Introduction to Surah Yusuf

8/6/2019 Introduction to Surah Yusuf

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Introduction

I welcome you all to the first of a series of halaqatthat we will have about the tafsirorthe explanation of one of the most interesting, powerful, and moving surahs in the entireQuran, which is Surah Yusuf. This surah is a very, very unique surah in the Quran,

and a one-of-a-type ofsurah.

Firstly, it is the only place in the Quran where the story of the Prophet Yusuf (alayhisalaam) is mentioned. No othersurah mentions the story of the Prophet Yusuf (alayhisalaam). If you compare this to, lets say, the story of the Prophet Musa (alayhisalaam), the story of Prophet Musa is mentioned in over 25 different locations. Thestory of our father Adam (alayhi salaam) is mentioned in over half a dozen locations.The story of Isa (alayhi salaam) is mentioned almost a dozen times. The story of theProphet Yusuf (alayhi salaam) only exists in this surah. In fact, even the name of theProphet Yusuf occurs only once or twice in passing in Surah Al-Anm and SurahGhaafir, but there is no story at all. The stories about what happened with the Yusuf

(alayhi salaam) only occur in this particularsurah.

Secondly, it is the only surah in the Quran that has a unified story as its theme from thebeginning to the end. The whole surah is nothing but a story. There is no othersurahof length in the Quran we are not talking about the small surahs at the end ofJuzAmma, but we are talking about any surah basically more than 10-15 ayahs there isno surah in the whole Quran that is a unified story from the beginning to the end. Thisis something that we all know. Read Surah Al-Baqarah, Surah Ale-Imran, and SurahYunus you will find the stories of lots of people in one paragraph or one page orsometimes even five pages, but there is no place in the whole Quran where an entire15 pages is dedicated to one story. It is a chronological story from the beginning to the

end. This is not just very rare but unique. There is no other place like it in the wholeQuran.

Revelation ofSurahYusuf

We do not know the exact date of when this surah was revealed, but we know roughlythat it was revealed around the tenth or eleventh year not of the hijrah but of the yearsof the dawah. In other words, with the hijrah of course we begin the Madinan phase.Before the hijrah, what do we call it? Some scholars used the term BH (before hijrah)

just like the Christians have AD and BC, Muslims have AH and BH. So if you lookat BH, 1 BH means one year before the hijrah and 2 BH means two years before thehijrah. Surah Yusuf is revealed around 2 or 3 BH, in other words right at the end of theMakkan era and the Makkan message.

The timing of revelation is very crucial. Surah Yusuf was revealed after the famous yearcalled the Year of Sorrow / the Year or Regret / the Year of Difficulty (aam al-huzn). Inthat year, three things happened one after the other which were the most painful for theProphet Muhammad (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam), and there was no time in the seerahwhere the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) was more demoralized than this period,


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which is why the scholars ofseerah call this period aam al-huzn, the Year of Grief. TheProphet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) was feeling grief throughout that year. Whathappened? What makes it worse is that these three things happened one after theother. The first of these three devastating things was the most personal and intimate,and that was the death of Khadijah (alayhi salaam). Khadijah (alayhi salaam) was his

supporter and his moral source of strength. As they say, behind every great man thereis a great woman, and this is exactly applying to the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wasallam) and Khadijah.

She was his source of comfort and support. Whenever anything happened and evenwhen the wahy came down and he was scared, he went running back to Khadijah(alayhi salaam) to be calmed down. Zambilooni! Zambilooni! (Cover me up! Coverme up!) Khadijah was his source of comfort and his source of support. When a manhas that comfort and love inside the house, he is able to face a lot outside. When that isdeprived of him, then the problems outside become more difficult to bear. The death ofKhadijah (alayhi salaam) was something that was very difficult for him.

Within five or six weeks, a second death followed and that was the death of his uncleAbu Talib. Abu Talib was his support in society. Abu Talib sacrificed his own reputationand prestige in order to protect the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam). When theQuraysh came to bribe, threaten, and intimidate the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wasallam), initially Abu Talib was scared and went to him (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) andtold him to stop doing this. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, If they wereto give me control of the sun and the moon, I would not give up what I am doing. AbuTalib said, Oh son of my brother, oh my nephew, do as you please, I am never going tocome to you again to tell you not to do this. He was a man of his word for ten years,and not once did he approach the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) after that. He

never came and said why did you do this? / look what I have to face now. Not once.He was a man of his word.

Abu Talib did everything he could, so much so that when the Quraysh boycotted theProphet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) and told him he must leave Makkah, Abu Talibwent with the Muslims to live in the valleys outside of Makkah. Abu Talib was not asubject of that boycott because he was a pagan and a Qurayshi and a mushrik, butbecause he was a part of his nephew and loved him so much, he voluntarily went to livewith the Muslims at the time of the boycott.

He was the only non-Muslim to live with the Muslims at the time of boycott. Hevoluntarily gave up his privileges and his house in Makkah and gave up everything andsuffered along with the Muslims because he felt that this was injustice and that he hadto do this as the uncle and protector of the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam). Hedid everything he could. As long as Abu Talib was alive, they could not do anythingelse to harm the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam). With his death, the persecutionreached its max, which is why eventually the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) hadto leave for Madinah because he could not live in Makkah anymore.


