
and that’s it.
No action,
no accountability, no consequence.
Typical
response of the rich people in power abusing his authority, using their power
and influence to just avoid any negative consequence to his household
Ayah 30: Gossip Girls
This
incident did not go unnoticed – very soon the wife of Al-Aziz, this woman who
seduced Yusuf – she became the talk of the city
وَقَالَ نِسْوَةٌ فِي الْمَدِينَةِ امْرَأَتُ الْعَزِيزِ
تُرَاوِدُ فَتَاهَا عَنْ نَفْسِهِ ۖ قَدْ شَغَفَهَا
حُبًّا ۖ إِنَّا لَنَرَاهَا فِي ضَلَالٍ
مُبِينٍ
And women
in the city said, "The wife of al-'Azeez is seeking to seduce her slave
boy; he has impassioned her with love. Indeed, we see her [to be] in clear
error."
The women of her city humiliated her and talked ill of her. Ibn Al-Qayyim lists down 10 different ways how the
women of the city degraded her. Some of these are the following:
1. Wife of a noble
person
2. Slave boy
3. Obsessed about
her
4. Clearly
mistaken, misguided
Ayah 31: “Gorgeous!”
She grew
impatient. She came up with a scheme to convince them why she was so obsessed
with Yusuf. She’s thinking now, you guys are speaking so much about me – just
wait till you see for yourself.
This shows
us the danger of gossip, especially when we start allowing it to go viral. In
these times there were no social media, so this talk of the town is basically
as viral as it gets.
Important
lesson for us: Don’t contribute to the publicity of evil gossip. Sometimes we
like to “share” these kinds of controversial issues because we are so upset,
but in reality what we have also inadvertently done is that we have given it
publicity too! As they say “any publicity is good publicity”.
So she took
action. This is what happened as Allah narrated in ayah 31
فَلَمَّا سَمِعَتْ بِمَكْرِهِنَّ أَرْسَلَتْ إِلَيْهِنَّ
وَأَعْتَدَتْ لَهُنَّ مُتَّكَأً وَآتَتْ كُلَّ وَاحِدَةٍ مِنْهُنَّ سِكِّينًا وَقَالَتِ
اخْرُجْ عَلَيْهِنَّ ۖ فَلَمَّا
رَأَيْنَهُ أَكْبَرْنَهُ وَقَطَّعْنَ أَيْدِيَهُنَّ وَقُلْنَ حَاشَ لِلَّـهِ مَا هَٰذَا
بَشَرًا إِنْ هَٰذَا إِلَّا مَلَكٌ كَرِيمٌ
So when
she heard of their scheming, she sent for them and prepared for them a banquet
and gave each one of them a knife and said [to Joseph], "Come out before
them." And when they saw him, they greatly admired him and cut their hands
and said, "Perfect is Allah! This is not a man; this is none but a noble
angel."
They were
saying, It’s impossible that a human being can be so GORGEOUS! Clearly he is
angel!
They were
so distracted by his handsomeness that they inadvertently cut their own hands
while slicing the food at the banquet
And in ayah
32 Allah narrates her response:
قَالَتْ فَذَٰلِكُنَّ الَّذِي لُمْتُنَّنِي فِيهِ ۖ وَلَقَدْ رَاوَدْتُهُ عَنْ نَفْسِهِ
فَاسْتَعْصَمَ ۖ وَلَئِنْ
لَمْ يَفْعَلْ مَا آمُرُهُ لَيُسْجَنَنَّ وَلَيَكُونًا مِنَ الصَّاغِرِينَ
She
said, "That is the one about whom you blamed me. And I certainly sought to
seduce him, but he firmly refused; and if he will not do what I order him, he
will surely be imprisoned and will be of those debased."
She says
here, “Now you see?!” And the women kind of empathized with her.
And now
that she has proven herself, she is even more determined to seduce him again –
now with an ultimatum of prison, and the women of the city are conspiring with
her.
Since
husband is a person of high authority, she can abuse it pull strings,
manipulate law to force Yusuf into prison.
Ayah 33: “I Prefer Going
To Prison”
قَالَ رَبِّ السِّجْنُ أَحَبُّ إِلَيَّ مِمَّا يَدْعُونَنِي
إِلَيْهِ ۖ وَإِلَّا تَصْرِفْ عَنِّي كَيْدَهُنَّ
أَصْبُ إِلَيْهِنَّ وَأَكُنْ مِنَ الْجَاهِلِينَ
He said,
"My Lord, prison is more to my liking than that to which they invite me.
