Symbolic dimensions of the story of Yusuf (AS)

Spiritual issues and events are better understood through symbols taken from things that are familiar to us in our everyday life. This life we live is itself a symbol. The whole phenomenal world, too, is a symbol. There is an allegorical meaning in all experiences, events and stories. The temporary relationships, the fleeting events, our […]

Spiritual issues and events are better understood through symbols taken from things that are familiar to us in our everyday life. This life we live is itself a symbol. The whole phenomenal world, too, is a symbol. There is an allegorical meaning in all experiences, events and stories. The temporary relationships, the fleeting events, our triumphs, defeats and difficulties in this phenomenal world are the symbolic bridges through which we pass to the higher spiritual world. The glimpses of the spiritual Yusuf (AS) as stated in Qur’an 12: 2 are afforded us ‘in order that we may learn wisdom’.
Those who are familiar with the story of Yusuf (AS) and his half brothers in the holy Qur’an would testify that the plot against him is a germane example of envy against self. Out of hatred and envy, the other half brothers of Yusuf (AS) plotted to throw him in to a well along a caravan route. Unknown to them, Yusuf was to become a king in Egypt from whom they were to seek help later in life. While some repacurtions of envy catch up early with the envious one, others do not manifest until much later in the life of the spiteful individual. Envy can never be used as means to attaining what is lacking. To envy a fellow man’s happiness is not and cannot be a guaranteed ticket to attaining any form of bliss.
While the ten brothers of Yusuf (AS) envied and hated him along with Binyamin (Yusuf’s full brother and the youngest of them all); they also despised their father whose love for the younger sons was perhaps perceived as hypocrisy by the older sons. So they plotted to get rid of Yusuf by killing him. They thought that would bring back their father’s entire love to them. The ten brothers valued that love for what material good they could get out of it. They said in irony: “let’s first get rid of Yusuf. It would be time thereafter then to pretend to be ‘good’ like him (Yusuf) or to repent of our crime after we have had all its benefits in material gains”. The wicked brothers became puppets in the hands of the devil. They allowed their reasoning to come under the Shaytan’s authority.
Yusuf’s slavery and imprisonment, which occured after he was bought by the Azeez of Egypt from a group of marchants who found him in a well, are some of what a righteous man occasionally suffers through the sins and follies of others in order that (1) he may bring some good to others, and (2) that he may develop his own character. Without sorrow, suffering and striving; even the best of men may fail to attain their full stature. Through such virtuous men, we are taught a true sense of values. The slave must work and labour, not for himself, but for others. If he does it in the right spirit, he exposes the hollowness of idleness, the ridiculous position of arrogance, and the futility of power which permits injustice.
Envious people are pretenders, full of pranks. Yusuf’s brothers returned home with false tale for their father that a wolf had eaten him while they were having games and exercises. In order to make their tale appear plausible, they came home after sunset to show that they had made efforts to search for Yusuf to save him. His brothers were so tricky that they stained his clothes with false blood (the blood of a goat), which the brothers had killed expressly for this purpose.
We could realize from the actions and inactions of Yusuf’s brothers how the better side of human nature sometimes struggles to assert itself against the baser and grosser standards of mass mentality as when one of the ten half-brothers of Yusuf (AS) advised his siblings not to take Yusuf’s life (Qur’an 12:10), and again, later, when one of them felt ashamed to show himself before his father without Binyamin and offered to stay behind if perchance he could realize Binyamin.
Misfortune, sooner or later, seizes an envious person as it fatefully seized the ten brothers of Yusuf (AS). When their stock of grain used for sustenance had finished in a famine period, they had to go to Egypt in search of foodstuff at a time when Yusuf (AS) was the Wazir there and in-charge of all foodstuffs. The brothers had to come back to Yusuf (the Wazir) for the second time because Yusuf (AS) had held behind one of the ten brothers so that they might go to bring him Binyamin. When they arrived from Canaan with Binyamin, they told Yusuf (AS) that distress has seized them and their family; and that they had come with only scanty capital. They requested that he paid them in full measure and regard it as charity.
Shame and regret is most often the end of envy. When Yusuf told his brothers of his identity, the scales fall from the eyes of the brothers. They confessed their wrongdoing. The words of the brothers in Qur’an12:91 are: “By Allah! Indeed Allah has preferred thee above us, and we certainly have been guilty of sin”. The envy expressed by an enemy can never stop or hinder the prosperity of a person ordained by Allah (SWT) to succeed in life. Yusuf had lived to become what Allah destined.
Yusuf’s story teaches us to love others; sharing in their moments of joy and sadness. One should not think evil of others and even when others offend him, he should have a forgiving spirit. The Prophet (SAW) said: “No one of you (really) believes (in Allah and his messenger) till he loves for his brother what he loves for himself”. The Islam of a Muslim is indeed incomplete if his/her heart is not free from rancour, bitterness or evil thought against fellow Muslims.
Let us purge our minds of envy. Although man’s soul is prone to evil except that which receives Allah’s mercy, a believer who constantly keeps himself in a state of purity (with ablution) can hope to have a mind that is blessed with Allah’s mercy and guidance. Such a mind shall have no space for envy. Sunnah of the Prophet (SAW) recommends that chapters 113 and 114 of the holy Qur’an should be recited before going to bed at night; as protection against the mischief of every mischief maker.
As at the time of submitting this piece, 48 hours before today, it was not time to search for the crescent of the month of Ramadan. However, whether Ramadan begins today Saturday June 28, 2014 (as envisaged) or tomorrow depending on when the crescent was sighted; the column wishes all Muslims a peaceful and memorable Ramadan, amin. Ramadan Kareem!