Story of Yousaf (as)

Al Ahram, Giza Governorate, Egypt by Simon Berger

Ibrahim, fought his father, built kaaba, changed the world’s future and moved an entire ummah. 2 generations down, his grand son, Yaqub, was blessed with Yousaf. All was fine. The cattle, farms, income and economy. Less troubles and more calmness. Until, Yousaf see a dream of 11 x stars with sun and moon, prostrating him.

Yousaf had good understanding with his father. So good, he instead of narrating the dream to his mother, sought advise of his father.

Father, Yaqub (as), the head of the clan, had a nice and sober persona. Neither angry, nor emotional. Neither dull, nor weird. Just there, in between the colors and maturity. Maintaining a nice balance to raise a sane child.

Story begins

Rigid by Chris Barbalis

Yousaf and Bin Yamin, were these step brothers who wanted a normal life. Always set aside, neglected by their elder brothers, wanted to win their trust. But brothers, jealous inside never let Yousaf near them. Bin Yamin out of their life, they had their own goals, ambitions and dreams. The elder brothers of the clan did not like their father loving Yousaf or Bin Yamin. Yousaf, to be precise, was the lynchpin in their struggles.

One day these brothers make a concrete plan to get rid of their father’s most beloved son. All brothers ask their father, Yaqub, to let Yousaf go out with them. Father denies. They insist. He agrees. Allows the piece of his heart get away from him. Knowing, it is Allah’s will.

The Well

Well by Maria Krasnova

Everyone prepares bags, the tents, the woods and ration. The brothers, in the land of Palestine, move out of their homes, convinced they will get rid of the problem. Convinced they will kill Yousaf. Convinced their life will get back on track. One hurdle, after it gets aside, they will be back to living in riches, comfort and luxury.

The Allah, has always a plan. The better, unique and beautiful. He doesn’t let a pack of wolf hurt His people. He doesn’t let some dozen or some hundred dozen eat away the life out of His loved ones. He doesn’t leave His people out in the wild, unprotected and vulnerable. He always helps them.

As the brothers, prepare the attack, take out the knives and sharpen them. As they find the easy way, the small way, they start finding complexities hidden underneath their “simple” plan.

Such is they way satan works. Convinces you, corrupt life is easy, but as you near the actions, it weakens your legs, shakes inside you up and betrays you.

The brothers, angry and full of hatred are still evil. Filled with darkness. Can’t find a way to act upon any thing they promise. They end up going the easy way; drop Yousaf inside the well. No they don’t throw him into the well. They fasten a rope to a bucket, put Yousaf inside and slowly lower it. Gradually until it reaches the bottom.

Confession

Confession by Max Muselmann

The weak minds, never committed much crimes, from the house of a Prophet, can’t run away from the guilt. They can’t tell good lies after a murder. Because they have never committed a crime more heinous. They still have a lively soul inside them. Something stops them from telling their father, the evil story with the zeal of truth.

Brothers bring the blood soaked shirt of Yousaf to the house. Not blood, but painted with red color. Fully intact. Not torn, not wrinkled, not messy. Just a shirt with some paint. Brothers, proclaim, Yousaf got eaten alive by a wolf.

Father, looks at the shirt, at the brothers, and inside him melts away. He knows this is a lie. He knows Yousaf is not eaten by a wolf. He knows, the shirt is not war torn. He knows, wolf doesn’t eat and spare the shirt aside. He knows, these are lies. But this doesn’t cure anything. If not eaten by a wolf, if 9 brothers are telling a lie, it still speaks; it is a war on the house of the Prophet. The aged father can’t argue with his grown sons. He can’t go out to find Yousaf. He can’t understand the torn away patches of the story. He can’t find contentment, comfort or a hope. Inside him, a part of him, dies with the loss of Yousaf.

Yousaf Gains Momentum

Desert by Makenna Entrikin

The dream of stars, suns and moon doesn’t give him a momentum. The brothers throwing him into the well doesn’t give him a courage. He stays there inside, 3 x days in a row, protected and safe. Allah feeds him. Gives him a hope. Tells him, the journey begins from here. The momentum takes its rolling from here.

