Friday Prayer

Yousef (Joseph) 5

 

اَلْحَمْدُ لِلّهِ بِجَمِیعِ مَحَامِدِه کُلِّهَا عَلَی جَمِیعِ نِعَمِهِ کُلِّهَا… اَلْحَمْدُ لِلّهِ مالِکِ الْمُلْکِ مُجْرِی الْفُلْکِ مُسَخِّرِ الرِّیاحِ فالِقِ الاْصْباحِ دَیّانِ الدّینِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمینَ اَلْحَمْدُ لِلّهِ عَلی حِلْمِهِ بَعْدَ عِلمِهِ وَالْحَمْدُ لِلّهِ عَلی عَفْوِهِ بَعْدَ قُدْرَتِهِ وَالْحَمْدُ لِلّهِ عَلی طُولِ اَناتِهِ فی غَضَبِهِ وَهُوَ قادِرٌ عَلی ما یُریدُ

Praise is to God with all his praises, for all his blessings. . . Praise is to God, the owner of the property, the operator of the orbit, the bender of the wind, the glory of the morning, the religion of the beliefs, lord of the worlds; praise is to God for his dream after his knowledge and thank God for forgiveness after his power, and praise be to God for his long patience in his wrath and he is capable to do what he wills

 

و نشهد أن لا اله الا الله وحده لا شریک له، و أَنَّ محمداً عبده و رسوله ارسله بالهدی و دین الحق لیظهره علی الدین کله و لو کره المشرکون اوصیکم عبادالله و نفسی بتقوی الله و اتباع امره و نهیه، و اخوفکم من عقابه

And we bear witness that there is no god but God alone, without partner, and that Muhammad is his servant and messenger, he sent him with guidance and the religion of truth, that he might proclaim it over all religion, even if the polytheists hated it.

 

  1. Perfect Patience

According to the report of the holy Qur’an, the prophet Ya’qub, peace be upon him, spoke about the perfect patience twice when facing the problems that his sons created for him. One of the two relates to the time when the brothers lied to their father that the wolf had attacked Joseph, to which Ya’qub said:

وَجَاءُوا عَلَى قَمِيصِهِ بِدَمٍ كَذِبٍ قَالَ بَلْ سَوَّلَتْ لَكُمْ أَنْفُسُكُمْ أَمْرًا فَصَبْرٌ جَمِيلٌ، وَاللَّهُ الْمُسْتَعَانُ عَلَى مَا تَصِفُونَ؛

And they produced sham blood on his shirt. He said, ‘No, your souls have made a matter seem decorous to you. Yet patience is graceful, and Allah is my resort against what you allege.’ (Yusef: 18)

 

And the second time is when Yusef’s brothers left Benjamin in Egypt and returned to Ya’qub and said: يَا أَبَانَا إِنَّ ابْنَكَ سَرَقَ وَمَا شَهِدْنَا إِلَّا بِمَا عَلِمْنَا وَمَا كُنَّا لِلْغَيْبِ حَافِظِينَ؛ Go back to your father, and say, ‘‘Father! Your son has indeed committed theft, and we testified only to what we knew, and we could not have forestalled the unseen (Yusef: 81). Then Ya’qub said:

قَالَ بَلْ سَوَّلَتْ لَكُمْ أَنْفُسُكُمْ أَمْرًا فَصَبْرٌ جَمِيلٌ، عَسَى اللَّهُ أَنْ يَأْتِيَنِي بِهِمْ جَمِيعًا إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْعَلِيمُ الْحَكِيمُ؛

He said, ‘No, your souls have made a matter seem decorous to you. Yet patience is graceful. Maybe Allah will bring them all [back] to me. Indeed He is the All-knowing, the All-wise.’ (Yusef: 83)

 

“Perfect patience” or “Nice patience” is patience and endurance for God; it has two characteristics:

  1. It should be continuous; despair and hopelessness do not enter into it;
  2. It should not be accompanied by impatience, complaining, and moaning.

