Important Points On The Haq, And Misrepresentations Regarding Sulhul-Hudaybiyyah, Bayatul; Aqabah And The Prophet Yusuf
Why are people divided? Especially people who are Muslims who understand laa ilaha ila Allah, yet there is division. Why were the sahahah (companions) always together? The Islam is the same and the deen (religion) is the same. Why did the people after the first three generations start to divide slowly? A lot of ‘ulama (scholars) said that the dividing factor between the early Muslims who were united and the Muslims from later generations who were divided was the source. It was easy for the early Muslims to be together because the source was very clear; it was very easy to get to the source. Then suddenly, the people had a lot of sources, i.e., different subjects. They didn’t know where to go and which one was suitable for them to live by. It’s always like this. People become Muslims, have Islam and Tawheed, then we see the people after a short time creating subjects and ending up being divided. The simple question is why are they divided? They say because of the deen. They say this division is for the sake of Allah, all believing that they are divided because they stick to the haq (truth) and that others are not guided regarding certain matters anymore. So, we want to know what the haq is. Allah says, “And what can be beyond truth except error?” (Yunus: 32). Everyone is claiming to be on the haq, sticking to their position, and that some Muslims have changed their way and become different. They say that we are upon the haq and others are upon batil (falsehood). If it’s really haq (truth), then it’s a real reason not to be upon other people’s batil. Then you call to your haq. However, the problem is everyone is saying they are upon haq, but Allah said there is only one haq. So, going through the Qur’an you realise that the haq is what Allah says is haq, not what people consider to be the haq. What Allah considers as haq is haq. Allah says, “the truth is from your Lord” (al-Kahf: 29). So, the haq is from Allah. Allah said to prophet Dawud, “O David! We have surely made you an authority in the land, so judge between people with truth” (Sad: 26). So, use the haq to judge between people. When Allah is talking and saying to follow the haq, when Allah is saying to the best prophet, “Then We put you, [O Muhammad], on an ordained way concerning the matter [of religion]; so follow it and do not follow the inclinations of those who do not know” (al-Jathiyah: 18), is there anything else? So, the haq according to Allah is the wahi (revelation). The haq is the wahi. The haq is what Allah said in his book and the haq is what Muhammad said in his Sunnah. Again, everyone is claiming to follow the kitab (Qur’an) and the sunnah, but the people are still divided. If the Muslims are upon the haq while being divided into two groups, then at least one of you, one of the two, is following what you consider to be the haq which in reality is not the haq because the haq is one.
Now, when we go through the Qur’an, even a prophet can follow something believing that the matter or opinion he has is the right thing to do, but then the wahi, which the prophet needs and depends on, will come to tell him, no, that there is something better. It’s called khilaf al-awla (contrary to what is preferable), like what happened to Muhammad in the battle of Badr when he took prisoners instead of killing them. The ayah (verse) came to tell him not to do what he thought and decided was the right thing to do, and that it was better to do something different. Also, what Muhammad said about his jaariyah, Mariah, that she was haram (prohibited) for him and that he couldn’t marry her. He thought that was the right thing to do. Allah informed him she wasn’t haram for him. This is called khilaf al-awla (contrary to what is preferable). A lot of people call it a mistake saying that Muhammad made a mistake/s. By definition, a mistake is when you know the haq and then you do the opposite of it, or there is the haq available, you don’t know it, yet you do the opposite of it. In all of the cases where Allah was guiding Muhammad to what was preferable like the examples mentioned above, there wasn’t any shari’ah (law) of Allah regarding them, shari’ah of Muhammad, for those matters whereby Allah wanted something different from Muhammad but he did the opposite. Allah was supposedly blaming him as is said by some people. Again, this is how people write about the matter; that Allah was blaming Muhammad. Rather, Allah was not blaming Muhammad because he never had the shari’ah whereby he went with the opposite of the shari’ah; where he already had a hukm (ruling, command, order) and then he went with the opposite. This is with every situation like these mentioned in the Qur’an, such as, “He [i.e., the Prophet] frowned and turned away” (‘Abasa: 1), where Muhammad was doing the best that he knew of in this situation. In our opinion, if we had the same situation as in this verse, we would do exactly the same as he did. If you had the opportuity to call all the big names to Islam, leaders, who all have followers who follow them in deen (religion) and these big people are there listening and it’s the only opportunity of calling them to Islam; a time when you see these big people starting to feel comfortable with you and then someone from the people you know, one of the Muslims, will come to you and say that he wants to learn from you, you will say okay, but later, now is not the appropriate time. Everyone will do this. That’s what Muhammad did, but Allah said not to do that again because in the shari’ah, it’s better to make the people who are already Muslimeen stick to the deen; make them do what Allah likes which is better than calling people to Islam. Muhammad learned something new, he didn’t know this before even though he was a prophet with a heart of a prophet, with the spirit of a prophet, with the ruh (soul), the qalb (heart), the intention, etc. So, everything is clean about him, and he is the most knowledgable person on the earth. When he was left in these situations without a hukm in a specific matter, Allah told him that there was something better; he chose the lesser of the two options; hilaf al-awla (contrary to what is preferable). As we said, even some of the ‘ulama presented the matter as a mistake and that Allah is blaming him. Why did they do that? Saying that he made a mistake. It wasn’t a mistake in reality. The point being made here is we are dealing with Muhammad who is the best human being, the most knowledgeable person on earth, the one with the highest level of emaan (belief), of taqwa (God consciousness, doing what is right, fulfilling the commands and staying away from the prohibitions), of everything, and even he is someone who needed and depended on the haq from Allah. When he was gven the opportunity to choose, he didn’t have the best, so, when Allah said “the truth is from your Lord” (al-Kahf: 29), he is talking about only His wahi, about the ayat (verses) and the ahadith (narrations), that Allah wants the people to follow, that’s the haq.