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Khadijah was his internal support in the house. Abu Talib was his external support insociety. The both of them died one after the other, and it was a very difficult time for theProphet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam). To make matters worse, he suffered the singlemost depressing or difficult day of his whole life after the deaths of Khadijah and AbuTalib. As if there could be no low, there was one low after that, which was the incident

of Taif.

Aisha (radhi Allahu anha) said, Oh Messenger of Allah, was there any day that wasmore difficult for you to bear than the Day of Uhud? He (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam)said, Yes. Aisha was too young to know anything about Makkah and did notremember Makkah. She knows Badr, Uhud, and Tabuk and the problems of Madinahand that the worst problem of Madinah was Uhud, so she asked, Was there any daymore difficult for you than Uhud? Immediately without thinking, the Prophet (sal Allahualayhi wa sallam) said, The most difficult day for me was the day when I was rejectedby the chieftains of Taif. You all know the story, and we will talk about it in a lot ofdetail inshaAllah in the lectures we will start on the seerah. The Prophet (sal Allahu

alayhi wa sallam) was humiliated and publicly scorned and the children of Taif stonedhim. This day was the most difficult for him.

These three incidents occurred within six weeks of one other within two months, as ifthings could not get any worse. At this point in time, Allah (subhanahu wataala)revealed Surah Yusuf. When we understand this frame of revelation, all of a suddenthe significance ofSurah Yusuf increases many times. Why? Surah Yusuf is meant touplift his spirits (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) and console him and strengthen him at atime of such trials and tribulations. Surah Yusuf is the light that will lead him out of thisdepressing time and time of pain and anguish. This is hope for us when we are feelingdown and suffering from problems of society. This is the surah that we can turn to for

an uplifting moment and to find some solace and comfort, which is why Allah revealed itto our Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam).

Scholars also mention a number of incidents that also led to the revelation of thissurah. Of these incidents is: as the persecution of the Muslims increased and thesahabah in Makkah were feeling more and more overwhelmed by all of the pressures,they came to the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) and said, Oh Messenger ofAllah, why dont you tell us the stories of those before who also suffered? When theywanted these stories, Allah (subhanahu wataala) revealed this surah. It was perfecttiming when the persecution reaches its maximum, and that is why the hijrah occurstwo years after this surah because they could not live in Makkah anymore. Anassassination squad was sent for the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) the nightbefore the hijrah and surrounded his house. Allah miraculously saved him (sal Allahualayhi wa sallam). One of the direct causes of the revelation was that the sahabahwanted something to uplift their spirits as well.

Another direct cause of revelation: it is said that the Quraysh wanted to try to outwit theProphet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) and show that he was not truly a prophet. Theysent a delegation to the Yahudof Yathrib (the name of Madinah before it was Madinah),


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and they asked the Yahud, Tell us a question that only a prophet would be able toanswer. Give us a trick question that we can show once and for all that this man is nota prophet. Tell us a question that you know the answer to but nobody else knows.Even though the Yahudwere a different religion than the Quraysh, the Quraysh felt thatthe Yahudwere superior because of their Book.

The Quraysh did not have a holy book or scripture or revelation. The Yahud had arevelation, and the Quraysh felt a sense of inferiority that the Yahudwere the people ofthe book and had knowledge that they did not and believed in prophets while they didnot know any prophets from amongst them.

The Yahud said, Ask him about the story of Yusuf and his brothers. Nobody knowsthis. This is an interesting point that we will come to again. In Makkah, there were noChristians and Jews. In Makkah, there were only idol worshippers and pagans. Therewere no centers of Christianity and Judaism. There were one or two private / secretconverts to Christianity like Waraqah ibn Nawfal and others, but they were not inviting

others to it and not preaching Christianity. There were no libraries of Christian orJewish theology. Nobody in Makkah knew these stories. The people in Makkah hadnot heard of Yusuf because he was not their ancestor. They were descendants fromIsmail and not of Ishaaq, and the tribes of Israil had nothing to do with the Makkansand people of Quraysh. They dont know these stories. The Yahudknew this and said,Ask him if he truly is a prophet to tell you what happened with Yusuf and his brothersbecause nobody knows this of your people. This is something we know. The Yahudlived far away in Yathrib, so how would anybody in Makkah know this?

The Quraysh went to the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) and asked him, Tell usthe story of Yusuf and his brothers if you are truly a prophet. Allah (subhanahuwataala

) answered that question and revealedSurah

Yusuf. In one of the last versesof the surah, Allah (subhanahu wataala) says, This is of the ilm al-ghayb that We sentdown to you. In Surah Yusuf, Allah (subhanahu wataala) is telling the Prophet (sal

Allahu alayhi wa sallam) that He is giving them ilm al-ghayb and that he (sal Allahualayhi wa sallam) and his people did not know the story until this surah came down tohim.

