 As-salamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu. This is the second series in Reflections on the Quran during this month of Ramadan. The month of Ramadan al-lady unzila fihi al-Quran that Allah says, this is the month of Ramadan that I have revealed the Quran. So we want to take this month of fasting to draw us nearer to the Quran. And even for those who are not fasting because of illness or otherwise, you can still have that element of drawing nearer to the Quran. That's why I try to when I ask people how about this month, I don't say how's the fasting. I say how's Ramadan because Ramadan is so much more than the fasting. There are people who for whatever reason, they're not able to fast and they still benefit from this month. We shouldn't think that the benefit from this month is only in the fasting. The fasting is an element, but it's a platform that gives us other tools. But the core is that this blessed month has a secret to it. Allah has not only revealed the Quran during this month, but according to a hadith, Allah has revealed all the previous books and scriptures. So the Suhuf of Ibrahim al-Alam and Musa, the scriptures of Abraham and Moses were revealed during this month. The Zaboor, the Psalms of Dawood, David al-Alam were revealed during this month. The Torah of Musa al-Alam, the Torah was revealed during this month of Ramadan. The Injil was given to Isa al-Alam revealed to him during this month. So Subhanallah, this is a month of revelation. And during this month, we want to draw nearer to the Quran as the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam would recite the Quran more during this month. And we see also the early generations and up until now, Muslim cultures turn to focus on the Quran. So we want to do whatever we can to draw nearer to the Quran. And one of the best ways to draw nearer to the Quran is to understand the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. Why? You know, sometimes some people may ask, why didn't the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam write a tafsir and explanation to the Quran? Because when they hear verses and some scholars say, well, this verse means this or this verse means that, they say, well, why didn't he write a version of the tafsir to explain it? Well, the response is that he was the tafsir. When people ask Aisha, explain to us or tell us about the character of the noble messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, she said, his character was the Quran. So if we want to understand what are the teachings and lessons in an embodied form, we look at the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. So I encourage you to study the seerah as part of drawing nearer to the Quran. I have a friend who said that every Ramadan he makes a commitment to read a different seerah, a different version of the seerah, meaning a different author. Because each author will look at the seerah from a different angle, a different lens. The seerah is so extensive. I mean, there's multiple large volumes to record the seerah. So just pick one. It could be whatever in any language. And learning more about his life sallallahu alaihi wa sallam will draw us nearer to the Quran. Now, to continue with the theme of ring structure in the Quran and one of the amazing elements of the Quran is this structure that we can find that was spoken about early in by the scholars, by the traditional and classical scholars, but has been looked at by this book, Structure and Quranic Interpretation by Dr. Raymond Farron. And last in the last video, we looked at the surat al-Baqarah and the structure, which basically the structure goes like ABC and then CBA or ABC BA. ABCD, CBA, it has this mirroring element. So this is the ring that is creating. And then even within the surah, even within each A, you can find other elements of this repeated pattern, this mirrored pattern. So let's look at two things. We're going to look at the entire surah of Yusuf alaihi sallam and how it breaks down into this mirrored pattern and angles in to a central theme. And then we should reflect on this central theme. So in the previous video, the central theme was the qiblah. And so we have to think about what is our direction in life and what is our qiblah in life in addition to the qiblah for prayer. But what meaning can we get in terms of finding a direction in life and what is driving us and what is motivating us and what is our qiblah in the metaphorical sense? So what is at the heart of this surah? In fact, the heart of the entire Quran is, and I'll leave that one to you. What is the heart of the entire Quran? What is the central, the heart of the Quran? So let's look for the heart of this surah, surah to Yusuf. So it begins with a prologue, there's an introduction. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala introduces, he doesn't go straight into the story. There's a discussion of where he says that he reveals the best of the stories. And then he begins by telling the story of Yusuf, so A is the prologue, the introduction, and B is the story of Yusuf, and now in that story of B, we have another structure that's presenting itself. The story of Yusuf, Joseph, as mentioned in the Quran, has A, the dream. It begins with the dream. Then B, the brother's trick, the trick of the brothers, the well, and the travel to Egypt. And we see C, where Yusuf, A is established in the house. Remember, he was taken out from the well by a caravan passing by. One of the brothers came back and they sold him into that slavery. And it's interesting to remember, at the time when he was in the well, he was about nine years old. So think about that, a nine-year-old boy being taken out by his older brothers that he adores, every younger brother or younger sibling adores their older siblings. And then they trick their father to take care of him, and then he's thrown down the well. And then he's brought out of the well. But even in being saved from the well, his brothers now sell him into slavery. And the Quran says, for a cheap price. And one of the tafseed mentions that it was something like 60,000 or 70,000 dirhams, which was a lot of money. But even that large amount of money was little for who Yusuf, alaihi salam, was. Now imagine this nine-year-old boy being taken on a caravan into a land that he doesn't know where he's going. At the time, there was actually a storm that came out, a sandstorm in the desert that came upon the caravan. And one of the caravan people, the leader of that caravan, he said, we know we have somebody that's a righteous person amongst us. Because what we're doing, it's not right what we're doing. So he's taken out of the land, and then he's established in the house. As he grows older, now D, there's an attempt to seduce him. And now, and then there's two attempts to seduce him from the wife of the Aziz, the wife of the leader of the land at that time. And then the women in his court, after they wondered why she was doing that. And then he goes to prison. And then in the prison, there's the prisoner's dreams. There's Yusuf, alaihi salam preaching to the people, calling them to iman, consoling them. One person mentioned to me, he said, the first prison chaplain was Yusuf, alaihi salam. And what a wonderful and blessed chaplain he was. And then the king's dream. So that's right there at the core. Now we're gonna go, we're gonna start the mirroring process. But think about what is the prisoner's dreams, what do they mean? And Joseph's sermon, what does it mean? And the king's dream, we should think about these elements. You know, there's other things, I had one of the students that I teach who was in prison, and he wrote a paper, he called it The Three Shirts of Joseph. And when I read it, I said, The Three Shirts of Joseph. Now think about it, where are the three shirts of Joseph in the surah? I won't tell you, you're gonna have to reflect. There's three shirts in that surah. And there's three parts of this, of right in the middle. The prisoner's dreams, the Joseph sermon, and the king's dream. Then he gets out, there's admission of guilt and seeking of forgiveness on the part of the women who tried to seduce him. This matches up with the attempt to seduction. So D was attempt at seduction, he goes to prison and the dreams and the prisoner's dreams, he comes out, now there's an admission of guilt and seeking of forgiveness, which mirrors both in concept and in structure, the first one. Then see, Joseph is established in the land because he's made the minister of agriculture. When he interprets the dream of the king, then he says, Put me in charge of the storehouses of the land. I am a good preserver and very knowledgeable, and now he becomes the minister of agriculture. Think about that, from a boy taken from his family, sold into slavery, being a servant in the house, becoming a prisoner. And now this person who was at the depths of society is now the minister of agriculture, he was established in the land. And this mirrors his being established in the house because he went from being a slave, he could have been sold into any household, but he went and Allah put him in the household of the Aziz. And so again, it goes dream, brother's trick and the well. Joseph established in the house, attempts at seduction, the prisoner's dreams, now we go back, admission of guilt and forgiveness. Joseph is established in the land. Then B, remember what Yusuf alaihi salam did when his brothers came? And he put some of their bags back after saying, we're not going to take the, we put the money back. So he gave them their food, their rations, and he gave them their money back. And they went back to their father and then they came back and they brought Benjamin with them. And when they tried to leave, they put the king's cup in the caravan. And so that was a, that