So, the way the people present their understanding of the deen could be the cause of the deviation between the people. Even Muhammad without the wahi was described, as Allah said to him, “and He found you lost and guided” (ad-Dhuhaa: 7). Even if you are the most knowledgeable person with the highest level of taqwa, without the wahi you can’t worship Allah and get things right if you don’t follow the haq. So, you have to follow. So, Muhammad was only following, that’s the haq, and the haq is the daleel (proof, evidence). We ask the people, do you have evidences? They say, yes, we have evidences. However, what is considered in the shari’ah of Allah as daleel? The Qur’an and the Sunnah. So the daleel, if we are asking someone, it must be from the Qur’an and Sunnah. Everyone will believe something and will support it with Qur’an and Sunnah even if they are competely misguided; from different groups; whether they are those with no tawheed, no ‘aqidah (faith, belief), mubtadi’ (an innovator), but they still use Qur’an and Sunnah. So, we have to understand the Qur’an and Sunnah according to the people who were with Muhammad, those who were asking Muhammad, and learning from Muhammad. Even those people, everyone of them had a situation where he was wrong and following what was wrong. What we are presenting is that the majority of the time the deviation between the people is not based on the shari’ah of Allah.
The people are divided because some how they want to be divided because of not following Qur’an and Sunnah, but according to the Qur’an and Sunnah Allah wants from the mumineen (believers) for them to be together. Allah says, “And hold firmly together to the rope of Allah and do not be divided” (ali-‘Imran: 103). So, for us not to be divided we have to put in our hearts and minds that the haq is only from Allah and whatever ijtihad (effort, deriving rulings from the Qur’an and Sunnah) there is is only from a human. Even a sahibi (a companion) can be right or wrong and that’s why Muhammad said “When a judge gives a decision, having tried his best to decide correctly and is right, there are two rewards for him; and if he gave a judgment after having tried his best (to arrive at a correct decision) but erred, there is one reward for him” (Sahih Muslim: 1716a). Someone very knowledgeable, a big ‘alim (scholar), big judge, having all the tools of knowledge does, as Muhammad said, make a mistake. He has everything of knowledge and the tools of knowledge, and then he get things wrong, How come? You’re on the haq and it’s haq. It’s from the haq when you put all of your effort in a matter, you are knowledgeable and you put all the effort to get the right judgement, right hukm, it’s from the haq to do this. If you don’t get things right, there is reward for you even if you are wrong because you have the knowledge and the tools of the knowledge, not just the knowledge. You have the tools for how to use this knowledge. Allah says in surah Al-Hujurat when talking to the Muslimeen, and he was talking to the sahabah and in talking to the sahabah who are the most knowledgeable people after Muhammad, he told them that “If he were to obey you in much of the matter, you would be in difficulty” (Al-Hujurat: 7). If Muhammad is following you in what you consider as haq, the deen and life will be hard upon the earth. Can you imagine now, Allah is talking about the most knowledgeable people in the time of Muhammad, the students of Muhammad, the people with the high level of taqwa, the high level of knowledge, and Allah said if Muhammad follows you “in much of the matter, you would be in difficulty”? So, starting with Muhammad, he is on the haq only because Allah put him on the haq. He isn’t on the haq because he is a very knowledgable person, and he is not on the haq because of taqwa in his heart. He is on the haq because Allah guided him because Allah made him on this haq as Allah described Muhammad as someone who didn’t know the haq before the revelation. Allah says, “You did not know what the Book was, nor (what) the faith (was)“ (Al-Shura: 52). He was a Muslim, a mumin (believer), he became a rasul (messenger). Allah is telling him that without my wahi, you can’t do it. So, we can’t worship Allah without the wahi of Allah and we can’t pretend to be on the haq without following the real haq. And how do we know the real haq? Well, a person with a lot of knowledge and the taqwa, having all the tools of the ijtihad (to derive rulings from the Qur’an and Sunnah) can get things wrong. It means when it comes to the ijtihad; when it comes to the opinions, just stay calm. Stay calm knowing that the sahabah had their own ijtihad. So, how to present the haq to the people? How to make people understand the haq is the wahi and the wahi only? To have certainty is a part of laa ilaha ila Allah; certainty in relation to laa ilaha ila Allah and tawheed, apart from that, whatever ijtihad there is, we can easily get things wrong. It means we have to be calm and we have to just seek knowledge as much as we can and to sincerely ask Allah to guide and show us the way and to make us upon the haq.
