Continuing with explaining the 99 attributes of Allah Almighty, today we dwell on Allah's attribute: Al Malik, which means the Absolute Ruler, The King, The Sovereign, The True and Ultimate King.
He is Allah, other than whom there is no deity, the Sovereign, the Pure, the Perfection, the Bestower of Faith, the Overseer, the Exalted in Might, the Compeller, the Superior. Exalted is Allah above whatever they associate with Him. [Al Qur'an Surah Al Hashr 59:23]
And no doubt that He is the Absolute Sovereign for He alone created the entire Universe and without His command nothing moves or alters its motion. He is the owner and ruler of the entire universe, visible and invisible, and of all creation, from before the beginning and after the end. And thus have We bestowed from on high this divine writ as a discourse in the Arabic tongue, and have given therein many facets to all manner of warnings, so that men might remain conscious of Us, or that it give rise to a new awareness in them. Know, then that God is sublimely exalted, the Ultimate Sovereign, the Ultimate Truth. Among the attributes of Allah Almighty, the word "al-Malik" has occurred independently, whereas the word "Malik" is always added to something else, such as "Maliki yawmid-Deen," Master of the Day of Judgment; therefore, the first Attribute has to be more revered.
مَالِكِ يَوْمِ الدِّينِ
In the first surah, Surah Al Fatiha, Allah proclaims: "Master of the Day of Judgment" (Quran, 1:4), which is one of the first verses of the Holy Quran. All that exists in this Universe belongs to none but Allah. Perhaps in times of revelation of Qur'an and times before, people could not imagine the vastness of the inverse. It is now with the Hubble Telescope in the space that scientists and spacemen have started to explore the universe, but this seems a tip of the iceberg as the universe that Allah has crated has no bounds and Allah alone is the master of what all that exists. And Allah not only is the Sovereign of the Universe, He alone is the Master of the Day of Judgment. Allah has kept a Day of Judgment when all those who tested the limits of tolerance and violated His commandments will be punished, while those who asked for mercy and begged forgiveness will be rewarded abundantly.
So high [above all] is Allah, the Sovereign, the Truth. And, [O Muhammad], do not hasten with [recitation of] the Qur'an before its revelation is completed to you, and say, "My Lord, increase me in knowledge." [Al Qur'an Surah Taha 20:114]
Allah has also proclaimed that He is the "Malikul-Mulk," the Owner of everything, of the whole domain:
Say, "O Allah, Owner of Sovereignty, You give sovereignty to whom You will and You take sovereignty away from whom You will. You honor whom You will and You humble whom You will. In Your hand is [all] good. Indeed, You are over all things competent. [Surah Ali 'Imran 3:26]
Thus the attribute of Allah, Al-Malik (The King) has three aspects to it:
Firstly, that Allah has the attributes by which He deserves to be “Al-Malik” (The King). Al-Malik has great power and might, complete strength, vast knowledge, dominance, vast wisdom, absolute authority, perfection of mercy and universal ruling over the whole creation. Can you imagine how vast the knowledge, wisdom and power necessary to control this creation and this entire universe must be? This is Al-Malik.
قال الله تعالى: {و لله ملك السماوات و الأرض و الله على كل شىء قدير} آل عمران 189
And to Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth, and Allah has power over all things.
Secondly, the whole of the creation is owned by Allah: They are His slaves and are in dire need of His provision in all their affairs. No one can escape or exit from under His Dominion, and no creature can do without His creating, providing, aiding and protecting.
Thirdly, ِAllah has full authority over all affairs. No one can reject His decree and no one can overrule His judgment. To Allah alone belongs the judgment in His Dominion and He legislates whatever He wills. (3)
Please continue to follow our series of posts on the 99 Attributes of Allah. You may refer to our post "99 Attributes of Allah" for complete list of 99 attributes of Allah Almighty with meaning and explanation.
Please share this page to your friends and family members through Facebook, WhatsApp or any means on Social Media so that they can also be benefited by it and better understand Islam and the Holy Qur'an - Insha Allah (Allah Willing) you shall be blessed with the best of both worlds.
The example of those who have made guardians other than Allah is like the spider. She has made a house of cobweb. And undoubtedly, the frailest of all houses is the house of the spider. What a good thing it would have been if they knew.
