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Getting Joseph
Into The Jail
When things got greater for the noble
to hide, he did not find any solution for this except by putting Joseph
into the jail to get rid of the shame and avoid tongues to talk about it,
to make people believe that he did not put him in the jail except for that
he is a liar to claim innocence, and so God said: And it seemed good to
them (the men-folk) after they had seen the signs (of his innocence) to
imprison him for a time(Yousof:35). When he went into the jail and the
guard saw him, he said to Joseph: I like you, then Joseph (PUH) said: nothing
brought me to this condition except love, and so my maternal aunt loved
me and that made her steal me away, and my father loved me and that made
my brothers envy me, and the wife of the noble loved me and so she sent
me to jail for her love..etc. So the reward of he who saved the house was
as the reward of Sanimmâr [Sanimmâr: they say he was a Roman
architect that built a castle for one Arabian king before Islam that was
called Al-Nu`mân, after finishing the building of the castle he said
to the king I know only one piece that I know in this castle, if removed
the castle would come down, so the king killed him so no one would know
his secret, and the story went as a proverb for a bad reward in exchange
of the good deeds], and so the noble did not hurt the one that sacrified
with her reputation and with her dignity and her husband's dignity, but
he used the dignity of the innocent as a ransom for her reputation, and
so it was like life, liked although it hurts a lot, and although it is
known it will end some day. We've pointed out that Joseph had two men going
with him into the jail, one of them was the chief baker for the king and
the second was the cupbearer, and their charge was betrayal, and then they
approached Joseph after they knew his high place and his knowledge about
interpreting the dreams and one of them told him that he saw that he takes
the grapes and make a juice out of it in the cup of the king and the other
said that he saw that he was carrying a basket of bread and the birds were
eating from it,and they requested from him to interpret their dreams, and
when he (Joseph) saw them as persons that do care about his speech and
to be trusted he showed them the truth about himself and about his beliefs
and the he is following the religion of his fathers, Abraham, Ishmael,
Isaac and Jacob, and he is believing in one God, so Joseph wanted them
to follow his path and believe in the One God and he guided them to the
straight way as the prophets and viceroys would do, and he made them special
for telling them about their dreams interpretations, telling them so was
a clue that he was indeed of a high place and a prophet, and to strengthen
their desire to listen to him and trust him he asked them then: Are divers
lords better, or Allah the One, Almighty?(Yousof:39). The purpose of Joseph
(PUH) was to show his religion and call for it and God made him able to
do so and made him able to interpret the dreams, and then he said to them
that no food comes to them that he does not know its interpretation before
it comes to them and all of that is of what God taught him, and he believes
in Him and only Him and disbelieve in all the gods. Then after telling
them all of that he answsered their request by saying: O my two fellow-prisoners!
As for one of you, he will pour out wine for his lord to drink, and this
one is the saved man, and as for the other, he will be crucified so that
the birds will eat from his head. Thus is the case judged concerning which
ye did inquire. The truth was as it had been told by him, and he asked
the saved man to remember him in the presense of his lord and ask the noble
of Egypt to release him, but the devil made him forget all of that and
for this Joseph stayed in the jail for more years.
As attributed to `Ali ben Ibrâhim
that he said: when the king (or noble) ordered for Joseph to be imprisoned,
god inspired him with the ability to interpret the dreams, and so he interpreted
the dreams for the prisoners until the two men asked him about the interpretations
for their dreams, and when he interpreted their dreams he said to the one
that would be saved: remember me in the presense of thy lord, and he did
not ask God for such thing, then God inspired unto him: who made you see
the dream, and he means the first dream as was told by God: I saw in a
dream eleven planets..etc(Yousof:4), and who made you beloved to your father,
and who guided the caravan to your place, and who taught you how to call
(pray) so I made you out of the well, and who made the child speak so to
make you innocent, and who made you able to interpret the dreams? Then
he said: You O my Lord, then God said to him: then how come you asked for
help from someone else other than Me, and seeked hope from one of My servants
to remember you in the presense of a creature of My own creations, and
so he stayed then some more years in jail. As attributed to Al-Sâdiq
(PUH) that he said they were seven years. Then Joseph said: I ask You by
the rights of my fathers to release me, so then God inspired to Joseph:
O Joseph, what rights your fathers have? Your father Adam I made him with
My own Hands and breathed in him from My soul and made him dwell in My
paradise and ordered him not to eat from that tree but he did what I prohibited,
and asked for repentace and I gave it to him, and your father Noah I did
choose him among the rest of My creation and I made him a prophet to his
people, and when they refused him he prayed to Me and I answered him and
saved him and his followers in the ark, and your father Abraham I did choose
him as a friend and saved him from the fire, and your father Jacob I gave
him twelve sons and I made only one of them absent and he kept on crying
until his sight begone and sat on the roads complaining, so what rights
do your fathers have? Then Gabriel said: O Joseph say: O I ask You by Your
great gifts and by Your old Goodness, and then when he said it, the king
saw that dream and then he was released from the jail.
