From Loss to Legacy: Reflections on Surah Yusuf | From Trials to Triumph | Ep. 01

From Loss to Legacy: Reflections on Surah Yusuf — Episode 1

So before I start, insha'Allah, I'll just recite the first few verses and insha'Allah we'll get going. I have no promises on how long this will take us. It might take us an entire year. It might take us six months, eight months. My goal is to have it done before Ramadan, insha'Allah. If we can get it done before Ramadan, that'll be good because it's a long surah.

It's a fairly long surah. And insha'Allah, the goal is to spend time on it. It's not like a semester class. That's why I kind of avoided doing it in a summer immersion or in an intensive, because then I'm kind of confined to making sure that I finish the curriculum on time. And I didn't really want to do that with Surah Yusuf. I wanted to be able to just enjoy it and experience all the benefits and all the wisdoms that come in this surah with you all, insha'Allah wa ta'ala.

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ، الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ، وَعَلَى عَاقِبَتِهِ لِلْمُتَّقِينَ، وَالصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَى أَشْرَفِ الْأَنْبِيَاءِ وَالْمُرْسَلِينَ، سَيِّدِنَا مُحَمَّدٍ النَّبِيِّ الْأَمِينِ، أَمَّا بَعْدُ

Allah says in His noble book, after أَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيمِ، بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ:

And the Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 5027)

The Backdrop of Revelation

My brothers and sisters, Allah sends down surahs and He sends down different stories in the Qur'an specifically to support the Prophet ﷺ and the different situations that he was dealing with. Every great story has a backdrop — it has a behind-the-scenes. Surah Yusuf, like the other stories of the Qur'an and the other surahs of the Qur'an, was not revealed by coincidence. It was not revealed simply because it was a good story. It was revealed — and the greatness and the merit of the story is only truly understood — when a person understands the backdrop, and when a person recognizes what was happening in the Prophet's ﷺ life when this surah was revealed.

The reality of life's default state being difficulty is the same for anyone and everyone, despite whatever era they live in. And normally when a person lives in that default state — عُسْرُ الدُّنْيَا الْبَلَاء — the Prophet ﷺ says that the default state of life is difficulty, and the concessions are moments of ease and happiness. That perspective is key, because it allows us to be more grateful for the moments of joy and happiness, and it allows us to bear the difficulty when we're experiencing it with Allah on our side.

So when a person goes through moments of difficulty and they go through moments of hardship, the only way to persevere is having people around you who can support you. And the Prophet ﷺ — who experienced more difficulty than each and every one of us — he says, "I experienced more pain than anyone else." So how is this person so broken and yet such a healer? How is it that his heart is grieving, yet there's a smile on his face? How is it that he's so hurt, yet he's such a source of comfort for those who are hurt themselves?

We normally would think that hurt people hurt people. Hurt people hurt people — when they're not healed by Allah. And hurt people will hurt people if they seek healing from anyone other than Allah. The process of healing begins from the Qur'an:

The shifa that we're speaking about is the shifa that all of us are searching for. It's not physical — it's deeper than that. It's a shifa that a son is searching for when they're struggling with their father or mother. It's a shifa that parents are struggling with when their children are disobedient to them. So the Qur'an was revealed as a shifa for the Prophet ﷺ.

It's almost oxymoronic — that a person could bury six of his seven children and still smile. Either the person is crazy, or they recognize that the value of their smile is bigger than what they're experiencing. The Prophet's ﷺ smile was not symbolic of what he was experiencing — it was symbolic of what he wanted the other person to experience.

Generosity of Character and the Courage to Smile

Generosity is normally seen within wealth. Ibn al-Qayyim says that we define the generosity of people through their character. It takes courage to smile when you're struggling with pain. It takes courage for a mother to hide her tears to be able to give comfort to her child. It takes courage — and courage is not only seen on the streets. Courage is seen when you have to control your emotions in order to give comfort to someone else. It takes courage to forgive. It takes courage to be generous.

This is why the Prophet ﷺ would say:

"O Allah, I seek refuge in You from cowardice and stinginess." Because these two qualities come hand in hand. No person can ever be a coward and be generous. No person can be stingy and at the same time somehow become brave. They come hand in hand. And the hypocrites were defined by both of these — they couldn't stand for the truth.

