His lordship, Yusuf the veracious, was assuredly and most certainly one of the great seers, and the greatest of perfect prophets. The genealogy of his father is derived from the nursery of the friend [i.e. Ebrahim], and his precious gem originated from the mine of Esrâil [meaning that Joseph was the son of Jacob].
It is related that the Most High—w. n. b. e.—divided beauty into ten parts, one of which fell to the lot of all the inhabitants of the world, and the nine others constituted the light of the pulchritude, and the robe of perfection of Yusuf. Astronomers say—and upon them the responsibility rests—that the propitious horoscope of his lordship was Cancer, the sun was in the ascendant, Mercury in the second, Saturn and the moon in the ninth, Mars in the eleventh, Jupiter and Venus in the twelfth [degree or mansion?]; wherefore he became incomparably beautiful and pleasing. The learned differ about his blessed name, many of them asserting that it is foreign [i.e. not Arabic]; a few others again say that it is Arabic, and derived from ‘asuf,’ which means grief - stricken, and also a slave. Maybe Yusuf was called by this name because he bore the yoke of servitude and tasted the venom of grief; the author of this work, however, says, that although the name Yusuf may also be derived from ‘asif,’ it is not necessarily an Arabic word, as some assert, since Arabic scholars consider Nûh to be a foreign word, although derived from ‘nûha,’ which is Arabic; but Allah—w. n. b. e.—knows best.
The details of Yusuf’s affairs begin as follows: He was one night sleeping by the side of Ya’qûb’s couch, and the flower of his beauty was reposing in the rose-grove of his father’s proximity, when he suddenly awoke, trembled like a rose-leaf which the zephyr shakes, and quaked like a drop of quicksilver parched by the sun. Ya’qûb perceived this, and said: ‘My son, what is the matter? and what has happened to thee?’ Yusuf replied: ‘I have just dreamt a dream, the calamitous forebodings of which have frightened me: I beheld myself on the top of a high mountain, around which there were many rivulets, abundant verdure, numerous trees, countless flowers, such as various kinds of anemones, jessamines, and fragrant plants; and I beheld in my dream the sun, moon, and eleven stars suddenly descending from the heavens and worshipping me.’* Yaqûb knew that the lofty mountain was the similitude of the seat of Yusuf’s heaven-embracing prosperity which he would one day attain; the limpid brooks were the waters of his good fortune meandering into the river of his dignity; the pleasant gardens were the meadows of his felicity, from which the roses of his desires would blossom every moment, when the throne of sempiternal happiness would be adorned by the presence of his beloved son, when the eleven tribes of Esrâil, prefigured by the eleven stars who are the luminaries of the heaven of glory, and of the spheres of prophecy, would lay down the foreheads of their submission before him upon the ground, and the sun and moon as representatives of two exalted individuals, who are a noble couple, will agree with the eleven tribes [in their submission]. Ya’qûb was, nevertheless, apprehensive of the accidents of time and of the adversities that might befall Yusuf during the lapse of months and years. He prohibited him from revealing the dream to his brothers, because he knew that if they became aware of what was in store for him in the womb of futurity, they would, at the instigation of Satan, machinate evil against him. The Most Glorious has said: ‘My son, divulge not thy vision to thy brethren, lest they plot a plot against thee; for Satan is an evident enemy to man.’* After he had given this advice to his son, he consoled him, saying: ‘My son, the boundless Giver will soon invest thee with the ennobling robe of His choice, will make thee a confidant of His mysteries, will plentifully shower His favours upon thee and thy family, and will promote thee to the high station of thy fathers and ancestors.’ The brethren of Yusuf, nevertheless, became sometime afterwards aware of his dream; their envy augmented and the flames of their malevolence were kindled against him. They all congregated near Rubil, who was the most distinguished among them on account of the correctness of his judgment, and informed him that the son of Rahil had dreamt a strange dream, in consequence whereof he had averted their father’s affection from themselves. Rubil was astonished at their recital, and said: ‘I consider not his face as the face of a liar. As the indications of prosperity have appeared upon the forehead of his circumstances, what wonder is there that the plant of his felicity is beginning to grow by the river-side of his hopes, and that the crescent of his beauty is becoming a full moon in the firmament of [impending] magnificence?’ On account of this reply of Rubil, and of Yusuf’s dream, most of his brethren were so astonished and disconcerted that they remained sleepless both night and day. After the expiration of one year he again dreamt a dream, in which he perceived water dripping from the tips of his august fingers, ascending into the skies and coming down upon the heads of his brethren in the form of rain. When he told this to his father, Ya’qûb knew that this was a metaphor of a time of dearth, during which the five-branched sea of the hands of Yusuf’s beneficence would water the thirsty meadows of the hopes of his brothers with the floods of his benefits and obligations; but keeping the interpretation of this dream in abeyance, he enjoined his son to keep it likewise secret. When, nevertheless, the brothers of Yusuf had become aware also of this second dream, and perceived the increase of affection between the father and the son; their feelings of envy prevailed, and they harboured evil designs against him.
