Hazrat Yousaf (A.S.) suffered through various hardships in his lifetime. There’s a dedicated surah in the Quran telling us about his life. He began this journey of hardships at a very young age and endured it with great patience and wisdom. In his childhood, he was thrown into a well and left for dead.
After a while, he got indirectly rescued by some passing by traders who later sold him to slave traders for a cheap price and from there he ended up in the house of the governor of Egypt. In this house, he was later accused of a crime and imprisoned. Here we will discuss the reason of his imprisonment and his experience in prison and also the blessings of Surah Yousaf in brief.
Imprisonment Attempts
While at the governor’s (The Aziz) house, he was under the constant watch of his wife (Zuleikha) for being too handsome and beautiful. He easily became the center of attention wherever he went, especially that of the opposite gender.
It so happened one day that Zuleikha managed to be in the same room as Prophet Yousaf (A.S.) and tried to have an unlawful/illegal association with him. Prophet Yousaf (A.S.) however was of pure heart and would never think of getting involved in such activities. Therefore, he clearly refused and as he rushed to the door to retreat from her advances she managed to rip off a piece of cloth from his shirt (from the back), which she later planned to use it against him for framing purposes. On meeting the Aziz, Zuleikha tried to blame the Prophet Yousaf (A.S.) by using the evidence she had and Yousaf (A.S.) defended himself by claiming it to be her doing and she was the one who tried to seduce him. By Allah’s grace, a witness of her family testified for him. as mentioned in the Quran:
“And a witness from her family testified. "If his shirt is torn from the front, then she has told the truth, and he is of the liars. But if his shirt is torn from the back, then she has lied, and he is of the truthful." (The Quran 12:26-27)
Hence, Yousaf (A.S.) was proven innocent and the Aziz became furious over his wife for committing such an act of decency and her dignity was hurt. Zuleikha however was not done with him. She wanted the women of the town to know what compelled her to commit such an act by inviting about 40 of the women to a meal. When all of them given knives for cutting fruit, she called in Hazrat Yousaf (A.S.) for some errand.
The Prophet (saw) said in a hadith, “When I met Yusuf (AS), I saw that Allah (SWT) has blessed him with half of the beauty of the whole world, while the other half has been spread over the rest of it”
(Sahih Muslim).
All women were struck by his beauty and cut their fingers in distraction. Furious, she got him to be imprisoned by her husband on in immense pressure and false charges. Aziz also thought his imprisonment would remove his wife’s guilt even though the Prophet was innocent.
Prison life
In prison, he was greeted by two other men who were to be his prison fellows. It so happened then that he possessed the gift of telling the meanings of dreams and his fellows saw certain dreams for which they sought meaning. According to the meanings that Yousaf (A.S.) told them, one of them was to be hanged while the other to be freed and serve as the king’s wine server. Prophet Yousaf (A.S.) also preached them religion in an effort to bring them to the right path. He thought of getting release from the prison via the freedom of the wine server, so he (A.S.) told him to remind the king of his innocence when he’s granted freedom but as fate would have it, the devil made the man forget this task.
Release
As fate would have it, the king one day saw a dream that got him worried enough to consult his wise men for its meaning. The efforts were all in-vain and no one succeeded in finding out its meaning. At this, the wine server suddenly remembered the gift of his prison-fellow Hazrat Yousaf (A.S.) and then asked the king to pardon his release if he wishes to know the meaning so much. This way, Prophet Yousaf (A.S.) was granted his much deserved freedom and continued to fulfill his destiny.
Conclusion
Surah Yousaf blessing with the lesson of patience in it. While reading this surah, we come to know how a person should maintain his integrity while suffering hardships and should not let the circumstances change him. Hence, we should recite this surah with translation to know the message of Allah.
After a while, he got indirectly rescued by some passing by traders who later sold him to slave traders for a cheap price and from there he ended up in the house of the governor of Egypt. In this house, he was later accused of a crime and imprisoned. Here we will discuss the reason of his imprisonment and his experience in prison and also the blessings of Surah Yousaf in brief.
Imprisonment Attempts
While at the governor’s (The Aziz) house, he was under the constant watch of his wife (Zuleikha) for being too handsome and beautiful. He easily became the center of attention wherever he went, especially that of the opposite gender.
It so happened one day that Zuleikha managed to be in the same room as Prophet Yousaf (A.S.) and tried to have an unlawful/illegal association with him. Prophet Yousaf (A.S.) however was of pure heart and would never think of getting involved in such activities. Therefore, he clearly refused and as he rushed to the door to retreat from her advances she managed to rip off a piece of cloth from his shirt (from the back), which she later planned to use it against him for framing purposes. On meeting the Aziz, Zuleikha tried to blame the Prophet Yousaf (A.S.) by using the evidence she had and Yousaf (A.S.) defended himself by claiming it to be her doing and she was the one who tried to seduce him. By Allah’s grace, a witness of her family testified for him. as mentioned in the Quran:
“And a witness from her family testified. "If his shirt is torn from the front, then she has told the truth, and he is of the liars. But if his shirt is torn from the back, then she has lied, and he is of the truthful." (The Quran 12:26-27)
Hence, Yousaf (A.S.) was proven innocent and the Aziz became furious over his wife for committing such an act of decency and her dignity was hurt. Zuleikha however was not done with him. She wanted the women of the town to know what compelled her to commit such an act by inviting about 40 of the women to a meal. When all of them given knives for cutting fruit, she called in Hazrat Yousaf (A.S.) for some errand.
The Prophet (saw) said in a hadith, “When I met Yusuf (AS), I saw that Allah (SWT) has blessed him with half of the beauty of the whole world, while the other half has been spread over the rest of it”
(Sahih Muslim).
All women were struck by his beauty and cut their fingers in distraction. Furious, she got him to be imprisoned by her husband on in immense pressure and false charges. Aziz also thought his imprisonment would remove his wife’s guilt even though the Prophet was innocent.
Prison life
In prison, he was greeted by two other men who were to be his prison fellows. It so happened then that he possessed the gift of telling the meanings of dreams and his fellows saw certain dreams for which they sought meaning. According to the meanings that Yousaf (A.S.) told them, one of them was to be hanged while the other to be freed and serve as the king’s wine server. Prophet Yousaf (A.S.) also preached them religion in an effort to bring them to the right path. He thought of getting release from the prison via the freedom of the wine server, so he (A.S.) told him to remind the king of his innocence when he’s granted freedom but as fate would have it, the devil made the man forget this task.
Release
As fate would have it, the king one day saw a dream that got him worried enough to consult his wise men for its meaning. The efforts were all in-vain and no one succeeded in finding out its meaning. At this, the wine server suddenly remembered the gift of his prison-fellow Hazrat Yousaf (A.S.) and then asked the king to pardon his release if he wishes to know the meaning so much. This way, Prophet Yousaf (A.S.) was granted his much deserved freedom and continued to fulfill his destiny.
Conclusion
Surah Yousaf blessing with the lesson of patience in it. While reading this surah, we come to know how a person should maintain his integrity while suffering hardships and should not let the circumstances change him. Hence, we should recite this surah with translation to know the message of Allah.