PEARLS FROM SURAH YUSUF (part 1)

Bismillahi rahmani rahim

Assalam alaikum warahmatullah wabarakatu 

Lecture by Yasir Qadhi | Transcribed by Sameera

[ The following is the video playlist and transcript Shaykh Yasir Qadhi’s lecture series “The Best of Stories: Pearls from Surah Yusuf.” The tr

anscript includes slight modifications for the sake of readability and clarity. ]

INTRODUCTION

I welcome you all to the first of a series of halaqat that we will have about the tafsir or the explanation of one of the most interesting, powerful, and moving surahs in the entire Qur’an, which is Surah Yusuf. This surah is a very, very unique  surah in the Qur’an, and a one-of-a-type of surah.

Firstly, it is the only place in the Qur’an where the story of the Prophet Yusuf (‘alayhi salaam ) is mentioned. No other surah mentions the story of the Prophet Yusuf (‘alayhi salaam ). If you compare this to, let’s say, the story of the Prophet Musa (‘alayhi salaam ), the story of Prophet Musa is mentioned in over 25 different locations. The story of our father Adam (‘alayhi salaam ) is mentioned in over half a dozen locations. The story of ‘Isa (‘alayhi salaam ) is mentioned almost a dozen times. The story of the Prophet Yusuf (‘alayhi salaam ) only exists in this surah. In fact, even the name of the Prophet Yusuf occurs only once or twice in passing in Surah Al-An‘ām and Surah Ghaafir, but there is no story at all. The stories about what happened with the Yusuf (‘alayhi salaam ) only occur in this particular surah.

Secondly, it is the only surah in the Qur’an that has a unified story as its theme from the beginning to the end. The whole surah is nothing but a story. There is no other surah of length in the Qur’an – we are not talking about the small surahs at the end of Juz ‘Amma , but we are talking about any surah basically more than 10-15 ayah s – there is no surah in the whole Qur’an that is a unified story from the beginning to the end. This is something that we all know. Read Surah Al-Baqarah , Surah Ale-‘Imran , and Surah Yunus you will find the stories of lots of people in one paragraph or one page or sometimes even five pages, but there is no place in the whole Qur’an where an entire 15 pages is dedicated to one story. It is a chronological story from the beginning to the end. This is not just very rare but unique. There is no other place like it in the whole Qur’an.

REVELATION OF SURAH YUSUF

We do not know the exact date of when this surah was revealed, but we know roughly that it was revealed around the tenth or eleventh year not of the hijrah but of the years of the daw’ah.

In other words, with the hijrah of course we begin the Madinan phase. Before the hijrah , what do we call it? Some scholars used the term ‘BH’ (before hijrah ) just like the Christians have ‘AD’ and ‘BC’, Muslims have ‘AH’ and ‘BH’. So if you look at ‘BH’, 1 BH means one year before the hijrah and 2 BH means two years before the hijrah . Surah Yusuf is revealed around 2 or 3 BH, in other words right at the end of the Makkan era and the Makkan message.

The timing of revelation is very crucial. Surah Yusuf was revealed after the famous year called the Year of Sorrow / the Year or Regret / the Year of Difficulty (‘aam al-huzn). In that year, three things happened one after the other which were the most painful for the Prophet Muhammad (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam), and there was no time in the seerah where the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) was more demoralized than this period, which is why the scholars of seerah call this period ‘aam al-huzn, the Year of Grief. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) was feeling grief throughout that year.

What happened? What makes it worse is that these three things happened one after the other. The first of these three devastating things was the most personal and intimate, and that was the death of Khadijah (alayhi salaam). Khadijah (alayhi salaam) was his supporter and his moral source of strength.

As they say, behind every great man there is a great woman, and this is exactly applying to the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) and Khadijah. She was his source of comfort and support. Whenever anything happened and even when the wahy came down and he was scared, he went running back to Khadijah (alayhi salaam) to be calmed down. “Zambilooni! Zambilooni! (Cover me up! Cover me up!)” Khadijah was his source of comfort and his source of support.

When a man has that comfort and love inside the house, he is able to face a lot outside. When that is deprived of him, then the problems outside become more difficult to bear. The death of Khadijah (‘alayhi salaam) was something that was very difficult for him.

Within five or six weeks, a second death followed and that was the death of his uncle Abu Talib. Abu Talib was his support in society. Abu Talib sacrificed his own reputation and prestige in order to protect the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam). When the Quraysh came to bribe, threaten, and intimidate the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam), initially Abu Talib was scared and went to him (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) and told him to stop doing this. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, “If they were to give me control of the sun and the moon, I would not give up what I am doing.” Abu Talib said, “Oh son of my brother, oh my nephew, do as you please, I am never going to come to you again to tell you not to do this.” He was a man of his word for ten years, and not once did he approach the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) after that. He never came and said ‘why did you do this?’ / ‘look what I have to face now.’ Not once. He was a man of his word.

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

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

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

Aisha ( radhi Allahu ‘anha ) said, “Oh Messenger of Allah, was there any day that was more difficult for you to bear than the Day of Uhud?” He (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam)  said, “Yes.” Aisha was too young to know anything about Makkah and did not remember Makkah. She knows Badr, Uhud, and Tabuk and the problems of Madinah and that the worst problem of Madinah was Uhud, so she asked, “Was there any day more difficult for you than Uhud?” Immediately without thinking, the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, “The most difficult day for me was the day when I was rejected by the chieftains of Ta’if.” You all know the story, and we will talk about it in a lot of detail insha’Allah in the lectures we will start on the seerah . The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) was humiliated and publicly scorned and the children of Ta’if stoned him. This day was the most difficult for him.

These three incidents occurred within six weeks of one other – within two months, as if things could not get any worse. At this point in time, Allah ( subhanahu wata’ala ) revealed Surah Yusuf. When we understand this frame of revelation, all of a sudden the significance of Surah Yusuf increases many times. Why? Surah Yusuf is meant to uplift his spirits ( sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam ) and console him and strengthen him at a time of such trials and tribulations. Surah Yusuf is the light that will lead him out of this depressing time and time of pain and anguish. This is hope for us when we are feeling down and suffering from problems of society. 

This is the surah that we can turn to for an uplifting moment and to find some solace and comfort, which is why Allah revealed it to our Prophet ( sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam ).

Still to continue In Shaa Allah...