Prophet Yusuf (AS) – The Best of Stories حضرت یوسف علیہ السلام – بہترین قصہ

Of all the prophets, only Yusuf (AS) has his life told in a single continuous surah from beginning to end. Allah opens it with a promise: ‘We relate to you, [O Muhammad], the best of stories in what We have revealed to you of this Quran, although you were, before it, among the unaware.’ (Yusuf 12:3). The commentators report that the surah was revealed in Makkah during the Prophet's hardest years, around the time of the death of his wife Khadijah and his uncle Abu Talib, so that the story of a man betrayed by his own family, exiled, imprisoned and finally raised to honour would console the Prophet ﷺ and foretell his own victory.

Yusuf was the son of Yaqub, son of Ishaq, son of Ibrahim. The Prophet ﷺ was asked who was the most honourable of people, and said: ‘The most honourable of them is Yusuf, the prophet of Allah, son of the prophet of Allah, son of the prophet of Allah, son of the friend of Allah.’ (Sahih al-Bukhari 3353). He also described him as ‘the noble, son of the noble, son of the noble, son of the noble’ (Sahih al-Bukhari 3390). Four generations of prophethood met in one young man.

He was also given extraordinary beauty. In the hadith of the Night Journey, the Prophet ﷺ said that in the third heaven he met Yusuf, ‘and he had been given half of all beauty’ (Sahih Muslim 162). The Quran will show how this gift became a trial: it drew envy at home and temptation in Egypt.

The story begins with a dream. ‘When Yusuf said to his father: O my father, indeed I have seen eleven stars and the sun and the moon; I saw them prostrating to me.’ (12:4). Yaqub, a prophet himself, understood at once that the dream was a sign of future rank, with the stars as Yusuf's eleven brothers and the sun and moon as his parents. He also understood the danger. ‘O my son, do not relate your vision to your brothers or they will contrive against you a plan. Indeed Shaytan, to man, is a manifest enemy.’ (12:5).

Yaqub then explained the meaning of the dream: ‘And thus will your Lord choose you and teach you the interpretation of narratives and complete His favour upon you and upon the family of Ya'qub, as He completed it upon your fathers before, Ibrahim and Ishaq.’ (12:6). Three promises are packed into this verse, and the rest of the surah fulfils each one: Yusuf would be chosen as a prophet, taught to interpret dreams and events, and made the means of Allah's favour upon his whole family.

The Prophet ﷺ taught that a good dream is from Allah and should be told only to someone who loves you, while a bad dream is from Shaytan and should not be told to anyone (Sahih al-Bukhari 7044; Sahih Muslim 2261). Yaqub's advice to his son is the source of this etiquette. Even a true and blessed dream can do harm if it reaches the ears of the envious.

Allah then tells the reader what the characters do not yet know: ‘Certainly were there in Yusuf and his brothers signs for those who ask.’ (12:7). Everything that follows, the well, the slavery, the prison, the throne, is presented as an unfolding of what the dream had already shown. The reader knows the ending; the lesson lies in watching how Allah brings it about through the very plots meant to prevent it.

The brothers did not need to hear the dream to hate Yusuf. Their resentment had another cause: ‘When they said: Yusuf and his brother are more beloved to our father than we, while we are a clan. Indeed, our father is in clear error.’ (12:8). Yusuf and Binyamin were the sons of a different mother, said in the reports to have died, and Yaqub's tenderness toward them was visible. The ten elder brothers, a strong group of grown men, felt passed over, and envy turned their father's love into an accusation against him.

Their council is recorded in the Quran: ‘Kill Yusuf or cast him out to [another] land; the countenance of your father will [then] be only for you, and you will be after that a righteous people.’ (12:9). The last phrase reveals the self-deception of sin: they planned to commit a crime and then repent, as though repentance could be scheduled. One of them, whom the commentators name as Yahudha (Judah) or Rubil (Reuben), proposed a lesser evil: ‘Do not kill Yusuf but throw him into the bottom of the well; some travellers will pick him up, if you would do [something].’ (12:10).

