Emulating Yusuf: Prophet Muhammad's Forgiveness at the Conquest of Makkah

The Example of Yusuf and the Conquest of Makkah

How much pain and physical torture he underwent for the sake of Allah. He forgave all of his enemies and continued to make du'a for them. And we concluded with the example of Abdullah ibn Ubayy ibn Salul, رَئِيسُ الْمُنَافِقِينَ, the leader of the hypocrites.

At a very personal level, with respect to the wife of Rasulullah ﷺ, he made such grave allegations and such slander. And Rasulullah ﷺ continued to forgive him when he was alive — and not only participated, but led his janazah, participated in his burial — until Allah strictly commanded him that he is not permitted to do so.

But dear respected brothers and elders, we find examples in the Qur'an that Rasulullah ﷺ in his noble life referred to as well. And this is the example of Yusuf ﷺ. On the day of Fath of Makkah, when Nabi ﷺ entered Makkah al-Mukarramah triumphantly, with 10,000 Sahaba رِضْوَانُ اللهِ عَلَيْهِمْ أَجْمَعِينَ, pouring in from all of the different valleys into Makkah al-Mukarramah, which is in the center of different valleys. From the north, from the south, from the east and from the west, the different contingents and different divisions of the 10,000 Sahaba were pouring in.

And largely unopposed, it was a very open, swift victory that Allah granted Rasulullah ﷺ to the capital of Arabia — the commercial capital, the religious capital, and the tribal capital — Makkah al-Mukarramah. The same hometown that he had to leave 8 years prior. And this was in the 8th year of Hijrah.

So on that day, the people of Makkah were naturally very much afraid of what their outcome would be. How would Nabi ﷺ exact revenge for the tortures they had done, for expelling him from the city, for boycotting him for 2.5 to 3 years in the Shi'b of Abu Talib. All of the torture they had put Nabi ﷺ through, they had put the Sahaba رِضْوَانُ اللهِ عَلَيْهِمْ أَجْمَعِينَ through.

Now was the time that Nabi ﷺ was going to exact his revenge. But Rasulullah ﷺ said:

(Referenced in Sirah Ibn Hisham and Tafsir Ibn Kathir under the events of Fath al-Makkah)

He said, "I will not say to you anything more than what Yusuf ibn Ya'qub ﷺ — the Nabi of Allah, son of Ya'qub ﷺ Nabi of Allah, grandson of Ishaq ﷺ Nabi of Allah, great-grandson of Ibrahim ﷺ Nabi of Allah — said to his brothers." And in another hadith, Nabi ﷺ referred to this noble lineage by saying that Yusuf ﷺ is Kareem, ibn Kareem, ibn Kareem, ibn Khalil — that he is a noble individual, who is son of a noble, Ya'qub ﷺ, who is son of a noble, Ishaq ﷺ, who is son of the Khalilullah, the friend of Allah, Ibrahim ﷺ.

So Nabi ﷺ referred to this ayah and said, "I am going to say to you only what Yusuf ﷺ said to his brothers." And what did Yusuf ﷺ say to his brothers? Allah Ta'ala mentioned it in Surah Yusuf:

Yusuf ﷺ said: "Not only do I forgive you, but I say there is no blame upon you for what you have done." لَا تَثْرِيبَ عَلَيْكُمُ الْيَوْمَ — meaning, I will not even say that this was something wrong you did to me, that you did dhulm upon me and oppressed me and then I'm going to overlook that. Rather, I will not even cast any blame upon you. I will say that this was from Shaytan that made you do this.

And then, not only do I forgive you — يَغْفِرُ اللَّهُ لَكُمْ — I ask Allah that He also forgives you. وَهُوَ أَرْحَمُ الرَّاحِمِينَ — He is the most merciful of those who show mercy. SubhanAllah.

So this is a beautiful example for us — to forgive one another for minor things that happen in our lives.

The Story of Yusuf ﷺ: Why Did He Delay Revealing Himself?

