The beautiful story of Joseph (Yusuf (as))

How beautiful is the Quran, and the instruction contained within it. 

When we approach S Yusuf, the first question that we must ask ourselves is it’s time of descent- was it sent down in the Meccan period spanning the first 13 years of the Messenger’s (saw) mission or in the last 10 years where he established the Islamic Polity at Medina?

For the stories of the Prophets most often came down in the Meccan period by way of consolation to the Messenger, so that he would know that the troubles that he had to endure, others had endured before him. 

The story of Yusuf (as) is unlike any of those, for he was not sent to a People neither as a Warner, nor as a Bringer of Glad Tidings. 

Furthermore the first that our Messenger (saw) came into contact with Bani Israel was in Medina. And here it is that the vast portion of the Qur’an that talks about them was revealed. Both as an appeal to them, of the Unitary origin of all revelation and as an instruction for the Community of the Messenger that we should not fall into the same errors that they made. 

So the question begs is the Story to Yusuf a consolation to the Messenger, with it’s beauty, or a means of communal instruction for the Messenger’s Nation?

It is clear that the story is both beautiful and a source of instruction, but the instruction contained within it is deeper and more cryptic than a Medinan revelation. And that it is also unlike the Meccan Surah’s that console the Messenger in regards to the persecution that was metted out to both him and the believers. 

The fact of its unusualness is further brought more home when we consider that far greater Prophets from Bani Isreal are not honoured by having a Surah named after them. 

For of the five greatest Prophets, the two from Bani Israel, whilst figuring greatly in the revelation are not honoured directly with a Surah being named after them - Musa (as) and Isa (as). 

For sure Taha, and many other Surahs concern themselves with the life of Musa, and S Maryam is devoted to the mother of Isa and his miraculous birth. 

But even then it’s clear that there is something special about the story of Yusuf. 

And this alone should make us think that it was sent down within the first 13 years whilst the Messenger (saw) faced persecution within Mecca. 

As a consolation to him in a manner unlike the stories of the Prophets that faced trials and tribulations with their people, and as a cryptic source of instruction. 

The Surah begins with a verse that indicates that the conversations contained within it may have taken place in a language other than Arabic, but they are related in Arabic for our instruction. 

And then Yusuf (as) narrates his famous dream. 

The verse  (5) following on from that is unusual in that it is not how we Muslims are supposed to be. 

  

It’s evident from the Seerah and our way that we do not worry about the plots of Shaitan, that is not to say that they cannot be harmful but that we take them in our stride and continue past them. 

They do not affect us in the slightest, for our honour dictates that we do not revenge, but in stead bear with patience any and all that betray their trust. 

But not only do we not revenge, but whilst we may take precautionary measures against betrayal these measures should not prevent us from being fully open, even with our erstwhile enemies. 

This is the injunction contained within Baqara- “if they incline to peace, then you too incline to peace.”

Worries about betrayal have no place here, for this is the command of God. 

And even if our enemies betray, then that is their loss and our gain. No matter how much pain might come our way because of that betrayal. 

As a Muslim the command of God is greater than any pain that we may suffer due to it. 

This pure honesty we can see within the conduct of Yusuf further into the story. 

For his companion in the jail forgot about him, and then when he comes for advice about the seven lean cows consuming the seven fat cows, we do not see Yusuf scolding him. Nor do we see Yusuf withholding aught of his knowledge and saying bring me out from this place and I will instruct you in the interpretation of the dream. 

Instead Yusuf’s demeanour is completely open, in complete harmony with how our manner is to be. Completely trusting of God’s plan and that ultimately it will be for the best. 

But the greatest clue of what the Story of Yusuf is really to instruct us in is contained in verse 6. 

Reading the verse in the pure Arabic we have a simple conjunction …

“Wa kathalika…..”

Wa is simply “And”

When you approach this first you would clearly assume that the speech of Yaqub (as) continues on from v5 because of the simple conjunction of “and”. 

