I am out of words because today I opened the Qur'an and it opened to Surah 12 which is Surah Yusuf/Joseph, about prophet Joseph [A] the son of Prophet Jacob/Israel [A]. These are the days of the initiation of the Mastership of Imam Mahdi [AJ] and there are so many parallels between prophet Joseph and our Master, one being that he is called Yusuf e Zahra [S], SubhanAllah, so this really inspired me deeply, we recited the first 6 verses today of the Surah today before listening to our most respectable respected scholar today may Lord brighten his face further for feeding faith and sharing his deep insights with us through the Ark of Salvation, and now about the first 6 verses of the 12 Chapter in Koran here is some reading in relation to that.
Request: Sura 12 Aya 1 to 6
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 12:1]
See commentary of al Baqarah: 1 for Alif, Lam, Ra (huruf muqatta-at) and al Baqarah: 2 and Ya Sin: 12. for "the verses of manifest book" .
[Shakir 12:2] Surely We have revealed it-- an Arabic Quran-- that you may understand.
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 12:2]
No
people in the world, perhaps, manifest such enthusiastic admiration for
literary expression and are so moved by the word, spoken or written, as
the Arabs. Hardly any language seems capable of exercising over the
minds of its users such irresistible influence as Arabic. So the Quran
was revealed in the Arabic language but it contains the law Allah has
made for the whole mankind in all ages.
Imam Jafar bin Muhammad as Sadiq said:
"Learn the Arabic, the language of the final word of Allah."
[Shakir 12:3] We narrate to you the best of narratives, by Our revealing to you this Quran, though before this you were certainly one of those who did not know.
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 12:3]
The
story of Yusuf son of Yaqub son of Is-haq son of Ibrahim as given in
the Quran is not identical with the Biblical story. The atmosphere is
wholly different. The Biblical story is a folk-tale in which morality
has no place. It exalts the clever and financially-minded Jew against
the Egyptian, and to explain certain ethnic and tribal peculiarities in
later Jewish history, Yusuf is shown as buying up all the cattle and the
land of the poor Egyptians for the state under the stress of famine
conditions, and making the Jews "rulers" over the Firawn's cattle. The
Quranic story, on the other hand, is less a narrative than a highly
spiritual sermon or allegory explaining the seeming contradictions in
life, the enduring nature of virtue in a world full of flux and change,
and the marvellous working of Allah's eternal purpose in His plan as
unfolded to us on the wide canvas of history.
Imam Ali said to Imam Hasan:
"O my son, although I have
not lived with the people gone by but I have so closely studied their
deeds, the events which took place, and the traditions and vestiges they
have left behind, as if I have become one of them, as if I have lived
with the first and the last of them".
(Nahj al Balagha)
It is the most detailed of
any story in the Quran and is full of description of vicissitudes of
human life, and therefore deservedly appeals to men and women of all
classes. It paints in vivid colours, with their spiritual implications,
the most varied aspects of life-Yaqub's old age and the confidence
between him and his little beloved son, the elder brothers' jealousy,
their plot, Yaqub's grief, the sale of Yusuf into slavery for a petty
price, carnal love contrasted with purity and patience and fortitude,
chastity, false charges, prison, the divine gift of interpretation of
the dreams, evil life and spiritual life, innocence raised to honour,
forgiveness and benevolence, matters of administration, humility in
glory, filial love, and the ultimate triumph of piety and truth.
When the tribal chiefs of
the Quraysh asked the Holy Prophet about the cause of the migration of
the children of Yaqub to Egypt from Syria, this surah was revealed.
Aqa Mahdi Puya says:
Except four verses
(the first three and the seventh according to Ibn Abbas) this surah was
revealed in Makka on the eve of the Holy Prophet's migration to Madina.
If true, it proves that the date and the sequence of the revelations
were not taken into consideration by the Holy Prophet.
It must be noted
that like Yusuf the Holy Prophet also had to leave his birth place on
account of the conspiracy of his near relatives. This surah gave
confidence and hope to him that they would also encounter the same fate
as the brothers of Yusuf met. Like Yusuf the Holy Prophet also declared
clemency for his relatives and tribesmen. After the fall of Makka he
said: "I say that which my brother Yusuf said to his brothers in the
end."
Yusuf son of Yaqub was a very
beautiful youth. The truth, which Yusuf, the prophet of Allah, saw in
his vision, was unpalatable to his half-brothers, who plotted against
him and sold him into slavery to a merchant for a few pieces of silver.