Parables (comparison) are told in the Qur'an to illustrate a lesson from a religions point of view and to convey a moral wisdom. It is a teaching method that makes it easier to understand and to remember deep truths in an effective way. This kind of profound meaning can only be understood by those who seek true knowledge and attain it by the Grace of Allah. And one great comparison is mentioned in Surah 29, Al Ankabut - The Spider. Why the mention of spider has been made, please wait for our next post on the exegesis of this surah when the detailed answer will be given. Surah Al-‘Ankabūt was revealed in the later time frame since the open proclamation of Islam in Makkah when the persecution of Muslims at the hands of pagans of Makkah had reached at its peak. The disbelievers were opposing and fighting Islam tooth and nail and the new converts were being subjected to the severest oppression. And some of the tortured Muslims had started to complain to the the Prophet of Allah as to why they had been so badly treated when they were following the path of truth. Specifically, one of the companions, Khabbab ibn Al-Arat, was subject to severe torture ad was made to lie on burning sad that his entire skin was burnt. Thus he came to the Prophet, peace be upon him, asking him why was this happening to them? In answer to these painful questions, the first two verses from the Qur’an were revealed:
{Alif, Lam, Meem. Do the people think that they will be left to say, “We believe” and they will not be tried?}
Such were the conditions when Allah sent down this Surah to strengthen and encourage the sincere Muslims as well as to put to shame those who were showing weakness of the faith. Besides, the disbelievers of Makkah have been threatened and warned not to invite for themselves the fate that the antagonists of the Truth have been experiencing in every age. Verses 56 to 60 clearly show that this Surah was sent down a little before the migration to Habash. Some commentators have opined that since it mentions the hypocrites, and hypocrisy appeared in Madinah, the first ten verses of this Surah were revealed at Madinah and the rest of it at Makkah; whereas the people whose hypocrisy has been mentioned here are those who had adopted a hypocritical way of life because they were afraid of the oppression and extreme physical torture to which the Muslims were being subjected by the disbelievers. Evidently, this kind of hypocrisy could be there only at Makkah and not at Madinah. Similarly, some other commentators, seeing that in this Surah the Muslims have been exhorted to migrate, have regarded it as the last Surah to be revealed at Makkah, whereas the Muslims had migrated to Habash even before their migration to Madinah. These opinions are not based on any tradition but on the internal evidence of the subject matter, and this internal evidence, when considered against the subject matter of the Surah as a whole, points to the conditions prevailing in the time of the migration to Habash and not to the last stage at Makkah. This surah also answers some of the questions of the young men, whose parents were urging them to abandon Muhammad (may Allah's peace be upon him), and return to their ancestral religion, for they argued: "The Qur'an in which you have put your faith, regards the rights of the parents as the uppermost; therefore, listen to what we say; otherwise you will be working against the dictates of your own Faith." This has been answered in verse 8. Similarly, the people of some clans said to the new converts to Islam, "Leave the question of punishments, etc., to us. Listen to us and abandon this man. If God seizes you in the Hereafter, we will come forward and say, 'Lord, these people are innocent: we had forced them to give up the Faith; therefore, seize us'." This has been dealt with, in verses 12-13. The stories mentioned in this Surah also impress the same point mostly, as if to say, "Look at the Prophets of the past (specifically mentioning prophets Nuh (Noah), Ibrahim (Abraham), Lut (lot), Shuaib, Hud, Saleh, Musa (Moses), peace be upon them all): they were made to suffer great hardships and were treated cruelly for long periods. Then, at last they were helped by Allah. And those who made them suffer were destroyed and made to suffer for their sins as mentioned in verse 40:
So each We punished for his sin; of them was he on whom We sent down a violent storm, and of them was he whom the rumbling overtook, and of them was he whom We made to be swallowed up by the earth, and of them was he whom We drowned; and it did not beseem Allah that He should be unjust to them, but they were unjust to their own souls.
Therefore, the Muslims are advised to take heart: Allah's succor will certainly come. But a period of trial and tribulation has to be undergone." Besides teaching this lesson to the Muslims, the disbelievers also have been warned, as if to say, "If you are not being immediately seized by Allah, you should not form the wrong impression that you will never be seized. The signs of the doomed nations of the past are before you. Just see how they met their doom and how Allah succored the Prophets." Then the Muslims have been instructed to the effect: "If you feel that the persecution has become unbearable for you, you should give up your homes, instead of giving up your Faith: Allah's earth is vast: seek a new place where you can worship Allah with the full peace of mind." Besides all this, the disbelievers also have been urged to understand Islam. The realities of Tawhid and the Hereafter have been impressed with rational arguments, shirk have been refuted, and drawing their attention towards the signs in the universe, they have been told that all these Signs confirm the teachings that the Prophet is presenting before them.
While we would present the detailed translation / exegesis of the surah subsequently, we herein under give a gist of Surah Al-‘Ankabūt by the renowned scholar Nouman Ali Khan in a very enlightening manner that would make you understand the entire surah and its purpose of revelation:
You may refer to our post "114 Chapters (Sūrahs) of the Holy Qur'an" for translation, meaning and summary and exegesis of other chapters (Though not complete but building up from 30th Part backwards for chapters in 30th Part are shorter and easier to understand).
Photo | References: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | An effort has been made to gather explanation / exegesis of the surahs of the Holy Qur'an from authentic souses and then present a least possible condensed explanation of the surah. However, those wanting detailed explanations and tafsir (exegesis), may refer to sites the references of which are given above.
If you like Islam: My Ultimate Decision, and to keep yourself updated on all our latest posts to know more about Islam, follow us on Facebook Follow @IslamUltimate
Please share this page to your friends and family members through Facebook, WhatsApp or any means on Social Media so that they can also be benefited by it and better understand Islam and the Holy Qur'an - Insha Allah (Allah Willing) you shall be blessed with the best of both worlds.
I have been writing about life of Muslims living in the non Muslim countries for awhile now and my experience of knowing about their life and status is rather mixed. Some countries have extremely cordial relations with their Muslim population, some moderate, and some on extreme limits of Islamophobia. For some reasons, I always had a liking for the once united Czechoslovakia since my childhood when collecting stamps and the name of this country fascinated me as it was very difficult to pronounce. I never knew then that one day I would be writing about life of Muslims in part of the erstwhile Czechoslovakia and will be saddened to know how difficult the life of Muslims would be in the Czech Republic. Yes, while reading through different surveys and posts, it seems the tiny population of about 20,000 (hardly any percentage of the total population of the Czech Republic) has the toughest time as compared to all other non Muslim countries in the world. To start with, the first caption that caught my life was "Czech Republic politician calls for ban on Islam" and this is not the only one. Islam which found its presence in the area that now constitutes the Czech Republic in the 10th century AD, has not really flourished well since as compared to other countries of the region. Despite strong trade links between Austria-Hungary and Ottoman Empire emerged during the 19th century, Islam did not leave a meaningful impact on the local culture. A law 1912 by the Austro-Hungarian monarchy recognized Islam as a "state religion" and officially allowed its presence in what is now the Czech Republic. In 1998 the first mosque was opened, in Brno and a year later another, in the capital, Prague. However, attempts to open mosques in other cities have been stopped by local citizens. In 2004 Islam was officially registered in the Czech Republic: the community is thus eligible to obtain funds from the state. Most of the Muslims are from Bosnia-Herzegovina (early 1990s) and former countries of Soviet Union (mostly from Caucasus region, from the late 1990s until the present). A significant and influential part are the middle-class people of Egyptian, Syrian and other Middle Eastern ancestries (typically those who studied in Czechoslovakia and decided to stay). A few hundred Muslims are Czech converts.
