In today's post, we will be sharing the tafseer of Surah Yusuf ayah 11 to 14 from the Tafseer lecture of Nouman Ali Khan on Bayyinah Institute Youtube channel. This is the part 13 where he covers how the brothers of Yusuf (a.s) convinced their father Yaqoob (a.s) to let them take Yusuf (a.s) for the scheme they are about to commit against him. Nouman Ali Khan covers how the brothers played a psychological game with their father to leave Yusuf (a.s) to them.
Fun Parts: 5:10, 7:45, 22:45, 23:20, 35:45
Fun Parts: 5:10, 7:45, 22:45, 23:20, 35:45
Ayah 11-14: Scene 3:
There are a lot of minor events that are present in between the ayats, but only major events are mentioned in the ayats.
Minor Events: whatever scheme they used to come up with, their father rejected it, but now the pressure has built up and he lets go (thinking maybe this time they are not intending harm).
“our father” captures a lot of the feelings of the brothers towards the father. They are trying to convince him and reinforcing the idea (indirectly/ subconsciously) that they won’t do any wrong to their brother.
The brothers chipped away at his protectiveness.
They said the opposite of what they intended.
Even though his sons did not intend good, he thought positive about them somewhere in his mind. They attacked/ provoked the one element of the benefit of doubt that is inside their father.
1st Tactic of Convincing their father: The love and relationship. They made him feel like he is not being as fatherly as he should be by not listening to them. Saying “Our father” puts father on the spot rather than putting them on the spot. Make him feel like he is not doing enough, he is not being kind, or he is dismissing their intentions.
“What is wrong with you” – this is a typical situation where people make you feel that there is something wrong with you rather than them. They called themselves a strong band, but now they are playing with father’s emotions and making him feel that they are humble.
They will do all kinds of evil, but when it comes doing what they want they will present themselves as sheep and become innocent. They did a Powerful Emotional Manipulation.
On one side, they showed their heinous face where they were ready to kill a boy and did not care about the damage to him and his father and later, they became so innocent and hurt because their father did not trust them.
Sometimes they get you by bullying and other times they get you by getting your pity.
‘I thought you love me’ type of emotion is present in the initials of this ayah.
“Why don’t you trust us” – Good tactics to convince someone to your point even if they are taking the right steps. Do you think we hate him, so here (though the father thinks that way) he cannot mention it in front of them. Thus, he gets on the defensive
They claim to mean well, but don't actually mean well for Yusuf (a.s).
“Let him come with us tomorrow” – just give us a chance to show our love.
“Yarta WaYal’ab”
1st Interpretation (He will eat and play) “He is going to eat like a cow grazing/ he’ll have so much eating and playing (fun)” – now father’s defenses have started to come down.
They are feeding their father (showing love towards Yusuf (a.s)) what he wants to see. His guard towards Yusuf (a.s) is at its lowest.
2nd Interpretation (we will work and he will play) We’re going to go graze the sheep and he can play.
3rd Interpretation (he can learn and he can play) it is important for him to learn the skill of grazing the sheep.
4th Interpretation ( we will all have a good time and we will play together) here they are playing with the emotions of his father (because this is what Yaqoob (a.s) wants that his children should be together).
“We are the ones who truly are his guardians (will protect him)” we will obviously watch over him when we go out, but by the way (you don’t see it but) we always watch over him and we will be like what we always are.
They are presenting themselves with the opposite intentions of what they carry.
Intentions that they presented: mean well for him and are protective of him
All you have is words and your actions go to the contrary.
Though the father knows that they mean evil for the brother, but the passion with which they speak makes the father question his thoughts and experiences.
Manipulative people: Their actions are contrary to what they speak with passion and enthusiasm. I am ready to erase whatever I have seen so far because of the way you are presenting yourself. (Sign of emotional game)
You can be as wise as a prophet (a.s), but may still fall prey to emotional and manipulative games/ traps.
This is not about education or knowledge; this is about the power to emotionally manipulate and use the right words in the right circumstances to make people feel what you want them to feel.
Lesson: How many times you would find yourself in a situation where someone claims to mean well while you know better already.
You got emotionally manipulated by saying yes to something that you don’t want carried on anymore and then you regret it.
Though the opposite party has not done any mischief yet, you know it's coming.
“It makes me truly sad that you are taking him away” The decision of taking Yusuf (a.s) is already done.
“I am afraid that a wolf will eat him”
“while you are unaware”
Sadness never happens with something that has not happened yet (so something bad happens and you are sad). You will be afraid of what is going to happen.
Before the event is fear and after the event is sadness
Here, the word ‘sad’ should not occur because nothing has happened yet?
Quran also mentions the right sequence when it says that ‘some people will have no fear and nor will they grieve’ on the day of judgment. But why is the reverse sequence used here?
The concept of Duality (personal opinion of Nouman Ali Khan):
Yaqoob (a.s) is saying one thing but means two things. He says “it makes me so sad that you want to take him away” he did not say that you want to take him tomorrow. He means that he is so sad that the brothers have so much hatred that they want to take him away and get away with him.
I am not only sad that you are taking him to the fields but also that you want to do away with him. That has been making him sad. He has agreed to let him go but that overarching sadness has always been there. Now the sadness is going to evolve in fear.