And if You do not avert from me their plan, I might incline toward them and
[thus] be of the ignorant."
Can you
imagine that – he would rather go to prison, than to commit adultery. Today it
might be the opposite: people put in elaborate effort to commit adultery!
Yusuf
surrenders to Allah – Controller of All affairs – turn him away from this
madness. Because he fears for himself. That if this plan is not foiled
immediately, HE might be inclined towards this filthy act
Yusuf shows
vulnerability here. He isn’t in denial. He understands his own weaknesses. So
should we. But here he turns to Allah to help him overcome this.
Lesson:
many people, when it comes to personal weaknesses, they fall into the trap of
extremes:
1. Denial
2. Defeatist
Trap #1:
Denial.
Over
confidence – sometimes drives people to hide their faults or be in denial. And
as a result, they subconsciously fall into their own traps. For example, one
might say: “It’s okay, I don’t get attracted to women so easily.”
Sometimes
we feel oh it’s okay our aqidah is strong, we will test our knowledge by going
to this deviant classes. This is exactly what the Prophet warned us about the
Dajjal. He tells us “don’t go and test your iman” – a man will go being
confident in his faith but then succumbs to Dajjal’s tricks and eventually
becomes a disbeliever.
Lesson:
Never be over-confident on your own patience
مَنْ سَمِعَ بِالدَّجَّالِ فَلْيَنْأَ عَنْهُ
فَوَاللَّهِ إِنَّ الرَّجُلَ لَيَأْتِيهِ وَهْوَ يَحْسِبُ أَنَّهُ مُؤْمِنٌ
فَيَتَّبِعُهُ مِمَّا يُبْعَثُ بِهِ مِنَ الشُّبُهَاتِ أَوْ لِمَا يُبْعَثُ بِهِ
مِنَ الشُّبُهَاتِ
The Prophet
(ﷺ)
said: Let him who hears of the Dajjal (Antichrist) go far from him for I swear
by Allah that a man will come to him thinking he is a believer and follow him
because of confused ideas roused in him by him. (Abu Daud, graded sahih by
Al-Albani)
Even Yusuf
feared his tendency to fall into adultery if he was continuously exposed to
seduced to it. If you know you have weaknesses against certain types of
negative habits, then subhanAllah don’t expose yourself and put yourself into
trial and difficulties.
وَلَا تَقْرَبُوا الزِّنَا
“Do not
approach to Zina!” (Surah Al-Isra, 32)
Allah did
not say “do not commit zina”, He tells us don’t even approach, don’t even come
close. Because if you do get exposed to that you do not know what you will do
once you actually encounter that situation
As a rule:
the Prophet ﷺ said,
لاَ تَمَنَّوْا لِقَاءَ الْعَدُوِّ، فَإِذَا لَقِيتُمُوهُمْ
فَاصْبِرُوا
“Do not wish to meet the enemy, but
when you meet (face) the enemy, be patient." (Al-Bukhari)
Trap #2:
Defeatist
The second
trap that people commonly fall into when it comes to personal weakness is that
they have a defeatist attitude. We hear people say this. “I am like this, what
to do”. “I am born like this”. And they want you to “accept them for who they
are”, and they take no initiative to improve
Okay fine,
let’s say you are born with such inclinations and tendencies – but you have a
choice. And so the question you need to ask is: are you willing to make the
choice of obedience? Are you willing to go through some hardship to fight that
temptation for the grand goal of the hereafter?
Without
temptation, where is the value of your struggle?!
Temptation
is there. For everyone. For different things, on a different scale. But
remember the lesson here: you have a choice.
Temptation
is there – but it’s what you do in spite of it: that’s what counts. The value
of taqwa is in withholding your temptation, restraining it, for the sake of
Allah. That is why Allah says in surah An-Nazi’at:
وَأَمَّا مَنْ خَافَ مَقَامَ رَبِّهِ وَنَهَى النَّفْسَ
عَنِ الْهَوَىٰ ﴿٤٠﴾ فَإِنَّ الْجَنَّةَ هِيَ الْمَأْوَىٰ
“And as for
the one who fears the meeting with his Lord, and restrains himself from his
desires – then verily, paradise is his abode”
Yusuf is
teaching us here: accept your weakness, but make du’aa to Allah to remove those
evil traits. Look at the companions of the Prophet. Before the coming of Islam,
they were among the worst of mankind. But Islam gave them the will to change
themselves and subsequently become the best of mankind. If Allah can change
them, Allah can certainly change you.
The Handsome prophet
Now I want
to take a step back and talk about the beauty of Yusuf.
