(Alayhis salam). He was thenext to youngest of twelvesons and a
favorite of his father.
One day he had a dream inwhich eleven planets, the sun, and the moon
were bowing down in front of him. When his father learned of this
vision, he interpreted it as meaning that Allah would prefer Yusuf
(Alayhis salam), would teach him the interpretation of dreams , and
would perfect His grace upon him. But Ya'qub warned Yusuf (Alayhis
salam) not to tell the dream to his brothers, because they would be
extremely jealous and might wish to do harm to him.
The older brothers were indeed jealous of Yusuf (Alayhis salam) and
his younger brother. They decided that, with Yusuf (Alayhis salam) out
of the picture, their father would look upon the rest of themwith more
favor. Some wanted to kill him and some favored abandoning him in some
distant land. One of the brothers suggested leaving him in apit so
that some caravan would pick him up and carry him away. That was the
plot upon which they eventually agreed.
Yusuf's brothers went to their father and asked if they could take
Yusuf (Alayhis salam) out in the pastures with them on thefollowing
day, so that he could play and enjoy himself. At first Ya'qub (Alayhis
salam) dissented, because he feared that Yusuf (Alayhis salam) would
be devoured by a wolf. But the brothers assured him that the wolf
would not have a chance against so many of them. Finally Ya'qub agreed
to let Yusuf go with them.
The following day, the brothers led Yusuf (Alayhissalam) away and left
him in the bottom of a deep pit. Allah revealed to Yusuf(Alayhis
salam) at that time that one day he would tell them of this deed, when
the brothers would not recognize him. After the brothers had left
Yusuf (Alayhis salam) in the pit, a caravan came along and a
water-drawer was sent to look for water at the bottom of the pit. He
was delighted to find instead a healthy young man. Yusuf (Alayhis
salam)was taken away in the caravan to be sold into slavery. The
traders attached very little value to him and sold him for a very
small amount of money.
Meanwhile the brothers stained Yusuf's (Alayhis salam) shirt with the
bloodof some animal and returned, weeping and wailing, to their
father, concocting a story about how a wolf had, after all, managed to
slip past themand devour Yusuf . Their father recognized that their
grief was not sincere, and he prayed to Allah to help him bear his own
grief over the loss of Yusuf(Alayhis salam).
To be continued.
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