A clan, some carts and few people, on their way to Egypt, halt near the well. Approach it. Lower their bucket inside. Look down. Finds a child / a teen sitting inside. Humble. Poor. Broken yet Alive. Hooting begins. Some laugh. Some winks and some hope arises among the travellers. They will sale it out. Earn some money from it. They will feed their hunger and ... they won’t look farther.

Allah, brings Yousaf out of the well. Gives him good food to eat. A new sense of freedom. In the people tapping wood, striking pelts and making jokes, he finds his new home. Ample life, to once again join the ride of this life. 3 days in well, and back on the cross roads of a confusing yet beloved life.

First Price

Coins by Syed Hussaini

The clan takes Yousaf to the Minister of Egypt. Some among people / historians have given him a name. But Allah labels this chieftain, a Malik.

Malik puts good money on Yousaf. This servant is handsome, humble and graceful. He is not just white skin and long height. He is some talk, some poetry and some verses. The Malik, the educated, the experienced, finds value. Not exactly. Not the real value. Gets a small glimpse of the creation of Allah, in His people, in the form of goodness in Yousaf. He finds a human, the miracle.

Malik, gives Yousaf far more than he had in Palestine. More to eat, wear and control. More responsibility and more wealth. Slowly the building momentum, the rolling life of Yousaf, starts wearing its ornaments. Slowly, Gradually, Allah crowns Yousaf with more, invisible to people who hated him, opposed him and rejected him.

A Soft Sin

Dark by Karsten Wurth

The wife wants to know Yousaf. She can’t resist the grace, humility and maturity of a person who loves Allah. She can’t convince herself, neither manage to explore, nor find what is inside the heart of Yousaf. Curiosity first step, enforcement next step, misery third step and sin, the final step, gets the wife of Malik to attack Yousaf with everything she has.

Such is the way of Allah. He elevates his people. Puts the wealths, the excess, the freedom in front of His people, the people who love Him, yet they crave none of it. They still crave Allah, His love and His presence.

Zulaikha, or say a name, the wife of the Malik, fails yet again. The love for Yousaf increases in folds of 10s and 100s. He is more respected. As he, Yousaf, accepts life in prison over a life of filth with the wife of his owner, people fall down for him. The women, the weak and the riches, all discover a portion inside their hearts, they didn’t know existed. They discover respect for the guilty, damaged and the weak, Yousaf (as).

Prison Cell

Cell by Denny Muller

Yousaf, was not a brave person. He was not a man of enormous strengths. He was just a man. He never wanted he goes to a prison. He never wanted he is thrown into the well. He never wanted his brothers snub him, push him or betray him. His thuds and falls never was his choice. It all came upon him to grow him stronger.

He did not commit a crime. He did not attack the wife of Malik. He did not do any of the wrongs. Yet he ends up in the prison. The Malik, the power, wants to stay afloat. It doesn’t want people questioning it. It doesn’t want people blame it. It wants to stay protected inside its palace, behind the lanes of the guards and above the heads of the weak. It doesn’t want to give up its luxury over the freedom of Yousaf. The palaces, that have never stood for the weak in this world, yet again betrays and weak suffers. Yet again, Yousaf is given the prison cell and Malik and Zulaikha continuous their life in riches.

Bloody Dinner

Dinner by Stephanie McCabe

I have seen Games of Thrones. The Starks are butchered on the dining tables. The mother, the sister and the daughter, who doesn’t carry much value, because they have lost their king, their realm and their fighting Son to the North, they can’t live sober. It was a good show. A fake story. A bloody dinner. Let me tell you a story better than that.

The dining set boxes are opened. Zulaikha is cribbed and ridiculed. Behind her back she is labelled a sinner. The voices, the small whispers, seep into the palace and she can’t take it no more. The rugs open. The hooters are blown. Wives of these riches are called out to a dinner at the Malik’s palace. They find it Hospital-able, Loveable and Cheer-able. After all, they craved for more of everything their entire lives, they find it all meaningful.

