Prophet Yusuf (A.S) Story

You have read about Hazrat Ibrahim (A.S.). He had two sons, Hazrat Isamel (A.S.) whose generation settled in Makkah and Hazrat Ishaq (A.S.) who settled in Syria.

Hazrat Ishaq (A.S.) had son named Hazrat Yaqub [A.S.]. He lived in the Keenan city of Syria. Allah had given him twelve sons. One of them was Yusuf (A.S.) another was Yameeen the real brother of Yusuf (A.S.). All others was step-brothers.

Among them Hazrat Yusuf (A.S) was the most intelligent and noble. When he was only 16 years old, he saw a dream and in the morning told this to his father. He said, “Father, last night I saw a dream in which I saw that eleven stars, the sun and the moon are worshipping me.”

After hearing this, Hazrat Yaqub (A.S) replied. “My son, don’t tell your dream to your brothers lest they should tease you. It occurs to me that your Lord will choose you for His mission. He makes you His prophet, grant wisdom and, like your grand father Ishaq (A.S.), and great grand father Ibrahim (A.S.) bless you.”
Hazrat Yaqub (A.S.) loved Hazrat Yusuf (A.S) among his sons the most because he was noble and very intelligent since childhood. Now he had learnt that Allah had decided to assign the task of Prophet Hood to Hazrat Yusuf (A.S). Therefore, his love for him had increased. Other brothers did not like it. They were jealous of Hazrat Yusuf (A.S).

In Arabia, during those days, the family that consisted of strong sons, grand sons, brothers and cousins was respected. Such a family always had an upper hand over all others and therefore, people loved their strong sons. The brothers of Yusuf [A.S], used to maintain that as they were stronger than him only they could be useful at a bad hour. According to them, Yusuf [A.S] who was weak of all could not do anything all alone, therefore, their father should love them more and they considered it their dishonour if Yusuf (A.S.) was loved more than them.

One day all the brothers, expect Yusuf [A.S], gathered at a place and said, “It seems our father has gone astray. He should have respected us because we are a full lot. It is wrong on his part to love Yusuf (A.S.) more than us. Let’s, therefore, kill Yusuf (A.S.) or leave him at some far off place. When Yusuf (A.S.) will not be among us, father will naturally love us more.” One of them suggested to throw their brother into a well, In a jungle, instead of killing him from where he could be taken along by some caravan passing by.

All of them liked this suggestion and went to their father. They asked him, “Father, why do you never send Yusuf (A.S.) along with us anywhere. Do you have no trust on us? We are his well-wishers. Please send him with us to the jungle to enjoy and play. We will protect him”.
Their father replied, “I am worried to send him with you. I fear lest you should be careless and some wolf eats him up.”
“But we are a strong lot, “the sons said, “How can a wolf eat Yusuf (A.S.) when we are there.” They somehow managed to get their father’s consent and one day took Yusuf (A.S.) towards the jungle. As decided, they threw him into a well.

They Allah consoled Hazrat Yusuf (A.S.) and made him believe that one day or the other he would remind his brothers of their mischief and that day they would feel sorry over their deed. His brothers were to aware that Yusuf (A.S.) was being encouraged by Allah and of the result of their mischief.
Before throwing Yusuf (A.S.) in the well, they had removed his Kurta [cloth worn on the upper part of the body] and falsely stained it with the blood of an animal. At night when they returned home, they went to their father weeping and said, “Father, while we were busy in playing, and seated Yusuf (A.S.) to look after our belongings, a wolf appeared from somewhere and ate him up. See this is his blood stained Kurta.”

Hazrat Yuqub (A.S.) did not believe them and said, “You have certainly made some mischief or deceit. I can not believe what you say. I will only keep patience and seek Allah’s help.”

On the other hand, when his brothers had left after throwing Yusuf (A.S) into the well, a carvan happened to through there. They sent one of them to fetch water from the well. As soon as he suspended the bucket into the well, he saw a boy into it. He cried out, “Congratulations. We have found a boy here.”
The people of the caravan pulled Yusuf (A.S.) out of the well and immediately hid him planning to sell him in the market. How could they know that everything was happening by the order of Allah and He was aware of everything?

The caravan was going from Madina to Egypt. They took Hazrat Yusuf (A.S.) also with them and sold him out there for a very few coins. They did not expect any other benefit from Yusuf (A.S.)

The king of Egypt had a minister whose name was Fotifar. He was the highest official treasury. He was called Aziz. He had purchased Hazrat Yusuf (A.S.) from the caravan people. He had understood that Hazrat Yusuf (A.S.) belonged to a respected family and somehow fallen to the caravan people. From his talks with Hazrat Yusuf (A.S.) he had known that he was very intelligent.

Aziz had no sons. He said to his wife, “Look after this boy well. He may prove to be beneficial for us or we may even adopt.
At that time Hazrat Yusuf (A.S.) was about 18 years of age. Soon Aziz authorized him of everything at his home, and handed over the management of his property and business to him.