They persuaded Yaqub to send Yusuf with them, promising to guard him, and despite his fear of a wolf, he let him go (12:11-14). ‘So when they took him [out] and agreed to put him into the bottom of the well... We inspired to him: You will surely inform them [someday] about this affair of theirs while they do not perceive.’ (12:15). At the darkest moment, a boy alone at the bottom of a well, Allah sent him inspiration: this will not be the end, and one day you will tell them what they did. Many commentators regard this as the beginning of revelation to Yusuf, though some say it was inspiration short of prophethood, which came later.

They returned at night, weeping, with his shirt stained with false blood and the story of the wolf (12:16-18). Yaqub's answer, ‘beautiful patience’, is told in his own story. The Quran then turns to Yusuf: ‘And there came a company of travellers; then they sent their water drawer, and he let down his bucket. He said: Good news! Here is a boy. And they concealed him, [taking him] as merchandise.’ (12:19).

The caravan, said in the reports to be heading from Syria to Egypt, sold him cheaply: ‘And they sold him for a reduced price, a few dirhams, and they were, concerning him, of those content with little.’ (12:20). The great-grandson of Ibrahim, the future treasurer of Egypt, went for a handful of coins. The commentators differ over who sold him, the travellers or the brothers who returned and claimed him as their runaway slave; the Quran's wording allows both, and Ibn Kathir mentions both views.

This is the first great reversal of the surah. The brothers threw him into a well to remove him from their father's sight, and in doing so set him on the road to Egypt, where he would rule. Allah says: ‘And Allah is predominant over His affair, but most of the people do not know.’ (12:21). The plot of the envious became the vehicle of Allah's plan.

The man who bought Yusuf in Egypt was a high official whom the Quran calls al-'Aziz, a title of rank; the commentators say he was the chief minister or treasurer of the king. He said to his wife: ‘Make his residence comfortable. Perhaps he will benefit us, or we will adopt him as a son.’ (12:21). The slave boy was raised in a palace. ‘And thus We established Yusuf in the land that We might teach him the interpretation of events... And when he reached maturity, We gave him judgement and knowledge. And thus We reward the doers of good.’ (12:21-22).

Then came the trial of his youth. ‘And she, in whose house he was, sought to seduce him. She closed the doors and said: Come, you. He said: [I seek] the refuge of Allah. Indeed, he is my master, who has made good my residence. Indeed, wrongdoers will not succeed.’ (12:23). Every circumstance favoured sin: he was young, unmarried, a stranger in a foreign land, a slave in her power; she was a woman of rank and beauty who had arranged privacy and locked the doors. His answer came in three parts: refuge in Allah, loyalty to the man who had honoured him, and the knowledge that wrongdoing never succeeds.

The next verse has been much discussed: ‘And she certainly determined [to seduce] him, and he would have inclined to her had he not seen the proof of his Lord. And thus [it was] that We should avert from him evil and immorality. Indeed, he was of Our chosen servants.’ (12:24). The sound interpretation, which Ibn Kathir adopts, is that Yusuf felt the natural human pull but did not act on it or resolve upon it, because he saw the proof of his Lord. Many fanciful reports in the tafsir books describe what this ‘proof’ was, such as a vision of his father biting his finger, or a hand appearing on the wall with a verse written on it; Ibn Kathir notes that these come largely from the People of the Book and are not established, and that it is enough to say what Allah said: he saw a proof from his Lord.

He ran for the door, and she ran after him and tore his shirt from behind. At the door they found her husband. She spoke first, turning the accusation: ‘What is the recompense of one who intended evil for your wife but that he be imprisoned or a painful punishment?’ (12:25). Yusuf said simply: ‘It was she who sought to seduce me.’ (12:26). Then a witness from her own family spoke: if his shirt was torn from the front, she was truthful; if from the back, he was truthful. ‘So when her husband saw his shirt torn from the back, he said: Indeed, it is of the women's plan. Indeed, your plan is great.’ (12:26-28). The commentators differ over who the witness was; some reports say it was an infant in the cradle who spoke, but the stronger view is that it was a wise man of her household.

The 'Aziz did nothing beyond telling Yusuf to ignore the matter and telling his wife to seek forgiveness (12:29). But the story spread. ‘And women in the city said: The wife of al-'Aziz is seeking to seduce her slave boy; he has impassioned her with love.’ (12:30). She invited them to a banquet, gave each a knife and fruit, and called Yusuf out before them. ‘And when they saw him, they greatly admired him and cut their hands and said: Perfect is Allah! This is not a man; this is none but a noble angel.’ (12:31). Overwhelmed by his beauty, they cut their own hands without noticing.