Whenever
you mention “Prophet Yusuf”, what is normally the very first description that
comes to people’s minds?
Handsome,
beautiful, gorgeous – all referring to his physical beauty.
And
sometimes we hear lectures at the masjid all speaking so proudly about Yusuf.
Because indeed, the Prophet ﷺ
described that when he ascended to the heavens, he described Yusuf
فَإِذَا أَنَا بِيُوسُفَ صلى الله عليه وسلم إِذَا
هُوَ قَدْ أُعْطِيَ شَطْرَ الْحُسْنِ
“and I saw Yusuf (peace of Allah be upon him) who had
been given half of (world) beauty.” (Muslim)
And to be
honest, this actually kind of annoys me sometimes. The thing is, if the only
description and lesson you can get from the entire life of Prophet Yusuf is
that he is “Handsome”, you’re really doing a great disservice to him and the
whole true lesson behind this surah.
What is the
lesson that Allah is telling us about Yusuf’s appearance? Is the main lesson in
these ayah the fact that he is so handsome and gorgeous?
Is that
really something that should teach us a lesson?
Let’s look
at the context of this surah at this point, from the beginning of our session.
Ayah 31 –
about the women cutting their hands because they were mesmerized by his beauty
– is the only ayah in the entire surah that Allah explicitly describes his
beauty.
Is the
beauty of Yusuf – in the context of what we are discussing so far – something
that was advantageous to him, or a disadvantage?
It was
actually a fitnah – a test – for him! Because of his beauty, the women were so
obsessed about his looks that they actually encouraged the wife of the minister
to commit adultery. And even though she was caught, she was EVEN MORE
determined this time because she was so attracted to him.
And this is
a test that we can relate to. Sometimes those who are physically attractive
have more challenge to overcome when it comes to obedience.
And guys,
look. It’s time to get honest here. All gloves are off.
People who
are attractive, actually have much more of a difficult test to refrain
themselves from zina and from the haram. More people get attracted to them, and
the temptation and challenge is so much more. The ones who are more pretty,
more attractive, are more likely to become “playas”.
And even
worse, sometimes it’s because of one’s physical beauty, that’s why they refuse
to dress in a way that is pleasing to Allah? These days, they say “you got it,
you flaunt it girl”. Because their hair looks nice, that’s why they don’t want
to wear hijab. The brothers, they work out, they got big muscles, look slim,
now they are tempted to show off their hot bods, they don’t want to wear thawb
and modest clothing. It’s not very flattering to my body. Some brothers,
handsome clean shaven, and so they refuse to keep a beard and follow the
command of the Prophet.
Look, I’m
not beauty shaming the ones who are physically attractive. (If there even is
such a thing? LOL). In fact physical beauty is great.. if it makes us the
coolness of the eyes for our spouse, if being attractive children makes parents
treat them with more love and kindness, then that’s great. But it’s when that
beauty becomes a threat to obedience to Allah – then we have to be careful.
I wouldn’t
know, anyway. Back in school, I grew up as an overweight and average looking
guy so I never had this problem.
I say this
as well to those of you out there who feel you are not physically attractive.
Don’t get too caught up in looks. Be optimistic, perhaps Allah is protecting
you. And, what matters is the inner beauty.
And that is
the main lesson of this story.
You see,
Yusuf was super attractive, and in a position of disadvantage. The path of zina
was so easy for him. The path of obedience to Allah is so difficult, so
challenging, so many negative consequences. Yet he made that difficult choice.
And he
faced the difficult consequences. But those choices defined who he is, a person
who was truly obedient to Allah. And those choices made him the hero. This was
his character arc.
So you see
brothers and sisters. The point of the story of Yusuf’s Handsomeness is not
that “Yusuf was Handsome”
The lesson
Allah is teaching here is the Handsome choices that he made, in every adversity
throughout his life. Even despite one of the adversity was because of his
Physical Handsomeness.
There is
only one ayah that explicitly mentions about his handsomeness – but the whole
story is filled with the handsome choices that he made.
So there
you have it:. That is why the title is the HANDSOME story of Yusuf.
Not the Story of Handsome Yusuf.
So we make
the beautiful choices in our life in spite of the challenges that lay ahead.
This
handsomeness, you and I can inherit.
Ayah 34, 35: Allah
Responds to His Du’aa, Enters Prison
فَاسْتَجَابَ لَهُ رَبُّهُ فَصَرَفَ عَنْهُ كَيْدَهُنَّ
ۚ إِنَّهُ هُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْعَلِيمُ
‘So his
Lord answered his invocation and turned away from him their plot. Verily, He is
the All-Hearer, the All-Knower.’
