Volume 10 Surah 12 - 15 - Enjoy Islam

Yūsuf (Joseph) | FROM PRISON TO PALACE
be released and who will meet the depressing end as he does not want to confront
anyone with bad news. He stresses that he is certain of the knowledge imparted to
him by God: “The matter on which you have sought to be enlightened has thus been
decided.” (Verse 41) It will only be as God has decreed. There is no escape from it.
Joseph was an innocent prisoner, jailed on the strength of false accusations,
without any proper investigation of his case. It may be that the incident of the Chief
Minister’s wife and the other women was portrayed to the King in a way that totally
misrepresented the facts, as often happens in such cases. It was only natural then that
Joseph wanted his case to be put to the King in the hope that he would order that it
be looked into properly. Hence, Joseph “said to the one whom he believed would be
released: ‘Remember me in the presence of your lord.’“ (Verse 42) He actually asked him to
mention his case and situation to the King and to tell him of the truth he had seen in
him. He describes him as his lord because he was the ruler to whom he submitted.
The term ‘lord’ here means ‘master, ruler, a person of acknowledged authority and a
legislator’. This re-emphasizes the meaning of lordship in Islamic terminology.
At this point, the sūrah leaves out mentioning that the two prisoners’ dreams came
true in exactly the manner Joseph described. There is a gap here, as well as an
implication that it is sufficient for us to know that all this took place. The prisoner
whom Joseph felt would be released was actually released, but he did not act on
what Joseph requested. He forgot all the lessons that Joseph had taught him. He
forgot to remember his true Lord as he was distracted by the demands of life in the
palace after he returned there. Indeed, he forgot all about Joseph: “But Satan caused
him to forget to mention Joseph to his lord, and so he remained in prison for several years.”
(Verse 42)
The pronoun ‘he’ in the last clause refers to Joseph. God wanted to teach him a
lesson so that he would sever all ties in favour of his tie with God Himself. Hence, He
did not make the achievement of what he wanted dependent on any human being or
on anything relating to a human being. This is an aspect of the honour God gave
Joseph. God’s true servants should be totally dedicated to Him. They must leave all
decisions concerning their lives to God alone. When human weakness initially makes
this impossible, He bestows on them His grace and makes them unable to adopt a
different attitude so that they know its blessing. They are then able to accept it out of
love and obedience to God. He then gives them more of His blessings and grace.
The King’s Dream
Now we move into the court with the King asking his courtiers and priests to
interpret a disturbing dream he had had: “And the King said: I saw [in a dream] seven fat
cows being devoured by seven emaciated ones, and seven green ears of wheat next to seven
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