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Yusuf
– 5A:
In today’s episode we will
continue talking about “resisting temptation”. It is very helpful for our young
people to remain steadfast against temptation, and for our men and women to
become stronger. We spoke last time in
detail about the issue of resisting temptation. We did not talk about young men
and young women only, but we talked also about married couples. We said that
the issue of resisting temptation and resisting sin are basic areas where you
should exert every effort to close all the routes from which temptation may
come. Anyway, we will not talk in detail
again; instead, we will proceed from where we stopped.
We
stopped at verse 30. We also agreed that
we would memorize Surat Yusuf till verse 30. I wonder if anyone has memorized
the previous 30 verses! Believe me, brothers, it is a very easy thing to do.
The cassettes of this Surah are available. Every time you listen to it, try to
memorize it. If you can’t, then you have a problem that you should exert every
effort to solve. Please memorize this
Surah, understand it, and pray al-Qiyam (night prayer) with it; you will
feel a new, very nice taste, try it and see.
“And
women in the city said, ‘The wife of al-Aziz is seeking to seduce her (slave)
young man from his (true) self, indeed she loves him violently; verily we see
her in plain error’.” (TMQ, Yusuf: 30).
Let's
take this verse and reflect on it as we usually do. “And women in the city
said…” What happened is that the story spread all over the city; women of
the city knew even though the Aziz said to Yusuf (PBUH) what can be translated as, “Turn away from this…“ (TMQ,
Yusuf: 29), to protect his social stature. Yet, Allah (SWT) exposed him and uncovered the deeds of his wife. Everyone knew
about what had happened in the Aziz's house. “And women in the city said…”
you know, when women take on a subject, what will happen then? “Women said”
means “the whole country said”. It is
clear that those women were from the high class, the same class of the Aziz's
wife.
“And
women in the city said…” How did they know about
it? Those who attended the incident were 4: the Aziz, his wife, Yusuf (PBUH) and the witness. It is impossible
for the Aziz's wife to talk about herself, Yusuf (PBUH) would not talk about it, and it is also impossible for the
Aziz to speak about that issue because he would be afraid of the spread of the
story. Even if the sin would continue, what he cared about was the scandal. It
is clear that the witness was a wise witness; his speech shows that he was a
wise man. When he was told that we don't have any evidence about the crime
except that the shirt of the man was torn. He said what can be translated as,
“…If it be that his shirt is torn from the front, then her tale is true and he
is a liar! But if it be that his shirt is torn from the back, then she has told
a lie and he is speaking the truth!” (TMQ, Yusuf:26-27). This is a wise
man. But, how did the people know? How did the story spread?
Servants.
The servants and the labor; stories spread that way. Servants eavesdrop then go
out and talk about it. A servant will tell another servant; the later tells a
master; a master tells a woman until the women of the city would know
everything! That is how the story spread. And now everything was known. The
Aziz and his wife were exposed and disgraced.
“And
women in the city said: The wife of al-‘Aziz is seeking to seduce her (slave)
young man from his (true) self; indeed, she loves him violently…” (TMQ,
Yusuf:30). The
point here is about women gossiping. Are they getting angry over a rightful
issue or over virtue? Absolutely not! It is their love for scandal, backbiting
and having pleasure in uncovering people’s sins; and this is a sickness of the
heart. Look how the society is full of problems; look at the society in which
Surat Yusuf is taking place. There are many problems in this society: women
have nothing to do, the Aziz’s wife stooped so low to such an extent that her
story spread all over the city and she didn’t even care about it. Idle, void
women talking and gossiping, “Have you heard what the Aziz’s wife did, and how
she sought to seduce her slave?” Do you think that our women are living in a
similar atmosphere? We are not speaking about fantasy. I wonder if our men see
their sisters, mothers and wives living in the same atmosphere of scandal
mongering and backbiting, yet they remain silent.
This
Surah treats every need in a society. Notice that, while reading it, you come
across problems our own society is suffering from. Nowadays, the problem is that our women are
jobless and, because they have nothing to do, they start backbiting about
people's dignity and making false accusations. When they have nothing to do
they decline to their worst level of corruption and vileness. What type of society is that? I wonder if our
women are living in a similar society? I do not mean that they are like the
Aziz's wife, Allah (SWT) forbids. But
our women can be of the second type; like the women of the city. And you; if
you see women in your family act like this, what will you do? You will go and
quarrel with them, thinking to yourself that you have solved the problem. Or will you try to see how they could fill-up
their free time!
