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Learning Lessons from the life of Joseph (Yusuf, alai-his-salam) – 2

Friday Khutba by Dr Zahid Aziz, for Lahore Ahmadiyya UK, 24 January 2025

“And the king said: I have seen seven fat cows which seven lean ones devoured, and seven green ears (of grain) and (seven) others dry. Chiefs, explain to me my dream, if you can interpret the dream. They said: Confused dreams, and we do not know the interpretation of dreams. And of the two, he who had found deliverance and remembered after a long time said: I will inform you of its interpretation, so send me. Joseph, truthful one, explain to us seven fat cows which seven lean ones devoured, and seven green ears and (seven) others dry, that I may go back to the people so that they may know.”  — ch. 12, Yūsuf, v. 43–46

وَ قَالَ الۡمَلِکُ اِنِّیۡۤ اَرٰی سَبۡعَ بَقَرٰتٍ سِمَانٍ یَّاۡکُلُہُنَّ سَبۡعٌ عِجَافٌ وَّ سَبۡعَ سُنۡۢبُلٰتٍ خُضۡرٍ وَّ اُخَرَ یٰبِسٰتٍ ؕ یٰۤاَیُّہَا الۡمَلَاُ اَفۡتُوۡنِیۡ فِیۡ رُءۡیَایَ اِنۡ کُنۡتُمۡ لِلرُّءۡیَا تَعۡبُرُوۡنَ ﴿۴۳﴾ قَالُوۡۤا اَضۡغَاثُ اَحۡلَامٍ ۚ وَ مَا نَحۡنُ بِتَاۡوِیۡلِ الۡاَحۡلَامِ بِعٰلِمِیۡنَ ﴿۴۴﴾وَ قَالَ الَّذِیۡ نَجَا مِنۡہُمَا وَ ادَّکَرَ بَعۡدَ اُمَّۃٍ اَنَا اُنَبِّئُکُمۡ بِتَاۡوِیۡلِہٖ فَاَرۡسِلُوۡنِ ﴿۴۵﴾یُوۡسُفُ اَیُّہَا الصِّدِّیۡقُ اَفۡتِنَا فِیۡ سَبۡعِ بَقَرٰتٍ سِمَانٍ یَّاۡکُلُہُنَّ سَبۡعٌ عِجَافٌ وَّ سَبۡعِ سُنۡۢبُلٰتٍ خُضۡرٍ وَّ اُخَرَ یٰبِسٰتٍ ۙ لَّعَلِّیۡۤ اَرۡجِعُ اِلَی النَّاسِ لَعَلَّہُمۡ یَعۡلَمُوۡنَ ﴿۴۶﴾

At the end of last week’s khutba, I said that when Joseph was in prison he met there two other prisoners, who related to him their dreams about their future and asked him to interpret them. Joseph interpreted their dreams and told them of their meaning. But before telling them the meaning, he preached to them the importance of belief in God and that God is One. He interpreted the dream of one of them to mean that he would serve drinks to his master, and he interpreted the dream of the other to mean that he will be executed on the cross and birds will eat from his head. Presumably he meant vultures. Joseph also asked the first one, who was going to be saved and would be serving his master, to mention him to his master. Joseph must have known from Allah that the man would become a personal servant of the king, and he wanted him to mention his case to the king, that a righteous person of noble character had been imprisoned unjustly.

The Quran then relates that the man forgot to mention it to the king and Joseph remained in prison for years. Then we come to the verses that I have recited. The king had a dream in which he saw seven fat cows being eaten by seven lean cows, and he also saw seven green ears of grain and seven dry ones. A “ear” of a grain is the tip part of the stem of a cereal plant which contains the grain. The king’s ministers and advisors could not understand the meaning of the dream. But the king’s servant, whom Joseph had asked that he should mention him to the king, now remembered Joseph and his knowledge of dream interpretation. So he asked to be sent to Joseph to put the dream to him. He told the king’s dream to Joseph. This is as far as the verses I recited above go. The next verses tell us how Joseph interpreted that dream. He said:

“You shall sow for seven years as usual, then what you reap, leave it in its ear, except a little which you eat. Then after that will come seven years of hardship, which will eat away all you have beforehand stored for them, except a little which you have preserved” (12:47–48).

We can see that Joseph treated everyone equally in interpreting their dreams, whether it was the prisoner who would be released and become a servant of the king, the prisoner who would be executed for his crime, or the king himself. No one’s dream was less true or more true because of his worldly status. Likewise, we too must treat everyone equally as a creation of God with a natural connection to God, regard­less of their worldly status. And at the beginning of the story, when Joseph as a teenager told his father Jacob about his dream, the father did not treat him as immature or laugh at his dream or rebuke him. This teaches us that when our young have dreams or aspirations of great achievements we must rather hope that they are successful.

The king was very impressed when the interpretation was conveyed to him. The Quran then relates that the king sent a messenger to Joseph to bring him from the prison to the king, but Joseph said to the messenger: First ask your master about the women who got me into prison, was their case justified? Joseph refused to leave the prison until he was cleared by a proper investigation. He didn’t want to be freed from prison just because the king was impressed with his dream interpretation. This teaches us that the proper course of justice must be followed. In contrast with this, in the US this week the new President pardoned hundreds of people from being tried for crimes that they were charged with committing, because they are his political supporters.

It is interesting to note that in the story of Joseph in the Bible, as accepted by Jews and Christians, there is no mention of Joseph refusing to leave prison and asking for an investigation about the allegation for which he was in prison. He is brought straight out of prison and the king makes him his second-in-command in the whole country (Genesis, 41:25–45). This is another example in which the Quran presents a prophet of the Bible as possessing noble qualities which are not mentioned in the Bible. Islam has honoured the sacred figures of previous religions more than those religions had themselves had done.