Happiness vs. Contentment

The idea of the pursuit of happiness is something that we're taught very early on, especially living in America. And truth be told, if the pursuit of happiness was the ultimate goal of life, then every one of us is failing — except maybe kids, because they're always happy.

Imam al-Ghazali defines a growth chart of how we grow as we age and mature. He says: when people are children, they pursue happiness. But when they grow older, they pursue a higher thing — and that is contentment. A child will never be content, but they'll be happy — that's why they're children. You can keep them happy but they'll never be content. But adults who mature — happiness is important, but it's not the key cause of contentment. Contentment, rather, is that which brings happiness.

The Prophet ﷺ didn't teach us that we have to be happy. He taught us that we have to be content with Allah's Qadr. If happiness were the key, then I'm sure the Prophet ﷺ would have lived a happy life. But burying six of your seven children is quite definitive that he wasn't simply a happy person — he was content with everything Allah gave him.

رَضِيتُ بِاللَّهِ رَبًّا، وَبِالْإِسْلَامِ دِينًا، وَبِمُحَمَّدٍ نَبِيًّا ﷺ — this is what we recite as a daily affirmation in the morning: "I am pleased with Allah as my Lord. I am pleased — there is nothing else that I want from my life and from who I want in my life — other than the one whom Allah already gave me."

So as a person experiences this — and as the Prophet ﷺ experiences this as well — there are moments, like every one of us have, of weakness. And that weakness is not because we are lacking something; it's simply because those are the natural movements and emotions of life. Spirituality, as you will learn from this surah, does not remove the emotional grief that a person goes through. It accelerates the response that they have to Allah. The emotional grief that a person goes through will always be the same, whether or not they're spiritual or lacking in spirituality. But the process of returning to Allah is accelerated when a person has Allah on their side, because now they can return to Him quicker. We'll learn this from the entire surah that we'll be covering, insha'Allah.

The Prophet ﷺ and the Year of Sorrow

This concept of difficulties and hardships — they were present in the Prophet's ﷺ life. He felt as though the world had tightened upon him despite its vastness. And in those moments, Allah would reveal verses and surahs that would console him. He didn't have a father who could teach him how to deal with all the mockery that he was on the receiving end of. It would have been nice to have a father after Ta'if to put an arm around his shoulders and say, "Oh son, are you alright?" It would have been convenient to have a mother with him when the people around him started mocking him and calling him names — the soft, tender touch of a mother, whose whisper can be louder than the loudest of shrieks and screams. It would have been nice to maybe even have an elder sibling. It would have been pretty convenient to have Khadijah at the time of Hijrah.

Allah took them one by one — as if to say: you have Me. There is no place of salvation, there is no place of refuge, O Allah, from anyone and anything other than You.

So how was it that a man who was so hurt was such a healer? Because normally we go through the slightest difficulties in life, and the reaction to that difficulty is that everyone else receives it as well — everyone else has to experience it with me. "I went through a difficult day, so you have to experience that too." We're anxious, so everyone has to experience it with me.

The Background of Revelation (Asbab al-Nuzul)

My dear friends, this is what we call the background of revelation. When Allah revealed this surah, the Prophet ﷺ was experiencing a period where there was no revelation for a long time. Some of the mufassirun say six months — the Prophet ﷺ received no revelation during that period.

The Prophet ﷺ was given the beautiful Surah al-Kawthar when he lost his son Qasim and Abu Lahab started screaming in the city and celebrating the death of the Prophet's ﷺ son. Imagine — one is to lose your son, and the other is someone celebrating that loss. It can't get worse. And as he's walking around the city, someone is saying: "Muhammad will not have a legacy, neither will he have a lineage." Because the people of this world always define legacy to be built through a horizontal effort — that whatever I can do in this world will build my legacy. But the people of the Akhira understood that legacy is built upon a vertical effort.

That's why the Prophet ﷺ says in a hadith that when a person passes away, their legacy is finished except through three things: knowledge that benefited people, charity that continued, and a child that prayed for you and worshipped Allah and through whom you were also able to receive the reward — you were a sleeping partner.

