Yusuf (Joseph)

100. “And he raised both his parents upon the throne, and they fell down prostrating before him, and he said: ‘O’ my father! This is the interpretation of my dream of aforetime! My Lord has made it come true; and He was indeed kind to me when He brought me out of the prison, and He brought you out of the desert (of Kan‘an into Egypt) after Satan had made strife between me and my brothers. Verily my Lord is Benignant unto what He wills. Verily He is indeed the All-Knowing, the All-Wise’.”

When he seated his parents on the throne, the magnitude of the Divine Grace and the profundity of such favors and blessings left such an impact upon his parents and brothers that they went into a state of prostration before him.

The verse says:

“And he raised both his parents upon the throne, and they fell down prostrating before him...”

Certainly prostration, implying worship, belongs only to Allah alone. Some Islamic traditions state that this prostration had been done as obedience and worship unto Allah as well as an act of respect towards Yusuf.

At this point he told his father that the meaning of his dream had now become clear, the dream of the sun, the moon and the eleven stars all prostrating before him were now represented by his parents and his eleven brothers prostrating before him.

The verse says:

“…and he said: ‘O’ my father! This is the interpretation of my dream of aforetime! My Lord has made it come true;...”

But even in the midst of triumph and glory, Yusuf never forgot Allah’s mercy upon him; he recounted all of his troubles and how Allah had always helped him overcome them.

The verse says:

“…and He was indeed kind to me when He brought me out of the prison, and He brought you out of the desert (of Kan‘an into Egypt) after Satan had made strife between me and my brothers...”

Interestingly enough, he did not mention his sojourn in the well; perhaps it was because he did not want to embarrass his brothers. All these favors and graces have their origin in Allah, for Allah is the source of Grace and He bestows his favors whenever and upon whosoever He wants.

He administers all the affairs of His subjects and helps them to solve their problems. He knows those who are in need and who merits his favor, for He is knowledgeable and wise.

The verse says:

“…Verily my Lord is Benignant unto what He wills. Verily He is indeed the All-knowing, the All-Wise’.”

Explanations

1. The Arabic term /‘arš/ lexically means the throne on which a sultan or ruler is seated. The term /xarru/ means throwing oneself upon the earth, while the term /badw/ means ‘oasis, desert’ and /nazaqa/ means ‘initiating a task with intention of corruption’.

2. The Qur’anic term ‘Latif’ is one of Allah’s names which implies that His power permeates into all complicated matters and its relevance to this verse is the fact that there were complications in Yusuf’s life which could only have been solved by Allah’s Power alone.

3. Yusuf became like the Ka‘ba for them, and his parents and his brothers prostrated before him for the sake of Allah. Were this prostration for other than Allah (s.w.t.), it would have been an act of polytheism, however, Ya‘qub (as) and Yusuf (as), who were two of Allah’s prophets, would not support such a forbidden act.

Messages to Remember

1. No matter in what position you are in, you should regard your parents as superior to yourselves.

2. Men of Allah regard entering and leaving prison as a monotheistic circle and a theological gesture.

3. All bitter and sweet events take place in accordance with Divine Knowledge and Wisdom.