Yusuf was taken by the merchant into Egypt, was bought by a great
Egyptian court dignitary, Aziz. The beauty of Yusuf was so irresistible
that the dignitary's wife fell in love with him on first sight and
sought to entice Yusuf to the delights of earthly love, but Yusuf, a
faithful servant of Allah and His prophet, did not yield to the
temptation. His self-control and faith in Allah could not be shaken just
for the pleasure of a fleeting moment. He preferred the misery of
imprisonment to the disgrace he would have to face if he had succumbed
to the lure of Shaytan.
Although some commentators have
given many notes of mystic nature connected with the story of Yusuf, yet
it is advisable to rely upon that which has been narrated in the Quran.
The knowledge and wisdom of the Holy
Prophet is based upon the revelations sent to him from Allah. These
verses narrate the story of Yusuf. Those who want to know other details,
not mentioned in the Quran, may refer to the "Glimpses of the
Prophets", an English translation of Hayat ul Qulub, published by this
Trust.
Yusuf, born of Yaqub's beloved wife
Rachel, occupied the first place in his father's affections. Rachel gave
birth to another child, Benjamin, Yusuf's real brother, after which she
died. When Yusuf was about twelve years of age he dreamed a dream in
which he saw a light had enveloped the whole environment. Every creature
was singing the song of Allah's glory. Then the sun and the moon and
the eleven stars made obeisance to him. As soon as Yaqub, also a prophet
of Allah, heard this dream, he knew its interpretation immediately.
(It is reported on the authority of
Jabir bin Abdullah Ansari that one day Bashan, a Jew of Madina, came to
the Holy Prophet and asked him whether he knew the names of the stars
which Yusuf saw in his dream. The Holy Prophet gave him the following
names:
Hurban,
Turaq,
Zi-al,
Zulkitfani,
Qabisth,
Wathab,
Amud,
Faluq,
Masbah,
Saduh,
Zul Qarh.)
Yaqub advised Yusuf not to relate
his dream to his brothers who hated and envied him because they saw that
their father loved him more than all of them, and that Yusuf was a very
beautiful boy, a gift of Allah bestowed on him as a distinctive
excellence.
There was a tree in Yaqub's house.
Whenever a son was born, a new branch used to grow on the tree. As soon
as that son reached puberty, Yaqub would cut the branch and give it to
the boy to be used as a staff. On the birth of Yusuf no such branch
grew. Yaqub prayed to Allah. In reply Allah sent a heavenly branch for
Yusuf. The brothers envied him for this divine favour. Yusuf dreamed
another dream that all the brothers planted their staves in the earth,
but his staff grew higher and higher and reached the sky. Then a violent
storm destroyed the staves of his brothers, leaving his staff intact.
Yaqub told him that the dream showed his high position near Allah. His
brothers became furious with jealousy and hatred-all negative and wicked
characteristics are the promptings of Shaytan, an open enemy of man.
As a chosen prophet of Allah Yusuf
had to understand and interpret signs and events aright. The dreams of
the righteous prefigure events correctly. Yusuf could look back to his
fathers upto Ibrahim, the upright, who through all adversities kept his
faith pure and won through.
In Yusuf's story there is good and evil contrasted in many different ways.
The brothers of Yusuf proposed to
kill him so that the favour of their father might be given to them
alone, but one of them suggested to throw him in a well, in which case
some travellers passing by would pick him up and remove him to a far
country and they would be free from the charge of murder. The plot
having been formed, they approached their father to let Yusuf go with
them to play and enjoy. Yaqub had strong misgivings and apprehension. He
told them that while they were attending to their own affairs a wolf
might devour him. In the end they prevailed upon him and took Yusuf with
them, and threw him into a well. Allah was with Yusuf in his sufferings
and sorrows and reassured him that one day they would stand before him,
seeking his help, not knowing that he was their betrayed brother. They
stained Yusuf's shirt with the blood of a goat and showed it to their
father to convince him that while they were playing a wolf had devoured
Yusuf who was guarding their things. Yaqub did not believe them. He saw
that there had been some foul play.
[Shakir 12:4] When Yusuf said to his father: O my father! surely I saw eleven stars and the sun and the moon-- I saw them making obeisance to me.
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 12:4] (see commentary for verse 3)
[Shakir 12:5] He said: O my son! do not relate your vision to your brothers, lest they devise a plan against you; surely the Shaitan is an open enemy to man.
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 12:5] (see commentary for verse 3)
[Shakir 12:6] And thus will your Lord choose you and teach you the interpretation of sayings and make His favor complete to you and to the children of Yaqoub, as He made it complete before to your fathers, Ibrahim and Ishaq; surely your Lord is Knowing, Wise.
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 12:6] (see commentary for verse 3)
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