She then declared openly: ‘That is the one about whom you blamed me. And I certainly sought to seduce him, but he firmly refused; and if he will not do what I order him, he will surely be imprisoned and will be of those debased.’ (12:32). Faced with a whole circle of powerful women, Yusuf turned to Allah: ‘My Lord, prison is more to my liking than that to which they invite me. And if You do not avert from me their plan, I might incline toward them and be of the ignorant.’ (12:33). He did not trust his own strength; he asked Allah's protection, and preferred a cell to sin. ‘So his Lord responded to him and averted from him their plan. Indeed, He is the Hearing, the Knowing.’ (12:34). The Prophet ﷺ listed among the seven whom Allah will shade on the Day of Judgement ‘a man invited by a woman of rank and beauty who says: I fear Allah’ (Sahih al-Bukhari 660; Sahih Muslim 1031). Yusuf is the model of that man.

Although the evidence had proved his innocence, the household of the 'Aziz decided to imprison him anyway: ‘Then it appeared to them after they had seen the signs that they should surely imprison him for a time.’ (12:35). The commentators explain that this was to silence the talk of the city and to protect the reputation of the minister's wife by making it seem that the slave was at fault. Injustice wearing the robes of propriety sent an innocent man to prison.

‘And there entered the prison with him two young men.’ (12:36). The reports say they were the king's cupbearer and his baker, accused of plotting to poison him. Each had a dream and brought it to Yusuf, for they had seen his character: ‘Inform us of its interpretation; indeed, we see you to be of those who do good.’ The first said: ‘I saw myself pressing wine.’ The second said: ‘I saw myself carrying upon my head [some] bread, from which the birds were eating.’

Yusuf did not begin with the interpretation. He first assured them he would answer before their next meal arrived, and then used the moment to call them to Allah: ‘That is from what my Lord has taught me. Indeed, I have left the religion of a people who do not believe in Allah, and they, in the Hereafter, are disbelievers. And I have followed the religion of my fathers, Ibrahim, Ishaq and Ya'qub. And it was not for us to associate anything with Allah.’ (12:37-38). Then he asked them the question that every prophet asks: ‘O [my] two companions of prison, are separate lords better or Allah, the One, the Prevailing? You worship not besides Him except [mere] names you have named them, you and your fathers, for which Allah has sent down no authority. Legislation is not but for Allah. He has commanded that you worship not except Him. That is the correct religion, but most of the people do not know.’ (12:39-40).

This is one of the clearest statements of tawhid in the Quran, and it was spoken in a prison cell by a slave to two condemned men. Ibn Kathir draws the lesson that the caller to Allah uses every opening, and that people's need of him, here their need for a dream's meaning, is an opportunity to give them what they need most.

Then the interpretation: ‘O two companions of prison, as for one of you, he will give drink to his master of wine; but as for the other, he will be crucified, and the birds will eat from his head. The matter has been decreed about which you both inquire.’ (12:41). To the one he thought would be freed, he said: ‘Mention me before your master.’ (12:42).

The Quran then says: ‘But Shaytan made him forget the mention [to] his master, and Yusuf remained in prison several years.’ (12:42). The word ‘bid'’, several, means between three and nine years in Arabic usage. The commentators discuss whether the one who forgot was the cupbearer or whether the verse hints that Yusuf should have relied on Allah alone; Ibn Kathir prefers that it was the cupbearer who forgot, and that asking a human for help through lawful means is not blameworthy. A narration that the Prophet ﷺ said ‘had Yusuf not said that, he would not have stayed in prison so long’ is weak and is not relied upon.

So Yusuf stayed, year after year, in the dark of an Egyptian prison, forgotten by the man he had helped. Yet the Quran never shows him complaining. His prayer had been ‘prison is more to my liking’, and he accepted what he had asked for. The Prophet ﷺ later praised his patience in prison, saying: ‘Had I stayed in prison as long as Yusuf stayed, I would have accepted the offer [of release]’ (Sahih al-Bukhari 3372), a statement of humility that honours Yusuf's steadfastness.

