Ayah 3 : The Best of AlQasas
Ayah 3 : The Best of AlQasas
Allah is orienting our minds before we can get into the story of Yusuf AS
There’s a story and there’s a way in which you tell the story.
Allah is taking full credit of being the one who is not just telling the story but narrating it in this specific way.
In the previous ayat Allah said,
Those are the ayaat of the book in the heavens and then from that book we sent it down as an arabic Quran and within that Quran we are the ones who's telling this story.
نَحْنُ نَقُصُّ
The first thing Allah is emphasizing is the word نحن. You can just say نقص meaning we narrate. But he is saying نحن نقص, It is we in fact who narrate. Therefore Allah is emphasizing that this story is not told by the Prophet SAW but Allah SWT. It is not just the information which is being delivered to you, the way in which the story is being told is attributed to Allah.There’s a story and there’s a way in which you tell the story.
Allah is taking full credit of being the one who is not just telling the story but narrating it in this specific way.
In the previous ayat Allah said,
Those are the ayaat of the book in the heavens and then from that book we sent it down as an arabic Quran and within that Quran we are the ones who's telling this story.
It’s like zooming in!
The word قصة however is not quite a story. قصة is actually a story or an account in which a speaker is taking you step by step. قص literally means to follow step by step. That’s the meaning in which it occurs in surah Qasas when the mother of Musa AS told his sister to go follow him step by step, she used the same word قصيه (follow him step by step).
The one telling you the historical account decides what to tell you first and then what to tell you second. It’s not just what to tell but what the speaker wants you to feel. What words did they put first and what words did they put second. What characters did they introduce you to first and what characters did they introduce afterwards. The storyboarding in this account is done by Allah SWT himself.
Allah is making a huge claim that he is telling the best of all the stories. Which means there’s no other story which’s better.
نَقُصُّ
The word قص is really important. Common translations translate it as we tell you the best of all stories. The arabic word is قصة. It can be used in the meaning of a story. But Quran usually uses the word اسطورة, rather its plural أساطير. The word اسطورة came into arabic from the Greek word ιστορία (istoría). From greek it also went into latin languages like english, therefore came the word story.The word قصة however is not quite a story. قصة is actually a story or an account in which a speaker is taking you step by step. قص literally means to follow step by step. That’s the meaning in which it occurs in surah Qasas when the mother of Musa AS told his sister to go follow him step by step, she used the same word قصيه (follow him step by step).
The one telling you the historical account decides what to tell you first and then what to tell you second. It’s not just what to tell but what the speaker wants you to feel. What words did they put first and what words did they put second. What characters did they introduce you to first and what characters did they introduce afterwards. The storyboarding in this account is done by Allah SWT himself.
Allah is making a huge claim that he is telling the best of all the stories. Which means there’s no other story which’s better.
The Quran gave stories to us for a very particular purpose. Allah said every word of the Quran for one exclusive purpose i.e. to guide humanity in what they need. So when the story is being told, Allah says that he tells the best of all stories where every element, character, line, event, scene in the story will have guidance for countless people throughout countless generations.
Allah said in the previous ayah that he sent it as an arabic Quran. He used the richness of the arabic language to tell the story in the richest possible way that it can be told.
From all the people Allah created, Allah chose the story of some people and specifically certain scenes from their stories that they are so important that he talked about them in his book which will guide humanity till the end of time.
Allah said in the previous ayah that he sent it as an arabic Quran. He used the richness of the arabic language to tell the story in the richest possible way that it can be told.
أَحْسَنَ الْقَصَصِ
The word قصص means to narrate, it’s the infinitive form. It can be translated as,- the best of all stories
- We are telling you the story in the best way that it can be told
- We are telling you the best of the story
The best of all stories
Every human being has a story. Historians try to capture the story of a region or a nation, not just the story of one person. They capture big events like who conquered who. Even if they capture the story of one person such as a king, they won’t be able to find what happened inside the personal lives of the king, what kind of conversations they used to have with their kids in the morning. What were his favorite things to do in his free time. All you would know is what decree the king issued and what policy did he make.From all the people Allah created, Allah chose the story of some people and specifically certain scenes from their stories that they are so important that he talked about them in his book which will guide humanity till the end of time.
The best of the story
From the best of these stories, Allah took the best of which was needed for humanity's guidance and pulled it out from the larger story. Allah chose little things from their stories because those little things are much heavier than everything else put together.The best way that it can be told
Allah told us the story in such a way that there was no better way to illustrate/ narrate it for the benefit of human beings that they needed in their life.
Why did Allah tell me a particular detail in this story? What do I learn from it?
Everything goes back to that fundamental purpose of guidance.The way Allah is telling this story now in the Quran is different from the previous scripture.