“The wolf will eat him” – Shepherds know the areas that have wolves and they also know the wolf that causes the attack because they become familiar with it.
This ‘fear of wolf’ also has two meanings: one the obvious meaning of wolf eating him and one hidden meaning that the whisper of the devil inside you will eat him. Wolves (devour a prey that can’t defend itself) find the weakest prey, separate it and hunt it down. Father – maybe you have a wolf inside that will eat him. Wolf could be an allegorical expression to the devil because the devil is the ultimate enemy.
You are claiming to be the shepherds but you are actually the wolves.
He says this to them indirectly because if he says it directly it can rage their anger further. He is afraid now to speak directly to them that the wolf might really come out.
“while you are unaware of him” – duality of meaning here as well.
Literal meaning: you will be busy grazing animals, he will be by himself eating, the wolf will attack him and you won’t be paying attention to him.
The Wolf might eat him while you never realize who the wolf really is. ‘Ghafil’ of someone means to be unaware of who they are. You can be ‘Ghafil’ (unaware of him) and that makes your hatred easy.
People that we develop hatred towards; it becomes easier for us to not give a chance to know them better.
We like to reduce people to their mistakes or our opinion of them ( and that ‘there can be no more to this person then my opinion of them’).
Another Meaning: I fear that the wolf will eat him, while you are unaware of him (the wolf). You are not even aware that it is Shaitan who is trying to destroy your brother through you. You are unaware of not just your brother but the work shaitan is using you for.
Devil’s Tool: Make us do things and in our conscience we think that it is our wrongdoing and thoughts. He is the one manipulating the thoughts and feeding the evil
“Seriously, A wolf will eat him while we are the strong band”
Literal Meaning: how can a wolf eat him while there are so many of us? Wolfs will run away
Hidden Meaning: Why do you need a wolf to eat him while we are here
“We certainly would be ultimate losers” – being strong, if we can’t protect our brother we will lose our reputation father.
2) We would have been losers already, if we can’t protect our brother. All the sheep we have is because we are able to defend our sheep and fight off the wolves
3) If the wolf eats him, while we are around him. We will lose respect in your eyes father (what you think of us matters a lot).
4) We will never do that and we know you will never look at us the same way again if we did that (to convince him) and also to hide their mistake once they committed that action, so they could say that we told you we will never do that father.
Liars can be very passionate and they get angry when you question their intentions and they propel you to question your own intentions.
5) We deserve nothing, if we are unable to protect him (we know what we are doing).
Emotional and psychological manipulation can be pretty devastating and you can know better, but still fall into it.
People are good enough to mess with your head and get you to slip from your resolve and make choices that can harm everybody.
This is not a single conversation; it has been weeks of conversations culminating at this point.
Devil’s Tool: He slips people, deludes people with a little deception at a time. One bit at a time. He knows that he has to play a long game as to weaken the guards of the opposite party, who are smart enough to understand the devil
Why would the father drop his guard?
People with good intentions and love for someone, want to see their loved ones in good condition. Though the reality is heading in the wrong direction, somewhere in heart they hold on to the hope that they will come to the right path and leave the evil. So when they say they are going in the right direction, your desire for them to get better as well as the goodness in you propels you to let them go.
They took advantage of the love of Yaqoob (a.s).
People sometimes- because of the benefit of doubts and wanting to see good in people- are unwilling to see glaring reality.
Two judges: Allah (s.w.t) is the ultimate judge, he can forgive any crime.
Humans are too some extent judges of this world
Sincerity of the Tawbah of others to Allah (s.w.t) doesn’t mean that you open the doors of trust again for the people who have broken your trust several times.
You can also forgive, but you have to be cautious.
There is a line between the human ability to overlook some mistakes and Allah (s.w.t)’s ability to overlook mistakes.
Allah (s.w.t) can wipe the slate clean for anybody but you can’t expect Allah (s.w.t) like forgiveness from a person who has been wronged by others severely
Example: Prophet (s.a.w) said to Wahshi ibn Harb (r.a) that I don’t want to see your face after he made Tawbah because Tawbah is between the slave and Allah (s.w.t) and the action of killing Hamza (r.a) that Wahshi committed was unbearable to the prophet (s.a.w). We can't be like Allah (s.w.t) in forgiveness
“A Master will remain the Master if he comes down to the 1st Heaven and a slave will remain a slave if he goes to the 7th Heaven”
Brothers ask for forgiveness from father at the end, the father says that he will eventually ask for forgiveness. Yaqoob (a.s) did not immediately forgive them because of the pain his sons have given him (separating him from Yusuf (a.s), lieing, and etc.)
You shouldn’t manipulate what Allah (s.w.t) does when he forgives and expect people to forgive the way Allah (s.w.t) forgives. That’s Unfair.
See the pattern of behavior of other individuals.
You can’t forgive like Allah (s.w.t) forgives.
Also See:(Previous) Tafseer of Surah Yusuf Part 9-10 (Getting Rid of the Problem) by Nouman Ali Khan | 9th and 10th Ayah #12
(Next) Tafseer of Surah Yusuf Part 15-17 (Evil Deed) by Nouman Ali Khan | 15th to 17th Ayah #14
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