Here I will be sharing with you, the notes and important takeaways from one of the best Nouman Ali
Khan lecture in which he does the detailed analysis or tasfeer of the 3rd ayah in Surah Yusuf. So if
you are interested in Tafseer by nouman ali khan, just follow along and I hope you like it and I
request you to share it because reminders benefit believers.
You will also learn a remarkable thing in this post, how are the dreams of Ibrahim (a.s), Yusuf
(a.s) and Muhammad (s.a.w) are connected and intimately tied to each other.
Fun Parts: 6:20-9:00, 23:55, 24:30, and 33:20
Ayat 3: "We are the one, in fact, that narrate unto you this story in the best possible way it can be
told, by way of having inspired this Quran to you. For sure, up until now (right before you are being
told the story) you truly were from those who are unaware"
Again, Allah (s.w.t) is orienting us before we get into the story.
“Naqussu”- narrate, but “nahnu naqussu”- we narrate : Allah (s.w.t) is double iterating himself.
Purpose of this is that this story and the way it is being told is not being told by the Prophet (s.a.w), but Allah (s.w.t). Therefore, Allah (s.w.t) is taking full credit of himself.
Allah (s.w.t) is zooming into this story. If we look at the first ayah it talks about the ultimate book (in heaven), then (ayah 2) ‘it has been sent down as an Arabic Quraan’ and within that Quran (ayah 3) ‘we are the ones who are telling the story’.
“Qassa”- common meaning- the best of all stories, but an account where the speaker takes you step-by-step. It is important because the speaker knows what to tell you first and second and third. Not only this but what the speaker wants you to feel? What words they put first and what words they put second? What characters they introduce first and what characters do they introduce to you second.
Why does Allah (s.w.t) say that this is the best of all stories, when everybody has different choices and opinions? We need to have a comprehensive view of the Quran. He gave us stories for a very particular purpose (to guide humanity in what they need, not to entertain them or have fun). Not a word in the Quran is told without the purpose in mind. Allah (s.w.t) is telling us the best of all stories, and no one except Allah (s.w.t) can tell a better story where every element, character, line, event and scene of that story will have guidance for countless people throughout countless generations and cultures. Everybody will get the guidance regardless of all these factors and nobody can do it better than Allah (s.w.t).
Connecting it to the previous Ayah (sent this as an Arabic Quran) and now he is saying that he is telling this story in the best way. This shows us that, Allah (s.w.t) chose this language because Allah (s.w.t) used its richness to tell this story in the best/ most rich possible way it can be told.
“Ahsanal Qassas”
1) we are telling you the best story: Allah (s.w.t) is the architect of the story of humanity. Historians are interested in major stories- stories of empires, and even if they want to study a story of a king they wouldn’t want to know the personal details (what the king said to his kids in the morning, bedtime etc.), but would only be interested in his policies, rules, actions etc. There are billions of stories, but Allah (s.w.t) decided that he will choose certain scenes from a handful of stories which are so important that the way he will talk about them in his book will guide humanity until the end of times. This is the answer to why the Quraan did not talk about the stories of other places and what was happening to people there? Remember what is the need and why is it necessary? It’s not a history book.
3) We are telling you the best of the story: Story of Noah (a.s) is briefly mentioned in the Quran, which is a large story. He selected some events from these large stories. He pulled out the best of what was needed for humanity's guidance from the larger stories. Why these little details? Because these little details are heavier than everything put together in terms of the value they have for guidance.
2) We are telling you this in the best possible way it can be told: There is no better way of telling the story for the benefit of you to learn something that you need in your life.
Everytime you read the Quran, ask yourself why Allah (s.w.t) mentioned this detail and what can I learn from this? No frivolous details.
The most beautiful way it can be told, so this story is different from other scriptures, by allowing you to retrieve guidance in a way that was not accessible before.(opens thought, mind that did not open before).
We are telling you the best story “By way of having this quran inspired by you”. You (Oh rasool) are getting this type of storytelling that nobody else got before. QURAN-unique in the way it tells a story.
What makes the Quran's way of storytelling unique? Sometimes you have to miss details and that is part of storytelling. Allah (s.w.t) is not only teaching us what to pay attention to but what to skip because he is extremely selective of what he tells us. We don’t even know the names of the brother, ministers etc. (important characters) because Allah (s.w.t) chose to deemphasize them and emphasize on other things and this is part of our training because Allah (s.w.t) is teaching us what deserves focus and what doesn’t. There may be countless details in between, but they don’t serve the purpose of guidance and so are skipped.