Years later the king of Egypt had a dream that none of his advisers could explain. ‘And [subsequently] the king said: Indeed, I have seen seven fat cows being eaten by seven [that were] lean, and seven green spikes [of grain] and others [that were] dry. O eminent ones, explain to me my vision, if you should interpret visions.’ (12:43). His courtiers dismissed it: ‘[It is but] a mixture of false dreams, and we are not learned in the interpretation of dreams.’ (12:44).

At that moment the cupbearer remembered. ‘But the one who was freed and remembered after a time said: I will inform you of its interpretation, so send me forth.’ (12:45). He went to the prison and addressed Yusuf as ‘the man of truth’ and put the dream to him. Yusuf answered without reproach for the years he had been forgotten, and without any condition for his release. He gave not only the meaning but a plan: ‘You will plant for seven years consecutively; and what you harvest, leave in its spikes, except a little from which you will eat. Then will come after that seven difficult [years] which will consume what you saved for them, except a little from which you will store. Then will come after that a year in which the people will be given rain and in which they will press [olives and grapes].’ (12:47-49).

The interpretation went beyond the dream itself: the dream showed seven years of plenty and seven of famine, but Yusuf added the year of relief afterwards, knowledge that came from Allah. And he gave practical guidance on storing grain in the ear to protect it from rot and pests, an economic policy for a nation.

The king was impressed and ordered him brought. But when the messenger came, Yusuf refused to leave: ‘Return to your master and ask him what is the case of the women who cut their hands. Indeed, my Lord is Knowing of their plan.’ (12:50). After years in prison, he would not walk out under a cloud of suspicion. He wanted the truth established first. This is what the Prophet ﷺ referred to when he said that had he been in Yusuf's place he would have accepted the summons at once (Sahih al-Bukhari 3372); he was praising Yusuf's patience and dignity.

The king summoned the women. ‘He said: What was your condition when you sought to seduce Yusuf? They said: Perfect is Allah! We know about him no evil.’ (12:51). Then the wife of the 'Aziz herself confessed: ‘Now the truth has become evident. It was I who sought to seduce him, and indeed, he is of the truthful. That is so he [al-'Aziz] will know that I did not betray him in [his] absence and that Allah does not guide the plan of betrayers. And I do not acquit myself. Indeed, the soul is a persistent enjoiner of evil, except those upon which my Lord has mercy.’ (12:51-53). The commentators differ over whether the last words, ‘I do not acquit myself’, were spoken by her or by Yusuf; Ibn Kathir and many others hold that they are the continuation of her confession, and that she was acknowledging her own wrong.

With his name cleared before the whole court, Yusuf came out. ‘And the king said: Bring him to me; I will appoint him exclusively for myself. And when he spoke to him, he said: Indeed, you are today established [in position] and trusted.’ (12:54). Yusuf asked for a specific responsibility: ‘Appoint me over the storehouses of the land. Indeed, I will be a knowing guardian.’ (12:55). He did not ask for power for its own sake; he asked for the post where his knowledge could save the people from the coming famine, and he named the two qualities it required, trustworthiness and knowledge.

Allah sums up the reversal: ‘And thus We established Yusuf in the land to settle therein wherever he willed. We touch with Our mercy whom We will, and We do not allow to be lost the reward of those who do good. And the reward of the Hereafter is better for those who believed and were fearing Allah.’ (12:56-57). The boy sold for a few dirhams now held the grain of Egypt in his hands.

The seven years of plenty came and went as Yusuf had foretold, and the grain was stored. Then the famine struck, reaching beyond Egypt to Canaan, where Yaqub and his sons lived. ‘And the brothers of Yusuf came [seeking food], and they entered upon him; and he recognised them, but he was to them unknown.’ (12:58). Many years had passed; the boy they had thrown in a well was now a grown man, dressed as an Egyptian lord. They had no idea who stood before them.

Yusuf provisioned them generously, and then set a condition: ‘Bring me a brother of yours from your father. Do not you see that I give full measure and that I am the best of accommodators? But if you do not bring him to me, no measure will there be [hereafter] for you from me, nor will you approach me.’ (12:59-60). He also told his servants to put their payment back in their saddlebags, so that they would find it at home and be encouraged to return (12:62).

