Story Of Prophet Yusuf ✔

PART 21: KING'S DREAM AND IT'S INTERPRETATION [Surah Yusuf 12: 43-49]

43. And the king said “Surely I saw seven fat cows which were being eaten by seven lean ones and seven green ears of corn and others dry. O you nobles give me the interpretation of this vision if you are able to interpret visions”.

44. They said “Mixed up false dreams, and for the interpretation of such dreams we are not of those who know.”

45. And he of the two, the one who was released, and who now remembered after a time, said “I will inform you of its interpretation so send me”.

46. “Yusuf, o truthful one, give us the interpretation of seven fat cows being eaten by seven lean ones and seven green ears of corn and others dry in order that I may return to the people and that they may know”.

47. He [Yusuf] said, "You will plant for seven years consecutively; and what you harvest leave in its spikes, except a little from which you will eat."

48. Then will come after that seven difficult [years] which will eat what you had stored for them, except a little from which you will have preserved.

49. Then will come after that a year in which the people will be given rain and in which they will press [olives and grapes]."

With this ayah Allah (swt) begins a new chapter in the story of Yusuf (AS). All of this time Yusuf (AS) had to suffer through many trials and hardships one after another. Now in this ayah Allah (swt) shows us how that was going to change. The king of Egypt saw a dream and asked the nobles, the men of power and knowledge in his kingdom, to interpret this dream for him. They said this is a dream without meaning. Now finally, the cup-bearer remember Yusuf AS, and he asks King to send him to Yusuf so that he can ask. He met Yusuf and then relates the dream of the king exactly as he had heard it without telling him that this is the dream of the king. Rather he said he had been sent on behalf of the people.

Yusuf (AS) not only tells him the interpretation of the dream as he had asked; he also gives him the solution to the problem that they were about to face. He does not ask why he had forgotten to mention him to the king as he (AS) had once requested so many years ago. He does not censure him for his forgetting. He (AS) does not lament or complain of the suffering that he had to endure in prison because this man forgot. He does not even put the interpretation of the dream conditional upon him telling the king now. For most of us the best that we would do is forgive the man, but then we would tell him that we would only give him the interpretation of the dream if he first told the king about our situation. But Yusuf (AS) did not even do this. Rather he immediately told the man the meaning of the dream as he had requested.

The seven fat cows and the seven green ears of corn represent seven years of prosperity and growth in the land. During these years there will be plenty of food and wealth for the people. Not only does Yusuf (AS) tell him this fact but he even tells him what should be done during this period. You would think that the years of prosperity would be a time of relaxation and enjoyment. No rather Yusuf (AS) tells him that the people need work hard during this time. They need to sow the land and collect the grain for these years. Yusuf (AS) says that what they reap should be left in the ear. They should store it away and not eat it. By leaving it in the ear they can be sure that it will be preserved. Allah (swt) has placed a natural preservative in the ear of the grain. It can be stored away for years without spoiling. So Yusuf (AS) advice this man that his people should store away all that they sow.

We saw in the above verses that the king’s dream was, in fact, a prediction of a great famine that would befall Egypt. But not only did this dream contain the prediction of the famine but it also contained the solution of how Egypt could be saved from it.

LESSONS

1. Truthfulness and honesty is a characteristic of the believer that is beloved to Allah (swt). The Prophet (PBUH) has told us that the one part of the human body that takes the most people to the Fire is not the hand or the private parts but rather it is the tongue. [In today's social media world, the fingers that type gossip, backbiting and slander about others included in this warning]. More people are thrown into the Fire because of what their tongues reap than for any other limb or organ in their body. Should this not then be enough of an incentive for you to always speak the truth? To always speak that which is pleasing to your Lord?

2.  Sometimes you should learn to save what you earn. Do not spend the money that you earn but rather save it. Spend only as much as you really need and save the rest. Look at your budget and ask yourself what it is that you truly and really need. What is it that you cannot do without. Then spend your money on only those things. You can save a lot more than you believe if only you would learn to have a little patience and if only you would learn to do without.

3. We have to be honest and truthful with people when telling of the difficulties that they are going to have to face. We cannot hide the truth from them even if the truth may be difficult for them to hear. At the same time, we must also tell them something that will give them hope. We must tell them something that will lift their spirits.

4. As we learned before that Yusuf (‘alayhi salaam) is concerned and cares for the people around him.  He doesn’t look at the fact whether they were Muslim or not. All he cared is to save them from great famine. Yusuf (AS) was not obliged to give them a solution. He wasn’t even obliged to answer them.  He was a prisoner in jail.  Not only does he gives them a response, he, in fact, tells them how they would save themselves, and if Yusuf (AS) had not told them this, they would have starved to death and all of Egypt would have been devastated.   This is exactly what our religion requires of us.  We care about the people around us and care about human beings regardless of whether they are Muslim or not, and we better their lives and bring about mercy into their lives.