Story Of Prophet Yusuf ✔

PART 34: YA'QOOB WAS INFORMED ABOUT THE CALAMITY [Surah Yusuf 12: 81-82]

81. “Return to your father, and say ‘O our father, surely your son has stolen, and we do not witness except to that which we know, and we are not guardians for the unseen’.”

82. “And ask the town where we were, and the caravan the one in which we returned, and surely we are of the truthful.”

In this ayah as well we find pearls of wisdom come from the tongue of this 'big' brother. This shows us how much he has changed. He has changed from a selfish and jealous boy who only cared for himself to a man who now realized the purpose of his existence. See here how Allah can guide even the darkest of hearts?

First, he reminds his siblings to return to their father - return to where they came from. We can take a lesson from this for our lives as well. We too should return home in times of difficulty and trial. When matters become difficult, we should always go back to where we came from. At home, there is solace. At home there is peace. At home, there is the support of the family. At home, there is a chance to regroup and rejuvenate.

Then tell your father that his son has surely committed theft. The word “surely” is for emphasis and certainty. Of course, Yaqoob (AS) would find it hard to believe that his son is a thief. This brother witnessed with his own eyes the cup being pulled out of Binyamin’s bag. So the evidence that he had witnessed clearly indicate that Binyamin was a thief. He tells his father here that he does not know anything more than that. Allah Knows best if Binyamin is truly a thief or not. He only knows what he has seen with his eyes. It is as if he is saying “o my father, I know that you find it hard to believe that Binyamin is a thief. All that I am telling you is what I saw. Allah Knows best”.

Then they said, “and we are not guardians for the unseen”. There is much that is in the unseen, and here this brother tells his siblings to remind their father that they are not the guardians of such. The truth about whether or not Binyamin is truly a thief is in the unseen. These brothers do not know that. The future is in the unseen. These brothers do not know that either. When they had left their father, when they had given him that promise, they do not know that events would turn out this way. Who could have predicted this? Could any of the brothers have seen this coming? No of course not, at that time this event was in the future, and so there was no way for them to have known about it. It was a matter of the unseen, and they are not keepers of the unseen.

In the next ayah, Allah radically shifts to a totally new scene. Now the setting is different, and the characters are different as well. Allah ended the previous ayah with the eldest brother speaking to his younger siblings. Now in the next ayah, Allah shows us the scene of these brothers speaking to their father. He (swt) has seamlessly changed the setting from Egypt to Philistine. Everything that happened in between these two scenes has been left out.

Here they are telling their father to inquire about the matter of Binyamin stealing, from the town they were just in. In other words, if Yaqoob (AS) went to the town in Egypt where Binyamin was taken, then he would find out the truth of what they are saying. The brothers also tell their father to inquire of the caravan with whom they returned. Just like the people of the town, the people of the caravan also knew what happened. They could also verify the truth of what the brothers were saying. Notice also that time was different from last time. This time the brothers actually were telling the truth. To prove to their father that what they are bringing is the truth this time they come with much stronger evidences than last time. Last time all that they brought was the blood-stained shirt. This time however they bring the testimony of both the people of the town and the people of the caravan. All that Yaqoob (AS) had to do was to go and ask either of these people, and they would all verify all that the brothers had said. They all knew how Binyamin was taken as a slave by the people of Egypt. They all saw the cup being pulled out of Binyamin’s bag. If Yaqoob (AS) were to study the reality closely, then he would discover the truth of what these brothers were saying.

Finally, these brothers say to their father, “and surely we are of the truthful”. This time they were indeed telling the truth in what they said. They want their father to consider them among that select group of people who are of the truthful. But do you think that their father believed them? Do you think that their father considered them to be among the truthful? Truthfulness in our Deen is a trust that has to be earned. It is something that can never be broken. When a person ever tells you even one lie, then this trust that you have with him is broken. Then he has taken himself out of this select group of people who are the truthful. These brothers of Yusuf (AS) had already lied to their father. So how could he ever consider them to be among the truthful now?

LESSONS

1. All parents always think the best of their children. They find it hard to believe that their children would ever do anything evil. As parents, such thinking can sometimes be an exaggeration on our part. Of course, we should always think the best of our children, and we should always pray that they be righteous, but at the same time, we should remember that they are human and it is the nature of the human to sin. So for example, if someone comes and tells us that our child has done some evil, we must not be quick to dismiss them. We must keep in mind that our child is human and humans can sin.

2. Knowledge is gained by studying the world around us. Any thought or any idea that we adopt has to be based on what we sense. If we have not sensed something, if something is not based on a tangible evidence that we can perceive, then we cannot believe in it. If we have not sensed something then it just imagination.

3. When we believe something that someone else tells us we have to believe it on how likely it is that such a person is speaking the truth and how much we trust that person. Based on the kind of person who they are and whether or not they are known for speaking the truth, we must make the judgment.

4. We as human beings do not have knowledge of the unseen. We are not keepers of the unseen. Only Allah has this knowledge. Sometimes He (swt) may disclose this knowledge to some of His prophets or angels. But certainly not us. Allah has never given a human being who is not a prophet definitive knowledge of the unseen. Allah has never spoken to any but the prophets. Now we know that the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) is the seal of the prophets. So from now on we know that there is no human being who can ever come and claim to know the unseen. There is no human who can know the future; there is no human who can claim to know revelation. So all soothsayers, false prophets, “divine” imams, and mystical saints who make such claims are all false. This ayah clearly shows them to be. Allah reminds us in this ayah that we as humans have no access to unseen. Such is a realm that we cannot even approach. The only two doors that we have to this hidden world are the Quran and authentic hadith of the Prophet (PBUH).

5. Study the reality of matters closely before reaching a conclusion. Allah is showing us how the brothers presented all of these evidences to prove what they were saying. This was actually a praiseworthy act on their part because they were presenting these evidences to establish the truth. The truth as far as they knew was that Binyamin did steal. So through their example, Allah is showing us that we also need to establish any idea or thought that we adopt based on its evidence. Allah has also told us in other ayahs of the Quran that when someone brings us some news then we should verify it. Thus our Lord is once again teaching us to use the senses that He (swt) has given us. For any situation, for any scenario, we have to use our senses to study the reality of that situation deeply before we draw a conclusion on it. One problem with us today is that we look at things superficially and then we draw conclusions and come to judgments based on this superficial observation. This is wrong. This has often lead to mistakes and wrong judgments. Allah has given us eyes, ears and a mind for a reason. The Prophet (PBUH) has told us that Allah has obligated excellence in all matters. So is not excellence required when we seek to find the truth?