The present Czech Republic's tiny Muslim community subject to hate and face disproportionate about of hatred from fellow citizens. "There are shocking levels of islamophobic hysteria, aimed mostly at Muslim refugees (which is insane - there pretty much aren’t any here!). Even people who are normally tolerant often make an exception for Islam," says Veronika Vrabcová, a Czech student of Psychology and Sociology. "Now, most people here won’t take physical action against an actual human being. There has been a case when a girl was thrown off a bus (at a stop) by another passenger because he thought she wore hijab (she didn’t). My colleague got surrounded and spat on while with her little children. (The kicker is she is a Czech converted to Islam and a very gentle and caring person.) I haven’t noticed anything worse than that, but then, I’m not Muslim." I’d say, if you’re noticeably Muslim, or people confuse you with a Muslim on a regular basis, many will make your stay in Czech Republic rather unpleasant, but you aren’t in outright danger (at least at the time I’m writing this). Yes, even if you’re actually a Czech citizen since birth and merely converted. [3]
The Muslims feel that Islam has become a hot-button topic in Czech national politics, where the power to resolve the country's hung parliament could lie with a politician whose only policy is, "No to Islam. No to terrorism". Czech-Japanese entrepreneur Tomio Okamura and his Freedom and Direct Democracy Party (SPD) rode into parliament as the third most powerful party after the recent October nationwide elections, with no discernible policy other than to drive Islam completely out of the Czech Republic. [2] Today the Czechs exhibit 'highest level of racial bias in Europe'. Vladimir Sanka, a 58-year-old Czech Muslim, who is on the board of the Muslim Community in Prague association says: "Most of the Muslims here are doctors, engineers and IT specialists and so on, yet some political parties are trying to change our rights and eliminate Islam." The Muslims are restricted from several basic privileges enjoyed by other faiths, including the right to establish schools, to hold legally recognized weddings and conduct religious ceremonies in public spaces. Making matters worse, growing anti-Islam sentiment has resulted in an uptick in hate speech and even physical attacks against Muslims who moved here long before the refugee crisis. Although one can find halal meat in Prague, one near the just blocks away from the famed Wenceslas Square, people oppose selling halal meat because they consider the Muslim way of slaughtering animals cruel. Also because the Czechs are not okay with any religion. Many people tend to pretend that they don’t care. But every time they see a woman in hijab, they slowly walk away, and if not, you can see marks of concerns. Even worse when they see a man - Muslim, as they imagine that he beats women and so on. Why the Czechs are so averse to Islam or for that matter any religion is because Czechs have highest number of atheist in the world (or for sure in Europe). Only 16% of Czechs believe in ANY God at all. And as Muslims show that they are Muslims - prayer, hijab, dietary requirements etc - so then they are “strange”. Nearly the same feeling of something “strange” is towards catholic / Christian monks / nuns / priests or Hare Krishna folks or Buddhist monks, says Jirka Kanding. Czechs have generally extremely high distrust to ANY authority that will try to interfere with private life or “show them” / “ to teach them” what to do and what is correct. So the reason why Islam is not the religion to be liked by the Czechs. [3] It may be added here that in Slovakia, the other part of erstwhile Czechoslovakia, the state of Muslims in not good either as last year it passed a law effectively banning Islam from gaining official status as a religion. You mat now like to watch this short video on Being a Muslim woman in Czech Republic: the story of Nenávist Balická
So hats off the Muslims of Czech Republic foe keeping up their religion despite all odds and surviving and striving to preserve their religion, Islam. Author's Note: The data above has been collected from the references as given below. If any one differs with the material contained in this post, one may consult the references and their authors. If someone has more material about the subject, he/she is most welcome to share in the comments box to make the post all encompassing.
Please share this page to your friends and family members through Facebook, WhatsApp or any means on Social Media so that they can also be benefited by it and better understand Islam and the Holy Qur'an - Insha Allah (Allah Willing) you shall be blessed with the best of both worlds.
Sūrat Yūsuf is the twelfth surah with 111 ayahs with two rukus, part of the 12th-13th Juzʼ of the Holy Qur'an.
The first part of the segmented posts on the exegesis of Surah Yusuf contained verses 1-22 which dealt with the dreaming of the Prophet Yusuf and its interpretation by his father Prophet Ya'yah (Jacob, peace be upon them both). the plot of his ten brothers and throwing him in a well by deceit and Yusuf's retrieval by a passing convoy and his selling away to a rich merchant. The merchant, sensing the little boy to be from a good family, took him home and raised him like his own son or as a trusted slave. When the Prophet Yusuf grew up, he grew up to be a handsome young man with captivating beauty. Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) is believed to have once said, "One half of all the beauty God apportioned for mankind went to Prophet Yusuf and his mother; the other one half went to the rest of mankind." This beauty of Prophet Yusuf attracted the merchant's lustful wife, Zuleikha, which put the Prophet Yusuf in an awkward situation despite the fact that he remained steadfast to her advances. This second part of the Surah Yusuf (verses 23-35) explains in detail this particular incident.
Let us now read the translation and exegesis in English of the second part (For Arabic Text, please refer to the references given below):
بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ
"In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful"
(23) And it so happened that the lady in whose house Yusuf was living, sought to tempt him to herself, and one day bolting the doors she said: "Come on now!" Yusuf answered: "May Allah grant me refuge! My Lord has provided an honourable abode for me (so how can I do something so evil)? Such wrong-doers never prosper. (24) And she advanced towards him, and had Yusuf not perceived a sign from his Lord he too would have advanced towards her. Thus was Yusuf shown a sign from his Lord that We might avert from him all evil and indecency, for indeed he was one of Our chosen servants.