This
verse treats women's problem, mainly “free time”. Like the Aziz's wife, her
problem was also free time. Scholars say, “If you do not occupy your heart with
truthfulness, it will occupy you with untruthfulness.” You have to occupy your
hearts, especially women, because their free time is more than men's. Men are distracted all day long by life's
movement, and at night they are concerned about his future and his children’s.
But a woman has space for mental and psychological emptiness more than man.
Why? Because she is not responsible for the livelihood like the man, although
there are women who work. We are really
concerned about you, women. Please, try not to live idly in this life because,
if you live unoccupied, you will, unwillingly, descend to disobey Allah (SWT); if not in adultery, Allah (SWT) forbids, it will be in backbiting
and destroying people's dignity. A woman
talks for 4 hours on the telephone. I wonder, what she says in these 4 hours.
How many times will she backbite? I wonder if such phone calls can do anything
useful to the society!
I will say
again that the issue of “free time” is very important. The Aziz's wife reached
that state because she was an idle and a bored woman and the women of the city
were also idle. Set up a program for
yourself to occupy your day; you are jobless and have nothing to do. Look for
something to do; something charitable by which you will benefit your
society. It is really something painful
to find a woman like Mother Teresa filling the world with her good deeds to the
extent that she won the Nobel Prize. She really deserves it. Why do we not have
such a woman, a woman who fills the world with good deeds? We have charitable
volunteer work to help orphans or the poor in orphanages and hospitals. We have many ways to do good deeds. We are 70
million! Societies cannot ask governments to do it since governments cannot
manage to help in such areas; that takes volunteer charitable work. Women who have free time, young people who
have free time should use it in charitable and volunteer work. Satan's main
entrance is idleness.
Narrated
Ibn 'Abbas, The Prophet (PBUH) said,
“There are two blessings which many people lose: (They are) Health and free
time for doing good.” (Al-Bukhari)
You
should not sit. You have to do something. It really hurts to find so many
people and organizations coming to our countries to make good things while they
are foreigners. They take our money and spend it on our poor people. Why don't
we make these good deeds ourselves? Why don’t you make this charity? Do they
have mercy on us more than we do on ourselves? Think with your friends about
how to do something charitable. Help in cancer institutes or orphanages. You
might say, “What can I do?” You are sitting there saying, “I am religious and I
need to do something,” while there are many orphans, poor, needy, handicapped,
and sick and those who want to learn Qur’an.
The
potential is in front of you but you must be unwilling to do it. Note when
Allah (SWT) talks about Prophet Dawud
(AS) (David). This is addressed to women and men but especially to
women, “And remember Our handed slave, Dawud…” (TMQ, Saad:17). What does this word “handed” mean? Did he
have 10 hands? Absolutely not. It means that wherever you find a good deed, you
find that Dawud (PBUH) has
participated in it. “And remember Our handed slave, Dawud “. How many
hands do you have? Many people's hands are cut off (worthless), despite the
fact that they are full of strength, vitality and also muscular ability but
their muscles are idle; they are nothing.
You can
conclude all these facts from this verse that can be translated as, “And women in the city said: The wife of
Al-Aziz is seeking to seduce her (slave) from his (true) self, indeed she loves
him violently” (TMQ, Yusuf:30). Note
the word seduce associated with the word nafs (self); it has been
mentioned 4 times until now:
1)
“But she in whose house he was, sought to seduce him from
his (true) self” (TMQ, 12:23).
2)
And women
in the city said: “The wife of Al-‘Aziz is seeking to seduce her (slave) young
man from his (true) self, indeed she loves him violently” (TMQ, Yusuf:30).
3)
“He
[Yusuf] said: It was she that sought to seduce me from my (true) self” (TMQ,
Yusuf:26).
4)
“The wife of
Al-Aziz said: “Now the truth is manifest (to all); it was I who sought to
seduce him from his (true) self, and he is surely of the truthful” (TMQ, Yusuf:51).
What is
the story of this word nafs? Look how strong his nafs is. That is
why this word nafs is mentioned repeatedly. Allah (SWT)
wants to show you how steadfast his nafs is. We have: women who are trying to degrade
themselves but they cannot, men who are waiting for a sign from any woman,
other men are not waiting for any signs they just imagine that women are
constantly inviting them. Other men are dreaming about sin since many years,
they are envious that other men can do it while they can't. But, those who want to imitate our master
Yusuf (PBUH) note how his nafs
is very strong. It was mentioned four
times in this Surah.