The reason for this introduction is because some people say that it is permissible to be a part of parliament with the intention to implement the shari’ah of Allah. They say there is evidence. One of the evidences; part of the haq; what they say is from the haq; what makes a person believe it is ok to go to pariament to end up implementing the shari’ah as a result, is they say Muhammad used to go to meet people from different tribes and with that he had made a hilf (pact, treaty). They say Muhammad had a treaty, he assisted in that and he was there with his family doing that. The people who are presenting this haq (as they claim) are saying this treaty was a jaahili (pre-islamic with non-Islamic laws) treaty. So, after Muhammad became a rasul, he said, if they call me again to it, I will go and be a part of it. So they say, at the end of the day, he was a rasul and his intention was to implement the haq, and he was sitting with the mushrikeen (polytheists) and everyone was giving their opinions, and Muhammad was happy to go and happy to be there while everyone was giving their opinion. It’s jahiliyyah (the pre-Islamic period with man-made laws), they are mushrikeen, and Muhammad said if they call me again to be a part of it, I will go. So, what happens in this gathering is everyone is giving his opinion and at the end of the day Muhammad will give his opinion and they will choose the best opinion. Now, this is exactly what the problem is that we are facing today, everyone is giving their opinion and then they choose what they think the best opinion is. So, to present the matter this way, that that’s the haq, despite whether Muhammad said this or not is the problem. When Someone doesn’t know the real meaning of laa ilaha ila Allah, when one is not sure of the meaning and someone presents something like this in this way, one will think it is true. Muhammad sitting amongst mushrikeen and everyone is giving his opinion. However, the right thing to do is to try to understand what this gathering was and what was happening. In reality, all that was happening was they made a treaty that whoever is under dhulm (oppression), they will support him; whoever has their haq (their right) taken; is oppressed; we will give the haq back, that’s it, nothing else. That was hilf al-fudool, hilf al-tayyibeen. What we need to know is that Muhammad said in a hadith (narration) that is extremely authentic, “There is no alliance (hilf) in Islam but (the hilf) established in the pre-Islamic days (for good). Islam intensifies and strengthens it.” (Sahih Muslim: 2530). That is what he said, whatever treaty there was in jahilliyyah, Islam made it stronger, so we don’t need it. So, there was the treay in jahiliyyah where people are helping and supporting the one who is under dhulm. However, Islam came with the shari’ah and ayat and there is nothing like this on this earth, even the hilf, the shari’ah which includes everything that humans need in every aspect of their lives even helping and supporting the oppressed, so the shari’ah came and finished everything off. If someone doesn’t know this hadith in Sahih Muslim mentioned above about there being no pact/alliance after Islam, and that the highest level of the story of the hilf is only a hadith which is hasan which is pushed very hard to make it at the level of hasan, they will not understand this matter. So, there is no hilf in Islam and whatever hilf was before Islam, the shari’ah made it stronger, so we are not following the treaty, we are following the shari’ah. So, this is the way people present what they say is haq. The prophet is saying in this narration, if they call me now when we have the shari’ah, I will go to them and tell them, qala Allah wa qala rasul (Allah says and His messenger says), all the treaties we had before are behind us, before, gone and done. Now, we have the Qur’an and the Sunnah. Allah is saying to support the madhlumeen (the people who have been oppressed) and get the haq (right) back ccording to His law, but the way they present it is that it is okay for everyone to give their opinion for laws in any and all kinds of matters in different aspects of life, then they choose what they think is the best opinion, and that Muhammad is happy to be a part of that. That’s how they present the haq, and the people bring lots of evidence claiming that, yet they don’t even know there is no treaty of this sort in Islam. When presenting what they say is the haq, they don’t even know there is the hadith of there being no hilf in Islam even if the story they put forward is authentic. So, they can’t use it because there is no hilf anymore. Muhammad said there is no hilf anymore.
