[The following is the video and transcript of Shaykh Yasir Qadhi's lecture "The Etiquette of Dealing with Parents and the Elderly" at the United for Change "Our Families: Our Foundation" conference in Montreal.  The transcript includes slight modifications for the sake of readability and clarity.]

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Al-salāmu 'alaykum wa raḥmatullāhi wa barakātuh

In Sūrat'l-Kāhf in the famous story of Khidr ('alayhi'l-salām) and his encounter with Mūsa – a story that all of you have heard and read numerous times – Khidr meets three people, and each time he meets one of them, he does something very strange.  One of the three people that he meets is a young man.  What does Khidr do when he sees this young man walking along the beach, as the riwāyāt tell us?  He kills him.  Mūsa ('alayhi'l-salām) cannot believe what he is seeing.  “Have you killed an innocent soul?  How could you have done this?  How could you have taken the life of another human being?”

Khidr of course, as you know, is doing this as a commandment from Allāh and a waḥy from Allāh.  He says to Mūsa, “I told you [that] you can't be patient with me.”   At the end of the story, what do we find out?  “As for this person that I killed, their parents were good people, and Allāh knew that if we caused this young man to grow older and mature, he would have caused much grief and hardship to his parents, so Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) wanted to take this one away and substitute with another one who will be merciful to them.”

This story tells us much, but one of the things it tells us is that one of the most painful experiences of human existence and one of the most emotionally traumatic situations that any person can find himself or herself in is to find a son or daughter who is displeasing to them and to raise a child with love and mercy and tenderness and to have this child grow up and flourish in front of their eyes, and to spend one's entire livelihood, one's savings, one's life and time and efforts on this young son or daughter and then to find this son or daughter turns around and goes against them.  This son or daughter treats them in a harsh or rude manner.  This human being, because of whom they felt motivated to live – a child motivates a parent to live – and this human being because of whom they changed their whole life plans and worked hard and struggled; someone whom they expected nothing but mercy and tenderness in response to – instead, when this child turns against the parent and treats them with contempt and arrogance, ridicule, sarcasm, the emotional trauma and distress that a parent feels is more profound than anything else.  That is why, as a mercy to righteous parents, Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) actually decided to take this ghulām away because if he were allowed to live, he would have caused distress and grief.

This is something one needs to think about.  Parents would be less distressed at the death of their child and at the nonexistence of this boy that they raised than they would if he were allowed to remain and allowed to flourish and yet he would cause them grief and harm.  This really shows us how much a parent loves a child and how important it is that the children treat their parents with that love and respect that is due to them.

Brothers and sisters, I am sure that each one of you has heard many khuṭbahs, many durūs, many Islamic lectures about the rights that parents have and about the rights that children have to do when they treat their parents.  How can you not have heard such lectures when the Qurʾān treats the rights of parents second only to Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla).  I am sure that the verses and aḥadīth have been memorized by you.  Wallāhi, they need to be memorized and they need to be understood.  Yet, Allāh still reminds us in the Qurʾān, “Remind them even if they have heard before.  Mention it again because mentioning it again and reminding them benefits the believers.”

Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) emphasizes the rights of the parents using the strongest nouns, strongest verbs, and strongest adjectives.  He always emphasizes the rights of the parents after He emphasizes His own rights.  “Your Lord has decreed…”  This is the decree of Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) and this is the eternal decree upon which there is no other decree that will supersede it.  “…that you shall worship none except Him and that you should treat your parents with iḥsān.”

What does iḥsān mean?  Iḥsān comes from ḥusn, and ḥusn means perfection. The state of iḥsān as defined by Al-Rāghib Al-Asbahani and many of the famous commentators of the Arabic language means that you give everything you possibly can to the other party without expecting anything back from them.  This is what the state of iḥsān is.  You give everything you can – your heart and your soul, your body and your efforts – and what do you want in return?  Absolutely nothing.  That is the state of iḥsān (perfection).  You are giving and it is a one way street.  There is nothing in return that you want back.  Why?  Because my parents have already given me far more than I can ever pay back.  My parents have already done for me much more than I can possibly do for them.  Now it is my time to try to not even repay the favor because that is never going to happen, but at least do my duty as a loyal son.

In another famous verse, Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) says, “We took a covenant with the children of Israel that they worship none except God and they treat their parents with iḥsān.” In yet another verse, Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) tells us that when your parents reach an elderly age, don't even say uff to them.  Scholars of the Arabic language tell us uff is an expression or phrase that actually doesn't have a verbal meaning.  There is no noun that it is based off of.  It is simply a sound that is uttered like when you are hurt and say “ouch.”  It is not a noun, and it is not a verb; it is simply a sound.  Uff is the slightest expression of contempt.  The Arabic scholars tell us the slightest expression of irritation and anger is uff.  When you are irritated, the slightest thing you can say is uff.  Allāh is saying, “Don't say uff to them.”  Ibn 'Abbās said, “Had there been a word lesser than uff, Allāh would have used it in this verse.”  Had there been a word lesser than uff to describe a state of exasperation or frustration, Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) would have used it here.

The meaning here is that when your parents reach that age when you have to now take care of them, they will do things that will irritate you.  They will treat you in ways that you will find troublesome.  Why?  Because you are not a child anymore; you are an adult, but for your parents, you are always going to be a child as we all know.  No matter how old you are – 40, 50, 60 – in your their eyes, and they have every right to do this, you are always their little baby.  They are going to command you and tell you this and that, and you being māshā'Allāh 30 or 40 or 50 or however old you are, think that khalās you are in charge.  It is very easy to lose track of the fact that when your parents are their, you are always going to be their little baby.  Allāh says, “Don't say uff to them.”

The beauty of the Qurʾān here is that Allāh does not command you with more than you can bear.  Notice Allāh doesn't say don't get angry and Allāh doesn't say don't get frustrated and Allāh doesn't say don't get emotional because that is inside the heart.  What Allāh does say is don't express that emotion externally; control it, trap it, and make sure it is not manifest to your parents.  This is the beauty of our religion.  Anybody who is dealing with elderly parents knows this first hand.  It is very difficult to take care of elderly parents.  It is very frustrating.  Allāh didn't tell you to not get frustrated.  Allāh said, “Don't express that frustration.  Don't let it manifest.  Don't let anything come that will show your parents you are frustrated.  Trap it; keep it within you.”  Outwardly, show them the respect that they deserved, even if it has to be forced.

Likewise, in the beautiful story of Luqmān ('alayhi'l-salām) when he is giving advice to his son.  “When Luqmān said to his son, 'Don't commit shirk with Allāh.  Verily shirk is the worst of all sins.”  Then Allāh said, “We are the ones who told mankind to treat his parents with kindness, iḥsān, and gentleness.”  The next verses: “Luqmān said,…Luqmān said,…Luqmān said…”  What I am trying to emphasize here is that there is a passage one page long in Sūrah Luqmān.  Every single verse begins with, “Luqmān said to his son, 'Ya bunayy…'”  There is only one verse in which Allāh speaks directly.  “We are the ones who told mankind to take care of their parents.”  It is not Luqmān telling his son, “O my son, take care of us.”  In only one of these verses Allāh removed the voice of Luqmān and spoke in His own voice.  Scholars say this is to emphasize that Luqmān when he is preaching to his son to be righteous is not doing it out of his own selfish motivation.  He is not doing it based on “I am your father, treat me like this.”  Rather, Allāh took this obligation from him and Allāh spoke on behalf of him, and Allāh said, “This is Our Commandment.  We are the ones who commanded mankind to treat their parents with gentleness and mercy.”

The Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) in numerous aḥadīth elaborated on this concept of treating parents with mercy and tenderness.  We can go on and on about this fact.  Once it is narrated he (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) entered Jannah and he heard somebody reciting the Qurʾān in a beautiful voice.  He asked Jibrīl, “Who is this person?”  He was told, “This is al-Ḥaritha b. Nu'man [a famous companion of the anṣār].”   The Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said, “This is what birr does to a man.  al-Ḥaritha used to be good and righteous to his mother.”  He hears Ḥaritha reading Qurʾān in Jannah, and automatically he links it to only one action: this is what righteous does; he used to be good to his mother.

You all know the story of Uways al-Qarni, and if not, we will summarize it briefly.  Uways al-Qarni was not a companion; he was a tabi'i.  He never met the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam).  The Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) told 'Umar b. Al-Khaṭṭāb, “There will come to you a man from Yemen,” and he described him in detail.  He said, “His name is Uways from the tribe of Qarn.  When he comes to you, then ask him to make du'ā' for you.”  He is asking 'Umar to ask this man he has never seen to make du'ā' for him.  Why?  He was righteous to his mother.  'Umar b. Al-Khaṭṭāb, being who he is, is told to go to this man because he was righteous to his mother.  Some books of history mention a story – Allāh knows how authentic it is, but it is mentioned in our classical sources – that Uways al-Qarni was the only son, and his father had passed away.  He was taking care of his mother in a very dutiful manner.  He asks and begs permission to go to Madīnah and meet the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam).  His mother grudgingly allows him to go but says, “You know that I need you; therefore, I only give you a day or two in Madīnah.  As soon as you get there, meet the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) and come back.”  It is said that Uways traveled from Yemen all the way to Madīnah, and when he got there, lo and behold, the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) was away on an expedition and wasn't in Madīnah.

Now he was stuck between two options.  The first was to wait a week or two and wait for the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) to return.  He has traveled from Yemen, which is already a month's journey.  If he did, he would be raised in status eternally from a tabi'i to a ṣaḥābah.  The second option was to listen to his mother.  What did he choose to do?  He chose to obey his mother and give up this voluntary status.  Being a ṣaḥābi is a privilege but it is not wājib.  Listening to your mother is wājib.  According to this riwāyah, Uways al-Qarni stayed a day or two, as much as his mother had allowed him, and then he rode his mount all the way back to Yemen.  He voluntarily and willingly gave up that status in order to please his mother.

It is no surprise, therefore, that the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said what he said to 'Umar b. Al-Khaṭṭāb that “When Uways al-Qarni comes to you, ask him to make du'ā' to Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) because this is a man who used to treat his mother with righteousness and birr.”  SubḥānAllāh, this shows us that if we really want our du'ā's to be accepted, then let us treat our parents with the dignity and respect that they deserve.  If we want Allāh to bless us and if we want the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) to know who we are – Uways al-Qarni and the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) never met, but Allāh's waḥy came down and Jibrīl told him who Uways al-Qarni was.  How magnificent of a status did this man have that Jibrīl comes down to inform our Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) about this beautiful human being whose only good that we know of was he was somebody who treated his mother with birr.  That is why the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) never ceased to remind us to take care of our parents with the utmost gentleness and kindness.

In one ḥadīth, he said, “The largest door to Jannah and the middle door to Jannah that any person has are that of his parents.”  His parents are the easiest way that a person can enter Jannah.  If you treat your parents with the love and respect that they deserve, the easiest way to enter Jannah will be through that door.

In yet another ḥadīth, the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said, “The pleasure of Allāh is in the pleasure of the parents, and the anger of Allāh is in the anger of the parents.”  If your parents are happy with you, then even if you have other sins and other major problems, inshā'Allāh ta'āla this is a source of expiation and kaffārah for you.  Once a man came to Ibn 'Abbās and said, “O Ibn 'Abbās, I have done this and I have done that.  I have fornicated and I have drunk wine.”  He basically did every sin in the book.  “What can I do to make up for this?”  Ibn 'Abbās said, “Are your parents alive?”  He said, “My mother is alive.”  Ibn 'Abbās said, “Go and serve her because wallāhi, I know of no good deed that cleanses a man of all of his sins than servicing his parents.”

Another motif of the Sunnah, which is in at least four or five aḥadīth, we learn that even struggling in the way of Allāh and even participating in a legitimate jihād.  These days, the word “jihād” makes me a little scared.  We call it the “J-word” and are not supposed to say the word “jihād.”  The fact of the matter is, we need to overcome this trepidation and this hesitation, and we need to say very clearly that jihād is a concept of our religion and it is mentioned in the Qurʾān in hundreds of verses and in the ḥadīth dozens of times.  It is mentioned in a noble manner, and there is nothing wrong with the concept of jihād.  What is wrong is how certain Muslims have misunderstood it.  The concept of jihād remains a noble striving for the sake of Allāh.  Jihād means you strive for the sake of Allāh.  It does not mean you go and kill innocent people.  It doesn't mean you go and bomb civilians.  It doesn't mean you misinterpret your religion of Islam and do that which damages your own people more than it damages others.  The concept of jihād is a noble one.  We should not be ashamed and we should not be shy from using this word.

We need to reclaim the word with dignity and honor as we explain to others and non-Muslims the reality of this word.  What those people are doing is not jihād.  There are aspects of jihād and a concept of jihād that is a part of our tradition.

I want to talk about this motif that is mentioned in more than one ḥadīth which is helping your parents is better than doing a legitimate jihād.  This is really relevant, especially in our times when we are facing a little bit of a crisis of certain youngsters, undereducated and overzealous, who think that they will revive the glory of Islam by doing acts of ridiculousness, militancy and violence and they go overseas and participate in military expeditions in Somalia and Iraq and Afghanistan and bring about the days of Salahuddin Al-Ayubi.  For these youngsters amongst us who have been deluded by certain clerics and are being brainwashed, I say in all sincerity to them:  open up the Qurʾān and Sunnah and read some basic āyāt and aḥadīth.

A man comes to the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) and says, “Ya Rasūlullāh, I have come here to go and fight for the sake of Allāh and do jihād for the sake of Allāh, so what do you advise me?  Where should I go?”  The Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said, “Is your mother alive?”  He said, “Yes.”  He said, “Go and stick with her because Jannah is under her feet.”  He wants to go for jihād, and this is a legitimate jihād – not the illegitimate type that we find in our times of killing innocent people and bombing airplanes and doing things of utter and sheer stupidity which is unIslamic and downright evil and foolish.

This man says, “I've come to do jihād.”  What does the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) say?  “Is your mother alive?  Go struggle in taking care of her and struggle in maintaining the ties of kinship and ties of loyalty that your mother deserves.”

In another tradition narrated in the Musnad of Imam Aḥmad, a man comes to the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) and says, “O Messenger of Allāh, I have come from a far away land [in some versions he says Yemen], and I have immigrated to Madīnah in order to be with you and do jihād behind you, and I have even left my parents crying in order to be with you.”  This is the first time he is seeing the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam).  He is trying to boast to the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) that he has done so much for the sake of jihād that he even left his mother and father crying.  The Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said, “Go back to them and make them laugh just like you made them cry.”  You want to do jihād?  What a joke!  You have left your parents angry at you, what kind of Muslim are you?  You want to go do jihād and your parents are crying?  You want the pleasure of Allāh by angering your parents?  You want to please Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) by displeasing your parents?  “Go back to them right now and make them laugh as you had made them cry.”

This is the real jihād, brothers and sisters.  This is what we need to tell our young, overzealous, undereducated youth.  Wallāhi it is easy to log onto a few chat forums and talk some grandiose, ultra-romanticized, utopic talks about how you are going to do this and that, but it is very difficult to listen to your mother and father.  It is very difficult to be a good son and daughter.  Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) tells us very clearly that is the real jihād.

What can we do with our parents?   In other words, what does Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) require from us?  To summarize very briefly, if one's parents are alive a number of things can be done.  First and foremost, financial rights and obligations.  No doubt, parents have financial rights over us.

Secondly, physically helping and serving them.  Taking care of their needs, giving them food and water, making food for them.  Instead of your mother going to the kitchen to get a glass of water, wallāhi this is your duty.  If you see your mother stand up to do something, you should stand up and do it for her.  The Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said to the ṣaḥābi, “Go and stick to her feet…”  This is an Arabic expression and means to go and lower yourself to her and humble yourself to her.  You are literally and metaphorically a servant.  “Go and stick to her feet because Jannah is under her feet.”

Thirdly, respecting them, controlling your anger in front of them, and never showing your irritation.  Next time you feel irritated against your parents, remind yourself of the verse of Allāh:  “Don't say uff.”  Ask Allāh to help you in preventing to say that uff even if you feel it and even if you feel the anger and frustration, close it.  Withdraw and withhold that sentiment from being expressed.

Lastly, showing your love to them.  Going above and beyond the call of duty.  This is what Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) says:  “Lower unto them your wings of mercy.”

If your parents have passed away, one or both of them, then no doubt this is a great loss and a very traumatic experience.  Once it is narrated that the father of the famous companion al-Ḥarith al-Aqli passed away, and he was uncontrollably crying.  The ṣaḥābah around him consoled him and said, “Inshā'Allāh he is in Jannah and inshā'Allāh Allāh has forgiven him.”  He said to them, “Do you think that I am crying because he has passed on?  Wallāhi I am sad that he has passed on, but that is not why I am crying.  I am crying because my main door to Jannah has now been taken away from me.  This is how I wanted to get to Jannah.”

The father of another ṣaḥābi died and he said, “For one year after he died, every time I raised my hands I could not think of any du'ā' except for him.  All I could think of was to make du'ā' for him.”

After a parent dies and moves on to the next life, still a lot can be done.  First and foremost, as the ṣaḥābi said, seek forgiveness for them and ask Allāh to forgive them and raise their ranks for them.  Make du'ā' for them.  Secondly, make sure that their wishes, requests, and wills were fulfilled.  Make sure that anything they wanted done is executed on their behalf.  Thirdly, give ṣadaqah.  Give money and say, “O Allāh, reward my mother for this ten, twenty, thirty dollars.”  Give regularly – every week, every month.  Give something on their behalf and say, “O Allāh, give this reward to my mother and father.”  Sacrifice an animal, mentioning Allāh's Name and giving it to the poor and saying, “O Allāh, reward my mother for feeding the poor.”

Also, make Ḥajj and 'Umrah for them.  Making Ḥajj and 'Umrah is one of the greatest and most noble acts that you can do as a son or a daughter as long as you have done Ḥajj and 'Umrah.  When you put on ihram, “Labbayk on behalf of my mother” or “Labbayk on behalf of my father.”  Then, each and every penny, minute and toil and circumstance that you face, Allāh will reward your mother, and you will be rewarded as a righteous son for doing this for your mother.

Also, the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said one of the ways we can show respect to the parents and to fulfill their rights after they have moved on is – and this is something hardly anybody does – meet the friends and relatives of our parents who we would not have met otherwise.  In other words, our parents have their circle of friends, and because they were alive, we would also go to those friends and distant relatives.  When they have moved on, we have no reason to communicate with them.  We have nothing much in common.  The only thing we have in common is our parents.  The Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said, “A part of being a good son and a good daughter is that after your parents have moved on, go to those relatives and family members and acquaintances and friends for the sake of your parents.”

Some scholars have derived the wisdom behind this, and they say one of the wisdoms is that when you go to these people, and of course they will be of a different age and generation than you, you don't have much in common except one thing:  your mother, your father.  What will the topic of discussion be?  Your mother or your father.  What do you think will happen when this person reminds you of how they interacted and what your mother did?  How will you feel after that?  You will feel so much love and tenderness and want to go home and give ṣadaqah on her behalf and make du'ā' for her.  That love will be rejuvenated and revived.  Therefore, by visiting the friends and relatives of our deceased parents, the love of our parents is once again rekindled within us.  This is one of the wisdoms some of the scholars derived from this particular legacy of the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam).

Let me conclude by quoting a very interesting and beautiful tradition that is reported from the famous companion Ibn 'Abbās (raḍyAllāhu 'anha).  It is narrated that once a man was doing ṭawāf around the Ka'bah and had his mother on his back.  He saw Ibn 'Abbās in the distance, so he came running over to him and said, “O Ibn 'Abbās, this elderly lady on my back is my mother.  She has been asking to come for Ḥajj for as long as I can remember.  She has always wanted to go for Ḥajj, and I could not afford to buy an animal to bring her, so this year I decided to carry her on my back and do Ḥajj with her on my back.  Have I now fulfilled the rights of a son to his mother?”  Ibn 'Abbās smiled and he said, “You have done good, but you have not even done a fraction of what you should.”  In other words: “Alḥamdulillāh, you are a good son, but don't come and tell me 'Have I fulfilled the rights of my mother?'”

The man said, “O Ibn 'Abbās, I have come from the city of so-and-so [me mentioned a far-away city] carrying my mother on my back, and you are telling me I haven't done even a fraction?”  Ibn 'Abbās said one thing, and wallāhi this shows their understanding of human psychology and human nature.  The ṣaḥābah are at a different level than us completely.  Ibn Abbās said, “You haven't done a fraction of what your mother did to you because when your mother took care of you and did everything that she did for you, her goal was to give you life.  She did it out of love and to see you flourish.  She did it genuinely for your own nourishment and flourishing.  Now when you are paying her back, you are doing it as a duty and burden.  You are doing it out of a sense of guilt and duty, and you are waiting for the day that she dies.  You are not wanting to see her flourish and live.  You are simply doing it as a dutiful son.  You don't have the same genuine, selfless love that your parents had for you when they did what they did.”

Simply one psychological statement:  your parents did for you everything to see you live and flourish.  When you become old and they are now the ones being taken care of, you are not doing it in the same philosophy.  You are doing it as a burden and to pay back.  How can you compare the two?  One is selfless love and the other a sense of gratitude and duty.  How can you possibly compare?

Brothers and sisters, parents are the best blessing that Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) has given us after īmān.  Parents are the largest door to Jannah and the easiest way to get to Jannah.  In the famous ḥadīth of the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam), and with this ḥadīth we will conclude, as he is climbing the steps of the minbar in front of hundreds of thousands of ṣaḥābah and each time he climbs, he says, “Amīn! Amīn! Amīn!”  Then he turns around and says, “I will explain to you why I said, 'Amīn.'  Jibrīl came to me and he told me three things.  Every time he told me one thing, he said, 'Say, “Amīn,”' so I said, 'Amīn.'  The last one that he said was, 'O Muḥammad (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam), any person of your ummah who manages to catch a parent [in other words: whose parents live to old age] and they still are not capable of having their sins forgiven and entering Jannah [in other words, if Allāh blesses you with an elderly parent and you still cannot earn Allāh's Pleasure] then may that person perish.”

In other words, if you have elderly parents and you are not able to earn Allāh's Pleasure through them, you will not earn it through any other means.  “Say 'Amīn,' ya Rasūlullāh.”  So the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said, “Amīn.”

Brothers and sisters, simple point.  Bottom line.  If your parents are alive, the only way to be a pleasing servant to Allāh and the only way to be a good Muslim is to have your parents love you.  If your parents are angry with you or if your parents are not happy with you and you are not trying to change that situation, it doesn't matter what you do in the Eyes of Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla).  The parents have ultimate priority in this world.

May Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) allow us to be righteous servants.  May Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) allow us to be dutiful and loving sons and daughters.  May He give us the patience and the īmān and the tawfīq to take care of our parents the way that they deserve and the way that Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) has commanded from us.  May He allow us to live as Muslims, to die as Muslims, and to be resurrected as Muslims.

This lecture is brought to you by the Memphis Islamic Center (MIC). For more information about MIC, please visit www.memphisislamiccenter.org

[The following is the video and transcript of part 15 (the conclusion) of Shaykh Yasir Qadhi's lecture series "The Best of Stories: Pearls from Surah Yusuf."  The transcript includes slight modifications for the sake of readability and clarity.]

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 
Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15

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Alḥamdulillāh, we thank Allāh 'azza wa jall who has allowed us the opportunity to study this entire sūrah beginning to end in 15 sessions.  As I promised you in our last lesson, in one of the last verses of the sūrah, it is as if Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) is saying, “Now you have read it once and benefitted from it at a basic level.”  I just recited for you “āyātu li'l-sā'ilīn.”  You have lessons for those who are curious and want to ask.  In the end, Allāh says, “In this sūrah, there is 'ibrah li'uli'l-bāb.”  There are profound wisdoms to learn for those of intellect and contemplation.  It is as if at the beginning Allāh is saying, “Read this sūrah at a cursory level.  Understand it at a basic level.”  Once we get to the end, Allāh is saying, “Now think about it.  Ponder over it and you will find much wisdom to learn and benefit from.”  We will obey the commandment of Allāh 'azza wa jall and take a swift relook at the entire sūrah in a holistic manner.  We will try to derive some of the overall benefits.

I am not going to quote you verse by verse.  We have already done that.  We are just going to quickly go over, and I have compiled around 50 to 60 of such benefits from the beginning of the sūrah until the end.  We are going to go over them one by one.

Of the benefits of the sūrah is that the believer is concerned for his or her family and his or her children.  The believer looks out for the welfare of one's children and offspring and tries one's best to protect them at a physical and at a spiritual level.  When Yūsuf told his dream to his father Ya'qūb, immediately Ya'qūb wants to protect Yūsuf.  Instead of jumping for joy, and instead of saying, “what a proud father you have made me,” he is protecting him.  He wants the best for his dīn and his dunya.  A sign of īmān (faith) is to want the best and to want a nurturing environment for your family.

Of the blessings and wisdoms of this sūrah is that dreams are a constant motif of this entire sūrah.  The sūrah begins with a dream and that is the dream of Yūsuf.  The sūrah has a dream in the middle and that is the dream of the two prisoners who saw themselves being killed and saw the birds eating from his head and the dream of the king.  Dreams are a constant theme in this sūrah.  Of the blessings we derive is that true dreams are from Allāh.  True dreams are a blessing that Allāh gives.  The interpretation of dreams is a science that only Allāh can teach you.  We learned this from this sūrah and went over it many, many times.

Of the wisdoms of this sūrah is that the wise and intelligent person does not flaunt his or her blessings.  The wise and intelligent person does not show off worldly or spiritual blessings because showing off is not only egotistical and a lack of humility, but also it causes dangers and harms and problems.  That is why when Yūsuf had the dream, his father said, “Don't tell your brothers.  Don't show off.  They might get jealous of you.”  The wise person does not boast of his blessings, rather he hides them to the greatest extent possible.  These blessings are both religious and worldly blessings.  You don't flaunt the good that Allāh has given you, or else you will suffer the consequences in this world and perhaps even in the next.

Of the wisdoms we derive from this sūrah is that Shayṭān is every eager to cause problems between believers, especially between family members.  This was a successful plot of Shayṭān that he caused the brothers of Yūsuf to hate Yūsuf so much that they even intended at one point in time to kill him.  Of the benefits we learn is that Shayṭān is ever eager to cause problems.  He always wants to cause disunity amongst the ummah, especially amongst family members.  SubḥānAllāh, it is so true that every single family has its own issues and problems even though they are blood and even though they are family.  Every single family has problems either with the siblings, uncles, or aunts.  It is human nature, but Shayṭān makes it worse.  This story shows us this.

Of the wisdoms of this sūrah is that a good household produces good offspring.  Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) mentions at the beginning of the sūrah: “This is how He will perfect His favors upon you as He perfected it upon your forefathers before you, Ibrāhīm and Isḥāq.”  I.e. because there was Ibrāhīm there was Ishaq and because there was Isḥāq there was Ya'qūb and because of Ya'qūb there was Yūsuf.  A house of piety will produce children of piety.  When one parent and one generation strives to be righteous, then the general rule is that the piety is transferred down to the next generation.  This is shown by the verse in the Qurʾān where Allāh says, “This is how We will perfect your favors as We perfected the favors upon your forefathers before you.”

Of the wisdoms of this sūrah that we learn is the importance of being fair, equitable, and just to all people.  In this particular case, Ya'qūb with his children.  We are told in our religion that we are not allowed to prefer one child over another and we cannot give a gift to a child and leave another.  We cannot show any outward favoritism.  Ya'qūb tried his best to be fair, but he couldn't control one thing and that is his emotions.  His children sensed his emotions, but his children could not complain that he spends more time with Yūsuf or that he gave Yūsuf a present that he hasn't given to them.  All they could say was that he loves Yūsuf, and love is an emotion of the heart, and you are not held accountable for emotions of the heart.  We learn to be equitable and just to people from this issue here.

Of the wisdoms we learn from this sūrah is that jealousy drives a person insane.  Jealousy is one of the most destructive emotions known to man.  Jealousy makes a person who is otherwise rational become irrational.  People will do things out of jealousy that you will not believe they could have done.  Here we have young adults plotting and planning to murder their brother who is only 7-8 years old.  Jealousy has caused such enragement and such anger.  Our Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) warned us, “I warn you from jealousy.  I caution you from being jealous because jealousy destroys your good deeds like a fire eats up wood.”  Jealousy is destructive in any form.  That is why we should seek refuge in Allāh from jealousy and try to solve jealousy as soon as it exists.  We also seek Allāh's refuge from the effects of jealousy:  min sharri ḥāsidin idha ḥasad.  This is of the blessings we learn from this sūrah.

Of the wisdoms we learn from this sūrah is repentance before committing the sin is not a true repentance.  If you commit a sin and say, “Oh, I know I'm guilty.  May Allāh forgive me,” that is not a true repentance.  Before they committed a crime, the brothers of Yūsuf said, “We'll do the crime and then God will forgive.  We are going to make up for it.  We are going to be righteous after it.”  Their repentance was not accepted at that point in time.  It was accepted at the end of the sūrah when they genuinely come and say, “Oh our father, forgive us.  We were sinners.”  Inna kunna khāṭi'īn.  In the beginning of the sūrah, Allāh glosses over it.  This is not repentance; this is a joke.  You are going to murder your brother and then say, “May God forgive us, we are going to be good after that.”  A true repentance has to have the intention not to return to the sin.  If you have the intention that you are going to commit the sin, then this is not a true repentance.  A true repentance has to have the niyyah (intention) that this is the last time you are committing the sin.  As we mentioned before, if it so happens that you do return to the sin, it doesn't nullify your repentance.  The point is that you should have a sincere attempt to not return to the sin.  If you do return, you do another repentance.  And if you return again, then you repent again.  The point is that Allāh does not look at the quantity of sins.  Allāh looks at the quality of repentance.  It is not the number of times you have committed the sin but the quality of the repentance every single time you commit the sin.

Of the benefits we learn from the sūrah is that giving an excuse to someone whom you don't trust may backfire on you.  In other words, handing over excuses to somebody who has some evil or some disposition to harm you might actually come back to haunt you.  Ya'qūb was the one who gave them the excuse they needed to cover up their capture of Yūsuf and abduction of Yūsuf.  Ya'qūb was the one who said, “I am worried that wolf will eat him.”  He said this to try to get away from the real issue, which is: “I don't want to send my son with you.”  He used a secondary tactic, and what happened?  It backfired because they used that very tactic.  When they came back in the evening, they said, “A wolf ate your son.”  These are kids, and they wouldn't have been able to think of an excuse.  They are young men, maybe 18 or 19, and they would not have been able to think of a legitimate excuse of what happened to their brother.  Ya'qūb unknowingly and unwittingly gave it to them.  This shows us that one needs to think a little bit more before speaking in this regard.  We learn from this mistake that Ya'qūb fell into.

Of the wisdoms of this sūrah is that the believer's firāsa is true.  Firāsa means intuition and a gut instinct.  We believe that a gut instinct is something Allāh sometimes blesses you with.  It is not something you can use in a court of law.  You cannot consider someone guilty in a court of law because you feel that way.  The more righteous you are, the more your moral compass and gut instinct will be rightly guided.  This instinct in Arabic is called firāsa.  The Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said, “Beware of the firāsa of the believer because the firāsa of the believer is always true.”  Where is the benefit here?  When the children came back to Ya'qūb and said, “Oh, sorry, your son has been eaten by the wolf,” Ya'qūb knew something was wrong.  There was no solid evidence, but his heart is telling him, “My kids are up to no good, and something is wrong.  Yūsuf is alive, and they've done something wrong.”  He doesn't have any evidence, but he still charges them with a crime.  “I don't know what you've done, but you have done something wrong.”  The firāsa or inner instinct of the believer is true.  When can you use this?  You cannot use this to charge anybody with a crime and cannot use it in a court of law.  If somebody comes and wants to have a business transaction with you and outwardly he looks like a trustworthy person, but inside you feel that something doesn't feel right, you are not obligated to engage in a business transaction or in a marriage proposal.  If somebody comes and proposes for your son or daughter and you don't feel about it, it is not a court of law that you have to explain why.  If something doesn't feel right and if this is from Allāh 'azza wa jall, then there is a reality to it.  As we said, the closer you are to Allāh, the more true your intuition is going to be.  This is a blessing of being close to Allāh that your intuition will then be rightly guided.

Of the wisdoms and blessings of this sūrah is the permissibility of using secondary evidence.  We mentioned this on more than one occasion.  The first time this comes up is when Ya'qūb is being told that his son has been killed by a wolf, but he sees the shirt untorn.  He sees the shirt that has been bloodied but with no tear in it.  This is a secondary evidence.  In our Sharī'ah, you are allowed to use secondary evidence and are allowed to take into account external factors even if there are no two witnesses and no direct evidence.  We use our common sense and compile the facts and look at the evidences and then place a verdict.

Of the wisdoms of this sūrah is that no matter how evil the crime, you should always advise the criminal to fear Allāh first.  Before you get to your own concerns with him, the first thing you should do is advise him to fear Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) and to remind him of the gravity of the sin.  The first thing that Ya'qūb does is say, “You have committed an offense.  Your souls have misguided you.  Qāla bal sawwalat lakum anfusukum amra.  Your souls have led you to destruction.  Before we get to what you have done to me, let me remind you that you have a God who is watching you.  Let me remind you that there is something between you and Allāh 'azza wa jall.”  Unfortunately a lot of times we jump this step and if somebody does you wrong, you immediately defend your rights and say, “How could you have done that to me?”  The reality is that you begin with the rights of Allāh.  Don't you realize that you have done a sin and are accountable to Allāh?  And then you are also accountable to having taken my money or backbitten or whatever the crime is that has been done.  Begin by reminding them of Allāh 'azza wa jall.

Of the benefits that we learn from this sūrah is that patience is of different types.  In the lecture that we gave, we clarified that Islamically patience can be of three types.  The first type is patience during a calamity.  This means that we don't say things that should not be said.  We don't say, “O Allāh, why are you doing this to me?  O Allāh, I don't deserve this; I haven't done anything wrong.”  We don't accuse Allāh of being unjust.  We withhold and restrain our tongues and say only that which is right.  We are patient in times of a calamity.

The second type of patience is patience in restraining yourself from committing sins.  We don't commit sins.  We have the capacity to commit sins but withhold ourselves from committing sins.  The third type is to persevere in the worship of Allāh.  To pray regularly.  To remember Allāh regularly.  When it comes to the lowest category of patience in an adversity or patience in a calamity, even this is of levels and types.  The best type of patience is ṣabrun jamīl because Allāh praises Ya'qūb for having ṣabrun jamīl.  What is ṣabrun jamīl?  Ṣabrun jamīl is the beautiful patience.  What is the beautiful patience?  What is the pinnacle of patience when you are suffering?  What can you do?  We learn it from Ya'qūb.  You don't seek the pity and the sympathy from the rest of humanity.  You seek Allāh's blessings only.  You don't go and want people's shoulders to cry on.  There is nothing wrong with that and there is nothing wrong with feeling human, but the perfection of faith and the perfection of trust in Allāh means that you turn only to Allāh and you don't complain to the people.  You don't say, “Woe is me!  Why is this happening to me?”  You expect your reward from Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) and you don't try to get the sympathy from other people because at the end of the day, their sympathy is not going to lift your calamity.  Their pity will only bring about a type of humiliation in your own personal life.  Do you really want people to pity you?  Does that make you feel like a better person?  No!  It should not make you feel like a better person.  You do not want the people to pity you.  You want Allāh's Mercy to shower upon you.