So far Hazrat Yusuf (A.S.) had spent a rural life and had all the qualities of a villager’ He was born in the family of Allah’s messengers. He was a devotee of Allah and very noble. Due to the open atmosphere of the village, he had very good health. Now Allah had landed him in a country renowned for its living. Moreover, he had now entered a house where he could learn governance and the administration of the country. It looked as if he was being groomed by Allah for His mission in the future.

Allah the Beneficent, on the one hand provided Hazrat Yusuf (A.S.) with a good shelter in an alien land. On the other, He arranged for his training like of which only princes could get. It is true that Allah does fulfil His work but many people do not know about the compulsions behind what He does.
Hazrat Yusuf (A.S.) live on at the house of Aziz till he was young. The name of the wife of Aziz was Zulaikha. One day when Aziz was not at home, she closed itself with Hazrat Yusuf (A.S.) into a room, with evil intention, and said to him, “Come closer to me.”

Hazrat Yusuf (A.S.) replied, “God forbid, my Lord has bestowed on me so much honour and such a shelter. How can I do this evil deed? I cannot do it. My Lord does not grant success to the sinners.”

At this, that woman moved towards Hazrat Yusuf (A.S.) Had he not realized Zulaikha’s intention and replied spontaneously, he could also have moved towards her. But Allah had saved him from bad and dirty things.

When he saw the woman coming to him he rushed to the door. But the woman was very shameless. She followed him immediately and caught hold of his Kurta. Hazrat Yusuf (A.S.) tried to pull it back. In the scuffle a piece of it remained into the woman’s hand and Hazrat Yusuf (A.S.) rushed out of the room. She also followed him. As soon as they come out of the room, they confronted with Aziz. At this the woman was flabbergasted and immediately asks him “what is the punishment for a man who has an evil intention about your wife.” Before he could answer, she herself replied thus: “What else accept that he should be imprisoned or given severe and exemplary punishment.

When Hazrat Yusuf (A.S.) heard this he said, “She is telling a lie. In fact, it was she who was flirting me. But I did not agree.”
In the meantime, a relative of Zulaikha appeared on the scene. Knowing, perhaps, about the character of Zulaikha, he understood everything and very wisely suggested, “Let’s first see the shirt of Yusuf (A.S.); if its front portion is pierced, the woman is true and if its back portion is pierced, then the woman is telling a lie and Yusuf (A.S.) is speaking the truth.” The suggestion was logical, were the shirt of Hazrat Yusuf (A.S.) the front, it would imply that he would have moved towards the woman and then pushed away by her. In the scuffle his shirt might have been torn. Since the shirt was torn from the back it meant that Yusuf (A.S.) might have tried to save himself and the woman might have tried to catch him from the back. One more evidence was in the form that Zulaikha’s garments were not torn nor her body bore any sears. The position was contrary to it to clarify the whole thing.

Aziz then understood everything and cried at his wife and said, “This is all your mischief. It is true that you women are very tricky.” Turning to Yusuf (A.S.) he said, “Yusuf, forget it, and asked his wife “Say sorry to Yusuf as it is your mistake.”

Now the entire city was aware of what Zulaikha had done. Women said “Aziz’s wife has blindly fallen in love with her servant. It looks she has committed a folly.” When Zulaikha heard this, she got angry. So one day she invited all the women for a meal and seated them on coushions. She put some fruits and a knife before each of them. As soon as these women started cutting the fruits, she called in Yusuf (A.S.). When the women raised their eyes towards Yusuf (A.S.), they were taken a back, Instead of the fruits; they cut off their own fingers and exclaimed, “O God, he is not a man but an angel.”
Zulaikha said, “Look at him. He is the person about whom you were defaming me. I flirted him but he escaped. Now I have decided to send him to jail if he did not obey me. He will be debased there.”

See how shameless the Women of Egypt were in those days. Today Europe is proud that they have given equal status to women and they are also free like men. But you can judge how shameless the Egyptian women were. The fact is that Satan’s hirelings have always been almost the same.
When Hazrat Yusuf (A.S.) come to know about Zulaikha’s ill intentions, he said, “O my Lord, I will prefer imprisonment to what she calls me for. O my Lord, save me from these tricks lest I shall be entrapped and thus be amongst the uncivilized.” At this stage Hazrat Yusuf (A.S.) was at the peak of his youthfulness. Ladies of high families would flirt him and compel him for committing sin. But he stood firm and noble even amongst such evil persons. God’s fear kept him away from sin.

If one wants to become pious, and decides to follow the path of righteousness, Allah also helps him. True to this fact, Allah heeded the prayer of Hazrat Yusuf (A.S.) and saved him from the trap of those evil women. He is the All Knower, All-wise.

These people put Hazrat Yusuf (A.S.) into jail to avoid bad name and commit atrocities on him. But the ladies of respectable families knew that he was innocent. Thus all the people became aware of the pious thought and nobility of Hazrat Yusuf (A.S.). His mission in future also required that he should be fully known. The propagation of his nobility and piety was necessary for the message of Allah which he had to deliver to the people of Egypt.
In the prison two young men also joined Hazrat Yusuf (A.S.). One of them was a bar tender to a king and the other a kitchen officer.