Ayah 1:

Alif-laam-ra

Huroof Al-Muqattaat(Broken Letters)

This surah begins with the letters alif-laam-ra. We all know that there are a number ofsurahs in the Quran that begin with letters. Alif-laam-meem, ha-meem, ayn-seen-qaaf,noon, qaaf, kaf-ha-ya-ayn-saad, ta-ha, ya-seen. These letters are called huroof al-muqattaat(broken letters) by the scholars oftafsir. They are called the broken lettersbecause they do not form words. Ha-meem is not a word. Alif-laam-meem is not aword. Scholars oftafsircall them huroof al-muqattaat broken letters put together.
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Scholars have wondered about the meaning of the huroof al-muqattaatsince the verybeginning of time. Since the time of the tabiun and taba tabiun, they began wonderingwhat these letters mean. There are over fifteen opinions about what these lettersrepresent. Some of these opinions include that these letters represent the Names ofAllah (subhanahu wataala), so alif is for Allah, laam is forAl-Lateef, meem is forAl-

Muhaymin. They have different opinions, but this does not seem to have a strong basis.One opinion is that we will never know what these huroof al-muqattaatmean. This is avalid opinion in so far as that we will never know for sure and only Allah knows for sure,but we can try to think and come forth with some type of opinion because why did Allahreveal these letters? There must be a wisdom. We can try to think of wisdoms of whyAllah (subhanahu wataala) revealed these letters at the beginning of these surahs.

One thing that we notice which is very interesting is that almost all the time in the Quranwhen Allah begins a surah with these letters, the very next phrase has something to dowith the Quran. Think about all of the surahs you know. Ya-sin. Wal-Quran al-hakeem. Kaf-ha-ya-ayn-saad. Dhikru rahmati rabbika This is what I am telling you

in the Book. Alif-laam-meem. Dhaalika kitabu la rayba feehiAlif-laam-ra. Tilkaaayaatul-kitabil-mubeen. Ha-meem. Wal-kitabil-mubeen.

There are some exceptions where it is not the second verse but it is the third or fourthverse. Every single time Allah mentions huroof al-muqattaatwithin the first few verses,something to do with the Quran is mentioned. Therefore, it would make sense that thishuroof al-muqattaathave something to do with this magnificent Quran. Every time, theQuran is praised after the huroof al-muqattaat. It is logical to make some connection.

What is this connection? Scholars have tried to think about this and have compiled allof these huroof al-muqattaat. The huroof al-muqattaatnumber exactly 14 letters. How

many letters are in the Arabic alphabet? 28. There are 28 letters in the Arabicalphabet, and 14 is exactly half of 28, so some scholars have read in some type ofsymbolic meaning that Allah (subhanahu wataala) is showing us that the Quran iscomposed of our letters and the language that we speak, and yet, mankind cannotproduce something similar to it. It is as if Allah is taunting the rejecters of the Quran byshowing them that these are their words and letters, so produce a surah / ten surahs / aQuran similar to it if they are able to it.

There are five verses of challenge (ayaat at-tahaddi) in the Quran. In one of theseverses, Allah says, bring the whole Quran. In another verse, Allah says, bringten surahs. In another verse, Allah says, bring something. In two verses, Allahsays, bring one surah if you can. In these verses of challenge, it is as if there is alinkage with the huroof al-muqattaatand these verses of challenge. It is as if Allah issaying here is half of the alphabet bring the other half and bring something similar tothe Quran.

One of the wisdoms that scholars have tried to derive from the huroof al-muqattaatis toshow the miraculous nature of the Quran. The Quran is composed of words that wespeak, language that we know, and letters that we write, yet mankind is not able to


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produce something similar to this. Allah knows best. We will never know for sure themeaning of the huroof al-muqattaat, but it does appear that there is some relationshipwith the beauty and the majesty and the miraculous nature of the Quran.

these are the verses of the clear / lucid Book.

Tilka is an Arabic word which means this/these. There is a difference between tilkaand haadhihi, which both mean this/these. Haadhihi is used for something close.Tilka is used for something far away.

Allah (subhanahu wataala) is talking about the Quran with the far away word. He(subhanahu wataala) does this not only here but also in Surah Al-Baqarah: Alif-laam-meem. Dhaalika kitab la rayba feeh. Kitab is masculine, so the word dhaalikis used.

Aayaatis feminine, so the word tilka is used. Feminine and masculine aside, there is adifference between haadha / haadhihiversus tilka / dhaalika. We would say haadhakitab for a book here, but to point to something far away, you say tilka (over there, far

away).

Allah azza wa jall talks about the Quran in the pronoun that refers to something faraway. Why does Allah mention the far away pronoun when the Quran is in our hands?To show the status of the Quran is exalted and to show that the Quran is worthy ofbeing something majestic. Even if you have it, we should thank Allah that we have it,but its status is a high and noble status. Allah says, Tilka aayaatul-kitabil-mubeen.

An ayah is a verse. This shows us that Allah has Himself divided the Quran into ayat.Where does this division come from? From Allah (subhanahu wataala). What aboutinto surahs? Allah (subhanahu wataala says, when a surah comes down Allah

mentions the wordsurah

and the wordayah

. Many other scriptures including the NewTestament have man-made divisions. For us, the Quran is from Allah, and even thedivisions within the Quran (meaning surah and ayah) are from Allah. An ayah alsomeans a sign / indication / miracle.