It not only means the best, it also means the most beautiful. الحسن و الجمال (alhusn wal jimaal) are synonymous in arabic. The most beautiful way the story can be told meaning you will retrieve guidance from it in the most beautiful ways that wasn’t accessible. It will make you think about things which you didn’t think about before.
بِمَا أَوْحَيْنَا إِلَيْكَ هَـٰذَا الْقُرْآنَ
We are telling you the story in the best way it can possibly be told by way of having this Quran being inspired to youAllah is telling prophet SAW that your way of getting this story is like no one else before. It is the quality of this Quran. This Quran is unique in the way it tells the stories.
What makes the quran’s way of storytelling unique?
Some of things are connected to the word قصص
- Step by step
- In 4 ayat Allah covered the decade of Yusuf AS’s life.
- Allah is not only telling us what to pay attention to, he is also telling us what to skip.
- Allah teaches us what deserves our focus and what doesn’t deserve our focus.
- There may be interesting facts but they don’t serve the purpose of guidance.
The purpose of the Quran is not to tell you the story, it is always guidance.The thesis of Surah Yusuf unlike any other surah is the story of Yusuf AS. This surah has multiple themes. Therefore this is the best way of storytelling you will find arguably even in the Quran.
You had no clue,
This surah was revealed to prophet SAW in the hardest years of his life. He SAW lost his wife Khadeejah RA and his beloved uncle Abu Taalib who was a financial, social and a political support for him. There was nothing that was holding back Makkans now. They were attacking Prophet SAW in all the ways they could. He SAW was already going through the mental and emotional anguish of losing his partner and uncle. On top of that, the Makkans were at their worst now. In the midst of all of that Allah decided to give him SAW the story of Yusuf AS.
In the arabic etymology the word yusuf is tied to the word اسف meaning sadness.
Yusuf AS is going to go through a lot of turmoil and sadness. In the end he is going to see a peaceful resolution.
Allah told Prophet SAW about Musa AS and Pharaoh. Pharaoh had a violent end. Rasool Allah SAW is worried every time he hears a violent end because he doesn’t want that for his people. He is the last messenger, so if his people are destroyed what guidance would be left after him. He SAW also wanted a peaceful resolution.
وَإِن كُنتَ مِن قَبْلِهِ لَمِنَ الْغَافِلِينَ
For sure you used to be just even before it was revealed, you were from those who truly had no clue.You had no clue,
- Who Yusuf AS is
- Who are his brothers
- What happened with him
This surah was revealed to prophet SAW in the hardest years of his life. He SAW lost his wife Khadeejah RA and his beloved uncle Abu Taalib who was a financial, social and a political support for him. There was nothing that was holding back Makkans now. They were attacking Prophet SAW in all the ways they could. He SAW was already going through the mental and emotional anguish of losing his partner and uncle. On top of that, the Makkans were at their worst now. In the midst of all of that Allah decided to give him SAW the story of Yusuf AS.
In the arabic etymology the word yusuf is tied to the word اسف meaning sadness.
Yusuf AS is going to go through a lot of turmoil and sadness. In the end he is going to see a peaceful resolution.
Allah told Prophet SAW about Musa AS and Pharaoh. Pharaoh had a violent end. Rasool Allah SAW is worried every time he hears a violent end because he doesn’t want that for his people. He is the last messenger, so if his people are destroyed what guidance would be left after him. He SAW also wanted a peaceful resolution.
Gem by Ustadh Nouman
The dreams of the prophets are connected,- The dream of 11 stars, the sun and the moon
- The dream of Ibrahim AS about slaughtering his son
- The dream of Prophet SAW about making Hajj
Prophet SAW fulfilled the dream of Prophet Ibrahim AS when he conquered Makkah and overpowered his brothers who had expelled him but the suggestion was to kill him, which is exactly what Yusuf AS’s brothers did to him. Finally when Yusuf AS overpowered his brothers and had the power to punish them he forgave them and said,
لَا تَثْرِيبَ عَلَيْكُمُ الْيَوْمَ
No harm shall fall upon you today at all.Prophet SAW said to the Makkans when he conquered Makkah, “I will say to you today what my brother Yusuf AS said to his brethren.”
The legacy of forgiving your brothers and reconciling and all of them accepted islam. What happened at the conquest of Makkah is the reiteration of the dream of Yusuf AS. Prophet Saw himself quoted Yusuf AS at the conquest of Makkah.
The completion of both of the lines of Ibrahim AS, the line of Ismail AS and the Israelites is in Muhammad SAW.
Allah revealed this surah to Prophet SAW in his hardest part of the life to comfort him and finally when he had relief from it he SAW quoted the exact words which are in this surah.
Even moments before you had no clue how tied you SAW are connected to this man AS.
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