So Allah revealed — sometimes you recite these surahs not intentionally, not maliciously, with such insignificance and almost frivolousness, not understanding the heaviness of how they were revealed and why they were revealed. Much was lost for Surah al-Kawthar to be given to the Prophet ﷺ. Much was lost for Surah al-Duha to be given to the Prophet ﷺ. Much was lost for the Prophet ﷺ to be given the verses after Uhud. And we simply benefit from them. And Surah Yusuf is no different.

It was a surah that was revealed directly to the Prophet ﷺ when he experienced his most difficult day in his life. Aisha r.a. asked the Prophet ﷺ: "What was the most difficult day of your life?" And he responded by saying: "In Mecca, it was Ta'if. In Medina, it was Uhud, when I lost my uncle Hamza."

Three Gifts After Ta'if

At his lowest point — like all of us experience in our lowest points — Allah gifted him with three blessings.

Number one: He gifted him with the blessing of Al-Mi'raj — as if Allah was saying: the people of the world don't want to speak to you? Let it be. Come to Mi'raj, I'll speak to you. Allah is saying: it's okay, you speak to Me. This is why Ya'qub a.s. in the surah says, "I speak to Allah."

Number two: The Prophet ﷺ was given the Islam of the Jinn on his return from Ta'if. Allah granted hidayah to the Jinn of that area — as if to say: the humans don't want to accept your call? Here it is — I'll give you an entire creation who is ready to accept your call and support you.

Number three: The third gift that the Prophet ﷺ was given was the beautiful story in Surah Yusuf. And the entire story was revealed at once, because the purpose of it was to comfort the Prophet ﷺ. Imagine if we only had the first part of the story, where all the difficulties are consolidated — it would have been very difficult for that surah to serve as a form of comfort, because he's like, "Yeah, I know about this part. But how about the next part?"

The Wisdom of Qadr

Ali r.a. says: whosoever wishes to understand the wisdom of decree and the wisdom of Qadr, they don't necessarily need to read a book of Aqeedah — it's nice — they can simply read Surah Yusuf. And if they can read the surah with a mind that is present and a heart that is touched, they'll understand that the wisdom of Allah is far greater than our plans. It's easy to say it, but when you see it — in the Prophet's ﷺ life, and in the story of Yusuf a.s. — when he became the treasurer of Misr, Ali r.a. comments on this surah and says: if Allah gifted all of us the ability to write our own Qadr — to write it ourselves and ask Allah to give it to us exactly the way we wrote it — and then Allah told us: here is the Qadr that I wrote for you — there would not be a single person except that they would choose what Allah wrote for them. Because when Allah wrote it and decreed it, He kept everything in mind. And we kept whatever knowledge we had — which is very limited in the grand scheme of things.

So this was given to the Prophet ﷺ after Ta'if — to comfort a heart that was broken. You know, you have the loss of Khadijah and Abu Talib. But let's step back a bit further. Right before that, you had the boycott. And right before the boycott, you had the Sahaba being persecuted, your beloveds having to leave Mecca and go to Abyssinia in year five. Then you have the boycott after that. And right after the boycott, at the tail end of it, you lose your wife and your beloved uncle — both of whom were your support systems in this world.

And then he's like, "You know what? Maybe these people don't value me because I'm from Mecca. Let me go somewhere else — sometimes people in your own city don't value you as much." So he goes to a neighboring city, hoping they might value him. He tells them: "Do me a favor — if you don't want to accept me, just don't tell the people of Mecca I came to you, because they'll see that as a form of weakness." And the response was everything except what he expected. He expected at least a few days of shelter, maybe some financial support. Nothing of that was given to him.

So in that moment, Allah says: "Here you go — you have Surah Yusuf."

Abdullah ibn Mas'ud r.a. would say:

(Reported in various tafseer works, attributed to Abdullah ibn Mas'ud r.a.)

"There is not a single person who reads Surah Yusuf while their heart is grieving except that that grief will be relieved — some pressure of life will be lifted from them — سُرِّيَ عَنْهُ — because they'll be able to see that this is the journey that Allah has decreed for them."

