Ayah 6 : A Vision of the Future, A Sense of the Past

Ayah 6 : A Vision of the Future, A Sense of the Past

This is the second part of what Yaqoob AS said to Yusuf As. Allah separated it into a second ayah as we can see that it's a completely different subject matter. 

Translation : and that is how your master has selected you / chosen you and is teaching you and will continue to teach you from interpretation and what lies behind all kinds of speech and events and he is going to be completing his favor on you and on the lineage of Yaqoob (AS), just as he completed his favor on both of your fathers from not so long ago Ibrahim (AS) & Ishaq (AS), certainly your master is knowledgeable, wise. 

There are two parts in this ayah. In one part Allah is talking about the future of Yusuf AS & in the next part about the past. But all of it is about Allah's blessing. It is a very positive ayah as compared to the previous ayah which was negative & warning. 

Why is there a contrast and why did Yaqoob AS start with negative and come to the positive? 

The good news is always easy to share with the family & it makes you optimistic and hopeful. If you only talk about good, you become unrealistically positive. If you only talk about the dark reality, you become pessimistic & only think about the negatives in your life. The Quran teaches pragmatic & practical optimism that is rooted in reality. 

Islam doesn't want us to be positive without an eye on the reality.

As the ayah 5 ended with the animosity of the devil, ayah 6 begins with the blessings of Allah. Allah is telling if that's your enemy, who's your support? There's an effort by the devil to pull you away and there's a call from Allah who has selected you. Yes there are negative things but I'm never going to become hopeless because Allah has selected me, I have a higher purpose! We should make our children aware of the difficult situations & we should also instill hope and confidence in them. If anyone of them is missing, they won't have a balanced life. It will not only affect them as a child but also their adult life. 

وَكَذَ ٰ⁠لِكَ

And that is how 

It means, by showing you this dream, this is how Allah has chosen you. 

As Yaqoob AS is an observant father, he noticed the signs of prophethood within Yusuf AS. Kids can easily become spoiled and think they are special when they get specially treated. But Yusuf AS is down to earth even as a kid. He doesn't let anything get to his head. 

It's like Yaqoob AS was waiting for a sign from Allah that his hunch was right. So when Yusuf AS tells him his dream and he says, and "that's how" your master has chosen you. I was waiting for this day, I was wondering how he's going to choose you. It's not just a dream, it's actually a revelation. It's the first bit of revelation given to Yusuf AS and the prophethood has begun. So Yaqoob AS is relieved that he's the heir to this legacy of prophethood. 

The dream was mentioned in the ayah number 4 and we are now in ayah no.6. By showing you this dream, that's how Allah has chosen you.  

This dream tells Yaqoob AS that there's going to be a clash and eventually Yusuf AS is going to be on top & his brothers will be humbled by the plan of Allah. 

In whatever, difficult situations are about to come, in all of that you should know Allah has chosen you because you could've handled them like nobody else. It's not just the dream that's the reason Allah has chosen you but the events that are going to transpire, all are a part of his plan & Allah has prepared you for them. 

1. Yusuf AS is analytical, he has figured out what the dream means. 

2. The way Yusuf AS was speaking had a lot of manners in his speech. He was hesitant to put sajdah close to the wording. He was reluctant to put himself up in the grandiose position. 

Yaqoob AS is saying, because of the way you carry yourself, humility you demonstrate & this analytical skill, are the reason why Allah has chosen you from this family to have the gift of prophecy. 

یَجۡتَبِیكَ رَبُّكَ

Your master has selected you. 

Arabic language has several words for selection. 3 of them are, 

اختيار 

اصطفى

اجتبا 

The word اختيار comes from خير which means good. The word استخارة  also comes from it. استخارة means to pray for the better choice. To try to choose that is something good. When you choose something because of the good in it, that's called اختيار. That's the word Allah used for Musa AS when he came to the mountain. 

وَأَنَا ٱخۡتَرۡتُكَ فَٱسۡتَمِعۡ لِمَا یُوحَىٰۤ  20:13         

I've made a choice of you because of the good I see in you.

The word اصطفى is two things,  the selector and the selected. If someone chooses something because of how pure it is, that's اصطفى. It's purely my choice, nobody can question where that choice came from. اصطفى comes from صفو  meaning purity. Allah uses that for when he chose which angels shall deliver revelation & which men should become messengers. 