Remember in verse 5 we have - Qa La - He said, and it’s clear from the content and the fact that in verse 4 Yusuf is addressing his father, that Yaqub is speaking. 

But when you look at v6 and try to understand what is going on, it is clear that v6 is God’s speech and not Yaqub’s speech. 

Essentially God says here :

“so that We could teach Yusuf the interpretation of (dreams / things), so that We could raise him by degrees”. 

“Wa KaDhalika” is simply “And so that”. 

But what is most interesting about this is that the conjunction “Wa - And” is just not necessary and stands out like a sore thumb. 

After all the verse could have read Kathalika - So that We might …

And we would understand that it is simply God’s speech. 

The WA conjunction is simply not logical. 

And that’s what makes it completely interesting and furthermore meaning generating. 

And when we deliberate on it then we see that if it had been missed in error, then it being missing would not have been noticed. 

And this is the miracle of the protection of the Quran. 

For with it, it is as if God links the speech of Yaqub (as) with His speech, as if to say that those words of worry from Yaqub were in some way inspired by Him. 

And then it is as if God says here because of that conjunction 

“and We did this so that We could teach Yusuf (as)…”

Then we would understand from it that the origin of the whole story begins really not with the dream, but with the speech of Yaqub (as). 

It is this that sets in train the whole motion of events. 

Indeed it is clear that when one close to God makes an error then God immediately sends something to correct them, this is God’s blessing upon them. 

And when someone who is distant from God makes an error, then God gives them respite that they might repent and make good their ways and return back to Him. 

The speech of Yaqub (as) was not an error, as God attributes it to Himself, but it set in motion everything. 

If we want to know what S Yusuf is there to instruct us about, we simply have to look at Yusuf’s (as) last words on the matter. 

From it we can see that Yusuf only attributes goodness to God, even despite all that he has been through. 

That the trials that he faced are simply for that reason, to teach him (and us) that how we interpret our lives is the measure of all of us. 

And those who are best interpret them in the best of manners, attributing the best to God and focusing on his blessings. 

The greatest thing about this is that this is exactly what sets the Quran apart from all prior revelations, and this we can see because it always descended after the fact to teach us the proper interpretation of events. 

And that is why S Yusuf is such a special story in regards to its relationship with the Quran. 

Look now again at verse 6. 

How you interpret your life will determine your worth in your future life, both here in this world and then because of that spur to good deeds- in the life to come. 

END 

Knowledge is sought through contemplation and study. 

Not lectures, nor talks, nor necessarily this above. 

Ramadan - the Breaker of Bad Habits

It is true that Ramadan is the greatest habit breaker; it dishevels hairs, destroys our wake-sleep patterns and tries our patience. And that is one of the reasons that we love it. 

Indeed our Sheikhs constantly remind us that true test of whether our fasts have been accepted is if our changed better habits persist past the month’s end. 

Then it is an easy step for us to think that Ramadan is all about breaking bad habits, and nurturing better newer habits. 

It is as if it has become just another  annual resolution committer: that we commit to becoming better selves and when we fail in keeping to those resolutions then we have lost that Ramadan. 

For that blessed opportunity has both come and gone. 

But when you immerse yourself in the texts of Islam removed from our modern experience of multiple life coaches, then that is just not true. 

It is often said that you do not really know the value of a thing until you loose it. 

But true knowledge of a thing is deeper than even that, that we know water because it quenches our thirst, and we know the worth of food because it calms our hunger pangs, and blesses us both with vigour and energy. 

That therefore true knowable knowledge really affects us physically, and changes us. 

And in essence fulfils our deepest needs.  

Maybe part of Ramadan is to remind us of this simple truth. 

For the true miracle of Ramadan is the opportunity it gives us to move closer to God. How it enervates us all with energy. The energy to sacrifice.  

Recall that it is in Ramadan that God opens the gates of His Mercy.  

That after the verse in Baqara that mentions the fast in Ramadan, that He says that He responds to our supplications and is close to us. 

That in the last third of these nights that He descends and brings Himself closer to us. 

This is the opportunity that awaits us, and then God has also blessed us with the knowledge of how to become close to Him. 