It is recorded in several histories that when Rahil departed this life, whilst giving birth to Ebn Yamin, Yusuf was two years old. Ya’qûb had a sister, to whom the care and rearing of Yusuf was transferred, and as he was the handsomest, not only of the sons of Ya’qûb, but of all the inhabitants of the world, his father loved him so much, that he could not bear to be separated from him one moment; therefore, the sister was requested to surrender the child. But, as she loved Yusuf more than her brother Ya’qûb, she tried to retain him for some time, by making use of various subterfuges; when, however, at last, these became of no avail, and the importunities of Ya’qûb had passed all bounds, she invented a stratagem, by which she attained her object: Esahâq had inherited a belt from Ebrahim, which had lapsed in course of time to Ya’qûb’s sister. With the said belt that intelligent woman girded Yusuf under his clothes when she surrendered him to his father, in consequence whereof, her nephew became very uneasy. She also informed Ya’qûb of the loss of the belt, which could nowhere be found, until it was at last discovered on the naked body of Yusuf the veracious. Therefore she did not allow Ya’qûb to take the august child away, since, according to the orthodox religion of Ebrahim, it was optional with the owner of the property to retain the thief in his service during the space of one year; and according to another tradition, the thief could not be liberated from the fetters of servitude as long as the owner of the stolen property was alive. When the aunt of Yusuf surrendered the deposit of life to the grasper of souls, Ya’qûb cherished him so that he was envied by his brothers, since he had given him the cane which Ebrahim had received from paradise along with the belt and robe which the Bestower of all good gifts had, from the treasury of excellence, presented to Esahâq. Another reason of their ill-will was that, on a certain occasion, when Yusuf awoke from his sleep, he told his sister that he had had a strange dream, and on her inquiry, he replied: ‘I dreamt that I was gathering wood with my brothers, and each of us put his faggots in a separate heap. I perceived that the heaps of my brothers were black, but mine was white; at the same time also I saw that their heaps worshipped mine. A man also arrived there, whose head, so to say, touched the sky, and his feet the earth; he held a balance in his hand, saluted and complimented me, weighed the portions of all my brothers in one, and my wood in the other scale, but found the latter to preponderate; whereupon my brothers adored me.’ When Ya’qûb had heard this dream, he knew the interpretation thereof, and became exceedingly sad on account of the cunning and treachery of Yusuf’s brothers. Another reason for their envy was, that one year after this vision, Yusuf again had a dream, in which a voice said to him: ‘Arise, and fix thy staff in the ground;’ and after having done so, he beheld his brothers likewise sticking their staffs into the earth around his staff, whereon Yusuf beheld his staff growing skyward and budding forth branches, which were so bright that they illuminated the interval between the East and the West; then fruits rained from these branches of the tree upon the heads of Yusuf’s brothers, which they were eating whilst they worshipped him. When Yusuf awoke, he saw his father and brothers sitting around him; he then revealed his dream, which greatly pained his father, because he knew that his brothers were conscious of its meaning, and feared that from excess of envy they might injure him. Some time after this he again dreamt, during the night of a Friday; and this dream —which ripened the evil intentions of his brothers unto maturity—is contained in the following verse of the glorious Qurân: ‘I saw eleven stars, and the sun and the moon. I saw them make obeisance unto me.’* The meaning of it has been already recorded above. In short, when the brothers heard of all these visions, and beheld the augmentation of intimacy between Yusuf and his honourable father, they fell a prey to envy and hatred, strained their whole minds how to injure him, and after they had determined to throw him into the well of misery, they fancied that this act would become the cause of the increase of their own importance and dignity. They accordingly requested Ya’qûb to allow them to take Yusuf along with themselves for the purpose of seeing the desert; Ya’qûb, however, refused their demand, and placed the hand of denial upon the breast of the request of his sons. It is said that the cause of Ya’qûb’s not complying was, that he had one night dreamt that the earth was weeping; therefore he drew Yusuf to his own side, saying: ‘O, noblest of the oppressed! Come to my side, because thine own family has injured thee;’ whereupon the earth swallowed him, and Yusuf disappeared.
