Qur'an 30 for 30 | Season 5
14 / 31
Juz 13: Yusuf's (AS) Gratitude, Forgiveness, and Excellence | Sh. Ahmed Billoo
Why is gratitude an important characteristic to have? What does God say about forgiving others? How do I deal with betrayal?
Join Sh. Ahmed Billoo with hosts Dr. Omar Suleiman and Sh. Abdullah Oduro as they reflect on Juz 13 of the Qur'an, discussing the virtuous characteristics of Prophet Yusuf (AS), including the power of gratitude, forgiving others, how to deal with betrayal, and the importance of family ties and maintaining sibling relationships.
✨Test your knowledge of the Qur'an✨
The Prophet said, “Hud and its sisters gave me grey hair!” What surahs are considered the sisters of Surah Hud?
A. al-Mulk and al-Ḥāqqa
B. al-Wāqiʿah and al-Mursalāt
C. al-Nāziʿāt and al-Infiṭārd
Chapters:
0:00 - Highlights
📌 1:02 - Today's trivia & introduction
📌 2:52 - Dr. Omar Suleiman reflects on the gratitude of Yusuf (AS)
3:25 - The repentance of the wife of al-Azeez
4:46 - The difference between the peoples of Musa and Yusuf in how they looked at their past
6:29 - Allah's promise for gratitude and ingratitude
📌 8:55 - Sh. Abdullah reflects on the forgiveness of Yusuf (AS)
9:38 - The story of when Yusuf's brothers went to find Binyamin
12:33 - Patience as a way of being mindful of Allah
14:03 - Being forgiving while maintaing your integrity
📌 15:45 - Sh. Ahmed Billoo reflects on the excellence of Yusuf (AS)
16:12 - The repeated mention of Yusuf being amongst the excellent
17:35 - The connection between having taqwa and patience
19:36 - Yusuf's excellence in character
20:40 - How man deals with Allah vs. how Allah deals with man
📌 21:56 - Reflections
22:00 - The hearts of Yusuf and the Prophet (s) to forgive and embody gratitude
24:00 - On sibling relationships and rivalry
27:23 - On the importance of being a good sibling
Download the latest Qur'an 30 for 30 eBook: Qur’an 30 for 30: Thematic Tafsir.
Explore the daily juz questions and answers in the Qur'an 30 for 30 Season 5 Trivia.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. Like, he's so happy when Ikram ibn Abi Jahl is coming to him, radiAllahu ta'ala, and he says here's Ikram, he's coming to you as a muhajir, as a migrant, and as a Muslim. Don't hurt his feelings with his father. Don't talk about his father in front of him. He's so happy, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, saying marhaban, welcome, welcome. Like, not only do I forgive you, I hope Allah forgives you, and I hope you get to Jannah. And I think, subhanAllah, it's the same thing, right? Gratitude, gratitude opens the pathways of the heart in a way that nothing else can. And one of the best things you can be grateful for is Allah's forgiveness. I'm grateful that Allah forgave me, or forgives me, even when I mess up so badly. And that gratitude increases my capacity to forgive other people when they mess up so badly. Because I know Allah, azawajal, forgives me, so gratitude increases. And that's why the ulama say, wa la in shakartum la zeedannakum, if you're grateful, I'll increase you. Allah doesn't say what He increases you in. I'll just increase you. And the ulama said, because it means an increase in faith, an increase in perspective, an increase in the same ni'ma you're thanking Allah for, and then an increase in every single thing that you possess that is worldly, and that is what you seek in the hereafter. Allah will just increase you. And Allah increases your capacity to forgive as well, through that gratitude, subhanAllah. SubhanAllah. One thing that I always talk about, and I've been wanting to talk about this more in my masjid is, I think it's important to talk more about sibling relationships. Because the worst enemy will be your brother or your sister, whoever, right? At that point, you could easily have, like you said, one-up on them. You could have easily, I mean easily, and some would say justified, like you could have easily just put them in a really bad situation. So when we look at that, you know, every single one of us that has our brother, our sisters, I mean families are separated. How many people have not seen their cousins because their fathers have a problem with one another?
Families, you know, separation of tribes because brothers or sisters had enmity or jealousy towards one another. One is jealous, and the other one knows that that person is jealous, and I'm not going to waste my time with my sister. There was one time, you know, al-Mustan, a family member passed away, and then you saw the brother, said, I really don't feel anything. Whether they're here or not, it really doesn't matter. You know, this is a message for the parents that to be very cognizant of the relationship with your children, the brothers and sisters, and for the ones that have the brothers or sisters, the older brothers, it's important to have that leadership role and to have mercy on your younger brother or sister and recognize that they're young and they're looking at you, especially when they're younger, they're looking at you and looking up to you even over their father sometimes. And also for the younger brothers and sisters, when you look up at your older brother and sister, if they're acting like someone that wants to take care of you and wants to protect you, show them that level of respect. And I think this needs to be talked about more because subhanAllah, you see this with you, and Allah with his Qadr gives you these demographics like brothers that try to kill a brother. When you think about it, if there's a level of jealousy, it is definitely between siblings. Definitely, and parents sometimes will show more love towards another and don't realize that that resentment of the older brother that is the oldest or oldest sister that was there when y'all were younger and you were going through trial and error with the oldest one, the youngest one is getting more of a treatment that the oldest one didn't get. And it's very important for parents to be cognizant of that. And Allah subhanAllah directly and indirectly shows us that through the story of Yusuf, the story of Qabir, Nabir, and may Allah subhanAllah make us a tentative of that particularly. Just building upon what you said, like that idea of sibling rivalry, right? It's so unhealthy. In reality, siblings are supposed to help one another. Acknowledging that all of us have our strengths and weaknesses.
