RECORD OF YUSUF’S LIBERATION FROM THE NARROW PRISON, AND OF HIS ELEVATION TO THE THRONE OF DIGNITY, MAG­NIFICENCE AND GLORY.

The Emperor of Rûm had sent an ambassador to the King of Egypt; he had provided him with abundant riches and a lethal poison, in order to win over the courtiers with the former and to slay the king with the latter, so as to remove him from the government of Egypt. After this envoy of the sovereign of Rûm had entered into close familiarity with the king’s table-decker and cup-bearer, he communicated his intention to them. The latter refused to second his designs, but the former was decoyed from the straight path by the quantity of gold and precious stones which he had received, and became the accomplice of the envoy. The king, however, was apprised that one of the two just - mentioned officials harboured evil intentions towards his majesty, and as it could not be ascertained who it was, the king ordered both of them to be thrown into prison until it could be discovered which of the two was guilty.

Some historians allege that on account of the king’s tyranny and oppression the grandees had concocted this plan, which both the table-decker and the cup-bearer were ready to execute because of their avidity for worldly possessions. Though both of them were enemies at heart, they nevertheless conspired together in this plot, each thinking at the same time that the time of revenging himself on his companions was at hand, and consulted with each other how and on what occasion to make use of the poison. The next day, when the royal banquet took place, the cup-bearer, who was an acute and experienced indi­vidual, saw excitement circulating in the society, and pre­sented to the king a bowl of wine, which he had been careful to guard from defilement by poison, and which he poured in a limpid state like the water of immortality into the goblet of joviality; but when the king was in the act of taking the beverage from his hand, the table-decker exclaimed: ‘Beware, O king! take not the cup, for it is life-destroying, and not joy-increasing.’ The king therefore ordered the cup-bearer to swallow the draught himself. The man obeyed, felt no evil effect, and said: ‘As my inno­cence is evident, and I have been accused of treachery, I request that the table-decker’s fidelity be tried by causing him to taste of this food which he has prepared.’ The table-decker, having been ordered to partake of the food, refused, which convinced the king that it was poisoned, so that his wrath was incensed and he threw them both into prison. When they entered that place of melancholy and captivity, they forgot the intimacy they had enjoyed in the king’s company by associating with the moon-faced Kana’­anite whom Zuleikha had surnamed the Hebrew slave; and perceiving that Yusuf was the comforter of the prisoners and interpreted their dreams, they consulted with each other, and said: ‘It is expedient for us to try this refined gold on the touchstone of experience, and for the purpose of being rescued from our doubts and misgivings we shall in all sincerity gird up the loins of service to him.’ Having come to this resolution, they narrated to him their dreams, requesting him to interpret them. One of them said then to Yusuf: ‘It seemed to me [in my dream] that I pressed wine [out of grapes].’ And the other said: ‘It appeared to me [in my dream] that I was carrying bread on my head, whereof the birds did eat. Declare unto us the interpreta­tion [of our dreams] for we perceive that thou art a benefi­cent person.’* The cup-bearer, who was a traveller on the road to salvation, said: ‘In my sleep I beheld myself walking in a pleasant garden, and in an exhilarating rose-grove, when I suddenly perceived in one of its recesses three bunches of grapes. I took possession of them, and pre­served them for the purpose of refreshing myself, and obtained from them wine, the fumes of which were exciting and the odour rejoicing. I decanted the new wine, from which the poets of Yemen draw inspiration, into a bumper of Damascus glass, and served it up to the king, who drank it with much zest, and praised me highly.’ Then the table-decker, who was standing in the corner of exclusion, approached Yusuf, and said: ‘My dream is, that I came from the ordinary apartment of the king, and saw on my head three trenchers containing loaves of bread, each of which excited the jealousy of the solar orb, and of the disc of the moon. Suddenly, however, famished birds came flying towards me, and consumed the bread so that not one of them remained. I was greatly disturbed by this event, and awoke from my sleep. Now, we beseech thee to inter­pret these two dreams to us, and to vouchsafe to inform us of the consequences of these two visions.’ Yusuf, who knew that one of these two dreams was boding good, and the other evil, said: ‘No food wherewith ye may be nourished shall come unto you, but I will declare unto you the interpretation thereof before it come unto you.’* They replied: ‘This is the business of sorcerers and sooth­sayers; where hast thou seen them? and when hast thou learnt this trade from them?’ Yusuf rejoined: ‘God forbid that I should have followed such people, and that I should have learnt this science from them; but my spirit is strengthened by heavenly assistance, it is inspired by divine revelations, and this is a knowledge in which my Omnipotent Nourisher has instructed me.’ When they again requested him to interpret their dreams, he refused, invited them to follow the religion of his fathers Ya’qûb, Esahâq and Ebrahim, and harangued them on the unity of the Omniscient One. But when they pressed him the next time he yielded, and said: ‘O companions of my captivity, the interpretation of the dream of him who gave wine to the king is, that the latter will reinstate him in his former office, but will hang the other on a gibbet, where birds will feed on the brains of his head.’