A verse is a sign, and a verse is a miracle. Allah uses the term that is loaded withmeaning. What does ayah mean? Allah calls the miracles of creation ayah. Allah saysthat in your creation there is an ayah, and in the sun and the moon there is an ayah.Allah calls the verses of the Quran an ayah. It is not a coincidence, and Allah knowswhat He is saying, and no one is more eloquent than Allah. The meaning here is thatevery verse of the Quran has a message for you and an indication and a miracle.

Mubeen is a description of the book. Allah calls the Quran many different names, butthere are two names that are the most common: kitab and Quran. Kitab and Quranboth occur around 75 times to describe our Book. Kitab and Quran are complementaryto each other and put together tell us what this book is. Kitab means something that iswritten down, and Quran means something that is recited. The Quran is somethingthat is written down and recited simultaneously. No other book from Allah has beenpreserved to this level. The Quran has been written down by the commandment of


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Allah, and it has also been recited by Allah, Jibreel, and the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhiwa sallam) and is recited to this day, which is of the miracles of the Quran that no otherbook has. All of the other books were written down by men and scribes and peopleafter the times of the prophets. As for us, the Kitab and the Quran are complementary.

Al-mubeen can have two meanings. The first meaning is the Book itself is a clearBook. Allah says in the beginning ofSurah Al-Baqarah: dhaalika kitab la rayba feeh.There is no doubt / no ambiguity in it. The Book is clear. What does it mean that theBook is clear? It means that anybody who approaches the Quran will be able to getsome message from it and find some level of benefit from it. What this means is thatthe Quran is a Book that is meant to be contemplated by every single Muslim. It is notsomething that only the elite have access to and is not something that only the scholarsshould read. Even the basic, average Muslim can benefit from the Quran.

There is no doubt that the average Muslim can only benefit a certain level, and the morethey grow in knowledge, the more they can benefit. This is a common misconception

that alhamdulillah is getting more and more minimal these days, but once upon a time, itwas very common to hear: Oh, anybody can interpret the Quran. I can open up theQuran and interpret it. No interpretation requires knowledge, but simple hidayah canbe obtained immediately and even from a translation. Anyone can read the Quran forpersonal benefit and personal guidance. There are levels of meaning. Qul huwAllahuahad. Alhamdulillahi rabbl-alameen. You understand these, but if you want to go deepand dissect why Allah said hamd and not shukr, then you need ilm. The averageMuslim can benefit from the Quran, so the Quran is mubeen.

Another meaning of Allah calling the kitabmubeen is that this Book is a clear messagefrom Allah, and you do not have any doubt where it is from. Mubeen doesnt refer to the

language but to the origin and the source of the Book. The Book has a clear-cutsource, and everybody knows where this Book is from. There is no ambiguity in thisBook. This may surprise you, but to this day, nobody knows who wrote the NewTestament, and no one knows the biographies of these people. They were not theactual disciples of Christ but were anonymous people living in the second or thirdgeneration after Jesus Christ. To this day, nobody knows who wrote the OldTestament; it is completely shrouded in mystery. The Orthodox Jews believe that Musawrote it, but no other group believes this because the Old Testament mentions thedeath of Musa and who buried Musa. People dont know who wrote it.

Allah is saying that this is a mubeen Book you know the origin, you know the source,and everything is clear about it. There is no question mark. I cannot stress for you OMuslims that we take this for granted as if it is something that is no big deal. There isno other religious scripture on the face of this earth that is as unambiguous and as clearand demarcated fromAl-Fatihah toAl-Nas in the origin of language as the Quran.

There is such a massive confusion about the Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, and Jewishscriptures. In many religions, you do not even know what the scripture is. In almost allreligions, the language is not the language spoken by the prophets. The original New


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Testament was written in Greek, and Isa (alayhi salaam) spoke Aramaic and notGreek. I am trying to stress to you that we take these things for granted. Our Quranhas no versions. To this day, the Orthodox Christians, Protestants, and Catholics havedifferent Bibles. They are completely different books and different additions andsubtractions and different versions. You can belong to any sect of Islam and differ in

theology, but the Quran is exactly the same fromAl-Fatihah toAn-Nas, word for word,letter for letter, harakah for harakah you can purchase a Quran in India, here, orTimbuktu or the hand-written manuscripts. Alhamdulillah this is such a blessing fromAllah that we take for granted that our holy Book is clear. All of this proves that as Allahsays in a previous surah in the Quran: We have revealed this scripture and will protectit.Another way to understand this is that Allah is saying this surah in particular issomething that is clear. You need nothing else besides this surah. This indicates theimportance of this surah. To emphasize this point, Allah says in the second verse:

We have sent this Quran down as an Arabic Quran so that you mayunderstand.