“The
wife of Al-‘Aziz is seeking to seduce her (slave) young man against his (true)
self, indeed she is consumed by love for him.” (TMQ, Yusuf:30). Note the
expression “she is consumed by love for him.” It means that his
love has penetrated every space of her heart. Here, I want to ask you a
question. Is it love or lust? It is lust, isn’t it? So, why do they say, “ she
is consumed by love for him.” although it is lust? Here we have a very
dangerous meaning showing how women sometimes are fooled. They cannot
differentiate between love and lust. In the name of love they can be tricked.
This part is very important; although it is clear for the woman of the city
that it is lust, they called it love instead. You are also tricked in the same
way. He will continue to tell you, “I love you” until you believe him and
commit sin. Then the very next day, he will not be able to look into your face.
I swear
by Allah the Greatest, that every week I hear a story like this from girls or
boys. In the name of love, he disobeys Allah (SWT) then he comes to say that I can’t look at her face; or she
says that he shunned me and betrayed me or married me ‘orfi marriage. This marriage that you call “orfi”, it
is not marriage. It is “adultery”. Any girl who marries in college without the
knowledge of her family is committing sin. This is not the customary marriage. Be careful, not to be cheated this way, and
not to believe such words. If you have a friend passing through likely
circumstances, you have to advise her that this man will betray her because he
is a scoundrel. Sometimes they can’t even look at their own devilish faces at
all.
I swear
by Allah (SWT), that I hear stories
like this, weekly. A young man comes to me and says, “I do not want to be a
scoundrel, but really I cannot look at her face.” I ask him, “Did you love
her?” He answers, “Very much.” It was
not love; it was lust because if he really loved you, he would not accept to be
alone with you without the knowledge of your family. Instead, he would marry
you. I say it twice to girls; if you
want to know whether it is love or lust, ask yourself why he is secretly seeing
you? Try this; while walking together tell him, “Oh, is this your sister
walking in front of us!” [Hinting that his sister is also out with a man.] And
watch how he will behave. It is one of
two things: either he will leave you and run after his sister and so you will
know what he truly thinks of you, that you are worthless, that he is only
having fun by going out with you. Or, he will tell you, “It is ok; I don’t
care.” That way, you will know that he is not even a man [to preserve his
family’s dignity by stopping his sister from such behavior]. Be careful or else after 10 years you will
find yourself married to al-Aziz himself.
“Indeed,
she is consumed with love for him; verily we see her in plain error.” (TMQ,
Yusuf:30). “Plain
error” righteous words meant to be unrighteous. From their point of view, doing
the forbidden sin is not the “plain error”. The error, according to them, is to
do it with her slave; she should have looked for a better partner. That is what
they mean by the “plain error”. They are not outraged because she is doing a
forbidden sin! What type of atmosphere is that?
What type of women are those?
Look at the following verse that can be translated as, “So when
she heard of their accusation…”(Surat
Yusuf:31). How did she hear of their accusation? It is simple. If women
start talking this means that everybody in the city will hear. “So when she
heard of their accusation…” This verse also reveals something about
jealousy; when jealousy enters a society or a building, it starts eating into
this building until its people get lost and their hearts become black.
I ask you by Allah (SWT)!
Our workingwomen, please be careful, don't backbite your manager at work. Go to
him and tell him, “I am angry at you.” Do not sit with your friends at work and
mock your manager; this is backbiting.
Do not mock your teacher; do not make childish gestures and signs while
you are standing in front of him. Be a man. Either you go and speak with him
face to face or keep it to yourself and never backbite. Be careful not to backbite your neighbor with
another neighbor and know that if anybody backbites anyone in front of you she
will backbite you in front of others; and the one who mocks your colleague,
will mock you tomorrow. The Prophet (PBUH)
never spoke about any issue in such a rebuking way. Two men were walking and
they said something about somebody. The Prophet (PBUH) kept silent until they reached a dunghill where a donkey's
dead carcass lay. When they approached it, the Prophet (PBUH) told them, “Eat from this carrion.” They said, “God forbid,
we cannot!” The Prophet (PBUH) said,
“Both of you have eaten the flesh of the brother whom you backbit.” “Do not backbite one another. Would one of
you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? You would hate it” (TMQ,
Al-Hujurat:12).
Likewise, two women at the time of the Prophet (PBUH) were backbiting another woman, who was not present with them.
Although they were fasting they started having a bad stomachache. They sent
notice to the Prophet (PBUH) saying,
“We are suffering a very bad stomachache we are very sick.” The Prophet (PBUH) sent a dish and asked them to
vomit. They said to him, “We have not eaten any meat.” But the Prophet (PBUH) asked them to vomit. They vomited
chewed flesh. One day while the Prophet (PBUH)
was walking he found a man backbiting another man who was not present with him.