“Evidence of his Lord (verse 24: Yusuf not perceived a sign from his Lord)” means inspiration from Allah to rouse his conscience to the fact that it was not worthy of him to yield to the temptation by the woman. As regards to the question, “What was that evidence”, it has been stated in the preceding verse, that is: My Lord has shown much kindness towards me. Should I, then, misbehave like this? Such workers of iniquity never fare well. This was the divine evidence that saved Prophet Yusuf in the prime of youth from that great temptation. The significance of “And he would have desired her, if it had not been that he saw the evidence (sign) of his Lord” is this: “Even a Prophet like Yusuf could not have been able to save himself from sin, had not Allah guided him rightly with His evidence. Incidentally, this verse makes plain the nature of the immunity of Prophets from sin. It does not mean that a Prophet is infallible and incapable of committing any error, offense or sin or doing wrong or making a mistake. What it means is this: though a Prophet possesses passions, emotions, and carnal desires like other human beings, and is capable of committing a sin, he is so virtuous and God fearing that he never deliberately cherishes any evil intentions, for he is endowed with such great arguments from his Lord as do not allow the lusts of the flesh overpower the voice of his conscience. And if ever he succumbs inadvertently to any of the human weaknesses, Allah at once sends a revelation to him to set him on the right path. For the consequences of his error do not remain confined to his own person but react on the whole mankind, for even his slightest error might mislead the world to the most horrible sins. This incident took place in the life of Yusuf because this was essential for his spiritual training: "It was Our will to pass him through this hard test so that he should become immune from indecency and immodesty, for he would have to apply all his powers of piety to withstand such a great temptation, and thus become really so strong as not to yield to such things in future as well." The importance and the need of such a hard training becomes quite obvious, if we keep in view the moral conditions of the Egyptian society of that period. We can have a glimpse of this from (Ayats 30-32). It appears that the women in general and those of high society in particular, enjoyed almost the same sexual freedom as is rampant today in the civilized West and in the Westernized East. Allah made arrangements for the special training of Prophet Yusuf in the house of his master because he had to perform his divine mission in a perverted society, and that too as a ruler and not as a common man. It is thus obvious from the behavior of those women of high rank, who did not feel any shame nor modesty in openly admiring the beauty of the young slave and from that of the lady of the house who was not ashamed of confessing openly that she did her best to tempt him and would continue to do so, that they would have done all they could to allure the young handsome ruler. Thus Allah not only made Prophet Yusuf strong enough to resist such temptations in future by passing him through the hard test, but also filled the ladies with despair of gaining any success in this matter. The next few verses explain the event when the woman chased Yusuf and in trying to get hold of him, she pulled his shirt from behind which tore away. While this drama was on, the man of the house along with a visitor walked in and saw Yusuf with his shirt torn from the back. Seeing Yusuf in an awkward situation, the woman straightaway blamed Yusuf for making advances on her and demanded her husband to imprison him.
(25) Then both of them rushed to the door, each seeking to get ahead of the other, and she tore Yusuf's shirt from behind. Then both of them found the husband of the lady at the door. Seeing him she said: "What should be the punishment of him who has foul designs on your wife except that he should be imprisoned or subjected to painful chastisement?"
When her husband heard the story of the incident, he made this proposal: As each of them accuses the other and there is no eye witness of what happened between the two, the matter should be decided by the help of the circumstantial evidence, by examining the condition of Yusuf’s shirt. Obviously this was a very reasonable way of deciding the matter, and there was, therefore, no need to resort to a miracle. According to some traditions this witness was an infant, lying in the cradle, whom Allah had given the power of speech for giving this evidence. As this story is not supported by any authority, there is no reason why the obvious, plain and reasonable thing should not be accepted that the witness was a wise and experienced member of the family of the wife, instead of having resort to a miracle based on an unauthentic tradition.
(26) Yusuf said: "It is she who was trying to tempt me to herself." And a witness belonging to her own household testified (on grounds of circumstantial evidence): "If his shirt is torn from the front, then she is telling the truth and he is a liar.(27) But if his shirt is torn from behind, then she has lied, and he is truthful."
This is what was implied in the evidence: If Yusuf’s shirt is torn from the front, it means that Yusuf is the aggressor and she has struggled to defend her honor. But if the shirt is rent from the back, it is obvious that he must have been running away from her and she must have been tugging from behind. The circumstantial evidence implied another thing. As the witness invited the master’s attention to Prophet Yusuf’s shirt only, it meant that there was no sign at all of violence on the garments of the woman, for had he been the aggressor, there must have been some signs of violence on her garments.
(28) So when the husband saw Yusuf's shirt torn from behind he exclaimed: "Surely, this is one of the tricks of you women; your tricks are indeed great.(29) Yusuf, disregard this. And you - woman - ask forgiveness for your sin, for indeed it is you who has been at fault."
Here it may be of interest to note that in the Bible and Talmud, the incident is described differently:
And she caught him by his garment, saying: Lie with me: and he left his garment in her hand and fled, and got himself out. And it came to pass, when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand, and was fled forth, that she called unto the men of her house, and spake unto them, saying: See, he hath brought in an Hebrew unto us to mock us; he came in unto me to lie with me, and I cried with a loud voice: And it came to pass, when he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his garment with me, and fled, and got himself out. And she laid up his garment by her, until his lord came home...And it came to pass, when his master heard the words of his wife, which she spake unto him, saying: After this manner did thy servant to me; that his wrath was kindled. And Joseph’s master took him, and put him into the prison, a place where the king’s prisoners were bound. (Gen. 39: 12-16, 19-20).