Regarding this act of Joseph of refusing to go to the king until he was cleared by an investigation, the Holy Prophet Muhammad said: “If I had remained in prison as long as Joseph did, I would have accepted the call”, meaning the call of the king to come to him (Bukhari, hadith 3372). This simply shows the humility of the Holy Prophet, to say that he wouldn’t have gone as far as Joseph did to clear his name. He never presented himself as superior to previous prophets, even though we believe that he was the greatest of all prophets.

The king called the women who had intrigued against Joseph. The Quran says:

“They said: Holy Allah! We knew of no evil on his part. The chief’s wife said: Now has the truth come out. I sought to seduce him and he is surely truthful” (12:51).

What Joseph said in reply is particularly notable:

“This is that he (the woman’s husband) might know that I have not betrayed him in secret, and that Allah does not guide the plan of the unfaithful. And I do not call myself sinless; surely (man’s) self is apt to command evil, except those on whom my Lord has mercy. Surely my Lord is Forgiving, Merciful” (12:52–53).

Joseph wanted it to be proved to the woman’s husband that, as his servant in his house, and entrusted by him to look after the house and its dwellers, Joseph had not betrayed this trust, even under the attempted seduction by his wife. It may also be that because the king now wanted to entrust Joseph with power and control in the country, Joseph wanted to prove to the king that he would not betray the king’s and the country’s trust either. And he adds that those who want to achieve their ends by betraying trust are never successful in achieving it.

Despite this exoneration, Joseph is not rejoicing over it, and saying: I told you I was innocent. He says with the utmost humility that he doesn’t claim to be sinless because he is human and any human’s soul will sometimes urge him to commit some evil deed, and it is only God’s mercy and forgiveness which saves a person from the actual commission of an evil deed. After Joseph was cleared, the king said:

“Bring him to me, I will choose him for myself. So when he talked with him, he said: Surely you are in our presence today dignified, trusted” (12:54).

The king was very concerned about his country. That must be why, even though he was a non-believer, God showed him the dream which was indicating to him the drought that would arise and how to deal with it. Then Joseph interpreted the dream and told the king of the course of action: for the next seven years, when the crops are growing, save something out of your cereals, and use them in the next seven years when food can’t grow. This teaches us that the rulers should be concerned about the physical welfare of their people and make plans for the long term future. The king’s dream was not an idle dream. It led to action. The Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement had a dream or vision that he was standing on a pulpit in London, delivering a speech on Islam in English, and afterwards he caught a number of birds that had been sitting in trees nearby. That also was not an idle dream. It spurred his followers on to create literature in English for Western countries and take it there.

The king chose Joseph and raised him to a position of dignity because of his service in interpreting the dream and because he was trustworthy or amīn in the words of the Quran. This shows us that trustworthy people should be placed in charge of national affairs. The next verse is as follows:

“He said (i.e., Joseph to the king): Place me (in authority) over the treasures of the land; surely I am a good keeper, knowing well” (12:55).

Joseph puts forward his qualifications for the job of finance minister. He is good at guarding the national wealth and has the right knowledge to do the job. Again, people appointed to run the government must be those who guard the national interest and know what they are doing. The next two verses, which conclude this part of the story are as follows:

“And thus did We give to Joseph power in the land — he had mastery in it wherever he liked. We bestow Our mercy on whom We please, and We do not waste the reward of the doers of good. And certainly the reward of the Hereafter is better for those who believe and guard against evil” (12:56–57).

There is a saying in English: “Power makes you corrupt, and absolute power makes you corrupts absolutely.” Joseph was given almost unrestrained power in the country. But he is told to treat it as a mercy bestowed on him, and if he does good to the people his work will not be wasted. This teaching relates to worldly work, whether done by a prophet such as Joseph, or by followers of the prophets, such as Muslims, or indeed by non-believers. The next verse draws attention to the fact that doing worldly work for physical benefits, and doing it successfully and efficiently, is not everything for a believer. A believer must strive for moral and spiritual development as well.

The story of Joseph after this point is also interesting. It tells us how the famine led to Joseph’s brothers visiting Egypt from the neighbouring country to buy their pro­visions, and at first Joseph didn’t reveal his identity to them for certain reasons, but eventually he revealed it and forgave his brothers for their misdeeds against him. His parents came to visit Joseph, and he told his father that his dream of youth of achiev­ing greatness had been fulfilled, and their separation was now over.

This chapter 12 of the Quran was revealed in the last period of the Holy Prophet Muhammad’s life at Makkah. He and his followers were under intense persecution from their own brethren of the Quraish and it seemed impossible that the Holy Prophet would one day be victorious over his enemies and hold them in his power. This chapter was revealed to prophesy that he would triumph over his jealous brethren just as Joseph triumphed over his, and that he would forgive them their misdeeds against him as Joseph forgave his brothers. That prophecy was then fulfilled in the clearest and most magnificent manner. The last verse of this chapter indicates this as follows:

“In their histories (i.e., of the past prophets) there is certainly a lesson for those who have understanding. It is not a narrative which could be forged, but a verification of what is before it, and a distinct explanation of all things, and a guide and a mercy to a people who believe” (12:111).

So may Allah enable us to learn practical lessons from the difficult and varied experiences of the prophets as related in the Quran, instead of merely reading them as stories of miracles — ameen.

Website: www.aaiil.uk