At home, the brothers persuaded Yaqub, after he made them swear by Allah, to send Binyamin with them (12:63-66). When they arrived, Yusuf took his full brother aside: ‘Indeed, I am your brother, so do not despair over what they used to do [to me].’ (12:69). The commentators say this was the first relief Binyamin had in many years, for the brothers had treated him with the same resentment.

Then Yusuf arranged a plan. ‘So when he had furnished them with their supplies, he put the [gold measuring] bowl into the bag of his brother. Then an announcer called out: O caravan, indeed you are thieves.’ (12:70). The brothers denied it hotly and named their own penalty: whoever's bag held the cup would himself be taken as recompense, which, the commentators note, was the law of Yaqub's people, not the law of the Egyptian king. Yusuf searched the other bags first, then Binyamin's, and drew it out. Allah explains: ‘Thus did We plan for Yusuf. He could not have taken his brother within the religion of the king except that Allah willed. We raise in degrees whom We will. But over every possessor of knowledge is one [more] knowing.’ (12:76).

The scholars address the obvious question: was this deception unbefitting a prophet? Ibn Kathir explains that it was a plan inspired by Allah, that Binyamin was a willing party, that no one was harmed or wrongly punished, and that the announcer's accusation, ‘you are thieves’, could refer to the brothers' earlier theft of Yusuf from his father. Its purpose was to keep Binyamin safe with Yusuf and to test whether the brothers had changed: would they abandon a second son of Rachel as they had abandoned the first?

Their first reaction showed the old resentment: ‘If he steals, a brother of his has stolen before.’ (12:77). They meant Yusuf himself. The Quran says: ‘But Yusuf kept it within himself and did not reveal it to them. He said: You are worse in position, and Allah is most knowing of what you describe.’ He swallowed the insult in silence. But then they changed. They pleaded for their father's sake: ‘O 'Aziz, indeed he has a father [who is] an old man, so take one of us in place of him.’ (12:78). The eldest refused to go home at all: ‘I will never leave this land until my father permits me or Allah decides for me.’ (12:80). The men who once sold a brother now offered themselves to save one. The test had shown their repentance was taking root.

The others returned to Yaqub with the news, and he answered with beautiful patience and the hope that Allah would bring all his sons back together (12:83-87). He sent them back to Egypt to search for Yusuf and his brother, telling them never to despair of relief from Allah.

The brothers came before Yusuf a third time, broken by famine and grief. ‘O 'Aziz, adversity has touched us and our family, and we have come with goods poor in quality, but give us full measure and be charitable to us. Indeed, Allah rewards the charitable.’ (12:88). The men who had once been a proud clan now begged for charity. And Yusuf, after all the years, could no longer conceal himself.

‘He said: Do you know what you did with Yusuf and his brother when you were ignorant?’ (12:89). Even in this first word he offered them an excuse: ‘when you were ignorant’, attributing their crime to the folly of youth rather than calling them wicked. Stunned, they asked: ‘Are you indeed Yusuf?’ He said: ‘I am Yusuf, and this is my brother. Allah has certainly favoured us. Indeed, he who fears Allah and is patient, then indeed, Allah does not allow to be lost the reward of those who do good.’ (12:90). He summarised his whole life in one principle: taqwa and patience, and Allah does not waste the reward.

The brothers confessed: ‘By Allah, certainly has Allah preferred you over us, and indeed, we have been sinners.’ (12:91). And Yusuf gave the answer that has echoed through history: ‘No blame will there be upon you today. Allah will forgive you; and He is the most merciful of the merciful.’ (12:92). There was no lecture, no demand for compensation, no reminder of the well. Complete forgiveness in the moment of complete power.

The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ lived this verse. When he entered Makkah in victory, the Quraysh who had persecuted him, driven him out and fought him for years stood before him waiting for his judgement. The historians record that he asked them what they expected, and they said: ‘A noble brother, son of a noble brother.’ He said: ‘I say to you what Yusuf said to his brothers: No blame will there be upon you today. Go, for you are free.’ (Reported in the Seerah of Ibn Ishaq and Ibn Hisham and by al-Bayhaqi in Dala'il; the wording is from the Seerah literature.) The best of stories, revealed to console him in Makkah, became the pattern of his conduct on the day he returned to it.

