Yusuf (Joseph)

Yusuf, son of Ya'qub (Jacob), is the figure of patience and forgiveness. His life, told in one continuous narrative in the surah bearing his name, leads from betrayal by his own family to the highest responsibilities in Egypt.

As a child, Yusuf saw in a dream eleven stars, the sun, and the moon prostrating before him; his father sensed a great destiny.

Jealous of the love their father bore him, his brothers took him away and threw him into a well, reporting to Ya'qub his shirt stained with false blood.

Taken in by a caravan, he was sold in Egypt. As a young man, his master's wife sought to seduce him; out of fear of God, he refused. Though innocent, he was thrown into prison, where he interpreted the dreams of his companions.

When he explained the king's dream — seven years of abundance followed by seven of famine — he was elevated to head the kingdom's reserves. The famine brought his brothers before him, without their recognising him. Then he revealed himself, and said to them without reproach: 'No blame upon you today.' He forgave, and was reunited with his father.

Yusuf teaches that patience in hardship and forgiveness, even towards those who have betrayed us, eventually untangle what injustice had knotted. To one who preserves his uprightness, God opens a way out.

قَالَ لَا تَثْرِيبَ عَلَيْكُمُ الْيَوْمَ ۖ يَغْفِرُ اللَّهُ لَكُمْ ۖ وَهُوَ أَرْحَمُ الرَّاحِمِينَ

Il dit : « Nul reproche ne vous sera fait aujourd’hui. Qu’Allah vous pardonne, Lui dont la miséricorde est sans égale !

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