“The Beauty of Obedience”: Rays of Light from Surah Yusuf

From Imam Suhaib Webb's blog.

Asalamu alaykum,

Dr. Salah al-Zaidan is currently my teacher in Usol al-Fiqh. Since we are studying a classic text, the Minhaj of al-Baydawi and the class is two hours long, the sheikh likes to take breaks in between heavier points and give us small reminders about Allah and the Hereafter.

Today, during one of our breaks, he told us the following story :

“When I was a young boy I used to wear the Azhari dress with the red hat and all. I used to walk the streets of Mansorah following my father around in that dress mashallah. Once I was walking behind my father in my Azhari dress and some girls started to flirt with me! I was shocked and couldn’t believe that they would be trying to flirt with a JR. Sheikh! I told my father and he responded by saying, “That is the beauty of Ta’ah [the light that Allah blesses those who serve Him with].”

You know young brothers that is the truth. There are two types of beauty, the false one and the one related to serving Allah. Thus, when one worships Allah, serves Him with a pure heart and struggles against his soul, Allah beautifies that person with His light .

An Amazing Lesson from Sura Yusuf :

For that reason, young brothers, when Yusuf, after all the tests he went through was presented in front of that group of women they said what? What did they say? They said, “This is not a man! This is a noble Angel!” Allah….Allah do you know why? Because after going through those tests, fighting his soul and worshiping Allah he drew closer to Allah. Thus, his nature moved from that of a lowly human state to that of the angels! Thus, his beauty was not like that of a lowly model, singer or start. His beauty was like that of those who worship Allah day and night. Think about this ya awlad yarhamakumulllah.”

Hassan al-Basri was asked, “Why are those people who pray the night prayer so beautiful?” He responded, “Because Allah beautifies them with His light while others are sleeping in the dark.”

I’m not doing a service to the beauty of Sh. Salah’s words. However, it was really a special moment and one that, I hope, I will remember for many years to come. May Allah preserve Sh. Salah, bless him and raise his ranks.

Akhukum Suhaib