Yusuf (Joseph)

6. “And thus will your Lord choose you and teach you the interpretation of sayings (dreams), and perfect His favor to you and to the posterity of Jacob, even as He perfected it to your fathers Abraham and Isaac aforetime! Verily your Lord is All-knowing, All-wise.”

Prophets are the appointees of Allah, and their selection is based upon Divine knowledge. The positions of prophecy and divinely guided government carry a great deal of blessings.

Interpreting dreams imply the deciphering and realization of their meanings. The Arabic term /ahadi/ is the plural of /hadi/ which means narrating an event. As man recounts his dream for others, the word /ahadi/ is also applied to dreams as well. Therefore, /ta`wil-ul-ahadi/ denotes ‘the interpretation of dreams’.

Hadrat Ya‘qub (as) interprets his son’s dream for him in this verse, foretelling his future.

However, this wonderful dream was not merely telling the magnitude of Yusuf’s position in an apparent and material sense.

It also indicated that he would attain the rank of prophecy and an elevated celestial position in the future as well, as indicated in the prostration of the celestial beings to him.

Thus, his father Ya‘qub said: as follows:

“And thus will your Lord choose you and teach you the interpretation of sayings (dreams), and perfect His favor to you and to the posterity of Jacob, even as He perfected it to your fathers Abraham and Isaac aforetime! Verily your Lord is All-knowing, All-wise.”

Among the lessons drawn from these verses is the lesson concerning keeping particular secrets which must be observed even sometimes against brothers. There are always instances of secrets in man’s life which, when unveiled, may disrupt his future or endanger his society.

Therefore, refraining from divulging secrets is one of the signs of fortitude and will power of a person. In a tradition attributed to Imam Sadiq (as) we read:

“Your secrets are just like your blood which must only be circulated within your own veins.”