The details of the preceding interpretation are as follows: Yusuf explained to the cup-bearer that the garden which he had seen meant his livelihood, the three bunches of grapes the three days during which he would still have to remain in prison, and the receiving of the cup by the king implied sanction of reinstatement in his former post. To the table-decker he said: ‘The three trenchers indicate that after the expiration of three days thou wilt be removed from this place and hanged on a gallows, where thou wilt be left until the birds of the air have consumed the brains of thy head.’ When the said two individuals heard these words from Yusuf, they said: ‘We have dreamt no dreams at all, but have devised these words in our waking state, for the purpose of trying thee.’ Yusuf replied: ‘The matter is decreed concerning which ye seek to be informed,* nor will the command of God be altered.’ He also said to the cup-bearer: ‘Remember me in the presence of thy lord,’* and requested him that on the proper occasion, when again waiting upon the king, he would inform him that the unfortunate Hebrew slave had been for a number of years confined in prison, excluded from and despairing of enjoying the pleasures of this world. The cup-bearer placed the finger of acquiescence, with Yusuf’s request, upon his eyes; and when three days had elapsed, the director of the chancery of fate placed one of them upon the couch of fortune, and suspended the other upon the gibbet of perdition. The cup-bearer was again received into favour, ‘but the devil caused him to forget to make mention of Yusuf unto his lord,’* so that he never remembered him. It is said that when Yusuf made his request to the cup-bearer, Jebrâil descended from the mansion of the Living Eternal one, and thus addressed Yusuf: ‘God—w. n. b. e.—sends thee His greeting and says: Wast thou ashamed of Me that thou hast taken refuge with a mortal, and hast made one of the sons of Adam thy mediator? I swear by My glory and magnifi­cence that I shall retain thee in prison several years more.’ Yusuf asked Jebrâil: ‘Will the Omnipotent Lord be pleased with me whilst I am in captivity?’ Jebrâil said: ‘Yes.’ Yusuf continued: ‘If such be the case, I do not fear the troubles and afflictions of the prison.’ In some works it is related that when Jebrâil descended after the above-mentioned request [of Yusuf to the cup-bearer] and said to Yusuf: ‘The Creator—whose magnificence be exalted— asks thee who has produced thee from non-existence and hast made thee the favourite of thy father,’ Yusuf replied: ‘The Lord God whose beneficence is universal.’ Jebrâil continued: ‘Who has removed from thee the reproach [and inclination] of committing sin with Zuleikha?’ Yusuf said: ‘The Lord Most High.’ Jebrâil continued: ‘The Most High says: Since thou hast confessed that I have done all this, why seekest thou intercession from a man like thyself?’ This recital is confirmatory of the words of Yusuf, who said: ‘Nobody ever loved me without the con­sequence of it bringing affliction upon me.’

According to one tradition, Yusuf remained seven years more in prison, after the expiration whereof Bin Valeed, the King of Egypt, beheld in his sleep seven fat kine issuing from the river Nile, who were followed by seven lean ones that swallowed the former without any change appearing on their bodies. He likewise beheld seven ears of corn which were beautiful and verdant, having plenty of grains on them. After these, seven withered and decayed ears appeared, which bent over the good ones and so exsiccated them that nothing of their freshness or verdure remained. When the king awoke, he was languid and melancholy, called for magicians, soothsayers, and expounders, asking them to interpret his vision; but all of them said: ‘These are confused dreams, which we cannot interpret.’* When the cup-bearer heard this conversation, he remembered Yusuf, and said: ‘I shall procure a man who will be able to explain the vision of his majesty. I will declare unto you the interpretation thereof, wherefore let me go [unto the person who will interpret it to me].’* The Emâm Anjum-ud-din O’mar Nashafi has expounded the above verse as follows: I shall bring information about an expounder, and I know how to set about it; therefore send me to the prison, for he is there who knows it.

