Yusuf 12:37–43

ذَٰلِكُمَا مِمَّا عَلَّمَنِي رَ‌بِّي (This is of the knowledge my Lord has given me). He is saying that this has nothing to do with the art of divination through computation of figures and lines (Um al-jafr and 'am al-raml - not Jafar and Ramal, soothsaying or any other occult act of conjuring). Instead of all that, this is what my Rabb tells me - and I pass on the information. And this was an open miracle which is proof positive of prophethood and a major cause of confidence.

After that, he declares his abhorrence for disbelief and his disengagement from the community of disbelievers. Then, with it, he also stresses that he is a member of the House of Prophets and it is their Community that he adheres to and that he is a scion of the House of Ibrahim, Ishaq and Ya` qub (علیہم السلام) . We mentioned confidence a little earlier. Customarily, this kind of inherited nobility, a common family trait, is also a source of creating confidence in a person. After that he said: And it is not for us that we associate any partners with Allah. Then, he said that the Taufiq of following a true religion ('the favour of Allah upon us and upon all people' ) was nothing but the Fadl or grace of Allah Ta’ ala, for it was He who, by giving proper understanding, made the acceptance of truth easy on us. But, most of the people do not appreciate this blessing and do not show their gratitude for it. After having said that, he asked the same prisoners to tell him if it was better that human beings should be worshiping many gods, or was it better that one becomes a servant of one Allah alone - whose subduing power is all-dominant. Then he referred to idol worship from a different angle. He told them that their fathers and forefathers have taken some idols as their Lord. As for them, they are no more than a lot of names which they have coined on their own. They have no personal attributes which could become deserving of assigning to them the least fund of power - because all of them are inert. This is something one can see with one's own eyes. The only other method through which they could have been taken as true objects of worship would be that Allah Ta’ ala sends down specific injunctions or commandments to worship them. So, in that case, even if observation and reason had not been willing to accept their godhood but, because of the Divine command, we would have left our observation and reason aside and would have obeyed the command of Allah. But, this is not there either - because Allah Ta ala did not send down any argument or proof for their worship. Instead of that, what He said was but that Law and Sovereignty belonged to Allah Ta ala with no one having a right in it; and the command He gave was no other but that we should not worship anyone or anything other than Allah. Finally, he said: ` This is the only right path - which was bestowed on my forefathers by Allah Ta ala, but most of the people do not know this reality.'

After having made his call to truth, Sayyidna Yusuf (علیہ السلام) turned to the dreams mentioned by two of his prison mates declaring that one of the two of them will get his release, return to his job and keep serving wine to his master. As for the other, the crime against him will stand proved and he will be crucified and birds will eat from his head.

An Example of Prophetic Compassion

Ibn Kathir has said: Though the dreams of both these prisoners were separate, and fixed was the interpretation of each, and also fixed was the fate that the royal cup-bearer will be acquitted and return to his job and the cook will be crucified. But, because of his prophetic compassion and clemency, he did not specifically mention as to who among the two will be hanged so that the person concerned may be spared from becoming obsessed by the very thought of it right from that time. Instead of that, he made a general statement saying that one of them will be re-leased and the other will be crucified.

At the end, he told them that the interpretation of their dreams given by him was not arrived at by conjecture. It was Divine decree which cannot be averted. Commentators who have called the dreams de-scribed by these people as false and made-up, they have also said: When Sayyidna Yusuf (علیہ السلام) interpreted their dreams, they came up with the re-mark that they had just not seen any dream. They had simply made it up. Thereupon, Sayyidna Yusuf (علیہ السلام) said: قُضِيَ الْأَمْرُ‌ الَّذِي فِيهِ تَسْتَفْتِيَانِ (Destined is the matter you are asking about). In other words, it would mean: Whether you saw this dream, or did not, now the event will come to be as described - the purpose of which is that this is the punishment of the sin, of making up a false dream, committed by you, a punishment which has been identified in the interpretation of the dream.

After that, to the person about whom Sayyidna Yusuf (علیہ السلام) had gathered from the interpretation of his dream that he would be released, he said: When you are released from the prison, mention me before your master as the innocent person who is still languishing in the prison. But, once released, this person forgot about this message of Sayyidna Yusuf (علیہ السلام) ، as a result of which, his freedom was further delayed and he had to stay in prison for a few more years. The word used in the Qur’ an is: بِضْعَ سِنِينَ (bid'a sinin: a few years). This word holds good for a figure between three to nine. Some commentators have said that he had to live in the prison for a period of seven more years.