In Talmud it says: ....hearing the accusation, Potiphar commanded at once that the lad should be whipped severely. Then he carried Joseph before the judges............They ordered that the torn garment should be brought to them and upon an examination of the same, they pronounced Joseph not guilty. (The Talmud Selections, H. Polano, pp. 81-82). Obviously this version is also faulty, for it cannot be imagined that a person of such a high rank would himself take the case to a court that his own slave had tried to assault his wife criminally.
Incidentally, this Quranic version of the story is a clear proof of the fact that it has no copied stories from the Israelite traditions as the pseudo-orientalists allege, but has, on the other hand, corrected them and told the real facts to the world.
In verses 30-31, the incident during assembly of Zulikeha's friends is mentioned, who had started to ridicule her for having fell for a slave.
(30) And some ladies in the city began to say: "The chief's wife, violently in love with her houseboy, is out to tempt him. We think she is clearly mistaken."
(31) Hearing of their sly talk the chief's wife sent for those ladies, and arranged for them a banquet, and got ready couches, and gave each guest a knife. Then, while they were cutting and eating the fruit, she signaled Yusuf: "Come out to them." When the ladies saw him they were so struck with admiration that they cut their hands, exclaiming: "Allah preserve us. This is no mortal human. This is nothing but a noble angel!"
(32) She said: "So now you see! This is the one regarding whom you reproached me. Indeed I tried to tempt him to myself but he held back, although if he were not to follow my order, he would certainly be imprisoned and humiliated."
The incident quoted above is an open declaration of woman of the house's immoral designs and show that the moral condition of the higher class of the Egyptian society had declined to the lowest ebb. It is quite obvious that the women whom she had invited must have been ladies belonging to the upper most stratum of the society. The very fact that she presented her beloved before them without any hesitation, in order to convince them of his beauty and youth that had urged her to fall in love with him, shows that there was nothing uncommon in this demonstration. Then these ladies did not reproach her but themselves practically demonstrated that, in those circumstances, they themselves would have done the same that she did. Above all, the hostess did not feel that it was immodest to declare openly: No doubt, I sought to seduce him and he succeeded in escaping from me. Yet I am not going to give him up. If he will not do as I bid him, he shall be cast into prison and humbled and disgraced. Surrounded by lust of the society that were homing on to him due to his beauty that attracted lustful feelings of women to him, Yusuf thus very humbly invokes his Lord to protect him from those traps of sin, for he is afraid of the common human weaknesses and cries out: My Lord, I am weak. I fear lest these temptations should overpower me, I would rather prefer imprisonment to doing such an evil thing into which they are tempting to ensnare me.
(33) Yusuf said: "My Lord! I prefer imprisonment to what they ask me to do. And if You do not avert from me the guile of these women, I will succumb to their attraction and lapse into ignorance." (34) Thereupon his Lord granted his prayer, and averted their guile from him. Surely He alone is All-Hearing, All-Knowing. (35) Then it occurred to them to cast Yusuf into prison for a while even though they had seen clear signs (of Yusuf's innocence and of the evil ways of their ladies).
At this juncture, thus Allah listened to His chosen prophet and helped in being imprisoned so that he may be saved of any harm that may come to him. In fact the chain of events right from the first verse is a continuous training and hardening of Yusuf by Allah by putting him to various tests and his landing into prison still had a meaningful impact on the life of the people of Egypt which was saved due to correct and timely interpretation of the King's dream by imprisoned Yusuf. We will dwell on the time Yusuf spent in the prison in the Third Part in detail. The mention of the women of Egypt that labelled charges on Prophet Yusuf will again be made in verses 50-53.
You may now like to listen to Arabic recitation of Sūrat Yūsuf with English subtitles:
You may refer to our post "114 Chapters (Sūrahs) of the Holy Qur'an" for translation, meaning and summary of other chapters (Though not complete but building up from 30th Part backwards for chapters in 30th Part are shorter and easier to understand).
Photo | References: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | An effort has been made to gather explanation of the surahs of the Holy Qur'an from authentic souses and then present a least possible condensed explanation of the surah. However, those wanting detailed explanations and tafsir (exegesis), may refer to sites the references of which are given above.
If you like Islam: My Ultimate Decision, and to keep yourself updated on all our latest posts to know more about Islam, follow us on Facebook Follow @IslamUltimate
Please share this page to your friends and family members through Facebook, WhatsApp or any means on Social Media so that they can also be benefited by it and better understand Islam and the Holy Qur'an - Insha Allah (Allah Willing) you shall be blessed with the best of both worlds.
Sūrat Yūsuf is the twelfth surah with 111 ayahs with two rukus, part of the 12th-13th Juzʼ of the Holy Qur'an. Since this surah is based on the life story of Prophet Yusuf (Joseph, peace be upon him) and chronologically describes the events of his life, we have divided the exegesis of the surah in four parts as already described in the Overview posted earlier. In this post, we will deliberated first 22 ayahs / ayats of the surah which deal with the early life of young Yusuf, his dream and its interpretation by his father, Ya'ya (Biblical Jacob) who himself was a prophet of Allah. And later the jealousy f his brothers towards him and throwing him into a well with the intention of murdering him and telling their father that Yusuf had been eaten away by a wolf. However, Allah saved Yusuf by a passing caravan and adopted by a rich merchant, in whose house he grew u to be a young handsome young man that put him in great trouble. Before the exegesis of the verses 1-22 is deliberated upon, here some information about the Prophet Ya'qub (Jacob, peace be upon him) and his family as found in the earlier scriptures:
Joseph, son of Jacob and Rachel (the favorite of Jacob's two wives, and the mother of Joseph and Benjamin), lived in the land of Canaan with ten half-brothers, one full brother, and at least one half-sister. He was Rachel's firstborn and Jacob's eleventh son. Of all the sons, Joseph was preferred by his father, and this is represented by a "long coat of many colors (In the Hebrew Bible, the coat of many colors is the name for the garment that Joseph owned, which was given to him by his father, Jacob.)".