Again, I clarify, there is nothing wrong with getting the pity of people, but there is no question that this is not the pinnacle of faith in Allāh.  The pinnacle of faith is bearing every calamity with a type of fortitude and a type of patience – ṣabrun jamīl.  This is the height of patience that you don't complain to other people.  You only address your grievances directly to Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla).

Of the blessings that we learn from this sūrah and of the morals that we learn from this sūrah is that we learn that if you protect your faith and chastity in your youth and young life, Allāh will protect you in your old life.  This means that the young man or woman who has a strong relationship with Allāh rarely does such a person lose that faith later on in life.  When you protect Allāh in your youth, Allāh will protect you in your elder age.  When you protect the commandments of Allāh as a young man, Allāh will protect you as an older person.  We see this in the story of Yūsuf ('alayhi'l-salām) always having that connection with Allāh.  We learn it in the ḥadīth of the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) when he says that one of the seven people whom Allāh will shelter on the Day of Judgment is a young person (man or woman) who grew up immersed in the worship of Allāh.  If you can worship Allāh in your childhood, and by childhood we mean teens and twenties.  Shāb means young – child is not the correct word.  In your teens and your twenties, and some scholars have said even up until your early thirties you are still a shāb.  When you are religious in this phase of your life, and we know from personal experience that if you are religious when you are in your twenties, you hardly ever come across a person who leaves religion when they are 50 or 60.  We come across this in the story of Yūsuf ('alayhi'l-salām) as well.

Of the lessons and morals that we learn from this sūrah is the dangers of interacting with the opposite gender when there is temptation.  The owner of Yūsuf was attracted to Yūsuf, and they are alone for long periods of time, and this is fueling her desire more.  That is why our Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said that a man and a woman should not be alone when nobody else can see them unless they are relatives or married.  They should not be alone and should not be in an area where these things can happen because it is human nature.  Men and women are naturally attracted to this feeling, and our religion teaches us to channel it to that which is permissible.

Of the lessons that we learn is that Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) saves the righteous when they most need him.  No matter how difficult the situation will be, if you turn to Allāh,  Allāh 'azza wa jall will help you.  We learn this from the situation of Yūsuf being the young man and being the slave and being tempted by a woman of beauty and being tempted by his own owner, not just a stranger.  She has power over him and no one can see them.  We told you all of the stories of how she locked the door and prepared herself and did everything.  Typically, it would be almost impossible – dare I say without faith in Allāh it would be impossible – for any other man to have said no, but Yūsuf turned to Allāh.  Yūsuf invoked Allāh and said, “O Allāh, I need You to divert their plot away from me.  Wa illa taṣrif 'anni kaydahunn.  Unless You help me, I will be of those who commit a sin.”  This blessing here is that Allāh saves the righteous when they most need Him.  No matter how difficult the situation is, Allāh 'azza wa jall will save you.

Of the blessings here is that without Allāh saving you, you are not going to be saved.  These are two blessings that go hand in hand.  In other words, the only factor that can possibly help you overcome many of the passions of the soul, many of the passions of the body, many of the diseases of the heart and soul is to turn to Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) because Allāh says in the Qurʾān: “kadhālika linaṣrif 'anhu'l-sū' wa'l-faḥshā'.  This is how We averted evil and lewdness from him.”  How?  Yūsuf turned to Allāh.  Yūsuf turns to Allāh, and Allāh says, “Because he turned to Me, I turned to him.”  What this shows, brothers and sisters, is that there is no disease that you have and no passion that you might have and no lust or desire that might plague your heart except that if you are sincere in leaving that lust and desire for the sake of Allāh, Allāh will give you protection against it.  The problem is not in Allāh giving you the protection.  The problem is in your sincerity and my sincerity.  Are you really sincere in your desire to give up this sin?  If you are, you will turn to Allāh sincerely.  If you turn to Allāh sincerely, Allāh says, “I will turn to you and I will protect you.”  This is what Yūsuf did.  In a situation the likes of which, as I said, it is humanly impossible to imagine otherwise, yet Allāh saved him in the middle of this fortress and in the middle of these locked doors.  Allāh 'azza wa jall answered his plea and call and saved him.  Why?  Because he made du'ā' to Allāh:  “O Allāh, I need You now.  Unless You protect me, no one will protect me.”  When he begged and pleaded with Allāh from the heart, Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) responded back and said, “This is how We averted evil from him.”  Any time you are afflicted with a habitual sin, realize that if you truly want to give that sin up, nothing can stop you because Allāh is going to be on your side.  The question is, do you really want to give it up?  That is where the problem comes and we talked about that when we discussed those verses.

Of the morals and benefits that we learn from this sūrah are the evils of gossip, slander, and backbiting.  We mentioned that the believer does not talk about issues that are of no concern to him.  People are gossiping about so-and-so and this is human society, but the believer rises above this, and the believer does not allow his tongue to mention that which is of no concern to them.  The Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said, “Of the perfection of one's faith is that he leaves that which does not concern him.”  We see what happens when the women of the town begin gossiping about Yūsuf.  We see how the situation becomes complicated when the wife of 'Aziz feels so much pain because of her ego.  Of the wisdoms is that we learn the dangers of the ego and the dangers of the self and the dangers of caring so much about what other people know and view you to be.  The true believer is only concerned about how Allāh views him.  If Allāh 'azza wa jall views him in a positive manner, then who cares how the rest of the world views you.  Conversely, if the whole world views you in a positive light but you have not established your credentials in front of Allāh, of what use will their positive attitude be towards you?  That is why the true believer understands that praise and criticism from people will not affect him.  It is the pleasure of Allāh that will affect him unlike the wife of 'Aziz whose whole concern was her reputation and ego.  Because of that, she did an even more dastardly deed and a deed that really showed she lacked complete hayā' and modesty.  She lacks it because he is openly boasting about what she has done and is enticing Yūsuf in front of the other ladies.  This shows us the evils of gossip and the evils of being concerned with one's ego and one's prestige.

Of the wisdoms we learn from Sūrah Yūsuf is that we should appreciate the blessings that have been deprived from us just as we appreciate the blessings that we have been given.  What do I mean by this?  Realize that for many of us, certain blessings will become curses because we don't know how to handle them.  Certain blessings will become trials and tribulations because we are too weak.  If we truly believe that Allāh loves us, then we will have faith that Allāh will give us that which is beneficial for us.  Imagine if one of us had even a fraction of the beauty of Yūsuf.  Could we have withstood even a fraction of what he withstood?  Imagine if one of us was blessed with a fraction of the wealth of Qārūn or of the 'izzah of Abu Lahab in his town of Makkah and the Quraysh.  Imagine if we had that which many of us are jealous of others when they have it, and we are greedy about it and we are salivating and want that power and money.  Calm down and think.  If Allāh had given it to you, perhaps it would lead you to your destruction.  That is exactly what the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said.  He said, “Sometimes I give money to people even though I see others are needy of it because I am worried that if I give him that money, it will lead him to the fire of hell.  It will be too much for him, and he will do things that he should not do.”  The believer puts his trust and faith in Allāh.  O Allāh, you know me best, and You know what I should have deserved and gotten and what I shouldn't have.  I know that whatever I don't have, there is a wisdom that You know why I don't have it, and I put my trust in You.  We learn this from the story of Yūsuf.  Imagine if you had this beauty.  Who amongst us could have withstood those temptations.

Of the simple theological wisdoms we learn, and this is a wisdom that all of humanity knows, is that angels are beautiful creatures.  That is why when the women saw Yūsuf ('alayhi'l-salām), they thought he is an angel.  That is why every society considers angels to be beautiful.  In the Western society, they consider them to be innocent babies.  We of course don't imagine angels and cannot imagine them, but angels are created in the most beautiful fashion.  Any religion that believes in angels ascribes beauty to the angels.

Of the blessings and wisdoms we learn from this sūrah is that inner beauty also plays a role along with outer beauty.  Inner beauty is good virtues, good manners, chastity, living a good and wholesome life.  When Yūsuf refused the seduction of the wife of 'Aziz and then she invited the other ladies and said that he is not doing it and he is still refusing, they became even more eager for him.  Why?  Because his inner beauty of piety appealed to them despite the fact that they lacked piety.  Allāh created human nature to admire perfection and beauty.  Deep down inside no matter how people live their lifestyles, they know certain things are wrong and immoral.  It is engrained inside of us.  Living a chaste and virtuous life is something that everybody knows is a good life.  These women want to commit a crime, but when they see that Yūsuf does not want to commit the crime, it makes Yūsuf even more attractive.  Why?  Because it is inner beauty of holiness, of chastity.  This shows us that even in a society that doesn't believe in God – remember that the people of Egypt were pagans and not worshippers of the true God – but they know what is right and wrong.  They know that casual intimacy and sex is not something that is encouraged and permissible, so when Yūsuf says, “No, I don't want to do that,” automatically it adds more beauty to his outer beauty.  This shows us Allāh has created humanity.  They didn't have a book and they didn't have a Sharī'ah, but they still knew what is right and wrong.  How and why?  Morality is engrained in human beings.  Certain things are engrained in us, and this is one of them.

Of the benefits that we learn from this sūrah is that a believer must call out to Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) to help and overcome any sin.  Once again, Yūsuf is saying, “Unless You help me overcome it and fortify me against the seduction, I will never be able to withstand this temptation.”  When you are in a state of temptation and attracted to a sin, we learn from the story of Yūsuf that when you are thinking of the sin, you should start thinking of Allāh.  A lot of people have this concept that if they are thinking of evil, then they will do the evil and not think of Allāh because they think it is not the right time to think of Allāh.  Allāh says, “She desired him and he desired her.”  We explained that there is nothing strange about this.  He is a normal man and a young man and has come of age.  Just like every man, he has the same thing on his mind.  He desired her, and during this state of desire, what did he do?  He made du'ā' to Allāh.  There is a clash going on inside Yūsuf between the forces of good and the forces of evil.  It is an excellent clash to happen because you don't want to ignore the forces of good and let the forces of evil win over and not think of Allāh right now.  No – he is battling his desire for this temptation, and during this battle, he turns to Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla).  You must turn to Allāh when thoughts of evil come to you.  It is the only way to protect yourself.  You must turn to Allāh when you are flirting with evil.  There is no other way to protect you.

Of the benefits we learn from this sūrah is that actions precede words when it comes to calling people to Islam.  This is one of the fundamental mistakes we make here in America.  We think that all we have to do is preach to the people and tell them about our religion.  The fact of the matter is that we have not established our social credentials and have not shown them who we are.  We haven't explained to them about charity and taking care of the poor and the status of the orphan.  We haven't demonstrated that we are morally responsible for the weak and the elderly and for the dispossessed.  This is our religion.  Look at Yūsuf ('alayhi'l-salām) and what he does in jail and throughout the entire story.  He always establishes his moral character, mercy, tenderness, iḥsān.  What did the criminals say in the prison?  Inna narāka min al-muḥsinīn.  He hasn't even opened his mouth to preach, but within a few days, the prison is abuzz that this is a good guy.  Once that is established, then the opportunity presents itself and then Yūsuf starts preaching the message.  A lot of times we do the exact opposite and begin preaching when we haven't shown the mercy and tenderness of our religion.

Of the wisdoms we learn from this sūrah is that you need to speak to people at a time and place they are comfortable with.  When the two prisoners come to Yūsuf for the question, what does Yūsuf say?  The first thing he says is, “Okay, I have heard your question, and I will respond before food is delivered.”  They must have had a time when the food comes and they know that time. Yūsuf is saying, “Before the food comes, I will answer your question.  Listen to me for a bit.”  He prepares them mentally for listening to the da'wah.  This is another issue where I think a lot of us fall into errors.  Personally, I don't believe in knocking door to door to preach about Islam.  I'm not saying that should never be done.  Perhaps in some scenarios it is good, but would you like people to come to your door?  Prepare the environment properly.  This is what Yūsuf did.  They come to him with the question of interpreting the dream, and Yūsuf understands, “Now I have your attention for a few minutes, so let me use this opportunity.  Give me five minutes.”  He then preaches Islam to them.  This shows us that if you do want to tell people about your religion, make sure that the time and the place is appropriate.  Don't try to shove the religion down their throats.  Don't try to be in your face.  This is a very beautiful point that we learn from Yūsuf ('alayhi'l-salām).

Of the wisdoms that we learn from the story is that when we do call to Islam, we should call to tawḥīd and monotheism.  This is the gist of our religion:  la ilāha illa Allāh.  The entire two paragraphs that Yūsuf is talking about with the prisoners is all about: who is my Lord?  What do I do?  We spent a whole lecture on the one paragraph where he explained Islam and how beautiful that paragraph was.  It combined the three types of tawḥīd and combined the three pillars of our religion.  I say over and over again, brothers and sisters, what sets our religion apart from other religions is our simplistic creed in our Lord.  It is so simple:  there is one perfect God; worship Him alone.  This is our religion, and we need to keep on hammering this point instead of going on to different tangents.  What really makes our religion so precious to us?  The shahādah.  la ilāha illa Allāh Muḥammadan rasūlullāh.  This is what Yūsuf ('alayhi'l-salām) preached to the people, and that is what you continue to tell to the people who do not know your faith.  It is a very simple religion.  There is One, All-Perfect God and you continue to worship Him as long as you live.

Of the benefits that we get from this sūrah is the necessity to use the means to get to the goals.  What does this mean?  Yūsuf wanted to be free.  Yūsuf wanted to get out of jail.  He didn't just sit down and say, “Allāh will free me when He desires.”  He did what he could.  What could he do?  A person was going to be freed and next to the king, so Yūsuf tells him, “Mention my case to your lord.”  There is nothing wrong with that at all.  He wants to be freed, and he realized that in order to be free, there has to be a court case and hearing and judge looking into it.  He goes through the process.  Why do I say this?  Because, once again, a lot of Muslims have this weird concept of trusting Allāh which for them means that you sit back and do nothing.  That is not trusting Allāh but that is acting foolishly.  Trusting Allāh means he realizes that Allāh can free him, but he has to walk through the path and get to the means.  In our case, it would be fighting in the courts and hiring a lawyer.  In our case, it would be if you are sick then go to the doctor and go to the hospital and get your treatment done.  Tawakkul doesn't just mean that you sit at home and expect Allāh to take care of you.  It means that your heart is attached to Allāh, but you walk the path to get to the goal.  The point is that Allāh created the goal, and let's that it is to be freed.  Allāh also created the path to get to the goal, and that is fighting in the court and going to the lawyers, etc.  You realize that both the path and the goal will come from Allāh, and you need to walk the path to reach the goal while your heart is attached to Allāh.

Of the benefits of the sūrah is that hastiness does not bring about good.  Patience brings about that which is best.  The fruits of patience are always going to be sweet.  The messenger comes to Yūsuf, and he has been in jail at least seven years in conditions that only Allāh knows.  At least in our times the jails are much more humane and clean and there are no rats running around.  Can you imagine the jails of those time?  How filthy and how despicable.  This is a prophet of Allāh, a noble man.  He has been put in a place where we would not even want our worst enemy to be put in.  No doubt that back then these are inhumane conditions.  This is a prophet of Allāh subjugated to such filth and lack of 'izzah.  Now somebody comes knocking on the door and says, “The king wants you.”  What did the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) say?  “May Allāh have mercy on Yūsuf.  Had I been in that jail as long as he had been, I would have rushed to the door.  I would have demanded that the king release me before I interpret the dream.”  Even our Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) is saying, “Wow, māshā'Allāh.”  Yūsuf acted patiently and resisted hastiness.  Our Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said, “Hastiness is from the devil.  Patience and to act with contemplation is from Allāh.”  By doing things in a long-term manner patiently, he sends the messenger back.  Realize that it is going to take a few days now.  “Go back to your lord and tell him to find out the story of those women.  I didn't do anything, and I want my name cleared.”  What happens?  Had he not done this, the king would have given him money and let him go, but by proving his innocence, the king says, “I trust you, O Yūsuf, what can I do for you?”  He makes him a minister instantaneously.  He takes him from the filth of the jail and makes him the most powerful person in the entire country, which is the minister of finance.  Why?  Because he acted long-term and without haste and putting his trust in Allāh and acting patiently.

Of the wisdoms of the sūrah is that you will not succeed until you have failed, and you will not rise until you have been debased and humiliated.  You don't expect life to be a bed of roses.  We talked about the sine wave.  This is a prophet of Allāh born in the household of a prophet – what a high point – and then thrown in the well to die, a low point.  He was sold into slavery.  SubḥānAllāh.   He gets to a palace and they treat him nicely – a high point.  Thrown into jail – what a low point.  Then what happens?  He becomes the minister.  Up, down, up, down.  The whole story is like that.  Why?  You are not going to succeed until you have shown Allāh that you can deal with failure.  You have to continue moving.  Allāh is not going to bless you when you haven't deserved or earned that blessing or at least shown Allāh that you are worthy of that blessing.  You need to go through the well and the prison in order to get to the palace and the ministry.  You need to go through the well and the prison in order to be blessed with the blessings of this world.  Realize the next time you are in a struggle and the next time you are in a down point in your life, that is your well and that is your prison.  If you turn to Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla), inshā'Allāh the metaphorical palace is right around the corner.  You have to go through this to get to the heights in life.  If you put your trust in Allāh 'azza wa jall, you will see the fruits just like Yūsuf did.

Of the wisdoms we learn from this sūrah is the perfection of being generous with one's guests.  This is something that our religion prides itself on.   Honestly, I have to say, no matter what the problems are of the ummah and no matter how much fitnah, fasād, fāḥishah and corruption exist in the ummah, the one thing alḥamdulillāh we can be proud of throughout the Muslim world is that we are known for our generosity, and anybody who has traveled Muslim lands and gone and visited any country will testify and witness that Muslims are hospitable and generous to their guests.  They give their own food to their guests before they will eat.  This is something alḥamdulillāh we have learned from the prophet Ibrāhīm.  The Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said, “The prophet Ibrāhīm was the first person to begin the tradition of honoring guests.”  Before the prophet Ibrāhīm, guests were not honored.  When the three angels came, the prophet Ibrāhīm ('alayhi'l-salām) bought a fat, juicy calf and cooked it for them and gave it to them.  The Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) told us the first person to begin the tradition of being hospitable was our father the prophet Ibrāhīm ('alayhi'l-salām).  It remained in our religion, and we see when the brothers came to Yūsuf, he sends them back to their own father and said, “Wasn't I the best of all hosts?”  He opens their heart by being a good host.  SubḥānAllāh, brothers and sisters, alḥamdulillāh as I said this is alive in the ummah, and we should make sure it never goes away.  When somebody comes visiting you and when somebody comes from out of town, it is a part of religion and our Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said, – and wallāhi, think about it and why a prophet would say this ḥadīth unless it was so important – “Whoever truly believes in Allāh and the hereafter, let him honor his guest.”  What a beautiful religion this is.  If you believe in Allāh, honor your guests.  Give him your food, and show him the dignity and respect that you would want to be shown.  Alḥamdulillāh, as I said, this is one thing we can say is still alive in the ummah – Arab, Pakistani, Bengali, wherever you are, alḥamdulillāh we treat our guests well.  We learn this from the story of Yūsuf as well when Yūsuf says, “Wasn't I the best host to you?  When you go back, tell your father what a great host I was.”

Of the wisdoms that we learn from the story of Yūsuf is the permissibility of using ḥalāl tricks to get to ḥalāl goals.  In our religion, we don't believe that the ends justify the means.  However, we do believe in ḥalāl tricks if the goal is ḥalāl.  What is a ḥalāl trick?  A ḥalāl trick is something where you are not taking the rights of anybody else and are not lying and not stealing, but you do something that might not be the standard in order to get to a ḥalāl or permissible conclusion. What was the standard or conclusion?  Yūsuf wanted to keep Binyamin in the country, but there was no law of the land that would allow him to keep Binyamin, so what did he do?  Allāh told him of a ḥalāl trick.  The goal was ḥalāl:  he wants to protect his brother, and there is nothing ḥarām in that.  If the goal is ḥarām, it doesn't matter how you get there, it is ḥarām.  If the means is ḥarām, then even if the goal is ḥalāl you will be sinful.  In our religion we do not ever believe that the ends justify the means.  That is a Machiavellian concept.  We don't believe that in our religion.  In our religion, if it is ḥarām to do it, even if the net result is good it is ḥarām.  That is why we don't believe, for example, that you can give ḥarām money to build a masjid.  If you have ḥarām money from interest or any type of activity that is ḥarām, you are not allowed to give it to the masjid, and it is ḥarām to give it.  Allāh will not accept it.  Do you think that the people will accept it from you?  Some people ask if they do have that money, what should they do.  Give it to building other facilities around the masjid but not the actual masjid itself.  The musallah has a special fiqh and ruling.  The buildings around the musallah and parking lots have other rulings.  If you have surplus money from interest, we know interest is not allowed, and you want to get rid of it, you can give it to secondary causes but don't expect reward from Allāh.  Overall, from this we learn that it is permissible to have a ḥalāl trick to get to a ḥalāl goal.

Of the benefits and wisdoms, in America we have certain groups who say that it is not allowed for us to participate in the American electoral process and it is ḥarām to vote.  We have all heard of such groups saying we should not vote and should not participate in the system around us.  Yet Yūsuf ('alayhi'l-salām) participates in the system of the king in order to get to the conclusion of keeping his brother.  Allāh says in the Qurʾān:  “He could not have kept his brother according to the laws of the king” unless Allāh worked this trick out for him.  He worked with the system in the system to keep his brother.  Therefore, in this land we are in the middle of the two extremes and say that alḥamdulillāh we have full legal (Sharri') permissibility to fight for our rights in the court system and take advantage as long as what we are asking for is permissible.  We are not allowed to use the system against our religion.  We cannot go and get something from a person that the Sharī'ah would not have allowed us.  Unfortunately some people do this.  The Sharī'ah would allow you to take x amount and you know that the court will give you double that amount, and some people are willing to go to the court to get double the amount, and this is something that is obviously not good as well.  They are misusing the system.  Alḥamdulillāh, there is no problem to use it for a legitimate means.

Of the wisdoms that we learn from this sūrah is that the believer is always cautious.  The believer is not naïve and is not a fool.  When the brothers come to Ya'qūb and say, “Hand over Binyamin.  We are going to take him as well.”  Ya'qūb is not a fool and says, “Do you think I am going to hand him over just like I handed his brother over?”  The believer acts cautiously.  Our Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said in a beautiful parable, “The believer is never stung from the same hole twice.”  This is a parable now in Arabic, but our Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) was the first to say it.  The believer is not naïve but is a man of wisdom and understands that if a problem has come from one area, most likely it will come again.  When the brothers come and say, “Hand over Binyamin,” he says, “I'm not going to do that.”  What happens?

We get to the next wisdom.  Generosity and good manners is the best way to get to someone's heart.  How did Yūsuf win over his father's heart when he didn't know he was Yūsuf?  By returning the goods to the brothers and handing them back the merchandise.  When they came back, the father said, “No way I'm going to give you Binyamin.”  They open up the bag and find all of the money returned.  They can now have an excuse against their father and they say, “O our father, look at this.  Do you really think we would want to cause harm now?  This man has treated us nicely and has been hospitable and look at how generous he has been.”  Being kind, hospitable and generous will work miracles.  Ya'qūb would never have given up his son unless Yūsuf (and he did not know it was his son) had demonstrated his gentleness and kindness.  If you want to get to somebody's heart, good manners will win and not harshness and miserliness.

Of the benefits of this sūrah is wisdom in planning.  Yūsuf ('alayhi'l-salām) has planted the cup in the sack of his brother, and now he wants to open up those sacks.  He begins with the sacks of the older brothers and works his way to the younger one.  This shows us the believer, once again, is not naïve.  He knows that if he were to go straight to the sack of Binyamin, people are going to say, “Wait, hold on a second.  How did you know it was in that sack?  He is planning things through and has foresight.  These days we have a whole science called management.  Yūsuf demonstrates that and thinks things through.  In our times, the chess player thinks ten steps ahead.  Yūsuf is thinking.  This is a sign of īmān.  The mu'min is not foolish.  The mu'min is a wise person.  Yūsuf ('alayhi'l-salām) demonstrates this.

Of the wisdoms that we learn from this sūrah is that even evil people have streaks of good in them.  Even the worst sinner can eventually repent if he turns over.  This is learned from the brothers of Yūsuf.  To me, this is one of the most fascinating lessons of this story:  where the brothers of Yūsuf began the story and where they end the story.  They began by plotting to murder their younger brother.  As I said, how many amongst us have done such a dastardly deed?  Alḥamdulillāh, I hope nobody is that bad amongst us.  Yet they ended up like the stars.  Even an evil person has good in them.  We see this right now in the part of the story when the brothers realize that Binyamin is not going to come back, they feel so guilty.  The eldest one says, “I am going to stay here.  I am going to impose an exile on myself because we made a mistake in Yūsuf and now we made another mistake.  We are in big trouble.  I want my father to know that I know I committed a crime and I know I am guilty.”  This shows that there are elements of good.  This shows us that even if there is somebody who at one point in their lives wanted to murder their younger brother, it doesn't mean that they are going to be pure evil.  There is a beautiful saying attributed to 'Alī b. Abī Ṭālib – it is not a ḥadīth – that is that:  “Hate your enemy with a little less hatred (I other words, don't be full of hate even towards your enemy.  Lessen the hate against your enemy.)  One day it is going to be very likely that he is going to be your friend.”  Hate your enemy with a little bit less hatred.  In other words, calm down, don't be full of hate.  One day this very enemy might be a good friend of yours.  Allāh says in the Qurʾān:  “Repel evil with good and you shall see the one who was your worst enemy becomes a bosom friend.”  It is a very common thing.

Of the wisdoms and benefits of this sūrah is it is a sign of īmān to always think the best of Allāh 'azza wa jall and to have the best thoughts of Allāh and to never lose hope.  At least thirty or forty years have gone by and Ya'qūb has gone blind in his grief, but his faith in Allāh only increases and never goes down.  To the very end when all three sons are missing and he has gone blind, what does he tell his children?  “O my children, go find Yūsuf.  You will find him.  And never give up hope of Allāh's Mercy.”  He is the one demonstrating this.  Never give up hope of Allāh's Mercy.  The only people who can do that are the qawm'l-kafirūn.

Of the wisdoms that we learn is that complaining to Allāh is actually a sign of īmān if it is done properly, and complaining to the people is not a sign of īmān.  Ya'qūb says, “I complain of my situation to Allāh.”  When the most difficult situation in his life ever happened, which was Ṭā'if by his own testimony – 'Ā'ishah said, “Was there any day worse than Uḥud?”  He said, “Yes, there was the day of Ṭā'if.”  What was the du'ā' of Ṭā'if?  “O Allāh, to You I complain…” What does shakwa mean in this sense?  Many of us when we think of complaining, we think of “Why is this happening?  I don't deserve this.”  That is not what we are talking about.  The complaint here is a complaint that is done to elicit Allāh's sympathy and mercy.  This is what the complaint means.  “O Allāh, You see the situation I am in.  O Allāh, this is a distressing situation.”  This is complaining.  A factual description.  Not: “O Allāh, why is this happening to me?”  The believer never speaks in such a manner.

Of the wisdoms that we learn from this sūrah is that the believer always ascribes good to Allāh and evil to the Shayṭān.  Notice in the end of the sūrah Yūsuf ('alayhi'l-salām) says, “How generous my Lord has been when He saved me from the prison and caused you to leave the bedouin lifestyle and come into the city.”  At the end of the sūrah, Yūsuf says, “Allāh has granted us His blessings.”  All blessings are described to Allāh.  A problem happens:  “it was Shayṭān who caused problems between my brothers and I.”  All good was ascribed to Allāh.  Evil does not come from Allāh.  We ascribe good to Allāh.  We don't ascribe evil to Allāh.  This is the proper way to phrase it.  We ascribe evil to other than Allāh 'azza wa jall, and of course primarily the source of this type of evil comes from the Shayṭān.

Of the wisdoms that we learn from this sūrah is that it is a sign of perfection of one's īmān to not hurt the feelings of other believers.  Yūsuf exemplifies this in a manner that is unbelievable.  He bends over backwards to never mention the crime.  In the very last page, when he talks about the blessings of Allāh, he never mentions the well or the slavery because those were caused by the brothers.  When he said, “From now on there shall be no blame on you,” he lived up to his word.  No blame was put.  Therefore, he went out of his way to make sure that his brothers' feelings were not hurt.  This is of the perfection of īmān.  Innuendos, hinting, double meanings, and derogatory snide remarks are not the way of the believer.  To do so goes against perfection of one's īmān.

Of the wisdoms we learn is to forgive when you have power is the height of excellence; therefore, how much more so should you forgive when you don't have power? You have to forgive.  To forgive when you have power is what Yūsuf did.  He was the king's right hand man and controlled the country.  The brothers came to him realizing they made a mistake, and Yūsuf forgives despite his power.  Our Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) was told through this sūrah: “A day will come when your own brethren are going to come to you and you must say the same thing.”  That is exactly what he did standing on the doors of the Ka'bah.  He stood on the doors of the Ka'bah, and the people of the Quraysh were around him, and he said, “What do you think I should do to you?  What do you think you deserve?”  They were petrified.  They deserved death and they knew it.  They deserved execution because of what they had done for the last twenty-three years.  Now they come trembling and scared.  “You are the son of a noble brother and one of us.  Remember us.”  They didn't remember him back in the day, but now they come.  What did the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) say?  He said exactly what Yūsuf said, and he never once mentioned the faults of the Quraysh after this, just like Yūsuf.  He never once brings up the past that has happened.  Khalās, everything and everyone are forgiven, including those who have personally tried to assassinate him.  Everyone was forgiven down to the last man just like Yūsuf ('alayhi'l-salām) did, and no sins and crimes were mentioned after that.  If this is the case when you have power, then how much more so for me and you when somebody does us wrong.  Shouldn't we also then say, “May Allāh forgive them”?  Forgive in your hearts.

Of the blessings that we learn from this sūrah is that asking people's forgiveness for wrongs that you have done and publicly announcing your public sins is a part of īmān.  The general rule is that your sins are private.  If you have made a public mistake, then you need to issue a public apology.  The brothers made a public mistake and harmed their father.  They come in public and say, “ya abbāna-staghfirlana dhunūbana inna kunna khāṭi'īn.”  A public mistake requires a public apology.  A mistake that is done to a person requires that you seek forgiveness from that person.  This is not a private sin between you and Allāh 'azza wa jall.

Of the blessings of this sūrah is that our religion tells us to treat our parents with honor and respect.  We know this for a fact.  Yūsuf demonstrates this many times.  When they enter Egypt, Yūsuf goes out to meet them, and he makes a du'ā' for them.  He puts them on the throne.  Physical, mental, spiritual exaltation.  No human being is more worthy of your veneration other than your parents.  In terms of natural love and dedication, there is no second to them.  Yūsuf demonstrates this over and over again.

Of the wisdoms and blessings of this sūrah is that Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) can always bring about reconciliation between two people who are fighting and enemies of one another.  The brothers of Yūsuf and Yūsuf.  Imagine how much hatred much have existed in the brothers' of Yūsuf hearts, and imagine how much pain in Yūsuf's heart.  Yet, in the end, what happens?  All is forgotten and forgiven.  Allāh says in the Qurʾān regarding the mushrikūn who had accepted Islam (i.e. regarding the muhājirūn and the anṣār):  “If you had given this entire world to try to make them friends and bring reconciliation, they would never have become friends.  Allāh has brought about that friendship and reconciliation.”  Anybody you have some problem with and are distressed with, realize that it is only a matter of time inshā'Allāh.  Turn to Allāh and make du'ā' to Allāh to bring about that reconciliation.  Make this du'ā' to Allāh:  “O Allāh, bring our hearts together.”  If Allāh can bring together the hearts of the brothers of Yūsuf and Yūsuf, then surely your enemies and my enemies and your problematic situations and scenarios whether within the family or outside of the family, surely Allāh can bring about a reconciliation as well.  This is of the benefits we learn from this sūrah.

Of the blessings we learn, is that what is important in the eyes of Allāh is the state that you die in.  The state that you die in dictates your place in the hereafter and not the state that you began in.  This is one of the biggest sources of optimism in the life of the believer.  It is never too late to change.  It is never too late to turn over a new leaf.  It is never too late to give up a lifestyle of evil and start a lifestyle of righteousness.  The brothers of Yūsuf are a primary example of this.  They began the story in one state and ended in another and that is what is important.  Another manifestation of this wisdom is the du'ā' of Yūsuf:  “Cause me to die in a state of Islam.”  What is important is your state at the time of death.

Of the blessings of this sūrah is the whole page conclusion is the miracle of the Qurʾān.  This is a powerful tool that we don't utilize to the extent that we should.  A powerful tool to talk about our religion is to talk about the Qurʾān.  Where did it come from, the style, the recitation, the beauty, the melody.  Everything about the Qurʾān is miraculous.  In the last two lessons we talked about the beauty of the Qurʾān.

We talked about the three levels of patience.  Notice that Yūsuf perfected all three levels.  The lowest level of patience is patience in the face of adversity.  Somebody dies, something happens, you lose your job – how do you react?  This is patience.  Yūsuf reacted with the utmost patience in all that happened:  in the well and the prison and in all that happened, he is reacting with patience.

Lecture by Yasir Qadhi | Transcribed by Sameera

This lecture is brought to you by the Memphis Islamic Center (MIC). For more information about MIC, please visit www.memphisislamiccenter.org

[The following is the audio and transcript of Shaykh Yasir Qadhi's lecture "Parents - My Biggest Door to Jannah." The transcript includes slight modifications for the sake of readability and clarity.]

We just finished Sūrat'l-Isrā', and I thought it would really not be appropriate to let this sūrah go by without talking about some of its salient verses, in particular those that talk about the rights of Allāh and the rights of the parents. Allāh says in the very famous verse: “wa-qaḍa rabbuka alla ta'budu illa iyyāhu wa bi'l-wālidayn iḥsāna (Your Lord has decreed…).”  Allāh didn't say, “I am decreeing this upon you” or “this is the ruling upon you.”  Allāh is speaking as if this is a done deal and there is no dispute.

“It has been decreed before you came onto this earth.”

It is not a subject of dispute, and there are no negotiations here.

What has He decreed?  “Alla ta'budu illa iyyāhu wa bi'l-wālidayn iḥsāna (that you worship Him alone and that you show iḥsān to your parents)”. As we know in the Qur'ān and the Sunnah, the rights of parents are second only to the rights of Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) and this is enough of an indication of how important and sacred the rights of the parents are.

There is no secondary right after the rights of Allāh other than towards the parents.  After Allāh, the parents immediately come.  This is the message throughout the Qur'ān.  Allāh 'azza wa jall even says, “wa bi'l-wālidayn.”  In other words, worship Allāh and be good to parents.  He didn't say 'and then be good.'  He said wow, which is ḥarf 'aṭf.  It is as if they are being equated even though we know that they are not equivalent.  Worshipping Allāh is more important than being good to parents, but Allāh made it so important that it is as if it is almost the same.

The very famous scholar of the Arabic language and on of the earliest linguists is Al-Raghib al-Asbahani (d. ~482A.H.).   Regarding the phrase 'wa bi'l-wālidayn iḥsāna' (that you should have iḥsān to your parents), he said the definition of iḥsān is that you give more than what is expected and you are content with getting less than what is required upon you.  The state of iḥsān is when you give more and are content with receiving less.  This is the highest verb in the Arabic language to show the proper treatment.