It is reported in a Sahih Hadith that the ways to God are first through the fardh; the ordained prayers, paying the poor due, and fasting the prescribed fasts; and then through the Sunnah and then the Nafl prayers and acts. 

Indeed Ramadan is the month of the Quran. 

And the Quran is God’s speech and the greatest of Dhikrs (remembrances). 

So busy your lips with Quran and with the Tasbih (Glorifying God). 

Busy your bones with the nafl Salaat. 

Busy your hands with helping others. 

And busy your brains in contemplation. 

And God, himself, is the greatest of Knowledges and belief in Him is the most transformative of powers. 

Therefore do not focus on your habits, but focus your efforts on becoming closer to God and let Him be the One to transform you in the most beautiful of ways. 

And it is through this means that you will become closer to Him, and also come to know Him better. For He himself is the mover of hearts, the giver of bounties unlooked for. 

How marvellous is the Most Gracious, that He created the whole Cosmos in truth with the finest of details and nourishes each part of it in due measure. 

And He created simply that He might be known. (Hadith Qudsi - an Nawawi). 

And then He provided us with intellect and sense that we might come to know Him. 

And sent a Messenger (saw) to us that we might come to know the ways of becoming closer to Him. 

So do not let this opportunity pass you by. 

For this is month to exhaust yourself in prayers, and dhikr, and the Quran. 

And God is the One that loves for you to be happy, and so He does not burden you but instead blesses you with an opportunity.   

And that is a reward which is certain, InshaAllah. 

And even if bad habits do return, do not feel you have failed - for God is the One that loves to forgive, for those that repent and draw closer to Him. 

Allah is one, and there is no God but He.

He is the greatest of principles, the most Just, and True, the ever Doer of Good. The Most Beautiful, and the Keeper of the Most Beautiful of things.  

And we believe in Him, His angels, His books (that He sent down), His messengers and prophets (and we make no distinction between any of them for they were all His servants, sent by Him to bring us news from the unseen), Heaven and Hell which are certain, and Qadr’Allah that with Him belongs the decree of all things. 

And these are from the unseen World, and by God’s Infinite Grace we have believed in them and know them to be both true and real. 

*“Indeed in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find Peace.”* 

IAl-Quran 

Our Living History: The rituals at the Haramain

I wish I could be with each of you when you make the trip to our revered places - the Haramain -at Mecca and Medina. 

How I would instruct in the beauty of how our religion has made our history part, and parcel, of the rituals that we perform.  

So much so that when you perform those rituals with those events that shaped them in mind, you feel at one with our history, as if you were there. 

Many of these rituals existed two millennia before the Messenger of God.  And were both confirmed and purified by him. 

For the Arabs revered Ibrahim (as), the father of the Prophets two millennia prior to 700CE. They took great pride in him having raised the House of God at Mecca. 

Since that time they had venerated it, and made pilgrimage to it. 

*THE CALL*

وَأَذِّن فِي النَّاسِ بِالْحَجِّ يَأْتُوكَ رِجَالًا وَعَلَىٰ كُلِّ ضَامِرٍ يَأْتِينَ مِن كُلِّ فَجٍّ عَمِيقٍ

And proclaim among men the Pilgrimage: they will come to you on foot and on every lean camel, coming from every remote path. (S Hajj, v27). 

And God commanded Ibrahim (as) to announce the Pilgrimage to Mecca amongst all men. Mecca was newly established as a place of destination, by that proclamation. 

And in answer to that three millennia call the Pilgrim when he dons the two seamless and unstitched pieces of cloth, and throws off the World, intones with vigour and loudly -

Labayak Allah Humma Labayk. *1

Here I am O God, here I am. 

In answer to ibrahim’s proclamation that God carried to us down thirty centuries. 

It is the this verbal intonation that marks out a pilgrim, and it is sufficient as a dedication and an intention. 