Yusuf then sent his shirt to his father: ‘Take this, my shirt, and cast it over the face of my father; he will become seeing. And bring me your family, all together.’ (12:93). In Canaan, as the caravan set out, Yaqub said: ‘Indeed, I find the smell of Yusuf’ (12:94), and when the shirt was cast over his face, his sight returned (12:96). The brothers asked their father to seek forgiveness for them, and he promised to do so (12:97-98).

The whole family came to Egypt. ‘And when they entered upon Yusuf, he took his parents to himself and said: Enter Egypt, Allah willing, safe [and secure]. And he raised his parents upon the throne, and they bowed to him in prostration. And he said: O my father, this is the explanation of my vision of before. My Lord has made it reality.’ (12:99-100). The eleven stars, the sun and the moon. The prostration was a gesture of honour lawful in their time; in Islam prostration is reserved for Allah alone.

Yusuf's speech at the reunion is remarkable for what it leaves out. ‘And He was certainly good to me when He took me out of prison and brought you [here] from the desert after Shaytan had induced [estrangement] between me and my brothers.’ (12:100). He mentioned the prison but not the well, so as not to shame his brothers; and he blamed Shaytan, not them, for the estrangement. Ibn Kathir highlights this as the height of generosity: forgiveness that does not even mention the wrong.

At the summit of his life, with his family restored, his dream fulfilled and Egypt under his care, Yusuf turned to Allah with a prayer that shows where his heart truly lay: ‘My Lord, You have given me [something] of sovereignty and taught me of the interpretation of dreams. Creator of the heavens and earth, You are my protector in this world and in the Hereafter. Cause me to die a Muslim and join me with the righteous.’ (12:101).

He listed the gifts of this world, power and knowledge, and then asked for something greater: to die in submission and to be joined with the righteous. Ibn Kathir explains that this is not a wish for death but a prayer for a good end, that whenever death came it would find him a Muslim. The man who had everything the world could give asked only for what the world cannot give.

The Quran says nothing more about the rest of Yusuf's life. The historians report that he lived to around one hundred and ten years, that he governed in Egypt until his death, and that he asked to be buried in the land of his fathers. A narration in the Seerah and in some hadith collections says that when Musa (AS) led the Children of Israel out of Egypt centuries later, he carried Yusuf's remains with him, guided by an old woman of the tribe who knew the place of his grave (reported by Ibn Hibban and al-Hakim, with discussion over its grading). These are reports, not Quranic text. The Quran does mention that a believer at the court of Pharaoh reminded his people: ‘And Yusuf had already come to you before with clear proofs, but you remained in doubt of that which he brought to you’ (Ghafir 40:34), showing that Yusuf was remembered in Egypt as a messenger.

The closing verses of Surah Yusuf address the Prophet ﷺ and every reader: ‘That is from the news of the unseen which We reveal to you, [O Muhammad]. And you were not with them when they put together their plan while they conspired.’ (12:102). The story itself is proof of revelation: an unlettered man in Makkah told the story of the Children of Israel in Egypt with a precision and moral depth that astonished those who knew the earlier scriptures.

Then comes the final verse: ‘There was certainly in their stories a lesson for those of understanding. Never was it [the Quran] a narration invented, but a confirmation of what was before it and a detailed explanation of all things and guidance and mercy for a people who believe.’ (12:111). The lessons are many, and the scholars have written whole books on them.

The first is that Allah's plan works through the plots of those who oppose it. Every attempt to destroy Yusuf, the well, the slavery, the false accusation, the prison, moved him one step closer to the throne. The second is that chastity is worth more than freedom; Yusuf chose prison over sin and Allah honoured him for it. The third is that patience and taqwa together are the key to every door, as Yusuf himself said (12:90).

The fourth is that a believer calls to Allah wherever he is, even in a prison cell. The fifth is that one should guard one's honour and insist on the truth, as Yusuf refused to leave prison until his name was cleared. The sixth is that it is lawful to seek a position of responsibility when one is qualified and the people need it, as Yusuf asked to be placed over the storehouses. The seventh, and perhaps the greatest, is forgiveness: the man who had been wronged most said, in his moment of greatest power, ‘No blame will there be upon you today.’ That sentence, spoken by Yusuf and repeated by Muhammad ﷺ, is the summary of the best of stories.