The word يجتبيك comes from جبي. Kingdoms collect tax but not everyone can pay tax. You must have a certain income level for you to be qualified to pay the tax. It developed as a term for when you make a selection based on a purpose. 

When you pick the right tool for the right job, that's called اجتبا. So اجتبا would be closer to hiring someone. So يجتبيك ربك suggests that Yaqoob AS sees that Yusuf AS has demonstrated certain skills & manners which Allah will use to put him in all kinds of situations, that's why he selected him as a prophet. It's clear that Allah doesn't just want him to go through triumph, but to go through some serious trials too. 

ان مع العسر يسرا 

Allah chose difficulties for you & he especially chose you for them. Because everyone has certain qualities to go through those tests successfully. You don't get an important job without having a difficult mission. 

Yaqoob AS is telling his son, you aren't just a kid. Don't think you just saw a dream. The talent that you have to be so analytical & thoughtful, it's not just some trivial thing. This is your master choosing you. Master suggests that Allah chose you to be a really good slave. Slave by definition is the most humble label you can have. 

A child is being told, you have gotten a remarkable talent, and because of it you should be humbled. There's someone over you who gave that to you, it's not yours.  You're not special, he is. This ability doesn't make you special, fulfilling the purpose for which you were given this ability makes you special. If you put that ability / talent/ gift to use for the service of your master, that's what makes you special. There's validation on one hand & humility on the other. Yaqoob AS didn't humble Yusuf AS, instead he is saying the one to humble you is your Rabb (master). I may not be there to humble you & keep you in check, but your Rabb will always be there.  

Allah decided to tell us about this conversation between Yaqoob AS & Yusuf AS. Yusuf AS is going to be in a foreign land & will spend his entire youth there without any parental guidance. He has all the reasons to be messed up. But the words that are being given to him here are going to shield him from it because he won't forget what's being said here. 

My master has selected me for a purpose. 

He has gotten a positive outlook in the middle of the worst negativity. He knows everything bad happening to him is a part of the bigger plan for which he was selected. 

وَیُعَلِّمُكَ مِن تَأۡوِیلِ ٱلۡأَحَادِیثِ

He's teaching you the interpretation of dreams. 

He has commenced your teaching, he will teach you interpretation from all kinds of speech. 

Allah has begun your teaching. Allah has started the lesson and lesson 1 is that you can tell what your dream means. The teaching has started but it hasn't ended. It's an ongoing process. ينبئك means informs you. يخبرك  also means to inform you. يحدثك also means to inform. These are immediate. But teaching takes time. It takes practice & exercise. 

Allah has a plan to teach you a lot. And teaching means you are going to be in different learning environments. Eventually he will teach you what this dream means in whole. 

He will teach you interpretation from all kinds of speech.

Dream vs speech 

The word أحاديث in arabic means conversations & communications. حديث comes from حدث which means an event. It can mean an event which can lead to conversation. حديث also means new or modern. Meaning new things that are said which weren't said before. New things that are experienced which weren't experienced before.  

So Yaqoob AS is saying that I can see Allah has a plan for you to interpret all kinds of speech. You will be exposed to very different worlds & each one of them will have their new own kind of speech. You will be able to figure out how people work & communicate.  There's something they will say but you will be able to tell what's behind it. 

The word تأويل means, not just what someone is saying but what is behind it. يؤول meaning what does it result in. What does it come from originally.The original thought process behind. You are saying one thing but I can see where your mind was working 10 steps behind this that led you to say these words. You don't just see the tree but the roots deep inside the ground. 

 وَكَذَ ٰ⁠لِكَ مَكَّنَّا لِیُوسُفَ فِی ٱلۡأَرۡضِ وَلِنُعَلِّمَهُۥ مِن تَأۡوِیلِ ٱلۡأَحَادِیثِۚ 

Allah repeated the same exact phrase what Yaqoob AS told Yusuf AS in ayah 6. 

And that's how we made that happen for him, the moment he got settled in the house of the minister. 

He played the role of a servant in the house of the minister.  He knows what rich wealthy women talk about. He knows what politicians talk about. He sees what they are like in private and public. When he's sent to the market, he gets to know what the farmers and poor servants talk about. When he has lunch with the slaves he gets to know what they talk about. When he's thrown in a jail, over there criminals have their own world. One man having inside access to all these worlds.  What different people talk and how they communicate. What emotions and thought processes and life experiences are behind them. 