Now, about Muhammad at the second bay’ah of al-‘aqabah when the ansar (supporters) went to meet him to give him the bay’ah (pledge) to support him; to pledge allegiance to him; the bayah to have Muhammad in Madina, support him and defend him from any harm. These included the different tribe and from the tribes of Madina, he was instructing them to choose twelve people called nuqaba (sing. naqeeb leader, head); twelve people responsible for his people; his tribe. He couldn’t have everyone come to him because he was in hiding, so he just wanted representatives for the people. The people with the idea that there are people who chooose members of parliament to represent them and these same people who say this say that the prophet had twelve people represent their people, so the prophet did exacty what the parliament do. They say that Muhammad chose people to make legislation with Allah; asking people to legislate with Allah; he wanted people to discuss the ahkam (sing. hukm ruling, command, order) of Allah, meaning, someone says I don’t want this law; let’s see what the majority say, and thus is the way such people present the deen; the way they present the haq. In reality contrary to what they say, twelve people were just repesenting their people, tribe, and only representing the people for the sole reason that Muhammad couldn’t meet all of the thousands of people. It was choosing twelve nuqaba as was done in the time of Musa. Allah says, “Allah made a covenant with the Children of Israel and appointed twelve leaders from among them” (Al-Ma’idah: 12). Allah asked Musa to choose twelve people, the same thing that Muhammad did, and Allah said, “and said, “I am truly with you.” (Al-Ma’idah: 12). Allah is showing us in the verse the job of the naqeeb, and it’s certainly not to legislate with Allah. Allah is saying to those twelve people, “If you establish prayer, pay alms-tax, believe in My messengers, support them, and lend to Allah a good loan” (Al-Ma’idah: 12). It’s all about implemeting the shari’ah, not to discuss the shari’ah of Allah; not to discuss the ahkam of Allah; not to reject the shari’ah of Allah or make arbab (sing. rabb lord [as legislating partners besides Allah who claim and usurp Allah’s right to legislate]) with Allah. Muhammad and Musa were using twelve people just to support the population to worship Allah alone; to transmit the message of Allah. So, Muhammad will comunicate and give to twelve people instead of dealing with thousands, and if there is a problem, these twelve people will say, ya rasul (O messenger), this happened and that happened, for the sole purpose of making life easy. It’s a matter of organisation, but can you imagine someone claiming to be a Muslim believing it’s okay to go to parliament and be a mushari’ (legislator) with Allah because Muhammad allowed twelve people to do it. So, going to the ayah we see Musa is asked by Allah to choose twelve people to implement the shari’ah of Allah, not to contradict it; not to create a new shari’ah, not to create new ahkam, but the way these people present the argument to the people is absolutely wrong.
Now, Muhammad during Sulh al-hudaybiyyah, when they blocked him from performing umrah, not allowing him to do umrah at that time said wa Allahi (by Allah), he made a yameen (oath), “By the Name of Him in Whose Hands my soul is, if they (i.e. the Quraish infidels) ask me anything which will respect the ordinances of Allah, I will grant it to them.” (Sahih al-Bukhari: 2731, 2732), meaning, if they will respect what is forbidden prohibited and unlawful in Islam, i.e., they will respect the haram (the sacred precinct, and Allah didn’t ask Muhammad to go to war), if they ask me something, like stopping a war from taking place between the Muslims and kuffar (disbelievers), preventing the blood from being spilled, keeping the haram (sacred precinct) clean, I will give whatever they ask for as long as it does not contradict the shari’ah. To keep the haram (sacred precinct) without blood, to keep it safe, not to have a war is what Allah wanted. It’s exactly what Muhammad said to the sahabah which is if they ask me something not contradicting what Allah wants, I will do it. Muhammad is saying that if the kuffar ask me to do something (not contradicting the shari’ah of Allah) and in the end, as a result, I will reach something good, I will do it. But, according to some people, if you are with kuffar and everyone is presenting their opinion about the shari’ah, the deen, if you end up doing something good, respecting something from the shari’ah as the end result, it’s ok to be with them. They say Muhammad said it is good to be with kuffar and everyone can say whatever he wants, choose whatever he wants, but my intention is to make them follow the deen. So, he is saying as long as the intention of the Muslims is to go to parliament to implemet the deen of Allah, being with the kuffar and everyone is giving his opinion, but at the end of day there is a chance that the people will end up respecting something from the shari’ah, then it’s okay to be there and listen to people commenting on the deen of Allah, rejecting his deen, rejecting the shari’ah, discussing the halal and the haram, not happy with it, not happy and at the end of the day the majority wins, but this is as far away as someone can be from what Muhammad actually said.