The Prophet (PBUH) ordered him to
pick his teeth. The man said, “But I have not eaten any meat.” The Prophet (PBUH) said, you did, you must pick your
teeth. Imagine yourself after you finish your famous daily phone call, to get
up and take a second to pick your teeth, can you do it? Let us try the
Prophet's prescription. Keep a box of dental floss with you and when you
backbite, take floss and clean your teeth, you will stop backbiting after a
week, because you won’t bear that image about yourself.
“So when she heard of their accusation, she sent for them…”(TMQ,
Yusuf:31). What does “sent for them” mean?
She told them, “I am preparing a party at my home, and I invite you to attend.”
You know the luxurious couches, fruits in front of them, lights, fresh air and
the swimming pool, luxury in the full sense of the term! “She sent for them
and prepared a banquet for them” in order to get them to relax, but note
that she is planning for something. “She gave each one of them a
knife…”(TMQ, Yusuf:31). In the dish
near the apple, she placed a knife for cutting the apples, but she was still
planning. What type of void people are
they? She knew that they would hurt themselves when they see Yusuf (PBUH) because she knew what type of
women they were. What a cunning woman? Emptiness makes all of that, it may even
do more. “…and gave each one of them a knife.” Here we have a very nice
aspect. Did the old Egyptians reach this extent of civilization, to cut fruits
with knives? This means that civilization was firmly established at that time
regardless of whether it was connected with Allah (SWT) or not, but it was really firmly established. “She gave
each one of them a knife and she said to Yusuf (Joseph), “Come out before
them.” (TMQ, Yusuf:31). This means that he was still in the house; the Aziz
did not send him away!
“And she said to Yusuf (Joseph) “Come out before them. Then, when
they saw him, they exalted him…” (TMQ, Yusuf:31).
What does “exalted him” mean? It means that they admired him for his
beauty. “When they saw him, they exalted him and cut their
hands…” (TMQ, Yusuf:31). The word cut here does not mean that they cut
their hands off, no it means that they wounded their hands. In Arabic we refer to the word “wound” by
“cut” while they were cutting apples they hurt themselves. “…they cut their
hands and said: How perfect is Allah (or Allah forbid)!” (TMQ, Yusuf:31). Notice
where they used the religious terms “ and said: How perfect is Allah (or
Allah forbid)!” As if they were saying, “We esteem you our Lord,
this is not a natural human being; you have created a supernatural beauty”.
“And said: How perfect is Allah (or Allah forbid)! No man is this!
This is none other than a noble angel!” (TMQ, Yusuf:31). There is another note here, too. They used a religious term “Allah
forbid”, for an earthly issue. You have
to be careful not to use religious terms for earthly issues. Like when a man
gazing at a beautiful women in the street and another man comes and says to
him, “Fear Allah brother, lower your gaze.” He answers him by, “Allah is
beautiful and loves beauty.” Don’t people say that? By the way, this sentence
angers Allah (SWT), to use religious
terms in decorating [or justifying] earthly misdeeds. You find a woman dancing
and people around her saying, “Blessings be upon the Prophet.” Be aware brothers we are not joking. It is
something very bad, using religion for inappropriate earthly issues is
something very shameful, they even mention the Prophet (PBUH) in this nonsense.
Here, you have to close your ears and go away.
“And said: How perfect is Allah (or Allah forbid)!” His beauty dazzled them; they were in a state of lust, though they
used religious terms. Now look at the
immoral woman! “This is he (the young man) about whom you did blame me.”
(TMQ, Yusuf:32). She said to them
you cannot blame me anymore, look what you have done to yourselves. “She
said: and I did seek to seduce him.” (TMQ, Yusuf:32). Is it possible that a
woman can be so blunt? Women are really very strange! When a woman is close to
Allah (SWT) she can be worth one
hundred men, she can shake the whole earth, she can guide people to the path of
Allah (SWT), she can give what men
cannot give, her trust in Allah (SWT)
can be many times bigger than men. Yet
when she deviates, Allah forbids, from the path moving a mountain would be
easier than moving her heart.
By the way, be careful not to marry a shameless woman. Young men,
sitting with us right now, you can marry a woman who is not so religious but be
careful not to marry a shameless woman.
Though a religious woman would be much help in your way to Allah (SWT), yet a woman without shame is out
of the question. How can you tell?
You’ll know her from her conduct, from her extravagant clothes. She may not
wear Hijab (headscarf), but her clothes are not indecent, because that would be
a clear evidence of her shamelessness. A woman in the habit of joking and
laughing in a loud voice among men, usually has no shame (Haia’a). Close
your eyes and you will know that this woman is not suitable to be a wife even
if she was the most beautiful woman in the world. When you find a God-fearing
woman, you must know that she is the suitable woman to be married. And you
[women], be careful not to marry a shameless man since the issue of Haia’a
is very critical. How could al-Aziz's
wife utter such words?