Yaqoob AS in one phrase, told him Allah has chosen you with this special talent. He’s going to teach you the interpretation of all kinds of speech. 

وَیُعَلِّمُكَ مِن تَأۡوِیلِ ٱلۡأَحَادِیثِ

This is called embedded Journalism, but Yusuf AS is more than that. 

Yusuf AS will become a politician & he already understands what the politicians think, how the ministers, military, their families, peasants, middle class, business class, merchants, criminals think. He has a sensitivity to all of them. Even in things that Allah shows him from the unseen like a dream, he can figure those out.

So he's has gotten a spiritual talent of interpretation & worldly talent of interpretation. 

وَیُتِمُّ نِعۡمَتَهُۥ عَلَیۡكَ

He will complete his favor on you. 

Allah has already chosen him, that's a favor on him. Then what does competing his favor mean? 

Allah uses the words completing the favor for our messenger too. 

وَيُتِمَّ نِعْمَتَهُ عَلَيْكَ وَيَهْدِيَكَ صِرَاطًا مُّسْتَقِيمًا - 48:2 

وَأَتۡمَمۡتُ عَلَیۡكُمۡ نِعۡمَتِی 5:3 

When Allah talks about favor or blessings, there are two kinds. 

• One is the spiritual blessing of your faith. 

• The other one is having an easier life where your faith is not put to the test. 

Spiritual vs worldly blessings 

We want both. 

When Allah is talking about blessings, he means both of them. When he says I have completed my favor, it means the spiritual blessing is completed i.e. the Quran is going to be completed & all the obstacles & enemies that Prophet SAW had, would be defeated. 

When Allah told his Prophet SAW that he had completed his favor (spiritual & worldly), that was all in Medina. Surah Yusuf was given to Prophet SAW in Makkah. So when Prophet SAW & Muslims heard that Allah will complete his favor upon them, they weren’t hearing those words for the first time, they had already heard those words on the tongue of Yaqoob AS in Surah Yusuf. 

In surah Yusuf, Yusuf AS held onto spiritual blessing through all the trials and eventually, Allah also gave him the worldly blessings. Rasool Allah SAW also held on to the spiritual blessings through all those trials, but at the end of his career, He SAW is reunited with his brethren who made Taubah and accepted Islam, & the state of fear is gone and dominion is under him much like Yusuf AS. So, in the phrase وَیُتِمُّ نِعۡمَتَهُۥ عَلَیۡكَ , it’s deliberately foreshadowing for what’s coming for Rasool Allah SAW. This same exact phrase also got used for Prophet SAW. 

That helps us understand what was meant by it. It meant that Prophet SAW would have triumph not just of the spiritual kind but also of the worldly kind & that’s how Allah would complete his favor upon him. But in order to get to that triumph, Prophet SAW had to go through a lot of trials. 

You can’t be in a sheltered environment to be able to interpret all kinds of speech. You would have to be in a difficult environment. 

When Allah puts you through really weird situations in your life, & you were able to understand things about life which you didn’t understand before, they made you connect to Allah in ways you didn’t connect before. Those experiences taught you taubah, sabr, reliance on Allah, what rizq means, what pain really means! All of that goes towards Allah completing his blessing. 

ٱلۡأَحَادِیثِ

Hadith is not just speech. It’s related to حدث or حادثة, which means an event or a situation/ an accident or a catastrophe. Allah will teach you what is behind different kinds of catastrophes. People would see the events and become impulsive and reactive, and you would be able to take a step back and know it’s a part of a larger purpose. 

He will complete his favor on you and the family of Jacob. 

Yaqoob AS could have said “on my family”. Why is he saying his name in the third person? 

The word ال means children. Some scholars believed that the sons of Yaqoob AS also became prophets after the repented. The scholars believed that they also became prophets because of this ayah &  secondly, because Allah called them stars as stars are means by which people are guided. But in fact there are particular stars which guide people, not all stars guide people.  Ibn Kathir, at-Tabari & al-Qurtubi aren’t of this view.

The favor given to the children of Yaqoob AS. 

Yusuf AS held on to spiritual favor while constantly losing worldly favors & eventually both of them came together. The brothers of Yusuf AS held on to material favors but lost spiritual favor & eventually they regained their spiritual favor by making Taubah. 