Allāh says 'imma yablughanna' (when either one or both of then reach kibar (old age) then do not say uff to them and do not rebuke them, rather speak generous / marvelous words to them).

A note on 'uff' here:  Uff in the Arabic language originally referred to the dirt that was collected under nails; it is an irritation and is disgusting.  It was then used to express the slightest level of contempt. Ibn ʿAbbās said that had there been a lesser word than uff that the Arabs knew, then Allāh would have used it here.  There is no word lesser than uff to show your irritation.  When do you say uff?  When you are frustrated and irritated – it is not an expression of anger but rather an indication of your own frustration.  Allāh says to not even say this to them.

Allāh then goes further than this.  “Do not rebuke them, and say to them the most generous (karīm) of words and lower over them the wings of mercy.”  This is a metaphorical language.  Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) is saying that just like the mother bird protects and shelters her infants with her wing from heat, cold, and enemies.  Notice that this is a parable with an implicit message.  Your parents did the same for you, and you should do the same for them.  It is the parents who lowered the wings of mercy on the infant, but in this verse, Allāh is saying to the children that they need to lower the wings of mercy on their parents.  There is reverse psychology here.  They did it for you, and now it is your turn to do it for them.  It is beautiful imagery here because, as we said, it is not the child who lowers the wing on the parents but the parent who does it to the child.  Allāh commands in this verse that the child do it to the parent – i.e. us to our parents.  Why?  To remind us that once upon a time it was the other way around.  Now it is your job to do that.

“And pray to Allāh: 'O Allāh have mercy on them, as they raised me when I was a child.'”

Concept of being good to parents is because of all that they have done for us

Most of us here are parents, and you know how much love a parent has for a child.  I have said this many times before that this love is a miracle from Allāh without which life on earth would cease to exist.  Muslim or non-Muslim, kāfir or mu'min, the love that comes from the heart of a parent is a miracle from Allāh.  This love is a type of love that is unparalleled in human existence.  No one loves you like your parents do – not your wife, not your husband, and not even your child.  The type of love that a parent has is a selfless love; they will give and give and give and expect nothing back in return.  If you think about, it is a miracle because look at how much time, effort, and frustration the kids bring, but still the parents continue to give and give.  If Allāh had not created this love in parents, then humanity would cease to exist because children do drive parents crazy.  Children are an incentive for us to go to work.  It is because of the children that we want to work overtime.

Allāh is saying:  “This love I created in your parents, and now you need to give it back to them.”  Allāh knows that the reverse love is not as pure as the love that came from top down.  The love we give back is not the same.  We all love our parents, but it is a love that you struggle with and remind yourself about.  You need to control your tongue.  Allāh has given us all of these incentives.

The Qur'ān and Sunnah are full of the rights of the parents

Our Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said, “The pleasure of Allāh is found in pleasing the parents, and the anger of Allāh is found in making the parents angry.” [Musnad of Imam Aḥmad].  The pleasure of Allāh is found in pleasing the parents and the anger of Allāh will be incurred in displeasing them.

In the famous ḥadīth, a man came to the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) and said, “O Messenger of Allāh, how do I enter Jannah?”  The Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said, “Is your mother alive?”  The man said, “Yes, she is alive.”  The Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said, “Find her feet and stick yourself [izlimhā] to them; there you will find Jannah.”  This is an expression in Arabic meaning to 'humble yourself to her service.'  This is where we get the common phrase that Jannah is underneath the feet of the mother.  The Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) didn't quite say that phrase but said a similar phrase of sticking yourself to her shin or her legs because Jannah will be around that area.  He gave this metaphor of lowering and humbling yourself to service your mother.

In a famous ḥadīth reported in Sunan Al-Nisā'i for this wording (it is also in Bukhāri):  A man came to the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) and said, “Ya Rasūlullāh, I have come all the way from Yemen to dedicate myself to you.  I have come to dedicate my life to whatever you want, and I want to do jihād fi sabīlillāh.  I even left my parents who are old and weak even though they need me and are crying out of their need.”  In other words, he is boasting that he left his parents crying to come to him to show his sincerity.  The Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said, “Do you really want the pleasure of Allāh?”  The man said, “Yes.”  The Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said, “Go back to them right now!  Make them laugh just as you caused them to cry.  That is how you will reach Jannah.”

Notice that this man became a ṣaḥābi by coming to Madinah because he met the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam).  He was so happy that he will dedicate his life to the service of Islam, but he said he left his parents crying, so the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said, “Is this your version of Islam?  Is this how you think you will enter Jannah?  By causing your parents to cry and coming to me?”  There is something more important than jihād fi sabīlillāh and that is giving the rights of the parents.  He said, “Go back to your parents and make them laugh just as you made them cry.”  This is the month of Ramadan, brothers and sisters, which is a month where we after the worship of Allāh, the second right that we need to do is remember the rights of the parents.

There is a very beautiful incident from the life of Ibn ʿAbbās (raḍyAllāhu 'anhu).  Ibn ʿAbbās was doing ṭawāf around the Ka'bah and there was a man doing ṭawāf carrying an elderly lady on his back.  When he recognized Ibn ʿAbbās, he came running to him and said, “O Ibn ʿAbbās, I have come from such-and-such a place (a faraway place in the area of Iraq) and this lady on my back is my mother.  She had the desire to come for Hajj for so many years, but we couldn't afford a camel or a horse, so I put her on my back and have come from that place in order to perform the Hajj.  Have I now fulfilled the rights of my mother on me?”  Ibn ʿAbbās smiled and said, “What you have done is good, but you haven't even fulfilled a fraction of what your mother did for you.”  The man said, “Ya Ibn ʿAbbās, I have come walking from that place with my mother on my back and you say that I haven't even done a fraction?”

Psychology that will make us shudder

Listen to what Ibn ʿAbbās said, showing he was a person who understands human nature.  He said, “You haven't done a fraction because when your mother took care of you, she did it out of genuine love wanting to see you flourish, grow, and live for a long time.  Now that you are doing it back, you are doing it as a burden and as a favor back to her waiting for her to die.  How can you compare the two?  How can you compare that attitude of love and compassion with your attitude of 'I will pay you back'?  You have done good, but you haven't done a fraction of what she did for you.”

This is the reality of the rights of our parents, brothers and sisters.

In a final ḥadīth:  A man came to the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) and said, “O Messenger of Allāh, my father has died, is there anything I can do to bring him benefit?”  If your parents are alive, you need to do as much as you can physically and financially, be in touch with them, call them, have good relations with them, and visit them as frequently as possible.  If one or both of them have gone on, the rights of the parents don't end even after they have left this earth.  The Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said, “Of course, there is so much you can do.  You can make du'ā' and istighfār for them and seek forgiveness for them – O Allāh, make their qabr a vast place, O Allāh increase their ranks in Jannah and O Allāh forgive their sins, O Allāh put away any evil they have done' – and you can give ṣadaqah on their behalf and you can give udhiyah on their behalf and you can go for Hajj on behalf of your parents (this is one of the best things you can do for them as long as you have done Hajj for yourself), and you can do 'umrah on behalf of them.  Visit the relatives and friends your parents had who you do not have much relationship with but you resurrect those relationships and friendships in order to bring about the memory of your parents.”  One of the things we can do is if your parents had distant relatives or friends who are not a part of your circle of friends, visit them for the sake of birr of your parents.

The bottom line, brothers and sisters, is that there is a never ending job, we have to repay back to our parents.  Never ending ṣadaqah, never ending du'ā', never ending istighfār.  This is part and parcel of being a righteous Muslim.  In this month of Ramadan, let us see what our relationship is with our parents and what we can do to increase and better that relationship if they are alive.  If they have left this world, then there is much that we can do for the akhirah.

One last incident comes to mind.  A ṣaḥābi's father passed away and he was crying very much at the funeral.  One of the other ṣaḥābah came and comforted him and tried to console him and said, “O so-and-so, I am not crying just because my father died.  I know inshā'Allāh he is in a better place now than he was in this world.  I am crying because my biggest door to Jannah has now been shut.”  Think about this, brothers and sisters, for those of you whose parents are alive that this is your easiest door to Jannah.  This is the largest and middle door to Jannah.  Think about this, and do whatever you can to help your parents to have that good relationship with them.  The du'ā' for the parents is the best thing that you can ask for in this world.

May Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) make us righteous children and righteous progeny.  May Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) forgive our parents.  May Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) cause us to be resurrected with our parents and be with our parents in Jannat Al-Firdaws Al-'Ala.

Lecture by Yasir Qadhi

This lecture is brought to you by the Memphis Islamic Center (MIC). For more information about MIC, please visit www.memphisislamiccenter.org

Last week we talked about ways to increase our khushūʿ in ṣalāh; and I wanted to talk more about this inshā'Allāh today and even in the future as well, because we are praying, alḥamdulillāh, so many rakʿāt every single day and there is a danger of it becoming monotonous or routine, where we do not get the actual khushūʿ of ṣalāh. And among the things that many of us do not actually think too deeply about, even though we should, is the postures of ṣalāh itself: how we are standing, each posture – the significance of each act of ṣalāh. And many of our Scholars – including Imām al-Ghazālī in his Iḥyāʾ ʿUlūm'l-Dīn and Ibn al-Qayyim and Ibn Qudāmah and others – have pointed out that each of these postures brings with it a sense of spirituality. Each of these manners of standing and rukūʿ and sujūd, there should come with it an automatic feeling – and this is human nature that when we act in a certain way, or dress in a certain way, or stand in a certain way – [then] automatically it brings about a psychological and a spiritual inner reality.

So, for example, in the army when you are expected to stand straight, with your head erect and everything [at attention] it brings about discipline, of course for us in our Sharīʿah it is not allowed, but for other sharīʿahs and other cultures when the king enters you are supposed to stand up and be with no motion at all, there comes with this an awe or reverence. In this country when the judge enters the [court]room everybody is told 'all-rise' and automatically there is a sense of awe that comes out. So all of this, the inner and the outer, are related together and, therefore, even in the postures of ṣalāh there is so much for us to learn.

Again time is limited, however, we will talk a little bit about each particular posture. First and foremost, even before the ṣalāh the fact that we purify ourselves and we are expected to dress in good clothes, Allāh says in the Qur'ān: “Yā ayyuha alladhīna āmanū khudhū zīnatakum ʿinda kulli masjid (Wear your best garment to every masjid).” This is in contrast to many of us who come [to the mosque] in garments in which we play basketball or in pajamas. This is not appropriate – we are supposed to dress up for the masjid and Allāh says, “Take your best clothes to the masjid; dress up when you go to the masjid.”

Also, we prepare ourselves physically by purifying ourselves. SubḥānAllāh when we have a famous or important interview, and we have to go on for example on television for an interview, what do we do? We take a shower, we scrub ourselves, we iron our clothes and we dress our best and we put on our perfume; doesn't Allāh have more of a right that we get ready for Him? And also, when we get ready that way what happens [is that] psychologically we get pumped up. Imagine in the interview, you are wearing your best suit, you have your best tie on, your best shoes, this automatically brings about a sense of excitement, that you are doing something big, so Allāh is saying that we are supposed to do the same for our ṣalāh: we are supposed to purify ourselves, wash ourselves with wuḍūʾ and put on our best garments.

There are so many stories we could mention. One of the descendants of the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam), the great grandson of the Prophet – the son of al-Ḥusayn – every time he would stand up and do wuḍūʾ for the ṣalāh he would become white and he would shiver and tremble, so his students said, “What is your problem? Every time you do wuḍūʾ you begin to tremble and your face becomes white!” and he said, “Should I not become anxious and tremble when I am going to stand in the presence of Allāh subḥānahu wa taʿāla?,” so when he does wuḍūʾ he begins to get nervous. Just like when we go to an interview, we wake up, we wear our best garments and we start feeling the adrenaline rush – this is the case of those tābiʿūn and ṣaḥābah when they stood in front of Allāh.

Then, when we stand up in front of Allāh we begin the ṣalāh in the posture of standing because this is the posture which has the utmost adab and that is why even in this country when the judge comes in [and] all rise [is said] we stand up for the judge, of course in our Sharīʿah this is only for Allāh, though it is forgiven when we do it in this land because it is a ḍarūrah / necessity, otherwise [regarding] the actual ruling of standing up Allāh says, “Wa-qūmū li'llāhi qānitīn (and stand up for Allāh in subservience),” and that is why when the ṣaḥābah stood up for the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) when he entered the room, he told them not to do this and  he said to them that it is not a part of our Sharīʿah and we only stand for Allāh alone. Then we stand up in rows, the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said, “Don't you want to stand up in ranks as the angels line [themselves] in ranks?” and to this day the militaries and armies lineup [form ranks] in this way, showing that they have discipline, that they are part of larger whole, each soldier is but one, but they are together many people. And all are the same in the eyes of Allāh, all of you are the same when you are standing outwardly, not one of you just because of your dress, your ethnicity or your heritage has any priority, no, inna akramakum ʿinda Allāhi atqākum — only taqwā separates you.

And then we stand up in front of Allāh and we move our hands like this [up towards our shoulders] and many of the scholars have commented [on this] that it is as if we are throwing the world behind you and you are entering a private audience with Allāh, you are throwing the world behind you and everything is forgotten. And then this is followed by another takbīr of Allāhu akbar, which means, there is nothing which is greater in my heart than Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla), there is nothing that deserves more worship, more humility, more worship than Allāh. So when you say the takbīr and your mind goes towards your business then you are showing that your business has more haybah, more rights over you, than Allāh. When you say “Allāhu akbar” and start thinking of your family problems, or tomorrow's work then you are saying the takbīr but you are not meaning it, because if you really meant the takbīr then you wouldn't think about anything other than Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla).

You are now standing in a private audience in front of Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) and that is why in a ḥadīth this is called munājāt. This is a private conversation and that is why when you say Allāhu akbar, you enter a state which is called (tahrīm) 'sacred state', you are prohibited from doing many things after [during] ṣalāh, such as eating drinking, speaking – you cannot speak in the ṣalāh. Why? Because it is a private audience with Him [Allāh], you have no right to speak to anyone else, and if you do speak with somebody else then your ṣalāh goes null and void, isn't that correct? Yes, right? Why? Because when you say the takbīr, then you begin a private audience with Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) and are standing in front of Allāh. That is why the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said that when you stand up for ṣalāh then you are 'munāji rabbahu' (in a private conversation with your Lord), so everything else including eating, drinking and speaking, and doing anything like this becomes ḥarām because now you are standing in front of Allāh.

And then you begin as you should begin every gathering by praising Allāh 'subḥānaka Allāhumma wa bi ḥamdik wa-tabāraka ismuk wa-taʿāla jadduk wa-lā ilāha ghayruk' and then we recite Sūrat'l-Fātiḥah and we have given tafsīr of this already, and then we show our servitude to Allāh by bowing down and this rukūʿ is done once again by saying Allāhu akbar, the whole ṣalāh has Allāhu akbar in it to remind you that the purpose is that Allāh is deserving of the greatest attention and servitude in your heart; nothing should compete with Him as Allāh is the greatest. Throughout the ṣalāh from the beginning to the end, every time we move up and down we say Allāhu akbar so that we purify our hearts and minds to the next rukn and then we go down and we bow down in front of Allāh to show our servitude to Him, and our humility and to show this we physically bow down and this is something that even we have remnants of this custom in many cultures and you know this culture, in the western world, when they would meet a dignitary or even when a man would see a lady what would he do? He would bow his head down to greet, to show honor and respect, in our Sharīʿah this is only allowed with Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla). However, to lower your head is a sign of respect, to lower your head is a sign that the being you are lowering your head to is worthy of your servitude, of your ʿibādah.

So Allāh tells us that we do rukūʿ and that rukūʿ is so important that every unit of prayer is called a 'rakʿah' because of the rakʿah, every unit of prayer is called the rakʿah because the rakʿah [rukūʿ] is one of the most important pillars and it is called after it, and that is why if you catch the rukūʿ then you have caught the rakʿah, as this is really where the essence of servitude lies and in this posture of rukūʿ – of course Allāh has praised the action of rukūʿ in the Qur'ān several times. Allāh commands our Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) that “wa irkaʿū maʿa al-rākiʿīn (and bow down [before Allāh] with those who are bowing down),” and Allāh commanded Ibrāhīm ('alayhi'l-salām) to “purify My house.” For whom? For li al-ṭāʾifīn wa al-ʿākifīna wa al-rukkaʿi al-sujūd (I want you to purify My house and the only people in My house should be those doing ṭawāf and those doing worship and those doing rukūʿ and those doing sujūd. It is that important, that the Kaʿbah has to be purified and the only people around the Kaʿbah should be one of those four people: the ṭāʾifīn those doing ṭawāf, ʿākifīn those who are there for worship in dhikr and Qur'ān and those in rukūʿ and sujūd.

And when we go down in sujūd, we say subḥāna rabbī al-ʿaẓīm – we have already mentioned what subḥāna rabbī and subḥānAllāh mean, and when we go down we say Allāh is 'al-ʿaẓīm' (the Great and the Majestic) and in this rukūʿ, the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said that when you are in rukūʿ and sujūd then do not recite the Qur'ān, because the Qur'ān is too noble to be recited in rukūʿ and sujūd. The Qur'ān is the kalām of Allāh. It is the speech of Allāh and when we humble ourselves in front of Allāh then we do not do tilāwah; we do adhkār, we do tasbīḥ, we do taḥmīd, we do takbīr, we say praises to Allāh but we do not recite the Qur'ān in rukūʿ and sujūd.

And then we take a pause before we go to the main gist of the rakʿah, which is the sajdah. How do we take the pause? We stand up, and this is the only time we change 'Allāhu akbar' to something else, and in its stead we say 'samiʿ Allāhu li-man ḥamidah'. Why? We are setting the stage for the sajdah, we are getting ready, and psychologically for the big event of every rakʿah that is the sajdah. So we take a pause. Why? Because we want to build up that excitement to do the sajdah, and we do this any time, anytime there is a main event – and astaghfirullāh, I am not comparing but even the most mundane of items such as going to a fancy dinner. They begin with the smaller things until the main dish comes. Why is this? We whet our appetites, making it ready for the big event, and then the big event comes.

Likewise, if there is a main speaker coming then first there will be an introduction, a note of thanks and then the main speaker will come. The main speaker does not come on as soon as the event begins, isn't that the case? We need to become psychologically prepared and we work our way up and the ṣalāh is no different. We are working our way up to the main aspect of the ṣalāh itself, and that is the sajdah, and we do this by taking a pause from the rukūʿ, and we get back up and psychologically prepare ourselves by saying, “Allāh hears those who praise Him.” We are about to praise Him and we need to remind ourselves that Allāh hears those who praise Him and when we say this even before the sajdah, we implement what we are saying and immediately we say “rabbanā wa laka al-ḥamd.” We follow exactly what we just said, saying, “O Allāh to You belongs all praise.”

Once the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam), in one of the first prayers he led in Madinah when he said “samiʿ Allāhu li-man ḥamidah” and he went up, one of the ṣaḥābah heard this phrase and from his fiṭrah, without being taught this, said, “rabbanā wa laka al-ḥamdu ḥamdan kathīran, ṭayyiban, mubārakan fīhi (O Allāh you have every 'ḥamd', multiple ḥamd, lots of ḥamd (kathīra), pure ḥamd (ṭayyiba), blessed ḥamd (mubāraka))”. So he came and he just said it and he said it in a beautiful way:  rabbanā wa laka al-ḥamdu, ḥamdan kathīran, ṭayyiban, mubārakan fīh. When the ṣalāh finished, the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said, “Who amongst you said that phrase?” The ṣaḥābī raised his hands and said, “Ya Rasūlullāh, it was me. I only wanted good.” He got scared [and thought] what did I do wrong; I only wanted to do good. The Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said, “Wallāhi I saw thirty angels racing to take your phrase and reach Allāh the first – who is going to reach Allāh first with the phrase that you have just said?”

This shows us that samiʿ Allāhu li-man ḥamidah Allāh is hearing those who praise Him. And the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) added: rabbanā wa laka al-ḥamdu, ḥamdan kathīran, ṭayyiban, mubārakan fīh milʾ al-samāwāti wa milʾa al-arḍi wa milʾa mā baynahumā wa milʾa mā shiʾta min shayʾin min baʿd, ahl al-thanāʾ wa al-majd, aḥaqqu mā qālahu al-ʿabdu wa-kullunā laka al-ʿabd – and there are so many other phrases, and this is another point as well, perhaps another talk I'll give, we should memorize the different things the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) would say to have a little bit of variety.

And then when we have praised Allāh and have given Him ḥamd, then we fall down and we do the single greatest act of worship humanly possible and that is we lower the most noble part of our bodies, the most protected part of our bodies, and the most precious part of our bodies, we lower it to where we put our feet, to where we walk. Why? Because we show Allāh (subḥānahu wa taʿāla) that:  O Allāh, You are worthy of this servitude, and for You and only for You, I will take my head and I will put it in the sand and in the dust in order to praise You and show glory to You.

And our Prophet Muḥammad (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said 'the closest that servant will ever be to his Lord is when he is in sajdah (aqrabu mā yakūn al-ʿabdu ilā rabbihi wa huwa sājid). There is no posture that you will be closer to Allāh in than sajdah, there is no posture that you will come closer to Allāh by than the posture of sajdah. So that is why the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said, “When you are in sajdah, increase your duʿā's, increase your pleas from your heart.” Here is where Allāh will respond to you. When we fall down in sajdah and we lower our heads, we say “O Allāh, You are the highest.” We lower our head and we say subḥāna rabbi al-aʿla – we are low, You are al-Aʿla (the Highest the most Exalted). As we lower our head, this is the ultimate sign of humility, khushūʿ and taʿabbud.

And subḥānAllāh many of us, we feel a sense of disdain and we do not want to do sajdah on something that might be dusty or sandy. If we are going to pray then we look for a sheet or something to pray on. Technically there is nothing wrong with that and it is permissible, so we have sajjādahs and things to pray on. Let me tell you one thing though: our Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) was too eager to get into sajdah that [he would not] worry over what he would do the sajdah on. And there is ḥadīth in Ṣaḥīḥ Bukhārī from Anas b. Mālik that on the 23^rd of Ramaḍān, it rained so much that the roof of the masjid collapsed and the rain was pouring in and the whole masjid floor became muddy with the water and mud. They did not have carpet obviously; it was sand and gravel.

Now can you imagine – imagine us when we pray on dry sand or the grass, how do we feel? Imagine if we were to pray outside where the shoes are put, how do we feel? There is nothing wrong with praying on a sajjādah – I am not saying that. Our Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) was thinking of other things, he didn't care where the head goes. Anas he was looking at what is going to happen: is he going to do sajdah in this mud? He said, “Wallāhi I saw athar al-ṭīn [traces of mud] on the nose and forehead of the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) as he went into that mud and came back out.” He was in a different world, and he wanted to show Allāh servitude and humility, that O Allāh this is where we originate from. “Wa minhā khalaqnākum (I created you from this),” so now I am turning to this, I am lowering myself in the sand to show You O Allāh my humility and servitude.

Our Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said, “Never does a servant of Allāh fall down in sajdah except that Allāh forgives one sin and exalts him one level.” Every sajdah forgives you one khaṭīʾah and one darajah in Jannah is raised and the famous ḥadīth of Rabīʿah (the servant of the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam)) when he had been serving the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) for many years, one time the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said, “O Rabīʿah, what can I give you? Ask.” He was expecting a request for money, a house, something along this after all these years of service the Prophet asked him what he could give him. Rabīʿah thought for a while, and he thought and thought, and he said, 'O Messenger of Allāh, I have but one request: innī urīdu murāfatuqa fi'l-jannah (I want to be your rafīq (your companion) in Jannah just like I am your companion in this world).” The Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said to him, “Help me to help you [get to that level] by increasing in your sajdahs' (fa-ʿaʾinnī ʿalā nafsik bi kathrati al-sujūd).” How can one get to the highest level of Jannah?  Allāh will do this; Allāh will give it to you but you to do something, and what is that? It is more sajdahs.

And my dear brothers and sisters, let me be very frank here, if you do not taste the sweetness of the worship of Allāh in the sajdah then there is no other place where you will taste it. If you are deprived of tasting the ḥalāwah of ʿibādah (the sweetness of worship) in this state of sajdah, then really there is no other state in which you will feel this sweetness and, therefore, when you go down in sajdah, you should lower not just your face but your body and your heart – lower them and humble them in front of Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) and realize [in this] that you are doing exactly what you have been created for and that is to worship Allāh.

You cannot do anything that is more precious than lowering yourself to Allāh and as you lower your head increase your adhkār, increase your duʿā's as that is when your duʿā's will be responded to. Open up your heart and start pleading to Allāh, begging with Allāh, and beg Allāh for the khayr of this world and the khayr of the next. So much so, that our scholars said – and this is a fiqh point here – that you are not supposed to recite the Qur'ān in sajdah of course, however were you take a phrase of the Qur'ān which is a duʿā' and were to say it as a duʿā' and not as tilāwah then it is allowed. So if you say in sajdah “rabbanā ātina fi al-duniya ḥasana wa fi al-ākhirati ḥasana [(Our Lord grant us good in this world and grant us in the hereafter good)],” then this is allowed, however, if you were to recite the whole verse then this is not allowed. If you were to say “rabbi zidnī ʿilma [(My Lord increase me in knowledge)],” this is allowed, but you do not recite the whole verse, because you are not doing tilāwah, rather you are making duʿā' and duʿā' is allowed with the phrases of the Qur'ān.

Now, the posture of sajdah is so important that every rakʿah has two of it, and it has two of nothing else – it has two of nothing else. Every rakʿah has two sajdahs. And in order to give you that pause, once again you sit up again, you take a break – we are human beings, we get tired – let the blood flow to the brain, take a few breaths and praise Allāh, say like the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam), what would he say between the sajdahs? Rabbighfirlī, rabbighfirlī [(My Lord forgive me, My Lord forgive me)], say it and take a pause and ask Allāh for forgiveness and get the inner strength to do the second sajdah and then go down in the second sajdah, and once again when you are down praise Allāh saying 'Allāh is the Highest [and the Most Exalted, and I am the one humbled in front of Him]' and once again open your heart to Him and beg and plead to Him (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) and you go on and on.

And that is why my dear brothers and sisters, as Imam Ḥasan al-Baṣrī (raḥimahullāh), the famous scholars of the past, the greatest scholar of the tābiʿūn said, “There are three places [wherein] you will find ḥalāwat al-īmān (the sweetness of īmān) and if you do not find the sweetness of īmān in these three places, then the door to īmān has been shut [for you], you are not going to find it anywhere else.” What are these three things? He said: (i) al-ṣalāh, (ii) dhikr of Allāh and (iii) qirāʾat al-Qur'ān. Three things he said were the doors to taste the sweetness of īmān [by], if you are not going to find ḥalāwat al-īmān in these three things he said abwāb ghulliqat (the doors have been closed [for you]), i.e. you have no hope besides these three.

Therefore as we stand up for so many rakʿāt and we go on and on do not let these rakʿāt become monotonous routines. No – every rakʿāt, wallāhi, is a door to Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla), it is an opening up, a private conversation [with Him] and the more rakʿāt we have, then the higher we will go in this world and the next.

May Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) make us among those whose ṣalāh is accepted. may Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) make us among those who are continuous in their ṣalāh – alladhina hum ʿalā ṣalāhihim dāʾimūn. May Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) make us among those who have khushūʾ in their ṣalāh (qad aflaḥa al-muʾminūn, alladhīna hum fī ṣalāhihim khāshiʾūn). May Allāh make us among those whose ṣalāh are accepted totally, one hundred percent; as our Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said, some of you only nine tenths of their ṣalāh will be accepted, others eight tenths and others all the way going down to one tenth, because they were not paying attention. May Allāh make us among those [who get reward for the] full ten out of ten, one hundred percent. May Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) bless us in this world and the next wa jazākum Allāhu khayran.

Many times, I too have been asked what websites and magazines I would recommend. Unlike Sarah Palin, I do not claim to be able to read the over twenty-thousand magazines that are printed monthly on every topic imaginable (there's even a subscription magazine dedicated to raising sheep!).  However, I do subscribe to half a dozen or so publications in print, and try my best to read them at all odd times of the day (always take a few during plane rides; I also catch a few articles while brushing my teeth; sometimes even get one or two down while I'm supposed to be talking on the phone!).

Here's my current selection of websites that I regularly check, and magazines that I subscribe to. Feel free to leave your own suggestions in the comments below.

Websites:

- BBC

Check on average ten times a day.

- Huffington Post

I'm not as regular a reader as most of the other people in my circle of friends (I typically check it once a day and scan the latest headlines). I find the website an overload of information and realize that if I did spend too much time there, I wouldn't get much else done. Nonetheless, a great resource.

- Al-Jazeera

Simply the best media outlet for events in the Arab and Muslim world.

- Arab News

When I lived in Madinah I would read this Saudi newspaper almost daily. I still like to keep up with the latest events and get a pulse of what's happening there.

- MuslimMatters

I have to check my own blog!

Magazines

- The Economist

Amazing. Just amazing. Words fail me here. There is simply no other news publication (to the best of my knowledge) that is as thorough and global. I look forward to receiving this magazine and typically devour it the same day I receive it. It is usually over one hundred pages of solid news from around the world (with an obvious and forgivable emphasis on the Western world). It is unabashedly leftist in its outlook and unapologetic in its frank analysis.

Bottom line: Did I mention 'amazing'?

- The Atlantic

This is one of my favorite magazines. There are always analytical articles on current social trends, political issues, and foreign affairs. One article in arecent edition discussed the rise of 'alternative medicine' clinics that offer patients treatments in homeopathy, acupuncture, and other forms of medicine. The article interviewed both practitioners and opponents of such clinics and discussed the pros and cons of their existence. It was interesting to note, for example, that while many of these 'alternative medicines' (including homeopathy, which I personally think is just a lot of sugar tablets!) have never been clinically proven to cure diseases, they do have an 'advanced placebo' effect on many patients.

Bottom line: Very relevant and always thought provoking!

- Mother Jones

An excellent publication that never fails to show the excesses of corporate greed and the failures of governmental policies and political incompetence. It also discusses human rights issues, politics, and culture. One of the leading liberal magazines in America.

Bottom line: Plenty of reading and ruminating material in each issue.

- Scientific American

This magazine is a jewel – it keeps me abreast of the latest theories and discoveries in science. It covers chemistry, physics, biology, astronomy and anything else remotely related. It is written for an audience that is non-specialists, yet have a basic knowledge of all of these fields.

I admit I don't read each article, but there are always a few that catch my eye. One article in a recent issue discussed how technologically feasible it was to 'grow' meat in a Petri dish from a few molecules of protein. Soon, they predicted, there would be no need to actually breed animals and then kill them for the sake of their meat! (Personally, the thought of eating 'meat' grown in a Petri dish repulses me; additionally we'll need some cutting-edge ijtihad to figure out how such meat would be considered zabiha for the guys who follow the correct opinion of only eating zabiha meat!)

Bottom line: Keeps you in the loop about the latest scientific developments.

- The New Yorker

I had to see what all the hype was about, so this is my first year subscribing. I don't know if I'll continue subscribing next year. While every issue typically has a news article that salvages the magazine for me (one recent edition discussed the rise of the English Defense League and the increase of Islamophobia in England), and its fiction story is a breath of fresh air, there is simply too much emphasis on the arts, movies and theater for my personal liking.

Bottom line: If all the articles fail, the magazine's notoriously sarcastic cartoons are off the hook.

- Wired

For the geek in me. Really nifty gadgets reviewed, totally cool apps introduced, nerdy facts presented in colorful poster-like formats – what's not to like?!

Bottom line: Nerdiness isn't just cool, its respectable!

- Saudi Aramco's World

Very upbeat magazine about the historical and scientific legacies of Muslims, current accomplishments in the Islamic world, and events taking place related to arts and culture.

It is a bit simplistic, and sometimes (naively) innocent, but there's a lot of good facts to gain, and historical anecdotes to benefit from.

Bottom line: It's free and entertaining. Great reading material for kids as well.

- Harper's Magazine

I just subscribed to this one, and haven't received my first issue yet, so can't really comment. However from the stories that were forwarded to me from their website, I am looking forward to seeing what the subscription will bring. Will keep you updated…

What magazines and websites do you read? Leave your comments below…

This lecture is brought to you by the Memphis Islamic Center (MIC). For more information about MIC, please visit www.memphisislamiccenter.org

[The following is the video and transcript of Shaykh Yasir Qadhi's lecture on The Fiqh of Hajj and Practical Advice for Hajj. The transcript includes slight modifications for the sake of readability and clarity.]

Alḥamdulillāh we are very, very honored and blessed that some amongst us are going for Ḥajj.  Of course we ask that you remember all of your Muslim brothers and sisters in du'ā', especially those in Memphis and especially those who taught and helped you in the Ḥajj inshā'Allāh.

The topic of Ḥajj is a very, very complex and detailed topic.  It is a mix of fiqh and spirituality.  Unfortunately, we only have one hour, so I will try to summarize the main points of Ḥajj.  Of course before we begin, we must understand and realize that Ḥajj is one of the greatest actions of worship.  In fact, some scholars say that the most blessed action that any Muslim can do is the Ḥajj.  The most blessed action of a non-Muslim is to accept Islam, but from within Islam, the most blessed action is the Ḥajj.  That is because the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said, “An accepted Ḥajj has no reward other than Jannah.”  In other words, if you have the Ḥajj accepted, then you will get Jannah.  No other action has been placed to that level where an accepted action has nothing other than Jannah.

You all know the famous ḥadīth of the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam):  “Whoever performs Ḥajj and he doesn't do rafath and fisq, he shall return back just like the day his mother gave birth to him.”  Rafath means primarily here to engage in lewd things.  There is also the connotation of intercourse and that which is lesser than that.  Fisq is sins.  He controls his anger.  He does not backbite.

These aḥadīth and others show us the importance and the blessings of doing Ḥajj.  That is why the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) encouraged us to go for Ḥajj.  We know that the bare minimum is once in a lifetime for whoever is capable to do so.  If you are able to do so even more, then alḥamdulillāh this is even better.

We begin by some basic fiqh, but before I begin with the fiqh, I want to tell you a very simple point.  Ḥajj is not the time to try to study the different opinions of any issue.  You will become so confused.  You need to stick with one authority and remain that way because Shayṭān will come:  “One 'ālim says this; one 'ālim says that.  Is my Ḥajj accepted or not?”  You have to be certain that if you asked an 'ālim and he gave you an answer, then you are free in the eyes of Allāh.  If the 'ālim made a mistake, then that is between him and Allāh.  My point being that one of the most common problems of Ḥajj is “Do I have to give a hady, do I have to give a dhamm or not?  One 'ālim says yes and another 'ālim says no.  Is my Ḥajj accepted or not?  Is this wājib or is this not wājib?”

Now is not the time to do your research for different madh-habs.  Now is not the time to become an expert in the madh-habs.  You need to choose one opinion and one scholar and one methodology and go with it.

You have obviously come to this lesson; therefore, I will be teaching what I believe is the strongest position in this issue about the arkān, wājibāt, and sunan of Ḥajj.  Some of what I say might be strange to you, and you might have heard other things.  Now you need to make a choice.  Do you wish to follow the position I will say or another scholar?  That is your choice, not mine.  Let me just say that alḥamdulillāh Allāh has blessed me to do Ḥajj more than ten times, and I have studied the fiqh of Ḥajj in extensive detail and have gone as a mu'āllim and as a guide over ten times.  Therefore, hundreds of questions have come.  My point is that I am not speaking from theory.  I am speaking from practice and years of experience as well.  If you take it, alḥamdulillāh, and if you wish to take another opinion, alḥamdulillāh as well.  Let us begin.