If you look at Yusuf ﷺ's entire statement, what happened at this particular scene is that he had been holding back the information. He was not given permission by Allah to reveal his identity. Allah wanted to continue to test Ya'qub ﷺ — first with the separation of Yusuf ﷺ, then also with the separation of Binyamin ﷺ.

One question may come: if he was separated from his father, and had no idea if he was dead or alive, then when finally he saw his brothers coming and seeking rations and food and supplies at the time of the drought — as the governor in charge of the treasury — why did he not reveal himself right away? Why did he not run towards his own father and leave everything? Or at least call him.

In fact, why did he do this whole ploy of putting his royal cup into the bag of his brother, capturing him, and making sure he was also imprisoned — furthering the pain of the father? He should have gone towards his father if he loved him. Okay, up till now you didn't know where he was, you have been separated for decades as a child, so that's perhaps understandable — but why prolong it further?

It is because the test of Ya'qub ﷺ was still continuing. He did not have permission from Allah. And what he did was with the order of Allah.

But finally when Allah gave him the permission, and the brothers came back and said that their father is in a destitute condition, they are dying from hunger and starvation, their father is broken with grief and has become blind from excessive crying — they had lost Yusuf and now they had lost Binyamin — they approached Yusuf ﷺ in an extremely humble manner. They were completely broken.

They said, "O Aziz of Misr, O Governor of Misr." In the previous trip they had said: "He has an old father. Take one of us instead of Binyamin." Yusuf ﷺ said no, because Allah had told him to hold Binyamin.

Then at the third round when they came, they said they didn't even have the minimum amount required under the government-subsidized grain program. They said, "We have come with insufficient money — even the minimum requirement, we don't have that anymore. So we ask from you to give sadaqah." They asked for their father and for their families in sadaqah, and said:

"Verily Allah will give you reward if you give sadaqah." So at this point, Yusuf ﷺ was finally given permission. He brought the topic by first asking them a question:

He said: "Do you remember what you had done to Yusuf and to his brother Binyamin? What was the oppression that you did to Yusuf?" But notice — in the very question itself, he already gave them an excuse for their behavior. Not that you are bad people, not that you would do that now or again in the future. إِذْ أَنتُمْ جَاهِلُونَ — "Previously, when you were in jahalah, when you were ignorant, at that time when you were jahil, you did something. Do you remember that one? Back when you were jahil — of course now you are good people, so I'm not going to hold that against you currently."

So when he asked that question, the brothers started thinking — wait a second, how does this king even know about what happened? No one knows what happened except for us. When we were sitting and plotting, only ourselves and our victim know what happened. Their father himself didn't know. Nobody outside of that gathering knew.

A Proof of Divine Revelation: Allah Witnesses All Private Meetings

And this is why Allah, at the end of Surah Yusuf, addresses Rasulullah ﷺ and points out this fact — that when the brothers were sitting and plotting against Yusuf ﷺ, what everyone said and what the minutes of that meeting contained is recorded, and you are accurately telling the people generations, centuries later. Allah says: how do you know about this? It is only because I was present and I was a witness, as I am a witness to everything, and I am the only one revealing that unto you.

"And you were not present with them when they got together and were plotting." When the brothers met and one of them said, let's kill him. Another said, yeah, then our father will love us. Another said, no, no, no, let's not kill him:

"Don't kill him. Let's just throw him in an abandoned well. Some caravan will come and pick him up. If you really want to do something about it, this is the best option." The different opinions given in the whole mashwarah are being narrated by Rasulullah ﷺ in the Qur'an.

Somebody could say that this particular aspect of وَمَا كُنتَ لَدَيْهِمْ — "You are not there" — applies to every single scene of the whole story. You are not there when the baby Yusuf told his father, "I saw a dream of eleven stars." You are not there when the father told the son, "Don't tell your brothers this dream, they will plot against you." You are not there when he did go ahead and tell his brothers because he was a young boy and could not keep the secret.

But why is this one pointed out? Because they were so embarrassed about what happened, they did not tell anybody about it. And accurately Rasulullah ﷺ is narrating that to us. This is a proof of revelation — wahyu.

