Yusuf 39: My companions in prison! Is a multitude of deities better, or one Allah, whose might one cannot stand against?

A. Metin Saruhan · 13 June 2017 · Yusuf

Translation

My companions in prison! Is a multitude of deities better, or one Allah, whose might one cannot stand against?

Tafsir

Hazrat Yusuf 'alaihis-salâm' explains the truth to the two young men in this dungeon. After he has brought them to a certain consistency, when he has purified them from their egoic feelings and made them in a state where they can use their minds, he asks them: O my dungeon friends! Is it better to have various gods or one God whose power is irresistible? We have explained the various gods in the previous verses. We have told you that those who associate partners with Allah worship these gods by giving names to what they have made with their own hands and call it religion, and that these gods have no basis in fact, that they are fabrications, and that these gods can neither benefit nor harm them.

Hadrat Yusuf 'alaihis-salâm', after having brought his dungeon companions to a certain consistency, asked them whether it was better to have many gods in order for them to accept the religion of tawhid, or whether it was better to have one God whose power is irresistible. This is his way of asking them that there is no other God but Allah, the Creator of all that exists, and that Allah is the Almighty over all that He has created. Surely people who will use their minds will say Allah.

What is said in the video

May He protect us from such a life. Now in verse 39 he says: O my prison companions, are various gods better, or the one Allah, whose power cannot be withstood? How beautiful. After explaining these things, he now addresses them, them through reason.

Joseph (peace be upon him) explains the truths to the two young men in this prison. After bringing them to a certain maturity, purifying them from the feelings of the nafs, when he has brought them to a state where they will use their reason, he asks them: O my prison companions, are various gods better, or the one Allah, whose power cannot be withstood? We explained the various gods in the earlier verses. We had explained that those who associate partners with Allah made these gods with their own hands, gave them names and worshipped them, and called this religion, that they have no basis and no origin, that they are made-up things, that these gods bring them neither any benefit nor any harm.

Joseph (peace be upon him), after bringing his prison companions to a certain maturity, so that they would accept the religion of tawhid, said: Are many gods better, or the one Allah whose power cannot be resisted? His saying this, showing that there is no other god than Allah, the Creator of all that exists, and introducing in this way Allah, who has power over all that He created, is a question.

Yes indeed, people who use their reason will say: Allah. Yes.