It is said that when the period
of time is almost over and God permitted his release, he put his cheek
on the ground and said: O God, if my sins wore out my face in front of
You, then I shall ask You, by the faces of my faithful fathers, Abraham
and Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob, to release me, and so then God released
him, and then the Imam (PUH) was asked [the author did not mention which
Imam is meant here]: shall we pray with in similar manner? He (PUH) said:
pray the same and say: O God if my sins wore out my face in front of You
then I shall ask you by Your prophet, the prophet of mercy, Muhammad and
`Ali, and Fâtima and Al-Hasan and Al-Husain and the nine Imams from
the descendants of Al-Husain to do (whatsoever here and mention your own
request).
As attributed to Al-Sâdiq
(PUH) that he said: when Joseph was in jail he complained to God about
eating the bread alone and asked for some variation, and he had at that
time lot of dry bread pieces, so He ordered him to make all the bread in
one basket and pour water on it with some salt and then it becomes easy
to eat, and he (PUH) said also: the Criers are five, Adam, Jacob, Joseph,
Fâtima the daughter of Muhammad (PUH), and `Ali ben Al-Husain (PUH),
for Adam he cried for paradise until his tears made like valleys on his
face, and Jacob cried for Joseph until he became blind, and Joseph cried
for Jacob until the prisoners were annoyed and said to him: either you
cry in daytime and be silent at night or cry at night and be silent at
daytime, and so he agreed on one of the choices, and for Fâtima (PUH)
she cried for her father the prophet Muhammad (PUH) until the people of
Medina were annoyed of her and said to her: you annoyed us for your crying,
so then after that she started to go out to the graves of martyrs and cry
there and when she finishes she gets back home, and for `Ali ben Al-Husain
(PUH) he cried for forty years for his father Al-Husain ben `Ali (PUH),
and no food nor a drink would be presented to him without him been crying
until a servant for him said to him: O may I be a ransom for you, I am
afraid that your doom is close for all of this, so he answered him: but
I complain about my sadness to God and I know from God what you know not,
and everytime I remember the troubles of the children of Fâtima I
can not stop crying.
And as attributed to Ibn `Abbâs
that he said: Joseph stayed in the house of the king (or noble) and Zalikhâ
for three years and then she loved him and asked him the evil act, and
they say that she kept his love for seven years while he was in her house
and she used to look at him while she used to stand on her feet's fingers
while he used to keep his eyes to the ground for his faith in God, and
she said to him one day: lift up your head and look at me, he said: I am
afraid of becoming a blind, she said then: O how beautiful are your eyes!
He then said: they will be the first to fall down on my cheek when I am
in my grave, she said then: O how beautiful is scent, he answered then:
if you smelled me after three days after my death you would escape away
from me. She said then: why don't you get closer to me? He answered: I
wish by that the closeness to my God, she said: to my silky bed to satisfy
me, he said then: I am afraid that my share of paradise I will lose, then
she said: I will put you under torture, he said then: God is enough for
me. It is mentioned that the women that were gathered by Zalikhâ
then said to Joseph: go and obey your lady for she is wronged and you are
unjust to her. God said: Lo! the guile of you is very great(Yousof:28),
for their guile is more greater than the guile of the devil for they show
it apparently and their guile get to the heart, but the guile of the devil
is done in secret, so the guile of women is greater than the guile of devil.