ثُمَّ بَدَا لَهُمْ مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا رَأَوُا الْآيَاتِ
لَيَسْجُنُنَّهُ حَتَّىٰ حِينٍ ﴿٣٥﴾
Then it
appeared to them after they had seen the signs that al-'Azeez should surely
imprison him for a time.
Allah
answered his du’aa. But by doing so, this landed him into prison.
Now, let’s
analyse this situation from a surface observation perspective. At first glance,
this looks like a “bad” thing. Being a victim of an oppressive system that does
not recognize his innocence, it still lands him into prison anyway. And from
being a free man, in the luxurious wealthy household of Al-Aziz, into the dark,
isolating, discomfort of prison
But let’s
look at it from the perspective of Yusuf himself. Firstly, take note here that
Prophet Yusuf did not exactly “ask” Allah to go to prison. He asked to be
turned away from the seductive invitation to adultery, and basically said, “I
prefer prison than adultery”. And from that perspective, he got what he want.
What does
this teach us?
Firstly, sometimes
Allah answers our du’aa in ways we don’t quite expect
مَا عَلَى الأَرْضِ مُسْلِمٌ يَدْعُو اللَّهَ
بِدَعْوَةٍ إِلاَّ آتَاهُ اللَّهُ إِيَّاهَا أَوْ صَرَفَ عَنْهُ مِنَ السُّوءِ
مِثْلَهَا مَا لَمْ يَدْعُ بِمَأْثَمٍ أَوْ قَطِيعَةِ رَحِمٍ " . فَقَالَ
رَجُلٌ مِنَ الْقَوْمِ إِذًا نُكْثِرَ . قَالَ " اللَّهُ أَكْثَرُ
"
The Prophet
ﷺ said, “There is not a
Muslim upon the earth who calls upon Allah with any supplication, except that
Allah grants it to him, or he turns away from him the like of it in evil;
as long as he does not supplicate for something sinful, or the severing of the
ties of kinship.” So a man from the people said: “If that is the case, we will
make MORE du’aa!” He (ﷺ) said: “(With) Allah is more.”
(Narrated
by At-Tirmidzi who graded it hasan sahih)
This hadith
teaches us: Allah will ALWAYS respond to our du’aa. But the way Allah responds
may not necessarily be in the way we expect. Sometimes it comes in a way that
Allah averts another harm away from us. We don’t see it, we may not even know
about it. But Allah knows.
Sometimes
what we want is not good for us, so Allah grants us something else. We ask for
a lot of money, but Allah knows that will make us negligent – so he Grants us a
happy family.
We are in
physical pain or sickness, we ask for good health – but in fact, because of
this sickness, we are better Muslims. We make more du’aa.
وَعَسَىٰ أَنْ تَكْرَهُوا شَيْئًا وَهُوَ خَيْرٌ لَكُمْ
ۖ وَعَسَىٰ أَنْ تُحِبُّوا شَيْئًا
وَهُوَ شَرٌّ لَكُمْ ۗ وَاللَّـهُ
يَعْلَمُ وَأَنْتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ
“And it
may be that you dislike a thing which is good for you and that you like a thing
which is bad for you. Allah knows but you do not know”. (Surah Al-Baqarah, 216)
Secondly, what
we perceive as tragedy, can sometimes actually be a good thing for others.
In the case
of Yusuf, this saved him from zina, and also opened up new opportunities for
da’wah, opportunities which before this he did not have as a slaveboy in the
household of the minister. In that sense, prison was actually a blessing: It’s
all a matter of perspective.
Some of the
greatest scholars of Islam were imprisoned – 3 out of 4 great imams, and others
as well. Although they were oppressed and wrongfully imprisoned, amazingly, prison
was an opportunity for them – some of them finally had time to write books! Some
of them, prison provided the to conduct classes from prison without the threat
of death - to the point that people from the free world flocked to their
prisons to listen to them!
And vice
versa! We look at “good” things happening to people. We look at people’s social
media pages, and the “great” things in their lives that they have that we
don’t. Maybe they got a high paying, super high profile job. We think wow
that’s so amazing. But in reality, he’s suffering from long hours, a toxic and
stressful workplace environment, not being able to spend time with his family,
getting stuck hours every day in traffic.
And in this
case, it’s the opposite: because prison not only saved Yusuf from adultery, it
also opened up an opportunity: for da’wah. An opportunity that he did not have
before.
And thus
begins the life in prison for our beloved Yusuf alayhissalam, and we finish
once again on a cliffhanger for part two.
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