A question that many Muslims ask is: why does Allah refer to Himself in the plural? Infact, many non-Muslims ask this question. There are two primary interpretations ofthis. The first of them is that the We is a royal plural, the plural of majesty, and theplural of izzah. It is allowed in the Arabic language that a singular person (one man)will say we when he is worthy of it, meaning king or royalty. Even in the Englishlanguage, the Queen of England always says we and never says I, which is the weof royalty. When she says we, she doesnt mean her and her family, but she means

I. She says we to indicate that majesty. In Arabic, this is called the royal plural. It isa permissible interpretation.

Ibn Taymiyyah has another interpretation and says that every time there is a plural inthe Quran, it is a reference to Allah (subhanahu wataala) along with the command ofthe angels. Allah tells the angels to do something. That is why and this is interesting

Ibn Taymiyyah says that never in the Quran does Allah say worship us, but Healways says worship Me. Allah says, We revealed the Book because the Bookcomes down via Jibreel. Allah says, We send the rain because every single drop ofrain has an angel taking it right to where Allah said it is going to go. Allah says, We arethe ones who blow the winds because the angels are the ones who take the winds.

Allah said, We are the ones who take the souls because the angel of death comes andtakes the souls. This is an interesting interpretation, which also seems to make sense.When Allah says We, He means, I am doing this and I am telling the angels toexecute this command. The Quran comes down at the Command of Allah by thehands of Jibreel. Jibreel is the one who brings it down. This is one interpretation aswell, and it has a good basis to it.


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Anzalah means to descend. Nazalah means to go down / to descend. This shows thatthe Quran physically came down. We know that the Quran did not come down onto amountain and the book was there. What does it mean? There are a number ofmeanings here. Firstly, that Jibreel came down with the recitation of the Quran.

Literally, the Quran is coming down with Jibreel in his memory, and Jibreel is reciting itto the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam). Secondly, we learn from a hadeeth in theMustadrakof Al-Hakim that on laylat al-qadrAllah azza wa jallphysically sent down adivine copy of the Quran (a book), a part ofAl-Lawh al-Mahfud. There is a copy of theQuran in Al-Lawh Al-Mahfud. According to one hadeeth, which is authentic, on laylatal-qadr, Allah says inna anzalnahu fi laylat al-qadr, and in one interpretation, this Al-Lawh al-Mahfudportion of the Quran was literally sent down to the lowest heavens onlaylat al-qadrbefore the wahybegan upon the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam).Jibreel (alayhi salaam) would take from there as well. There is a physical descent of adivine copy of the Quran, and so Allah says anzalah.

There is also a metaphysical descent, meaning within Jibreel that he brings it down.This is also one of the many evidences that Allah is above us, which is why the Quranis coming down. If the Allah was not above us, then the Quran would not need to comedown and nor would the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) have to go up in israwal-miraj to speak to Him. The Quran is coming down. We have sent down thisQuran.

Sometimes Allah says, We have anzalah and sometimes He says, We havenazzalah. What is the difference between these? There is a minor difference, but it isalso very profound and deep. Anzalah means to send down at once. Nazzalah meansto send down bit by bit. The Quran is referenced with anzalah and with nazzalah

because both occurred. The Quran is sometimesanzal

and sometimesnazzal

how isthis? Because both occurred. The Quran came down in its entirety on laylat al-qadr,which is anzalah. For the next 23 years, Jibreel brought it bit by bit, which is nazzalah.Allah speaks the exact truth, and both of these things are valid.

inna anzalnahu Quranan arabiyyanWe have revealed this as an Arabic Quran.This is a very, very interesting verse. There are exactly 11 verses in the Quran thatcharacterize the Quran as being Arabic. Allah says in 11 verses We have revealed anArabic Quran. From this, there is unanimous consensus amongst all of the scholars ofIslam that the Quran can only be in Arabic. Allah describes the Quran as being anArabic Quran. This means that when we read a translation, we are not reading theQuran. We all know this, and this is an evidence of this. What this means is that whenwe stand up in salah, we cannot say All praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds. If we doso, oursalah is null and void. We have to say, Alhamdulillahi rabbl-alameen. If wewere to recite it in a non-Arabic language, it is not Quran but is a translation.

This shows us as well that the Quran has been revealed in the language that Allahazza wa jallspoke. This is a deep theological point, and I dont want to go to deep.

Ahl al-sunnah wal-jamaah believe that the Quran is the kalamullah. Other groups deny


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this and said it is not kalamullah. What does it mean that it is kalamullah? It means thatliterally Allah azza wa jallspoke and recited the Quran, and Jibreel heard this recitationand brought this recitation down to the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam), and theProphet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) recited it after he heard it from Jibreel. FromJibreel to the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) and from the Prophet (sal Allahu

alayhi wa sallam) to the sahabah up until this day we have a continuous chain, non-stop, and it is from Allah azza wa jallthe recitation begins.

This means that when Allah says, We have revealed an Arabic Quran, then thatrecitation was done in Arabic as well. When we recite the Quran, what we feel issomething that is divine even if you are not Arab. When you recite the Quran, you feelthat it is an amazing speech and a divine speech. When you understand Sunnitheology, you understand where this came from. We believe that this recitation wasrecited by Allah azza wa jall; therefore, when we recite it, there is something divineabout the Quran. The Quran must be respected you cannot put it on the floor andshow disrespect to it and it is sunnah to respect the Quran. You should put it in a

high place in the room, and you should have wuduwhen you touch it. There are somany aspects of respect because the Quran is not just any book but is kalamullah andhas a certain status that no other book has.