Allah Ta'ala says in Surah Al-Mujadalah:

Whenever three people are sitting together and plotting something in private — najwa is a private meeting, not a public or open admission — مَا يَكُونُ مِن نَّجْوَىٰ ثَلَاثَةٍ إِلَّا هُوَ رَابِعُهُمْ, whenever there are three people having a private meeting, Allah Ta'ala is always the fourth. وَلَا خَمْسَةٍ إِلَّا هُوَ سَادِسُهُمْ, whenever there are five people having a private meeting, Allah is the sixth. وَلَا أَدْنَىٰ مِن ذَٰلِكَ وَلَا أَكْثَرَ إِلَّا هُوَ مَعَهُمْ أَيْنَ مَا كَانُوا — whether less or more, Allah is always present with them, wherever they may be.

Not only is He there — He is also recording everything:

Whenever any statement comes out of your mouth, it is being recorded. The Kiramun Katibin are recording it. And then Allah Ta'ala says:

Then He will replay everything that happened on the Day of Judgment. One example is here, where they had a meeting and Allah Ta'ala replayed it centuries later in the Qur'an. And that is what Allah Ta'ala says in the beginning of Surah Yusuf:

"We are revealing this best story of all times upon you, our Nabi ﷺ. This is the wahyu that I am sending down upon you of the revelation of the Qur'an. And prior to this revelation, you are ghafil — meaning you are unaware. You did not know this. I am telling you, I am revealing it upon you, the certain knowledge."

So Allah Ta'ala points out the scene:

Still despite this fact, even though you have hirs, you have desire that people should see this plain truth — the majority of people will still not accept Islam. Even though it is very, very plain and very, very clear. They are still not going to accept Iman. Even though you have hirs and desire.

The Moment of Revelation: "Are You Truly Yusuf?"

So when Yusuf ﷺ asked this question, the brothers thought — wait, none of us told anybody, how does this man know? So when this question was asked, they replied with a question themselves. They looked at him and started thinking — wait, could this be that same boy? They did a prediction in their mind of that image of that little boy decades ago, and now he's grown up. So then they asked the question back:

"Wait a second — are you truly the same Yusuf? Are you Yusuf?" So then he said, "Yes, I am Yusuf, and this is my brother Binyamin. Allah has done great favors upon us." So he skipped over all the trials and the tests, and went straight to the favors.

The Central Moral of Surah Yusuf: Taqwa and Sabr

And the scholars of the tafsir of Surah Yusuf say that the crux of the entire surah, and the biggest moral from the whole surah, is in this ayah:

Whoever continues to have taqwa and sabr, then let him know that no matter how great the challenges will be in life, Allah Ta'ala will definitely give full reward to those who are muhsineen, those who do good. Taqwa and sabr.

Then they said:

"We swear by Allah, Allah has elevated your position and made you so much higher, so much nobler — in dunya and in deen, in akhlaq, in every aspect — than us. And indeed we have been in error. We did wrong to you." So they admitted their mistakes.

And he could have said, "Yes, you did wrong, but I'll forgive you. I'll be gracious enough to forgive you." This is where his response was:

This is the ayah that Nabi ﷺ quoted at Fath Makkah. When they said وَإِن كُنَّا لَخَاطِئِينَ, his answer was: "No, no, no, there is no blame upon you."

There is a law in the Arabic language called لا لِنَفْيِ الْجِنْسِ — for example, لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ: there is no deity — no capital G god, no small g god — except for one Allah. That same law applies here. لَا تَثْرِيبَ — this is لا لِنَفْيِ الْجِنْسِ. It means there is absolutely, with no shade of doubt, no blame upon you — no doubt, no blame whatsoever. It's okay.

يَغْفِرُ اللَّهُ لَكُمْ وَهُوَ أَرْحَمُ الرَّاحِمِينَ — "May Allah also forgive you. And He is the most merciful of those who show mercy."