Canaan was a Semitic-speaking region in the Ancient Near East during the late 2nd millennium BC. The name Canaan appears throughout the Bible, where it corresponds to the Levant, in particular to the areas of the Southern Levant that provide the main setting of the narrative of the Bible: i.e., the area of Phoenicia, Philistia, Israel, and other nations.
The composition of the story can be dated to the period between the 7th century BCE and the third quarter of the 5th century BCE, which is roughly the period to which scholars date the Book of Genesis.
Let us now read the translation and exegesis in English of the first part (For Arabic Text, please refer to the references given below):
بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ
"In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful" الٓر تِلْكَ ءَايَٰتُ ٱلْكِتَٰبِ ٱلْمُبِينِ *Alif, Lam, Ra. These are the verses of the clear Book. (1)
*The Muqaṭṭaʿāt (Arabic: حُرُوف مُقَطَّعَات ḥurūf muqaṭṭaʿāt, "mysterious letters") are combinations of between one and five Arabic letters figuring at the beginning of 29 out of the 114 chapters (surahs) of the Quran just after the opening Bismillāh, thus also called the or occasionally called Fawatih (openers). Alif, Lam, Ra here in this surah are also part of these letters, the meaning of which is not known.
We have revealed it as a Recitation in Arabic that you may fully understand (2)
In verse 2 above, the Arabic word Quran “to read” is originally the infinitive form of the verb qara. When the infinitive form of a verb in Arabic is used as a name, it implies that that thing or person possesses the characteristics in their perfection. This Book has been named Quran to indicate that it is meant to be read by all and sundry and is to be read often and over and over again. As for the second part of the ayat above, this does not mean that this Book has been sent down exclusively for the Arabs. What it means is only this: "Of all the people, O Arabs, you should understand the excellences of the Qur'an, which are a sure proof of its being Divine Revelation, for it is in your own language and you have no excuse to put forward that it is in a foreign language which you do not understand. "
We relate to you, [O Muhammad], the best of stories in what We have revealed to you of this Qur'an although you were, before it, among the unaware. (3)
The verse 3 above is important to understand: This verse specifically revealed to impress indirectly on the unbelievers of Makkah the fact that the Messenger (ﷺ) did not know anything about the story of the settlement of the Israelites in Egypt, but was being informed of this by revelation from Allah. This introduction was necessary because the disbelievers had put an abrupt question concerning this matter in order to expose the Prophet (ﷺ) by this test. The answer is to this effect: Tell them, O Muhammad (ﷺ), that, though you did not know anything about the settlement of the Israelites in Egypt before this, you have now received a revelation about this from Us.
[Of these stories mention] when Joseph said to his father, "O my father, indeed I have seen [in a dream] eleven stars and the sun and the moon; I saw them prostrating to me." (4) He said, "O my son, do not relate your vision to your brothers or they will contrive against you a plan. Indeed Satan, to man, is a manifest enemy. (5)
Verse 5: As the meanings of the dream were quite obvious, Prophet Ya'qub (Jacob, peace be upon him) had a genuine fear that Yusuf’s ten step brothers would become all the more envious of him when they would hear this. So he warned his righteous son not to mention his dream to his brothers, for he knew that those sons of his did not bear the moral character worthy of the sons of a Prophet, and, therefore they were up to any evil design against him out of mere envy. As regards to the dream, the sun in it was Prophet Jacob (peace be upon him), the moon his wife, Prophet Yusuf’s step mother, and the eleven stars were his eleven brothers.
(As you have seen in the dream), so will your Lord choose you (for His task) and will impart to you the comprehension of the deeper meaning of things and will bestow the full measure of His favour upon you and upon the house of Ya'qub even as He earlier bestowed it in full measure upon your forefathers, Ibraheem (Abraham) and Ishaq (Isaac). Surely your Lord is All- Knowing, All-Wise. (6)
The Choosing by the Lord here means “Blessing him with Prophethood.” The Arabic words of the text do not mean merely “the interpretation of dreams”, as has been generally understood. These are comprehensive and imply also this: Allah will bless you with the full understanding of the problems of life and their solutions and will give you the insight to reach at the reality of every matter. Here it should be noted that the response of Prophet Ya'qub to the dream of Prophet Yusuf (peace be upon them), according to the Bible and the Talmud, are quite different from this: “And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?” (Gen. 37: 10). Even a little thinking will help one to arrive at the conclusion that his reaction as narrated in the Qur'an is worthy of the high character of Prophet Ya'qub and not the one found in the Bible and the Talmud. For Prophet Yusuf had not expressed any personal ambition of his but merely narrated his dream. If the dream was a true one, and it is obvious that Prophet Ya'qub interpreted it, believing it to be true, there was no reason why he should rebuke his own son, for it meant that it was the will of Allah and no his own ambition that he should one day rise to a high rank. Can then one expect from any reasonable person, not to mention a Prophet, that he would take it ill and rebuke the one who dreamed such a dream? And can there ever be such a noble father who would say bitter and stinging things to his own son for the sin of telling him a true dream, prophesying his future greatness?