[Al-Aziz’s
wife said to the women of the city] “And I did seek to seduce him…” Now
look at the next word fasta'sam (refused). Allah (SWT) puts these two words together in order to let you compare
between baseness and loftiness. Which type would you like to be? Fasta’sam--notice
how strong the letters are; the word in itself is strong. Try to refuse seduction. I will tell you a very wonderful thing, if
you refuse seduction once, Allah (SWT)
will preserve you ten times. “And hold fast, all of you together, to the
Rope of Allah” (TMQ, Al-Imran:103). Holding fast means that you will not
disobey Allah (SWT). If you hold fast
and refused to look at a scene from a TV program or on the Internet or at a
woman in the street; lowering your eyes and saying, “I will not look.” do you
know what Allah (SWT) is going to do
to you? He will preserve you for six months! If you refused once for the sake
of Allah (SWT), He will reward you by
His preservation for six months. But be
careful, Satan will trick you. He would say to you, “It is ok, you refused this
time but you cannot for another, you are living in this world, you go to
college everyday.” So, will you refuse?
Try to
hold fast to His rope once and He will preserve you for six months. “And I
did seek to seduce him but he refused.” Now you will find the extent of
being low. “And now if he refuses to obey my order…” (TMQ,
Yusuf:32). What is this? Is it
possible that the woman may stoop low to that state? Why are these expressions
and scenes repeated in Qur'an? It is to say to women, “Be careful not to be
like this, look how mean and low the wife of the Aziz is.” How can a girl call phone number haphazardly
until maybe a man answers, to make passes at him? There are girls who are doing
this. Is it conceivable that this girl is the granddaughter of Lady Khadijah or
Lady Aisha? Is it conceivable that this girl is of Prophet Muhammad’s Ummah (PBUH)? Is it believable that this girl
has read the story of our master Yusuf (PBUH)?
“And now if he refuses to obey my order, he shall certainly be cast into
prison, and will be one of those who are disgraced.” (TMQ, Yusuf:32). When
our master Yusuf (PBUH) heard that,
he raised his hands to Allah (SWT).
In the beginning one woman sought to seduce him, but now all the city's women
were seeking to seduce him. How? Look at
the next verse that can be translated as, “Unless You turn away their plot
from me, I will feel inclined towards them…” (TMQ, Yusuf:33). He said
“their plot” not “her”. He also said, “O my Lord! Prison is dearer to me
than that to which they invite me…” (TMQ, Yusuf:33). He said, “they invite” me, not “she
invites”; it is very clear. How? After the incident when women cut their hands,
every one of them went to the Aziz's wife and said for her, “let me go to Yusuf
and I will convince him to accept”, she goes to him and starts seducing
him. Do you see how persistent the resistance
of our master Yusuf (PBUH) is? It is
in the word fasta'sam (refused).
So it is no longer one woman who is seeking to seduce him, women working
together, imagine! Women living in the same neighborhood, he is still
steadfast. You have to love this resoluteness; it makes you say, “Why am I not
like this? Why do I not preserve myself like this? And why am I so weak? Is it
possible when a woman gives me a sign that I fall right away? What kind of
weakness am I suffering from?” Allah (SWT) is telling you this in order to
become more steadfast and stronger. “…And I did seek to seduce him, but he
refused. And now if he refuses to obey my order, he shall certainly be cast
into prison, and will be one of those who are disgraced” (TMQ,
Yusuf:32).
Now we
have another scene, our master Yusuf (PBUH)
is raising his hands saying what can be translated as, “He said: “O my Lord!
Prison is dearer to me than that to which they invite me”. (TMQ, Yusuf:33). Do
you know what that means? It means that hardships of prison are easier to his
heart than those of sin. Do you fear
prison or do you commit adultery? Can you imagine the comparison? We compare
between being patient for five or six years until we get married and between
committing sin? His comparison was more difficult than ours. It is either you
enter the prison or you commit a sin. Now look at the answer. “Prison is
dearer to me…” he used the word “ahab” (dearer) because they used
the same word in “she is consumed with love for him”. He used the same
word for something that nobody could imagine in order to make them lose any
hope. They said what can be translated as, “she is consumed with love for
him “ while he said what can be translated as, “Prison is dearer to me”. Prison is dearer to my heart when
compared with committing a sin. Can you
say that today? If anyone is set on committing a sin such as going out with a
girl (it is not necessary that the relationship would reach adultery but it
could be a prelude to adultery), the man who is ignoring his wife at home and
speaking with his female colleague at work and their relationship is developing
and developing. Can you utter two words
like those said by our master Yusuf (PBUH)?
