 Dear brothers, dear sisters, the companions of the Prophet ﷺ came to the Prophet ﷺ to ask him one question, and they said, Ya Rasulallah, man-akramunnaas, O messenger of Allah, who is the most kareem amongst people, man-akramunnaas. This word is a very interesting word, because in its origin, we use this word kareem to say someone is kareem, i.e., someone is generous. But in its origin, the word kareem implies mobility. Man-akramunnaas, who is the most noble amongst people? And what's also interesting in this question is that they use what we say man, who. And this word in Arabic can imply an individual or can imply plural, a group. So it's a confusing question. And it is the only question that the Prophet ﷺ in his life had to answer three times before they really said what they really meant by the question. He said, who is the most noble amongst people, amongst men? He said the one who has the most taqwa. And the word taqwa is a word we use all the time. And insha'Allah, perhaps someone will talk about it in a khutba. But the word taqwa, asluhawawi. The word taqwa, asluhawawi. It comes from wikaya. Prevention, an ounce of prevention, is better than a kilogram or a pound of cure. They said that we're not asking about this. He said the most noble of people is Sayyidina Yusuf, Prophet Yusuf, alayhi salam. Al kareemu, binul kareem, ibnul kareem, ibnul kareem. The most noble of people is Yusuf, the son of Jacob, of Yaqub, the son of Ishaq, Isaac, the son of Ibrahim, Abraham. It comes from a family of prophets, from a family of nobility. He is noble, his father is noble, his grandfather is noble, and the great grandfather Sayyidina Ibrahim is the noblest of all of them. Today's khutba is about the story of Sayyidina Yusuf, alayhi salam. They said, we are not asking you about this. He said, are you asking me about who are the most noble amongst the Arabs? What makes a person the most noble? What makes a man? What makes a woman? What makes you? What kind of quality and traits are within you? And events around us will make those qualities manifest. If you're noble, you radiate nobility. And your nobility will manifest and will be displayed in your actions, in your words, in your behavior, in the way you talk, in the way you walk, in the way you glance at things, in the way you address issues. Why? Because what makes you is something unique. He said, khayyaruhum fil jahiliyati, khayyaruhum fil islami, idha thakuhu, bedamil qaf. Said the best of the Arabs are those who are best in the pre-Islamic time. Those will be best when they accept Islam, provided they achieve this quality of khayyaruhum, of deep understanding of the religion to the point that it becomes second nature. It becomes part of them. Those are the best people. As you know, or some of you might know, that the word khaka or khaka, it comes in three forms in Arabic. There is faqihah and faqihah and faquhah. And the Prophet ﷺ talked about the third level, which is the most advanced level, that if people prior to Islam were noble, were good, were best, and then they accept Islam, they will also be best provided they added to this a deep understanding of the religion that becomes second nature of them. Today's khutbah is very short. It's about Sayyidunah Yusuf ﷺ. And the story of Sayyidunah Yusuf, the tale of Yusuf, it's a tale that's appropriate for our time. It's appropriate for our situation. Many of us have faced many challenges in the last 14 months, and things are beginning to ease. The tale of Yusuf is a tale for everyone who at one point of time or many point of time feel low or feel distraught or feel stressed or is depressed. Reading the story of Yusuf when we were young, 10 years old, 11 years old, we used to find the story of Yusuf mysterious. You read it and you feel that you're in a different world. It transports you from this world to an amazing world. And the main character, Sayyidunah Yusuf ﷺ, has such an amazing qualities. Inshallah at the end we'll mention three of those qualities that made Yusuf who he is, sallallahu alaihi wasallam. The story began with someone, a boy, who saw a dream, and innocently he told his father about the dream. His father immediately recognized the implications of this dream, the dream that his young boy who was raised in a house of prophethood, him along with his brothers. His brothers were also raised in the same house of prophethood, and they come from a house of nobility and a family of nobility. An ancestry of nobility. He told them, don't tell anyone about this, don't tell anyone about this. When people hate you or when people envy you, they do not envy you because of your faults. People envy you because you have good qualities. They envy these qualities. People they don't like to compare their deficiency to your perfection because when they look at your qualities, they realize how deficient they