Allah says, inna anzalnahu Quranan arabiyyan (We have revealed it in an ArabicQuran.) Another question arises: does this mean that all of the words in the Quranare Arabic? There are clearly words in the Quran that come from Persian, Greek, andeven Roman. There are clearly words in the Quran that are not Arabic such asistabrak and abaareeq. There are Roman, Persian and sometimes even Sanskritwords. There are even words from Latin.

These Latin words have also worked their way into English, which is an interestingpoint. We are native speakers of English, and English is based on Latin, and Latin is avery ancient language. Some words from Latin made their way to the Arabs as well.What is a word that is Quranic and English at the same time? Story al-saateer(this isnot a pure Arabic word but is a Latin word). The English word story is from the Latinthat also made its way to the Arabs and we find in the Quran. There are other words aswell. The word justice in Arabic is qistaas. It is from the same root as the Latin root.This is just a side point and something for your benefit.

Allah says that this is an Arabic Quran. The sahabah and tabioon and taba tabioonread the Quran and said that not every single word is Arabic, so what do they do?Imam Shafii, said, Anybody who says there is a single word of non-Arabic in theQuran is ajahilland does not know what he is talking about. How can there be a non-Arabic word in the Quran when Allah says inna anzalnahu Quranan arabiyyan? Hislove for the Quran was so much that he did not listen to any argument and said thatevery single word had to be Arabic. What do we do with these words from otherlanguages? He said that they took the words from the Arabs. With all respect, itdoesnt work that way. Later scholars said that there are lots of non-Arabic words in theQuran and it is not a problem. Imam Al-Suyuti wrote a book, and over 250 words in this


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book are claimed to be non-Arabic. He said sundus is a Farsi word. There are wordsfrom Aramaic and the Ethiopian language such as istabrak. How do we reconcile this?A great scholar Abu Ubayd Al Qasim ibn As-Salam (d. ~230 AH) said, Both groups areright. Every language interacts with other languages, and it incorporates words from theother language into its own and substitutes the letters of those languages with the

letters of its own and changes the word to suit its own grammar.

The word becomes a fluent Arabic word so much so that when an Arab uses the word,no one thinks of its Greek or Latin or Aramaic origin. It is an Arabic word even if it camecenturies ago from another language. For example: Story becomes as-saateer and

justice becomes qistaas. This is the way languages work; you bring in words fromother cultures and then they become part of your language. They are Arabic wordseven if they were taken from non-Arabic languages. Allah has spoken the truth whenHe said inna anzalnahu Quranan arabiyyan. Imam Al-Shafii has said the truth whenhe said that every single word was Arabic even though his interpretation was a littleincorrect.

laalakum taqiloon. (So that you may understand)

So that you may understand what? The sentence is not complete. Why? When youleave the sentence blank, then you encompass all meanings. If you finish the sentence,you limit it. When you leave it blank, it means so that you may understand[everything], and it doesnt need to be limited. This also shows us that there is areason why Allah chose the language of the Arabs, which is because His Prophet is anArab prophet and his immediate people are an Arab people. This tells us very franklythat the Arabic language is the most eloquent language.

The opinion of Imam Al-Shafii and Ibn Taymiyyah and many scholars, including non-Arabs, is that the Arabic language is the best language. Even as non-Arabs we mustacknowledge this. The Arabic of today is not that language, and this is referring tofuhsa (Quranic Arabic). Modern Arabic is a different language altogether and is not thelanguage of that era. We are talking about that language, and that language was themost eloquent language, and we must believe this as a part of aqeedah. Imam Al-Shafii said, This is our aqeedah. Some of the scholars were very strict. In thosedays, the only other language that the Muslims spoke was Farsi. If anyone spoke Farsiin front of Imam Maalik, he would have him kicked out of the Prophets Masjid (sal

Allahu alayhi wa sallam) and say, This is a place where we speak Arabic.

Those were different times, and there is nothing wrong with speaking anotherlanguage. They wanted to preserve the language of the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wasallam). I say this as a non-Arab: we should learn Arabic. It is not wajib to learn Arabic,but subhanAllah, this is our religion. The Quran and Sunnah are our religion, andlearning Arabic is a big part of our religion. You cannot become a true student of theQuran until you learn Arabic. This is a simple fact. Reading a translation ismeaningless. You have not read the verse yet, much less the tafsir, if you have to readthe translation to understand it. Allah says, I have revealed this kitabal-mubeen in an


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Arabic language so that you can understand it. If somebody were to say, It is not fairthat the non-Arabs do not understand the Quran. What do we do as a non-Arab andwhat are non-Arabs supposed to do with the guidance in the Arabic language?, theresponse to this is:

1. One language had to be chosen, logically. Even if Allah chose anotherlanguage, then people of other languages would have said the same thing. Thisis not a solid response to criticize the revelation in Arabic.

2. Also, we say that Arabic is the most eloquent of all languages. All of thelanguages we know of that Allah revealed Books in are Semitic languages. He(subhanahu wataala) revealed books in Hebrew and Aramaic and probably inSyriac (the language of Dawud (alayhi salam)). Semitic is a family oflanguages: Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac, Arabic. There are Indo-Aryan languages,which is Latin and Sanskrit. If you study the differences between those twobranches, you will find a world of difference. [Tangent: Nahw and sarf are ablessing because they show the structure and precision of the language. It is not

found in English grammar and Latin grammar. Sarf is taking a three letter verband adding an alif, a wow, or a meem. It is said from one verb you can derive250 words. Once you learn one word in the Arabic language (one three letterroot), you can instantaneously derive at least 250 words if you know sarfproperly. This is an amazing language. This does not exist in English or anyother language.]

