Information AboutYusuf |
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QUR'ANIC NARRATIVE According to the Qu'ran, Yusuf was the son of Yaqub and the great-grandson of Ibrahim. He was thus from a lineage of prophets, and had eleven brothers. At an early age, Yusuf displayed signs of prophet hood: he had a dream in which he saw eleven stars, the sun, and the moon, prostrating to him. His father, also a prophet, interpreted the dream to mean that his brothers, represented by the eleven stars, and the sun and moon, his mother and father, would bow down to his dignified position one day. Yaqub also added that God would give him gifts such as dream interpretation, wisdom, grace, and honour, as well as make him a prophet. Yusuf's brothers were all jealous of his talents and the fact that their father favoured him over his other sons. They unanimously plotted to get rid of him by throwing him into a well to die. They asked their father's permission, who granted them their request, not wanting to isolate Yusuf from his brothers. The brothers proceed with their plan and dropped him in a well and left him to die. They brought back Yusuf’s shirt with them to tell their father that wolves have eaten Yusuf. Yaqub became very saddened at the disappearance of his son and eventually became blind. Yusuf was rescued by a passing caravan and sold into slavery in Egypt , to a rich man named ''al-Aziz''. The Quran names Yusuf as a very attractive man (see 12:31 ). While working for ''al-Aziz'', he was constantly approached by his al-Aziz's wife (Imra'at al-Aziz), she being intent on seducing him. Yusuf continuously rebuffed her attempts, until one day, she became frustrated to the point where she chased him and tore the back of Yusuf's shirt. Al-Aziz then walked in on the scene and became angered at what he was witnessing. Imra'at al-Aziz then proceeded to accuse Yusuf of initiating the chase. A servant who wintessed the scene aided Yusuf by pointing out the obvious: his shirt was torn from the back, meaning that ''she'' (Imra'at al-Aziz) was perusing Yusuf, not the other way around. Being constantly put in incidents to test his faith and honour, Yusuf prayed that he would rather be imprisoned that be placed through the constant ordeals he was put through. After being imprisoned for a few years, he eventually went on to become a prominent advisor to the Pharaoh because he was able to interpret the pharaoh's dreams, and thus predict Egypt's future. Later on, he would once again run into his brothers whom he would forgive. He would also find his father (Yaqub) only to find out that he has become blind after crying so much over the disappearance him (Yusef). Yusuf would end up dying in Egypt. Tradition holds that when Musa left Egypt, he took Yusuf's coffin with him so that he would be buried alongside his ancestors in Canaan . REFERENCES TO YUSUF IN THE QUR'AN
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