Yaqoob AS knows that the lineage of Ibrahim AS is blessed with prophecy as a promise of Allah. Yaqoob AS also knows that even if his immediate children are not the best, it could be that prophets would come from their children. 

So Yaqoob AS said that Allah won’t only bless you meaning Yusuf AS but also his other children. ال means future generations. 

But why did he include his brothers?

It was Yaqoob AS’s genius & foresight. He knows from the dream that they would be doing sajdah which means they would be humbled. Only after you humble yourselves that the doors of blessings open. 

Why did Yaqoob AS mention ال يعقوب ? 

The future generations of Yaqoob AS would look back and say how Allah favored our father Yusuf AS and his father Yaqoob AS. How Allah blessed that family! They would be calling him the family of Yaqoob AS. 

Zakariya AS after so many generations prayed to Allah,  

يَرِثُنِي وَيَرِثُ مِنْ آلِ يَعْقُوبَ ۖ وَاجْعَلْهُ رَبِّ رَضِيًّا - 19:6

Ya Allah give me someone to inherit my legacy who’ll inherit me and inherit from the children of Yaqoob (AS). 

Yaqoob AS is telling Yusuf AS about the great future ahead. Allah is fulfilling his favor on us & our future generations will get this favor too.

كَمَاۤ أَتَمَّهَا عَلَىٰۤ أَبَوَیۡكَ مِن قَبۡلُ إِبۡرَ ٰ⁠هِیمَ وَإِسۡحَـٰقَۚ 

Just as he completed his favor upon both of your fathers, just before, Ibrahim & Ishaq. 

Yaqoob AS didn’t mention them in a chronological order. It represents the importance and centrality of Ibrahim AS. What is Ibrahim AS’s legacy? 

His legacy in a nutshell is “I’m going to hold on to the truth no matter who loves me & however they love me, if they hate that I hold on to the truth, I’m still going to hold on to the truth, my loyalty to Allah won’t be pushed aside by my love/ fear of anything else.” 

So Yaqoob AS is telling Yusuf AS that he comes from such a lineage. 

Allah blessed the lineage of Ibrahim AS after putting him through the most difficult of the trials. At the end of those trials, the last blessing which was given to Ibrahim AS was his son Ishaq AS. That’s where Israelite legacy begins.

A lesson to learn

Yusuf AS is going to live in a very toxic environment throughout his young age. Shortly afterwards this discussion, the positive light influence of his father would be gone. He won’t see his father until way later in his life. There would be a constant negativity in his life. But according to this ayah, there are two things which were his strengths,

1. He has an eye on the future which Allah has promised him. 

How the lesson in this ayah is about us? 

وَجَاهِدُوا فِي اللَّهِ حَقَّ جِهَادِهِ ۚ هُوَ اجْتَبَاكُمْ وَمَا جَعَلَ عَلَيْكُمْ فِي الدِّينِ مِنْ حَرَجٍ ۚ مِّلَّةَ أَبِيكُمْ إِبْرَاهِيمَ ۚ هُوَ سَمَّاكُمُ الْمُسْلِمِينَ مِن قَبْلُ وَفِي هَٰذَا لِيَكُونَ الرَّسُولُ شَهِيدًا عَلَيْكُمْ وَتَكُونُوا شُهَدَاءَ عَلَى النَّاسِ ۚ فَأَقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَآتُوا الزَّكَاةَ وَاعْتَصِمُوا بِاللَّهِ هُوَ مَوْلَاكُمْ ۖ فَنِعْمَ الْمَوْلَىٰ وَنِعْمَ النَّصِيرُ - 22:78

Allah says to every muslim, He selected all of you! هُوَ اجْتَبَاكُمْ and in the religion he didn’t put any discomfort. Then Allah said to us, مِّلَّةَ أَبِيكُمْ إِبْرَاهِيمَ , you are the religion of your father Ibrahim! 

Yaqoob AS told Yusuf AS,كَمَاۤ أَتَمَّهَا عَلَىٰۤ أَبَوَیۡكَ مِن قَبۡلُ إِبۡرَ ٰ⁠هِیمَ وَإِسۡحَـٰقَۚ. In this ayah, Allah himself is telling Muslim Ummah, he selected all of us and we are the religion of our father Ibrahim AS. He is the one who named you muslims, هُوَ سَمَّاكُمُ الْمُسْلِمِينَ. 