3. The third response is even if you do not understand its full beauty in Arabic, atranslation will give you a glimpse of it. We give non-Muslims a translation of theQuran, and there is no problem with this whatsoever. Some stricter Muslims saythat we should not give them a translation of the Quran. [Refutation:] TheProphet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) wrote to the Emperor of Rome, and in the

letter, he wrote a verse of the Quran. When the Emperor received the verse, itwas translated in front of him into Latin. This was the first time in history that theQuran was translated. This was in the lifetime of the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhiwa sallam). How can anybody say that it is not allowed? It was in the lifetime ofthe Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam), and he knew it was going to betranslated. The Emperor of Rome did not speak Arabic, and the Prophet (sal

Allahu alayhi wa sallam) wrote to him in Arabic. It is our duty to translate theQuran into other languages. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) had noproblem doing it. It is not the Quran anymore, but the glimpse of beauty willremain.

Why is Allah beginning this surah by mentioning that He has revealed the Quran to theProphet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam)? One of the reasons Allah (subhanahu wataala)is mentioning this is to remind the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) of the favorsthat He has given to him. This is a standard motif of the Quran. Surah Al-Dhuha:Your Lord has not left you, nor has He abandoned youDidnt We find you as anorphan and take care of you? Allah is reminding the favors He has done to the Prophet(sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam). It is human nature that when you are spiritually down, youneed somebody to cheer you up. Allah azza wa jall is telling the greatest positive


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thing: He has revealed the Quran to him (one person), and this is the greatestblessing.

Ayah 3:

We will be narrating to you the best of all stories

Nahnu (the plural) occurs because of Allah and the angels. We recite to you thestories. What stories? Ahsanal-qasas. The best of all stories. What is a qisah? Theword qisah comes from qasah, which means to follow the footsteps in the sand. Whenthe bedouins found somebodys footsteps, they would follow them in order to catch upto that person. Allah says about Musa in the Quran in Surah Kahf[v. 64]: Musa andYusha followed their own qassasah (footsteps) back. Why does a story come from

following the footsteps? You are walking in their footsteps and following them. When Itell you the qisah, what happens to you?

You are living it. Why does everybody love a story? A story is mesmerizing. A personnever grows too old to listen to a story. No matter how old you are, you love to listen toa story. What do we do when we put children to sleep? We tell them a story, and this iswhat children love. All of us are children in this regard, and we love stories. Allah issaying, We are going to give you the best of stories. It is called a qisah because weare walking the walk. When we hear the story it is as if we are following their footsteps.Allah is saying, We will give you the best of stories.

If you read any book of how to speak and how to give an effective talk, there is always achapter dedicated to the story. In one of the latest books that I read, it says to alwaysbegin a lecture with a personal anecdote or personal story. Why? Because it grabs theattention of the audience. It is human nature that stories are attractive. Stories aresomething that you like to listen to. Also, the lessons in stories are manifested. If Iopen up Riyadh Al-Saliheen and tell you the benefits of patience, mashaAllah it is good,but now I get to the story of the mother of Anas and how she reacted when her sondied. Now those ahadith are brought home. It is not the same as saying, Whoever ispatient, mashaAllah he has good iman. When I show you a story, those stories remainwith you, and you are affected by them more, which is human nature. Allah azza wa

jallis telling us stories.

Another benefit of a story is that they are aqeedah (theology) in action. It is one thingto say that you put your trust in Allah, but when we hear the story of Ibrahim when he isgoing to be thrown into the fire and he puts his trust in Allah, it is theology shown inaction. Aqeedah is manifested.

Another benefit of the story is that it is the reality of what has happened in the past. It isa real thing and not theory anymore. We know this happened to the previous prophets,


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and so we sense it more. Another benefit is that stories teach us that Allahs Sunnah isrepetitive and what has happened in the past will happen again. What is the purpose ofa fable or story we tell our children? There is always a moral to the story. There isalways a lesson to be learned. The lessons of Allah and these rules of Allah arepermanent. When we hear these stories, the rules are reinforced. One of the

fundamental rules of the story of Yusuf is that righteousness will win in the end, and evilcan never succeed in the long run. This is one of the main themes of Surah Yusuf.

We are going to come to this. When we read the story, we see this manifested and inreal life; therefore, this maxim is then implanted in us that righteousness will win out inthe end, and that is why Allah says in the Quran: We will send you down stories tostrengthen your resolve. It is not childish to find motivation in stories, but it is part ofour iman. Reading the stories of the prophets and reading the seerah of the Prophet(sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) is one of the greatest ways to increase iman. Reading thestories of the sahabah brings about a sense of taqwa and iman and courage in us.Stories are a part of the Quran and Sunnah and part of human nature. This whole

surah is a story.