If I have a specific strength and my sibling has a weakness, I'm supposed to, you know, assist them using my strengths, make them stronger in, you know, whatever they're weak in. And if they have a strength and I have a particular weakness, they're supposed to help me in that, right? And that's the idea that you all together lift one another up. But when sibling rivalry creeps in, you're always trying to step on the other person. You're always trying to show your parents or society or people at large or your friends that I'm better than my sibling. When in reality, you're supposed to kind of want to protect the honor and the reputation of your sibling and you want other people not just to view you in a good light, but you want them to view your sibling, your brother, your sister, or all of your brother's sisters in a good light, right? And the idea is that you're constantly helping one another. The first murder in history is a brother murdering his brother. And in the case of Yusuf alaihi salam, you have siblings that are trying to murder their brother. And subhanAllah, it's interesting because like the emphasis in Islam on silat al-rahm, on establishing the ties of kinship and making sure that you treat your family the best. And indeed, how can you be a good brother to your brother Muslim or sister to your sister Muslim if you can't be a good brother to your sibling, sister to your sibling? And you know what I'm thinking about, subhanAllah, as I'm just thinking about the times that we live in. We live in a time where shukr to parents, which should be the most obvious form of shukr, is gone. If that gratitude is gone, how are you going to be grateful to your siblings? And so yeah, we live in a time where people cut their parents off. Of course, they cut their siblings off as well. And I think that's just a sign like, you know, another deeper meaning of the ties of kinship being suspended from the throne of the Most Merciful. And that if we want to be connected to the Most Merciful, then we need to be connected as well to our ties of kinship. SubhanAllah, subhanAllah. Yeah. Alhamdulillah. Bi hurmati l-Habib, bi hurmati l-Fatiha. Unite us as brothers in faith, inshaAllah. Salaam, brothers and sisters in faith. It was a pleasure to have you. JazakAllah khair. Tell the brothers at IOK that we love them, man.
Tell Mufti Farhan. Actually, to be fair, Mufti Farhan sent me a message from Umrah too, apologizing. I thought that was really nice of him to send a message from Umrah too. But we appreciate the work that all of the institutions are doing in the community. Alhamdulillah. IOK is a gem out here in California. SubhanAllah, Allah bless everyone at Institute of Knowledge and especially Sheikh Ahmed. InshaAllah, I will see you all tomorrow. Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. Indeed, man, generally in his nature, he's unjust and he's ungrateful. That's how man deals with Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. In Surah An-Nahl, Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala repeats the same verse. Wa in ta'uddu ni'mata Allahi la tuhsuha. If you try to count the blessings of Allah, Allah says, you would be unable to. Inna Allaha laghafoorur raheem. Indeed Allah is forgiving and merciful. So in one place, Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala, he tells us how man deals with Allah. In another place, Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us how Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala deals with man. That although man is unjust and ungrateful, Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala continues to be forgiving and merciful. And that's the point that Yusuf Alayhi Salaam was trying to make to his brothers. You guys messed up, but still, but still you have the ability to be from amongst the Muhsinin. We ask Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala to make us from amongst the Muhsinin. What a heart for him to still want his brothers to go to Jannah. Like who would want their brothers to go to Jannah after they did that to him? You threw me into the earth, into a well, tried to kill me, caused me to go into slavery and imprisonment. Not only do I forgive you, I hope you're forgiven so you can go to Jannah. What a heart. SubhanAllah.
And I think that's the thing, like the state of the heart of these people. It's the state of the heart of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. And I talked about this prior to Ramadan when we talked about the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam entering into Fatah Mecca. It was in the last 10 nights of Ramadan. What was the heart of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam like? And it's always beautiful, Alayhi Salaatu Wasallam, but like just to forgive and to let people go like that. And he still has hope in their Islam. Like he's so happy when Ikram Ibn Abi Jahl is coming to him, radiAllahu ta'ala, he says here is Ikram, he's coming to you as a muhajir, as a migrant, and as a Muslim. Don't hurt his feelings with his father. Don't talk about his father in front of him. So happy, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, saying marhaban, welcome, welcome. Not only do I forgive you, I hope Allah forgives you. And I hope you get to Jannah. And I think, SubhanAllah, it's the same thing, right? Gratitude. Gratitude opens the pathways of the heart in a way that nothing else can. And one of the best things you can be grateful for is Allah's forgiveness. I'm grateful that Allah forgave me or forgives me even when I mess up so badly. And that gratitude increases my capacity to forgive other people when they mess up so badly. Because I know Allah Azawajal forgives me. So gratitude increases. And that's why the ulama say, if you're grateful, I'll increase you. Allah doesn't say what He increases you in. I'll just increase you. And the ulama said, because it means an increase in faith, an increase in perspective, an increase in the same ni'mah you're thanking Allah for, and then an increase in every single thing that you possess that is worldly, and that is what you seek in the hereafter. Allah will just increase you. And Allah increases your capacity to forgive as well through that gratitude. SubhanAllah. SubhanAllah. One thing that I always talk about, I've been wanting to talk about this more in my masjid is I think it's important to talk more about sibling relationships. Because the worst enemy will be your brother or your sister, whoever, right?