Iḥrām

Ḥajj consists of specific actions that are done in specific days.  The first of these actions is to enter into a special state called the state of iḥrām.  This is the first action of Ḥajj:  you enter into the state of iḥrām.  This state of iḥrām is a spiritual state and not necessarily a physical one.  Once you have entered into iḥrām, certain things that were ḥalāl now become ḥarām for you.  Certain things that were permissible become ḥarām, and that is why it is called iḥrām – there is a ḥaram and a sanctity that you cannot do certain things that are otherwise ḥalāl.

There are specific areas outside of Makkah where you enter into the state of iḥrām.  For you guys traveling from America, you don't have to worry about that.  The pilot will tell you, “We are entering the state of iḥrām.”  Or if he doesn't tell you, you may enter into the state of iḥrām basically half an hour to twenty minutes before the plane is supposed to land.  If you are landing in Jeddah, please note – and every one of you will land in Jeddah – that the state of iḥrām is outside Jeddah.  You cannot land in Jeddah without entering the state of iḥrām – this is a problem.  You must already be in the state of iḥrām.

If you are going by Saudi Airlines or PIA or any Muslim airline in the month of Ḥajj, I can guarantee you the pilot will make an announcement:  “We are about to enter the state of iḥrām in 15 minutes / 20 minutes / half an hour.”  Therefore, there is no problem.  If you are going by Lufthansa or KLM, most likely the pilot will not make such an announcement – you never know, maybe they will these days, but most likely they will not.  It is not very difficult – [you enter into iḥrāmi] literally ten or fifteen minutes before the expected time of arrival when the pilot says, “Fasten your seat belts; we are on our way down.”  The mīqāt is just a little bit outside of Jeddah and not too far outside of Jeddah; therefore, when the plane is descending, you may enter iḥrām before the mīqāt without a problem, but you cannot enter iḥrām after the mīqāt.  You don't have to enter iḥrām exactly on the spot.  Your plane is going 500 miles/hr, and you are not going to enter the mīqāt exactly at the pinpoint.  Rather, you enter into iḥrām ten minutes before the plane lands and you will be fine.

What should be done in iḥrām?  By the way, if it so happens that you pass the state of iḥrām – you pass the mīqāt without saying “Labbayk allāhumma labbayk,” without making the talbiyah of Ḥajj – then you have missed a wājib.

Take this as a rule:  Any time you miss a wājib, you may make it up by giving a sacrifice.

Your Ḥajj will still be accepted.  Take this as a rule.  By definition, something that is wājib can be made up.  What cannot be made up is something in Arabic called a rukn (pillar).  I want you to memorize two different words:  rukn and wājib.  If you miss a rukn, you have no Ḥajj.  You cannot make up a rukn.  It is like praying without going into sajdah and you are capable of it – there is no ṣalāh.  You cannot pray without going into sajdah.  You must have the rukn.

Ḥajj has rukn and wājibāt.  Entering into iḥrām at the mīqāt is wājib.  So suppose you fell asleep and you woke up and the plane is landing in Jeddah, it is not as if your Ḥajj is gone.  Breathe, alḥamdulillāh, relax.  You have missed a wājib.  You enter into iḥrām in Jeddah, but you must pay a sacrifice, a badn.  A badn can be any type of animal that is commonly sacrificed.  A camel or a cow are very expensive.  A sheep, a goat, and a lamb is generally what is done, and that is basically $150 these days.  If you miss multiple items, you must give multiple hadys.

You enter into the state of iḥrām.  It is sunnah – and when I say sunnah, it means you should do it, but if you don't there is no sin and your Ḥajj is complete.  You all know sunnah means you should do it, but if you don't do it, no problem.  It is sunnah to take a bath before wearing the iḥrām.  On the plane you cannot take a bath, so you take a bath before you leave the house and that will do the job.

It is sunnah to purify yourself completely, which means you shave your pubic hair and you trim your nails before you enter into iḥrām because you are not allowed to do it while in iḥrām, so you want to be pure in that state.

It is sunnah to perfume yourself before entering iḥrām.  In other words, when you take the bath, before you enter into iḥrām you perfume yourself – not a problem.  You put the perfume on your body and not on your iḥrām.  You may have perfume on you – you should have perfume on you; this is sunnah.  'Ā'ishah says, “I was the one who put perfume on the body of the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) before he entered into iḥrām.”  It is sunnah to have perfume on your body before you enter into iḥrām.

On the plane you might not be able to do all of these sunnahs.  You will not lose anything of Ḥajj because this is sunnah.

It is sunnah to pray 2 rakaʿāt after you enter into iḥrām.  On the plane, you may pray sitting down because this is a nafl prayer and a sunnah prayer and not a farḍ prayer.  If you are going on the plane, you may pray sitting down 2 rakaʿāt after you enter into iḥrām.

Entering into Iḥrām

How do you enter into iḥrām?  For men, they should wear two unstitched cloths.  The first misconception is on what “unstitched” means.  A lot of people think that there can be no sewing done on the cloth.  This is completely false and a myth.  The iḥrām that you wear will have sewing done on the side.  Sometimes the iḥrām that you wear will have decorations and designs on it.  It doesn't nullify the iḥrām.

“Unstitched” is an incorrect translation of the Arabic.  What the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) forbade was to wear a garment that covers a limb, such as it has a sleeve or a pant leg.  This is what is prohibited.  You have a garment that has a specific section for a limb that is a hand or a leg.  Pants, shirts, t-shirts, and underwear are not allowed.  This is the meaning of “unstitched” and not that there is no needlework done on it.  The iḥrām that you wear has needlework done on the side of it.  Unstitched means that it should not be like a cloth that is covering you, which is why the iḥrām is open.  If you were to cover it, this would be stitched.  For those of you who are from India and Pakistan, the lungi is a type of stitched cloth – an izār that is closed, whereas the iḥrām is an izār that is open.

This is what a man should wear:  two unstitched cloths of any color.  In our days you only find white, but the Sharī'ah did not come necessarily with white.  You may wear any color.  In fact, the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) had other colors as well other than white.

For women, they wear their regular clothes and regular dresses.  There is no restriction on the clothing for women except the face and the hands should not be covered with a stitched garment.  For those sisters who do wear the niqāb, there is a way they may cover their face with an unstitched garment.

How does one enter into iḥrām?  One verbalizes by the tongue:  “Labbayk allāhumma Ḥajjatan wa 'Umrah.”  Or you can just say, “Labbayk allāhumma labbayk.”  Basically saying “labbayk” causes you to enter into iḥrām.  Preferably, you should be wearing this garment.

Let's be realistic here.  Suppose your plane is stopping in Amsterdam or London.  When the plane stops, you are wearing your pant and shirt, and then wherever your plane stops, you go and you wear the iḥrām but you don't say “labbayk” because you are not in iḥrām right now.  You get on the plane completely regular and normal.  Five or ten minutes before you land – just to be on the safe side, I say fifteen minutes, but in reality, it is five minutes before landing – you say “labbayk allāhumma labbayk.”  You may enter into iḥrām before the mīqāt.  It can be twenty or thirty minutes [before landing] to be on the safe side.  You say, “labbayk allāhumma labbayk.”  Once you say “labbayk,” that's it.  You are now in the state of iḥrām.

Three Types of Ḥajj

There are three types of Ḥajj you can do.  Ninety percent of the people who will go from the West or the East will perform Ḥajj tamattu', so we will talk about Ḥajj tamattu'.  There is [also] Ḥajj qirān and Ḥajj ifrād.  It is very easy to understand the difference.  Most people when they go for Ḥajj want to also do an 'Umrah.  This is called tamattu'.  You do an 'Umrah and then you get out of iḥrām and then you do a Ḥajj.  You do Ḥajj plus 'Umrah with a gap in the middle.

Ḥajj qirān is Ḥajj and 'Umrah without a gap in the middle.  Ḥajj ifrād is no 'Umrah and just Ḥajj.  It is very simple and not that complicated.  Ḥajj tamattu', you do 'Umrah and take a gap of three, four, five days.  Some people go to Madīnah, or you just worship and pray. 'Umrah takes half an hour or one hour.  If you are really busy and slow, it is a maximum of an hour and a half.

After you finish the 'Umrah, you get out of iḥrām, and you may live a normal life until the 8^th day of Dhu'l-Ḥijjah, which is the first day of Ḥajj and when you enter into the iḥrām again.  This is Ḥajj tamattu'.  Tamattu' means enjoyment.  Why is tamattu' called tamattu'?  Because you get to enjoy a regular life in between the Ḥajj and 'Umrah.  You are having enjoyment and there is no prohibition on you.  This is the Ḥajj I will describe.

Ḥajj tamattu' is the best type of Ḥajj.  Why?  Because you do Ḥajj and 'Umrah both.  This is why 90% of the Muslims when they go for Ḥajj, they do Ḥajj tamattu'.

Prohibitions in Iḥrām

You enter into iḥrām five or ten minutes before Jeddah.  You pray two rakʿahs.

What is prohibited upon you when you enter into the state of iḥrām?  Nine things.  Three or four of them we don't have to worry about, so it basically boils down to a few things.

1.  Shaving or trimming the hair.

You are not allowed to shave or trim the hair.  The brothers who shave regularly cannot shave in the state of iḥrām.  You cannot go to the barber in the state of iḥrām.  This prohibition also applies to women.

2.  Trimming the nails.

This also applies to women.

3.  Wearing a sewn garment.

We explained what a sewn garment means.  It is a pant or a shirt.  This only applies to men.  Women wear their regular clothes – shalwar kameez or whatever they are wearing.  There is no prohibition on that.  Their skirts, blouses, dresses or whatever they are used to wearing culturally is what they will continue to wear in their iḥrām.

4.  For men only:  covering the hair.

You cannot wear a cap or any type of turban.  Anything on the head is not allowed.  For women, of course they wear their ḥijāb.

5.  Perfume.  This applies to clothes and body.  You avoid perfume.

6, 7, 8, 9 are understood without problem.

6.  You are not allowed to hunt.

7.  You are not allowed to get married in a state of iḥrām.

Generally people don't go to Makkah in Dhu'l-Ḥijjah to find a spouse, so we don't have to worry about that.

8.  Any type of sexual foreplay with your spouse.

In the state of iḥrām, you cannot kiss and you cannot touch with desire.  You may touch without desire.  You may hold your wife's hand so that you cannot get lost.  You may protect your wife from the crowd by basically holding her.  During ṭawāf, it is very necessary for a husband to protect his wife because there is too much shoving and jostling.  Touching is allowed, but sexual touching and foreplay is not allowed.

9.  Intercourse with your wife.

This is one of the most severe penalties.  This will nullify the Ḥajj in the state of iḥrām.  If you sexually kiss or touch, this will not nullify, which is why this is separate.  If you have intercourse, then this nullifies because that is exactly the point: you don't reach the level of rafath.

What if you do one of these issues besides hunting and nikāḥ? – this is not our relevance here.

Hair and Nails

The first point:  when we talk about the hair – now please pay attention, I know what you have heard is separate than what I am about to tell you.  It is up to you whether you trust me or not, but as I said, I have done research and I have done plenty of Ḥajjs.  What is prohibited is to intentionally cut or trim the hair and the nails.  People go to ridiculous extremes and if they scratch and a hair falls down they think their Ḥajj is nullified or something like this.  Or if the nail is a little bit broken accidentally, then they are worried because, as you know, when your nails grow, something might scratch it and your nail gets bent.  What can you do with a bent nail now?  They wrap their nail in a band-aid to make sure the nail doesn't break any more.  This is going to extremes.  Anything that is unintentional is overlooked.

Additionally, there seems to be no prohibition whatsoever for a gentle combing for men and for women.  The prohibition is ḥalq, and that is to cut and to shave.  There seems to be no prohibition for a combing.  Therefore, if you do comb and a hair or two falls off, this is not ḥalq or going to the barber and is overlooked.

If you intentionally shave or trim and there is a reason or no reason – if there is no reason to do so, then you are sinful.  If there is a reason to do so, then you are not sinful.  In both cases, you must give a penalty.  What is a reason?  In those days, once upon a time, there was lice.  Unfortunately it is still around but not that common.  If you have lice, let's say, or if you have an irritation in the scalp, or if there is any issue that causes you to basically shave your hair off.  It is any type of issue.  Suppose you get a wound, let's say, and you go to the local clinic and he shaves your hair off to put some stitches while you are in a state of iḥrām.  This is a reason, correct?  You are not sinful, but you must pay the fidyah.

What is the fidyah?  Fidyah for this is one of three things.  The most difficult in terms of money is to pay the whole sacrifice, but it is not wājib to do so for something as trivial as this, and the Sharī'ah has given you an option.  It is not first #1 then #2 and then #3.  You may choose whichever of the three.  You may give a penalty of a sacrifice, which is $150, or you may fast three days after Ḥajj when you come back home or you may feed six people.  Of course 90% of the people if they fall into it, they feed six people.  The Sharī'ah does not say that you have to be poor or rich – any of these three are allowed.

How do you feed six people?  Very simple.  Go to the local shawarma shop – I kid you not – and you buy six shawarmas and you walk around in Mina, Muzdalifah, and 'Arafāh and give it to the poor people sitting there who have no roof over their head, and you have fed six people.  Simple, right?  You have fed six poor people.  You don't have to buy shawarma.  I am just giving you an example.  You can buy McDonald's hamburger.  There is a McDonald's in Mina.  You can buy a McDonald's hamburger and french fries or a happy meal and give it to the kids there, and you have fed six people.  You can buy it yourself, or you can designate somebody to go and purchase it.  In our times, many restaurants actually have a special section, believe it or not.  It is a money-making business.  They have a special fidyah section and you go and give the money, and there is a section in the back where they give the poor people the food.  Whatever you do, basically you have to feed six people.  This is the easiest thing to do, and it is completely permissible.

So we said, if you cut your hair or trim your nails for a legitimate reason or for no reason, you must give a fidyah.  It must have been done intentionally.  It is done unintentionally, then there is no fidyah.  Like I said, if you scratch your head and a hair falls off, or if your nail scratches against the wall and breaks, there is no fidyah whatsoever.  Also, there is nothing from the Sunnah about the concept of three hairs.  Cutting and shaving is understood.  If you go to the barber, you are cutting your hair.  If you shave, you shave.  Simply combing or touching does not necessitate a fidyah.  There is no evidence whatsoever that combing is not allowed in the iḥrām.  Sisters may comb and brothers may comb.  I have done Ḥajj, and I take my comb with me.  Back then māshā'Allāh I had a very big beard, and I would comb my beard every day in Ḥajj, and I don't see a problem with that.

Sewn Garments

The second issue that we said is wearing a stitched garment.  Similarly, if you wear a stitched garment intentionally – the key point is intentionally – then you must also pay the same fidyah, one of these three things.  However, if it is done unintentionally…  How can it be done unintentionally?  Suppose at Muzdalifah it is very cold at night and there is no tent over you.  You are shivering and you forget about it and pull a sweater out of your backpack and put it on.  Somebody says, “Astaghfirullāh akhi, you are wearing a stitched garment!”  You say, “Oh, astaghfirullāh.”  There is no fidyah because Allāh says, “Whatever you have done accidentally, Allāh has forgiven it.”  The Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said, “Allāh has raised from my ummah anything that they have done accidentally and by mistake and somebody forced them to do it.”  If you accidentally or mistakenly wear a stitched garment, there is nothing on you for men.

Similarly, suppose it is very, very hot and you are walking in the sun and just take a cap out to put it on and wear it in the sun.  Somebody says, “Akhi, you are wearing a cap!”  You take it off.  Once again it was unintentional.  There is no fidyah whatsoever because you didn't do it intentionally.

Suppose you did it intentionally for a reason.  This is another point people need to understand:  The Sharī'ah allows people to break these codes if there is a legitimate reason.  Ka'b b. Ujrah was a companion and was suffering from lice.  He thought, like many of us think, that even if you are dying you cannot break the iḥrām.  The lice were so much that they were jumping off of his head and falling on his clothes.  It was causing immense suffering.  The Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) saw him and said, “Go shave your hair and give a fidyah.  Don't kill yourself over this.”  From this, the scholars say if Muzdalifah is freezing cold and you need to wear a jacket or a sweater, then wear a jacket or a sweater and give a fidyah.  This is for men, obviously.  Women have no issue.

The Sharī'ah is not telling you to be backward and go crazy over this.  The Sharī'ah is saying don't do this except for a legitimate reason.  If there is a legitimate reason, then do it and pay the fidyah.  When there is a legitimate reason – some people might feel like fainting, let's say, and may want to cover their head.  Go ahead and cover your head if you think you will not faint because of it and then give the fidyah later on.  Allāh has not made our religion so difficult.  The ḥadīth of Ka'b shows us when there is a need, you may do it, and then you may give the fidyah.

Similarly, once four, five or six years ago there was the swine flu, and a lot of ḥujjāj were wearing the surgical mask.  No problem – wear it and give the fidyah.  There is a legitimate reason.  You don't want to go back with this disease.  The scholars said there is no problem.  En masse the ḥujjāj can go ahead and wear it, but you still have to give a fidyah.  You are not sinful because there is a legitimate reason to cover the face or do something of this nature.

Similarly, when you are going to sleep, you may put a blanket on top of you.  But, by the way, maybe this is a strict position of mine, I don't think a sleeping bag that you zipper up is allowed because to me, that would be a garment covering you, but you may have a sleeping bag that you don't zipper up.  In other words, you just fold it on you.  This only applies for men and not for women.  Fold the sleeping bag on yourself without zipping it up.  Some scholars say a sleeping bag is allowed, but personally I like to avoid it, but you may use it, as I said, without zipping it up.

Once again, if it gets cold – and Muzdalifah sometimes gets very cold and there are no tents and no roof; you are sleeping in the middle of the desert.  Once in a while Muzdalifah will get close to freezing and there is wind blowing and sometimes I've been in Muzdalifah when it has been raining and drizzling.  It is not a pleasant place to be when it is cold and wet.  In such a case, you wear the clothing and give the fidyah – no problem.

Perfume

The next issue is perfume.   Once again, people go to crazy extremes.  What is prohibited is that you apply perfume to yourself in a state of iḥrām.  If you do this accidentally, then you take off the garment, wash it, and wear it again.  There is no fidyah.  If it is on your body, then go and wash your body.  You may take a bath during your iḥrām.  There was a dispute amongst the sahabah about whether they should take a bath or not.  They went to Abu Ayyūb Al-Anṣāri.  Lo and behold, he was taking a bath while in a state of iḥrām.  That resolved the dispute right then and there.  He said, “I saw the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) take a bath while in a state of iḥrām.”  You may take a bath or ghusl while in the state of iḥrām.

If you put perfume accidentally, as soon as you remember or somebody reminds you, go and wash, and there is no fidyah.  If you put it on intentionally – and there might be a legitimate reason:  suppose your iḥrām is stinking and filthy and you don't have a second one.  By the way, my advice for men is to get two iḥrāms.  Have a clean one with you in the backpack and one that you are wearing because you will be in a state of iḥrām in Ḥajj for three days and believe me, within the first day or two it will be completely filthy, so it is good to have another iḥrām, and you may substitute and discard the other one or wash it.

Sometimes it might be that it is necessary to apply some perfume because you are sleeping in a tent with ten other men and maybe you aren't smelling very nice and there is a maṣlaḥah (overwhelming need) that you don't stink so bad.  If that is the case, then you apply it and pay the fidyah.  These are allowed for necessity and prohibited for no reason.  In both cases, you have to give a fidyah.

Fidyah

What is a fidyah?  It is one of three things:

1. Sacrifice.  This is the most expensive.  You may do it, but it is not wājib to do only that.
2. Fast three days when you come back.  You don't have to fast in Makkah.
3. Feed six people.

If you are going to feed the people, the fidyah should be preferably the people of Makkah and the poor people in Ḥajj at that time, but it is not wājib and you may feed people when you come back.  The most convenient and best thing to do is feed people while you are there.  This fasting should be done when you come back and should not be done during Ḥajj.

We talked about iḥrām and the issues of iḥrām.  We have now landed in Jeddah, these nine things are prohibited, and we are now going to Makkah.  The first thing you are going to do is finish your 'Umrah.  This is your 'Umrah of tamattu'.  It is a complete, separate unit.  You will finish your 'Umrah, leave the state of iḥrām, wear your normal clothes, and live your normal life until the 8^th of Dhul-Ḥijjah.  If you were to go right now to Makkah, then you will do 'Umrah tomorrow and be out of the state of iḥrām tomorrow night and remain outside of iḥrām until the 8^th of Dhul-Ḥijjah.

If you were to go on the 6^th of Dhul-Ḥijjah and land on the 7^th, it is basically the same thing.  You will do 'Umrah on the 7^th, leave the state of iḥrām on the night of the 7^th, and on the morning of the 8^th you will re-enter iḥrām.  It doesn't matter how long the gap is.  It may be one hour or two months – it has to be after Ramadan.  You cannot go before Ramadan for tamattu'.

'Umrah

We talked about iḥrām and the issues of iḥrām.  We have now landed in Jeddah, these nine things are prohibited, and we are now going to Makkah.  The first thing you are going to do is finish your 'Umrah.  This is your 'Umrah of tamattu'.  It is a complete, separate unit.  You will finish your 'Umrah, leave the state of iḥrām, wear your normal clothes, and live your normal life until the 8^th of Dhu'l-Ḥijjah.  If you were to go right now to Makkah, then you will do 'Umrah tomorrow and be out of the state of iḥrām tomorrow night and remain outside of iḥrām until the 8^th of Dhu'l-Ḥijjah.

If you were to go on the 6^th of Dhu'l-Ḥijjah and land on the 7^th, it is basically the same thing.  You will do 'Umrah on the 7^th, leave the state of iḥrām on the night of the 7^th, and on the morning of the 8^th you will re-enter iḥrām.  It doesn't matter how long the gap is.  It may be one hour or two months – it has to be after Ramadan.  You cannot go before Ramadan for tamattu'.

We go to Makkah and do 'Umrah.  'Umrah is very easy:  ṭawāf, sa'y, and trimming of the hair.  The scholars say that if you are doing tamattu', then when you finish your 'Umrah, you should not shave because you should keep the shaving for the Ḥajj.  If you shave your hair, within seven days you won't have hair for Ḥajj.

You trim.  This is a problem because 90% of the barbers want to shave your hair with the machine because it takes ten seconds.  You need to go and find a place.  Barbers charge you four or five times the price, and sometimes they charge you ten times the cost of a haircut off-season, but that is their business, and they earn their year's keep during Ḥajj.  Find a barber and tell him that you only want to cut with scissors.  Make sure because most of them just want to use the machine.

Scholars say that if you are going to do tamattu', then you should delay the shaving for the Ḥajj because that is more preferred.  You do your ṭawāf and your sa'y and then trim your hair.  The concept of taking one bit from different parts of your head doesn't seem to be correct.  You must do a proper trim and proper haircut.  My personal position is that it is not permissible to simply cut one bit from different parts.  A lot of people do that, but this is not the goal of the Sharī'ah.  The goal of the Sharī'ah is that you shed your hair or get rid or your hair or at least you trim it.  Go to a proper barber, or you can go to your hotel and have somebody do it for you if you all agree to do so.  I have done it many times where we all become barbers at Ḥajj instead of paying 50 riyals or 100 riyals.  We just do it ourselves quickly, and it is permissible.  Believe me, nobody cares about your fashion during Ḥajj, so it's no big deal.

[Note:] For women, they cut off the tip of the finger's length of hair, basically ¼” or ½” from the end of the hair.

In that 'Umrah, that is the ṭawāf where you will expose the right shoulder and will put the iḥrām underneath the right shoulder.  You will walk the first three times extra fast.  This is only in theory.  In reality, you cannot walk as fast as you want; you will walk as fast as the crowd wants.  There is a difference between theory and reality.  Just worry about showing the right arm as sunnah.  If you don't show the right arm, no big deal because it is sunnah but it doesn't ruin your Ḥajj at all and has nothing to do with the Ḥajj.

You do your ṭawāf and your sa'y.  You don't have to do your ṭawāf and sa'y back to back.  You may take a break.  You may rest, drink and go out and eat, but you are not going to leave iḥrām until you trim.  If you finish the sa'y and don't trim, you are not outside of iḥrām.  You don't have to cut your hair immediately and may go buy a shawarma if you are really hungry, but you are still in a state of iḥrām until you trim your hair.

Once you trim your hair, you are out of the state of iḥrām.  Therefore, you go back home and take a bath and put all the perfume you want on and wear your regular clothes, and everything is ḥalāl for you.  There is no prohibition because you are now back to the regular state.  That is why tamattu' is called tamattu' – because you enjoy this middle period.

Difference Between Going to Makkah First and Going to Madīnah First

For most groups that come from the Western lands, they will first go to Makkah and do the 'Umrah and then they will go to Madīnah and come back.  Some groups go to Madīnah first.  Therefore, if your group is going to Madīnah first, then you don't have to worry about iḥrām when you land in Jeddah because you are not entering Makkah.  You are going to Madīnah. If you are going to Madīnah first, you don't have to worry about iḥrām, which is why a lot of ḥujjāj try to find a group that is going to Madīnah first because it saves them the hassle of entering iḥrām on an airplane.  When you go to Madīnah, it is outside of the mīqāt.  When you land in Jeddah, you will take a bus or a plane to Madīnah.  It doesn't matter that Jeddah is inside the mīqāt because you are going to leave and come back in again.  If you go to Madīnah first, you don't have to worry about iḥrām.

Right outside of Madīnah there is a place called Dhu'l-Ḥulayfah.  Every single bus and taxi driver will stop there and say that this is the place of iḥrām, so there you go and pray two rakaʿāt and wear your iḥrām and move on.  You may put your iḥrām on when you are in Madīnah, but you say “labbayk” when you are in Dhu'l-Ḥulayfah.  I can wear the iḥrām right now, but I won't be in the state of iḥrām.  Wearing the iḥrām doesn't make you in the state of iḥrām.  You have to say “labbayk” to enter into the iḥrām.

If you are going to Makkah first, then you have to wear your iḥrām in the plane before you land in Jeddah.

Question:  Suppose you are doing tamattu' and land in Makkah first but you are going to Madīnah in the middle until you come back to Makkah on the 8^th of Dhu'l-Ḥijjah.  You do 'Umrah and are out of iḥrām and go to Madīnah and then come back.  Where do you put your iḥrām on?  The strongest position is that you may wear your iḥrām when you are back in Makkah because you are now mutamatti' and doing tamattu' Ḥajj.  Therefore, there is no concept of putting your iḥrām on from Dhu'l-Ḥulayfah because you are in the period of tamattu', the period of enjoyment.  You wear your iḥrām on the morning of the 8^th wherever you are.  In other words, if you your group is going to Makkah first and then Madīnah, you do not have to wear your iḥrām from Madīnah again.  Only if your group goes to Madīnah first do you have to wear your iḥrām from Madīnah.  Otherwise, if you have already performed your 'Umrah, you are tamattu', and you are free.  The whole point of being mutamatti' is that you can enjoy up until the 8^th.

This is the area I have done the most research on of any issue because we would face it every year.  I asked many, many 'ulemā' and have read many books.  The summary is that there is no issue whatsoever of entering into Makkah once again – so suppose your group will go to Makkah on the 25^th of Dhu'l-Qa'dah and leave on the 26^th for Madīnah and come back on the 5^th of Dhu'l-Ḥijjah, so you have three days in Makkah.  You don't have to be in iḥrām for those three days.  You may live a regular life and then on the 8^th of Dhu'l-Ḥijjah re-enter into iḥrām.

Can you make multiple 'Umrahs before Ḥajj?  You should not do so.  It is not ḥarām to, but it goes against the perfection because that is how the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) did it.  Also, you should save your energy for the Ḥajj.  Also, you should make extra ṭawāf and extra nafl in the Ḥaram.  The point of tamattu' is that you do one 'Umrah and one Ḥajj and lots of 'ibādah.  That is the perfection.  For you as a mutamatti', the one 'Umrah and the one Ḥajj is what you do, and the rest of it is 'ibādah and nafl.  You may do as many ṭawāf as you want.  You may do ten ṭawāfs a day.  For ṭawāf you don't need to be in iḥrām.  You can do ṭawāf in your clothes – pant/shirt, thawb, shalwar kameez, it doesn't matter.  Ṭawāf is an act of worship.  The perfection is not to do another 'Umrah, which is why it is better to avoid it.

Please, brothers and sisters, don't take a fatwa from the guy sleeping next to you in your tent.  This is your Ḥajj and your religion.  People just talk a lot and think they know the religion.  Ḥajj is a very complicated act of worship.  Go to people of knowledge.  Alḥamdulillāh, the government has done a lot of good, and of the best things they have done is that during Ḥajj they have fatwa offices everywhere and in all the languages of the world.  This is something people of knowledge go to.  They are all scholars who have done Ḥajj and know the fiqh.  Please, don't get the fatwa from your friend or from someone who says, “I read in a book” because you will ruin your Ḥajj and your 'ibādah.  Go to people of knowledge.  Go to these cabins and there will be a translator.  Every single cabin will have translators for English and Urdu.  Go there and ask them your question.

Find out if your group is going to Makkah first or Madīnah first.  If they are going to Madīnah first, you don't have to wear iḥrām in the plane.  Go to Madīnah in your regular clothes and worship and pray.  Then when you leave Madīnah, you will wear your iḥrām and enter into iḥrām from there.

When you go on a Ḥajj package that goes to Makkah first and then goes to Madīnah and then returns back to Makkah before the Ḥajj, you do not have to wear iḥrām from Madīnah and may return back to Makkah in your regular clothes.  Write this down – I guarantee you that when you get there, there will be a huge commotion.  It happens in every Ḥajj package and everybody is confused about what to do and whether they should wear iḥrām in the hotel or go back to Makkah.  I'm telling you very clearly, and take my word for this.  This is the issue I have spent years researching and debating.  You don't have to wear iḥrām from Madīnah.  You may wear it from Makkah because you have already done your 'Umrah, so what will you enter iḥrām for? Ḥajj is another few days away.  Don't wear iḥrām if you have done your 'Umrah.  If you haven't done 'Umrah, then that is a separate story, but if you go to Makkah first, then you have done your 'Umrah.

8^th of Dhu'l-Ḥijjah

The 8^th of Dhu'l-Ḥijjah is the first day of Ḥajj.  Some groups will bring you to Mina on the 7^th of Dhu'l-Ḥijjah and have you sleep there.  No problem, it doesn't matter.  You can go to Mina now and sleep there, but Ḥajj will start on the 8^th after ẓuhr.  Most groups leave Makkah on the morning to get there around ẓuhr time.  Technically you should be there for ẓuhr and 'aṣr, but if you are delayed and there is traffic, it is all sunnah.  The entire 8^th day is sunnah, so relax.  You may even start Ḥajj on the 9^th and your Ḥajj is complete without any fidyah.  The 8^th of Dhu'l-Ḥijjah is Sunnah.  If something happens on this day and you do not go to Mina, no sweat, you may skip it all and go directly to 'Arafāh.  99% of packages go to Mina, and that is good because it is Sunnah.

Where do you wear your iḥrām from on the 8^th?  Wherever you are.  Where do you make the niyyah?  In your hotel room.  That is the whole point of tamattu'.  Basically from where you are you will make the niyyah.

You will then go to Mina.  The sunnah is to get there before ẓuhr, but let's be realistic.  There are 3 million people and it is not in your hands.  Don't sweat if you get there at 10 am or 6 pm.  Your Ḥajj is completely valid.  The whole day is sunnah.  Allāh knows your niyyah, and if you are stuck in traffic, you will get the reward of the sunnah.

Once you get to Mina, ẓuhr and 'aṣr are prayed combined and shortened, and maghrib and 'ishā' are prayed combined and shortened.  So you pray ẓuhr and 'aṣr (two and two) at one time.  You pray maghrib and 'ishā' (three and two) and witr at one time.  What do you do in Mina?  'Ibādah.  Qur'an, dhikr, du'ā'.  You get ready for the next day, which is the big day.  The 9^th is the big day of Ḥajj.

One of the biggest problems of going with a group is too much chit-chat.  Believe me, if you have never been for Ḥajj, you think that you are going to go and do this and that, but when you are surrounded by people your age and all of you are suffering and there is bad food, it is so easy to start talking and gossiping and cracking jokes at the sanitary conditions over there and hours go by.  It is a very big fitnah from Shayṭān that your Ḥajj is just being wasted away.  Even if you are not doing something ḥarām, you are wasting time, and it is not why you spent so much money.

Learn from day one to be polite but rude.  Say, “Jazākallāh khayr, but I have something to do.”  Be polite but firm.  You are there for your own 'ibādah.  Have your Qur'an with you and your du'ā's and dhikr you want to do with you.  Just worship and don't worry about other people.

You spend the night in Mina.  As we said, if you don't, your Ḥajj is completely valid, and it is not a problem.  The 8^th is all Sunnah.

9^th of Dhu'l-Ḥijjah

The 9^th is the big day, and if you miss this day, you have no Ḥajj.  The 9^th is the day of 'Arafāh.  You will go the most sacred place on earth at that time and spend the entire day on the plains of 'Arafāh.  You technically should get there around zawāl, but if you get there a little bit late it is not a problem.  It is wājib to get there before maghrib.  You cannot leave 'Arafāh before maghrib.  By the way, in our times you cannot leave because the government closes the roads, so there is no issue of you leaving and the roads are literally blocked.  They open up the gates at maghrib.

'Arafāh is the main time of Ḥajj.  That is the time you will go to 'Arafāh and combine ẓuhr and 'aṣr (two and two) and for the rest of the hours you have, it is the time of du'ā' and dhikr.  It is the time of praying and begging for forgiveness.  That is the time for pleading with Allāh for a better life in this world and the next.  This is Ḥajj.  Nothing is better for you at that time than du'ā'.  You pray ẓuhr and 'aṣr right at the beginning as soon as the time comes in because there is something more important than that, which is the du'ā'.  The whole point of Ḥajj is those few hours.

Believe me, you will find half the crowd just chitchatting.  It is unbelievable, but if you have been for Ḥajj you know this.  You just get tired and it is hot and you are sweaty.  You are not there for wasting time.  My advice to you is not to make too many friends so that you are on your own and can go to the corner of the tent and make du'ā'.

Another simple advice is to drink lots of water.  This is a dehydration day and a very difficult time.  Also, please do not wander from your tent on 'Arafāh.  The most difficult time to get lost is the day of 'Arafāh.  You don't want to be spending three hours finding your camp again.

Some Practical Advice:

In Mina, make a mental note or physical note of your tent number.  Once you have your tent number, breathe with relief.  Now it doesn't matter what happens because in two days you will be back in that tent.  Even if you are lost from your group, have at least 50 or 100 riyals on you.  If you are going with a child, make sure you have a safety tag with a phone number and the address of the tent on the child's hand or on something that is fastened to the child.  If you are going as an adult, have some money on you and know your tent in Mina.  If you get lost, it is very easy.  As a man, you can't even change your clothes anyway and just need some food and water which is found everywhere.  For a day you will be in Muzdalifah and 'Arafāh, and on the next day you come back to your tent in Mina.  All the tents are numbered and there are maps everywhere.  If you get lost, there are boy scouts there you can find and they will direct you to your tent.  It is all numbered like a grid.  Memorize your tent number because it is that tent you will come back to.