The norm in the Quran is that you don’t find the entire story in one place,why? Because the purpose of the Quraan is not to tell you a story. Every surah has a purpose of guidance. There is/are lesson/lessons Allah (s.w.t) wants to teach you in every surah; therefore, Allah (s.w.t) picks up some things from certain story and other things from a different story that will help convey the lesson and serve the purpose of guidance. For instance: In a thesis, examples of different case studies are mentioned.
This leads to curiosity about this surah (unlike any other surah), why does Surah Yusuf contain only one story? Usually the story is not the thesis, but here it seems that the story is the thesis itself? Story has multiple themes, not one, which justifies that this is arguably the best way of storytelling in the Quran itself. The Quran has the best stories to begin with, and the best of them is the way Yusuf (a.s)’s will be told (it stands on its own). Usually, a part of the story serves the purpose of guidance for a particular surah, but in this surah every detail mentioned serves the larger purpose of guidance.
“Wainkuntaminqablihi laminal ghafileen”- for sure you used to be among those who truly had no clue. He (s.a.w) is also unaware as he is reciting and so the same expression is there on the face of those listening and the one (Rasool) reciting. You have no clue about what you are about to say generally a person knows what they are about to say. Our Prophet (s.a.w) himself would be enthusiastic about learning these stories of the prophets because he didn’t know them himself. Our Prophet (s.a.w) got this surah in the year of sorrow. (Word ‘Yusuf’- comes from ‘Afas’ means sadness). Allah (s.w.t) is revealing verses talking about the destruction of Pharaoh and our Rasool (s.a.w) doesn’t want that for his people. He wants that there should be a peaceful resolution amongst them not destruction.
How are the Dreams of Ibrahim (a.s), Yusuf (a.s) and Muhammad (s.a.w) are connected to each other?
The dreams of the Prophets are connected: Dream of Yusuf (a.s)- 11 starts doing sajdah, Ibrahim (a.s)- Slaughtering his son, and Rasoolullah (s.a.w)- he is making hajj and shaving his head.
Ibrahim (a.s) sees a dream of slaughtering his son, which became a ritual of the Hajj. So when the prophet (s.a.w) saw the dream that he's going to be making Hajj it meant that he's going to be conquering Mecca, so he can peacefully make Hajj and when you slaughter the animal in Hajj, you are fulfilling the legacy of Ibrahim (a.s). The dream Ibrahim (a.s) saw so many thousands of years ago, its destiny has been fulfilled by the dream of the prophet (s.a.w) seeing that he's making the Hajj because that slaughter was meant to become the ritual for humanity every single year at the occasion of Hajj. The dream of Ibrahim (a.s) has come to full fruition (fulfillment) in the end of the Seerah of the Rasool (s.a.w). As we call our religion the religion of Ibrahim (a.s)- so there is an obvious connection.
Ibraheem (a.s) has two lineages. In one lineage, he sees the dream that he's slaughtering his son Ismail (a.s) and the other lineage his great-great grandson sees a dream about eleven stars the Sun in the moon but both dreams are from the two lines of Ibrahim (a.s). The reality of the dream of Yusuf (a.s) was that he was able to overpower his brothers and then when they were overpowered they fell into sajda and when Prophet (s.a.w) fulfilled the dream of Ibrahim (a.s) as he conquered Mecca, so he was able to overpowered his brothers the Quraysh (who had expelled him and the suggestion was kill him but they were happy also to expel him) which is exactly what Yusuf (a.s)’s brothers did to him and then finally when Yusuf (a.s) had power (right to punish them) he said “No harm shall fall upon you today” and this exactly what Prophet (s.a.w) said to the Quraysh “I will say to you today what my brother Yusuf said, no harm shall fall upon you today”. The legacy of forgiving your brothers and reconciling and they all accepted Islam what happened in Makkah at the conquest of Makkah is actually a reiteration of the interpretation of the dream Yusuf (a.s) saw and that’s why the Prophet himself quoted Yusuf (a.s).
What that tells you is from both lines of ibrahim (a.s)- Ismail and Ishaq, Our prophet (s.a.w) culminates the completion of both of those lines.
They're all connected (tied together) and he doesn't even know that yet and Allah (s.a.w) is giving him comfort through this surah in the hardest part of his life and when finally he has relief from it he's going to be saying the words that are in this surah (the words, that one who went through discomfort in this surah, found at the end) to forgive his brothers he's gonna say the exact same ayats at the end of those 23 year career at the conquest of Makkah.
Even moments before this, you had no clue of how tied you are to this man, who you have no knowledge of yet (you were completely unaware of others).
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