The Timing of Ease

And to add to that concept — Surah Yusuf was a reminder to the Prophet ﷺ that yes, ease will come — but it won't come immediately after the difficulty. We have this utopian notion that مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا — with every difficulty comes ease — and we actually perceive that to be a calculated formula: after every difficulty, there must be an ease that follows. That's not the way it works. If that were the case, after every loss of a child, Allah would have given the Prophet ﷺ another child. It's not calculated. It's not quantified in the manner that we perhaps perceive it to be. مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا could mean continuous difficulties and finally an ease.

Imam al-Ghazali would say: الدُّنْيَا كُلُّهَا عُسْرٌ وَالْآخِرَةُ كُلُّهَا يُسْرٌ — the dunya in all that it contains is actually difficulty, and the Akhira in all that it contains is ease. الدُّنْيَا سِجْنُ الْمُؤْمِنِ — it's a prison for a believer at times. And what he meant by that is: if you've lost a loved one, or if you've gone through a difficulty — even in your moments of happiness, like a marriage or the birth of a child or a graduation — in the back of your mind you're like: "Man, I wish my brother was with me. I wish my father could see this day. I wish my mother could see this day." Even in your moments of triumph, there is a level of restlessness. That's dunya — that's not something unique to us, that's something everyone is experiencing. And we're comfortable with that, because that's the fabric of what we've been given to deal with.

So Surah Yusuf was a reminder to the Prophet ﷺ: yes, there will be relief — but there were a lot of difficulties before Yusuf a.s. was taken out of prison.

Allah says to the Prophet ﷺ:

سَوْفَ in Arabic — one of its meanings is "in due time." It's going to happen, but it's going to take some time. It might take eighteen years for the Fath of Makkah — but it will happen. And the same concept is found in the story of Yusuf a.s. as a reminder that it might take time. What you're going through right now may last longer than what you expect. Not that we ask Allah for it — we ask Allah for 'afiyah, we ask Allah for ease in every aspect of our life.

There are people — imagine telling someone that every Yusuf comes with difficulties — and they just lost a child. They're like: "I believe you, but I don't know if that's the reality I'm experiencing right now." It may be a reality of being a believer. Because if someone loses a child, their "Yusuf" — their ease — is to be reunited with their child, and that's the Akhira. It's possible that great scholars were in prison, wrongly accused, and they died in prison. Where is their Yusuf? Where is their ease? So if we only look at it within the lens that the Yusuf must come in dunya, then we may be disappointed.

I'm not saying we don't pursue it. We tie our camel — but we don't strangle it. Some people strangle their camel. They do too much. Just do what you can, and then Allah takes care of the rest.

Allah says: O human being, you will go through kabad — a kabad means like a calamity. And Abu Darda r.a. explains this ayah by saying kabad is like a person who is drowning in a body of water and the waves are clashing upon them. Finally it settles, and this person sticks out their head for a moment and grasps for air. And the moment they think there's relief and the waves have settled — another one comes and hits them. And then you come and meet Allah.

Blessings as Burdens

Some of us may be sitting here thinking: "I haven't experienced this type of difficulty." But difficulty doesn't always come in the guise of a hardship. Allah may present it to us through a blessing. Every blessing is also a burden. We learn from the story of Yusuf a.s. that sometimes the greatest blessings are the greatest tests.

Everyone understands that burdens are blessings. Everyone speaks about that concept — that a difficulty is a blessing because it brings me to Allah. But rarely do we speak about the idea that a blessing is also a difficulty. It's a burden. Every blessing comes with challenges.

The greatest blessing of life is health. The greatest challenge of that health is not to use it against Allah. A person can't see — they're not challenged with protecting their gaze. A person can see — now they're challenged to protect their gaze. That's a burden that we are able to handle. Similarly, the greatest blessing of life for those who have children — is children. And the greatest challenge is also children: how to raise them correctly.

Similarly, in the story of Yusuf a.s. — the greatest blessing that Allah gave him, outside of prophethood, was his beauty. And I want this preface to stick — I'll come back to it again and again throughout the next few months as we cover this surah. His greatest challenge was also his beauty. His brothers only betrayed him because he was more beautiful than them. He was only sold as a slave because of his beauty. His entire situation with the minister's wife only presented itself because of the beauty that Allah had endowed him with. He went to prison because of his beauty.