Now, there are people who say things about Yusuf, and they present him in a certain way. The truth is Yusuf was a prophet and he was a special prophet because Muhammad said about him, “The honorable is the son of the honorable, the son of the honorable, the son of the honorable, i.e., Yusuf, the son of Yaqub, the son of Ishaq, the son of Ibrahim.” (Sahih al-Bukhari: 3382). These people say look at what Allah said about this prophet. They say Allah said, “We gave him wisdom and knowledge” (Yusuf: 22). They say Allah gve him the hikmah and the knowledge, and he went to a king who was a kafir and said I want to work for you and be under your authority. Make me responsible, a minister, of something. They say, see, we are Muslimeen who can go under the authority of the kuffar with the goal to end up implementing the shari’ah. They say you can’t be better than Yusuf. You can never know tawheed better than Yusuf, and he accepted to be under the authortiy of a kafir with the goal to end up practicing the deen of Islam. We say according to the haq, yes, It’s true that when we open the Qur’an we see that Yusuf met the king, and he asked the king to make him responsible over the stores, it’s very clear, but the people leave out everything else and say, from this we can walk under the authority of the kafir while the hukm is for the kafir. They say, you are just a minister and a muwahid (someone who worships Allah alone), and the haq (truth) is that we see the one who did this is a prophet and his name is Yusuf. This is how they present their understanding disregarding almost everything about him. However, when we read the Qur’an and read surah Yusuf, we don’t have to go through it and research deeply to see the clear reality of his prophethood, the religion he always followed, and the truth he called to.
We read the Qur’an and see that Yusuf was taken to the market and ended up being a slave. The ‘Aziz (the one in power, like a prime minister) took him to his wife and he said be good to him because maybe he would benefit them or they would adopt him as a son, and it was at that time as a slave that Allah had established (opened the doors of power and authority) for Yusuf in the land. Allah says at that time when Yusuf was a slave, “And the one from Egypt who bought him said to his wife, “Make his residence comfortable. Perhaps he will benefit us, or we will adopt him as a son.” And thus, We established Yusuf in the land” (Yusuf: 21), meaning, we gave him the tamkeen [opened the doors of power and authority] while he was a slave. So, Allah is talking about tamkeen at that time when he was a little boy. Allah is talking about this boy who will be very powerful; he will command; he will be the one with the hukm (rule, command, order, legislation).
Then, after the story about Yusuf and the wife of the ‘Aziz, Yusuf ended up in jail where two people realised that this person, Yusuf, was a very good person from what they saw of his ‘ibadah. This is why when these two prisoners had their dreams, they went to him to ask about the meaning of their dreams, and Yusuf started talking to them about the meaning of their dreams. However, before he started to interpret their dreams, he said you know that I’m always informing you about the food, i.e., today we are going to eat bread and soup before the bread and soup come; I inform you that we will have rice before the people bring the rice, and this knowledge is not from me; it is knowledge from Allah that He has taught me; knowledge of some matters before they occur. Allah says, “He said, “You will not receive food that is provided to you except that I will inform you of it’s interpretation before it comes to you. That is from what my Lord has taught me.”” (Yusuf: 37) How is it that you, Yusuf, know this? Why not us? why you? The reason is, as Allah says that Yusuf said, “I have left the religion of a people who do not believe in Allah, and they, in the Hereafter, are disbelievers. And I have followed the religion of my fathers, Ibrahim, Ishaq and Yaqub. And it was not for us to associate anything with Allah”. (Yusuf: 37, 38)
Not only was Yusuf talking about the reason why Allah had taught him that knowledge, he was talking about the millah of Ibrahim, calling to tawheed which was the true religion of his fathers, and Allah told us about the millah of Ibrahim. Allah says that Ibrahim and those with him said, “Indeed, we are disassociated from you and from whatever you worship other than Allah. We have denied you, and there has appeared between us and you animosity and hatred forever until you believe in Allah alone” (Al-Mumtahanah: 4). That’s millah Ibrahim. He was telling them about the millah of Ibrahim; true actual tawheed; kufr bit-taghut wa emaan billah (the rejection of the false deities and the belief in Allah), and talking to them about laa ilaha ila Allah; to worship Allah alone without any partners. Then Allah says that Yusuf said, “are separate lords better or Allah, the One, the Prevailing?” (Yusuf: 39); calling his two prison companions to worship Allah alone, without partners, and to reject whatever was being worshipped instead of Him. Then he is talking about something very specific, he said to them, “legislation is for none but Allah” (Yusuf: 40), the dawah of tawheed; that only the command of Allah should be followed in obedience, judgement and dispute. “Legislation is for none but Allah. He has commanded that you worship not except Him. That is the correct religion” (Yusuf: 40), which is the real deen; that Allah commands and the slave follows His commands; that is the worship; the obedience to the command of Allah is the ‘ibadah, “but most of the people do not know” (Yusuf: 40). That’s the real deen and the meaning of your dream regarding adhering to Allah’s way; to obey, follow, refer back to and follow the command of Allah and no one else. After this occurred, he said to the prisoner who would be saved to talk to the king about him, but he forgot. Then, there was the dream of the king who wanted to know what his dream meant, but nobody knew. However, the king was informed about a person who would be able to tell him what his dream meant. So, the one who worked for the king came to Yusuf to get the meaning of the dream and went back to the king to inform him. When the king heard the answer, he was in amazement, he said that he wanted the one who had interpreted the dream brought to him and put exclusively at his service. Allah says, “And the king said, “Bring him to me; I will appoint him exclusively