Some wicked hearts, some greedy chests and some people in the palaces are sitting. In the palace they are waiting. The roof is lit bright. Waiters walking aside. Kids playing outside. Just another day of an expensive dinner.

The Malik’s wife hands over the knives to all the women siting in front. Brings Yousaf out. He is beautiful no doubt, bright no doubt, white skin no doubt, some blood, some flesh and some beautifully pinned bones, no doubt. But he is unique. He did not tell a lie. Never in his life. He did not show 2 faces. Never in his life. He did not have a greed. Never. He did not have the lust, the desire and the wickedness deep inside his heart, ever in his life. His uniqueness, the charisma of Bilal, the humility of Abu Bakr and the Roar of Umar, made him folds of a massive energy. People couldn’t handle one Ibrahim. They couldn’t handle one Ishaq. They ridiculed Abu Bakr, Abu Ubaida and Khalid. They did not have a heart to digest all the prophets, no not all of them, only half of them, at one dining night. They did not know, the beauty was not skin, bones and flesh, until that night. All the charisma, grace, humility and courage, packed inside Yousaf, made these women go blind.

No more they could see with their eyes. No more they could control their hands. No more they could live, away from the excesses of Allah, and boom 💥 there it goes. They cut down their hands. The ladies, some cry with pain, some falter with love and some bow down in truth. They make their pricey dining wet and bloody. It turns into a chaos. Some lie their unconscious and some fall there humbled. All accept the truth. All accept, it was not a fault of Malik’s wife, who offered herself to Yousaf. It was an abundance of blessings, which this world never knew existed, until this day of blood-loathed dinner.

The Drought

Elenite Beach, Elenite, Bulgaria by Anton Ivanchenko

Yousaf ends up back in prison. Few more years of lockdown. Few more years of no more freedom. Two people find him sitting their in the corner. They find him interesting. One dies. One lives and far ahead, down this road, this the other one ends up in the King’s darbar (counsel).

The king see a dream; 7 weak cows eat 7 healthy cows. He sits confused, curious, wanting and searching. Asks his counsel of the meaning of the dream. One counselor, the one who met Yousaf in prison, informs the king of Yousaf and his ability. Yousaf is called to the palace. And he informs the king of 7 good years of harvesting good from across the lands and 7 years of drought that will eat away the land. Suggests saving more and planning more. The wisdom, charisma and grace of Yousaf, leads his life to becoming the Finance Minister of Egypt. Something it is.

Yousaf asks his people, to stop it. The lies, the ugliness, the boring routine at offices. He says, kill it. No more bad work or days of no-productivity. He changes the desks, the wall colors, the flooring and re-orientates a new sense of freedom to his people. The good work of Yousaf, the productive lifestyle of Yousaf, lets the king take more from him. He slowly paints the same color he had done at his office, in the parliament, in neighboring ministries and king’s palace. Unlike before, now the people, the lower and neglected are finding it easier to reach the government for help. Slowly the system is fixing itself. Slowly a lifeless, a wicked and a failed brat wasting his life in prison, takes over the kingdom and guides the ship to a more aggressive ocean of bigger storms and deadly waves. The boy, Yousaf, has now everything in its might, to fix the world, to live a new story.

7 Years, egypt becomes one developed state. More prepared and more humble than ever to fight the next 7 years of drought.

A Guilty Brother

Innocence by Kelly Sikkema

Yaqub (as) was a good person. He always wanted good for his people. He wanted his children spread light in the world established by Ibrahim. He wanted they all become good traders, painters and writers. They all deliver Islam forward. They all speak truth and they all carry forward the work of Allah to the distant lands. He wanted to eliminate hunger and poverty from this world.

His kids, did not listen him. They did not give due heed to the message of Allah. They did not want to speak truth and they did not live a life Ibrahim would have wanted out of them.

As the drought has hit the states, the flourishing and the green lands. The children, the brothers of Yousaf, do not want to die of this drought. They do not want to act aggressive any more. Now, after the wrath of Allah has fallen upon the planet, they do not want to walk rude.

