Yusuf · Makki · ayah 40 of 111

Yusuf 12:40

مَا تَعْبُدُونَ مِن دُونِهِۦٓ إِلَّآ أَسْمَآءً سَمَّيْتُمُوهَآ أَنتُمْ وَءَابَآؤُكُم مَّآ أَنزَلَ ٱللَّهُ بِهَا مِن سُلْطَـٰنٍ ۚ إِنِ ٱلْحُكْمُ إِلَّا لِلَّهِ ۚ أَمَرَ أَلَّا تَعْبُدُوٓا۟ إِلَّآ إِيَّاهُ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ ٱلدِّينُ ٱلْقَيِّمُ وَلَـٰكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ ٱلنَّاسِ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ

“You worship not besides Him except [mere] names you have named them,[599] you and your fathers, for which Allāh has sent down no evidence. Legislation is not but for Allāh. He has commanded that you worship not except Him. That is the correct religion, but most of the people do not know.”

Saheeh International

Essence

What you worship besides Him are only names you and your fathers gave, with no authority behind them; the judgement is Allah's alone.

A reflection

Every judgement in that building was borrowed

Think about how many judgements had been passed in this story by the time Yusuf says these words.

His brothers judged him unfit to live with. A caravan judged him worth a few coins. A household judged him guilty after seeing him innocent. A king judged two servants suspect, and was about to judge one of them to death. Everyone in the building had been sentenced by somebody.

Now Yusuf says: the judgement belongs to Allah alone. The commentaries gloss the word as decree, command and prohibition. One adds that the sentence is about worship and religion in particular: who decides what is to be worshipped.

Every one of those earthly verdicts was borrowed. The king's authority was lent to him and would be taken back. The household's power over Yusuf lasted exactly as long as Allah allowed. None of them had the final word, and the final word is not one any human gets to keep.

That is humbling for the ego, which loves to pass judgement. On colleagues, on relatives, on strangers online, on ourselves. A loan officer who spends his days deciding other people's futures sits in a hospital waiting room for the result of his own scan. For once, he is the one waiting.

None of this is Allah demanding recognition. He needs none. It is a release for us. If the judgement is His, then no verdict passed on you by people is the last one. And no verdict you pass on others is either.

The full entry has 6 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.