*WHATEVER MECCCA GIVES TO YOU TAKE, WHATEVER IT LEAVES FOR YOU, YOU LEAVE*

When Ibrahim (as) raised his hands in supplication to God, he asked that God bless the progeny of his second son, Isaac (as) with Prophets and God accepted the supplication and replied “but not those that transgress”. 

And for his first born son Ismail (as), as he had left him in the barren valley of Becca *2, was for God to bless that place. 

This supplication God accepted without qualification. 

That is Mecca, a place of infinite blessing without end. 

And that is how you approach it. 

You approach it as Muhammed (saw) approached it as a conquering hero. 

He did not lead his men that day, but he gave over the command to others that entered the city from its several tracts. 

He himself rode on his camel Qaswa, which whom he had left as a hunted man nine years previously. 

And he (saw) entered Mecca with his head bowed. 

Any that came to petition him that day of conquest, found him ready and willing. And he gave generously to all. *3

That is how you approach Mecca. 

Things will go wrong, and you willingly accept them and pay. *4

You do not complain, for all is the will of God- but most of all at that place. 

And as you enter the Grand Mosque that houses the Kaba that Ibrahim raised, you make your shoulders low and lower your eyes and slump the frame of your body low and forward in the manner of a beggar approaching his master. 

Arrogance resides not just in the chest but also in the shoulders. 

This is the manner of Muhammed’s (saw) approach to Mecca. And as you approach be well to remember it. 

*THE RAML*

After entering the Holy Mosque and making supplication at the sight of the Kaba, then you fully uncover your right shoulder in preparation for the Tawaf. 

Circumbulating the Kaba is the greatest worship, greater than the ordained and heaven sent prayer. And so there is no prayer before the Tawaf. 

For the first three circuits around the Kaba you perform them as Raml, and you recall the Umrah after the treaty of Hubabiyyah. 

At that treaty which God declared as a clear victory, the Muslims were required to depart from the Haram not having completed the sacred rites of the Pilgrimage. Then to return a year later, at which point Quraysh would vacate Mecca so as to allow the Muslims to perform their Umrah unhindered. 

With the Raml we enact the command that the Messenger (saw) gave to his men that day. We move vigorously with our arms swinging, at a trot *5, this to show our fearlessness to the Quraysh that looked on the companions from the mountains surrounding the Kaba. 

So when you do the Raml, imagine you are at that time and place. And ask God to count you amongst those that were there that day with the Messenger (saw). 

*THE PRAYER IN FRONT OF THE KABA*

وَاتَّخِذُوا مِن مَّقَامِ إِبْرَاهِيمَ مُصَلًّى 

“and take ye the station of Abraham as a place of prayer” S2, v125

When we stand for prayer we enter into a state of complete humility, and our normal stance is that our eyes are lowered. 

Abu Haneefa (rm) held that looking on the Kaba is itself worship and that in front of the Kaba when you stand in worship you should look on it. 

Humility in such a state resides in your shoulders. Make them low. And when you stand for prayer in front of the Kaba let your eyes rest on it and drink deeply from its Barakah. 

This is something phenomenal that a lot of Muslims miss. *7

*THE SAI*

After the Tawaf we go to the hillock of Safa to perform the Sai, and to remember the first Muslim family. 

Ibrahim (as) saw in a dream to leave Hagar his handmaiden and his first born son, Ismail (as) in the barren valley of Becca. 

That first family were fully trusting of God. And so it is reported that as Ibrahim (as) left them, he did not look back, but instead supplicated for God to look after them and care for them. 

Hagar also believed that Ibrahim was a Prophet of God and put her full trust in God. 

When Ismail (as), as a young child or even baby, began to cry from thirst. Hagar ran between the two hillocks of Safa and Marwa. 

She was not looking for water for the valley was barren. But she looked for a caravan of nomads who would give her shelter and help her. 

She went seven times between the hillocks in desperation hoping for some succour. In the dip between them she ran because she could not see Ismail (ra). 

When you run remember the desperation that she felt. But then more so remember how God gave her succour. 