Can you feel like this? Do you imagine how Yusuf (PBUH) is feeling inside?
“He
said: “O my Lord! Prison is dearer to me than that to which they invite me.” He expressed it by the word 'dearer' as long as he is away from
sin. There are many people who are
wishing to sin. “He said, “O my Lord! Prison is dearer to me than that to
which they invite me. Unless You turn away their plot from me, I will feel
inclined towards them…” ‘Inclined’
here does not mean that I will commit adultery, it means inclination—he might
be interested, Yusuf (PBUH) is even
afraid from inclination.
Here we
have another interesting point, which is that there is no hope for him except
by seeking help from Allah (SWT). Do you remember our master Yaqub (AS)
(Jacob) when he said what can be translated as, “So (for me) patience is
most fitting? And it is Allah (Alone) Whose help can be sought against that
(lie) which you describe.” (TMQ, Yusuf:18).
Our master Yusuf (PBUH) is
imitating him now. He says, “ He said: “O my Lord! Prison is dearer to me”,
but without you I am worthless.
Brothers, we cannot drive sin away from our lives except by seeking the
help of Allah (SWT). There is no
success in our lives at all except by seeking the help of Allah (SWT). This point of seeking help from
Allah (SWT) is absent from our
lives. You are used to saying, “I will
resist.” but have you sought help from Allah (SWT)? Seeking help from Allah (SWT)
is the core of Islam.
There is
a very nice saying from Ibn al-Qayyim: he says, “Allah revealed 104 Books (this
is from a Hadith of the Prophet (PBUH)
that Allah revealed 104 Books). He collected them in three Books (Torah, Bible,
Qur’an) then he collected them in one Book which is Qur’an; then he gathered
the Qur’an into one Surah which is the Fateha “The Opening”, then He
gathered the Fateha in two verses which can be translated as, “You (Alone)
we worship, and You (Alone) we ask for help.” (TMQ, al-Fatiha:5). Then Ibn
al-Qayyim said, “There is no ability to worship without seeking the help of
Allah since it is the core of Islam, the whole universe is: “You (Alone) we
worship, and You (Alone) we ask for help” isn't it? “And I
(Allah) created not the jinn and mankind except that they should worship Me.”
(TMQ, Ad-Dhariat:56). The whole universe is made for worship and there is
no ability to worship without seeking the help of Allah (SWT), it is the core of Islam.
That is why the Prophet (PBUH)
taught us to say (most of people do not say it) after performing the prayers “O
Allah, help me praise You, thank You and worship You in a good way”.
Learn this Dua'a (supplication) by heart and say it after every prayer it is a
very important dua’a. I will not be able to stand on my feet in this
life without Allah (SWT).
You may
say that sins are around you everywhere, or you might think that I have no idea
about the types of temptation you’re confronted with. So, what is the solution
to this problem? The only solution is to seek help from Allah (SWT), sit and say, “O' Allah (SWT), I do not have anyone but You, if
You do not take this sin out of my heart I will die while You are angry with
me. Take it out of my heart, O Lord! I want to worship You and enjoy Your
worship; I am not feeling reverent, make me feel it.” This is the core of
religion. The issue is to seek the help of Allah (SWT) in everything. “O Allah (SWT),
I need work, I need of money so please it send to me, I want to get married,
help me.” Look at the Hadith that says Allah (SWT) makes it an obligation on Himself to help three persons; one
of them is a man who wants to marry because he is seeking chastity. What does
that mean? It means that a man wants to marry in order to abstain from what is
forbidden.
Yusuf (PBUH) said what can be translated as, “O
my Lord! Prison is dearer to me than that to which they invite me. Unless You
turn away their plot from me, I will feel inclined towards them and be one of the ignorant. So
his Lord answered his invocation and turned away from him their plot” (TMQ,
Yusuf:33-34). Yusuf (PBUH) did
not supplicate except this time, but they sought to seduce him a very long time
ago. She also tried to seduce him a very long time ago, but why were his
prayers unanswered till then? The answer came late? Scholars have a very nice
comment here; this time the dua’a was connected with asking help, “Unless
You turn away their plot…”. It’s
like he was saying, ‘I've become tired, I’ve supplicated so many times before
but this time I am urgently seeking Your help, help me!’ Make your supplication
always connected to a plea for help, you will soon be answered. Thus, the answer here came quickly.