When the cup-bearer saw the inability of the interpreters, he represented to the king that the tentatives of these scholars were futile, and their words vain. He said that the dream of the king could not be an intricate one, because the dreams of sovereigns are undoubtedly capable of being explained. He also narrated his own and the table-decker’s dream, with their interpretation by Yusuf, whose story, he said, was a long one, and he could not detail it as he ought; but he was certain of Yusuf’s being of noble descent, of the family of Ebrahim, endowed with perfect beauty and adorned with pleasing manners, and that the A’ziz was inconsiderately keeping him in prison at the bidding of his wife. The king wished quickly to know the meaning of the dream, therefore he despatched the cup-bearer to the prison, who went there and said to Yusuf: ‘Thou veracious one, teach us [the interpretation] of seven fat kine,’ etc.,* related the king’s dream, and said that, as the interpreters could not explain it, Yusuf was to do so, and that the cup-bearer would, on his return, narrate it, whereby they might perhaps become aware of Yusuf’s value and dignity, and deliver him from prison. Yusuf said: ‘The fat kine and the green ears mean abundant and fertile years, during which the inhabitants will be in com­fort; on the other hand, the lean kine and the withered ears mean years of famine and distress, during which pro­visions and sustenance will not be obtainable.’ Yusuf continued: ‘The remedy is to cultivate and to sow the ground without intermission during seven years, and to store all the grain, except what is required for food; and during the seven following years of hunger and distress, you will have to consume all you may have laid by, except a little, which you must reserve for sowing. After the years of scarcity, a year will come during which the people will, by the mercy of heaven and the fertility of the earth, live in comfort and tranquillity.’ When the cup-bearer returned from the prison, he related the whole interpreta­tion to the king, who became convinced that these words were true, and that his dream had no other signification. Consequently he sent the cup-bearer to Yusuf, who explained the king’s wish to meet that cypress of the garden of prophecy and liberality, and requested him to come to the king’s palace; but the veracious one refused, and said: ‘Return thou to the king and ask him what has become of those women who cut their hands.’

It is related that when the prophet—u. w. b., etc.— arrived at the verse, ‘Return unto thy Lord, and ask of him what was the intent of the women who cut their hands,’* he said: ‘May Allah the magnificent and glorious pardon my brother Yusuf; but had I been in his place, I would immediately have obeyed the summons of the king, and would have come in haste.’

When the cup-bearer returned to the king, he said that Yusuf would not come out of prison until his innocence was made clear. Riân Bin Valeed was astonished at this reply, and inquired minutely into Yusuf’s case. The cup-bearer informed him that Yusuf was a Hebrew slave, endowed with great beauty and intelligence, whom the A’ziz of Egypt had purchased from one Mâlek Bin Za’r. The king further asked for the reason of his captivity, about the women who had cut their hands, and why he was to make inquiries from them. Hereon the cup-bearer related the whole story of Yusuf, as he had heard it from himself, which greatly astonished the king. He accordingly called for the jailer, and said: ‘A youth endowed with such and such qualities is in prison, and I want to ascertain who has sent him there.’ The prison-keeper replied: ‘The A’ziz of Egypt has sent him to prison. He fasts during the day and prays during the night; and if various kinds of the best food be offered to him, he takes only a little, and distributes the rest among the needy.’ After hearing these words, the king became extremely anxious to see Yusuf; therefore he summoned the A’ziz to his presence and examined him about Yusuf’s case, as also for the reason of his captivity. The A’ziz, however, concealed the true state of the matter, for fear of losing his reputation, and said: ‘I have bought this slave from Mâlek Bin Za’r, and adopted him as my son; but as he was accused of treachery, I have sent him to prison, where he still is, for that reason.’ Riân then again sent the cup-bearer to the prison to bring Yusuf, but the veracious one still refused, saying: ‘Though Riân be the king, it is my first duty to clear my character in the sight of the A’ziz who has purchased me, and who will become reconciled to me only after the women shall have been examined with reference to me.’ The cup-bearer again conveyed this message to the king, who marvelled still more, ordered the women with the cut hands to appear in his presence, who, being interrogated about Yusuf and Zuleikha, replied: ‘God forbid that we should have said anything bad of him. It was a stratagem which we had concocted.’ Zuleikha also confessed her guilt, saying: ‘Now right has been distinguished from wrong, and truth from falsehood. I asked him to comply with my desires, and he is one of the righteous.’ The nobleman’s wife said: ‘Now is the truth become manifest. I solicited him to lie with me, and he is one of those who speak the truth.’* After these words Yusuf said: ‘The cause of my request was to convince the A’ziz that I have not been deceiving him in his absence, “and that Allah directeth not the plot of the deceivers. Neither do I [absolutely] justify myself, since every soul is prone unto evil.” ’*