for myself.”” (Yusuf: 54). The way Yusuf interpreted the dream was something amazing because when the king asked the people about it’s meaning, “They said, “[it is but] a mixture of false dreams” (Yusuf: 44), they are just dreams that don’t have any meaning. Maybe you ate something heavy and ended up dreaming. However, the way Yusuf was presenting the dream was something amazing and the king recognised this. When the man came to give Yusuf the good news that he was free to leave prison, Yusuf refused to leave. He told the man to go back to the king and tell him to ask the group of women who cut their hands why they cut them; whether Yusuf was really after them and wanted to kill them; what really happened? Yusuf didn’t want to leave jail falsely accused of something he did not do because he wouldn’t be able to give his da’wah to everyone. They would say that he was the one who had done such and such. He wanted to be free from such accusations. In a narration, Muhamamd said, if I was in the same situation and someone said to me that I was free, I would leave. Muhammad was teaching the sahabah, making them believe and feel that the prophets were higher than him in rank. If someone said to me, you are free, I wouldn’t say go back to the king and ask him to clear my name, I would leave straight away. So, the king spoke to them, and Allah says that the wife of the ‘aziz said, “Now the truth has become evident. It was I who sought to seduce him, and indeed, he is of the truthful” (Yusuf: 51). Yusuf said that he didn’t commit a crime; it wasn’t him who had done anything. His claim of innocence was correct; he was truthful. Then Allah said that the wife of the ‘aziz said, “That is so he will know that I did not betray him in [his] absence” (Yusuf: 52). The ‘ulama say she was talking about her husband because he always had doubt that something happened between them, now I’m telling you that I was the one who did something wrong, not Yusuf, and “he will know”, I’m saying this statement so that my husband knows; doesn’t feel bad; that nothing happened with Yusuf. Other scholars said that she was talking about Yusuf, meaning I’m not saying something against him, even while he is not here, I’m saying the truth about how good he was and how bad I was. Allah says she said, “and that Allah does not guide the plan of betrayers. And I do not acquit myself. Indeed, the soul is a persistent enjoiner of evil, except those upon which my Lord has mercy” (Yusuf: 52, 53). She said a statement only a Muslim says, this is why some of the ‘ulama went far away thinking that she could not have made such a statement, so it must have been the statement of Yusuf. However, the ‘ulama of tahqeeq (checking, verification, examination) said why are you going far away to a different meaning when she is still talking? Why are you stopping her speech? Even according to the Arabic language she is talking. Why do you say from here that it’s not her speech. It doesn’t work like this in the Arabic language. She was talking and so she ends by saying “And I do not acquit myself. Indeed, the soul is a persistent enjoiner of evil, except those upon which my Lord has mercy” (Yusuf: 53) which is the way a Muslim talks which is the same way her husband spoke when he came upon the initial situation. Allah says that he said, “O Yusuf! Forget about this. And you, O wife! Seek forgiveness for your sin. It certainly has been your fault.”” (Yusuf: 29), it’s a mistake, just do tawbah (repentance) and make istighfar (seek forgiveness). Until now, we don’t know, but they are surely not statements of kuffar. Okay, now everything is clear and Yusuf is leaving prison to meet and speak to the King. Allah says “And when he spoke to him, he said, “Indeed, you are today established [in position] and trusted” (Yusuf: 54). Allah spoke about tamkeen when Yusuf was a young boy; the door to Allah establishing Yusuf with power and authority. Now, also, Allah says that the king said today you are firmly established (tamkeen, power and authority). To recall, we are talking about how people present the evidences, which is that they say that Yusuf was under the authority of a kafir. However, when Yusuf was released from prison, the picture we see is totally different as Allah said that the king said to Yusuf, “Indeed, you are today established [in position] and trusted” (Yusuf: 54); having tamkeen; established with power and authority. We know Yusuf was talking about Islam and pure tawheed to the people in jail, normal people, saying, are different lords better or, the One, the Prevailing, and saying, the legislation belongs to none except Allah. However, according to some people who present the haq in a certain way, they say when he comes to talk to the one who took the hukm from Allah; the king; sharing the command, rule, legislation and order of Allah; he just talks about the economic matters [an economy that is always meant to strengthen a system, in this case, according to them, the system of a taghut]; nothing about tawheed, and nothing about the rulership of Allah. We also go back to what Yusuf said regarding himself following the millah of Ibrahim. So, according ot the people, Yusuf is just claiming to be following the millah of Ibrahim because in front of the king he is just talking about economic matters and doesn’t mention tawheed, and that’s how people present Yusuf. This is what these people say and believe about Yusuf. The truth is that a prophet should say much and they do say much, but these people who put forward this version of the haq; this false account about Yusuf are not taking anything from what Allah said and this is while, according to them, the people are worshipping the hakim (ruler). Allah says, “And We certainly sent into every nation a messenger, [saying], “Worship Allah and avoid Taghut.”” (Al-Nahl: 36). This is what a prophet should say according to the verse above; calling to the rejection of taghut and belief in Allah. However, according to them, the prophet goes to a taghut, doesn’t say what Allah says in the Qur’an that the prophets says to one who claims Allah’s rights for himself, but says I want to be your servant and work for you. I will just deal with your economy (an economy whose role is to strengthen a system (in this case strengthening a taghuti system) just like the other apparatus are there to strengthen and provide power to a system) and I’m very good at this. That’s the way they present the one who Muhammad said is al kareem ibnul kareem ibnul kareem ibnul kareem.