In 'Arafāh there is no numbering system because it is one day.  Don't get lost on 'Arafāh.  'Arafāh is the day of 'ibādah, du'ā' and dhikr.  This is when you raise your hands to Allāh and beg and plead and cry, especially right before maghrib which is the time when Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) Himself comes down and Allāh 'azza wa jall says to the angels, boasting, “These are My servants who have come to Me, and I will give them everything that they want, and I have forgiven all of them.”  This is the time of du'ā' and dhikr.  This is the time where you open up your heart to Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) and pray for everyone – your friends, your relatives, those who have taught you the fiqh of Ḥajj.  This is the time of acceptance of du'ā'.

When the sun sets, you may relax a little bit.  Sit in the bus for five hours.  You are not going anywhere if you go in the bus.  If you have been to Ḥajj, you know what I am talking about.  This is the time when you just have to wait.  The main 'ibādah is done, and you may take a sigh of relief.  A point of advice:  if you are young and healthy, walk it.  Wallāhi, you'll enjoy it more and have a better experience.  Take a sleeping bag and some basic items in your backpack.  You know your tent in Mina.  You will enjoy your Ḥajj infinitely more.  The beauty of this walk is that it is the best walk that I have ever done in my life because the Muslims are around you and there is talbiyah and the spirit of Islam. This is a humbling site.  Also, you breathe fresh air because the path for walking is miles away from the road.  One of the things that I dread about those days is the smog.  When you are sitting in the bus, you are surrounded by thousands of other  buses and the smog and the smoke gets to you and makes you nauseous.  You are literally sitting there.  Sometimes I have sat in the bus until 11 pm.  Why?  Because of traffic.  You just sit there in the bus, whereas if you walk, you get there by 7:30 and you enjoy it.  You get some nice ice cream on the way and get some shawarmas as well.  You get the spirit of Ḥajj.  Everybody is walking.  It is a very well-lit path and a nice huge area.  All of the ḥujjāj are walking there.  You enjoy Ḥajj in that sense.  If you are able to walk – and when I say 'young,' basically if you do not have a handicap you can walk.  It is not an issue.  It is a simple hour and a half.  You are just walking and there is so much area, and you are not congested.  There is plenty of space; you can breathe and have a nice walk.

If you walk, then you will meet your group the next morning in Mina. You will spend the night in Muzdalifah.  From Mina, you go to 'Arafāh in the day.  In the night, you go to Muzdalifah.

Look at my hands.  [hand gestures] Mina – Muzdalifah – 'Arafāh.  This means that from Mina, you will cross over Muzdalifah to go to 'Arafāh.  Then on the way back, 'Arafāh – Muzdalifah – Mina.  It is easier to get back.  You go there by car – I'm not asking you to walk.  From Makkah to 'Arafāh, it is very difficult to walk.  It will take you there hours and that is too far and you don't want to get tired on that day.  On the way back, it is an hour and a half at maghrib time on the 9^th, and then the next morning after a nice sleep, you wake up and then another hour and a half [of walking].  You break it up into two [parts].

You will get to Muzdalifah between 7:30 and midnight, depending on how you got there.  Muzdalifah is the most difficult part of Ḥajj for us spoiled Westerners because you have to sleep on rocks in the open.  There is no tent and no air-conditioning except for the natural air-conditioning.  You are sleeping out in the desert.  It is only one night, so the government has not prepared any facilities.  Also one of the most difficult problems for us Westerners is the restroom.  In Muzdalifah it is – what can I say.  It is ṣabr.  That is why in one sense you have to drink a lot of water and in another sense, in Muzdalifah is not the time to drink a lot of water.

Also realize that the most common time to get lost is Muzdalifah.  Why?  Because in 'Arafāh, generally speaking, there is no reason for you to wander outside the tent.  Your food will come to you.  The restroom is a reasonable distance, so you can go back and forth.  In Muzdalifah, the restroom might be half a mile or a mile away.  You look and can see the restroom and think it is easy enough to reach, but when you walk out of the restroom, you see an ocean of people and will wonder, “Where did I come from?  Where is my tent?”  There is no tent.  Everybody looks the same.  You start panicking.  Don't panic!  You know your tent number in Mina, walk it.  It is an hour and a half.  Everybody is walking in one direction, and you are not going to get lost.  You are not going to be walking in the other direction.  Don't worry.  As I said, having ten or fifteen riyals is all you need – you can have some more.  You just want to buy some water and some juice and shawarma and that's it.

Don't worry about getting lost in Muzdalifah.  Don't panic.  It doesn't matter how old or young you are, everybody is heading in the same direction, and you will get to your tent inshā'Allāh if you know your tent number, which is why I said write it down.  If you don't want to get lost, the best thing to do is make sure to go with a friend and both of you make sure to keep track.  You think the bridge is to left – and by the way, you think you see a bridge, but when you walk out you will see seven bridges and wonder bridge you were on.  Basically use your common sense.

Also, sometimes you wake up at 3 o'clock at night and you need to go to the bathroom and are disoriented anyway.  Believe me, I am a seasoned expert, and that is the time when I also wonder where I came from.  It is very easy to get lost.  If you do get lost, as I said, don't worry about it and move on.

Muzdalifah is the time when you pray maghrib and 'ishā' jam' and qaṣr (3 and 2) and your witr as well (witr is never left) and then you go to sleep.  It is commonly said that you should pick your stones from Muzdalifah.  The Sharī'ah does not at all ever even hint or suggest that, and this is, in my opinion, a cultural addition.  You may pick your stones from anywhere.  You may even pick them from your backyard here in America.  It does not matter where you pick your stones from.  The Sharī'ah does not specify.  There is not even a fabricated ḥadīth that specifies picking the stones from Muzdalifah.  Some scholars basically liked it because it is the day before, but you can pick them from anywhere.  Also, another reason why you might want to pick your stones from Muzdalifah is because there are a lot of stones in Muzdalifah, so it is just easier to pick stones.

From a Shar'i' perspective, you may pick your stones from anywhere.  I would actually pick my stones on the 8^th from Mina so that I wouldn't have to worry about finding stones at night in Muzdalifah.  I would personally do this.  In Mina, you walk outside your tent and dig in the sand and find stones and take them from there.  There is no Shar'i' reason to take them from Muzdalifah.

Another problem that happens is that people go a little bit extreme about the stones.  Ibn ʿAbbās was picking stones and thought he was going to pick some big ones.  In an authentic ḥadīth, the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said, “No, not like this.  Let it be like a chickpea seed.”  Basically, as big as the tip of your finger, which is 1/8” or a little bit bigger, 1-1.5 cm.  One of the biggest exaggerations that happens is – and in fact in one ḥadīth he says, “Don't go to extremes.  Don't go out of bounds here.  Pick something that is reasonable.”

By the way, this is a very wise advice because one of the most common problems in Ḥajj is stitches that you need because somebody is throwing stones at the back of your head.  The pillar is there and people are throwing, and they don't know how to throw if their life depended on it.  They throw, and it just hits you smack in the back.  If they choose a big rock, then it is dangerous.  It is a very wise advice from the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) to choose small stones.  It should be something small.

Again, don't go to exaggerations and take a ruler with you and measure every stone.  The Sharī'ah is not that difficult.  It is a rough idea – you don't have to wash it, you don't have to put it to the sun, you don't have to check for the purity.  But – one thing I will say – you cannot choose cement.  Don't find cement somewhere and break it up yourself.  Choose a rock.  You may find a brick, let's say, and some people break it up into seven pieces.  In my opinion, you should choose a stone.  I'm not saying it is null and void if you break a brick up, but the point is that you are supposed to choose a natural stone.  You choose seven small ones.

Now we have done the 9^th, the night of the 9^th, and have woken up preferably in Muzdalifah.  The Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) allowed women and elderly to leave Muzdalifah early.  So suppose a woman is pregnant or there is an elderly man or woman, they may leave Muzdalifah after midnight.  There is no sin, no penalty, and no fidyah.  It is permissible to leave after midnight.  The people who are in charge of these people may leave with them.  Suppose you have your mother with you and she is elderly and you want to take care of her, you go with her, and there is no penalty on you.

[Question asked].  It is seven stones for the first day, and then 21 and 21 for the other two days, so it is 49 total, but you don't have to pick them all at once, and you don't have to pick them all from Muzdalifah.  Technically, you can get them from anywhere.  Culturally, on that night you will see 50% of the ḥujjāj looking in the night trying to find stones.  As I said, make your life easier and do it the day before.

You wake up in Muzdalifah.  If you have left earlier, there is no problem if there is a reason.  What is a reason?  As I said, elderly, pregnant, if you have a baby with you.  Basically it is common sense.  If you have an infant with you, you are allowed to leave early and start the other rites at that time.  If you don't have a reason, then you shouldn't leave Muzdalifah and should wake up for fajr there.

[Question:]  If you are sick, what should you do?  You look at your own state of affairs.  If it is just a little bit of a cough, everybody gets a cough.  A sign of going for Ḥajj is that you get a cough.  If you don't have a cough, I will not believe that you have gone for Ḥajj.  If you come back with no sniffy nose, then I won't believe you – this is just imagination and you went in a dream maybe.  Every single ḥajji comes back with a cough and sniffy nose.  This is a gift of the ḥujjāj, māshā'Allāh.

You should stay all night, as I said, unless there is a reason.  If your Ḥajj package leaves in the middle of the night, then it is not in your hands, and you stick with your group because it is easier for you.  Allāh knows your niyyah.  Don't make life difficult.  They are leaving, and what are you going to do?  I'm not advising you to do Ḥajj alone, but it is not a problem if you do.

10^th of Dhu'l-Ḥijjah

This is where it gets confusing, but inshā'Allāh if you listen to me it will be very easy and not confusing at all.  On the 10^th day, there are four actions that you have to do.  Any two of them will get you out of the minor iḥrām, and all four will get you out of iḥrām totally.

What is minor iḥrām and major iḥrām?  It's simple.  Minor iḥrām allows you to do everything except intimacy with your spouse and what leads to it (foreplay).  Once you are out of minor iḥrām you may wear perfume and trim your nails.  Once you are out of major iḥrām, you may now resume conjugal relations with your spouse.  The only difference is intimacy.

When you do two of these four things, you are out of the state of minor iḥrām, which means you take a bath, shave if you shave (even though in my opinion you shouldn't be shaving), trim your nails, put perfume on.  With all four you are out of iḥrām totally.

What are these four things?  They may be done in any order by what the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) himself said.  A man came to the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) and said, “O Messenger of Allāh, I did (number two) before I did (number one),” and he said, “No problem.”  Another one said, “I did (number one) after (number three).” No problem.  Another one said, “I did (number four) before (number two).”  He said, “No problem.”  The ṣaḥābi said, “Nobody came to him with any arrangement except that he said, “No problem.”  The arrangement is completely up to you.  You may do any of these in any order.

1. Stoning the large jamrah (Jamrah Al-'Aqba'l-Kubra) seven times.  There are three jamrahs: small, medium, and large.
2. Shaving of the hair.
3. The hady or the sacrifice.
4. The ṭawāf of the Ḥajj itself.

99.99% of you will be buying a ticket for the hady.  You will not go yourself and choose an animal and do it yourself.  Some people do.  What does this mean?  You are left with three.  Therefore, as soon as you go and you do the ramy, you are out of the minor iḥrām.  Then when you have shaved your hair, you have then done three of the four.  You may shave your hair first because that is a rite of Ḥajj and is a part of the Ḥajj.  You are allowed to trim the hair if you want, but the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) encouraged the shaving.  You may shave first, but most people do the ramy first.

When you do the ramy and shave your hair, you have done three of the four.  You may assume that the hady is done in the morning because there is no way you can verify, and the scholars have said you can assume that your hady is done.  They have 3 million sheep they have to sacrifice and are going to start before Ḥajj and continue after Ḥajj.  It is not humanly possible to sacrifice that many sheep and goats simultaneously, so you may assume yours is done.  Therefore, as soon as you do ramy, you are out of the minor iḥrām, so after ramy if you want to go and take a bath and put on your regular clothes and then go to the barber, that's fine.  Because when you go to the barber you are going to be messy anyway because of all the hair, most people then go to barber shop – at the jamarāt there is probably one of the largest barber shops in the world.  Sisters should have scissors with them and go back to the tent and take out a forelock of hair and cut it.  Now they are out of minor iḥrām.  Therefore, 90% of you will be completely dressed and clean and fresh-smelling on the morning of the 10^th.

How long were you in the state of iḥrām?  The day of the 8^th, the full 9^th, and then the morning of the 10^th.  For most people, that works out to less than 48 hours.  In those 48 hours, your clothes will look like they have been on you for two weeks, which is why I said for men to have another iḥrām, especially on the night of Muzdalifah, it is very convenient to change because it becomes very filthy with the sand.

Once you do your ṭawāf, you are then out of complete iḥrām.  As I said, the only difference is intimacy with your spouse.  You may delay your ṭawāf and don't have to do it on the 10^th.  You may do it on the 11^th or 12^th.  You may delay your ṭawāf, and it doesn't matter when you do it.  The ṭawāf does not have to be done on the 10^th.

My personal advice is that it is extremely difficult to do ṭawāf on the 10^th.  It is very congested.  It is better to do it either very late night on the 10^th (i.e. 2 am) or anytime on the 11^th, day or night.  Basically take your time to do the ṭawāf.  I would not advise you to do ṭawāf on the afternoon of the 10^th because it is just too congested, especially if you have a woman with you because you are literally surrounded.  If you have your wife with you, you are going to have to do ṭawāf protecting her to breathe.  It is not a comfortable place to be in at all, and Allāh does not tell us to make the religion that difficult.  There is no reason to do it on the 10^th.  Do it either late night or the next morning or on the 12^th.

These are the four actions of the tenth.  Three of them for sure you will do on the tenth.  One of them, the ṭawāf – my advice is that you delay, but if you do it on the 10^th, it is up to you.

11^th and 12^th of Dhu'l-Ḥijjah

On the 11^th and 12^th, all you have to do is stone the three jamrahs, starting with the small then the medium and then the large.  You do this on the 11^th and the 12^th.  The 13^th is optional, but 99% of the ḥujjāj leave on the 13^th, but it is optional.  Ḥajj is five or six days.  On the 13^th you may also stone, but nobody stones and everybody leaves, and that is permissible as well.

On the 11^th and the 12^th, there is no action of worship other than stoning.  On the 10^th, the stoning can be done any time after fajr.  On the 11^th and 12^th, the stoning should be done after ẓuhr.  There is a big ikhtilāf on whether you can do the stoning before ẓuhr.  In my opinion, you shouldn't, especially with the modern changes to the jamrah itself.  It is now five stories, māshā'Allāh, and the pillar is not a pillar anymore but is long.  In my opinion, this is a very wise move, and I am very supportive of it.  There is no more stampede anymore inshā'Allāh.  There is no reason for you to go before ẓuhr.  It is so easy now that even if you are an elderly person you can go right to the tip and just throw it and come back.   They have really done a marvelous job, and I think it is a good move on their part.

That is all that you need to do on the 11^th and 12^th.  If you are doing tamattu', then you must do a sa'y for Ḥajj.  The only act that remains is the farewell ṭawāf (ṭawāf'l-wadā').  Some people delay their ṭawāf that they should have done on the 10^th up until they are leaving, so they do one ṭawāf and say that this counts for both the ṭawāf of Ḥajj and the ṭawāf of wadā'.  This is jā'iz, but it is taking a loophole.  If you are young – and when I say young, I mean below 60 – and healthy, this is Ḥajj, so do it properly.  If you are elderly or sick, then there is no problem.  I've done Ḥajj more than ten times and many times I would take this because alḥamdulillāh I was going so often.  But for some of you, you are going once or for the first time and Allāh knows when you are going to go again.  Why would you want to do that?

In other words, do two ṭawāfs:  the ṭawāf for the Ḥajj and ṭawāf'l-wadā'.  You do the ṭawāf of the Ḥajj (ṭawāf'l-ifāḍah) on the 10^th, 11^th, or 12^th or any day up until you leave.  Let me clarify:  For the person who is doing tamattu', there are three ṭawāfs.  The first is when you first came to Makkah many weeks ago, and this is the ṭawāf of the 'Umrah.  The second of them is the pillar of Ḥajj, and it is done on the 10^th, 11^th or 12^th.  The third of them is before you leave and called the farewell ṭawāf (ṭawāf'l-wadā').

You may, if you want to, combine the second and third into one ṭawāf, and your niyyah is not for ṭawāf'l-wadā'.  Your niyyah will be for the ṭawāf of Ḥajj, and it will count as ṭawāf'l-wadā'.  I don't advise you to do that, but if you do it is jā'iz and you don't need to give a fidyah or hady or anything. It is completely permissible.

Ṭawāf'l-Wadā'

A lot of people are confused about ṭawāf'l-wadā'.  You delay it until it is reasonable for you to delay.  It is the very last thing that is in your control.  When you are with a group, it will never be the very last thing that you do in Makkah.  In other words, your group says that they are leaving Makkah at 8 pm, so you will be dropped at 4 pm to do your ṭawāf.  Technically, you shouldn't be going shopping and eating shawarmas and wasting time after ṭawāf'l-wadā'.  Technically after ṭawāf'l-wadā' you are supposed to leave.  That is the whole point.

You are with a group and somebody may be late.  What are you going to do?  Wait.  Allāh knows that you did what is in your hand, so don't worry about it.  If you are delayed two hours and go and shop and get your necessary stuff, it is no big deal.  Allāh knows that you did what you can do.  Don't make the religion more difficult.

If you don't do ṭawāf'l-wadā' but you did ṭawāf'l-ifāḍah, you must give a hady.  You must give a penalty.  If you don't do ṭawāf'l-wadā' but ṭawāf on the 10^th, 11^th, or 12^th (i.e. the ṭawāf of Ḥajj), ṭawāf'l-wadā' is wājib.  If you miss a wājib, you sacrifice.  Your Ḥajj is valid, but you must make up for it with a hady.  You can combine only if you do it at the end.  If you do ṭawāf on the 10^th, you cannot combine because you didn't leave.  You have to delay the ṭawāf'l-ifāḍah to the day that you leave.  Suppose your bus is leaving on the 14^th, then you may do one ṭawāf on the 14^th of Dhu'l-Ḥijjah that will count for both.

To conclude, memorize this simple list.  Ḥajj has four arkān.  If you miss any of these arkān, you don't have a Ḥajj.  You cannot make up a rukn; therefore, memorize these four.

1.  You need to declare your iḥrām.
You may wear a pant and shirt and do Ḥajj – you will give lots of fidyahs, but your Ḥajj is valid because you said “labbayk.”  You must be in the state of iḥrām to do Ḥajj.  If you are not in the state of iḥrām, then there is no Ḥajj.

2.  You must do one ṭawāf (ṭawāf'l-ifāḍah).

3.  You must do one sa'y, which is the sa'y of Ḥajj.

4.  You must stand at 'Arafāh on the 9^th.

If you don't do one of these four things, then you have not done Ḥajj.  Everything else can somehow made up.  If you miss Muzdalifah, you give a sacrifice.  If you miss the stoning – suppose your group had to leave on the 11^th.  I know of people who have had a death in the family and they have to leave on the 11^th.  What are you going to do?  No problem.  You give the sacrifice and your Ḥajj is valid as long as it is after the 9^th and you have done the ṭawāf and the sa'y.

These are the four arkān.  For everything, inshā'Allāh you can make it up.

Note for Sisters

One final point of advice for the sisters:  one of the biggest controversial issues of our times is over what the sisters in their menses do if their menses will not finish before their group departs.  This is a very controversial issue and a very difficult situation.  My advice to the sisters is to take pills and make sure that you do not have your menses in this month.  Go to your doctor and make sure that it is permissible for you medically.  Don't have your menses during this duration.  Why?  It really complicates things.  Once upon a time if a woman was in her menses it was not a big deal because she just waits a few days and when she finishes, she does the ṭawāf.  These days we have flight schedules and departures and visa issues.  If a woman is in her menses, the plane is not going to stop for her, and her ticket going to expire.  It is almost impossible for a lady to remain behind with her maḥram.  The group is not going to allow it.  The government is not going to allow it because you come as a group and leave as a group, which is the law of the government in our times.

The first point is to make sure that it doesn't happen to you.  Take pills.  It is very easy to skip over one period, and then when you come back you stop taking them and go back to your regular cycle.  By the way, when you are taking pills, 99% of the time any blood that you see is istihādhah and therefore is ignored and doesn't count as ḥayḍ.

If for some reason you don't take pills and your menses start, as long as you do ṭawāf'l-ifāḍah before the menses, you are scot-free.  The main issue is ṭawāf.  You don't have to worry about the prayer.  You may do your du'ā's in 'Arafāh in a state of menses with no problem at all.  You may do dhikr, rami, sa'y.  You don't have to have wuḍū' to do sa'y.  Sa'y is a separate action of worship.

The problem only is ṭawāf.  If you have done the ṭawāf'l-ifāḍah, the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said in an authentic ḥadīth:  “The ṭawāf of wadā' is forgiven for menstruating women.”  Suppose your menses started on the 14^th and your plane leaves on the 16^th.  You did your ṭawāf'l-ifāḍah and are forgiven.  You don't have to worry about the farewell ṭawāf because that was a wājib, and in your case, that wājib is complete and you don't even have to pay hady for it – you are scot-free.

The problem comes if you haven't done ṭawāf and your menses start and you are departing before your menses finish.  This issue has caused a lot of controversy in our times because technically it is not allowed to do ṭawāf in a state of menses.  It is like saying to pray while in menses or fast while in menses – you don't do it!  You need to have wuḍū' to do ṭawāf.  It is nonsensical to do ṭawāf in a state of menses.

However, in our times there is a fatwa that is getting more and more common because of the situation that we are in which says that if a lady must perform her ṭawāf in this state, then she does so and it is accepted.  I don't like this fatwa, but I'm not saying it is invalid.  I am simply saying to sisters that if you think you are going to be in this state, and if there is even a remote chance, please make sure that you are not because it is a very, very difficult scenario.

Questions

You may delay ṭawāf'l-ifāḍah until any day in Dhu'l-Ḥijjah.  Ṭawāf'l- ifāḍah does not have an end date; however, you will remain in a state of iḥrām until you do the ṭawāf'l-ifāḍah.

Wearing a belt doesn't constitute a stitched garment, so using a belt is permissible.

The issue of using soap that is perfumed:  There is no doubt that it is better to avoid perfumed soap, but at the same time, what is prohibited is to wear perfume.  Soap that is perfumed is not perfume.  In other words, when one of us wants to look nice, do we use soap and go out?  Is that what we call perfume?  No.  Soap does not have such a scent that we call it perfume.  Therefore, the strongest opinion is that soap may be used and will not require a fidyah, but it is better to avoid to remain out of the grey area.  It is not a  problem.  If you really want to be safe, buy un-perfumed soap.

Some Practical Advice

Make sure you have some items:

1. Un-perfumed soap
2. Toiletries bag that you can hang. When you use the shower in Mina, there is no place to have a toiletries bag except on the shower itself, so you want something you can hook on.  If it falls, it is not retrievable.
3. Baby wipes.
4. Vaseline.  Brothers, please get some Vaseline and apply it to your inner thighs. Why?  When you don't wear underwear, the thighs start rubbing against one another and one of the most problems is that you get skin burn and cannot walk properly.  It really ruins your Ḥajj.  Vaseline is unscented, so there is not an issue there.
5. Make a mental note of your tent number in Mina
6. Always have cash on you.  The best way to carry cash is to use a money belt.  If you buy a money wallet, it also does the job.  If you have some basic money (50 riyals), and you know your tent in Mina, then alḥamdulillāh Ḥajj is easy, and don't worry if you get lost.  If you don't have either of the two, then that is when things get difficult.

The main wājibāt are, starting from the beginning:

-          Enter into iḥrām before the mīqāt.

-          Staying in 'Arafāh until maghrib.

-          Spending the night in Muzdalifah or at least most of the night.  You may leave after midnight if you are pregnant or breastfeeding.

-          Stoning.  If you miss one of the days of stoning, then it is a wājib that must be made up.

-          Spending the nights of the 10^th, 11^th, and 12^th in Mina.

There are more than this, but these are the main wājibāt.

The niyyah has to be made before the mīqāt.  It can be done 100 miles or 1 mile before, but it cannot be done after the mīqāt.  Therefore, as I said, half an hour or twenty minutes before the plane lands, you say “labbayk allāhumma Ḥajj wa 'Umrah.”

This lecture is brought to you by the Memphis Islamic Center (MIC). For more information about MIC, please visit www.memphisislamiccenter.org

[The following is the video and transcript of part 14 of Shaykh Yasir Qadhi's lecture series "The Best of Stories: Pearls from Surah Yusuf."  The transcript includes slight modifications for the sake of readability and clarity.]

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 
Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15

Click here to view the embedded video.

For those who came late, that was the recitation of Warsh, and that is not the usual recitation that we are used to.

We have basically come to the conclusion of Sūrah Yūsuf.  In these last verses, we had begun talking about the fact that Allāh 'azza wa jall is telling the people that this story is a story that clearly indicates that this is a Qur'ān from Allāh, that the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) is a true prophet, and yet, “the majority of people, even if you want to, ya Rasūlullāh, will not be believers.  Even if you want them to be believers, your eagerness is not going to cause them to believe.”

Āyah 104

“This is despite the fact that you are not asking for any reward from them.  This is only a dhikr (reminder) for all of humanity.”

In other words, remember what is the conclusion of Yūsuf.  Why is Allāh 'azza wa jall going into this conclusion?  Allāh 'azza wa jall is linking the sūrah to the message of our Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam).  He is linking the stories to the life and times of Rasūlullāh (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) and is telling the people: “Where do you think this sūrah is coming from?  Where do you think this Qur'ān is coming from?  You did not know these stories.  The story of Yūsuf and his brothers was unknown to you, and it is an accurate story that is being revealed in the most eloquent language to an illiterate, unlettered man.  Where did it come from?”

Then Allāh is proving the fact that this is a book from Allāh and is saying, “Your sincerity is clear.  You have no motivation.”  Now Allāh gets to the issue of motivation.  It is human nature that we do everything for a motive.  Everything that we do has a motive to it.  You go to work for a reason.  You do everything in your life for a reason.  Even in a court of law, if you establish certain evidence, you also have to say what is his motive for the crime and why he did it because it is human nature that there is a motive for everything that is done.

Allāh 'azza wa jall in this āyah is challenging the people to think why would a man start to go against his whole nation and preach a doctrine that will bring about initial persecution and humiliation.  What is in it for him?  Does he want power?  He is being humiliated and is almost going to lose his life and you are trying to kill him.  Does he want prestige?  What prestige is he getting when you are mocking him all over the world and when any caravan comes and you stand outside the city and say that there is a madman, a sāḥir, a majnūn.  What is his motivation?  Do you think he wants money?  He is not asking you for money.

This is one of the Sunan of Allāh 'azza wa jall.  Allāh has Sunan and Rasūl has sunan.  Allāh's Sunan are mentioned in the Qur'ān.  Allāh has Sunan.  What is the Sunan of Allāh?  It is the custom of Allāh and the manner of Allāh.  Allāh has a custom that He shows in humanity.  A part of the custom of Allāh is that the messengers never get any reward in this world.  They don't get money.  They don't get any reward in this world, and, therefore, every prophet comes and says the same message:  “I am not asking you for money.  I am not asking you for power.  I am not asking you for any reward.”  Because their motivation has been negated except for sincerity – in other words, any possible motivation has been negated.  “I'm not asking you for anything other than this message and call.”

There is no question that when a person has no monetary motivation and he does something, you feel better about it and feel, “Oh man, this guy must believe in his cause.”  There is no question about this.  Therefore, the prophets of Allāh, to demonstrate the perfection of their sincerity, have been refused to get any money, so much so that it is ḥarām for Rasūlullāh (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) to be given zakāh and for the descendants of Rasūlullāh to receive zakāh because this is not befitting the messengers that anybody doubt their intention for this reason.  It is not allowed for them to do so.

Here Allāh 'azza wa jall is saying, “I am not asking you for any reward to do so.”  I find this personally fascinating as a person who studies in academia and the Western study of Islam.  As you know, I am specializing in this.  This has always fascinated researchers from the medieval times that why did the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) do this.  In medieval times, they would give the most ludicrous of excuses:  power, fame, and sensuality.  This was propaganda.  In the last 100 years when people have tried to be a little bit fairer and a little bit more honest, they realized the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) did not benefit even when he became the “king” of the Arabs.  Even when he became the leader of the Arabs, his lifestyle did not move up.  He still lived in the exact same house, slept in the exact same bed, and did not own any extra camels.

SubḥānAllāh, when we get a pay raise, the first thing we do is upgrade our status of living.  We earn 10% more and khalās, the car comes in, the house gets expanded, we build the room.  Here Rasūlullāh (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) starts his life literally as a shepherd, which is the lowest, if you like, menial labor that he can have, and when he passes away, his standard of living has not increased at all significantly.

You all know the famous ḥadīth of 'Umar b. Al-Khaṭṭab.  He walks in and finds the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) does not even have a mattress, meaning a soft cloth, to lie on.  They had soft cloths and mattresses, and he began to cry and said, “Ya Rasūlullāh, surely you deserve better than the kings of Rome and Persia.  At least have a comfortable living.”  He (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) was sleeping on basically what we would call the frame of the bed.  This is in our vernacular.  He is sleeping on the palm tree leaves and the fibers of the palm tree.  This is the frame and not the mattress on the frame, and he is sleeping on that.  'Umar begins to cry because when the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) gets up, you see the marks of the frame.  He says, “Ya Rasūlullāh, at least look at the kings of Persia and Rome.”  Instead of saying, “You know, you're right, maybe just get me a soft cloth,” what does he say?  You all know.  He says, “O 'Umar, what is the matter with you?  Aren't you thinking straight?  Don't you want to have the ākhirah and let them have this world?”

It is clear that he doesn't desire money.  The day he is gifted a new cloth and the reason somebody gave him the cloth is that they saw patches and spots here and there and felt sorry that how could the Rasūl (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) be dressed like this, so they gave him a brand new cloth.  For the first time he (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) is coming out wearing this cloth.  A ṣaḥābi came and said, “O Messenger of Allāh, gift me this cloth.”  He literally wore it for two minutes and is walking outside and somebody comes and says, “Ya Rasūlullāh, give me this cloth.  Gift it to me.”  The Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said, “I will do it.”  It is the only cloth he is wearing.  He goes back home and dresses in the patched garments again and comes out again and leads the ṣalāh.  When he goes back, all of the ṣaḥābah get angry with this person.  “Are you crazy?  Are you out of your mind?  Have you no shame?  You know that the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) never refuses a request.  How could you have asked him for the cloth that he was gifted?”  So he says, “I didn't do it for my dunya.  I wanted to be buried in this garment so that I can plead with Allāh 'azza wa jall about the generosity of the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) that he gave this to me.  I wanted this to be my kaffan, and that is why I asked it from him.”

The point being that it is clear that he has no worldly motivation.  He doesn't have a motivation for dunya, power, or prestige. This is what the āyah is saying.  As I said, I find it fascinating that to this day, there is not a solid excuse that they have managed to discover.  They have long ago stopped saying things like he wants power or he wants greed.  Now they try to be fair in our times.  A hundred years ago you didn't have to be fair and could smear the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam).  In our times, you cannot say any of this.  By and large, most people think he had worked himself up into the belief that he is a prophet.  In other words – astaghfirullāh – he is delusional that he is a prophet and sincerely thinks he is a prophet.  Basically this goes back to the claim in the Qur'ān that the Quryash said that he is majnūn.  They cannot outsmart the Qur'ān.  They cannot go outside what Allāh said.  They use the same excuses.  Some of them said he is a fancy poet.  Some of them said he is a sāḥir.  Some of them said he is a magician and some of them said he is majnūn.  These are the classical excuses, and the Qur'ān mentions all of them and refutes all of them.

My point is that modern researchers cannot go outside of these few excuses.  Every one of them Allāh has explicitly mentioned and refuted.  Also, for the claim that he is delusional, really you are claiming that a man has lived the sanest life in every field – he has been a commander, a military leader, and family person – and yet you think that in one aspect that he is a messenger of God he has somehow become delusional.  Wallāhi, this doesn't make any sense.  Even non-Muslim biographers and analysts have to conclude that he thought he was sincere.  Nothing else explains his lifestyle other than the claim that he genuinely believed himself to be a prophet.  Of course for us, he genuinely believed himself to be a prophet because he was a prophet.

This is why Allāh is saying, “You are not even asking even money from them.”  This is a powerful tool that we can use when we talk about Islam:  go study the life of the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) and go see for yourself why he would preach this.  What did he gain?  The message is simple, powerful, and rational.  The messenger is flawless.  What can you say?

“This is only a dhikr for all of the world.”

'Ālam generally is translated as world and means every community, every group.  In one sense, 'ālam means the world of men, the world of jinn, the world of animals.  In another sense, 'ālam means the world of nations – the nations of the Romans, the nations of the Persians, the nations of the Chinese.  'Ālam literally means a genus or category of people.  Allāh is saying that this Qur'ān is a dhikr for any category, whether it is humanity versus the jinn or even within humanity there are many different groups.

This Qur'ān is a dhikr.  What does dhikr mean?  Dhikr means a remembrance or a reminder.  This is one of the most common names of the Qur'ān.  The Qur'ān has many names.  The most common names are the Qur'ān and the Kitāb – these two are the most common names in the Book of Allāh.  Alḥamdulillāhi'lladhi anzala 'ala 'abdihi'l-kitāb [18:1] — so Kitāb is mentioned.  Qur'ān is mentioned.  Both of these are mentioned around 75 times.

The two names are complementary.  Qur'ān means that which is recited, and Kitāb means that which is written.  The Qur'ān and the Kitāb are complementary because Allāh has promised to preserve the recitation along with preserving the writing.  You always need the recitation along with the Book.  The ḥāfiẓ has the Qur'ān and uses the kitāb.  Both are complementary names.  One is the recitation and the other is the speech.

The third most common name of the Qur'ān is Dhikr.  This is what is used over here.  Dhikr here means that it is meant to remind and meant to bring about something that you already know.  This is a powerful message that the message of the Qur'ān is not unique and you should know it.

I repeat – what I said is so simple, but I want you to understand the implications.  What is Allāh saying by using the word dhikr?  By using the word dhikr, Allāh is implying that the basic message of the Qur'ān you should know, and when the Qur'ān comes down, it should remind you of that basic message.  You guys are following this point, right?  The Qur'ān is a dhikr, meaning that it is nothing new.

What is not new?  The basic message that there is One God who is All-Perfect and worthy of being worshipped.  This is a message you don't need to be taught; you know it already.  How does mankind know this message?  Because we believe as Muslims that Allāh ingrained in every human being the inherent capacity to know God and to believe in God.  That is why even the most primitive societies were religious.  I don't know if you know this or not – atheism is a very, very modern phenomenon.  In fact, the first devout atheist is actually in the 19^th century – 150-200 years ago.  Atheism was unknown in humanity because it is in your nature to affirm a God.  It is in your nature to believe that this world came out of something.  It is nonsensical to claim that this world came out of nothing.  Therefore, atheism is a very modern trend.  Allāh created mankind to know the truth.  What is the truth?  There is only One God.  Most of mankind had deviated from this truth by believing in multiple gods, and so the thrust of the Qur'ān is use your fiṭrah and your intelligence and understand that there is not multiple but there is one God.  This is why the Qur'ān is called Dhikr because dhikr means it is reminding you of a message you should know.

