Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Pearls and Gem from Surah Yusuf{Joseph} ,Letter 12 , Ayat 1 to 111

Friends ,
Unlike other Surahs where the names [ for example Al Baqarah or Hud ] mostly were just mentioned in passing and were not the main theme of the Surah ,Surah Yusuf is mainly about Prophet Yusuf ibnu Yaacub [ Jacob ] ibnu Ishak [ Isaac ] ibnu Ibrahim [ Abraham ] .Great grand son of Prophet Ibrahim ,from the" Israeli" branch of the patriach Abraham .

Of the total 111 Ayats ,102 were about Yusuf , the 12th son of Yaacub , who through fate and sibling hate and jeolousy was catapulted from the heart of a god forsaken "Israeli Kampung" in Canaan into high society Egypt in the court of one of Phaorah's dignitary .

Surah Yusuf contain the epic parables of inter sibling rivalry and jeolousies ,stoic hope and prayer of an aging father ,divine gift of exceptional talent [ dream reader]and fine physical attributes ,Zuleika's unrequited love and lust ,deceit ,high soceity women's frustration ,lust and sexual exploits[ toy boys and all and also reminded me of present day Datins ,datin Seri and Puan Sri's high tea where rich bored women meet regularly while their much endowed husbands and captains of industry were busy with someone else ] .

Social injustice and trump up charges [ sound like we are in familiar territory ] which lead Yusuf to land up in jail .Innocence , honesty ,honour and the sweet "revenge" of forgiveness and benovelence lead to high matters of state administration [ Treasurer for Pharoah ] .Yusuf's story ended with a show of humility in exaltation ,, fine and deep filial love ,and the beauty of Piety and Truth .

101 Ayats on Yusuf and the last 10 a reminder to Muhammad [pbuh] to be steadfast in his monumental mission and struggle to change the mind set and landscape of jahiliah towards Piety and Truth .

Dr Nik Howk

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