(p-1) Surah Yusuf, blessings and peace be upon him.

'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful, and with Him is assistance. Amen.

[Its purpose is to describe the Book with clarity regarding everything that necessitates guidance for what has been established in the past, and what will come in this Surah regarding the completeness of knowledge of His abode, unseen and witnessed, and the comprehensiveness of His power in words and actions. This story - as you see - is the most fitting of things for this purpose, and for that reason it is called Surah Yusuf - and Allah knows best.

"In the name of Allah" who encompasses everything in power and knowledge, "the Most Gracious" who has left no ambiguity regarding the universality of His mercy on the path of guidance, "the Most Merciful" who has specifically distinguished His party by keeping them away from the place of ruin.

When glorified is He, He included that among what He has included of the stories and the decisive verses, that the Qur'an is from Him and by His permission it descended. And that no one believes except whom He wills for his faith. And that whatever He wills, it is. And He clarified His great power over what He punished the nations with, and over the unification of those He wanted and causing discord among those He willed. And He indicated that He has decreed victory for His worshippers, so whatever He intended must happen, for to Him returns all matters. He followed this with this Surah to clarify these purposes with this great, lengthy story in which Yusuf, blessings and peace be upon him, faced what he faced from those closest to him and from others, and from estrangement and the scattering of the family. Then the outcome for him was in the best of ways due to what he sought refuge in of patience in the face of severe trials and entrusting the matter to Allah, glorified and exalted is He. This is a consolation for this trustworthy Prophet and a comfort for those who have passed from his brothers, the messengers, regarding what he encounters in his life from his disbelieving relatives and after his death from those among them who entered the religion in his household, just as it occurred to Yusuf, blessings and peace be upon him, from torment afterward and after his brothers who excelled in kindness towards them. And indeed, Yusuf, blessings and peace be upon him, faced in reality what the disbelievers among the relatives of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, intended against him, just as glorified is He narrated in His saying, "To establish you or kill you or expel you" [Al-Anfal: 30]. So he was saved from them that anything of him would be in their hands except what was from the confinement in the Shib of Abu Talib and from the migration by the command of the All-Wise, the All-Knowing. Then Allah supported Yusuf, blessings and peace be upon him, against his brothers who did that to him and granted him leadership over them. So it was in the course of his story after the news that the intention of these stories is to affirm him, blessings and peace be upon him, on the day of victory from the ownership of their leadership and responding to their obstinacy and His favor upon them and His kindness towards them. And in its indication is a good tidings that the envied suffers and rises if he does what is more appropriate and foremost for him. And among the benefits of mentioning it is the alertness to the fact that envy is a great disease, severely entrenched in souls, to the extent that due to its strong entrenchment and the abundance of its presence and its multiple occurrences, it may overcome the people of righteousness except for those among them who hasten to repentance, calling for success. And its repetition was left without others among the stories to protect the elders from mentioning what may necessitate believing in a deficiency, or directing a criticism or slander, or belittling the disease of envy, in the presence of one who is reckless and obstinate. And glorified is He included it with profound wisdom and concluded it with what it produced of affirming the matter of the Qur'an and denying the accusation against this great Prophet.

This is the connection between the two surahs. As for the connection of the first to the latter, when He, the Most High, informed [at the end of] that of His complete knowledge and encompassing power, it indicated that the people of eloquence and the masters of rhetoric in the beginning of this [surah] have done so in His words, that He, the Most High, is capable of bringing forth what the minds and intellects can conceive - across the ages, the succession of eras, the passing of days, and the continuation of nights - in its meaning, every opinion and the flight of every thought, with the availability of motives and the gathering of forces. And you cannot stop at any matter that is certain or a known intention, and that He can bring forth what is understood by the beginnings of contemplation, the least of its meanings, with an understanding that can be confirmed as intended. Then He continues to reveal from it the subtleties of meanings as long as one reflects and the understanding deepens to a degree that makes it known that he is incapable of all that is in it of its magnificent meanings and delicate structures. So He, the Most High, said: ﴿Alif Lam Ra﴾. Al-Rumani said: The pauses are not counted because they do not correspond to the heads of the verses, as they are on two letters. So they are treated like the incomplete names, and the complete is what is intended by the pauses. As for 'Ta-Ha', it is counted because it resembles the heads of its verses - this is the end.

And this is the saying of those who mistakenly think that the rhyme is intended in the Qur'an, and it is a rejected statement that is not considered, as has been previously stated at the end of Surah At-Tawbah. There is no difference between attributing it to being poetry and attributing it to being rhyme, for rhyme is the craft of the soothsayers, and that leads to claiming that it is soothsaying, and that is certainly disbelief, without doubt. I have elaborated on this in my book, Masaa'id al-Nazar, and I have clarified the views of those who oppose the verses and that their reference is to the stopping, just like the transmission of the readings, it is the same - and Allah is the Guide.

And when the previous surah began with the statement that this Book is decisive, and it concluded with the intended wisdom of recounting the stories of the messengers, and the context was for responding to their denial of it in His saying: ﴿Or do they say, 'He has fabricated it'?﴾ [Hud: 13], and it indicated that it was revealed with His knowledge, this one began to complete that indication by referring to what it has of high status and distant rank. So He, glorified is He, followed this difficulty that was posed with the disjointed letters and made it clear that, despite its complexity upon reflection, it is clear by His saying, indicating what has preceded from the Qur'an and to this surah: ﴿Those﴾ meaning the great and lofty verses ﴿are the verses of the Book﴾ meaning the one that encompasses all intentions.

And when the description of the first two Surahs, Yunus and Hud, was mentioned with wisdom, precision, and detail, it is described here in a more specific manner. He, the Most High, said: ﴿the clear﴾, meaning the evident in itself, that it is comprehensive and miraculous, not resembling anything to the Arabs in any way. It clarifies all that it contains, and it encompasses all intentions for those who reflect deeply and think thoroughly. And because it is from Allah ﴿it is not a fabricated saying, but a confirmation of what is before it﴾ [Yusuf: 111] and ﴿and a reminder and advice for the believers﴾ [Hud: 120]. And the clarification is: the manifestation of the meaning for the self by what distinguishes it from others, which is the aim of every wise person in his speech. And it is further enhanced by the proof that it is the manifestation of the correctness of the meaning by what testifies to it. And it has been clarified - it is necessary and transitive.