13.
PROPHETS’ DU‘Ā (PRAYER) IN THE QUR’ĀN (8)
10. Yūsuf
(Joseph) cont.
The seven years of drought
Egypt also reached Canaan, (the part of Palestine between the Jordan River and
the Mediterranean, including Jerusalem) where Yūsuf’s family lived. When his
brothers came to Egypt to buy food, he recognized them, but they did not
recognize him. This was the first visit. Ibn ‘Abbās said that Yūsuf asked his
interpreter to tell them that they might be spies, as they spoke a different
language and wore different dress. The ten brothers denied, and told about
their background, that they had an old father, and were twelve brothers, one
“perished in the desert” (meaning Yūsuf), and the other stayed with their old
father.
Yūsuf honoured them and told them to bring their
brother from their father’s side (meaning Benjamin) next time as evidence that
they were telling the truth, or they would not be allowed to buy food. He
ordered his steward to put back secretly the merchandise they brought with them
in exchange for food in their bags, so that they would come again.
When they went back to their father
they told him that Benjamin had to go with them next time, otherwise they would
not get food from Egypt. Moreover, when they opened their bags they found their
merchandise returned to them, which meant they got a camel’s load of corn for
free. They told him that by allowing Benjamin to come with them they would get
more food.
When Yūsuf
saw his younger brother Benjamin with them in their second trip he took him
aside telling him his identity, but not to reveal it, and not to grieve for
what they had done to him. Yūsuf plotted with Benjamin to keep him (Benjamin)
in Egypt. Yūsuf ordered his steward to put secretly his silver bowl in
Benjamin’s bag. After they had left suddenly the steward went after them
telling them that they were thieves. They denied it, and agreed that the thief
would be punished according to the law of Ibrāhīm, that he would become a slave
of the victim. As they found the cup in Benjamin’s bag he would become a slave.
They protested their innocence saying that if it were doing so, his brother
meaning Yusuf had also stolen before.[1]
As they had promised their father to
bring Benjamin back as they had done with Yūsuf, they begged for clemency that
Benjamin had an old father, who loved him very much, and take one of them in
his place. Yusuf rejected the idea as it is unfair to free the criminal and to
punish the innocent. The eldest brother Reuben, who did not want to return
without Binyāmīn (Benjamin) as he and his brothers had promised, stayed in
Egypt, awaiting Allah’s decision, either to return or to release Benjamin.
Hearing the grave news that his sons
remained in Egypt, Ya‘qūb told them the same words he had said when they
brought false blood on Yūsuf’s shirt,
بَلْ سَوَّلَتْ لَكُمْ أَنْفُسُكُمْ أَمْرًا فَصَبْرٌ
جَمِيلٌ
“Nay,
but your own selves have beguiled you into something.
So,
patience is most fitting (for me)” (Q. 12:83)
Before, Ya‘qūb lost one son, Yusuf.
Now, he has lost two more sons, but he kept praying that Allah might bring them
back to him. So, he said,
عَسَى
اللَّهُ أَنْ يَأْتِيَنِي بِهِمْ جَمِيعًا إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْعَلِيمُ الْحَكِيمُ ( يوسف:83)
“May be
Allah will bring them (back) all to me.
Truly
He! Only Hed is All-Knowing (in my distress), the
All-Wise
(in His decision)” (Q. 12:83)
In the
third trip to Egypt Yu‘qūb ordered his children to enquire in polite way about
the news of Yūsuf and his brother Benjamin, and not to despair of Allah’s
mercy. They told Yūsuf their sufferings and afflictions because of severe
droughts, and that they and their family were hit with hard time and scarce of
food. Despite their little money they asked him to be generous to them
including by returning their brother Benjamin to them. Yūsuf felt pity with
them, and remembered his father’s grief of losing his two children, Benjamin
and himself. It is in this third meeting by Allah’s command, after over two
years hiding his identity, when the affliction became harder, Yūsuf revealed his true identity, asking his brothers,
...