Supplicate in your own colloquial language, “O Allah (SWT), I do not know how to give up this sin, my heart is in Your
hand, I beg you to get this sin out of my heart, I found no solution but to ask
you help me.” And be sure that Allah (SWT)
will give you rest, you will see.
“So
his Lord answered his invocation…” (TMQ,
Yusuf:34). It gives you great hope. “…and turned away from him their
plot…” I will ask you a question? After this verse in the story, has
anybody heard if Yusuf (PBUH) was
exposed to temptation again? Temptation disappeared! What is this? Is it
possible that a sin though so sweet in my heart for twenty years yet Allah (SWT) plucks it out so easily? Yes,
certainly! This happened to many people. The story says, “and turned away
from him their plot…” It means that he did not charm women any more. Didn’t
I tell you that if you abstain from committing sin, Allah (SWT) would preserve you for a long time. Ok, what happened when they saw him? Allah (SWT) replaced the desire in their eyes
with esteem, awe and appreciation. His face was still the same but Allah (SWT) may throw desire into this person's
heart and dignity in the other. At the
beginning, women were charmed when they looked at Yusuf (PBUH), but when he supplicated to Allah (SWT) and sought His help, desire was replaced with dignity and
loftiness. The same face, but praise be
to Allah (SWT) who controls the
inclinations of the hearts in His Hands, and praise be to Allah (SWT) who is able to remove desire from
your heart. So, you have to seek the help of Allah (SWT).
How many
people here have problems or sins and wish to extract them from their hearts?
One smokes cigarettes or, Allah forbids, suffering from drug addiction, or from
their attraction to women… Someone once told me that he was persistent in doing
a sin for ten years, and in these ten years he never ceased calling Allah (SWT) to get this sin out of his heart.
He told me, one night in Ramadan he prostrated (in prayer) and asked Allah (SWT), “I have no one but You (Allah).”
He told me, “I swear I felt as if something has been removed out of me. I don’t
know how, but it was as if someone opened my heart, took something and threw it
away. It was completely gone!” Has anyone tried this before? Try to connect
your dua'a with asking His help; ask His help and be confident that if it is
written to happen, it will. “So his Lord answered his invocation and turned
away from him their plot. Verily, He is the All-Hearer, the All-Knower”. (TMQ,
Yusuf:34).
“Then
it occurred to them, after they had seen the evidence (of his innocence), to
imprison him for a time.” (TMQ, Yusuf:35). How
terrible! After they were certain of his innocence, when the whole country
becomes sure that he was innocent, al-Aziz's wife said, “And I did seek to
seduce him, but he refused.” After all of this they were going to imprison
him? It is because al-Aziz started to feel that the problem became bigger, that
is why he wanted to get rid of Yusuf (PBUH). It is so terrible, why? This word “for a
time” does not specify the time that our master Yusuf (PBUH) is going to spend in prison. There was no trial; just take
him and throw him into prison. How much time he was going to spend in prison?
He did not know, this meant that he could be forgotten, of course, because it
is easier to sentence someone for 25 years than to let him remain unaware of
when he will be released. I am just
trying to show you that, he did not just suffer from imprisonment but one that
would destroy his dignity; “for a time”, until they remember him. What a
hard ordeal that was! Still, there was something harder, what was his charge?
It was an honor crime, while he was the nobleman, son of a nobleman, son of a
nobleman. A wellborn man, can you see how awful his situation was?
Let’s
review the ordeals that our master Yusuf (PBUH)
was confronted with. The first one: his brothers’ hatred for 12 years until
they threw him into the well, according to our study for the story, he was in
the well for 3 days. Slavery for 20 years, the loss of parents and family for
40 years, women's seduction 5-6 years, imprisonment for 3-9 years. Could there
be any more suffering? Has anybody suffered 25% of all this? Look at him in the
end; he was still as he was, steadfast close to Allah (SWT), preserving
his obedience to his Lord (SWT).
The next
verse can be translated as, “And there entered with him two young men in the
prison. One of them said: “Verily, I saw myself (in a dream) pressing wine.”
The other said: “Verily, I saw myself (in a dream) carrying bread on my head
and birds were eating thereof.” (They said): “Inform us of the interpretation
of this. Verily, we think you are one of the Muhsinûn (doers of good).”
(TMQ, Yusuf:36). Who were these two
young men who entered the prison with him? One of them worked as the king's
wine server (what a job!), the other was the king's cook. What were their crimes? Why did they go to
prison? There is no evidence about this but, it is said that they were accused
by attempting to kill the king. It seems that one of them was innocent and the
other was really involved in trying to poison the king’s food or drink. The
king discovered their plot, which is why they were imprisoned; they entered the
prison with Yusuf (PBUH). While in
prison they had dreams.