was a type of a, of a ploy, of a trick that mirrors this be the brother's tricks. So the brothers did a trick, Yusuf did a trick. Then there was an element of a drinking cup. There was the element before of the well and being in water and then travel to Egypt. They were traveling to Egypt. So look at Subhanallah, how this is mirroring. The brothers are now traveling to Egypt. The brothers were tricked and there was the drinking cup. The previous one was Yusuf was taken out of a well with water. He travels to Egypt because of the trick of the brothers and then the dream is fulfilled. And this mirrors him telling the, Yusuf alaihi salam telling his father about the dream. So it's dream, the trick in the travel to Egypt, established in the house, attempts at seductions, the prisoner's dreams, the Joseph sermon, and the king's dream, the admission of guilt, forgiveness, matching up with the seduction. Joseph established in the land, matching up with established in the house. Joseph's tricks, the drinking cup traveled to Egypt, and then the dream fulfilled. And Subhanallah, it's, you know, sometimes people make dua and they say, why doesn't Allah answer my dua? The response is, well, Allah said he will respond to, he will answer your dua. He didn't say when, sometimes people want it to be immediate. From the time that Yusuf alaihi salam had his dream until, and he went through all of that, that entire story, until it was fulfilled. Because he saw the sun and the moon and the, and the planets prostrating to him. And then his mother and his father came in and his brothers and they all bowed out of respect to him. So the dream was fulfilled. It took 40 years, 40, 40 years for that to happen. So we may make a dua and it might come true, become real immediately. It might take 40 years to, to, to come, to be fulfilled. And then there's an epilogue. This is Subhanallah. This should, this shows us the miracle of the Quran. The other element is that, and I mentioned that sometimes we'll find these ring structures within the surah, even though there's the, the, the general theme that has this mirroring pattern, we'll also find it within that. So let's go back to the brothers and what they did with Yusuf alaihi salam. And we'll end on that. So the brothers get together. This is the first part, the A, the brothers talk about Yusuf. One suggests killing him or banishing him to a foreign land. Another suggests throwing him down a well where he may be picked up by a caravan party. B, the brothers are sure the father, they will watch over Joseph. The father worries that a wolf may devour him when they are not watching. So that's the B, the brothers agree to cast Joseph in a well. God reveals to Joseph that he will one day tell his brother the truth of this matter. Remember, and that took 40 years for it to happen. And he never doubted Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And then that's the, that's, that's the, the heart of this, of this section. He's in the well and God reveals the truth to him. Does wahi revelation. So this is, even though we have the hadith that all of the prophets were sent when they were 40, 40 years old. Yusuf is one of the exceptions to that because he, he received revelation as a nine year old boy. There's another prophet who also received revelation before 40. I'll leave that as a question to you. I'll answer it in the next video as well. So remember the three shirts of, of Joseph. Who was the other prophet revealed before 40? And how old was he or about how old was he? What stage of his life was he? That's the quiz, your homework for the next video. So the brothers cast Joseph into the well. God reveals the, the, the, the one day the truth will come out. Then the brothers in tears tell the father that a wolf devoured Joseph. So remember they went to the father and they asked him, send Joseph with us and they're happy. We're going to go have a picnic. Send, he says, I'm afraid a wolf will devour him. Then they come in tears and they say a wolf did devour him. And they showed him the bloody shirt. The father doesn't believe them and affirms that patience is the most fitting. He says, I will have sub him. Then a caravan party passes by finds Joseph and they take him like an item of merchandise. That mirrors back with the caravan party. So we have the brothers getting together, throwing down a well where he might be picked up by a caravan party. The brothers talk to the father, assure him that the father is worried that a wolf might devour him. He's in a well. God reveals the truth. Then the brothers come back to the, in tears to the father, tell him that a wolf devoured him and then a caravan party does come back. So you see this structure in the Quran. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala draw us all closer to the Quran in understanding and in implementation of the Quran. Jazakum Allah khair. As-salamu alaikum wa rahmatullah.