Sometimes the blessing that we're asking Allah for — and we should keep asking, no one is saying we should stop — but perspective is key here. Sometimes that blessing may come with a burden so overwhelming that my iman cannot handle it. So why does my friend get accepted to that program and not me? Because maybe their setup is such that that blessing, with the burden that came with it, was not overwhelming for them — and for me, it would have been. So Allah didn't give me that blessing.

So the Prophet ﷺ is also being taught this — and as we are being taught throughout this surah — Ibn 'Ata'illah al-Iskandari says it has more than a thousand wisdoms we can extract from it.

It's not the most beautiful story because it creates emotions — it's the most beautiful story because of the wisdoms that can be extracted from it. Even minds like ours, which are not as connected to Allah as those who came before us, are able to take from it. That is the background of why the Prophet ﷺ was given Surah Yusuf. Much was lost for us to enjoy this surah.

Umar r.a. — whenever he would experience grief, and the Sahaba would come to him and complain about difficulty — he would say: "Just read Surah Yusuf. Just chill and read Surah Yusuf. Bring comfort and closure to your heart by understanding that the One who is in control of you is the same One who was in control of that child and that well — and it turned out okay for him."

And it won't always turn out okay for us in dunya — and again, that's also a part of Surah Yusuf. Yes, our sister stood up in front of the Microsoft CEO of AI and stood for Gaza and Palestine, lost her job, and Allah gave her a better job. But there are many sisters and brothers of ours who stood up and never got a job back. It's possible. The outcome doesn't change the fact that what they did was right. Mahmoud Khalil, who may be deported from the country while his wife is in her last stages of giving birth — there is a reality that yes, Allah does reciprocate, but Allah is not confined by a timeline.

That's why the Prophet ﷺ says: "Everyone's du'a is accepted — except for the musta'jil." The Sahaba said: "Ya Rasulullah, who is a musta'jil?" And he said: "A musta'jil is a person who, when they make du'a, says, 'Ya Allah, You still haven't accepted my du'a yet.' They put Allah in a time frame." Yes, of course we ask Allah because He loves us — but don't be a musta'jil. Allah's process is always perfect. His timing is always perfect.

Imam al-Ghazali says that a part of understanding Qadr is understanding that Allah's timing is perfect. I remember when we lost our younger brother — rahmatullahi 'alayh — and one of our teachers, I said to him: "My struggle is not that Allah took my brother from me. My struggle is that he left too early." And he said something very profound — such a simple statement, from an elderly sheikh. He said: "You actually can't say that. You can say Allah took him while he was young. But you can't say Allah took him early — because that means Allah's timing was wrong. We only say 'early' when your timing is wrong. We only say 'late' when your timing is wrong. Allah's timing is perfect. There's no such thing as early or late. Allah lives in the present. Allah is present in all times. There's no past or future — Allah's timing is perfect for all of us as well in every aspect of what He has given us."

His giving is His love, and His taking is His wisdom. When He gives us, it's because He loves us — not because we deserve it. And when He takes from us, it's because He's wise, and that wisdom is greater than what we could ever imagine. Like the story of Musa a.s. and Khidr a.s. and the taking of the life of that child — that was knowledge that not even a prophet had access to.

Imam al-Ghazali says: "His giving is His love and His taking is His wisdom. His giving is not because we deserved it — His giving is because He is الرَّحْمَٰن. He loves us." The greatest surah of blessings in the Qur'an — its thesis is الرَّحْمَٰن — which means that every blessing that you have, that is undeniable, is undeniable because of His undeniable love for you. If He didn't love you, you wouldn't have what you had. Entitlement is a cancer of gratitude. No son or daughter can ever be grateful to their parents if they're entitled to what they were given. And no slave of Allah can ever be grateful to Allah if they feel entitled to the blessings He gave them. This is why we recite the du'a when Allah takes someone from us:

"For Allah is what He gives, and for Allah is what He takes."

The Second Cause of Revelation

That is the backdrop. The second cause of revelation for Surah Yusuf — and there are two main ones, and I want to share both. The second is that the Jews — the Ahl al-Kitab of that time — came to test the Prophet ﷺ. And they said: "If you're really a prophet, tell us how Yusuf and the children of Bani Israel ended up in Misr, whilst they were from Sham — from Lebanon, Canaan, Palestine. How did they end up in Egypt? How did they end up in the capital of the world?" Egypt was the capital of the world at that time, as we will cover throughout this story.