At that point, you could easily have, like you said, one up on them. You could have easily, I mean easily, and some would say justified, like you could have easily just put them in a really bad situation. So when we look at that, you know, every single one of us that has our brother, our sisters, I mean, families are separated. How many people have not seen their cousins because their fathers have a problem with one another? Families, you know, separation of tribes because brothers or sisters had enmity or jealousy towards one another. One is jealous, and the other one knows that that person is jealous, and I'm not going to waste my time with my sister. There was one time, you know, well almost done, a family member passed away, and then you saw the brother, said, I really don't feel anything. Whether they're here or not, it really doesn't matter. You know, this is a message for the parents that to be very cognizant of the relationship with your children, the brothers and sisters, and for the ones that have the brothers or sisters, the older brothers, it's important to have that leadership role and to be, to have mercy on your younger brother or sister and recognize that they're young and they're looking at you, especially when they're younger, they're looking at you and looking up to you even over their father sometimes. And also for the younger brothers and sisters, when you look up at your older brother or sister, if they're acting like someone that wants to take care of you and wants to protect you, show them that level of respect, and I think this needs to be talked about more because subhanAllah, you see this with youth, and Allah, with his qadr, gives you these demographics like brothers that try to kill a brother. When you think about it, if there's a level of jealousy, it is definitely between siblings. Definitely, and parents sometimes will show more love towards another and don't realize that that resentment of the older brother that is the oldest or oldest sister that was there when y'all were younger, and you were going through trial and error with the oldest one, the youngest one is getting more of a treatment that the oldest one didn't get.
And it's very important for parents to be cognizant of that, and Allah subhanAllah directly and indirectly shows us that through the story of Yusuf, the story of Qabir, Nabil, and may Allah subhanAllah make us attentive of that particularly. It's building upon what you said, like that idea of sibling rivalry, right? It's so unhealthy. In reality, siblings are supposed to help one another, acknowledging that all of us have our strengths and weaknesses. If I have a specific strength and my sibling has a weakness, I'm supposed to assist them using my strengths, make them stronger in whatever they're weak in, and if they have a strength and I have a particular weakness, they're supposed to help me in that, right? And that's the idea, that you all together lift one another up, but when sibling rivalry creeps in, you're always trying to step on the other person, you're always trying to show your parents or society or people at large or your friends that I'm better than my sibling. When in reality, you're supposed to kind of want to protect the honor and the reputation of your sibling, and you want other people not just to view you in a good light, but you want them to view your sibling, your brother, your sister, or all of your brothers, sisters in a good light, right? The idea is that you're constantly helping one another. The first murder in history is a brother murdering his brother, and in the case of Yusuf alaihi salam, you have siblings that are trying to murder their brother, and subhanAllah, it's interesting, because the emphasis in Islam on silat al-rahm, on establishing the ties of kinship and making sure that you treat your family the best, and indeed, how can you be a good brother to your brother Muslim, or sister to your sister Muslim, if you can't be a good brother to your sibling, sister to your sibling? And you know what I'm thinking about, subhanAllah, as I'm just thinking about the times that we live in. We live in a time where shukr to parents, which should be the most obvious form of shukr, is gone. If that gratitude's gone, how are you going to be grateful to your siblings? And so yeah, we live in a time where people cut their parents off, of course they cut their siblings off as well, and I think that's just a sign, like, you know, another deeper
meaning of the ties of kinship being suspended from the throne of the most merciful, and that if we want to be connected to the most merciful, then we need to be connected as well to our ties of kinship. SubhanAllah, subhanAllah. Yeah. Alhamdulillah. Bi hurmati Muhammad al-Mustafa wa bi siri Surat al-Fatiha. Unite us as brothers in faith, inshaAllah, brothers and sisters in faith, it was a pleasure to have you. JazakAllah khair. Tell the brothers at IOK that we love them, man, tell them, tell Mufti Farhan, and actually to be fair, Mufti Farhan sent me a message from Umrah too, apologizing. I thought that was really nice of him to send a message from Umrah too, but we appreciate the work that all of the institutions are doing in the community, alhamdulillah. IOK is a gem out here in California, so SubhanAllah, Allah bless everyone at the Institute of Knowledge and especially Sheikh Ahmed, inshaAllah I will see you all tomorrow, assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.
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