10th Taraweeh Summary 1445 H

Understanding the Quran During Taraweeh

All Praises to Allah, The Beneficent, The Merciful.

10th Taraweeh Summary, Ramadan 1445 Hijri
Summary of Verses 11:50 13:18
Sura Hud (Verses 11:50-123)
Prophets Hud, Salih, and Shuaib (AS) brought the same message of Tawhid to their respective people: "O my people, worship Allah. You have no other god but Him. (11:50)

The people rejected the message and were destroyed. Pharaoh rejected the message of the Oneness of Allah that Prophet Musa (AS) preached, and he and his followers were swallowed by the sea.

When Shuaib (AS) is mocked by his own Madyan people after he exhorts them to worship Allah. You have no other God but Him (11:84), he tells them, I only desire what is good for you to the best of my power. And my success in my task can only come from Allah. In Him I trust and unto Him I turn. (11:88)

(Notice how Shuaib (AS) attributes his success or ability (Taufiq) to Allah alone. At all times we must remember that any gift Allah has blessed us with is exactly that, a gift that we must humbly acknowledge, and which must never fill us with pride or arrogance, for Allah could easily have given it to someone else. What is the ultimate purpose of such a gift? To earn the pleasure of Allah, the supreme triumph. (9:72))

Allah says about those who rejected the messages of His prophets: It was not We who wronged them. They wronged their souls. When your Lords judgment came upon them, the gods they called upon besides Allah availed them nothing. They only added to their ruin. (11:101)

Those who disobey Allah shall be in the fire, where there will be nothing but the heaving sighs and sobs. (11:106) But those blessed will be in the Garden. They will dwell therein so long as the heavens and the earth endure, except as your Lord wills, a gift without break. (11:108)

The centrality of prayers in a believers life is emphasized: Establish regular prayers at the two ends of the day and the approaches of the night. Good deeds make up for evil ones. This is an admonition for thoughtful people. (11:114)

It was Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w) who taught us the specific forms of daily prayers, but this verse suggests that the number of daily prayers is five. (Other Quranic verses that refer to the daily prayers and their timings are (2:238), (17:78), (20:130), (30:17-18), and (50:39-40)).

The Sura ends with a sublime affirmation: To Allah belongs the unseen of the heavens and the earth. And to Him go back every affair for decision. So worship Him and put your trust in Him and your Lord is not unmindful of all that you do. (11:123)

(In several verses of Sura Hud, Allah addresses the Prophet (s.a.w) directly no less than eighteen times, describing the fate of the Ad, the Thamud, the Madyan, Pharaoh, and others. It filled the Prophet (s.a.w) with fear about the fate of his own Ummah. As reported by Tarmidhi in his Sunan: The Prophet (s.a.w) is reported to have said: Hud and its sister Suras  al-Waqiah, al-Mursalat, an-Naba and at-Takwir are the cause of my gray hair. A close reading of these Suras explains why.)

(Sura Yusuf is a Makkan Sura)
Sura Yusuf (Verses 12:1-111)
The Quran calls the story of Prophet Yusuf (AS) the most beautiful of stories for several reasons: a) It is the most detailed of any story in the Quran that includes Yusuf, his father Yaqub (Jacob), his blood brother Binyamin (Benjamin), his ten stepbrothers and several other characters, each revelatory of human strengths and weaknesses b) It is full of instances of the ups and downs of life experienced by both men and women c) It contrasts nobility with pettiness, complete trust in Allah with lack of it, and the enduring nature of virtues in a shifting world of falsehood.

We have sent it down as an Arabic Quran so that you may learn wisdom. In it We relate to you the most beautiful of stories (12:2-3)

Yusuf is mentioned 27 times in the Quran. Of these, 25 mentions are in Sura Yusuf. The remaining two are in (6:84) and (40:34).

Prophet Yaqub (AS) inherited his religious mantle from his father Ishaq (AS), who had inherited it from his father Ibrahim (AS). It is reasonable, therefore, to expect Yusuf to have inherited his fathers legacy.
The story of Yusuf (AS) and his family is well known. What interests us are its timeless lessons. Some of these are:

Trust in Allah and contented patience go together: The theme of the Sura is suggested in verse 67 in which Yaqub (AS) says: Judgment as to what is to happen rests with Allah alone. On Him do I put my trust: and let all who have trust in His existence put their trust on Him alone." (12:67) Yaqubs foremost virtue was Sabrun Jamilun. These two words appear together in verses (12:18) and (12:83) which mean beautiful, contented patience. In (12:18), Yaqub declares his undying faith in Allah by exercising beautiful patience when his sons lie to him and tell him that a wolf ate Yusuf: For me, beautiful patience is most fitting. Against what you assert, it is Allah alone whose help can be sought.  In (12:83) it is prophet Yaqub again who responds with beautiful patience after being informed by his sons that Yusufs brother Binyamin has been found guilty of stealing and so has been taken captive by the Aziz: (Yaqub) said, " your souls have enticed you to something, so contented patience is most fitting. Perhaps Allah will bring all of them to me. Indeed, it is He who is the Knowing, the Wise." Notice the qualifier Jamilun with Sabrun. This beautiful patience is active patience, patience that manifests itself as complete reliance on Allah. It is not the passive patience we exhibit when there isnt anything we can do to change the situation we are in. For instance, when caught in a traffic jam, we have no choice but to be patient even though we are seething inside. There is no beauty or contentment in this kind of patience. Likewise, in a family in which a spouse makes an unfair claim or says something provocative, the other spouse may outwardly display patience by remaining silent while raging inside. It is not sabrun jamilun. Forced patience can never reach the exalted height of beautiful patience. Yet it is sabrun jamilun that we must aspire to if we expect to be rewarded by Allah, for it is this active patience, expressed through forbearance and total reliance on Allahs judgment, that we fulfill our obligations as believers. This is expressed in verse (12:90) later in the story when Yusuf finally reveals himself to his brothers and Yaqub says: Those who fear Allah and patiently persevere, Allah will not deny them their reward.

Faith will overcome temptation if awareness of Allah resonates constantly in the heart: And with passion did she desire him, and he would have desired her, but that he saw the evidence of his Lord: thus did We order that We might turn away from him all evil and shameful deeds: for he was one of Our servants, sincere and purified. (12:24) Also, "O my Lord! Prison is more to my liking than that to which they invite me. Unless You turn away their snares from me, I should in my youthful folly feel inclined towards them and join the ranks of the ignorant. So his Lord listened to him and turned away their snares from him. (12:33) The important thing to note is that Yusuf knew, even in his extreme moment of weakness, that only by asking Allah for help could he save himself.

When lifes challenges feel overwhelming, seek only Allahs help: He (Yaqub AS) said: I only complain of my hurt and anguish to Allah (12:86)

To despair of Allahs mercy is to disbelieve: Yaqub (AS) tells his sons, and never give up hope of Allahs soothing mercy. Truly no one despairs of Allahs soothing mercy except those who have no faith. (12:87) In other words, to despair is to disbelieve.

Forgiveness is nobler than revenge: Yusuf (AS) could have taken revenge on his stepbrothers for the sorrow they caused his father and for his own tribulations. Instead, after all the disclosures have been made and secrets revealed, he told his brothers: This day you are free of reproach. May Allah forgive you. He is the most merciful of all. (12:92)

Develop gifts even under adversity: Yusuf (AS) knew that Allah had blessed him with a unique gift, the gift of interpreting dreams. Even in prison (12:35-37), instead of giving in to despair and bitterness, he practiced his gift as a way of thanking Allah. Developing in adversity whatever gifts and aptitudes we may have been blessed with is a way of thanking Allah. There is no room for idlers, whiners, excuse-makers, and kismet-blamers in Islam.

Mysteries of premonition and the world of the Unseen are real, even if access is granted only to a few: All through the ordeal of Yusufs (AS) long absence, Yaqub (AS) knew in his heart and his unshakable faith in Allah that his son was alive. The father hopes and the son acts. They are connected across time and space through their faith in the Divine. (Yusuf then said to his brothers) Take this shirt of mine and throw it over my fathers face. He shall recover his sight. Then come together with all your family. (12:93) Hundreds of miles away, Yaqub (AS) exclaimed: I do indeed scent the presence of Yusuf! (12:94) And when Yusufs shirt was placed over his face and he regained his sight, he said, Did I not tell you that I know from Allah which you do not? (12:96)

Show gratitude to the One to Whom gratitude is due: When the family was reunited, Yusuf said, "O my father! This is the fulfillment of my vision of old! Allah has made it come true! He was indeed good to me when He took me out of prison and brought you all here out of the desert, even after Shaitan had sown enmity between me and my brothers. Surely my Lord understands best the mysteries of all that He plans to do, for He is full of knowledge and wisdom. O my Lord! You have indeed bestowed on me some power and taught me something about the interpretation of dreams and events. O Creator of the heavens and the earth! You are my Protector in this world and in the Hereafter. Take my soul at death as one submitting to Your will as a Muslim and unite me with the righteous." (12:100-101) This profound supplication to Allah summarizes for the believer a holistic confluence of Tawhid, humility, grace, and gratitude.

(Sura Ar-Rad is a Madinan Sura)
Sura Ar-Rad (Thunder) (Verses 13:1-18)
If our external conditions are grim and our situations hopeless, we need to change the content of our hearts to transform ourselves: Surely, Allah will never change the condition of a people unless they change their inner selves. (13:11) (We find this verse also in 8:53)

Evergreen Islamic Center, San Jose, CA 95148.
You can forward Taraweeh summaries to family members and friends but please give attribution to Evergreen Islamic Center of San Jose, California.