The brothers pack their bags once again, prepare their rides once again, but unlike before, with out Yousaf, without an intent to kill a Brother. This time, they pack it all, to quench their thirst by reaching out to the famous Minister of Finance in the distant lands of Egypt.

The herd, the pack, enters Egypt. Minsiter Yousaf, gets the news. He finds it good. The love of his brothers and the days his clan joins him, are finally here. No more prison cells, no more Zulaikha and no more life in well. Here on, it is all Yousaf, rolling pages and engraving a new story of love. He smiles, sitting at his throne, spreads peacefully along side.

The brothers, in trouble, reach Yousaf. Yousaf entertains them like just another person. Asks them to give the due credentials. Avoids here, talks there and gets his attention back to his brothers. One thing, pinches inside him, the youngest member of the tribe, Bin Yamin. Inquires about him, and the brothers did not bring him with them. Asks his brothers to go back and bring him along for they will be given ration only after they show Yousaf, Bin Yamin.

The brothers go back, pleads their father for Bin Yamin, gets the approval and brings him to Yousaf. As they are given their rations, Yousaf puts a hidden treasure inside the pack of Bin Yamin. You can do it if you love your brother. He then announces, the loss of the treasure and asks the guard of the state to bring the guilty to him. Guards open the bag of Bin Yamin, and brings him to Yousaf. The guilty will now stay with his brother.

Finale

Peace by Colton Duke

Brothers of Yousaf had crippled. As Yousaf denied them Bin Yamin, they went in a void. All 9 x brothers feared worse from their father, Yaqub. They returned back from Egypt to Palestine, seeking a solution from their father.

They looked towards Yaqub in pain. They couldn’t want to give more pain to their father. He had already lost Yousaf, he did not want to lose Bin Yamin.

Little did they know, a Prophet has a heart, as giant as Ibrahim and Adam. A Prophet finds goodness in his failures. Their father, a Prophet, is a leader who does not give up on his children, his people and his enemies.

Brothers narrate story of losing Bin Yamin to Yaqub. Father asks his children to go back, act humble, use different gates, pay the surplus bounty and bring back Bin Yamin.

As they reach Yousaf. As they ask for Bin Yamin, Yousaf shakes them up with a pinching fact;

Do you know what you did with Yousaf and his brother when you were ignorant?
- Surah Yousaf verse 89

They did not know, it was Yousaf, until Yousaf himself asked them. Until he himself declared his brothers, “ignorant”, they did not know the difference between good and bad. The space between right and wrong. The line between clean and ugly. Until then, brothers only wanted one thing in their lives, More.

Yousaf forgives them. Gives them his own shirt. Asks them to take it to Yaqub. Put it on his eyes. It will bring back the lost sight and colorful life.

Brothers, take the shirt to their father. Yaqub waits hastily, in the vast emptiness for a river of life, about to be unveiled. He tells people, I can smell my lost Yousaf. I can find him once again. I can sense him nearing me. In the times of no phones, no wires and no connections; a father connects to his son’s approaching cloth. Not the bloody shirt, or a torn apart hope, but a real news of life, abundance and happiness.

The cloth, it is, that brings Yaqub back to life. No more tears. No more waitings. No more hoping for a good news. It is all in front. The entire clan, the mother, the father and the brothers move in a pack, towards Egypt. This pack of wolf, becomes a symbol of pride, discovers its identity; the truth and it moves.

Yousaf, makes his father and his mother sit on his throne. The dream he saw in his childhood finally turns into a reality. The brothers, the 11 stars of his dream, prostrate to him while he sits on his throne. The moon; the mother and the sun; the father, sit beside him on his throne. A life long journey encloses in a moment of time, completes a simple sentence and unites the clan.

The entire religion moved from the pits of darkness, the losses of life long hope and an enormous empty vessel of love to a whole new region. Egypt, marks for them beginning of a new life. Life where truth is louder, bolder and stronger. Where weak fights and pride hides. A life, where people unite, nations grow and ego whimpers. A new state, a new world order, the beginning of Islam and message of Allah all around.

Until, they died and we returned back to this world, looking for success, under its thick crust, rocky mountains and temporary ranks.