Prophet Yusuf (Joseph).Yūsuf ibn Yaʿqūb ibn Isḥāq ibn Ibrāhīm

Yūsuf ibn Yaʿqūb ibn Isḥāq ibn Ibrāhīm .

Prophet Yusuf.(~~Alayh as-Salaam)/~~/ Joseph (Son of Jacob)

~~He was one of the twelve sons of Ya'qub.

~~He was exceptionally handsome and was very dear to his parents.

~~the complete narrative of Yusuf unlike all the other prophets is given only in one sura Yusuf, making it unique.

• He was his fathers favourite.
• According to Ibn Kathir,

“YAQUB(Jacob)had twelve sons who were the eponymous ancestors of the tribes of the Israelites. The most noble, the most exalted, the greatest of them was Prophet Yusuf (Joseph).

SURAH YUSUF

~~The Surah describes how Yusuf (as) was thrown into a well by his older brothers, sold into servitude, imprisoned, and after persevering through such hardships, was dignified and honored with a governmental position. There are many themes and lessons in this chapter of the Quran, but there are two which appear particularly relevant to the time and place in which we live: resisting temptations, and da’wa, which is inviting people towards the message of Islam

~~The dream

The story begins with a dream and ends with its interpretation.

• Prophet Yusuf( Joseph, son of YAQUB(Jacob)awoke from his sleep, delighted by a pleasant dream he had. Filled with excitement he ran to his father and reported what he had seen.

Yusuf said to his father: "O my father! I did see eleven planets and the sun and the moon: I saw them prostrate themselves to me!" — Qur'an, Sura 12 (Yusuf) ayah 4[12].

~~According to Ibn Kathir,

Jacob knew that Joseph would someday become extremely important and would be in a high position, both in this world and the next.

He recognized that the planets represented his brothers and the sun and moon represented himself and Yusufs mother , Raheel.

AFTER THE DREAM:

• ~~treatment of Yusuf by his brothers Interpretation of the dream by Ya'qoub did not sit well with his sons. They were already distraught due to their father's special affections for Yusuf.
• They decided to get rid of their brother Yusuf. They threw him in a well and brought his shirt, smothered in sheep's blood. They put up a false scene upon entering their home, wailing and crying.
• They told their parents that a wolf had devouvered their young brother, and that they were unable to save him from the terrible fate.
• Ya'qub was so grieved at the story and was so saddened by the apparent loss of his son that he wept profusely all day and all night. It is said that he lost his eye sight due to excessive crying.

~~Prophet Yusufwas retrieved from the well and sold as a slave.

The ruler of Egypt heard about the sale of an exceptionally handsome youth in his city and he came down to see him. He was stunned at the beauty of the lad and paid the highest price at the bidding.

He took him to his palace to serve his beautiful wife, Zulaikhah who had no child. Yusuf in servitude of the Pharaoh of Egypt

PROPHET YUSUF IN EGYPT.

~~Yusuf served the king and his wife with such honesty and efficiency that he was made incharge of the ruler's house-hold.

It so happened that Zulaikhah developed infatuation for Yusuf and started to love him with increasing passion.

• ~~Zulaikhah fell madly in love with Yusuf, but he took every opportunity to avoid her advances. At one occasion she was successful in trapping him into her chamber so that she could be alone with him. No sooner he realized the wicked designs of the queen than he made for the door of the chamber. She lunged after him and was able to grab his shirt from behind. In the short scuffle that followed, Yusuf's shirt was tom from behind. Just as he escaped through the chamber door, he bumped into the king himself. Realizing the acuteness of her situation, the queen yelled out for help. The ruler was greatly angered by the rather strange circumstances and looked at Yusuf demanding an explanation. Yusuf said that he was innocent, and that Zulaikhah was the guilty one. One of Zulaikhah's own relatives from the house-hold came forward to clear the matter. He said that if Yusuf's shirt was tom from front, then he was the aggressor and culpable for his actions, but if it was tom from behind, then Zulaikhah was guilty. As Yusuf's shirt was tom from behind, the ruler found his wife to be culpable for the embarrassing event. He told Yusuf to forget the event, and told his wife to refrain from seeing Yusuf when alone.
• Zulaikhah arranged a party and invited the women of nobility to her palace. As they were busy cutting and eating fruits, she summoned Yusuf into her audience. As he arrived in their presence, the women got totally stunned by his beauty, and many cut their fingers instead of the fruits in their hands. They were now convinced over what they had heard about Yusuf and his beauty.

~~, “So, when they saw him, they found him great and [were so bewildered that they] cut their hands” (12:31).

When the king learnt about the scandalous involvement of the wives of other nobles in his kingdom over Yusuf, he considered it best to take Yusuf away from his palace, and threw him into the prison.

However the supervisor of the prisons noted the purity of character and conduct of Yusuf and started to treat him with respect. He made him his deputy in managing the affairs of the prison.

~~A very important lesson about da’wa can be derived from here.

The reason the prisoners revered him and requested his opinion was because they noticed his righteous actions and good conduct

. For instance, if anyone became sick he would call on them and do whatever had to be done for them.

For anyone he found sad or distressed he would have appropriate words of comfort. Seeing his endearing ways, all inmates of the prison became convinced of his high spiritual status.

~~ Hence, the first stage of the da’wa is exemplification of righteous character.

~~Interpretation of dreams by Yusuf

~~the king saw a dream over successive nights that got him concerned. His courtiers and astrologers failed to satisfy him with any plausable interpretation. At that time, one of the prisoners who had survived, remembered Yusuf.

He told the ruler that he could find the interpretation of his dreams if he was allowed to visit Yusuf in the prison.

He greeted Yusuf and narrated the dream to hiM. The ruler, in his dream, had seen seven fat cows emerging from the river, followed by seven weak ones. The weak cows devoured the fat ones. He then saw seven green and healthy ears of wheat followed by seven dry ones. The dry ones ate up the green ones. Yusuf said that both the dreams had the same interpretation.

~~Yusuf ('alayhi salaam) said,,

“For seven consecutive years you shall sow and reap your grain as usual, as your habit was.” This is a statement of fact: “For seven years you shall sow your grain.” But this statement of fact is actually intended as a command. Yusuf ('alayhi salaam) as a prisoner in jail is commanding the people that this is what they need to do. He is offering them a solution even though he wasn't asked for one. He was simply asked to interpret, and the interpretation would have been: “You will have seven years of luscious produce and seven years of drought.” End of story; that is the interpretation. But how can a prophet of God not want good for the people? How can he be stingy and miserly on benefitting humanity? They have come to him to find out about the interpretation of the dream. He not only interprets, but he tells them how to protect themselves. He tells them what to do to guard their own interests. He tells them, “Whatever you harvest, leave it in its covering except for a little bit and a small amount that you have to eat.” He tells them not to touch 80 to 90% of the harvest and to store it and leave it in the cover so that it doesn't spoil and rot so that they can use it later on

~~The death of Ya'qub

Ya'qub lived for seventeen years in Egypt before his death. He called his sons at his death bed and advised them on matters of their mutual benefit and wished that upon his death that his body should be carried back to Kin'an for burial near his forefathers. His wishes were carried out with royal ceremonials.

The death of Yusuf

Yusuf lived for one hundred and ten years. He was buried in Egypt according to the rituals of the land, and when Musa finally took the children of Israel out of Egypt, he took the coffin of Yusuf to Kin'an, to be buried alongside his ancestors .