“The soul longs for union with the divine. And that union is only possible through love - a love proved through submission. And that submission is the soul of Islam.“…True!
“Zulaykha thought love was joy, intimacy, and pleasure. What she learned through humiliation and separation was that love is, in fact, the arduous journey to choose the love of the beloved over love of oneself. We are all Zulaykha, and Allah is our Yusuf. Until we are willing to submit our desire for own pleasure to our love for Him, we will never experience the joy of His love.”
An eloquent and thought-provoking analysis. JazakAllah khayr for sharing.
Please allow me to share on my facebook with credit to you.
It’s a breathtakingly beautiful piece of writing and it should be shared far and wide. May Allah سبحانه و تعالى grant us His love that encompasses the love we have for anything or anyone in this world. Ameen
Allah is our Yusuf and we are Zulaikha, forever struggling to reach His love. Stumbling, falling and failing, then rising and renewing our love and loyalty. I guess that’s how it will be till our last breath.
It brought tears to my eyes how much I can relate to it.
I've walked into a web of PhD candidates; you're the third; and I'm loving it! Y'all sure bring that Doctor level thought-jutsu to the game, eh? I utterly loved this post, and I kid you not, I was kicking my legs in the air with excitement in the first third of the post as you set up the inquiry into Zulaykha's psychology and how Yusuf AS framed his question to the king. My go-to praise for poets and writers is that their post is "well-penned," but for the thrill I felt reading this, I'll say it was brilliantly penned. @Ali Hammoud noted it was phenomenal, and it certainly is. Well done!
My only qualm is with this sentence, "We are all Zulaykha, and Allah is our Yusuf." I have no issues with being metaphorized as Zulaykha, but the phrase "Allah is our Yusuf" sits unwell with me. I fully understand the point you're making, but I feel it is not befitting of Allah swt with His Might and incomparability to creation (ليس كمثله شيئ) to be metaphorized as Yusuf. I would be happy with anything along the lines of, "We are all Zulaykha, and we must choose to love the beloved more than ourselves. Unless we are willing..." You get the idea. I would not have mentioned this if, to me, it didn't add a strange and somewhat unpleasant aftertaste to this absolute mic drop of an article. Wallahu a3lam. Just my 2 cents and a bowl of cherries as praise.
I'm thinking I might send this to my sheikh to see his thoughts on it. Keep up the great writes and I look forward to reading more!
Interestingly, for the Sufis, this is exactly how they interpret the story - as a metaphor for divine love where Zulaykha is the human longing for the beloved.
Union does not nessarily mean annihilation. I'm more on the side of Iqbal and Rumi, in which they affirm both the longing for togetherness with the divine as well as the distinction of essential existence. To me, union is achieved through knowledge of mutual loving and pleasure, which is alluded to in the Quran in multiple places
I appreciate your perspective, I still feel it's problematic to use such terms which are easily misunderstood and have some truly troubling extremes which the layperson's not prepared to sort out. Allaah knows best.
Thanks for this write up, I never thought of it in this way. I do want to understand though - Zulaykha symbolised to me selfish unbridled lust, and most of all, having adulterous desires despite being married. I find it hard to stomach this analysis acknowledging that she was a married woman chasing after a slave. There is harsh language for such behaviour otherwise in the Quran and yet, in this Surah, the women cutting their hands is mentioned almost like a redemption for Zulaykha. How does one reconcile this, and how are we ought to feel about Zulaykha? She is not outright deemed as evil, I gather.
Not only is Zulaykha not summarily condemned, in the tafsir tradition, it's generally related that she marries Yusuf (as). The Sufis in particular see this as a metaphor for divine love - loving desperately, transgressing horribly, repenting and finally realizing the dream.
I personally see Zulaykha as a very sympathetic villain whose trial is very difficult. Most likely a younger woman married to an older man, she is forced to cohabit with the most beautiful creature on earth whose character and countenance is even greater than his beauty. Is she to be blamed for falling desperately in love with him?
But she is blamed for her actions of seduction and conspiracy. But Surat Yusuf is also a Surah of redemption, and she is redeemed in the end. That is a far more beautiful story than one in which she is simply a lust driven temptress.
Interesting thank you for sharing! Would you have any credible sources that cite her marriage to Yusuf AS? I'm finding this fact to be rooted more in Jewish tradition from my brief research
I don't take a definitive position on whether or not she married Yusuf (as), though I think it's a natural conclusion to the narrative given the general themes of the story regarding redemption, separation, and union.
That being said, the point of mentioning it wasn't to say that it is a definitive position - rather, it was to show that the tafsir tradition itself didn't see Zulaykha as irredeemable and inherently evil. And I think that reading fits will with the very subtle allusions to the same throughout the quranic narrative
“The soul longs for union with the divine. And that union is only possible through love - a love proved through submission. And that submission is the soul of Islam.“…True!
“Zulaykha thought love was joy, intimacy, and pleasure. What she learned through humiliation and separation was that love is, in fact, the arduous journey to choose the love of the beloved over love of oneself. We are all Zulaykha, and Allah is our Yusuf. Until we are willing to submit our desire for own pleasure to our love for Him, we will never experience the joy of His love.”