When Yaqoob AS was dying, he asked his children, what are you going to worship after me? 

أَمْ كُنتُمْ شُهَدَاءَ إِذْ حَضَرَ يَعْقُوبَ الْمَوْتُ إِذْ قَالَ لِبَنِيهِ مَا تَعْبُدُونَ مِن بَعْدِي قَالُوا نَعْبُدُ إِلَٰهَكَ وَإِلَٰهَ آبَائِكَ إِبْرَاهِيمَ وَإِسْمَاعِيلَ وَإِسْحَاقَ إِلَٰهًا وَاحِدًا وَنَحْنُ لَهُ مُسْلِمُونَ - 2:133

The children of Israel told their father that they would be only muslims to Allah. 

So we see a parallel here! 

Allah has chosen us as muslims. He has given us something. He wouldn’t have brought us to the blessing of Islam if he didn’t see something in us. 

He wouldn’t have brought Yusuf AS through all those trials if he didn’t see something in him that brings him to Allah’s service. 

Analogy! 

When we are climbing a mountain, we have a rope. We can only climb as high as we throw our rope. Now, our rope is all the way up to Allah & we are climbing. Wherever we are stuck, we can’t say that we can’t go anymore because there’s still more rope. If we hold on to this rope, we would keep on ascending! Where we set our rope determines where our eyes are. Eyes are on the prize. 

This is a constant life of struggle because we are going to keep ascending up! 

World is a hostile environment to everyone whether one is a muslim or not. All of the people have money, health, family & social problems! But alongside all of that, there are going to be things that pull away at our faith. But if we have a vision that Allah has chosen us despite all of our weaknesses & shortcomings,

There’s something in us that is so good that Allah decided to give us لا اله الا الله. That’s not a cheap gift to give to somebody! 

The fact that he gave that to us means, we have a purpose and through all of these hurdles, inside our head, inside our heart or outside in our life, we are going to climb over them and keep on climbing! That’s one thing which keeps someone going in their faith no matter what their circumstances are! 

When we are climbing a rope & if we loosen it a little bit, Shaytaan has so many places for us to fall. He doesn’t want us to look up, he wants us to keep looking down! When we look up, we are walking away from the things in this world. Even though gravity won’t stop pulling. 

2. When you are looking back, you are looking at the past & the people behind you whose sacrifices brought you here! 

Our father is Ibrahim AS. His legacy gives us an identity. It doesn’t matter if anybody is supporting my religion or not, it doesn’t matter whether people like it or not, it doesn’t matter if they are willing to burn me alive for what I believe or not, I’m not letting go of this because my father didn’t let go of this! I’ve to be loyal to my father. 

The entire life of our prophet SAW is restoring the house built by his father. 

Yaqoob AS has given his son two things, 

1. Look ahead to the purpose set by Allah.

2. Look back to the one who fulfilled that purpose, whose legacy you are to be loyal to.  

إِنَّ رَبَّكَ عَلِیمٌ حَكِیمࣱ

No matter how much you know that you have talent that you can figure things out, now matter how much wisdom you’ll acquire from interpreting all the speech, remember one thing son! There’s no doubt that your master knows everything and has all the wisdom. 

Whatever knowledge or wisdom you get are only the drops that your master is dropping on you! 

Ayah began with humility & also ends with humility. 

He is the one who chose you & he is the one who has knowledge and wisdom! Whatever you’re given is given by your Rabb and you remain a slave. Whatever great future you have, you’ll remain humble to your master & whatever great past you come from will make you proud, but you’ll still be a servant to your Rabb. 

This ayah shapes the entire narrative of the life of Yusuf AS. Whatever situation he finds himself in, this is going to be the anchor! 

Rabb means nurturing master. Who’s going to be nurturing you when times are good & who nurtures us when times are bad. Who will nurture you with knowledge & wisdom? Who will nurture you with the right course of action. Who’ll nurture with the strength to stay away from wrong? That’s going to be your master. 

There are only three states of time, past, present & future. Don’t tell your dream to your brothers (present), Allah has a great future for you (future), just like he has completed his favor upon your fathers (past). He dealt with the past, he gave him vision of the future & he anchored him into the past. 

SubhanAllah!   

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