The Reunion: The Fulfillment of the Dream

And then to conclude, finally, Ya'qub ﷺ came back, regained his vision, and they all prostrated to Yusuf ﷺ as had been prophesied — which was permitted in the previous sharia:

Ya'qub ﷺ and his wife, the mother of Yusuf ﷺ, were brought to sit on the throne, and they all made sajdah to Yusuf ﷺ. Then Yusuf ﷺ said, "Ya abati — O my dear father":

"This is now the manifestation, the interpretation of the dream that I had seen in my childhood." Remember when Yusuf ﷺ said to his father:

"O my dear father, I see 11 stars, and the sun and the moon — I see them making sajdah to me." And his father replied:

"O my dear son, don't tell your dream to your brothers. They will plot against you. Indeed Shaytan is an open enemy for human beings. Shaytan is going to misguide them and they will plot against you."

So now he says, قَدْ جَعَلَهَا رَبِّي حَقًّا — "Allah has made it true."

What Yusuf ﷺ Mentioned — and What He Omitted

Now when he's giving a summary of his life — from that point when he saw the dream till the implementation and fulfillment of the dream — what's noteworthy is what he says, and what's also noteworthy is what he does not say. What he mentions and what he omits.

Every single challenge that he went through, he omits. And every single blessing, he counts and he mentions.

"Allah has done such ihsan upon me — He was so kind to me — when He took me out from the jail." How did he get in the jail? You cannot come out of a jail until you get imprisoned in the jail. So wait a second — wasn't there a plotting of Zulaykha and the other women? Weren't you wrongfully accused of such a major crime? Weren't you dragged in chains into the jail and tortured? And weren't you there for years? He skips over all of that. He doesn't count it. He says, "Allah did such a great favor upon me when He took me out from the jail."

Then number two, he says, وَجَاءَ بِكُم مِّنَ الْبَدْوِ — "Then Allah did such a great favor when He brought you from the Bedouins living in the desert. He brought you from the desert to the city and He allowed us to meet once again." How about the separation part? You are rejoined only after separation. So there was a separation, and we're concluding. He skips the whole separation and talks about the rejoining.

Then he says: مِن بَعْدِ أَن نَّزَغَ الشَّيْطَانُ بَيْنِي وَبَيْنَ إِخْوَتِي — "This all happened after Shaytan caused some problem between me and my brothers." This is a further explanation of what was mentioned before — لَا تَثْرِيبَ عَلَيْكُمُ الْيَوْمَ. "I don't even blame you." Okay, who do you blame then? He says: it was Shaytan who caused some ill feeling in the heart between me and my brothers.

The Two Sides of Forgiveness: The Forgiver and the One Seeking Forgiveness

Now, this — blaming Shaytan — is, for the record, nothing but the truth. But it is not the complete truth. Because there is another half to this. This applies to the side of the forgiving person. The one who committed the crime is not supposed to adopt this posture. He is not supposed to just blame Shaytan.

He is supposed to blame himself. As Adam ﷺ and Hawwa said:

"Our Lord, we have wronged ourselves." And as Yunus ﷺ said:

We are supposed to blame ourselves. We are not supposed to have a cop-out and say, "Shaytan made me do it" — when we are the oppressor. We are supposed to take ownership of our crime.

When you apologize to somebody, the lamest apology ever is: "I'm sorry if you felt that way." Why is this so lame? Because you are not owning up to the fact that you did something wrong. "I never did anything wrong. I just feel sorry." It is just like saying, "I'm sorry there was an earthquake and your house was destroyed." As they say in insurance language: act of God. Everything is act of God. "I'm sorry your house got drowned in the flood" — does that mean you had anything to do with the flood? No. Similarly, "I'm sorry you felt that way" — what kind of apology is that? You did not take ownership of anything.

A real apology is: "I'm sorry because I did something wrong. I was a criminal here. I accept my mistake, I feel sorry for it, and I seek your forgiveness." So the one who is seeking forgiveness is supposed to do it this way.

And the one who is forgiving — which is what we are talking about today — what is he supposed to say? "No blame upon you. It is Shaytan who made you behave that way." And patch it up and move on.

May Allah give us tawfiq on both sides. May Allah teach us how to seek forgiveness. May Allah teach us how to forgive.

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