are. And that makes people envy, envious. And as our ulema says that envy was the first sin that took place in heaven when Iblis envied Adam alaihi salam. And it's the first sin that took place on earth when the two children of Adam alaihi salam, one of them killed the other. It began with this dream. And soon Sayyidina Yusuf alaihi salam, it is said that he lived a very long time, about over 100 years. Most of his time was in prison. Most of his time, when he was a boy, he was thrown in the well. He was thrown in the well, and then he was sold as a slave to an influential house in Egypt, led by someone who is al-Aziz, someone like a minister. A political figure, a house of luxury, a house of gossip, a house of planning. He lived there as a slave, he lived there as a servant. He lived there having a master, someone who has control over him, someone who has an authority over him. Yusuf alaihi salam could not do what he wanted to do. He had no freedom to do it. And then the wife, his other master, because the wife of al-Aziz is also his master, she can command him and he has to obey. She fell in love with him, because as we are told by our Prophet alaihi salam, that Sayyidina Yusuf was given half of beauty. The story of Yusuf tells us we are really thankful for Sayyidina Yusuf. We are thankful because out of his story, hundreds of lessons can be learned and applied, and they're relevant to everyone of us throughout our lives. The first thing he told his father, his father had fears. And somehow he verbalized his fears. And the early messiah do not do that, because people will use it the exact same way. He says, And then his children said, Oh father, send them with us. We're going to take care of him. He's going to eat. He's going to play. And at the end of night, at the end of the night, they came to his father tell him, the wolf has eaten him. And they came crying. They could not face Yaqub, Sayyidina Yaqub in the daylight. They had to face him in the night. And they were crying, shedding tears. And Imam Qurtubi in his Tufsir says, This is a proof that not all those who shed tears are victims. Usually the perpetrators shed tears and they hide behind their tears. They hide behind their justification and behind their excuses. The story of Yusuf tells us about good and evil. That good and evil are not intrinsic in things. But rather in how you use them. So the shirt that Sayyidina Yusuf was wearing was used by the brothers, by his brother to tell his father that the wolf has eaten him. As our Ulama says, Good is what Sharia deemed as good. Evil is what Sharia has deemed evil. There is nothing intrinsic in themselves. God has created the things and has also created their qualities. The story of Yusuf tells us that you learn not only by going to schools, or by going to universities, or by going to colleges. Or by unrolling in programs. The true teacher is Allah SWT. So out of the story we will see that Lino'alima hu min ta'wilil ahadis. Ĉateina hu hukman wa'ilma. But as we purify ourselves we become ready to accept this knowledge from Allah SWT. The story of Sayyidina Yusuf, this knowledge from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. The story of Sayyidina Yusuf tells us that Al Karimu la yaghdur. The one who is noble will never betray those who are good to him or her. He says, ma'aaza Allah, innahu rabbi ahsanam asway ala ahadit tafsirain. The story of Yusuf tells us that quality people do not change. High quality people remain high quality. Even in the depths of prison, the two men who talked to Sayyidina Yusuf, they told him, innah, naraqa minan muhsinin. We see that you are of the good people. The story of Sayyidina Yusuf teaches us that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will choose something to save you and to help you and to assist us in ways that we've never thought of. And to assist Sayyidina Yusuf and to help him, he did not send angels. He did not send people, but he sent a dream. He sent a dream to the king or to the Aziz of Egypt. And this dream became a trigger for the change in Sayyidina Yusuf's life. The story of Yusuf tells us that being in a position of authority is taklif on lathashreef. It's a position of accountability and responsibility. It's not a position of luxury. Yusuf alayhi salam took the position of takhtit and tadbir, of planning and development. He took over the financial system and he took over the planning system. And shows us that corruption does not come from abundant materials, abundant resources. Corruption comes from mismanagement. If you manage things properly, even at a time of drought, you can find your way out of it with the assistance of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And he was able to show that to the point that people started coming from Jerusalem, from all over the places, because they've heard that in