Now, if the king was a kafir, maybe, not definitely, but maybe he became a Muslim because he gave Yusuf the power and authority as the power and authority given to Yusuf is proven from the Qur’an. It’s a possibility he became a Muslim after the da’wah of Yusuf, or he stayed as a kafir but he said, you know Yusuf, you are the one I love because I see who you are. My people, I want them to live under you, you have the power, all of it, and this is because Allah said after this happened, talking about the tamkeen, “And thus We established Joseph in the land…” (Yusuf: 56). Yusuf was in authority in the whole country, and how was his authority? How far was his authority? Let’s see what Allah says, “…to settle therein wherever he willed” (Yusuf: 56), he could do whatever he wanted and anywhere he liked. This is not someone who was a servant. What happened with the king was just the sabab (cause) because of what Allah wanted in his taqdeer (judgement). It was already as Allah decided when Yusuf was a boy when Allah said, “We established Yusuf in the land” (Yusuf: 21) and then Allah is telling us “And thus We established Joseph in the land” (Yusuf: 56) and to answer us about how his authority was, Allah says “to settle therein wherever he willed” (Yusuf: 56). Yusuf could do whatever he wanted, he was the one doing whatever he wanted. Allah also shows us his power in the surah with the sitautaion that happened with his siblings. Yusuf was asking his brothers how many brothers they had; the number. The one who is not with us, he is with his father, his father loves him so much, cares about him so much, but please give us one portion more. So, he gave them according to the number they gave him and he wanted his brother, he said next time don’t come without the brother. You said you have a brother, I gave food according to the number, so if you don’t bring him that means you are lying to me and took something without the haq to do so, “But if you do not bring him to me, no measure will there be [hereafter] for you from me, nor will you approach me.” (Yusuf: 60) then they went back to their father “And when they opened their baggage, they found their merchandise returned to them. They said, “O our father, what [more] could we desire? This is our merchandise returned to us. And we will obtain supplies for our family and protect our brother and obtain an increase of a camel’s load; that is an easy measurement.” (Yusuf: 65) look father, this person is nice, this is everything here; he didn’t take payment, send our brother with us, we will protect him, “He said, “Should I entrust you with him except as I entrusted you with his brother before?”” (Yusuf: 64), but Yaqub alaihi al-salam (peace be upon him) ended up saying to them ok, but just give big uhood (vows, promises, oaths) and mawathiq (covenants) that you will bring him back unless something happens to you like being killed or being taken to prison, qadr Allah ([then it is] the decree of Allah). “[Yaqub] said, “Never will I send him with you until you give me a promise[i.e., oath] by Allah that you will bring him [back] to me, unless you should be surrounded [i.e., overcome by enemies]”” (Yusuf: 66), then Yaqub said as they were leaving “the legislation belongs to none except Allah” (Yusuf: 67). Why did he say that? He was reminding them, a reminder that contained two matters. The Qur’an is something Allah wants us to read in a certain way. Why “the legislation belongs to none except Allah” (Yusuf: 67) in this situation? We can understand it when Yusuf said this to the prisoners who were working for the taghut, but here, Yaqub is sending his children to bring food, and he said, “the legislation belongs to none except Allah” (Yusuf: 67). The hukm of Allah is used in two ways in the Qur’an. One, to refer to the qadaa’ (decree or divine judgement) and qadr (divine measurement or predetermination) of Allah, and two, the ruling of Allah that is to be adhered to and followed; 1- whatever happens, it is the decree of Allah, and 2- wherever you are, follow the hukm of Allah. Then, Allah guided Yusuf to have this heelah (stratagem) to keep his brother by putting an item in his brother’s belongings that belonged to the king. Allah says about the brothers when the alarm of theft was sounded and they were approached and the item was found amongst them, “They said, “By Allah, you have certainly known that we did not come to cause corruption in the land, and we have not been thieves.”” (Yusuf: 73), ask the king, we didn’t come to do any harm, we did not come here to steal. Yusuf said, what if you are the one who took what belongs to the malik (king), “Then what would be its recompense?” (Yusuf: 74), What’s the punishment, “[The brother] said, “its recompense is that he in whose bag it is found – he [himself] will be its recompense.” (Yusuf: 75). The jaza (recompense) is what you know as the jaza (recompense) because the brothers knew the hukm of Allah, and here will be the hukm of Allah implemented. If they said the jaza (recompense) is anything, for someone who doesn’t know how to read Qur’an, it means they accepted any hukm even if it contradicts the hukm of Allah, but they said the punishment of one who takes something that doesn’t belong to him is` for