Allah doesn't mention a detail — in this surah or in any surah of the Qur'an — that is insignificant. Every detail has significance. Every word has significance. And we want to cover every word of this surah so we can truly attach ourselves to it — to the point that you all can teach it to your own children, family, and the people around you as well. That is the goal, insha'Allah. And we can transform our lives through it.

So the second reason is: when the Prophet ﷺ was asked about the story, he asked Allah, and it was revealed. This is a Makki surah. And it's no coincidence that this is the 12th surah of the Qur'an — and there were also 12 brothers. There's no coincidence that this is in the 12th juz of the Qur'an — and there were also 12 brothers. Allah's design is perfect.

The Connection Between Surah Hud and Surah Yusuf

The surah before ends when Allah says at the end of Surah Hud:

Because there's always a connection between surahs — there is a munasabah, a continuous journey taking place throughout the Qur'an. Every surah has connections to the others, and every ayah does. There are books written on this topic.

In Surah Hud, Allah ends the surah by saying: "All the stories of the prophets that We have revealed to you — مَا نُثَبِّتُ بِهِ فُؤَادَكَ. The purpose of why We staggered revelation over 23 years and did not give it to you all at once — the way We gave it to Musa a.s. and Isa a.s. — is because these stories bring you comfort, Ya Rasulullah. You don't have a father, a mother, an older brother, a sibling, a sister. Revelation comforts you." This is why it's called wahi — istiraha. This is why taraweeh is called taraweeh — from rawha. The Qur'an comforts the soul. It brings comfort — not because we know what it's saying, but because we know who it came from.

The people of Yemen — a caravan from Yemen showed up to Madinah al-Munawwarah just days, moments after the Prophet ﷺ left this world. They were so excited when they saw the mountains of Madinah that they got off their camels out of excitement. And when they got there, they were told: "The Prophet ﷺ just transitioned from this world." And as they were struggling with their emotions, Abu Bakr r.a. came to them and said: "Well, I have a letter that the Prophet ﷺ has given for you. Do you want to read it?" He said, "Yes." He said, "Well, that letter is the Qur'an. Enjoy it. It's a letter from Allah."

We weren't given the good fortune and the honor to spend time with the Prophet ﷺ in this world — but we have the Qur'an with us. That is a source of shifa for all of us. Allah says to him: مَا نُثَبِّتُ بِهِ فُؤَادَكَ. All of these stories — the word ثَبَّتَ in Arabic means to strengthen, to stabilize. The dunya is naturally very unstable. Nothing in this world is stable. The stock market is like an extension of how dunya is — it's always moving. Someone is on top, another is on the bottom. Someone is on the bottom, another is on the top. This is a sunnah of Allah in dunya — nothing remains on top, nothing remains on the bottom. Only Allah remains at the top.

So Allah says: نُثَبِّتُ بِهِ فُؤَادَكَ. فُؤَاد — your heart. Not قَلْب — because قَلْب is something impacted more so by miscellaneous things. Your قَلْب can be impacted by a small discussion. But the فُؤَاد needs more to be impacted. So your قَلْب can be impacted by a talk, or by the environment, or by each other's conversations. But the فُؤَاد is impacted by Allah's revelation. The فُؤَاد is impacted by going to Mecca and Medina. It's a deeper relationship the فُؤَاد requires.

نُثَبِّتُ بِهِ فُؤَادَكَ — it brings strength to your heart. Even though your قَلْب is swaying, the فُؤَاد doesn't sway as much. The فُؤَاد is stable. The قَلْب sways — that's why it's called قَلْب, because it changes: يُقَلِّبُ. The فُؤَاد remains consistent.

And then after revealing this ayah at the end of Surah Hud, Allah begins the next surah with Surah Yusuf — as if to say: "I told you I'm going to bring comfort to you. Here it is. Let Me bring you some comfort."

Beginning of Surah Yusuf: The Muqatta'at Letters

Allah begins by saying:

Which we know as the huruf al-muqatta'at — those letters that nobody knows the meaning of. Why does Allah begin surahs with these types of letters? I'll give you three reasons.