Certainly were there in Joseph and his brothers signs for those who ask, (7) When they said, "Yusuf and his brother are more beloved to our father than we, while we are a clan. Indeed, our father is in clear error. (8)
Yusuf's brother mentioned in verse 8 refers to Benjamin. He was the real younger brother of Prophet Yusuf, and was his junior by many years. Their mother had died at the birth of Benjamin. That is why Prophet Ya'qub paid special attention to these two motherless children. Besides, Yusuf was the only son, in whom he had discerned signs of righteousness and capabilities. Accordingly, when Prophet Yusuf narrated his dream to him, he was all the more convinced of his future greatness, and was perturbed at the idea lest his brothers conspired against him out of envy, if they came to know of his dream, which was self explanatory. For Prophet Ya'qub knew that his other ten sons were not of the right type, and this was proved by the subsequent events. Therefore, naturally he was not happy with them. It is, however, strange that the Bible gives a different reason for the envy his brothers bore against Prophet Yusuf. They were filled with envy against him because Yusuf gave unto his father their evil report. In order to grasp the full significance of the grievance the ten sons had against their father for neglecting them, we should keep in view the conditions of the clannish life. As there was no established state, each clan led its own independent life side by side with other clans. It is obvious that the power of the head of the clan depended entirely on the number of sons and grandsons, and brothers and nephews he had to defend the life, honor and property of the family. Therefore, the one leading the clannish life naturally paid more attention to his own grown up sons, etc., than to children and women of the family. As Prophet Ya'qub was leading clannish life, these sons of his expected a preferential treatment from him, but the Prophet thought otherwise. So they remarked: Truly our father seems to have lost his balance of mind; otherwise he could not have neglected us, and loved our two younger brothers more than us, for we are strong young men and can stand him in good stead at the time of need while these youngsters are useless as they themselves stand in need of protection.
‘Jubb Yussef’ - said to be the Well of Prophet Yusuf: Located near Kibbutz Amiad in the Galilee. It consists of a dug-out pit with a diameter of one meter and depth of about four meters, roofed by a cupola supported by four pillars, and surrounded by ancient graves.[Photo/Source]
Thus the ten brothers plotted to kill Prophet Yusuf as as to gain chieftain. However, one of them was not in favour of killing and proposed to throw Prophet Yusuf in some well, from where he may be picked up by passing caravans and thus they would get rid of him.
Kill Joseph or cast him out to [another] land; the countenance of your father will [then] be only for you, and you will be after that a righteous people." (9) Said a speaker among them, "Do not kill Joseph but throw him into the bottom of the well; some travelers will pick him up - if you would do [something]." (10)
So they approached their father and to send Prophet Yusuf with them to stand guard to them while they played around:
They said, "O our father, why do you not entrust us with Joseph while indeed, we are to him sincere counselors? (11) Send him with us tomorrow that he may eat well and play. And indeed, we will be his guardians. (12)
In the verse 12, the Quran differs from the Bible and the Talmud, according to which it was not the brothers, who requested their father to send Joseph with them but Prophet Jacob himself sent him with an errand to Shechem, where they were feeding their father’s flocks. Obviously the version of the Quran is more realistic, for Prophet Jacob could never have thought of sending his beloved son with them because he knew it well that they were envious of him, and sending him there would have been sending Joseph deliberately into the jaws of death.
[Jacob] said, "Indeed, it saddens me that you should take him, and I fear that a wolf would eat him while you are of him unaware." (13) They said, "If a wolf should eat him while we are a [strong] clan, indeed, we would then be losers." (14) So when they took him [out] and agreed to put him into the bottom of the well... But We inspired to him, "You will surely inform them [someday] about this affair of theirs while they do not perceive [your identity]." (15)
Skeptical of his te4n sens' hidden desires to harm Yusuf, the father was very reluctant to let Yusuf go, but ultimately gave in to his sons. When his brothers threw up in the well, he received a Divine revelation of him being saved and meeting his brothers again one day when they will not be able to recognise him. There is no mention of this in the Bible and the Talmud that Allah sent a revelation to comfort Prophet Joseph at that time of his affliction. On the contrary, the Talmud says that when he was thrown into the well, Prophet Joseph wept and cried aloud and implored his brothers for mercy, as if he was no better than any other lad of the desert, who would weep and cry if he were to be thrown into a well. But the picture the Quran depicts is that of a young man, who is destined to play the part of a great personality in history.
And they came to their father at night, weeping. (16) They said, "O our father, indeed we went racing each other and left Joseph with our possessions, and a wolf ate him. But you would not believe us, even if we were truthful." (17)
As feared to lose his son at the hands of his brothers, the band of evil minded brothers came lamenting that Yusuf had been attacked by a wolf and killed. As a "proof" they had brought back Yusuf's shirt with blood stains on it.
And they brought Yusuf's shirt, stained with false blood. Seeing this their father exclaimed: "Nay (this is not true); rather your evil souls have made it easy for you to commit a heinous act. So I will bear this patiently, and in good grace.13 It is Allah's help alone that I seek against your fabrication. (18)
In the verse 18, not satisfied with the cooked up story of his ten sons, Prophet Ya'yah sad that he well bear the news with "Patience in grace.". The literal meaning of “patience in grace” which implies a patience that enables one to endure all kinds of troubles and afflictions in a calm, self possessed and unemotional manner, without complaining or crying or weeping, as is worthy of great minds. Even today when someone is in distress, he is comforted by saying" May Allah bless you to bear the grief in grace." Here again, the Prophet Ya'yah’s reaction to the news of Joseph’s death, as depicted in the Quran, differs from that given in the Bible and the Talmud. According to them he was upset by the sad news and behaved like an ordinary father. The Bible says: And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins. And mourned for his son many days. (Gen. 37: 34). And the Talmud says that at the sad news Jacob gave himself up to the abandonment of grief, and lay with his face to the ground and refused to be comforted, and cried: Some wild beast has devoured Joseph and I shall never see him more; and he mourned for Joseph for many years. (The Talmud, H. Polano, pp. 78, 79). When we contrast this picture with the one depicted in the Quran, we clearly see that the Quranic picture is that of a dignified and great personality. He is not upset in the least at hearing the sad news of his beloved son but at once gets to the bottom of the matter, and tells the envious brothers: Your tale is false and fabricated. Then he shows good patience as a Prophet should and puts his trust in the help of Allah.