هَلْ عَلِمْتُمْ مَا فَعَلْتُمْ بِيُوسُفَ وَأَخِيهِ إِذْ أَنْتُمْ جَاهِلُونَ (يوسف:89)
“Do you know what you did with Yūsuf and his
brother,
when you were ignorant?” (Q. 12:89)
In other words, “Did
you know that it was your ignorance of the grave sin you are committing by
separating Yūsuf and his brother Benjamin?” Allah had inspired him when they
put him in the well that one day he would remind them of this incident.
They asked in amazement
whether he was really Yūsuf. When he did, he told them that Allah had been
gracious to them by gathering them together after being separated for long
time. He told them further that whoever feared Allah and became patient, Allah
would keep the reward of his goodness.
They
acknowledged Yūsuf’s virtue above them when they said: “By Allah! Indeed
Allah has preferred you above us, and we certainly have been sinners.” (Q.
12:91). He told them that there would be no blame for them that day, and he
would not remind them of their error against him. He not only totally forgave
them, but also asked Allah’s forgiveness for them. Moreover, he told them to
bring his shirt to their father, and then to take the whole family to move to
Egypt. The good news came one after the other, after years of suffering.
According to the classical Qur’an commentators
Mujāhid and al-Suddī, Judah who had brought Yūsuf’s shirt tainted with false
blood, brought this time Yūsuf’s shirt, hoping to erase his error with good
act. He placed it on his father’s face as
requested by Yūsuf, and his eyesight
was restored to him. Then he told them, “Didn’t I tell you that I know from
Allah something you do not know, that Allah will bring Yūsuf back to me?” By
then they admitted their mistakes, and asked their father to Allah’s
forgiveness for their sins, which he did late at night.
While
the whole family of Ya‘qūb was leaving Canaan for good, Yūsuf
prepared a welcome party for them. It is said the king himself ordered princes
and notables to join him and Yūsuf in the party to receive Ya‘qūb and his
family. They all went out to receive them. We have to remember that Yūsuf was
son of a prophet (Ya‘qūb), who was son of a prophet (Isḥāq), who was a son of a
prophet (Ibrāhīm), peace be upon them. When they arrived he Yūsuf took his
parents to himself and said
to them,
... ادْخُلُوا مِصْرَ إِنْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ آمِنِينَ
(يوسف:99)
“Enter
Egypt, if Allah wills, in security” (Q. 12:99)
Then he
raised them to his bedstead where he sat and the whole family prostrated before
him. He then told his father that this was the interpretation of his dream when
he told him that he saw in a dream eleven stars, and the sun and the moon
prostrated themselves to him. (Q. 12:4) He told him further that Allah had done
good to him when He took him out of the prison, and brought them all out of the
Bedouin-life, after the Satan had sown enmity between him and his brothers (Q.
12:100). It was Satan, then, to be blamed for sowing enmity in his brothers.
This
practice of prostrating oneself before a person was no longer allowed in Islam.
When the companion of the Prophet, Mu‘ādh bin Jabal, saw people prostrating
themselves before their priests in Syria, he did the same to the Prophet, but
he prohibited it.
The invocation of
Prophet Yūsuf a.s. started with mentioning Allah’s favour to him, then
asked Him as the Only Creator of the universe and the Protector in the world
and the Hereafter, to cause him die as a Muslim, and join him with the
righteous. He prayed:
رَبِّ قَدْ آتَيْتَنِي مِنَ الْمُلْكِ وَعَلَّمْتَنِي
مِنْ تَأْوِيلِ الْأَحَادِيثِ فَاطِرَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ
أَنْتَ وَلِيِّي فِي الدُّنْيَا وَالْآخِرَةِ تَوَفَّنِي
مُسْلِمًا وَأَلْحِقْنِي بِالصَّالِحِينَ (يوسف:101)
“My
Lord! You have indeed bestowed on me of the
sovereignty, and taught me something of the
interpretation
of dreams—the (Only) Creator of the heavens
and the earth!
You are
my Wali (Protector, Helper, Supporter, Guardian, God,
Lord) in this world and in the Hereafter.