Of course, dhikr also means that it is going to remind you over and over and over again.  It is always going to be a reminder and is never going to go away.  It is here to stay.  Yet a third meaning of dhikr is a matter of prestige, it will bring about your remembrance.  That is not the meaning in this verse, but it is the meaning in another verse.  Allāh says in the Qur'ān:  “This Qur'ān shall be a dhikr for you and your nation.”  What is the meaning here of dhikr?  One of the meanings is:  “This Qur'ān will take you places.  You will become remembered in the world.  You will have an 'izzah because of this Qur'ān.”  This is exactly what happened.  The Arabs used to be the mockery of the Romans and the Persians and used to be considered the most backward civilization at the time and were so barbaric and Bedouin.  As I said, they didn't have a unified government, language, script, or civilization. They were so backward the Romans and Persians didn't even see the need to conquer them.  It is like the people living in the jungles – why should we go and conquer them?  Who cares?  The mighty empires of Rome and Persia have no need to descend down and conquer the warring Arabs.  They didn't care about oil back then, so what is the purpose of invading Arabia?  There was nothing for them to gain.

Yet this nation managed to destroy the Persian Empire in 20 miracles.  Wallāhi, this is miracle we don't understand.  The Sasanid Empire collapsed.  Also within 20 years half of the Roman Empire was carved up.  Muslims conquered the seats of Christianity, and that is Damascus and North Africa.  Alexandria is where Christian theologians met.  The Council of Nicaea, where Christianity was invented, was in Turkey.  Within another 500, 600, 800 years, there was more and more expansion until finally it conquered the seat of the Byzantine Empire and that is Constantinople, which is Istanbul.

This civilization of backward nomads who did not even have a culture, language, or script became the leader of civilizations.  Europeans would come to Andalus to study medicine, engineering, optics, and physics and then go back and began the Renaissance in the 17^th century.

Allāh is saying, “This book will take you places.”  That is one of the meanings of dhikr.  Dhikr in that context means:  you will be remembered and you will leave a legacy because of this book.  These are some of the meanings of dhikr, and Allāh 'azza wa jall here is saying “This is a dhikr for all of humanity.”

The fourth most common name is Furqān.  You should memorize these names:  Qur'ān, Kitāb, Dhikr, and Furqān.  These are the four most common names of the Qur'ān in the Qur'ān.  Furqān means the criterion.  Furqān means that which separates good from evil, truth from falsehood, īmān from kufr.

In this verse, once again, the concluding verses all mean to prove the truthfulness of the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) and the religion of Islam.  Allāh then says,

Āyah 105

“How numerous are the signs in the heavens and the earth that they continually pass by and they are oblivious to these signs and don't think about these signs.”

Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) is saying, “Ya Rasūlullāh, you have clear signs.  You are truthful, have miracles, and have no motivation.  You are not the only sign.  They have plenty of other signs.  If they are ignoring you, ya Rasūlullāh, get some consolation that they have been ignoring other signs long before you came on the scene.  You are not the only sign.  How many are the miracles in the heaven and the earth.”

The miracles of the heavens are the sun, the moon, the stars, and the creation.  On this earth you have the natural and the man-made.  Of the natural [miracles is], of course, the beauty of the oceans and the mountains and valleys and irrigation and cultivation. When it comes to man-made, you have the remnants of the nations of old.  The Arabs had plenty of ancient civilizations, which to this day are marvels to humanity.  The people of 'Ād, the people of Thamūd, those who carved things into the mountains.  To this day, we have no idea how they built palaces.  Have you ever seen pictures of the Nabiteans, the people of Thamūd?  There are pictures you can see online and maybe some of you have been there and visited.  They literally have palaces carved into the mountains.  Their house is in the mountain.  They have bunk beds carved into the mountains.  They have rooms carved inside the mountains.  The Arabs were very familiar with these cultures.  To this day we have no idea how this happened just like the pyramids in Egypt.

Allāh is saying, “Look at these signs.  You are not the first civilization, and you are not going to be the last.  How many are the signs they have walked by and they don't even think about it.”

Notice the beautiful choice of verb here:  yamurrūn.  Murūr literally in Arabic today means traffic.  Yamurrūn means they are walking without thinking.  Marra means just to pass by.  Allāh 'azza wa jall uses a very precise word.  They walk by it without even thinking about it.  They are completely turned away from it even though they are walking by it.  While they are walking by, it is as if they have turned away.  While they go right by it, they don't even see it.  This, of course, is the reality of humanity.  We see the beautiful signs around us – natural signs and miracles – and we don't think about it.

Then Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) consoles the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) once again.

Āyah 106

“Most of them don't believe in Allāh 'azza wa jall properly.  They commit shirk along with this belief.”

This again is a very profound verse.  For the majority of the Quraysh, their problem was that they believed in Allāh but along with Allāh they believed in multiple gods.  Here Allāh 'azza wa jall is pointing out a fundamental fact of our religion:  to believe in Allāh is not the essence of īmān.  The Quraysh also believed in Allāh.  The Quraysh believed Allāh created them and will resurrect them and Allāh is All-Powerful, but that did not make them Muslims.  This is a very important point in our times.  There are people who do believe in all of these things, but they are guilty of very grave crimes of shirk.  By explaining to them that the Quraysh believed in Allāh but committed shirk, we can explain to some of our fellow Muslims who have gone to excessive practices.

So, for example, common practices that we find sometimes is that people are invoking the dead and making du'ā' to those whom they call the 'awliyah.  They go to the grave and say, “Ya Fulān…  Ya AbdulQadir….  Ya Chistie…, forgive me, give me a child, grant me this and that.”  They make du'ā' to this person.  If you were to ask them, “Akhi, how could you make du'ā' to this person?  Aren't you a Muslim?”  He would say, “Of course I am a Muslim.  Astaghfirullāh.  I believe in Allāh and I believe Allāh created me and will resurrect me.”  All that he has just said is exactly what they Quraysh would say, and this verse clearly shows it.  Most of them believe in Allāh and Allāh says, “They have īmān in Allāh but they do shirk along with that belief.”

Ibn 'Abbās explained this verse.  He said, “This verse means if you ask them, 'Who created you?'  They would say, 'Allāh,' but when it comes to what they need, they ask other than Allāh.”  The sad reality is that we find the exact same attitude letter for letter, word for word, dot for dot in some minority segments of our fellow Muslims.  They say, “I am too sinful.  I cannot approach Allāh directly.  I have to go through the wali.  I believe in Allāh.  I am a Muslim.”

Even Iblīs believes in Allāh.  Does Iblīs deny Allāh exists?  Is he an atheist?  No.  Didn't Iblīs make a du'ā' to Allāh “Qāla Rabbi…”?  What does “qāla Rabbi” mean?  My Rabb.  Iblīs is saying, “Allāh is my Rabb.  Allāh is my Lord.  Allāh is my Creator.”  Iblīs even makes du'ā' to Allāh, “O my Lord, allow me to live until the Day of Judgment.”  Does that make Iblīs a mu'min because he believes in Allāh?  Of course not.

A lot of us Muslims don't know our own religion and think that if we believe in Allāh then we are a Muslim.  Iblīs believes in Allāh.  Abu Lahab believed in Allāh.  By the time testimony of the Qur'ān:  “They have īmān in Allāh.”  What did they do?  They would ask others besides Allāh for what they need.  They would go to their idols and say, “O idol, save me.  O idol, give me a child.  O idol, forgive my sins.”  They thought that these idols would then take their requests up to Allāh.  They used these idols as stepping stones and as intermediaries.  SubḥānAllāh, the exact same mentality 100% is found in those people who go to the graves and the saints.  They say the exact same thing:  “We believe in Allāh, but we need to go through [them].”

This is the beauty of Islam.  There is a direct channel.  You don't go through the operator.  There is a direct line between you and Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla).  Going through individuals is the essence of shirk.  This is a beautiful verse that we can use to prove that believing in Allāh is not sufficient to be a Muslim.  You can have īmān in Allāh and still be a mushrik.  Allāh says, “They have īmān and they do shirk.”  When you have īmān and do shirk, the shirk cancels the īmān and it is not accepted by Allāh 'azza wa jall.

Allāh 'azza wa jall is saying, “Their problem is that they worship others besides Allāh.”

Āyah 107

“Do they feel secure that a ghāshiyah will not come to them from the punishment of Allāh?”

What is ghāshiyah?  Ghāshiyah is that which covers up and that which envelops.  Every single punishment is called ghāshiyah because you are enveloped in it.  SubḥānAllāh we seek Allāh's refuge from all of Allāh's punishments.  Look at what is happening now with the tsunami and earthquakes and what not.  This is a type of ghāshiyah because you are overwhelmed and everything is neglected other than this. Ghāshiyah means you are covered up in it and you cannot think of anything else.  Look at these people now.  May Allāh make the situation easy and protect us from any fitan.  This is exactly what a ghāshiyah is.

Allāh is now threatening the Quraysh.  “The signs are so clear, the truth of the Prophet is manifest, I've given you so many miracles.  What is left?  Do you not worry that a punishment from Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) will come that will overwhelm you?”

“Or the Day of Judgment will come and you are not even expecting it.”

“If I don't punish you in this world immediately, then the only other alternative is the Day of Judgment.  Between these two there is no third alternative.  Either you are going to get a punishment that will destroy you and immerse you in it, or you will have to face the wrath of Allāh 'azza wa jall in the Day of Judgment.”

The Day of Judgment will come suddenly.  The primary meaning is the real Day of Judgment.  However, the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said, “Death is the minor Day of Judgment.”  It is the individual Day of Judgment.  There is a reference here that: “If you don't correct your act, I will either punish you with a punishment that will destroy you or you will die a death you weren't prepared for and will have to face Me.  Choose which one of these you want.  Are you not worried?”  Afa' aminu means do you feel safe that Allāh is not going to harm you?

This clearly shows us, brothers and sisters – and I have to say this honestly – in our times, when we give da'wah to people, we ignore this tangent of the Qur'ān.  The Qur'ān has a carrot, but it also has a stick.  The Qur'ān entices with bashīr, reward, Jannah, and mercy, but it also has punishment.  If you reject, you are going to have to face your Lord.  The fact of the matter is that in our times, we consider it politically incorrect to talk about the fire of Hell.  We say when we give da'wah let's not talk about “if you refuse, you have to face the wrath of your Creator,” whereas the Qur'ān has both.  Human beings need both.  You need the carrot and you need the stick.  If you concentrate on one to the exclusion of the other, you get problems.  By always mentioning the carrot and no stick, people will say, “Okay fine, I'll think about it.”  Tell a person directly, “Are you prepared to meet your Lord?”  This type of question:  “Are you ready to die and meet your God?”

By the way, there is nothing wrong with using the term “God.”  I think I mentioned this before.  We should have no problem, and when we speak to non-Muslims it is in fact better to use “God” for them because “God” means the Creator.  Amongst ourselves of course we use “Allāh,” but when we speak to non-Muslims, in the beginning we talk about God because we believe in God.   Allay says, “Our God and your God is one.”  Ilah is “God” and Allāh calls Himself ilah.  There is no problem using the term “God.”  Some Muslims are a little bit sensitive about this.

We tell them, “Are you prepared to meet your God?  Are you prepared to meet your Creator?  Are you willing to defend your beliefs and your lifestyle?”  Wallāhi I have tried this in my da'wah with people, and so many times you see the faces of people change because you are not threatening him but you are threatening him with his Creator.  You are saying, “Are you prepared to meet your Lord?”  This really throws a person into shock.  A lot of people have never been asked this question, and this is exactly the question Allāh is asking directly.  “Are you not worried that a punishment of Allāh will come or death will come and you are not even ready for it?”  If Allāh 'azza wa jall can ask this question directly, it is our job to spread this āyah as well.  Of course we change it in a manner that befits them and say, for example, “Are you ready to meet your Lord?  Are you ready for death and resurrection?  Your Lord will ask you, 'What did you do with your life?  What did you do with the blessings I gave you?'”  Leave it at that.  Say, “Don't answer me.  I'm not going to judge you, but are you ready?”  Leave the question at that.  I have tried this myself a number of times, and I've seen the effect.  The effect that this has is a very different effect than debate and quoting verses of theology.  That has its place but this also has its place, and the Qur'ān uses both of them.

After mentioning the carrot and the stick, if you like, and after mentioning so many miracles of the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) and creation, the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) is then told to say:

Āyah 108

“Say:  This is my path.  I am calling to Allāh.”

The path of Islam is a path that links you to Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla).  The path of the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) and the job of the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) is to call people to this path.  How does he do this call?  'Ala baṣīrah means upon a clear knowledge.  “I'm not calling you based upon ignorance.  I'm not jāhil.   I know what I'm calling you to.”

Baṣīrah is from baṣarah, which is to see.  Baṣīrah means it is crystal clear.  The Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said in one ḥadīth, “I have left you upon the shining path.  Its night is like its day.  No one can deviate from this path except that he wishes destruction.”  The path is clear.

“I am doing this [calling upon baṣīrah] and those who truly follow me also call.”

This is a beautiful message here.  Whoever claims to be a follower of the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) had better be calling to his path because this āyah demonstrates and characterizes the followers of Rasūlullāh (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) as being of those who call to this path.

“I and all those who follow me all call to this path upon knowledge.”  This shows us that on some level, calling others to Islam (da'wah) is on some level farḍ 'ayn.  What do I mean by 'some level'?  Our biggest problem when it comes to da'wah is that we don't know what da'wah is.  We think that da'wah is always intellectual debate and basically being a Zakir Naik or Ahmed Deedat.  This is the biggest misconception of da'wah.  Da'wah, or calling others to Islam, is not only about intellectual arguments and debates.  Throughout this story we have always been mentioning the number one stepping stone to da'wah is manners.  The number one stepping stone to people's heart is: “We have seen you from the ṣāliḥīn.  Tell us the interpretation of the dream.  We think you to be a good man.”  The king says this, the interpreter says this, everybody says this:  “We see you to be a righteous person, help us out.”  This is the primary way of da'wah.  Every one of us has to give da'wah simply by being a good Muslim in our characteristics and manners.  This is the best da'wah and far better than intellectual debate and argumentation.

Some people can go to the intellectual side and debate side and talk about theology and what Christianity and Judaism says.  This is for the educated in the sciences of religion.  On some level, every Muslim has to call others to Islam not by the tongue and not by knocking on the door and giving pamphlets – this, in my opinion, is not the best da'wah – but simply by humanizing yourself to your neighbors and to your coworkers and showing them that your life is the meaning of Islam.  This is the best da'wah.  Your relationship with Allāh 'azza wa jall, your religiosity, your akhlāq.  And when you do so, you are opening up doors that arguments can never open up.

Also notice that Allāh 'azza wa jall mentions the path to Allāh in the singular.  Qul hādhihi sabīl.  Ihdinas ṣirāṭ'l-mustaqīm.  The path to Allāh is one.  Whatever opposes it is in the plural.  “Don't follow the paths because then you will be misguided from the one path.”  “Allāh takes them out of the darknesses to nūr.”  Allāh takes them out from multiple darknesses to the one light.  Notice truth is one.  Falsehood is many.  This is a clear point in our religion.  These days people don't like to say truth is one and instead say truth is relative – you have your truth and I have my truth.  No, this is not the Qur'ānic message.  Truth is one.  Allāh is the Truth.  The way to Allāh 'azza wa jall is one and is the ṣirāṭ and the sabīl.

Once the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) sat down in the sand and drew a straight line and said, “This is the straight path of Allāh 'azza wa jall and leads to Allāh.”  Then he drew lines that go out in the sand.  By the way, this shows us that it is of the Sunnah and the methodology of teaching to employ diagrams and charts.  The Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) is the greatest teacher, and you can go into a tangent about how he used to teach.  He would draw diagrams and charts.  He is drawing diagrams and saying, “These are the paths that lead away from the one path.”  The path to Allāh is a straight path and one path.  All that opposes it are multiple paths.

“I am upon a knowledge.”

This shows you that if you want to be a true follower of the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam), you have to have knowledge.  If you are a jāhil, you can never get to that level of following.  A true follower of the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) knows his religion.

“I do this, and all those who follow me.  And all exaltation is due to Allāh 'azza wa jall, and I am not of the idol worshippers.”

In other words, “this is my path; I am calling to Allāh.”  By saying, “subḥānAllāh,” it is as if he is saying, “And while I am on this path, I praise and glorify Allāh.”  That is what it means here.  “As I am on this path, and as I am calling to Allāh, I make it a ritual to praise Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) as well, and I am never going to be of those who worship others besides Him.

Āyah 109

“There has never come before you prophets except that they have been men whom We have inspired from the towns/cities.”

The characteristics of the prophets are that they have been men that have been inspired from the cities.  What does this mean?  The point of saying this is to say the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) has all of the characteristics the previous prophets had as well.  “You have the exact same characteristics.  You are not alone.”

This is a message to the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) to console him.  Remember this sūrah was revealed at a relatively depressing point in the life of the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam).  He is being reminded:  “You are not the only person that has suffered.  Many are the prophets before you that We have sent.”  SubḥānAllāh, it is human nature that when you find somebody who has suffered the same calamity as you, you feel a little bit of relief that you are not alone.  Our Rasūl (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) is being reminded, “You are not alone.  There have been many prophets before you that have come.”

His people are being reminded, “Why are you so shocked?  What are you amazed at?  The characteristics of the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) are the exact same as the prophets before him.”

This also shows us some theological points.  All prophets have been men.  This is the standard position of ahl'l-sunnah wa'l-jamā'ah.  There have been no female prophets.  We firmly believe this even though there is a small minority opinion that Maryam ('alayhi'l-salām) was a prophet, but it doesn't appear to be the case.  Rather, she saw an angel, and angel communicated with her, but she did not receive waḥy.  She did not receive a book from Allāh 'azza wa jall.  Angels can come to women and can appear in front of women, but this does not make them prophets.  Prophets means you get a revelation from Allāh, waḥy, and the dominant opinion has always been [all prophets have been male], and it is quite clear from this verse.  This is because for a woman to become a prophet, it would be more difficult for her to be accepted in any society, especially a patriarchal societies of old.  Also, a woman has her own issues – such as if a man is attracted to her.  It is not going to be the same as a man being a prophet.

No doubt, in our society it is politically incorrect to say that men and women are slightly different.  We believe that they are different and spiritually equal.  We don't believe that men and women are equal physiologically or emotionally.  It doesn't mean that men are better or women are better.  It is that Allāh has created each one for a role and a purpose, and Allāh 'azza wa jall has made prophecy amongst men.  By the way, if any Christian or Jew argues with you, you can ask them to look at the Old Testament, which is full of male prophets.  There is no female prophetess over there either.

This is something that we firmly believe:  they have been men.  And they have been men who live in cities.  There have been no bedouin prophets.  Bedouins (people who don't live in the cities) are, generally speaking, more uncouth and harsher and more gruff.  They don't have manners and don't know how to talk.  You all know the ḥadīth of the bedouin who walked into the masjid and lifted his pants in front of all the other men and urinated.  This is what a bedouin does because he doesn't live amongst other men, so he is not used to interacting with other men.

Of the characteristics of the prophets is that they come from cultures of the cities.  They have manners, akhlāq and morals.  The Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) came from the Quraysh, and the Quraysh were the most noble of all the Arabs.

“Haven't they traveled in the land and seen the fate of those who were before them?”

Of course the Arabs knew the fate of the people of Ṣāliḥ, and in our times we have the pyramids and Petra in Jordan and the Herculaneum of Rome and Pompeii.  We have so many signs and Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) is asking, “Haven't they seen these signs?  Haven't they gone through the earth and seen the fate of the people of before?”  SubḥānAllāh, it is the Sunnah of Allāh that every nation and society thinks that it is the pinnacle.  Every nation believes they are the most powerful and they think that they have reached the pinnacle of civilization.  Such was the case of the people of Pompeii.  Such was the case of the people of Rome and the emperors of Persia.  Such was the case of the pharaohs of Egypt.  Every single civilization and society said, “We are the lasting legacy.  We have achieved what no other society achieved.”

We still the same sentiment in our time as well, yet Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) is telling the Quraysh and people around them you are not the first, and you are not going to be the last.  Stop being so arrogant.  Allāh 'azza wa jall has created so many different societies and nations.  Learns from the lessons of those before.  Where are they now?  Where is their power now?  Where is their fame?  Where is their might?  All of it has now gone.  You don't even see except for the remnants you visit in museums and see one house out of thousands that used to stand.  Don't you learn that your civilization one day will also be the same?  It will be a lesson for other societies, so take advantage and benefit before the end comes to you.

“Surely the house and the abode of the Hereafter is better.  Don't you think and understand this?”

You are seeing the abodes of the people before and marveling at them.  The pyramids, the people of Ṣāliḥ and Thamūd and the grand palaces of Petra.  You marvel at that.

The meaning here is that after setting up the stage for the miracles of the prophets, the sincerity of the prophets that most of the people have rejected that the prophets have been preaching, all of these verses when you read them initially you think every verse is different, but when you actually study it, you see a beautiful message is in the background.  You just need to understand it.  What is that message?

“Ya Rasūlullāh, you are not the first prophet.  You have a message, you have a methodology, you have miracles.  Many people before you had the same miracles, and they were all rejected.”  What was the end result?

Āyah 110

“Until finally when the messengers gave up hope (of their people believing), and the messengers thought that they had been rejected.”

Kadhaba means to reject.  Kudhiba means they have been rejected.  Depending on how you recite the verse, kudhibu or kudhdhibu.

Khudhibu means the people thought that the promises of the prophets were false.  The people thought that here is a man telling us that Allāh is going to punish us if we don't believe, but we haven't believed, so where is the punishment?  He must be lying.  The people thought that the prophets are telling lies.  When the people thought that the prophet was telling lies, that was when Allāh's safety came to save the people of the faith and punishment came for the disbelievers.

In the other qirā'a, “and they thought that their nations had rejected them.”  The prophets came to the realization that their nations would not believe.

These are the two meanings.  Who is the one doing the thinking and doing the assuming?  If it is the people, then the people have assumed that the prophets are telling lies.  If it is the prophets, then the prophets have realized that the people will not believe.

SubḥānAllāh, both of them are correct.  One of the principles of Qur'ānic recitation is that all of them are equally valid and both of them are correct.  When both have become exasperated, when the prophets are fed up of their people and the people are fed up of their prophets – basically it is a two-way street.  They are allowed to preach until this exasperation is reached.  What happens then?

“The prophets receive Our Aid.  They are saved.”

Once again there are two qirā'a:  nujjiya and nunji, and both of them are authentic.  Both of them add complementary meanings?  Why?  Again, not to go into too much detail, one of them is in the past tense, and one of them is in the future tense.  Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) is saying that the people of the past when Allāh's Command came, We saved them, and as for the ẓālimīn, they will get there punishment.  In the other recitation, which is in the future, it is a reference to our Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) that a time will come when We will save you and you will be saved from the clutches of them, and they shall be punished by the punishment of Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla).

Both the past tense and the future tense play in perfectly.  Our Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) was saved multiple times.  He was saved on the night of hijrah and the assassination attempt.  He was saved in the battle of Badr when there was very little hope otherwise.  He was saved in the battles of Aḥzāb and Uḥud.  Every single one of these battle situations became very tense.  “We will save (or We had saved – meaning the previous prophets).”  Once again, it is the perfect choice of two qirā'at here.  Allāh is saying, “We saved the people of the past.  Surely We will save you as well.”

“Our punishment will never be averted from the wrongdoers.”

No one has the power to come between Allāh and the decree of Allāh.  Now we get to the final verse.

Āyah 111

“Indeed, in their stories there is an 'ibrah for those of intelligence.”

'Ibrah comes from 'abara which means to cross over.  You cross over the bridge, let's say.  'Ibrah is a benefit you derive at a deeper level.  You cross over to the hidden or inner meaning.  You think about it, cross into an inner meaning, and get an 'ibrah, a piece of wisdom.  Here Allāh is saying, “In their stories, indeed…”

Laqad always means an emphasis.  I have said this ten times, and I will say it again.  The whole chapter of emphasis in Arabic is lost in English because we don't have this chapter in English.  When we say it, it sounds ridiculous.  Indeed, surely, verily.  It doesn't sound modern, whereas in the Arabic language there is a whole chapter of tawqīd and emphasis.  There are ways to emphasize.  When you emphasize, it adds elegance and you pay attention.  Laqad means indeed, for sure.  But again in English it is not something we use.

Notice here – this is the last verse of the sūrah – how beautifully the beginning and the end are linked together.  What does Allāh 'azza wa jall say in the very beginning of the sūrah?  Naḥnu naquṣṣu 'alayka aḥsan'l-qaṣaṣ.  “We are going to narrate to you the best of all qaṣaṣ.”  Then the ending is:  laqad kāna fi qaṣaṣihim.  “Indeed in their stories…”  The [third āyah] has the present tense and here is the past tense because now the story has finished, so Allāh is saying, “In their stories there was…”  Kana is like a type of past.  In the beginning, Allāh is saying, “Pay attention!  You are about to hear some good stories.”  Then it is concluding.  Allāh is saying, “In these stories you just heard.”

This is beautiful.  Human beings cannot construct such eloquence.  This is a divine eloquence that only when you think about it you see it, otherwise if you tried to, you could not bring about such a beauty.

Another beauty here – and wallāhi this is just amazing; think about this – in the beginning Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) says, “In the story of Yūsuf and his brothers, there are āyāt for those who ask.”  Here we are being told “In their stories there is 'ibrah for those of intelligence.”  Now surely Allāh is doing this for a reason.  Why is there āyātu li'l-sā'ilīn in the beginning and then 'ibrah li'uli'l-bāb in the end.  Which one is a higher level?  Uli'l-bāb.  The one who thinks, the one who ponders.  The one who is asking shows that he is interested and paying attention and has an open heart and open mind.  If you have that attitude of wanting to benefit, you will find miracles, āyāt, points, but when you really think about the story, you will go beyond āyāt and will go to 'ibrah – morals, wisdoms, lessons.

Notice in the beginning Allāh mentions the lower level because it is human nature that the first reading is a cursory reading.  You are paying attention and want to know the story, the plot, and the ending.  In the beginning, Allāh 'azza wa jall says just be interested, sā'il, and you will get a lot of benefit.  In the very last āyah, Allāh says, “Now you have read the story.  If you really want to benefit, you have to ponder over it āyah by āyah, verse by verse, and you will discover 'ibrah.”  Beautiful.  In the beginning, you will benefit if you just pay attention.  In the end, now that the story is over (in the past tense) Allāh is saying laqad kāna, meaning there was indeed and now that you have done it you should go back.  There is an incentive being given now.  That is what I am trying to get at here.  There is a strong incentive being given.  Now that you have finished the story, now is the time to go back and try to do 'ibrah if you truly are a person of contemplative intelligence.

This is really the beauty of the ending here that it links up directly to he beginning and tells you, “You haven't come to the end.  This is just the beginning.  You need to now go back.”  Notice Allāh says qaṣaṣihim, which is plural, because there are lots of stories.  It is not just one story.  We call it the story of Yūsuf, but the fact of the matter is it is composed of multiple stories all put together.  Allāh 'azza wa jall is telling you, this is just the beginning, and now the real journey begins to go back and find these 'ibrah and to derive these benefits and wisdoms.  Therefore, inshā'Allāh ta'āla, next week we will obey Allāh's command and go back to the beginning, not āyah by āyah, but we will summarize perhaps fifty fawā'Īd, let's say, overall holistically.  I am not going to recite āyah by āyah – I have done that at a basic level.  We will summarize as many as we can do, but it is going to be different from what we have done.  So we will say “of the benefits of the sūrah is this,” and I will mention where we get the benefit from.  This is what Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) commands us to do, and He concludes this by saying,

“These stories are not fabricated fairy tales.”

When we hear a fairy tale, we listen to it from a very different perspective.  When we hear a real story, psychologically and subconsciously we listen and hear with a different mind.  SubḥānAllāh we all understand.  When we watch a Hollywood movie versus a documentary, what is our attitude?  Hollywood movie:  entertainment.  Documentary:  it affects you, and you are seeing real images and this is not acting.  Sorry for being so crude, but we understand now.

Allāh is saying this isn't a Hollywood movie and isn't a fairy tale.  These are real stories.  Look at it as you would the way you would look at a real story and a documentary.

“These stories prove all that has come before and is a clarification for all you need to know.  It is a guidance and mercy for those of īmān and faith.”

May Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) make us amongst the people of īmān and faith.  May He make us amongst those who follow the footsteps of the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) as he calls people to the path of Allāh 'azza wa jall.  May He make us amongst those who contemplate this sūrah in particular and extract the wisdoms and benefits and finds the 'ibrah and make us of the uli'l-bāb.  May Allāh 'azza wa jall make us benefit from the wisdom of Ya'qūb and the patience of Yūsuf and the tawbah of the brothers of Yūsuf.  May Allāh 'azza wa jall make us of the people of the Qur'ān.

Everything I have said that is correct and authentic of the interpretation of this sūrah is all from the blessings of Allāh 'azza wa jall.  Anything I have said that was incorrect, a mistake, an incorrect judgment, all of this is from my whisperings and the whisperings of Shayṭān.  Allāh and His Messenger have nothing to do with those mistakes.

Published: October 1, 2011

[Note: This Op Ed was also published in the International Herald Tribune]

Yasir Qadhi, an American Muslim cleric, is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Religious Studies at Yale. He blogs at muslimmatters.org.

Memphis

ANWAR AL-AWLAKI, the Yemeni-American cleric who was killed Friday in a C.I.A. drone attack in Yemen, appears to be the first United States citizen that our government has publicly targeted for assassination.

The accusations against him were very serious, but as a citizen, he deserved a fair trial and the chance to face his accusers in a court of law. Whether he deserved any punishment for his speech was a decision that a jury should have made, not the executive branch of our government. The killing of this American citizen is not only unconstitutional, but hypocritical and counterproductive.

The assassination is unconstitutional because the Fifth Amendment specifies that no person may “be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.” A group of policy makers unilaterally deciding that a particular citizen needs to be targeted is, by no stretch of the imagination, due process.

The assassination is hypocritical because America routinely criticizes (and justifiably so) such extrajudicial assassinations when they occur at the hands of another government. We most certainly don't approve the regimes of Syria or Iran eliminating those whom they deem to be traitors. In fact, Al Qaeda's own justifications for murder stem from the notion that its members are qualified to be the judge, jury and executioner of those whom they view as enemies. America's moral authority is undermined if we criticize in others what we do ourselves. It only reinforces the stereotype that the United States has very little concern for its own principles. Even Nazi war criminals got their day in court, at Nuremburg.

It is ironic to note that those who have actually attempted terrorist attacks on American soil and been caught were read their Miranda rights and went to trial, even though some were not United States citizens. Yet Mr. Awlaki, who has never been accused of himself directly attempting an attack, was not given this chance.

Lastly, the assassination is counterproductive because it feeds into the martyr mythology that makes Al Qaeda's narrative so different from that of most other terrorist groups.

If our policy makers studied history, they would realize that Sayyid Qutb, a founder of radical Islam, while popular in his life, only achieved his legendary status after the Nasser regime in Egypt had him executed, in 1966. Instantly, his books became (and remain) best sellers. Killing people doesn't make their ideas go away.

Mr. Awlaki was born in New Mexico in 1971 while his father was pursuing graduate studies. Though his parents returned to Yemen when he was seven, he later returned to the United States to pursue degrees in engineering and education. Eventually, he became an imam, or leader, of a mosque in California and later in Virginia. During these years, it is alleged that he met multiple times with at least three of the 9/11 hijackers. But for many American Muslims, he was only known for one thing: the telling of stories from the Koran. He lectured about the lives of the prophets of God, drawing from traditional Islamic sources (and sometimes even Biblical ones).

His captivating lecture style and copious quotations from classical sources made him extremely popular, especially among American Muslim youth. During these pre-9/11 years, these lectures, still available online, became some of the hottest-selling items at some Islamic conferences across America. At this stage, he was not publicly associated with any radical views. However, after 9/11, he adopted a more adversarial and anti-American tone, eventually moving back to Yemen. He was jailed for two years (and rumored to have been tortured).

It was only after his release that he publicly began supporting Al Qaeda and issuing messages calling for attacks upon the United States. It was alleged that he came into contact with or inspired a number of people to attempt terrorist activities: Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the Army psychiatrist accused in the 2009 killings in Fort Hood, Tex.; Umar Farouk Abdulmuttalib, accused of trying to set off a bomb hidden in his underwear on a 2009 flight to Detroit; and Faisal Shahzad, who tried to blow up a car in Times Square last year.

Mr. Awlaki's ideas were dangerous. His message that one cannot be a good Muslim and an American at the same time was insulting to nearly all American Muslims. His views about the permissibility of killing Americans indiscriminately were completely at odds with those of mainstream Muslim clerics around the world. He needed to be refuted. And that is why many people, myself included, were extremely vocal in doing just that.

Mr. Awlaki needed to be challenged, not assassinated. By killing him, America has once again blurred the lines between its own tactics and the tactics of its enemies. In silencing Mr. Awlaki's voice, not only did America fail to live up to its ideals, but it gave Mr. Awlaki's dangerous message a life and power of its own. And these two facts make the job of refuting that message now even more difficult.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/02/opinion/sunday/assassinating-al-awlaki-was-counterproductive.html?ref=opinion

This lecture is brought to you by the Memphis Islamic Center (MIC). For more information about MIC, please visit www.memphisislamiccenter.org

[The following is the video and transcript of part 13 of Shaykh Yasir Qadhi's lecture series "The Best of Stories: Pearls from Surah Yusuf."  The transcript includes slight modifications for the sake of readability and clarity.]

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15

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In our last halaqah, we were just concluding the very final passages of Sūrah Yūsuf.  We had actually finished the story of Yūsuf ('alayhi'l-salām) except for the one du'ā' that he makes at the end.  This du'ā' is what we are going to start off with today and finish up half a paragraph and hopefully inshā'Allāh by the next halaqah we will completely finish Sūrah Yūsuf and summarize some of the main points in Sūrah Yūsuf.

After he had raised his parents on the throne and after they had fallen down in sajdah, he then makes a du'ā'.  He mentions the blessings that Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) has given him.  He mentions the blessings without ever mentioning anything to do with his brothers because he has told his brothers “there is no criticism on you after today.”  All of the blessings that he mentions – to be saved from the prison and to be saved from fitnah – he doesn't mention anything to do with being in the well or anything to do with his brothers.  He praises Allāh 'azza wa jall for having guided his parents and bringing his parents from the bedouin livelihood into the cities.

Then he makes a private du'ā' to Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla).  The first paragraph was public.  He says:

Āyah 101

“O my Rabb…”

We clarified in the last halaqah the meaning of Rabb.  Rabb has three meanings to it.  The first meaning is the Owner.  You call out to the One who owns you because ownership necessitates responsibility.  When you own your car, you have to take care of it.  When you own something, you are the one who is in charge of it.

The second meaning of Rabb is Nourisher / Sustainer, and from this we get the word tarbiyyah, which is a spiritual nourishment.  When you call out to Rabb, you are saying, “O the One who takes care of me.  O the One who will nourish me.”

The third meaning of Rabb is Lord and Master, meaning the One who is obeyed.