Number one: Allah begins them as an attention grabber. "O people of Mecca, you perceive yourselves to be very eloquent — you don't know what this means. Tell me what this means. You don't know what this means, so pay attention. It's like — if you knew what this meant, you'd be fine. But you don't know what this means, so pay attention, because there's more here that you don't know. So give Me your mind and your heart."

Number two: Allah begins with letters like the huruf al-muqatta'at to demonstrate the dominance of His ilm over all of us — even the prophets. There will always be something that we don't know. And that is why we turn to revelation. It's a reference for us to learn knowledge — not just a reference for us to become better slaves. Even to learn and experience knowledge, we come to the Qur'an for it.

Number three: One of the purposes is that Allah does want us to reflect. And even reflecting on letters whose meaning we don't know is rewarding. The purpose of reflecting is not ultimately that we will know everything — the purpose of reflecting is to know that this is a command from Allah. So even me reading الر, not knowing the meaning — we're talking about it right now. There is reward in that, even if none of us will ever know the meaning. There are attempts.

And notice: every time you see letters like this begin a surah, the attached verse will always have something to do with the Qur'an.

Every time Allah begins with letters that are unknown to humanity, He attaches them to a verse about the Qur'an. And the reason for that, Ikramah Rahimahullahu Ta'ala, who is a scholar of tafseer, says: the reason for that is to remind us that all information comes from the Qur'an. "Yeah, I know you don't know what this means — but everything you need to know comes in the Qur'an."

"Everything is clearly described and explained to you in this book." So it always comes attached to the Qur'an — to honor the knowledge and the power of the Qur'an.

Tilka Ayatul Kitabil Mubin — The Signs of the Clear Book

So Allah continues by saying:

In Arabic, we have two types of pointing letters — ism al-isharah. We have هَذِهِ and تِلْكَ for the feminine, and هَذَا and ذَلِكَ for the masculine. Normally, هَذَا and هَذِهِ come for things that are close. And ذَلِكَ and تِلْكَ come for things that are further. But one of the reasons why Allah uses ذَلِكَ and تِلْكَ — and why Arabs use them — is to show the greatness of something. So when Allah says ذَلِكَ الْكِتَابُ, it's not saying "that book" as in, "that book over there." It's saying: that great book. تِلْكَ آيَاتُ — "those ayat" — they're special.

What is an Ayah?

The word ayah — something to reflect on. We call them verses of the Qur'an, and it's fine to use any word to translate ayah. But what is an ayah by definition? Abdullah ibn Abbas r.a. says an ayah is something which leaves you floored — in simpler words, it leaves you in 'ajab, dumbfounded. There is no response you have.

This is why wherever Allah uses ayah for other prophets in the Qur'an, it's always with their miracles. Allah uses ayah for the staff of Musa a.s. Allah uses ayah for the touch of Isa a.s. Allah uses ayah for the entire journey of Ibrahim a.s. in protecting his son. All of these are ayah because they show that we are not in control and that there is Someone greater in power.

But for the ummah of the Prophet ﷺ, He uses ayah for every verse of the Qur'an — because every verse of the Qur'an is as impactful in your life and my life as the story of the staff of Musa a.s. Every ayah has the power of impacting a different chord of our heart. When we're going through moments of relief and ease, different ayat impact us. When we're going through moments of financial stress, different ayat impact us. The Qur'an has encapsulated every emotional need that the human being has, and it supports those needs.

It's called ayah because literally it does what those prophets' miracles did — which was to prove to people that Allah is the true God. That's why Musa a.s. was given his staff, and the Prophet ﷺ was given ayat. Every verse of the Qur'an is an ayah for humanity.

Sometimes — especially if you get into the habit of having a daily reading of the Qur'an, even if it's ten minutes a day or twenty minutes a day — don't put a quantity, put a time. Because if you're really good at reading, you can kind of trick yourself. So put a time. If you read the Qur'an every day, I promise you the Qur'an speaks to you differently. Because the ayah that you read — sometimes you walk into the sheikh's khutbah and he's talking about exactly what you're dealing with. But you know how that happens in a much more profound way when you read the Qur'an daily. Because it's ayah — it responds to the need that you have in a way that no tafseer could have given you.

