Surah Yusuf, Patience, and the Concept of Family

Occasion: Transcript of a Tahajjud khatira delivered on March 11, 2026 Source: Transcript of a recorded khatira by Dr. Ahmed Abou Seif, watch the original video on YouTube

We ask ourselves when Surah Yusuf came to the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. Some of the scholars said it came after a long struggle, in a time of really tough pressure: everybody had come against Islam and the Muslims, and the Prophet ﷺ in particular. Allah sent him this surah to show him a few things.

Look at Yusuf, peace be upon him

If your relatives, your uncles and cousins, come against you, remember that here is someone whose own brothers came against him. If you feel confined, look at Yusuf: he was surrounded by disbelievers, against him and beside him in the same place at the same time.

And if you feel you cannot deliver your message right now, look at Yusuf: he was in the same position, and more than you. Yet the outcome in his own time was that he became one of the elite, at the very top, the person giving the rules to the whole community.

The only thing you need to learn from the position of Yusuf, and from your own situation right now, is to be patient and to believe in the Giver of everything in this life, Allah, glory be to Him, the Most High. Otherwise you are not qualified to carry the message of Allah.

The concept of family

One of the main and important things in this surah is the concept of family. What is the meaning of family? How much can we sacrifice to keep our position as part of a family?

One of the main things that hurt Yusuf in that time was that he was not with his father and his brothers, and not with his son. Imagine we saw someone right now deliberately leaving his children and going away because of desires, because of money, because he does not agree with his wife. Or imagine a wife leaving her children behind.

And the concept of family did not come only here. We find it in the actions of Hajj: everybody comes from everywhere, the whole world, just to imitate the actions and steps of one family. We have three parts of that family: Ibrahim, the father; the mother, the wife; and the son. We have the first generation and the second generation, and both came together to give us this result.

Two fathers, two sons

I usually ask this question. Ibrahim, peace be upon him, had a son, and Nuh, peace be upon him, had a son. Ibrahim did not stay long with his son. Nuh stayed with his son for hundreds of years, nine hundred and fifty or eight hundred or seven hundred, it does not matter. Ibrahim was something like a traveler; he did not stay in one place for long. It is narrated that he visited his family in Mecca, asked about them, and went back. Which of the two spent more time with his son? No doubt it was Nuh.

But look at the results. Today you are really proud of the son of Ibrahim. And the son of Nuh? What will you say about him? Nothing. We do not even know his name.

The role of the mother

When we look at the parents, we find a different position between the two fathers, and a different position between the two mothers. One of them took care of her child, staying around him and covering him with her care and feeling. The other did not believe in the concept of family. So you find the mother here taking care of the child and the result is what it is.

This is my advice to myself, to my wife, and to all of our sisters: you are the core of the family. As long as you give full attention to the family, they will stay on track, and you will never miss them, anytime, anywhere; they will stay with you.

But as much as we turn our attention elsewhere, working hard and collecting money from here and there, the mother's part is more important than mine. Allah, glory be to Him, created me to be out of the door as much as I can and in the door as much as I can. But He made her to be in the door as much as she can and out of the door only as needed, because the greatest responsibility of the mother is inside. I am not saying she is not allowed to go out, but I am talking about priorities.