Cause me to die as
a Muslim (the one submitting to Your Will),
and join
me with the righteous.” (Q. 12:101)
Allah said in the beginning of this surah (chapter)
of the Qur’an:
نَحْنُ نَقُصُّ عَلَيْكَ أَحْسَنَ الْقَصَصِ بِمَا
أَوْحَيْنَا إِلَيْكَ
هَذَا الْقُرْآنَ وَإِنْ كُنْتَ مِنْ قَبْلِهِ لَمِنَ
الْغَافِلِينَ (يوسف:3)
We
relate unto you the best of stories through
Our revelations unto you, of this Qur’an. And
before this, you were among those who
knew nothing about it (Q. 12:3)
The story of Yūsuf is said
to be the best revealed in the Qur’an, and some commentators give their views,
as follows:
1.
It contains warning or
deterrent examples, and wisdom more than in any chapter of the Qur’an.
2.
It contains Yūsuf’s good behaviour
in disregarding his brothers errors, his patient over their bad deeds and his
forgiving them when they met. He said that it was Satan who created enmity
between him and his brothers.
3.
It contains the story of
prophets, pious people, angels, satans, jinn, human beings, cattle and birds,
kings and kingdoms, business people, scholars, ignorant, men and women and
their
temptation,
belief in oneness of Allah, religious law, biography, interpretation of dreams,
politics, social interaction, life management, and the whole benefits for our
lives and religion. In other words, it contains various aspects of
life.
4.
It contains the lover and the
beloved one and their life stories.
5.
The term aḥsan (the
best) in the verse means a‘jab (the most marvelous). Some scholars of
rhetoric say that it is so, because everything in the story ends up with
happiness: Yusuf and his parents and family settled in Egypt, the wife of the aziz
was not to be blamed because of the irresistibility of Yusuf’s handsomeness,
the king became a devout Muslim, and Yusuf’s inmates also believed and followed
him. The story ends up with a happy ending.
Although the name Pharaoh
was mentioned in the Bible, and that Potiphar
was the captain of his guards, he was not mentioned in the story of Yusuf in
the Qur’ān. He was just called the King, probably because the name “Pharaoh” in
the Qur’ān is associated with disbelief and oppression, and he might also belong
to a new dynasty. The Pharaohs of Egypt consist of many dynasties. One dynasty
could die out, replaced or overthrown by another, sometimes by foreign rulers.
The new ruler could be the Hyksos Pharaohs who were contemporaries of Abraham
(c. 2000 BC), and were thrown out of Egypt about 1700 BC, probably after the
death of Yūsuf. The Hyksos Pharaohs were of Semitic tribes, descendants of
Shem, relatives of the Hebrew, and therefore welcomed and treated Yusuf’s
family nicely, whereas the Egyptians were of Hamitic tribes, descendants of Ham.
This Pharaoh gave Yusuf’s brothers the land of Goshen, the best part of the
country. Yusuf came to Egypt in the right time in the right place. (CIVIC,
26 September, 2014)
المراجع:
المكتبة الشاملة
تفسير الطبري (ت. 310 هـ)
تفسير القرطبى (ت. 671 هـ)
تفسير ابن كثير (ت. 774 هـ(
Abu Khalil, Dr. Shauqi . Atlas of the
Qur’an. Riyadh, Darussalam, 2003
Ali, A.Yusuf. The Meanings of the Holy Qur’an
Asad, Muhammad. The Message of the
Qur’an.
Holy Bible: New International Version, 1973
Funk & Wagnalls. Standard
Dictionary of the English Language, 1973
http://committedtotruth.wordpress.com/2009/10/17/question- who-was-pharaoh-during-josephs-life/
[1] A story said that his aunt who loved him very much
and wanted to keep him longer with her lied by telling his mother that he had
stolen and therefore, as punishment, she kept him longer with her. His brothers
later repeated this allegation. Yūsuf used the same trick to keep his younger
brother Benjamin with him. However, unlike the Qur’an where Yūsuf secretly
revealed his identity to Benjamin and comforted him by telling him “Verily,
I am your brother, so grieve not for what they used to do” (Q. 12:69), the
Bible apparently was silent in this matter. This would have made him stressed, and should
have protested about his innocence, that someone else had put the cup into his
bag. Yūsuf made himself known only to all his brothers after telling others to
leave his presence. He and Benjamin embraced each other weeping, kissed all his
brothers weeping (Gen. 45:1-14)
