Assalamualaikum w.b.t...
Sesungguhnya istiqamah itu banyak cabaran, ternyata saya belum cukup kuat menepis gangguan yang banyak membantutkan niat untuk terus berkongsi di sini. After a very long delay, hopefully with the coming Ramadhan, I am able to discipline myself to continue sharing this, insyaAllah...
We stopped at ayah 5 in the last chapter.
Ayah 6
"And thus will your Lord choose you and
teach you the interpretation of narratives and complete His favor upon you and
upon the family of Ya'qub, as He completed it upon your fathers before, Ibrahim and Ishaq. Indeed, your Lord is Knowing and Wise."
- This ayah establishes the fact that nubuwwah
(prophethood) is a status and honour only Allah (SWT) grant. He alone bestows
it as He wils.
19. This ayah refutes the philosophers and the extreme
Sufis who argue that prophethood or
its anologues can be attained by having a strong desire and exerting
oneself to achieve them.
- They assert that prophethood is “knowledge and
action”, this ayah disapprove their view, establishing that prophethood is a
blessing from Allah and that He bestows this blessing upon whomsoever He
wishes.
According to some scholars the words of Allah SWT above refer to the prophethood of Yusuf AS.
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There is difference of opinion among the scholars
regarding the meaning of these words :
- Interpretation of narratives
- Knowledge of Allah’s book
- Knowledge of the way of the prophet
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- Blessing of Yusuf AS becoming a prophet
- Blessing of Yusuf AS of interpreting a dream.
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This term means “your two fathers”. However, as the
ayah continues it mentions Ibrahim and Ishaq as his “two fathers”, not Ishaq
and Ya’qub. Why?
In Arabic grammar, it’s fine to address the grandfather,
great-grandfather and great-great grandfather as AB
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Allah is all knowing and all wise in His choice of
making Yusuf a prophet.
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20. Significantly this ayah teaches us the
value and essential nature of having a strong sense of identity.
Ayah 7
Certainly were there in Yusuf and his
brothers signs for those who ask,
21. Verily in Yusuf and his brethren there are
ayat (proof, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, indications,
clues, hints) for those who ask. (in other ayah, we are only asked to ponder,
not ask). Showing that Surah Yusuf is a complete and clear revelation, and its
only left to be queried by us to understand.
Ibn al-Qayyim:
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In his book Al-Jawwab al-Kahfi he writes that they
are more than a thousand benefits in Surat of Yusuf.
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Ayat 8
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."
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It is reported that the brother of Yusuf referred to
in this ayah was Binyamin
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Refer to a group that has
- 3-10 people in the group
(by Quraisy’s definition)
- A group that has 10-15 people
- Group of 10-40
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Dhala – misguided , not in terms of religion but how
he distribute his love among his children
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It can observed from this ayah:
- That loving the young and the weak is part of an
individual’s nature disposition.
- The brothers of Yusuf exaggerated in their explanation
of the situation. As the story proceeds, we will observe this phenomenon
several more times. This teaches us the deceptive nature of exaggeration. Exaggeration
and embellishment of the truth are some of the evils in communication, and
are classified as lying.
“The Prophet said: I urge you to be truthful, for
the truthfulness leads to righteousness, and righteousness leads to Paradise.
A man will continue to be truthful and seek to speak the truth until he is
recorded with Allah as the speaker of the truth (siddiq). And beware of lying
, for lying leads to immorality, and immorality leads to Hell; a man will
continue to tell lies until he is recorded with Allah as a liar.” [al-Sahihayn]
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Why the exaggeration
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Communication experts have documented some of the
main reasons why people feel the need to exaggerate:
- They want to sound more interesting;
- They want more sympathy from the listener;
- They want to embellish their point and make it more
convincing
- They want to use the power of numbers to get the
point across, even if it means lying about the numbers.
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Forms of exaggeration
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Obvious exaggeration
When it is just meant to express the situation, not
meaning to lie, if the norm teaches us the speaker is being expressive.
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Absolute exaggeration
All, everybody, everyone (generalising the masses)
may lead things like “everybody is upset” to be a form of lying (whereas in
fact not everybody is upset).
Be precise on the statement, try to avoid those
words.
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Indirect exaggeration
Try to sway the other person’s thinking
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Being just and fair between one’s children
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The brother felt that Yusuf AS was more loved and
more favoured by their father. Fueled by these emotions, they went so far as
to plot to kill him. This highlights the importance of the principle of Islam
teaches of treating our offspring justly and fairly.
Al- Nu’man b. Bashir once addressed the people from
the pulpit and told them about what took place between the Prophet and his
father, saying: “My father gave me a gift. Then my mother, Amrah binti
Rawhah, said: I will not be satisfied until Allah’s Messenger is a witness to
it.’ So my father went to the Allah’s Messenger and said: ‘I gave a gift to
my son from Amrah binti Rawhah, and she told me to have you be a witness to
it, O Messenger of Allah.’
The Prophet asked: ‘Did you give your other children
something similar?’ He replied that he had not. So the Prophet said: ‘Fear
Allah, and be just between your children.’ [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]
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Is it blameworthy to love one child more
than the other?
No. its normal for human to have different
feelings to different children, and children are no exception, the important
thing is to treat them justly.
Scholars have also extracted the following
three points of benefits from this ayah:
22. We learn from this verse the stipulation of
authenticating before acting, acting on unconfirmed knowledge must be avoided
at all times:
‘O ye who believe! If a rebellious person
comes to you with a news, verify it, lest you harm people in ignorance, and
afterwards you become regretful to what you have done’
23. A group of people can agree on misguidance.
24. Blind loyalty and allegiance on an
individual can have negative consequences – tie haq and batil to Al-Quran, not
to the people.
Till we meet in the next installment, pray to Allah that I can continue to complete this :)