Yusuf (Joseph)

99. “Then when they entered unto Yusuf, he lodged his parents with him and said: ‘Enter Egypt, Allah willing, (all) in security’.”

The End of Yusuf and His Brothers

The family, in response to Yusuf’s invitation, and after much preparation, traveled to Egypt. Ya‘qub was riding to the destination while his lips were busy calling Allah and thanking Him.

This journey, unlike the previous ones, was free from all kinds of troubles, and those troubles could not even be compared to the remarkable gains which awaited them at the end of the journey.

The very thought of joining Yusuf made the trip easy for them so much so that a painful thorny path would seem as if it had been paved with velvet. Soon when the oases of Egypt came into view, they were finally there.

Typical of the style of the Qur’an, it skips over the details which we fill in by means of the traditional narrations and by our own imagination, and simply says that they entered into the presence of Yusuf.

The verse says:

“Then when they entered unto Yusuf, he lodged his parents with him...”

When they arrived at his palace, and Yusuf embraced his parents, this was the sweetest moment in Ya‘qub’s life. It was a meeting that had come about after many years of separation.

Every moment of this meeting and embracing Ya‘qub and Yusuf was so exciting that only Allah knows what happened and none else. In these sweet moments of reunion, then, only Allah knows the intensity of the bliss shared between the father and his beloved son.

Yusuf told every one to enter the land of Egypt and assured them that they would be safe and secure there.

The verse continues saying:

“…and said: ‘Enter Egypt, Allah willing, (all) in security’.”

One can conclude from this statement that Yusuf had come out of the gates of the town to welcome his parents. Perhaps the sentence ‘they entered unto Yusuf’ means that he had ordered tents to be erected there to receive and entertain preliminarily his parents before they entered the town.

Explanations

1. It is difficult, of course, to describe this part of the story. Yusuf had arranged some tents outside the city and waiting for his parents to come and that he would bring them respectfully into Egypt.

It was natural that in Kan‘an, when Yusuf’s parents and brothers were preparing themselves for the journey, people there had a very happy time.

They saw that by receiving the good news of Yusuf’s safety, and in the case that Ya‘qub had regained his eyesight, how joyful were the family setting off to meet Yusuf.

These people were also happy that Yusuf had become a treasurer and governor in Egypt and especially that, by sending wheat for them in the course of famine, he had supported them.

2. One can conclude from the Arabic term /abawayh/ (his parents), that Yusuf’s mother had also been alive at the time.

Some narrations say that Ya‘qub insisted and swore that Yusuf would recount his own story for him. As Yusuf began telling his story of how his brothers had taken him near the edge of the well and took off his shirt while threatening him, Ya‘qub fainted.

When he recovered, he again asked him to continue, but Yusuf swore by Abraham, Ishmael, and Isaac (as) and begged his father to spare him from telling it, and Ya‘qub accepted.¹

By the way, it is worthy to note that social posts and ranks should not cause us to be heedless of respecting our parents in any condition.