It is related that after Zuleikha had, in the presence of Riân Bin Valeed, confessed her guilt, the A’ziz of Egypt divorced her on account of this disgrace, but that Yusuf married her eighteen years later. Some say that shortly after Yusuf’s liberation from prison the A’ziz died, and the veracious one entered into a matrimonial alliance with Zuleikha. It is, however, expected that—if Allah willeth —we shall describe the event of their union in a more detailed manner, as follows:

When the diploma of the innocence and purity of Yusuf —u. w. b., etc.—had become evident to Riân and to the Egyptians, the king said: ‘Bring Yusuf, that I may select him for particular affairs.’ Accordingly one of the courtiers went to the prison and delivered the king’s message to Yusuf, who thereon politely took leave of the jailer, and wrote on the prison-door: ‘This is the grave of the living, a house of mourning; a trial to the friends, and a cause of exultation to the enemies [of those who reside therein].’ He bathed and purified himself, put on a costly dress, and rode on the horse of the courtier under whose care he was, to the palace of the king. When he had honoured the heaven-resembling mansion of Riân with his noble presence, and the latter had glanced at him with the courtiers, they said: ‘This is the form of a spirit or an angel in the shape of a man; because none of the sons of men have ever learnt or their ears heard about one like him.’ The king caused Yusuf to take a seat in an appropriate place, and after having addressed various questions to him for the purpose of ascertaining his various capacities, he found him adorned with all perfect sciences, and acquainted with secret matters. Then he said: ‘I wish to hear the inter­pretation of my dream from thine own pearl-dropping lips.’ Yusuf replied: ‘If I am permitted, I shall first rehearse your majesty’s dream by way of explanation, and then I shall interpret it.’ Riân assented, and Yusuf spoke as follows: ‘The king has seen in his dream seven fat white kine, with black eyes, green horns, and of pleasant aspect, from whose paps milk was exuding, make their appearance on the banks of the Nile, so that their beauty and fresh­ness excited the admiration of the king. Then the waters of the Nile became affected with an unpropitious decrease, which continued until nothing but mud remained in the bed of the river. From that mire seven black, demon-like cows issued, the abdomen of each of whom was in contact with his back.* And these two species of cows fell upon each other like the armies of Greece and Ethiopia, until at last the black lean kine prevailed over the white and fat ones, broke their bones, and devoured them with their flesh and blood and skins, so that no trace of them was left. The king was looking at them with astonishment, when he suddenly beheld seven green and as many black and withered ears of corn growing up from one spot, with their roots in mud and water. The king pondered that as these ears were all growing on the same spot, there ought to be some reason for the verdure and freshness of the one and for the decaying and withering state of the other set. Suddenly, however, a wind commenced to blow, which caused the green and the dry ears to become entangled with each other in a sort of combat, in consequence whereof smoke and fire issued from the dry ears, which so affected the green ones that they likewise became withered.’ After that the veracious one gave the interpretation of this dream, which has already been narrated above.*

The king exclaimed: ‘By Allah! if this dream be wonder­ful, thy telling it without adding anything to or taking from it is still more wonderful. This is my dream, O veracious one, which thou hast interpreted in the assembly without alteration. Inform us also of the means by which the baneful effects of the misfortune that threatens us may be avoided.’ Yusuf replied: ‘The remedy in this matter is, to order all the inhabitants of Egypt to attend most carefully to their agricultural labours, and to let them know that the greatest calamities will ensue if they neglect to carry out this injunction. Your majesty ought also to command the middle and the higher classes to content themselves with as much of the produce as will suffice for their maintenance, and to store all the remaining grain of the following seven years in granaries, so as to preserve this from the attacks of insects.’ Hearing much and similar advice which flowed from the jewel-dropping lips of the veracious one, Riân became irresolute, and said: ‘To the hands of what wise and faithful individual shall I entrust the reins [i.e. the management] of this dangerous business? Who can issue unscathed from this important matter?’ Yusuf replied: ‘Appoint me to fix the revenues, and the produce to be raised during seven years, and inform every clerk and accountant that I shall examine his calculations.’ Allah—w. n. b. e.—has said: ‘Set me over the storehouse of the land, for I will be a skilful keeper thereof.’* The ‘storehouses of the land’* mean here the places in which all the grain and produce is stored.