For whilst she looked for the company of a caravan, God gave to her a water gushing forth from where Ismail lay*6. And it is this Zam Zam that drew a caravan of people to her. And that was the foundation of Mecca as a destination, and as a town.  

This is the grace of God, that whilst you look to alleviate some hardship, for those that put their trust in God, He sends you something far better than you could have imagined. 

So when you run in the Sai recall the first family and their trials, and how God’s mercy sent them a water unlooked for. 

That is today the unending blessing of Zam Zam that quenches the thirst of the ever growing hoards of pilgrims. 

*THE SHAVEN HEADS*

The honour of the Hajj and the Umrah is the shaven head. 

It is the release from the pilgrim garb of the two unsown pieces of cloth that mark the ihram. And a release from the obligations that make you separate yourself from the World. 

Whenever I shave my head I remember Khalid bin Walid (ra) return to his army clean shaven after passing through the empty quarter (so named because in that dessert nothing can survive, and navigation through it was perilous with the shifting sand dunes.)

Khalid as commander of the Muslim fought many battles in Persia, and was required to join his forces and take command of the joint forces in Syria. 

He dispatched his army headed by a captain and explained that he would come up in the van. Unbeknownst to the rest of the army he couple a couple of captains and rode through the empty quarter, performed the Hajj and rode back. 

The first his men knew of his daring venture was on his return his head clean shaven. 

At Hudabiyyah after the Messenger had instructed his companions to shave their heads as a release from the Ihram, he supplicated thrice that those who shaved their heads be blessed. And at the third included those that cut their hair short. 

To shave your head in the honour of the Umra’ and Hajj. Wear it with honour and dignity. 

*MEDINA*

Try and gain all of your Fardh in the Prophets mosque. 

Behave as if you are one of the Companions of the Blessed Messenger (saw). They would never leave the Mosque until they presented themselves to him and gained permission to leave. 

This in case he needed for them to do something for him. 

So when you go to leave the Mosque present yourself to him and give salutations to him. 

Do not overcomplicate things, just send your salutations to him. 

And then after him the two buried next to him. *8

There are three gates, the Messenger and the two rightly guided are at the second gate, and not the first one. 

*QUBA*

Visiting Quba, the first Mosque built by the Messenger, is the equivalent of an Umra to the Holy Sanctuary. 

I would suggest that you going immediately after the Fajr prayer and gain your Ad-Duha (forenoon) prayer there. 

The journey time is around 10 minutes. 

*UHUD*

The Messenger (saw) said that Uhud is like a mountain of gold for the believers. 

Visit it, contemplate it. 

*FURTHER STUDY*

I will try and write about the Hajj and it’s rituals and how they recall to us our common history. 

But if you have the opportunity to go, then go first for the Umrah to fully experience our history as part of our rituals. 

The above is not a full exposition. 

Please refer to a suitable book for a fuller understanding of our rituals and how and where you should perform them. 

*END*

NOTES-

*1- the full pilgrim chant reads as follows:

*2 the reputed name of Mecca before it became a place of destination. 

*3 this generosity was inherent within Arab culture even predating Islam. 

At Hudabiyyah we see the Messenger (saw) instructing that the sacrificial animals be paraded in front of a notable Qurayshi idolater, so that he could be impressed with the generosity shown by the Messenger (saw) and therefore wish to come more readily to terms of agreement. 

*4 God’s bounty will descend upon Mecca despite of you. But to be a vessel for that descent …. Then wonder at that. 

 

*5 obviously 

*6 The Messenger (saw) reported that had Hagar not sought to dam it, then Zam Zam would have been a river on the Earth. 

*7 One of the arkaan of the Tawaf is that you circumbulate the Kaba without looking on it. The symbolism is phenomenal but I’ll let you deliberate on that. 

*8 Abu Bakr (as) was buried next to the Messrnger (saw) as he was the father of Aisha (ra), mother of the believers. And the Messenger (saw) was buried in her house because that is where he passed on.  The third burial place had been reserved for Aisha (ra) but at the time of Umar (ra) Caliphate he requested her that he be given the place and she (ra) acquiesced.