Egypt there is someone who knows how to manage very small resources in a way that can accommodate a lot of people. How wonderful is that? The story of Sayyidina Yusuf tells us that love has a scent. And only those who are in love will be able to sense it and smell it. Sayyidina Yaqub, when Prophet Yusuf told his brothers, take my shirt to my father in Jerusalem. Sayyidina Yaqub says, Inni la ajidu riha Yusuf. His father smelled the scent of Yusuf while the shirt was still in Egypt. Before the shirt was delivered to him. Sayyidina Yusuf, throughout his life, displayed an ability to always be grateful. And those are the three qualities that he had. He displayed the quality of sugar, he displayed the quality of sabr, and he displayed the quality of taqwa. Inna hu man yattaqi wa yasbir, he said at the end. He was always grateful. When he was in the depths of prison, he said, this is from the blessing of God on me. If I'm thrown in prison, I'm going to say it's oppression. I'm going to say this is injustice. He was thrown in prison, he said, this is a blessing from God. This is a blessing from Allah SWT. Because we don't know where the good is. I don't even know when I eat something whether it's good for me or not good for me. What's the impact of this food on me a week later? I don't know. He displayed this ability of always being grateful. You'll never ever find Yusuf in this story ever complaining about anything. Rather, in every step of the story, it displays his quality. He is a quality man. He is a quality prophet. He is a noble person. And instead of complaining, he is grateful. He is thankful. And when he faced hardships and predicaments, he is very patient. And when he told the person, the two people that asked him a question, he said, it was Kourni and Arabic. He was patient. And the person forgot. And Sayyidina Yusuf remained in the prison for 10, 20, 30 more years. Allah Allah, Allah knows best. But he remained patient. We face hardship all the time. And hardship is a test that really reveals to us who we are. What kind of people are we? Are we quality people? Are we noble people like Sayyidina Yusuf? Or are we not? And if we're not, what is it that we need to do to become like Sayyidina Yusuf? The story of prophets are important in the sense that each and every prophet is an expert in something, teaches us something. If you want to learn patience, you go to Sayyidina Nuh. He admonishes people for 950 years. Can you do that? I tell my children something the first time, second time, third time, I'm fed up. And those are people beloved to me. Every prophet teaches us something. And our prophet, peace be upon him, teaches us everything. He's an expert in everything, peace be upon him. I hope, inshallah, that all of us will read the Qur'an with this incentive is to measure us according to the standards of the Qur'an and the standards of those people who are role models for us. And are there to teach us something? How did they behave in situations that I'm facing? This is relevant to our children, to our families, to our communities. I say this in the Qur'an, and I forgive Allah. All praise is due to Allah, and many as He has commanded. And I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, and no partner. And I bear witness that our master and prophet, Muhammad, his servant and his messenger, may Allah be pleased with him, his family, his companions, and all those who died in their eyes. He refused to deliver his message, and said to him,ْ إِنْتَهُ عَمَّنَهَا عَنْهُ وَزَجَرَۭ وَأَخْرِجُ حَبَّدْ دُنْئا مِنْ قُلُوبِكُمْ فَإِنَّهُ إِذَ استَولَا أَسَرْ وَعَلَمُ النَّالَهَا عَزَّ وَجَلَّ أَمَرَكُمْ بِأَمْرِنْ عَمِيمٌ بَدَى آفِيهِ بِنَفْسَهُ وَسَنَّا بِمَلَائِكَةِ قُدُوسَهُ Salamu salluhu alayhi wa sallimu taslimaa Allahumma fa salli wa sallim wa barik ala Sayyidina Muhammad wa ala ala Sayyidina Muhammad salatan wa salaman da'imayni mutalazimayni ila yawmiddin wa radhi Allahu an-sadaqil khulafa al-sahabat al-nujabaa abibakirin wa umar wa awsman wa alayyi wa an-sar al-sahabati wa al-karabati wa taba'een wa man tabi'ahum bi ihsan ila yawmiddin Allahumma an-saril islam wa al-muslimin wa a'aliyya maulana kalimat al-iman wa al-haqq wa al-din Allahumma man-arada bil-islami wa al-muslimina khayran fa wafiqhu li kulli khayran wa man-arada bil-islami wa al-muslimina ga'ira zalika fa khuzu wa aqza azeezan muqtadir tawalla al-muslimina fi hazeel baldat wa sahir bilad il-islami b'ayn i'ina yatik wa bi'atammir i'ayatik wa abdel usrana ya maulana yusran aajilan ga'ira aajilin ya rabbal alameen Allahumma kfir li al-muslimina wa al-muslimat wa al-mu'minina wa al-mu'minat al-ahya'i minhum wa al-amwad innaka ya maulana sami'um kareeb mojibu al-dawad ibad Allah innallaha ya'mur bil-adali wa al-ihsan wa ita'iz al-kurba wa yannha anil fahshayi wa al-munkari wa al-baqi ya'idukum la'allakum tazakkarun wa aqrim al-salam