An eloquent and thought-provoking analysis. JazakAllah khayr for sharing.
Thank you.
Phenomenal reflection — it opens up a whole new angle from which to read the best of stories.
This made a lot of sense. Allah is our Yusuf and Allah has given us a full lesson in relationships.
Yusuf(as) needed to be taken out of prison and have his dignity and freedom restored and Zulaykha needed to choose humility & truth.
I'll be writing more of these close readings iA. Glad you found it beneficial
very interesting insights from this surah and hadith. jazakallah khayr brother
Jazak'Allah Khair!!
Deeply moving article.
Allahumma barik!
جزاك الله خيرًا
Sure I will do that.
Thank you and may Allah accept from you.
Please allow me to share on my facebook with credit to you.
It’s a breathtakingly beautiful piece of writing and it should be shared far and wide. May Allah سبحانه و تعالى grant us His love that encompasses the love we have for anything or anyone in this world. Ameen
Allah is our Yusuf and we are Zulaikha, forever struggling to reach His love. Stumbling, falling and failing, then rising and renewing our love and loyalty. I guess that’s how it will be till our last breath.
It brought tears to my eyes how much I can relate to it.
I'm glad you found it moving. If you feel othees will benefit as well, please do share. I just request a link to the substack be posted
I've walked into a web of PhD candidates; you're the third; and I'm loving it! Y'all sure bring that Doctor level thought-jutsu to the game, eh? I utterly loved this post, and I kid you not, I was kicking my legs in the air with excitement in the first third of the post as you set up the inquiry into Zulaykha's psychology and how Yusuf AS framed his question to the king. My go-to praise for poets and writers is that their post is "well-penned," but for the thrill I felt reading this, I'll say it was brilliantly penned. @Ali Hammoud noted it was phenomenal, and it certainly is. Well done!
My only qualm is with this sentence, "We are all Zulaykha, and Allah is our Yusuf." I have no issues with being metaphorized as Zulaykha, but the phrase "Allah is our Yusuf" sits unwell with me. I fully understand the point you're making, but I feel it is not befitting of Allah swt with His Might and incomparability to creation (ليس كمثله شيئ) to be metaphorized as Yusuf. I would be happy with anything along the lines of, "We are all Zulaykha, and we must choose to love the beloved more than ourselves. Unless we are willing..." You get the idea. I would not have mentioned this if, to me, it didn't add a strange and somewhat unpleasant aftertaste to this absolute mic drop of an article. Wallahu a3lam. Just my 2 cents and a bowl of cherries as praise.
I'm thinking I might send this to my sheikh to see his thoughts on it. Keep up the great writes and I look forward to reading more!
Interestingly, for the Sufis, this is exactly how they interpret the story - as a metaphor for divine love where Zulaykha is the human longing for the beloved.
Interesting indeed! You learn something new everyday eh?
You had me on board until the whole 'souls union with the divine'. Too much extreme mysticism for me.
Union does not nessarily mean annihilation. I'm more on the side of Iqbal and Rumi, in which they affirm both the longing for togetherness with the divine as well as the distinction of essential existence. To me, union is achieved through knowledge of mutual loving and pleasure, which is alluded to in the Quran in multiple places
I appreciate your perspective, I still feel it's problematic to use such terms which are easily misunderstood and have some truly troubling extremes which the layperson's not prepared to sort out. Allaah knows best.
Thanks for this write up, I never thought of it in this way. I do want to understand though - Zulaykha symbolised to me selfish unbridled lust, and most of all, having adulterous desires despite being married. I find it hard to stomach this analysis acknowledging that she was a married woman chasing after a slave. There is harsh language for such behaviour otherwise in the Quran and yet, in this Surah, the women cutting their hands is mentioned almost like a redemption for Zulaykha. How does one reconcile this, and how are we ought to feel about Zulaykha? She is not outright deemed as evil, I gather.
Not only is Zulaykha not summarily condemned, in the tafsir tradition, it's generally related that she marries Yusuf (as). The Sufis in particular see this as a metaphor for divine love - loving desperately, transgressing horribly, repenting and finally realizing the dream.
I personally see Zulaykha as a very sympathetic villain whose trial is very difficult. Most likely a younger woman married to an older man, she is forced to cohabit with the most beautiful creature on earth whose character and countenance is even greater than his beauty. Is she to be blamed for falling desperately in love with him?
But she is blamed for her actions of seduction and conspiracy. But Surat Yusuf is also a Surah of redemption, and she is redeemed in the end. That is a far more beautiful story than one in which she is simply a lust driven temptress.
Interesting thank you for sharing! Would you have any credible sources that cite her marriage to Yusuf AS? I'm finding this fact to be rooted more in Jewish tradition from my brief research
I don't take a definitive position on whether or not she married Yusuf (as), though I think it's a natural conclusion to the narrative given the general themes of the story regarding redemption, separation, and union.
That being said, the point of mentioning it wasn't to say that it is a definitive position - rather, it was to show that the tafsir tradition itself didn't see Zulaykha as irredeemable and inherently evil. And I think that reading fits will with the very subtle allusions to the same throughout the quranic narrative