This is why the Name of Allāh Al-Rabb is one of the most comprehensive Names of Allāh.  This is why it is the most common Name that is ever used in any du'ā'.  Rabbi zidni 'ilma.  Rabbana ātina fi'l-dunya ḥasanatan wa fi'l-ākhirati ḥasanatan wa qina 'adāb'l-nār. All of these use Rabb – why?  Because when you call your Rabb, you are calling your Owner, Master, Nourisher.  Therefore, Has to nourish and sustain you.  Anything you ask for your Owner, Nourisher, and Sustainer has to give it to you; therefore, you invoke your Rabb.

He mentions two things:

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

Why does he say 'something'?  Because he is invoking Al-Mālik and the One who is Al-'Alīm.  He is saying, “O Al-Mālik, You have given me some mulk.  O Al-' Alīm, You have given me some 'ilm.”  In contrast to Allāh 'azza wa jall, who is he and what is his power and what is his knowledge?  In contrast to everybody on earth, there is no doubt he has the most knowledge, but now he is invoking Allāh 'azza wa jall and saying, “O Allāh, You have given me a little bit of Your Power.”

Min here means a little bit.  He is trivializing the knowledge that he has with 'min' because in comparison to Allāh that knowledge is trivial and in comparison to Allāh that power is nothing even though at this point in time he is the most powerful man on earth, even more powerful than the king, because he controls food and people are starving.  He is the minister of food, and people need food more than they need anything else.

He is also the most knowledgeable people on earth.  It is very rare in the history of humanity that power and knowledge have been combined to perfection.  Perfection of knowledge is prophethood.  It is very rare that the prophets have also been rulers, and that is why our Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) is no doubt the most successful of all of Allāh's messengers even though they were all successful in their own way.  Our Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) was the most successful because he combined al-mulk and al-'ilm.

Very few people before him had combined these two, and of those who combined partially was Mūsa ('alayhi'l-salām) in that he was given some dominion, but he still did not ever see the Holy Land.  Mūsa died in the exodus when they were wandering around, but nonetheless he did have some political power.  'Īsa ('alayhi'l-salām) did not have any political power, and he led a different life.  Ibrāhīm ('alayhi'l-salām) did not have that type of political power.  Yūsuf ('alayhi'l-salām) and a few other prophets – of course Dāwūd and Sulaymān ('alayhi'l-salām) are the best examples in this regard – were given mulk and 'ilm, and there is no doubt that this is the perfection.

What is the most prized possession of any human being?  Power.  When you have power, everything else follows – fame, prestige, money, all of your lustful desires can be satisfied whether it is food, drink or sensual pleasures.  When you are king or prime minister, everything else follows.  All of the other pleasures of this dunya cannot compete with the pleasure of power because when you have power, everything else is subservient to that.

The greatest blessing of this world, if it is used properly is power.  The greatest blessing of the spiritual realm is knowledge.  Yūsuf ('alayhi'l-salām) is, therefore, mentioning the two blessings that Allāh has given and perfected.

And of the knowledge, he mentions the most rare type of knowledge, and that is the knowledge of the interpretation of the dreams.  As we have said over and over again, most knowledge is learned from books, and you can memorize the Qurʾān, study tafsīr, study fiqh and ḥadīth.  This knowledge is difficult to obtain, but nonetheless it is available.  There are a few types of knowledge that you cannot study and learn.  It is a pure blessing from Allāh 'azza wa jall.  You can study for years and years and never master a particular type of science unless Allāh has bestowed it upon you.  Of the most important of these sciences is the interpretation of dreams.  As I have said over and over again, these booklets, encyclopedias and websites that you find are not worth the ink they are printed on, by and large, because dream interpretation is a gift Allāh blesses you with.  It is not something that you learn.

I gave some examples that the same dream can be interpreted differently based on the culture you are in and based on who is seeing the dream.  The same symbol for one person will symbolize one thing and will symbolize something else for another person, so you cannot just look it up in a book.  It is something that is a God-given gift.

Yūsuf mentions the two most prized blessings he has been given.  He begins the du'ā' by mentioning these special blessings for a number of reasons.  Firstly, to acknowledge his gratitude.  Of the best ways to acknowledge gratitude is to mention.  We do this all the time in our lives and say, “I appreciate the favor you have done for me.”  We thank verbally when someone has done something.  Of the ways you acknowledge Allāh's gratitude is that you say it.  “O my Lord, I know that you have given me x, y, z.  O my Lord, I know that you have given me wealth and given me status.”  You begin the du'ā' by acknowledging Allāh's favors upon you.

The second point is that by acknowledging Allāh's favors, it is as if you are saying, “O Allāh, You have given me this much, also give me this now.  You are the One who has been so generous…” Again, we find this in our world as well.  If somebody has been helpful and there is a donor to the masjid, then the first person we go to when we need help is the donor and we say, “Akhi, you already gave $50,000 last year māshā'Allāh, and this year we need this.”  His generosity has now been established, so we go to the people who we know what their character is like.

To Allāh belongs the more perfect example.  By mentioning these favors, it is as if Yūsuf is saying, “O Allāh You gave me this, I know You will give me this.”  This is how you begin the du'ā'.  That is why one of the ways that we should make du'ā' as well is by acknowledging Allāh's Favors on us.  This is how we should begin du'ā'.  The best du'ā' for istighfār (sayyid'l-istighfār) – the du'ā' that is the queen or master of all of the du'ā's of istighfār – begins with “O Allāh I acknowledge all of the blessings You have given me…”  The du'ā' is for istighfār, and this is going to come later on, but before you begin the du'ā', you acknowledge and say, “O Allāh I acknowledge all of the favors You have given me, and I acknowledge my sins; therefore, O Allāh, forgive me.”

“…Fāṭira'l-samawāti wa'l-arḍ …”

Fāṭir is one of the Names of Allāh 'azza wa jall.  When the Name occurs, it is almost always followed by “al-samawāti wa'l-arḍ.”  We rarely find Al-Fāṭir, but we find “Fāṭira'l-samawāti wa'l-arḍ.”  What does fāṭir mean?  It means the originator, the one who extracts and creates out of nothing.  The verb faṭara literally means to carve in half and to split open.  It is as if the person who created extracted from nothing – he opened and cracked open the seed or the egg and took out what was needed.  The actual meaning of faṭara is to crack open and to put a split.

Fāṭir is as if Allāh has cracked open, if you like.  This is metaphorical meaning.  Allāh created from nothing.  The meaning is as if He originated – this is the proper word in English – the heavens and the earth.

By mentioning the specific blessings – “You have given me power, You have given me knowledge” – he then moves on to the general characteristic of Allāh:  You are the Originator of the heavens and the earth.  He begins by mentioning specific blessings and then general blessings.  The specific blessings:  You have given me something You have given nobody else.  The general blessing:  You are the Creator and Originator of the heavens and earth.

“You are my Wali in this world and the next.”

He mentions two Names in this verse:  Fāṭir and Wali – after of course mentioning Rabb, which is already mentioned in the beginning of the du'ā'.  What does Wali mean?  Al-Wali is of the Names of Allāh 'azza wa jall as well.  Al-Wali and Al-Mawla are sister names.  By [the term] sister names, I mean there are Names of Allāh 'azza wa jall that are overlapping and similar and derived from the same root.  For example:  Al-Ghāfir, Al-Ghafūr, Al-Ghaffār.  For example:  Al-'Alīm, 'Allāmu'l-ghuyūb,  There are Names of Allāh 'azza wa jall that are very similar and have minor differences.  Of them are Al-Wali and Al-Mawla.

Al-Wali and Al-Mawla are from the same verb yali, which means to be right next to.  Al-Wali, therefore, literally and originally means the one who is in your proximity and around you.  Therefore, your supporters and your comforters and your family and your protectors are all in Arabic called your wali.  The Qurʾān uses the terminology wali to talk about the one who takes care of the orphans because he is the one who is monitoring and caring for them.  The Qurʾān and Sunnah use the term wali to talk about the wali in the case of a nikāḥ (marriage) – the young woman who has never been married needs a wali.  A wali is a guardian and somebody who will care for her and protect her interests.  Because he is protecting her interests, he is a wali.

Allāh 'azza wa jall is not just a wali but Al-Wali, which means He is the One who is protecting and caring and in close proximity to the believers.  He is the wali of the believers only.  “Allāh is the wali of those who have īmān.”  In the Qurʾān in Sūrat'l-An'ām:  “Should I take any wali other than Allāh?  Fāṭira'l-samawāti wa'l-arḍ.” Wali and Fāṭara are mentioned in the same āyah just like in Sūrah Yūsuf.  Why?  Al-Fāṭiris the Originator and Creator of the physical world, and Al-Wali is your guide and protector in the spiritual.  He has created the world around you and is the physical Owner, Master, Originator, and then He has to take care of you and nourish you spiritually; therefore, He is your Wali.

Also, the Name of Allāh 'azza wa jall Al-Mawla is mentioned many times.  “Allāh is a sufficient Mawla, and Allāh is a sufficient Protector.”  Nasīr and Mawla are paired together to show you what the meaning of Mawla is.  In the end of Sūrat'l-Baqarah:  “Anta Mawlana (You are our Mawla) fanṣurna 'ala qawm'l-kāfirīn.”  It is the job of the Mawla.  The Wali is around you and in your proximity and caring for you and protecting you just like the wali in the nikāḥ and the wali of the orphan isn't caring for himself but is caring for the one he is protecting.  The meaning of wali in the nikāḥ and for the orphan is that his interests are the interests of the other party.  He is going to protect the other party; therefore, when you are the wali in someone's nikāḥ, you will look at her interests and what will protect her.  To Allāh belongs the better example.  When Allāh is our Wali, everything that happens He is doing for our own good because He is our Wali.

At the end of the story, Yūsuf ('alayhi'l-salām) is saying, “I know, O Allāh, that all that has happened You were protecting me and You had a plan.  You are my Wali in this world and in the next.”  By acknowledging Allāh as his Wali, there are two meanings here.  The first is that it is a statement of fact that Yūsuf ('alayhi'l-salām) is acknowledging that he has īmān that Allāh is his Wali.  The second is that it is a du'ā' implicit in the statement of fact:  “O Allāh, continue to remain my Wali.”

Let me repeat.  By saying “anta waliyy fi'l-dunya wa'l-ākhirah,” Yūsuf ('alayhi'l-salām) is acknowledging two things. The first of them is that he is making a statement of fact and expressing his īmān.  “O Allāh, I know You are my Wali.”  By expressing his īmān, he is affirming his faith in Allāh.  The second is that he is implicitly extracting a du'ā' from Allāh:  “O Allāh, because You are my Wali, protect me in this world and the next.”  So there is both a statement of fact and an implicit du'ā' mentioned.

SubḥānAllāh, look at what a beautiful Name Yūsuf ('alayhi'l-salām) has chosen in light of his own story.  Again, he is a prophet of Allāh and will choose the best Name. He could have chosen Al-Khabīr or Al-Ghafār, and all of these are appropriate, but by choosing Al-Wali, he is indicating “O Allāh, I know you protected me.”  That is what a wali does: protect.  “O Allāh, I know You protected me throughout all of my trials.  Because you protected me in this world, also protect me in the next.”

By acknowledging Allāh's wilāyah, and by praising Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) in this manner, the whole paragraph as of yet has been praise after praise after praise.  “You have given me the kingdom.  You have taught me the knowledge of dreams.  The Originator of the heavens and the earth, You are my Wali in this world and the next.”  Now comes the du'ā'.  After all of this praise, now his request comes.  This shows us, once again, the appropriate manner of making a du'ā'.

Once the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) was passing by somebody who was making du'ā' who raised his hands and said, “O Allāh, give me this and give me that.”  The Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said, “The man has been hasty.  He didn't do his job properly.”  They said, “What should he have done?”  He mentioned a du'ā', and from it we derive that he should have praised Allāh and made taḥmīd and begun by expressing glory to Allāh 'azza wa jall and then worked his way to the du'ā'.

It is a hasty du'ā' – we are not saying it is wrong.  To fulfill a real du'ā' and the proper etiquettes of du'ā', you raise your hands up to Allāh and begin by praising Allāh and by acknowledging what Allāh has given you.  You begin by praising Allāh a general praise and a specific praise.  What is a general phrase?  Fāṭira'l-samawāti wa'l-arḍ.  What is a specific praise?  In our case, you think of what blessing Allāh has given you, and you say, “O Allāh, You have blessed me with a beautiful family.  O Allāh, You have given me this.   O Allāh, You have given me that.”  Acknowledge Allāh's blessings and praise Allāh in a general manner and then you get to your du'ā'.

What is the du'ā'?

“Cause me to die as a Muslim, and allow me to join those who are righteous.”

Some people have misunderstood this verse to mean that Yūsuf ('alayhi'l-salām) was asking for his own death and that he is raising his hands to Allāh and asking Allāh to give him death.  One of the scholars of past said, “No one of the righteous ever wished for death other than Yūsuf” because he is saying “tawaffani musliman (cause me to die).”

The majority refuted this and said that this is a misunderstanding.  Why?  The Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said, “None of you should wish for death because the life of the believer is nothing but good.”  When you die, your good deeds are closed, and you are not going to get the amount of good that you are getting when you are alive.  The life of the believer only brings about more good and, therefore, how can a prophet of Allāh wish for death when his life is nothing but good?  And, therefore, the majority interpretation and opinion is that he is saying, “O Allāh, when death comes to me, let me be in the state of Islam.”  This is clearly what Yūsuf ('alayhi'l-salām) is intending, and even Allāh 'azza wa jall says, “Do not die except in a state of Islam.”  This doesn't mean that we should rush to death but that we should be persistent in our Islam.

This du'ā' at the end after all of this praise is very profound.  Why?  After all of these blessings that he mentioned, there is a blessing that is more precious to Yūsuf than the kingdom and knowledge, and that is Islam.  The blessing of Islam is something that is more important to him than anything else.  Wallāhi this is something that we should really think about.  We take Islam for granted so much.  I ask myself this and I ask you:  When was the last time you genuinely praised Allāh and thanked Him for being a Muslim?  When was the last time you raised your hands up to Him and said, “O Allāh, allow me to live as a Muslim and die as a Muslim.”

This is what is on the mind of Yūsuf ('alayhi'l-salām).  He has been given the kingdom and the knowledge, which is very rare even amongst the prophets, and yet there is a blessing that outshines and excels all of these blessings, and that is the blessing of Islam.  It is something so simple and we take it for granted, but Yūsuf ('alayhi'l-salām) understands how precious it is.  He says, “Allow me to die in the state of Islam.”

The meaning of this is:  allow me to persist in being a good Muslim until death comes to me.  Nobody knows when death will come, so whenever death comes “allow me to be in that perfect state of Islam.”

“…and cause me to join the righteous.”

Once again, there is a profundity here.  He is worried about his companions in the next life and who he will be hanging around in the next life.  Why?  In the next life, there are only two categories and camps – there is no middle camp.  In this world there is a middle camp and we can pick and choose, but in the next, everything is sifted.  Therefore, he wants to be in the camp of the winners and not of the losers, and he says, “O Allāh, cause me to join the righteous.”

As a prophet of Allāh, he obviously is righteous, and he is asking Allāh to be amongst the righteous.  There is an implicit du'ā' “allow me to be with my forefathers who are also prophets and my brothers who are now also prophets.”  Either they [the brothers] became prophets now or later.  By making du'ā' to Allāh to be with the ṣāliḥīn, he is making du'ā' to be with his own father and grandfather.

It is said in the books of history that Ya'qūb ('alayhi'l-salām) died, and Yūsuf was grief-stricken by his death and died shortly two or three years after.  Ya'qūb lived a very long life.  Yūsuf ('alayhi'l-salām) died shortly after his death even though he might have lived much longer for that time period, but Allāh 'azza wa jall willed that he die shortly after his father.  This du'ā' becomes even more meaningful.  “O Allāh cause me to be amongst the righteous.”  No doubt who comes to mind will be his own father.

Also the concept here is that you will be with those whom you love and hang around.  The Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said that man will follow the methodology of his friends, so be careful who your friends are.  If you are with the ṣāliḥīn in this world, chances are you will be with the ṣāliḥīn in the next.  If you avoid the ṣāliḥīn in this world, then chances are that you will not get to the ṣāliḥīn in the next.

Of the most important benefits that we derive from this paragraph is:  how to make du'ā', the etiquettes of du'ā', the sincerity of du'ā', and what to make du'ā' about.  As I said when I was giving the halaqah two days ago, when you reach a high level of īmān, your mind does not think about “O Allāh give me a million bucks.  O Allāh give me a fancy car.”  Your mind transcends such petty things.

Here is Yūsuf asking what we would consider the lowest common denominator amongst everything and that is Islam.  For us this is the lowest common denominator.  Wallāhi, I ask myself and you again:  when was the last time you asked Allāh for Islam?  We take it for granted, isn't it?  We ask Allāh for this world and we ask Allāh for matters that might not be as important, but Yūsuf ('alayhi'l-salām) understands what is most important.

This paragraph and this du'ā' is a very profound paragraph that summarizes the gist of the story and the īmān of Yūsuf ('alayhi'l-salām) and what he is thinking about.  He wants Islam in this world and he wants Jannah and the ṣāliḥīn in the next.

Another point here:  Yūsuf ('alayhi'l-salām) was a prophet.  There is no question that he would remain a prophet until he died.  In other words, there is no question that he would ever lose Islam.  A prophet of Allāh can never commit shirk or kufr or else he wouldn't be a prophet.  Prophets are sinless, meaning they cannot commit major sins, yet Yūsuf ('alayhi'l-salām) is asking for that which is guaranteed for him.  Islam is guaranteed for him and he has no fear of losing it in the real sense.  There is no way that he can ever not be a Muslim and yet what is on his mind is giving him Islam.

This reminds us of 'Umar b. Al-Khaṭṭāb, which is one of the most interesting stories of īmān.  The Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) told Umar that he is of the people of Jannah, yet 15 years later, he is begging Hudhayfah, “Tell me if I am one of the munāfiq the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) told you about.”  Do you see the contradiction here?  If he truly believes in the Rasul (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam), then he must also believe that he is going to Jannah because the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) told him he is going to Jannah, but because his īmān is at a level beyond what we can understand, he is overzealous and over concerned more than he needs to be that he doesn't have the one thing he has been guaranteed by the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam).  He is worried about the impossible because of his own īmān.  We see this in the story of Yūsuf ('alayhi'l-salām).  Yūsuf is making a du'ā' for something that in reality he doesn't need, but he is so eager for it because he knows that this is all that he needs.

A du'ā' in Ṣaḥīḥ Bukhāri:  “O the One who changes the hearts, make my heart firm in worshipping you.”  Once again, can our Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) ever not be firming in worshipping Allāh?  Can that ever happen?  It is not even possible, yet this is the du'ā' that he is making.  It is not even conceivable that our Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) would not be upon the dīn of Allāh, but his du'ā' is “O Allāh, make my heart firm in your dīn.”  Once again it is that level of īmān.

The same in the story of Ibrahim ('alayhi'l-salām).  The worst sin is the worship of idols, and it is not conceivable that a prophet of Allāh can worship an idol.  Yet when is standing in front of the Ka'bah after he has finished building it with his son Ismā'īl and he is filled with awe, the du'ā' on his mind is:  “Make me of Your worshippers, and save me from worshipping an idol.”  Once again, the impossible, but when you get to that level of īmān, this is what you are worried about.

The moral of all of this is that if this is the du'ā' of Yūsuf ('alayhi'l-salām), our Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam), and Ibrahim ('alayhi'l-salām) and they are guaranteed, then where do you think I am and you are?  How much sincerely do you think we, who have absolutely no guarantee at all, should be making du'ā'?  Should we not be making this du'ā' with so much zeal and vigor?  Yet, as I say, when was the last time we made a du'ā' for what we consider to be the lowest common denominator?

In this beautiful du'ā' of Yūsuf ('alayhi'l-salām), we have the affirmation of tawḥīd, the perfection of Allāh's Names and Attributes, and the pure submission to Allāh 'azza wa jall when he says, “Make me of those who submit to You.”  We see that his dying wish is to die as a submitter or worshipper of Allāh 'azza wa jall.  With this comprehensive du'ā', the actual story of Yūsuf ('alayhi'l-salām) finishes, and the story goes on for a page or so.  Today we will do a little bit and then next week we will try to finish up inshā'Allāh.

Just to finish up some loose ends here:

Realize that Ya'qūb was living in the land of Canaan which is now called Filistine.  He had been promised this land, but he had not cultivated it.  He was living in the wilderness and in a barren valley.  He had been promised this land but had not taken over it and was living as a bedouin.  When the drought happened and when people are dying, Yūsuf ('alayhi'l-salām) calls them to Egypt and gives them a luscious, beautiful life, but they know that this is a temporary phase and they have to eventually go back to the Promised Land.

We find in our books – and Allāh knows how true this is or not – that Ya'qūb ('alayhi'l-salām) gives the wasiyyah to bury him as close as possible to the Promised Land in Egypt.  As for Yūsuf ('alayhi'l-salām), he made an even stricter wasiyyah and this is from an authentic ḥadīth, so we know this for sure.  When Yūsuf ('alayhi'l-salām) was on his deathbed, he took a covenant with his children that: “whenever Allāh tells you to return to the Holy Land, you must take my body and my corpse and travel with it and bury me in the Holy Land.”  He made a promise with his children to do this.

Hundreds of years went by between Yūsuf and Mūsa.  When Yūsuf ('alayhi'l-salām) came, they were 75 people and by the time Mūsa came, there were probably a quarter of a million or something.  We don't know exactly, but at least a quarter to half a million.  We have a huge number of people in the actual exodus.

Hundreds of years go by and our ḥadīth tell us that when Mūsa ('alayhi'l-salām) tried to leave, he was physically prevented from doing so.  He could not go and he knew this was from Allāh 'azza wa jall, so he asked his people, “What is going on?”  Somebody tells them that there is a legend that they know and a story that they heard that Yūsuf ('alayhi'l-salām) made a promise with his progeny that they could not leave the land except with his body.  Mūsa ('alayhi'l-salām) said, “Where is he buried?”  They said, “We don't know.  It has been hundreds of years.”  They went through every single house and every single person of the children of Isrā'īl until they came across a very old lady from of the descendants of Yūsuf ('alayhi'l-salām).  She said, “I remember my forefathers telling me that he was buried in this location.”  They went to that location and dug up the body and carried it with them for over forty years in the wilderness until finally they arrived in the Holy Land and he was buried there.  Mūsa ('alayhi'l-salām) was not alive when they entered the Holy Land because of the forty-year exodus that they were given.  Mūsa ('alayhi'l-salām) was wandering in the wilderness and died in the wilderness, but Allāh 'azza wa jall told Mūsa that he was about to die, so he told the angel of death to take his soul in an area where he could at least see the Holy Land.  He climbed up a hill and overlooking them was the Holy Land.  He died there and was buried there.  There is clearly this concept and notion that the people of Isrā'īl knew that they would return to the Holy Land.  Our Prophet Yūsuf ('alayhi'l-salām) also knew this, which is why he told his progeny to take his body to the Holy Land.

This is the conclusion of the actual story of Yūsuf ('alayhi'l-salām).  The sūrah goes on, and the next verse says:

Āyah 102

“This is of the news of the ghayb…”

I think I already mentioned in the first class that the difference between hādha and dhālik is the distance.  Hādha is over here, and dhālik is over there.  By using the word dhālik, Allāh 'azza wa jall is elevating the story.  The story is right here, and we just finished it.  Technically to say hādha may be more precise to say linguistically in the sense that we have just finished the story, but by saying dhālik, Allāh 'azza wa jall is showing the majesty of the story and elevating the rank.  It is connecting the verse, yet Allāh uses dhālik to indicate how exalted the story is.

“All of this is from the knowledge of the ghayb that We have inspired to you.”  The word min is 'from.'

“And you were not with them when they gathered together to plot against Yūsuf ('alayhi'l-salām).”

Allāh 'azza wa jall mentions one incident in the whole story:  when they gathered together to plot against Yūsuf.  Why does He mention this one instance?  He doesn't say that the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) was not with them in the palace of the king or that the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) was not with him when he was in the well or that the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) was not with them when they went to Egypt.  Why doesn't He mention all of these?  Why does He mention the one point that he was not with them when they gathered to plot against Yūsuf?  It was the most secret point of the whole story.  Nobody knew it.  They intended to make a secret out of it, and they hid from everybody else, and nobody could have ever told him the conversation in the beginning of the surah other than Allāh 'azza wa jall.  Allāh 'azza wa jall is saying, “You weren't there when they gathered together while they were plotting and planning against Yūsuf.”  Allāh signifies the most secretive of all of the gatherings in the whole story.

What is the purpose of saying, “You weren't there?”  Of course the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) knows he wasn't there.  Why is Allāh addressing him by saying, “You weren't there”?  Allāh 'azza wa jall is addressing the world through him and is asking mankind to think.  Where do you think these stories come from?  Of the greatest miracles of our Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) is the fact that the Qurʾān mentions these stories.

I need to impress upon all of you the society at the time of the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam).  The world at the time of the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) is a world that many of us would not understand.  We are living in a very modern world now.  The best I can say is imagine in the jungles of Africa that are still in our times cut off from electricity and the internet or in places in Australia where maybe the aborigines are still living – I don't know if they still live like that, but I am just saying.

Imagine if somebody lived like that and came forth in our times.  He was discovered in the middle of the desert having no education, not speaking the languages of the people around, having no library and having no access to books and yet he is a computer programmer or a doctor.  I'm just giving you a ridiculous example.  How is it possible?  One would be amazed.  Our Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) did something infinitely more miraculous.

We need to understand that Arabia was literally a barbaric society and it wasn't even civilized.  There was no government.  One of the signs of the most uncivilized people is that there is no government.  Isn't that true?  Government is the basic level of civilization.  The Arabs didn't even have a government.  Every tribe was warring against another.  There was no unified government and no law and no order.  They don't have a script with which to write.  Basic Arabic was so confusing, even Arab experts now cannot read that Arabic.  In Makkah, we can estimate roughly from the sources that there were around ten people in the whole city of at least a thousand who knew how to read and write.  There was not a single library in the whole of the Arabian peninsula.  There was no book written in Arabic at this time – not one book written in Arabic.  They only wrote mu'āllaqāt.  They did not have volumes at the time.  They didn't even have two-story houses.  It was such a primitive society and within a hundred years would become the leaders of the world, but that is a separate story.

This primitive society has no connection with Judaism and Christianity.  In Makkah, there were no Jews and Christians unlike Khaybar and unlike Yemen.  The people of Makkah are not growing up on the stories of Joseph and Jacob and Mary and Jesus. It's not their culture.  That's the culture of the Romans and other societies.  The Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) has been raised and born in Makkah, yet here he comes forth with a book the likes of which beats any eloquence their poets have.  The language is beyond this world, literally.  The power and beauty and profundity and, for the purposes of this āyah, the content.  Where did he get it from?  Allāh says, “You never used to write books before this.  You never used to recite poetry before this.  If you had done so, perhaps those who doubt would have a reason to doubt.”  This is another point here.  For forty years, the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) never once gave a line of poetry.  He never once was known for literature.  He was known for honesty, character, and bravery, but he wasn't known for literature.  Instantaneously overnight – and this again is something that is not humanly possible; you cannot become a doctor, computer programmer, or expert in anything without experience.  Even to drive a car or do anything, you need experience.

Allāh is telling us that overnight our Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) begins to spread a revelation, teach a message, recite stories.  “Neither you nor your people before you had access to these stories.”  What is really amazing is that many of the details of these stories are not even found in the Old Testament and are only found in the Qurʾān.  This is even more amazing because if there was complete parallel, then you could have said – and this is a theory that used to be popular a hundred years ago – that the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) copied from the Bible.  Now no serious researcher says this because there are so many differences in the stories, the details, and the format.  There is clearly no direct copying going on at all.

More impressive than this was that there was no access.  The first Arabic translation of the Bible was around 180 AH, which is very much later on and way after Islam came.  Before this time there wasn't even an Arabic translation of the Bible, so the question is where then did an illiterate unschooled man in the middle of a peninsula that was wild and far from the cultures of Rome and Persia get this from?  This is what Allāh is saying in the Qu'ran.  “This is of the knowledge of the ghayb.  We are the Ones who inspire you.”  This is a miracle of Allāh 'azza wa jall by telling us the story of Yūsuf ('alayhi'l-salām).

If you remember many months ago when we started this story, I said one of the reasons that is given for why this surah is revealed is that the Quraysh sent a delegation to the ahl'l-kitāb of Madinah saying, “We have someone amongst us who claims to be a prophet.  What can we do to prove that he is not a prophet?”  The ahl'l-kitāb there said, “Test him with a number of questions.”  They gave a number of questions.  One of them was:  “Test him to tell if he can tell the story of Yūsuf and the strange things that happened to him.”  The ahl'l-kitāb knew that nobody knew this except for them, and they themselves did not have their libraries in Madinah.  It was oral tradition and secret; only they knew it.  It was another city two weeks journey away from Makkah, and the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) had never been to Madinah as an adult.  They go to the Quraysh and say, “Ask him the story of Yūsuf.”  They asked him the story of Yūsuf and what happens?  Allāh reveals Surah Yūsuf.

Then Allāh concludes the story by saying, “This is of the knowledge of the ghayb that We inspired to you.  You weren't there.”  What is going to happen?  The next verse:

Āyah 103

“And most of mankind will not believe even if you are eager for their belief.”

In other words, Allāh 'azza wa jall is concluding this story by talking about its miraculous aspects.  How did you get this story?  It came from Us.  “This is a clear sign that you are a truthful prophet, yet most of mankind will not accept it.”  To this day, by the way, the same challenge applies.  As you know, I've studied in academia as well.  I find it very interesting how various people try to interpret the life of the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) and how the non-Muslims who reject the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) explain his lifestyle and his reasons and mannerisms.  To be honest, there is no feasible explanation that they have.  There is nothing that is sensible.  To this day there are a lot of theories.  People say that he might have gone to Syria, but all of this is conjecture.  They are not willing to acknowledge the most logical and rational possibility that is it came to him from the Ultimate Source, Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla).

Allāh is saying, “Even though it is so clear that this Qurʾān is from Allāh and even though it is so clear that you are getting waḥy, most of mankind will not believe despite the fact that you want them to believe.”  This clearly shows us the mentality of our Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam).  He wanted good (khayr) for his ummah.  Ḥariṣ means to be extra eager and extra passionate about something.  Allāh 'azza wa jall uses this word for our Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) in Sūrah Tawbah:  “There has come to you a prophet amongst you.  He finds it difficult to see your pain.  He is ever protective, ever careful, ever loving towards you.  'Alaykum bi'l-mu'minīn ra'ūfu raḥīm.” Al-Ra'ūf and Al-Raḥīm are two Attributes of Allāh 'azza wa jall.  Take the alif-lām out and our Lord ascribed them to our Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam).  The Rasūl is extra merciful and extra compassionate as much as humanly possible.

Allāh 'azza wa jall Himself calls our Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) ever eager to help you and guide you.  Our Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) also explained in one ḥadīth:  “My example with my nation and my people is that I see them trying to jump into the fire, and I'm holding onto their belt trying to drag them out, and they want to try to disobey me and jump into the fire.”  He is describing his relationship with the people.  He doesn't care if they are acting foolishly, he has to try to save them.  This is what Allāh 'azza wa jall is saying:  “I know you are eager for your people.  I know you want to guide your people, but it is not your job.  Your job is to convey.  Our job is to judge.”

In Sūrat'l-Kahf, Allāh uses a very blunt and frank verse.  Baqi' means – and this is a very harsh word – that you may die of frustration.  You might literally die of anguish if they don't accept īmān.  In other words, Allāh 'azza wa jall is saying to the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) to calm down because he is so worried and thinking about and loving and caring for his people that he may kill himself in his grief.  His grief will drive him almost to death because they don't accept īmān.  The eagerness of our Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) is clearly mentioned in the Qurʾān and Sunnah.

Another benefit of this verse here is that most of mankind will not believe.  I want us to think about this profoundly, especially in the times that we live in.  Many of us have a very naïve understanding of da'wah.  Many of us really think, “Let me just give him a few Deedat cassettes or Zakir Naik CDs or I might practice myself at home a little bit and try and quote a few verses and he is going to convert.”  Ya akhi, the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) preached for 23 years and for the first 13 of those years, most of mankind rejected him.  Most of mankind who lived with him, walked with him, and saw the miracles did not accept him.  Do you think that you and I will be more effective than he was?  This is the Sunnah of Allāh 'azza wa jall.  Look at the history of all of the prophets.  'Īsa's ('alayhi'l-salām) own people rejected him.  Yaḥya's ('alayhi'l-salām) own people killed him.  Mūsa's ('alayhi'l-salām) own people mocked him – forget about the outsiders.  How about then our Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) and the other prophets?

The point being Allāh has given us the general rule that people want to live animalistic and hedonistic lifestyles.  Allāh is saying that most of these people are worried about is their animalistic desires.  They just want to eat and drink and have a good time.  When you come to them with the truth, it is too difficult to follow the truth and live.  And wallāhi we talk about non-Muslims, how about Muslims?  For every one of us sitting in this masjid in this city, there are at least forty or fifty who we never see in the masjid.  Why should we talk about non-Muslims when we have Muslims we know – our friends, relatives, acquaintances, and even ourselves.  How many of us know the truth and yet we find it difficult to follow.

Allāh 'azza wa jall is just giving us the status quo that “no matter how eager you are, ya Rasūlullāh, and no matter how much you want to guide them, the majority of people, even if you want, are not going to be guided.”  This shows us that the truth does not necessarily lie in the majority.  The majority can say something, within Islam or outside of Islam; the truth is independent of numbers and quantity.  The truth is quality.  Sometimes it has quantity, such as the time of the sahabah, and sometimes it doesn't.  This is a verse that clearly shows us that if 20 people or 50 people want to propagate something, it doesn't necessarily make it the truth.  The truth is different than what the majority might say.

This lecture is brought to you by the Memphis Islamic Center (MIC). For more information about MIC, please visit www.memphisislamiccenter.org

[The following is the video and transcript of part 12 of Shaykh Yasir Qadhi's lecture series "The Best of Stories: Pearls from Surah Yusuf."  The transcript includes slight modifications for the sake of readability and clarity.]

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15

Click here to view the embedded video.

We are now on the last phase of the story of Yūsuf ('alayhi'l-salām) and what is left after this is the conclusion of the sūrah.  We actually finish the story of Yūsuf ('alayhi'l-salām) today.  As we were talking about last week, we had finished where Ya'qūb ('alayhi'l-salām) told his children, “Go forth and search for Yūsuf, and don't give up hope of the Mercy of Allāh [and] don't give up hope of the Help of Allāh.  The only people who can become pessimistic and can lose hope of the Mercy of Allāh are those who don't believe in Him.”  From there, the story then begins today.

Āyah 88

“So then when they entered in upon him…”

This is the third time they are undertaking the same journey from Canaan, the ancient name of Filistine, to the land of Egypt.  This is the third time they are visiting Yūsuf ('alayhi'l-salām).

“They said, 'O noble minister, our families and ourselves are in a severe crisis.  A hard time has hit us.  A calamity has hit us, and we have only managed to come with merchandise that is second-rate (not very good, poor quality of merchandise).  So give us what is worthy of this merchandise, and give us extra charity.  Verily, Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) will reward those who are charitable.'”

The brothers now enter in and they have dwindled down now to ten because Yūsuf is the twelfth and Binyamin is the eleventh, and both of them are now stuck.  The tenth one is remaining in Egypt, and now the nine come back and the ten of them enter into the palace for one more time.  They say, “O 'Azīz, our family was struck by a calamity.”  They demonstrate their poverty, and they excuse the poor quality of merchandise.