This is why tadabbur does not require knowledge. Tadabbur — just reflecting — is something that every person experiences in their own way, as long as it's within the framework of what is halal. Tafseer requires knowledge — explaining. But reflecting is something every person experiences personally.

Al-Mubin: The Clarifying Book

الْمُبِينِ has two meanings. Mubin by definition means: clear. Its original letters are بَيَان — بَيَّنَ. The idea is that it is very clear, and it clarifies. It's a clarifier. So mubin has two meanings:

Number one: آيَاتُ الْكِتَابِ الْمُبِينِ — these are signs and miracles that clarify any misconceptions or any blurred lines about the story of Yusuf a.s. Read it, and you'll see that anything which people disagree about, this surah will explain and clarify.

Number two: آيَاتُ الْكِتَابِ الْمُبِينِ — these are verses and miracles that will also make your own flaws clear to you. The Qur'an is the greatest judge.

Imam Ibn Abbas r.a. says one meaning of al-Qur'an al-Hakim is that the Qur'an is filled with wisdom. And another meaning he gives is الْقُرْآنُ الْمُحَكَّمُ — the Qur'an is the ultimate judge. So every time you read it and the Qur'an is saying things like "speak softly," and you're speaking roughly with people — it's mubin to you. It's making clear to you what you already know about yourself. But it's objective with the truth, so you know it's telling you the truth. There can't be anything biased in it. Similarly, الْكِتَابِ الْمُبِينِ means that these are miracles that will clarify your own flaws to you at times. The Qur'an is there to grow us. If we can't find our flaws anywhere, how are we going to grow? It shows us who we are.

Qur'anan Arabiyyan — Revealed in Your Language

Then Allah says:

"Indeed, We have revealed it as an Arabic Qur'an so that you may understand." The entire Qur'an is revealed in Arabic — this is why we know that a translation of the Qur'an is a translation, but the Qur'an itself is in the Arabic language. And there are words in the Qur'an that may have different origins — just as in English, most of it comes from Latin, Greek, or other languages. The Qur'an also has words that are not originally Arabic, but the moment the Qur'an used them, they became Arabic. Because the entire Qur'an is in Arabic.

Why is Allah saying this? In simpler words, what He's saying is: "I'm revealing this book in a language that you speak very eloquently — the people of Mecca. I'm revealing this book in a language that you pride yourselves on being eloquent in." We always say the Meccans were illiterate — that's the wrong word. They were unlettered. They didn't know how to read and write, but they were very intelligent and very eloquent. So what Allah is saying in this ayah — قُرْآنًا عَرَبِيًّا — "I gave you the Qur'an in a language that you understand. So why don't you reflect on it? And why don't you take lessons from it?"

Connecting the Dots

We'll stop at those few verses. Each week, insha'Allah, we'll do more verses. This week was also the beginning, the intro, and the asbab al-nuzul — the background of revelation. But insha'Allah, my goal is to cover the ayat in this manner — that I would like to cover each word and then wrap it up and connect it to the verse before.

So Allah said الر — you don't know what it means? It's okay. The Qur'an is clear though. How is the Qur'an clear? Because I gave it to you in your language. I'll do it again: the Qur'an was given to you in your language — that is why it's clear. الر — you don't know the meaning of it? It's okay. But I gave you the Qur'an in your language, and it's clear. It's all connected. And then Allah begins the story of Yusuf a.s.

May Allah bless you all and reward you all. I'm excited for this journey. This is my favorite surah — it's always been one of my favorites, but specifically after the loss of my brother — rahmatullahi 'alayh — this became my absolute favorite surah. I think I've done the four-hour seminar class at least fifty times now — I just did it this past weekend in Philly. And every time I would do the class, I would say to myself: "I can't wait to be given an opportunity to cover the entire surah in the time that I want, and just enjoy the entire surah — cover every ayah, and be able to carry the emotions of the surah throughout the entire year."

And when we were starting these sessions, I said: well, let's do it. 4pm on Sunday — I have to come to class early anyway, might as well add the session. And I'm blessed that we were able to figure out the timing for it. And I'm honored that you all came for it. May Allah reward you all and bless you all.

Insha'Allah we'll continue next week at 4pm. JazakAllah khair everyone. Assalamu'alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.