him to be taken and “its recompense is that he in whose bag it is found – he [himself] will be its recompense.” (Yusuf: 75), showing that they knew the law according to the shari’ah of Yaqub. Then the belongings were checked, found in Benyamin’s belongings, it’s him, in his luggage, we keep him. The brothers said why do you take him? Please take one of us instead because his father is an old man and he is going to be very upset, take one of us because they knew they were talking to someone who was implemeting the shari’ah of Allah. He said to them, ma’adh Allah (refuge is sought with Allah), I can’t do that. If we do, we are dhalimoon because the one who is innocent is taken as a slave and the one who stole is left free. So, now we are with the shari’ah of Allah. Then, Allah said the trick was from Him. He said he couldn’t take him from the deen of the malik. Yusuf wasn’t allowed to judge according to shari’ah of the malik. Allah says, “So he began [the search] with their bags before the bag of his brother; then he extracted it from the bag of his brother. Thus did We plan for Joseph. He could not have taken his brother within the religion of the king except that Allah willed.” (Yusuf: 76). So, the people say, see, this is what we are talking about. The king was a kafir and a taghut and he had his own shari’ah. The reply is, who was the ruler because Allah says the ruler of Egypt was Yusuf. Think of whatever situation you like, the king passed away and he left everything in the hand of Yusuf or this king wasn’t in authority anymore, whatever scenario you like, anything, the reality is Allah is saying in the Qur’an that Yusuf was the one in power in Egypt ruling with the shari’ah of Allah. It could be that the king had a different divine shari’ah. It could have been the law of another prophet because he wasn’t from Bani Isra’eel (the children of Israel) and not obliged to follow the shari’ah of Yusuf. He would be obliged to follow the shari’ah of the prophet who went to Egypt. So, we understand it this way because he wasn’t from Bani Isra’eel where there was the shari’ah of prophet Yaqub which was the shari’ah he would have to follow. He sticks to his tawheed but he follows the shari’ah of the nabi (prophet) in his country. So, if the shari’ah of the nabi in his country was to pay double, one would have to pay double to learn not to steal anymore. You want to steal, now you have to pay double. So, even if we present it this way, Yusuf still will not take his brother in the shari’ah of the king. If we want to defend the king, then the shari’ah was the shari’ah of a prophet, and of course the tawheed is the same. Let’s assume the king was a kafir, Allah says clearly “And thus We established Joseph in the land to settle therein wherever he willed” (12:56), and we will see because Allah is telling us about Yusuf and that his brothers began hugging him and crying, and Yusuf said bring my parents and they are referring to him with “O ‘Azeez” (Yusuf: 88) meaning he is the ‘azeez (the ruler, like the prime minister even while there could be a king who who sits without authority of law), the one dealing with the affairs of the country and suddenly we find the situation, Allah is saying “And he raised his parents upon the throne” (Yusuf: 88), there is an arsh (throne), there is the sofa of the throne. Oh! Is it that strong the power of Yusuf, his authority? Yes!! This is the reality. Allah says, “My Lord, You have given me of sovereignty” (12: 101).
Knowing the real story, we try to make some points after knowing the real story and true circumstances. You don’t feel the ignorance of the people when they talk about Yusuf. It’s not a matter of ignorance. It’s past that. The way they are talking about him is disgusting. What they say is not knowledge anymore. We’re not talking about knowledge and their ignorance. Allah is telling us about the story, the king, Yusuf, the throne, authority in Egypt, “And thus We established Joseph in the land to settle therein wherever he willed” (12:56).
We started talking about haq and then the meaning of daleel; what is considered daleel, and started with Muhammad not having wahi, not always making the best choice and he is the most knowledgeable, most taqi (most pious) and he wouldn’t always choose the best, and then talking about the sahabah that Allah said to them, if Muhammad follows the majority of what you wish; and they wish to be closer to Allah; to worship Him; they will present how they want to be closer to Allah to Muhammad and Muhammad says, yes, yes, okay, you will end up having difficulties, you won’t be able to worship Allah, meaning whatever you are offering as an idea to be closer to Allah wasn’t the right thing; it wasn’t what Allah wanted. Haq is only the wahi of Allah and the people who are claiming to have haq without presenting it the way Allah wants them to present it, we don’t call it the haq, but when they talk and start presenting matters, they say we presented the haq, but we have to know the meaning of the haq not what the people consider as haq, it’s the clear wahi not ijtihad. The hakim can make a mistake and be wrong, no one is ma’soom (free from faults). The division is there because we don’t know what means haq and daleel.