After the design of the sons of Ya’qub had been impeded and frustrated, they left their father sad and depressed, but going aside, they attempted to concoct a new plan. On this occasion the deceitful Eblis made his appearance among them in the guise of an old man, asked them for the cause of their sorrow, and endeavoured to show himself a faithful adviser. The brothers said to him: ‘Old man, it is a long time since we were at a loss what to do, and we spend our lives in misery and sadness. Our intention is to remove our youngest brother from the sight of his father, so that in his absence we may, for a season, follow our own pleasure. The wish cherished by us of taking Yusuf to the desert, and of inventing a stratagem concerning him, has been nullified by our father’s refusal.’ Satan replied: ‘Bide your time, and reiterate your demand at the proper moment; when the spring arrives, with the season of roses and of pleasure, then make your brother first anxious to roam and to wander about. Play and gambol in his presence, so that he may himself request his father, and your intention will certainly be gratified.’ The brothers of Yusuf approved of this plan, and after duly thanking the old man, the assembly dispersed. They took hold of the skirts of patience, and waited until the sovereign of luminaries [i.e. the sun] walked into the house of his culmination. Then they paid a visit to Yusuf, and began the conversation with words like the following:
| Verses: | Come to the garden, for it is pleasant like the face of a belle. Spring has pitched its tent outside, for it is time to encamp. Now as in the meadow the tulip rises from the ground, It is incumbent upon him who is of this world To live merrily in this brief life during the season of flowers, For this is thy purpose, and life is short. Laugh at the times, as the cloud wept, For roses smile because the dawn weeps. |
‘Now, Yusuf, comply with the wishes of thy brothers, and play in the fields instead of pining in the prison-house of thy father. This is a time for pleasure and sight-seeing in the world. Peace of mind and consolation of the heart are attained by looking at flowers, and contemplating the vernal season.’ They cajoled him so long with enticing invitations, that Yusuf’s inclinations were biased to visit the desert and to behold its plants and flowers. Some philosophers have likewise said: ‘Who is not touched by the spring and by flowers, by music and its harmonious accents, has corrupted humours and needs medicine.’ When Yusuf had assented to the wishes of his brothers, all of them went to Ya’qûb to ask for permission, saying: ‘O excellent father, allow Yusuf to enjoy himself according to the prosperity of his august destiny, to accompany us to the desert, and to spend this day with us in the arena of pleasure, to pasture the sheep for an hour, to race the horses for awhile, to pass some time in eating, to amuse himself with sports; and we shall take good care of him.’ When they had thus again brought their desire to the notice of Ya’qûb he replied: ‘I am now so attached to this child, that if you take him away I do not know what effect the inroad of grief and melancholy will make upon my weak and faint heart. I moreover fear lest a wolf devour him without your knowledge.’ Some expounders state, that before the long night of separation had begun, Ya’qûb had a dream in which he beheld himself sitting on the top of a mountain, and Yusuf walking at the foot of it, when all at once several wolves made their appearance from various quarters with the intention of destroying him; but when Ya’qûb hastened down from the mountain to deliver his son, he perceived that the ground had opened and swallowed Yusuf. After the sons had listened to the excuse of their kind father, they said: ‘Excellent parent, how could a wolf attempt to display any boldness in the recess of the sanctuary, and how could a dog venture to attack ten men, strong like elephants, valiant like lions, and furious like tigers?’