In this regard...

In this regard, the Prophet (S) reiterated several times: “I have left two great gifts amongst you (Muslims) which will never be separated until the Day of Resurrection when they will join me at the Pool of Kauthar.” Even now the Ahl-ul-Bayt, in the person of Hadrat Mahdi, (may Allah hasten his advent) is still coupled with the Book of Allah, and any commentary written on the Qur’an which ignores well documented narrations that originate from them are invalid and misguiding, for the holy Prophet (S) said: “If you take recourse to these two; the Book and my Ahl-ul-Bayt, you will never lose your way.” Certainly, taking recourse to the one and neglecting the other will lead to misguidance.

The Content of the Surah Before beginning our discussion of the verses of this Surah, it is necessary to point out a number of points: 1 - All of the verses of this Surah, except a few, concern the beautiful, instructive biography of Hadrat Yusuf (as) and this is the reason why this Surah is called “Yusuf”. And, it is also for this reason that out of the 27 times that the name of Yusuf has been mentioned in the Qur’an, 25 of them are found in this Surah.

The other two suras in which his name has been mentioned are in verse 34 of Surah Al-Ghafir, and in verse 84 of Surah Al-’An‘am. The content of this Surah is well integrated in one reading and it presents different highlights of a single story expressed in ten sections through an extraordinarily fluent, concise, interesting, and attractive manner.

Ignorant story tellers or those who have questionable objectives in mind, have sought to present this story as an exciting love story for the whimsical, they try to change everything around sexuality and present it as if it was a Hollywood romance, providing a distorted picture of the true Yusuf and his real biography. The Qur’an, whose everything is paradigm, narrates the story revealing sublime lessons in chastity, abstemiousness, virtue, faith, and domination over individual selfishness.

This has been so carefully arranged that if someone was to read it several times, he would still be involuntarily drawn by its powerful attraction. It is for this reason that the Qur’an has called it the Best of Stories /ahsanul qasas/ and the Surah has presented instructive lessons for contemplation.