Riân complied with this request, eulogized Yusuf, and said: ‘Who could better apply himself to the generalities and details of affairs than thyself? It is my intention henceforth to avail myself of thy advice in matters of government, and to make thee an inmate and dignitary of my house.’ Then he adorned the august head of Yusuf with a golden crown, and decorated his waist with a girdle of precious jewels, as a sign of his royal bounty, and entrusted his far-seeing intellect with the execution of the above-named important affair. He also removed the A’ziz from his post, and appointed to it the Lord Yusuf. Others, however, allege that this happened after the decease of the A’ziz, because Yusuf would not accept the place during the lifetime of the latter.

In short, the veracious one commanded a spacious surface to be set apart in one of the districts of Egypt, the climate of which was temperate and free from dew. There he caused buildings to be erected, high like the rampart of Eskander,* and the summit of the pyramids. He also appointed a collector to store all the produce, excepting only that required for daily use, in the just-mentioned granaries.

When the days of prosperity and cheapness had elapsed, hard times of distress and famine arrived, the like of which the inhabitants of Egypt had never seen before, and the first individual attacked by the pangs of hunger was Riân Bin Valeed; it is said they attacked him in the middle of the night, and he exclaimed: ‘O Yusuf, the hunger, the hunger!’ It is said that in those days the veracious one had every day once, at noon, food prepared for the king and his servants. On that occasion he himself did not eat his fill, lest he might forget the condition of the poor and unhappy. The flames of scarcity burned so brightly that their smoke issued from the windows of the noble and the opulent, as well as from those of the poor and needy; the rich and the indigent, the healthy and the sick, were equally subject to it. Excess of hunger made people imagine that in the granary of the sky the stars were wheat which they could not reach; and in the area of Virgo, which is a sheaf of that blue plantation, they perceived the ears of corn which they could not attain. The violence of the famine had satiated everyone with life, but the satiety which means appeased hunger could not be felt:

Verses:

The people were so much distressed That men became anthropophagi like wolves. All the bread a poor man could obtain Was the loaf of the sun in the sky. The stranger travelling on the road Ate his meal from the saucer of the moon. From such bread the heart could not be at ease, From such food the stomach could not be at peace.

In short, whatever eatables or produce the people had, they fed therewith their families during the first year; in the second they spent all their money, gold and jewels on the maintenance of their households; in the third year they pur­chased grain by selling all their ornaments, furniture, beds, and utensils; in the fourth they sold their male and female slaves, with all the remaining cattle, to save their own lives; in the fifth they parted with all their movable and immovable property, and purchased wheat by the Saa’,* and in this year corn became so dear that even the scales of the balances fell into disuse, nor was there any occasion for weights, as there were no loads to be weighed, and the Saa’ was the only measure employed; in the sixth year the people bartered their wives and children—which are the most precious possessions of men, and the darlings of their heart—for oats and corn; in the seventh year fear for their own lives made them sell their own bodies to Yusuf in the same way as they had already before parted with all their possessions.

When dearness became again changed to cheapness, affliction to peace, and misery to comfort, Yusuf turned the face of his desire towards the king, and said: ‘In these times we have established a treasury, and collected riches which kings of ancient ages were unable to accumulate despite all their power; nay, not even one tenth of them. We have, moreover, preserved all the subjects of your majesty from the famine and its hard­ships. But now, as times have become prosperous, it will be proper for your majesty again to restore to freedom those men who have fallen into the unhappy state of servi­tude, and to rejoice their grieved minds with this gift, the memory whereof will remain for ever recorded on the pages of history, and will be remembered till the day of the resur­rection.’ The king replied: ‘I abandon the good and the bad of this affair, the tying and the knotting thereof, to thy option. The keys of judging what is wrong or right con­cerning my subjects have been transferred to the grasp of thy good pleasure. Arrange these matters as they ought to be, and act in the most proper way; for my approbation depends on thy opinion, and my opinion will be regulated by thy approbation.’ When Yusuf had obtained this per­mission he restored to liberty all the inhabitants of Egypt who wore the ring of slavery in their ears; he, moreover, presented them with their possessions, servants and cattle. This act of beneficence imparted new life to the country, and the inhabitants of the world learnt that a faithful treasurer is the cause of the good order and prosperity of the kingdom.

Verses:

A prudent and magnanimous wazir At all times prospers the kingdom; He refreshes the affairs of the king, He governs the land with wisdom. And if there be no good wazir, The people complain of the king; Throne, crown, kingdom and treasure Give no pleasure to the king, but pain to the people. All the pomp and power are lost, The territories suddenly get confused. Wash your hands of such a king, Whose prime minister is an oppressor.