And there came a company of travelers; then they sent their water drawer, and he let down his bucket. He said, "Good news! Here is a boy." And they concealed him, [taking him] as merchandise; and Allah was knowing of what they did. (19) And they sold him for a reduced price - a few dirhams - and they were, concerning him, of those content with little. (20)
In the verses 19-20 above, the retrieval of Prophet Yusuf from the well and his being sold for a paltry amount is mentioned. Though the matter of the disposal of Prophet Joseph by his brothers was simple, the Bible has made this very complicated. It is obvious that the brothers threw Joseph into the well and went away. Afterwards a caravan came there and pulled him out and carried him to Egypt where they sold him. But the Bible says that the brothers cast him into a pit: then a company of Ishmaelites came there and they agreed to sell him to them. But in the meantime the Midianite merchantmen had drawn and lifted up Joseph and sold him to the Ishmaelites who brought him into Egypt. (Gen. 37: 25-28). But the authors of the Bible forget this sale transaction and further on in v. 36 say that Prophet Joseph was sold in Egypt by the Midianites and not by the Ishmaelites as stated in v. 28. But the Talmudic version of the matter is a little different from this. It says that the Midianites drew Joseph up from the pit and carried him along with them. As they passed by, the sons of Jacob saw Joseph with them and accused them of stealing their slave. At this a furious quarrel arose and they were ready to enter upon a bloody fray. But a bargain was concluded and the sons of Jacob sold their brother to the Midianites for twenty pieces of silver, who afterwards sold him to the Ishmaelites for the same amount. Then the Ishmaelites took him into Egypt and sold him there. Incidentally, it is this Talmudic version that has given rise to the tradition among some Muslims that the brothers of Joseph had sold him. But it should be noted that the Quran does not confirm this tradition.
And the one from Egypt who bought him said to his wife, "Make his residence comfortable. Perhaps he will benefit us, or we will adopt him as a son." And thus, We established Yusuf in the land that We might teach him the interpretation of events. And Allah is predominant over His affair, but most of the people do not know. (21) And when Joseph reached maturity, We gave him judgment and knowledge. And thus We reward the doers of good. (22)
Now we come to the last two verses of the Part I. Here again there are some differences between the earlier scriptures and the Islamic traditions.
According to the Bible te man who purchased Yusuf, his name Potiphar. But the Quran mentions him merely by the title (Al-Aziz). As the Quran uses the same title for Prophet Yusuf, when he rose to a high rank, it appears that the person held a high office or rank in Egypt, for the word Aziz stands for a powerful person who cannot be opposed and disobeyed. The Bible and the Talmud say that he was an officer of Pharaoh’s body guards and captain of the guard. And according to a tradition from Ibn Abbas, related by Ibn Jarir, he was the officer of the royal treasury.
According to the Talmud the name of his wife was Zuleikha and she is known by the same name in the Muslim traditions. As regards to the other tradition among the Muslims that Prophet Yusuf married her afterwards, it is neither based on the Quran nor on the history of the Israelites. And the fact is that it is below the dignity of a Prophet to have married such a woman about whom he had personal knowledge that she was of a bad character. And this opinion is confirmed by this general statement of the Quran: Women of bad character are for men of bad character and men of bad character are for women of bad character. And the women of pure character are for men of pure character, and the men of pure character for the women of pure character. (Surah An-Noor, Ayat 26).
The fact that Potiphar had a very high opinion of Prophet Yusuf from the very beginning is also confirmed by the Talmud and the Bible. The Talmud says that at this time Joseph was about eighteen years of age (and) Potiphar was very favorably impressed with his bearing and appearance. So he came to the conclusion that he belonged to some noble family and had been made a slave by the force of adverse circumstances. When the Midianites carried him before Potiphar, he said: He does not look like a slave and I fear he has been stolen from his country and his home. That is why Potiphar did not treat him like a slave, but put him in charge of his house and all his possessions. Likewise the Bible says: And he left all that he had in Joseph’s hand; and he knew not ought he had, save the bread which he did eat. (Gen. 39: 6).
This verse alludes to the special training Prophet Yusuf needed at that time for the performance of the duties of the high rank to which he was destined to rise. Up to that time, he had been brought up in the desert, under the environment of a semi nomadic life of a shepherd. There was neither any settled state in Canaan and Northern Arabia nor had there been any appreciable progress in culture and civilization, for it was inhabited by different independent clans with no settled government. Thus it is obvious that the training that Prophet Joseph had received in Canaan, had equipped him with the good characteristics of nomadic life coupled with the qualities of God worship and high morality of the family of Prophet Abraham. But this was not enough to enable him to direct the affairs of Egypt, which was at that time one of the most cultured and civilized countries of the known world and required a different experience and training for the conduct of its affairs. The All Powerful Allah made arrangements for this training and sent him to the house of an officer of a very high rank in Egypt, who entrusted him with full powers over his house and estate. This enabled him to develop all those latent abilities that were needed to fulfill his destiny, and he gained the experience that was required for the efficient conduct of the affairs of the kingdom of Egypt in the years to come.
The Part II will dwell on the details of lustful desires of Zuleikha over Prophet Yusuf and despite being proven innocent, he landed up in the prison, which will be the Part III of our future posts.
You may now like to listen to Arabic recitation of Sūrat Yūsuf with English subtitles:
You may refer to our post "114 Chapters (Sūrahs) of the Holy Qur'an" for translation, meaning and summary of other chapters (Though not complete but building up from 30th Part backwards for chapters in 30th Part are shorter and easier to understand).
Photo | References: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | An effort has been made to gather explanation of the surahs of the Holy Qur'an from authentic souses and then present a least possible condensed explanation of the surah. However, those wanting detailed explanations and tafsir (exegesis), may refer to sites the references of which are given above.
If you like Islam: My Ultimate Decision, and to keep yourself updated on all our latest posts to know more about Islam, follow us on Facebook Follow @IslamUltimate
Please share this page to your friends and family members through Facebook, WhatsApp or any means on Social Media so that they can also be benefited by it and better understand Islam and the Holy Qur'an - Insha Allah (Allah Willing) you shall be blessed with the best of both worlds.