One of
them saw that he was offering wine to the king.
“One of them said, “Verily, I saw myself (in a dream) pressing wine.”
The other saw that he was carrying a hamper, filled with bread, on his head
and birds were eating from this bread. They said what can be translated as, “Inform
us of the interpretation of this. Verily, we think you are one of the Muhsinun
(doers of good).” There are many things to talk about here. The first one
is that Allah (SWT) granted him the talent of dream interpretation. You
saw how many ordeals our master Yusuf (PBUH)
has confronted, and notice how Allah (SWT)
will start dispelling them. Notice when Allah (SWT) wants to protect His servant He will honor him through a
dream. I just want to tell you how this universe works. These two men were
accused of plotting to kill the king, they were imprisoned, and they had dreams
so that Yusuf (PBUH) would interpret
them. One of them will go back as the king's wine server. It means that he will
be very close to the king, so as to tell the king, one day, “I know the one who
is able to interpret your dream, he interpreted a dream for me in the past.”
And this will be the reason for releasing Yusuf (PBUH). Who manages this universe? Who brought these two young men
into prison? Who made them dream? Who made the king dream afterwards? It is trust in Allah (SWT); He is the
Manager of everything.
Why did
they choose Yusuf (PBUH), in
particular, to interpret their dreams? “…we think you are one of the Muhsinun
(doers of good)” He is one of the Muhsinun but how could they know
that while they were seeing him for the first time? Because it is clearly
apparent in the believer through his behavior and characteristics. I wonder if people at your work see you as
one of those Muhsinun. And in your college or where you live, do people
see you as one of the Muhsinun? If people can see that in you, then this
is the evidence of faith. Or else you’re just living there without any obvious
character.
The two
men were criminals and in front of them was a man charged with an honor crime.
Usually in prisons the criminals look at those charged with honor crimes as if
they were worse than them. Yet, when
they saw him they said to him, “we think you are one of the Muhsinun”.
Brothers, the signs of goodness are so obvious as clear daylight, even tough
criminals can see them.
Now we
will start analyzing the prison from inside. In front of them was this man
accused in an honor crime, yet they saw him as one of the Muhsinun. In his external appearance and in his
behavior. Was he distressed, insomniac or depressed, or was he steadfast? He
was the only steadfast person in the whole story. Everybody changed around him
while he remained steadfast. They tried to seduce him. “O my Lord! Prison is
dearer to me than that to which they invite me”. He was imprisoned. “We
think you are one of the Muhsinun.” He was sold as a slave but
remained steadfast, confident, and close Allah (SWT). I wish you can all be
like him.
The
following verses, until we finish today, are concentrating on a very basic
issue, which is. “the art of da'wa (missionary activity) to Allah (SWT)”. Many people say to me, “We want
to make people love the religion but we do not know how. We want to make people
understand but we do not know how. Tell us in steps what we have to do.” I
didn’t answer them because I was waiting for this day; I was waiting for the
story of Yusuf (PBUH). There are
fourteen things that you can if you want to affect people. Fourteen things that
we can deduce starting from verse 37 till verse 41. Allah (SWT) has placed them in these four verses for those who want to
learn da'wa.
Before
we start on these rules, I want to ask a question. Is inviting people to Allah
(SWT) a voluntary job or it is an
obligatory duty? Everyone who is sitting with us now is commanded to invite
people to Allah (SWT). The problem is that people here [in the
audience] are of two types: the first type speaks to people about religion, and
the second are those who have come for the first time. Brothers, this story is what will get you
moving. I say to my sisters who are here
for the first time and to my brothers who are coming for the second or third
time and who have recently become religious, when you lend a helping hand to
people, you will feel lifted in an extraordinary way. Those people who have not
yet worked in da’wa, please follow the next part. Da'wa is not
just voluntary, on the contrary it is an obligatory duty that we all must do.
O master Yusuf (PBUH), was
imprisoned and he did not know when he was going to be released. In spite of
this, the first thing he did was to lend a helping hand to the prisoners,
despite the fact that they were criminals.
I am trying to show you how compelling the issue of da'wa is, how
you should think of our master Yusuf (PBUH).
His burdens kept increasing by the hour, but he was relentless. He was
undeterred, he entered the prison and invited people there to Allah (PBUH), but whom did he invite? Criminals
or not he spoke to them about religion. There was something more, one of these
men was going to be killed, wasn’t that the interpretation of the dream?? One was to live and the other was to die!
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