The meaning of muzjāt is something that is second-rate or poor in quality.  They are saying, “We are bringing merchandise that we are embarrassed about.”  It is not the top-notch goods.  What was it?  We don't know.  Maybe it was poor quality leather because this was primarily what they had back then.  Maybe it was other types of merchandise that was not of a high price.

Notice here, subḥānAllāh, that by now we are entering in close to the seventh year of drought.  Every single time the brothers are coming again and again and again.  Look at the surplus of Egypt that over and over again people from neighboring lands have to come to Egypt.  Egypt gave so much produce.  To be more precise, Yūsuf managed to save the produce and guard it to such an extent that he can export in times of drought.

So now, once again, the brothers come, and they ask in such a beautiful manner.  It is human psychology here.  They firstly mention that they are in a distressing situation.  Massana, [meaning] they are in a bad situation.  Then they mention the families because it is human nature that when you bring in wife and children, the person's heart becomes softer, so they beg in their own situation and then their family situation.

Then they say, “We are not coming for free handouts.  We brought something.  It is not as if we are coming as beggars, and we have brought something, but this thing is second-rate.  And our excuse is that we don't have money right now.  We purchased something, so give us what is worthy of this.  Give us the full measure of this second-rate merchandise, but then give us more as well.”

They are not asking for free handouts, but they are asking for generosity.  Generally speaking, generosity is easier than begging and asking for free handouts.  To be extra generous is easier than to come with nothing.  They lay the situation and present their case and plead and beg and conclude by being spiritual and religious.  There is an irony here that the brothers of Yūsuf are reminding Yūsuf about Islam and the benefits of remembering Allāh.  There is a little bit of irony here.  “If you are good, Allāh will reward you.”  As if Yūsuf needed this reminder.  But they conclude by reminding them that anybody who is generous, Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) will respond and give them that back.

Āyah 89

Now is the time in the story when Yūsuf reveals himself to the brothers.  The translation here would be:

“He said, 'Do you remember / recall what you did with Yūsuf and his brother while you were jāhill?”

The question arises:  Why is he revealing himself at this stage in the story?  Why so late, and why not before?  As I said and hinted at before, there are two scenarios that we can derive.  The first scenario is that there is no known reason other than Allāh telling him so.  We simply say that this was the point in time [when] Allāh told him, “You are allowed to reveal your identity.”  We need to understand that the lives of the prophets of Allāh are not like our lives.  The prophets of Allāh are not allowed to undertake any major decision without getting permission from Allāh.  It is not like me and you who can just commit sins and do this and that.  Because the prophets of Allāh are role models, they are not allowed to do anything without asking Allāh.  So one scenario would be that Yūsuf is always asking Allāh, “Can I reveal my identity?  Can I tell them?” and he is not being given permission until now.

The other scenario is that there is a worldly reason.  What is this worldly reason?  There seems to be something mentioned in some of the ancient books of tafsīr and that is that when Yūsuf came to power, the king at the time was the senior king and the elder of the family.  By this time in the story, seven years later, that king has died, and his younger child has now taken over.  As is commonly the case, when the youngster takes over, the senior ministers actually have more power than the new king because the senior ministers know how to run the country and have expertise.  This is the law of the earth that when people don't know how to do things, they will give precedence to those who are in power already.

So by this time, Yūsuf has the upper hand over the king, and the king is giving him deference.  The story in the Old Testament supports this version of reading.  By now, Yūsuf can tell the king, “I want my family to come,” whereas seven years ago, he doesn't have that power.  As we said already, this is a small land and country, and they don't want seventy, eighty, ninety foreigners to come populate it.  This is a big number for them, and they don't want a foreigner population to come, but now Yūsuf has more power and more clout, so he can dictate the demands to the king.  This is an interpretation that has a worldly understanding, and there is no problem in combining both of them and saying there is an element of truth to both of them.

So now Yūsuf reveals himself, and he says, “Do you not remember what you did with Yūsuf and his brother when you were ignorant?”  Some books of tafsīr mention that he took off his robe, and he was wearing the garments of his people underneath, and he showed them other signs at this time.  Some 'ulemā' even said that he smiled at them in a friendly manner for the first time being brotherly and not being kingly and ministerly, showing them who he was.

When he did this, for the first time it clicked because nobody in the world other than Yūsuf and the brothers knew what they did to Yūsuf.  For him to ask the blunt question “Do you remember what you did to Yūsuf?”, there is only one person other than those ten who would know that, and that is Yūsuf himself.  Nobody else in the world – not even Binyamin because he was a baby at that time – would know what they did to Yūsuf, so by asking the question and by then revealing something more personal and friendlier, it is clear now.  The age would match and the characteristics would match.

At the end of the day, Yūsuf is not an Egyptian.  He is a Canaanite (Filistini).   His ethnic features and facial features, and maybe he even spoke to them in their language, according to one opinion.  He gave signs away.  This is not the minister that they thought.  This is their blood brother.  Finally it clicks, and they say:

Āyah 90

The Arabic here is very beautiful.  In English, it would be:  “Are you really, really that Yūsuf?”  There is a triple emphasis here that cannot be translated into English.  They are shocked now that this is really Yūsuf.

One point I forgot to mention:  Notice Yūsuf says, “Do you remember what you did to Yūsuf and his brother while you were jāhill?”  Some scholars have said that it is as if he is criticizing them that they were jāhill and did this, but the stronger opinion is that he is actually giving them a way out even before he begins the story.  He is actually making an excuse for them because he says, “while you were (in the past) jāhill (ignorant),” meaning that now they are not jāhill and now they know better.  It is like we say now, “You were a kid back then.”  That type of attitude is being demonstrated.  Even before Yūsuf moves on, in the very first sentence he opens up the excuse for them.  In the very first phrase he allows some laxity and leeway.  “You were jāhill at that time.”  It is not as if he is saying it in a harsh manner.  He is actually saying it in an excusing manner.  This is of the perfection, which is just beginning. In these lines we will see Yūsuf never directly criticizes his brothers.

Notice he didn't even say, “Do you remember that you kidnapped me, threw me in the well, and left me to die?”  No – he leaves it vague.  “Do you remember what you did to Yūsuf?”  He doesn't mention details.  This is of the perfection of Yūsuf's character that never once does he explicitly mention what happened and never once does he explicitly criticize them.  Wallāhi, this takes a real man to do this because he has the power and upper hand and there is nothing to prevent him from even throwing in one jab – as we say in English – or one criticism.  Not even the slightest 'uff in these words.

“Do you remember what you did to Yūsuf and his brother?”  Notice he says 'Yūsuf' and not even 'me' because when you say 'me' here, it is more personal.  It makes you feel guiltier.  He uses the third person to even try to minimize that.  “Do you remember what you did to Yūsuf and his brother back in those days when you were jāhill?”

They say, “Are you really that Yūsuf?”  There is no other person that could know, and the signs have been shown.  Of course by now it must have dawned on them that the characteristics, the ethnicity, the looks, and maybe the language, as we said, and the age as well because they know how old Yūsuf was and how old he would be now, so everything clicks in, and they say, “Are you really that Yūsuf?”  He said, “I am Yūsuf, and this is my brother.”  He called him to come out at that time, which means he was hiding behind the curtains in the other room and when this conversation takes place, he calls Binyamin out.  “I am Yūsuf, and this is my brother.”

Qad mann Allāhu 'alayna. Immediately he attributes all good to Allāh.  “This is not my power.  I didn't do this.  I'm not gloating that I have the upper hand.  I am not showing you who is richer and more powerful.”  As soon as he acknowledges that he is Yūsuf, the very next phrase is:  “This is not from me.  Allāh has given us all of this.”  Manna – it is a gift.  It is not even earned or deserved but something that He gifted because of His Generosity.

“Verily, whoever has taqwa and patience, Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) will never cause to go to waste the rewards of those who are good.”

Notice here that he ascribes the blessings directly to himself from Allāh.  “Allāh blessed us.”  Then he says in the third person, “Whoever is righteous and patient, Allāh will reward that person.”  He doesn't say, “I was righteous and patient so Allāh rewarded me.”  Wallāhi, each word and each phrase shows the humility of Yūsuf.  You could not think of a more humble paragraph than this.

He says, “Allāh blessed me without anything deserving” because manna means to give without recompense – there is no reason to give and it is just giving from generosity.  You didn't earn it; it is a gift.  He is acknowledging:  “Allāh has gifted this to me.”

Then he says, “Verily, whoever (third person, generic) has righteousness and patience, Allāh will reward the efforts of those who are good.”  The understanding is that Yūsuf was muttaqi and was patient, but it wouldn't be humble of him to say this.  Also, this is tazqiyyat'l-nafs and ascribing piety to yourself, which is not the way the Muslim talks.  So he makes it generic and he says, “Whoever has taqwa and ṣabr, Allāh will never cause that good to go to waste.”  Notice he ascribes two characteristics that he truly had because the only thing that will protect you from zina in the case of Yūsuf and in that scenario when there is temptation and a woman is there and calling and beckoning you and nobody is watching, the only thing that will possibly save you is taqwa.  What saved him from the well and caused him to stay in prison for so long, so much so that when the crier came, he says, “Go back to your master and ask what happened to those women.”  The Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said, “May Allāh have mercy on the ṣabr of Yūsuf.  Had I been in his case, I wouldn't have lasted and would have immediately rushed out.”

He mentions ṣabr because it was ṣabr that allowed him by the blessings of Allāh to remain in the well and to remain a slave and to remain in jail until finally Allāh rewarded him with becoming the minister.  He mentions taqwa and ṣabr because these two are the two Islamic principles that have characterized him throughout the entire story.  The whole message of the story is summarized right here.  “Whoever truly has taqwa of Allāh” – and we talked about taqwa many times before in these series of lectures, and it means that you build a protection against Allāh's punishment through Allāh's commandments.  Taqwa means you protect yourself from Allāh through Allāh.  You turn to Allāh to protect yourself against Allāh.  Only Allāh can protect you from Allāh.  This is what taqwa means.

Ṣabr of course is to control yourself and be patient.  The theme of the whole sūrah is this line:  “Whoever has taqwa and is patient, Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) will give them all that they desire and more.”  Of course, there is a subtle message here as well.

Notice that all of the message to the brothers is not direct and not in your face and not gloating.  It is for them to benefit and not for them to feel bad.  The message is:  You tried to gain what you wanted through ḥarām and didn't get what you wanted.  You tried to get what you wanted by disobeying Allāh, which is why you didn't get what you wanted.  As for me, I was patient and put my trust in Allāh and had taqwa and Allāh gave me more than anyone could even imagine.

This is the subliminal message, which is not flouted in their face; it is for them to ponder and become better and more righteous.  Also realize that, subḥānAllāh, it is as if Yūsuf is giving them a khuṭbah.  It is as if he is giving them religious advice.  Instead of going into the story of what happened and how he got there, the first thing on his mind is:  I need to benefit my brothers religiously and bring them closer to Allāh and cause them to repent from that sin and be better people.  This is always on the mind of every righteous person that any opportunity he sees to bring about religious feelings and to bring about love of Allāh, fear of Allāh, and religious remembrance, he will take that opportunity.

He is giving them a khuṭbah at the family reunion.  He is giving them a reminder at the family reunion because what better place for that reminder to sink in.  When they see the effects of piety and the effects of sins in their own lives, what better place to remind them?  Notice what is on his mind is to remind them of Allāh.

Āyah 91

They said, “By Allāh! Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) has preferred you over us and chosen you over us.  And we certainly have been sinners.”

Tallāhi is one of the ways that you give an oath or swear.  The in here is zā'ida – even though some scholars don't like calling anything zā'ida in the Qur'ān – it is for emphasis.

Notice now that this khuṭbah and religious advice has had the desired effect of making them feel guilty and cause them to repent to Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla).  That is exactly what has happened.

Āyah 92

He said, “There shall be no blame on you today.”

Tathrīb means to be reminded of one's sins and to feel guilty over it.  It means to humiliate and to basically flout it in your face and make you feel guilty by remembering the sin over and over again.

He doesn't even say, “I will not blame you.”  He makes it third person and neutral and removes himself from the picture.  Saying “I will not blame you” would make them feel extra guilty.  He makes it generic and says, “There shall be no blame on you.”  This is completely neutral.

You can stop on two different places here. The first is to say:  “Qāla la tathrība 'alaykumu'l-yawm. Yaghfirullāhu lakum.”  This translates as:  “Today there shall be no blame on you.  Allāh will forgive you.”  Today your sins have been made manifest.  If you are not going to be blamed today, then you will not be blamed afterwards.

The second way is:  “Qāla la tathrība 'alaykum.  Al-yawma yaghfirullāhu lakum.”  This means:  “There shall be no blame on you.  Today Allāh will forgive your sins.”  Both are valid.  From today you shall not be blamed anymore.  Why?  Because today Allāh has forgiven your sins.

Both meanings are complementary, which shows us some of the beauty of Arabic.  As I said many times, simply analyzing the Arabic phrases and the Arabic words and the structure of the Qur'ān shows us that this is not the speech of a man and it is a divine speech.  Every single precise wording, letters and ḥarakahs are miracles in and of themselves.

Yūsuf is saying, “Today there shall be no blame on you.  Allāh will forgive you.”  How can Yūsuf say, “Allāh will forgive you”?  What right does Yūsuf have to say this?  There are two responses to this.  Firstly, because the wrong was done to Yūsuf, when he forgives, then they are forgiven because the ẓulm or injustice was done to Yūsuf.  As we know in our religion, when you commit a crime against a human being – when you steal someone's money, dishonor them, backbite – then forgiveness is in the hands upon whom ẓulm (injustice) has been done, and until he forgives you, you will not be forgiven.  Allāh's Forgiveness is easier than the forgiveness of this person because Allāh is Merciful and Al- Raḥīm.  When Yūsuf has forgiven them and they have repented, he can be certain that Allāh will forgive them because he has forgiven them.

The second interpretation is: “I hope inshā'Allāh that Allāh will forgive you.”  There is a missing phrase and the meaning is:  “I'm optimistic that Allāh will forgive you.”  Both of these interpretations are valid, and there is no contradiction in them.

“And He is the Most Merciful of all those who show mercy.”

Remember that Sūrah Yūsuf was revealed when our Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) was undergoing the most difficult period of his life:  the year of sorrow.  It was the year when Abu Ṭālib died, Khadījah died, and the incident of Ṭā'if took place.  This is the lowest of the low.  Allāh revealed to him Sūrah Yūsuf in order to make him optimistic and encourage him.  SubḥānAllāh, at the pinnacle of his career and prophethood when he marched into Makkah, finally conquering the city that expelled him, he was reciting Sūrah Yūsuf.  When he stood on the Ka'bah and called the people around and asked them, “What do you think I will do to you today after all that you have done to me and after persecuting and killing so many of my followers and after expelling me and my people from this land?”  They are all begging and pleading for mercy and saying, “You are our noble brother and son of our noble brother.  You are our relative.”

What does he do?  He recites this very verse of Sūrah Yūsuf.  This was the purpose of Sūrah Yūsuf – to cheer him up and give him optimism and hope and to make him realize that:  You are not the only one whose people have persecuted him and you are not the only one whose relatives and blood brothers have expelled him from their homes.   The brothers of Yūsuf expelled him and threw him into the well.  Your people are not the first and they are not going to be the last.

When it was the turn of our Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) and he was sitting on the symbolic throne of the Ka'bah, he now has the upper hand.  The people are now around him.  He cannot help but remember the exact same sūrah because of which Allāh revealed this sūrah.  He recited this very verse to them.  “There shall be no blame on you today.  Allāh will forgive you.  And He is the Most Forgiving and the Most Merciful.”

By this, Yūsuf ('alayhi'l-salām) once again is showing his perfection by not mentioning any crime by name and by not saying, “I am not going to blame you anymore.”  When we forgive somebody, we say, “I forgive you.”  What did Yūsuf say?  He didn't even mention the 'I' because in this there is ego.  He said, “There shall be no blame on you.  Allāh will forgive you.  He is the Most Forgiving, Most Merciful.”

Āyah 93

“Go with this shirt of mine and throw it on the face of my father and he will gain his vision back.  Bring me all of your family.”

Now they shall leave the valley of Canaan and immigrate to the land of Egypt.  He tells his brothers, “Go with this shirt of mine.”  SubḥānAllāh, once again notice the theme of the shirt, which is a common theme in this story.  It has been mentioned three times.  The first time the shirt is mentioned when it comes to the story of the wolf.  The second time the shirt is mentioned is when it comes to the seducing in the palace.  Now [for] the third time the shirt is mentioned.

Every time the shirt is a sign of life.  The shirt is what gives hope to Ya'qūb that his son is alive. When the brothers came to Ya'qūb with the bloody shirt, he looked at it and said, “What a merciful wolf this is that it eats up my son but doesn't scratch the shirt!”  The shirt gave the plot away that the brothers had plotted something.

In the seduction story, the shirt saves Yūsuf, and it makes him innocent.  Now the shirt once again is a sign that Yūsuf is alive and well and the brothers are coming back with the truth.  Scholars say it was the sight of the bloody shirt that caused Ya'qūb to go blind and now seeing the beautiful shirt that Yūsuf was wearing will bring the sight back to him because the cure and the disease are always opposites.  It was the sight of the shirt that caused him to go blind, and it will be the shirt, by the blessings of Allāh, that will bring his eyesight back to him.

Āyah 94

“When the caravan departed [from Egypt] their father said, 'I can smell the smell of Yūsuf, but only the fact that you will think that I am a senile old man I would tell you even more or I would walk out to meet him.'”

There is a missing phrase here:  'otherwise I would do even more.'  Notice he smelled it when the caravan left Egypt.  They are still a thousand miles away.  When it leaves Egypt and he is in Canaan, he smelled the scent of Yūsuf.  SubḥānAllāh, there is no doubt this is a miracle from Allāh 'azza wa jall that He has given to Ya'qūb; otherwise, it is not even humanly possible to smell the smell at that distance.  Allāh has given him a miracle, an optimistic sign, and a hope that something is changing.  He remembers the smell of his son Yūsuf.  SubḥānAllāh, it has been forty or fifty years, and he remembers how Yūsuf smells.  Look at the love that he had for his son.  When he smelled that smell, he knew that this was the smell of Yūsuf.

Āyah 95

They [the grandchildren and great grandchildren] said, 'You are still in your ways of old.'”

Āyah 96

“When the bearer of glad tidings came…”

Many scholars say Allāh calls him bashīr here, and he was the same one who came with the bloody shirt in the beginning.  Once again, Allāh mentions the good and ignores or neglects the bad.  As we said, this is a standard motif.  When the praise is due, Allāh mentions specifically, but when there is criticism, Allāh tries to cover it up unless there is a need to mention it.  Here Allāh praises him, and most of the scholars say he was the same one.  He insisted and said, “Since I am the one who caused the harm, I am now going to bring the shirt back.”  Allāh calls him the bearer of good tidings and the one who came with the good news.

“…he threw the shirt into his face, and he regained his eyesight.  He said, 'Didn't I tell you after all these years that Yūsuf is alive?  I told you go find him.  I told you don't lose hope in Allāh, but you kept on trying to deny this.  Didn't I tell you that Allāh has told me that I know something that you don't know?'”

Āyah 97

“They said, 'O our father, ask Allāh to forgive us.  We have committed an evil sin.'”

Here they say the exact same thing for a second time.  They said it once to Yūsuf and now they say it to their father.  Clearly they are repentant.  SubḥānAllāh, the number one stepping stone to repentance is acknowledgement of guilt.  You cannot repent until you acknowledge guilt.  This is why the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said, “Feeling guilty is the essence of repenting.”  Unless you feel guilty and acknowledge the sin, there is no repentance.  If you simply say “I'm sorry” but there is no genuine guilt, this is not tawbah.  We can clearly see the brothers are feeling guilty.  They have asked Yūsuf to forgive, they have asked their father to forgive, and they have admitted they made a mistake.  Until you admit to making a mistake, you are not repenting to Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla).

That is why the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said, “The best du'ā' for seeking forgiveness…”  It is a long du'ā' and you should all memorize it.  There are two phrases that relate to us:  'O Allāh, I acknowledge all of your favors upon me, and I acknowledge that I have committed a sin.'  This is sayyid'l-istighfār and the pinnacle of seeking forgiveness.  How do you do that?  The first phrase in it is: “I acknowledge my mistake.”  Without acknowledging the mistake, there is no tawbah.  Here we have the brothers of Yūsuf going to Yūsuf and their father and they say, “O our father, ask Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) to forgive us for our sins.  Verily, we have been sinners.”  They are asking Ya'qūb because Ya'qūb is the senior prophet.  Yūsuf is still their younger brother even though he is a prophet.  They seek forgiveness directly from Yūsuf because he is the main person they have done wrong to.

As for Ya'qūb, because he is the older prophet, they say, “O our father, ask Allāh to forgive us.”  There is a difference here.  For Yūsuf, they ask directly because they committed the wrong to him.  They also committed a wrong to their father, but their father isn't just their father but is also the prophet of Allāh on earth, so his status is very high up.  They are feeling guilty and want Allāh to forgive them, so by asking their father to ask Allāh to forgive, they are getting forgiveness from both because their father would not ask unless he has forgiven.  They could say, “O our father, forgive us,” but it is more eloquent and more powerful to say, “O our father, ask Allāh to forgive us” because they are getting both the forgiveness from their father and Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla).

They say, “O our father, ask Allāh to forgive us.  Verily, we have committed a grievous sin.”

Āyah 98

“He says, 'I shall ask Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla) to forgive you.  Verily, He is the Forgiving, the Merciful.'”

“I shall” means that he will in a while but not right now.  Why did he delay?  Pretty much all of the scholars say that he delayed the du'ā' until the last third of the night in his tahajjud prayer.  This seems to be the unanimous opinion of all of the scholars, and this is how they understood this.  Ya'qūb ('alayhi'l-salām) wanted to delay the du'ā' to the most blessed time.  He wanted to ask Allāh in the best state, which is sajdah, and at the holiest time, which is the last third of the night, and many scholars add that it was on the Friday as well, the holiest day of the week.  We know that our Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said that Allāh 'azza wa jall descends down to the lowest heavens in the last third of the night in a ḥadīth in Bukhāri and Muslim.  He descends down to the lowest heavens in the last third of the night and says, “Who amongst My servants is asking Me, so I shall give him what he wants.  Who amongst My servants is seeking refuge in Me, so I shall protect him.  Who amongst My servants wants his sins forgiven, so I shall forgive them.”  Making du'ā' in the last third of the night is the most blessed time to make du'ā'.  There is no time that is more blessed than this in our 24-hour cycle.

When Ya'qūb is saying “I shall do it,” meaning in a while, he is simply delaying it to a time that is more conducive because he wants them to be forgiven.

One of the scholars of the past, 'Ata (the student of Ibn 'Abbās), said, “It is easier to ask a young man for something than to ask an old man because when they asked Yūsuf to forgive them, he immediately said he had forgiven them, but when they asked Ya'qūb, he said wait a while and he would do it in a bit.”  This is a little bit tongue-in-cheek and humorous, but there is an element of truth to it that generally speaking youngsters are more easy going whereas elders are more set in their ways and accustomed to how they want to live their lives.

One of the main lessons of the whole story for us is that a person's final status is dependent upon how he ends his life and not how he begins it.  This is a huge optimism for us sinners.  A person's status in the eyes of Allāh is dependent upon his end and not the beginning.  Here are the brothers of Yūsuf who are basically would-be murderers almost.  In a court of law in our times, they might be accused of manslaughter, attempted murder, and kidnapping.  In this story, the end result is that they are forgiven and not just forgiven, but according to the majority opinion, they even become minor prophets in their own rights – not to the level of Yūsuf and Ya'qūb but minor prophets.  That is why in the dream, Yūsuf compares all of them to the stars in the sky because they are literally stars – they are not as high as the sun and the moon, but nonetheless they become stars.

As one of the scholars of the past said, if this story will not give sinners hope, then what story will give hope?  Have you ever attempted to kill your brother or kidnap your brother or thrown your brother in a well?  I hope not.  If Allāh can forgive them, then surely my sins and your sins are more worthy of being forgiven.  If Allāh can allow them to become prophets after they have done this crime, then how about forgiving me and you?  But what is the condition?  Turning over a new leaf and having a new beginning and having a sincere intention and new relationship with Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla).

They return now to Yūsuf, and this is the fourth time the brothers have made the journey.  It shall be the last time for over 500 years that they make this journey.  They will make it once again in the opposite direction in the exodus.  Now they are leaving the Holy Land of Canaan or Palestine, and they are making their way to Egypt.

Āyah 99

“So when they entered upon Yūsuf, he took his parents to himself / sheltered his parents / gave his parents comfort.”

The scholars say that he led a procession of the cavalry or army to greet them and there was celebration and a lot of jubilation.  Of course this is well deserved at this point in time.  He himself led the delegation to welcome them.  He led the delegation outside of the city to greet his parents, as any dutiful son should do.

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

The meaning of 'inshā'Allāh' here is 'in the Name of Allāh, you shall be safe.'  This is difficult to translate into English.  Our Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said, “When you make du'ā', don't say 'inshā'Allāh' at the end” because you don't make du'ā' by assigning it to Allāh.  Let me give you an example.  You don't say, “O Allāh, forgive me inshā'Allāh” because Allāh will forgive you if He wants to, and your saying 'inshā'Allāh' won't change anything.  You have to beg and plead because you need Allāh's forgiveness.  You say, “O Allāh, I need your forgiveness, forgive me.”  You don't need to add 'inshā'Allāh' because Allāh will forgive you inshā'Allāh.  If Allāh wills, He will forgive you.  You do not relegate it to Allāh's Will.  You say, “O Allāh, I need this.”  The Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said, “When you make a du'ā', be firm in your request.”  Don't be wishy washy and add the inshā'Allāh because Allāh will not change the decree because of your inshā'Allāh.  Nobody can force Allāh.  Allāh will give you if He wants, inshā'Allāh.

The reason I'm saying all of this is because some people may ask why Yūsuf made a du'ā' and said “inshā'Allāh.”  The response is, to put it simply, that this “inshā'Allāh” is not that “inshā'Allāh.”  This “inshā'Allāh” is “with the blessings of Allāh” and “in the Name of Allāh.”  Yūsuf promised them safety, and they were safe, but their descendants were not safe, and that is what happens centuries later when Fir'awn comes and starts persecuting the children of Israel, which is a story taken up later in the Qur'ān.  Now he says, “You will be safe.”

When you go to the Egypt airport and get out of customs, you find a big sign there saying “Udhkulu miṣra inshā'Allāhu āminīn.”  That is the only country in the world that can cut and paste from the Qur'ān and say “let us enter Egypt inshā'Allāh āminīn.”

Yūsuf ('alayhi'l-salām) tells his father and his brothers that they shall enter into Egypt inshā'Allāh and will be safe and secure.

Āyah 100

“And he put his parents on the throne…”

What throne?  Perhaps he had a throne or perhaps, as we already said, he actually has more power than the ruling king and has access to the palace and can also visit the palace at will, and so this is more likely he actually put his parents on the throne of Egypt to symbolically show them that this is the respect he gives them.  He put his parents on the throne of Egypt.  Being bedouins and peasants in a barren land, overnight he is putting them on the throne of the mightiest kingdom at the time to show them respect as his parents.  When he did that, they came off the throne and prostrated to him, and the brothers all fell into prostration.

Some scholars say they actually fell onto their faces, and some scholars say that they bowed down (i.e. rukū'), but the meaning of sujjada in Arabic can mean both.  Even if you lower your head to a great extent, you also call that sājid even though for us when we say sājid we mean on the ground, but the Arabic term sujjada or sājid can also imply lowering the head.  Whatever they did, they are showing respect.

We have to mention here that lowering the head for respect was something that was allowed in the previous legislations if you did it to show respect.  In our Sharī'ah, in our legislation, this has been made forbidden.  We are not allowed to lower our head in front of any created object out of respect.  Lowering your head out of worship has always been forbidden except for Allāh.  Even in the previous Sharī'ahs, you couldn't lower your head out of worship.  You had to lower it out of worship only to Allāh.  When Allāh told the angels to prostrate to Adam, what type of sajdah is this?  This is the sajdah of respect.  In this sūrah as well, the brothers of Yūsuf and the parents of Yūsuf fall into a prostration of respect.  In our Sharī'ah, this is forbidden.  We are not allowed to bow down in respect, and if we do so, this is not shirk, but it is a sin and ḥarām.

There is a beautiful ḥadīth in the Sunan of Abu Dāwūd in which Mu'ādh ibn Jabal, the famous companion, came back from Syria and entered the masjid, and the first thing he did was fall down in front of the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) in prostration.  He fell down facing the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) in prostration.  Can you imagine the scene?  He is literally falling in prostration in front of the Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam).  The Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) became shocked and amazed and said, “Ya Mu'ādh, who told you to do this?  Where did you get this from?”  Mu'ādh ibn Jabal said, “I just came back from Syria (the Roman Empire), and I saw that the Romans would prostrate to their priests and leaders, so I felt that you have more right to be respected than they did.  I felt that I should respect you more than they respect their elders.”  The Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said, “Do not ever do this again!”  It is not allowed for any human being to prostrate or to lower his head in front of another human being.”  Our Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) made it forbidden.  It is now ḥarām in our Sharī'ah to do this.

It was allowed in the previous Sharī'ahs, which is why to this day – although I think now the custom has gone – but once upon a time when a fair lady passed by, a man would bow his head down as a sign of respect.  This type of bowing down was something that the previous Sharī'ahs allowed.  For us, our Sharī'ah has not allowed this.  We only lower our head to Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta'āla).  Allāh says in the Qur'ān, “Don't prostrate to the sun or to the moon or to anything created.  Prostrate only to Allāh who has created them.”

Ya'qūb and the brothers all fall down.  A quick point here – the āyah says that he put his parents on the throne.  We already said that the strongest opinion is that his mother had already died and that his father had married Yūsuf's maternal aunt (i.e. his wife's sister).  Allāh calls them “parents” even though she is actually his khālah (mother's sister).  This shows us that the mother's sister has the same rights and equivalent status of the mother because Allāh called them “parents.”  In fact, our Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said in a ḥadīth in the Musnad of Imam Ahmad that the mother's sister has the same rank as the mother.  SubḥānAllāh, it is amazing – and all of us who have maternal and paternal aunts – and we know that the love that a maternal aunt shows is different than the love that the paternal aunt shows.  The love of the mother's sister is different and more motherly than the love of the father's sister even though both have their own types of love.  This is something that the Qur'ān clearly indicates that our Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) explicitly said.  The khālah is at the same level as the mother.

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

The word ta'wīl here means actualization.  How many years has it been?  We have no idea but some scholars say forty-five years have gone by.  A lifetime has gone by.

“My Lord made it a certainty.”

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

“And how generous He has been to me.”

Once again he is ascribing the blessings to Allāh.  When they are showing him so much respect, he feels awkward and ascribes all of this to Allāh.  When they prostrate to him, he reminds them of Allāh and says, “Allāh has been so generous to me when He caused me to be saved from the prison and caused you to come from the barren lifestyle after Shayṭān caused some problems between me and my brothers.”

SubḥānAllāh, once again amazing phrases.  He is saying, “How generous Allāh has been to me when He caused me to leave the prison.”  Notice he doesn't mention when He caused him to be saved from the well even though to be saved from the well is a bigger blessing than to leave the prison because you are going to die in the well but you are not going to die in the prison.  You are going to starve in the well but you are not going to starve in the prison.  In the prison there is humanity around you and light and air.  In the well it is much different.  In the prison he was an adult, and in the well he was a child.

Why doesn't he mention the well?  By mentioning the well, he is reminding his brothers of what they have done, so he completely glosses over it.  He had said, “You are not going to be blamed.”  So when he is recounting the favors of Allāh, he doesn't even mention that because if he were to do so, it is as if he is putting some salt on their wound, and he is not going to mention that.  He says, “How generous was Allāh to me when He caused me to be saved from the prison.  How generous Allāh has been to you when He has caused you to leave this bedouin lifestyle…”  The bedouin lifestyle is much harsher and more difficult than the lifestyle of the city and the villages.  That is why, by the way, our Prophet (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) forbade a bedouin who has settled in the city from returning to the bedouin lifestyle.  It is actually a fiqh ruling.  Once you move into the city, your lifestyle, mannerisms, and culture increase.  Once a person comes to the city, he should remain there.

Also, Allāh 'azza wa jall tells us in the Qur'ān that:  “We only sent before you prophets who were from the cities.”  All the prophets of Allāh were city-dwelling folk, and there were no bedouin prophets.  Therefore, when Allāh sent prophets to the bedouins, they were from the cities.  Why?  Because when you live in the city, your level of civilization and mannerism is much higher and more refined.  When you live in the plains and the deserts, you don't have that lifestyle.  You all know what the bedouin did when he came to the Prophet's (ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) masjid – that is his lifestyle and his way of looking at the world.  The people who live in the cities are at a higher level.

By causing Ya'qūb and the children of Ya'qūb to be saved from the harsh lifestyle of the desert and enter into Egypt is a blessing.

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

Notice once again you cannot think of phrases that are more beautiful.  It is not even humanly possible.  He is recounting the favors of Allāh, and of the biggest favors is that they are all one family together after they were split up and after Shayṭān caused problems.  Notice he didn't say his brothers caused the problems.  It was all Shayṭān.  All evil is his fault and not his brothers.  He says, “between me [sharing the blame 50-50] and my brothers.”  What did he do that he has to mention his name?  He didn't do anything, and he mentions himself first.  Isn't this amazing?  He doesn't even say “after Shayṭān threw some evil into my brothers.”  It is as if he has something to share in the blame even though he has zero.

SubḥānAllāh when you phrase it this way, there is no reminding of the evil that they have done.  It is as if they get of scot-free because that is the promise to them that they are not going to be criticized after that.

“My Lord is Laṭīf to whomever He pleases.”

What does Laṭīf mean?  Laṭīf, as you know, is one of the Names of Allāh 'azza wa jall, and it is a beautiful Name to use here.  Yūsuf is saying, “My Lord is Laṭīf to whomever He pleases.”  Laṭīf actually means 'the One who is aware of the most intricate and hidden secrets.'  From this, there is a secondary to meaning to Laṭīf, which is to have a protective care, a nourishing care around somebody because you are very familiar with their faults, weaknesses, and problems.  Because you know it, you will protect them.  The original meaning of Laṭīf or the 'aṣl of Laṭīf is to know the hidden, secret, and ghayb of something.  It is stronger than khabīr, which means you know, because laṭīf means you know the hidden.  Khabīr means you know the open, and laṭīf means you know the secret.

Because you know the secret and know that which is hidden, you are able to fill in any gaps, protect any weaknesses, take care of any issues.  People think you are okay; Al-Laṭīf knows you are not okay and because He knows this, He will take care of you.  This is a beautiful Name to use.  Laṭīf means because Allāh knew his state, He took care of him.  Because Allāh knew what was going on, He was nourishing and guarding over him.

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

He is the One who knows everything and the One who is All-Wise.  Once again two Names of Allāh 'azza wa jall that are very relevant.  He knew all along what was happening.  He was Ḥakīm.  He had a wisdom – Yūsuf didn't know it, they didn't know it, but now we see that wisdom.  Ḥakīm means there is a wisdom of why He is doing all of this.  Allāh knew everything that is happening to all of them.  He was doing everything for a wisdom, and now we see that wisdom in front of us.