We will be narrating to you the best of all stories. This has two meanings to it. First,every single Quranic story is the best of its kind. This is for many reasons:

1. They are all true and not legends or fables. A true story is always better than animaginary story.

2. They have the best morals. No other story will give you those types of morals.3. The eloquent manners of presenting these stories. There is no story that can be

more eloquent than the Quranic one.4. Every story that a man writes will have details and information that is not needed,

and it distracts from the story and the moral. Allah azza wa jall will tell you

exactly what you need to know and not more or less. This is one of the biggestdifferences between the story of Yusuf in the Quran and the story of Yusuf in theOld Testament. The Old Testament gives so many details that you get lost. Thestory of Yusuf [in the Qur'an] even a ten year old can read cover to cover and willunderstand everything. The details are not there that will cause you to becomelost.

Every story in the Quran is the best. A second meaning that has been derived is thefact that Allah has mentioned this verse in Surah Yusuf is an indication that Surah Yusufis the best of all stories. There are two meanings that we derive: 1) Quranic storiesare better than all other non-Quranic stories, and the Quran re-emphasizes this; it ispretty obvious. 2) The story of Yusuf is the best of all of these stories. This is whyAllah begins the surah with nahnu naqussu alayka ahsanal-qasas. We are the Oneswho will tell you the best of all qasasbimaa awhaynaa ilayka

Bimaa means because / through this revelation We have given you the Quran. Inother words, because We are revealing the Quran to you, it is Our duty to tell you thebest of all stories even though before the Quran came down you were from theghaafileen. Ghaafilmeans you did not have knowledge. Ghaflah means to not have


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knowledge, and sometimes that ghaflah is intentional, and sometimes it isunintentional. In this case, it is unintentional. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam)did not have access to knowledge. Allah calls the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam)ghaafil because he didnt have the knowledge, not because he did not study butbecause he could not have studied. Allah is saying, Because We have revealed this

Quran to you, it is Our duty to give you the best of stories.

Notice: Allah calls the Book Quran, and in the previous verse, He called it kitab. Kitaband Quran are complementary. The kitab is written, and Quran is recited, and the twoput together form the reality of our Book. Allah mentions both in the beginning of thissurah.

We have revealed to you the best of all stories because of Our relation to the Quraneven though before the Quran came down you were from the ghaafileen. This showsus a number of points, and with this inshaAllah we will conclude:

1. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) despite being the greatest humanbeing before the wahycame down did not know these details. What does thatshow? This is a very profound point for modern philosophers and scientists. TheQuran is the ultimate source for all of our guidance. We will never know ultimatetruth from falsehood and good from evil without the Quran. The modernphilosophy is that if you sit in a cave and meditate Im being a bit sarcastic here

and if you use your intellect, you will be able to derive all of the wisdoms youneed to know. You will be able to figure out what is right and wrong and what isthe best way to govern and what is the best way to judge and what the bestruling is.

The Quran tells us that even before the Quran came down, the Prophet (sal Allahu

alayhi wa sallam) despite being the best of human beings was ghaafil. If ourRasool(sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) could not have known all of these truths before the Qurancame down, do you think that me or you or someone else would ever know therealities? Allah says in the Quran: You didnt choose to know what was iman, whatwas the Book. Allah says in the Quran, Wa wa jadaka daalan fahada (You were noton the path.) [Surah Dhuha: 7]

The meaning ofdaalhere is not misguided; the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam)was never misguided. Daalmeans, you werent on the path. You can be misguidedor just not have a path, and in the case of the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam), hedid not have a path yet. This was the state of the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam)before the wahy (revelation) came down, so what then is the state of other than theRasool without wahy? There is no guidance without the Quran, and this is afundamental belief of all Muslims. This is why the Quran is a hidayah and siraatal-mustaqeem and kitab al-mubeen and kitab al-hakeem. You will never be able toachieve ultimate truth without the Quran. Allah says, Even though before the comingof the revelation, you were from the ghafileen.


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2. Allah is saying, You didnt know these surahs before I revealed them to you, andyou were ghaafilabout them, so how did you know about them? We mentionedthis before. How did he living in Makkah without access to any library andwithout any Old or New Testament and without access to Jews and Christiansknow about the story of Yusuf? There is only one source and that is Allah

(subhanahu wataala). This is of the greatest miracles that we as Muslims manytimes neglect and do not appreciate. Our Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam)was living in an environment of complete illiteracy and complete ignorance.There were no libraries, and there were no universities and there were noscholars. The people in Makkah were bedouins. Imagine: in our times with theinternet and cell phones, it is difficult to imagine.

For those of you older than fifteen or twenty remember the time before cell phones imagine in that era coming across a tribe in Brazil or in the jungles of Africa, which arecompletely cut off from civilization, and they have amongst them a man who is talkingabout the histories of Rome and Persia and the stories of the Old and New Testament,

and he is in the complete middle of the jungle, and the people cant even read andwrite. They are literally backward tribesmen, lets say, but they have a man amongstthem who knows all of these things.

Isnt this something we cant imagine? It is a miracle of miracles. This was the case ofour Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) in Makkah. He came forth with stories,issues, and statements that people had no access to. The only access could have beenfrom Allah, and this is one of the clear signs that the Quran is indeed from Allah.

Documents

Introduction to Surah Yusuf