Perfect patience is patience against difficult events and heavy trials, which is a sign of character and the breadth of the human spirit. It is the patience that the divine prophets showed against the harassment of opponents and polytheists. When polytheists and opponents called the divine prophets as sorcerers and liars, and aimed to deny their good news, they were patient and did not complain. The holy Prophet said: مَا أُوذِيَ نَبِيٌّ مِثْلَ مَا أُوذِيتُ؛ “No prophet has suffered as much as me” and God commanded him to be patient and said: فَاصْبِرْ صَبْرًا جَمِيلًا؛ So be patient, with a patience that is graceful (Ma’arej:5)

Believers are those who never run out of patience in the face of events, and do not speak words that show ingratitude, disbelief, and impatience. Their patience is nice and perfect.

Ibn Farez Andalsi, when he wants to express the intensity of his grief in the sorrow of his loved one, says that “in your grief my perfect patience has also died”:

And the life of my wishes for you, and the essence of my perfect patience

I didn’t see anything better than you and I didn’t go to Khalil

 

  1. Divine reward for kindness and goodness

The holy Qur’an continues the story of the prophet Yusef by referring to its important events:

وَجَاءَتْ سَيَّارَةٌ فَأَرْسَلُوا وَارِدَهُمْ فَأَدْلَى دَلْوَهُ قَالَ يَا بُشْرَى هَذَا غُلَامٌ وَأَسَرُّوهُ بِضَاعَةً وَاللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ بِمَا يَعْمَلُونَ؛ وَشَرَوْهُ بِثَمَنٍ بَخْسٍ دَرَاهِمَ مَعْدُودَةٍ وَكَانُوا فِيهِ مِنَ الزَّاهِدِينَ؛ وَقَالَ الَّذِي اشْتَرَاهُ مِنْ مِصْرَ لِامْرَأَتِهِ أَكْرِمِي مَثْوَاهُ عَسَى أَنْ يَنْفَعَنَا أَوْ نَتَّخِذَهُ وَلَدًا وَكَذَلِكَ مَكَّنَّا لِيُوسُفَ فِي الْأَرْضِ وَلِنُعَلِّمَهُ مِنْ تَأْوِيلِ الْأَحَادِيثِ وَاللَّهُ غَالِبٌ عَلَى أَمْرِهِ وَلَكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ النَّاسِ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ؛

There came a caravan, and they sent their water-drawer, who let down his bucket. ‘Good news!’ he said. ‘This is a young boy!’ So they hid him as [a piece of] merchandise, and Allah knew best what they were doing. And they sold him for a cheap price, a few dirhams, for they set small store by him. The man from Egypt who had bought him said to his wife, ‘Give him an honourable place [in the household]. Maybe he will be useful to us, or we may adopt him as a son.’ Thus We established Joseph in the land and that We might teach him the interpretation of dreams. Allah has [full] command of His affairs, but most people do not know. (Yusef: 19-21)

 

The holy Qur’an uses an expression in the next verse, and speaks of the reward given to the prophet Yusef. It is clear from this interpretation and this reward that Yusef had used the position he found in Egypt’s Aziz system for benevolence, helping people, and charity. The holy Qur;an says:

وَلَمَّا بَلَغَ أَشُدَّهُ آتَيْنَاهُ حُكْمًا وَعِلْمًا وَكَذَلِكَ نَجْزِي الْمُحْسِنِينَ؛

When he came of age, We gave him judgement and [sacred] knowledge, and thus do We reward the virtuous. (Yusef: 22)

 

The word “Ehsan” is derived from the root of “Hosn” has been is used in two meanings:

  1. To bless another;
  2. To do good work;

In the Islamic vision and culture, “kindness” is considered superior to “justice” in some ways; because justice is that a person does what he is responsible for and takes his share, but kindness is doing more than duty and taking less than the right.

If the life of Imam Hasan Mojtabi, peace be upon him, is looked at based on the Quranic, narrative and historical reports, it can be well understood that that the noble Imam was a perfect example of kindness or ehsan.

Much has been said about kindness in our literature. Sa’adi says:

If you do bad things, never expect good backs, nettle tree will never bear grapes;

I don’t think that you can have barley in fall, that you may have wheat at harvest time;

Have you ever healed the cry of who you want him help you today?

Who put a cure on your hurt soul? If his heart hurts from your damage;

 

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