It is mentioned that Zalikhâ
said to her husband: this slave defamed me among the people and I can not
give an excuse for this, so either you allow me to get out to the public
and apologize or you imprison him as you are imprisoning me, and so he
did although he knew his innocence, and some interpretations about Joseph
saying: O my Lord! Prison is more dear than that unto which they urge me(Yousof:33),
that Joseph chose that as to escape from their guile, and he did not chose
God's willings and His choice, and not as our prophet (PUH) that used to
take refuse in God whenever he is in need and pray with the pray of Al-Iftiqâr
[the name of the pray] and he used to say whenever he is in need: O Flipper
of hearts and sights, make my heart stable for obeying You, and so God
then answers his requests nad fulfills his needs, and saved him against
his enemies, and made him infallible in public and in secret, and Joseph
by his choice was sent to jail, and not as our prophet (PUH) for he chose
God to make the choices for him and not making them by himself, and Jacob
when trusted his children to take care of Joseph and then they threw him
into the well and took his shirt by force while he was saying: O brothers
do not do that to me and give me the shirt to cover myself with, and they
said to him: let the sun and the moon with the eleven planets amuse you,
and then they put him in the well and when he reached the middle of it
they threw him to the ground asking for his death and the well had some
water so he fell on it and stood upon a rock that was there and his brother
Judah used to bring him food as historians said, and they say that the
well was enlightened as a mercy from God unto him and the water was turned
to be so fine that it made him satisfied away from other foods and drinks
and then his brothers sold him to the caravan, and all of that happened
because they did not follow the choice of God since the beginning although
they were so faithful, and we've mentioned that tests from God to His prophets
and viceroys are faster to occur than His tests to His enemies, and God
draws them and make them get more into their wrong-doings as if the life
was their paradise and then in the after-life they have no other choice
but hell, and then when Jacob took refuse in God for his son Benjamin when
he sent him with his brothers and he depended on God to save him and said:
Allah is better at guarding, and He is the Most Merciful of those who show
mercy(Yousof:64), only then God made him on the throne of the kingdom and
got Joseph back to him and got the people out of their troubles, so meditate
O people of hearts and get benefit from God's mercy for eternal gifts.
As attributed to many trusted sources
they reported to Al-Sâdiq (PUH) that he said about the sadness of
Jacob for Joseph: it was like the sadness of seventy women lost their children.
It is mentioned also that when Joseph was in the prison, Gabriel (PUH)
came down and said: God had tested you and your father and God will release
you from this jail so ask God by Muhammad and his Household to release
you from this, so then Joseph said: O God I ask You by Muhammad and his
Household to release me and make me out of my troubles, so then Gabriel
said: O Righteous, God will release you after three days and will give
you the kingdom of Egypt and their people, and then at that night the king
saw a dream that made him afraid and he told it to his assistors but they
did not how to interpret it, and then the man that was saved from the jail
remembered Joseph and said: O king send me to the jail for there are a
righteous wise man, and I with that man that you crucified him after his
killing, we both saw dreams and he interpreted them for us and it was as
he said, and that man was crucified and I was saved, so the king to said
to him: go to him and ask him about my dream, and so he went and asked
Joseph: Joseph! O thou truthful one! Expound for us the seven fat kine..etc(Yousof:46),
and when he gave his message to the king and told him about what will happen
as told by the king's dream, the king said then: Bring him unto me that
I may attach him to my person, and when they told Joseph the king's message,
Joseph said then: how shall I be safe with him and he imprisoned me for
years although he knows my innocence? So when the king heard about his
answer he sent his messangers to the women and asked them: What happened
when ye asked an evil act of Joseph? They answered: Allah Blameless! We
know no evil of him(Yousof:51), so he (the king) sent to him and got him
out of the jail, and when he talked to him, he liked his speech and his
wisdom, so then said the king: tell my dream, I want to hear it from you,
so then Joseph mentioned it as the king saw in his sleep and then interpreted
the dream for the king, and then the king said: you told the truth, so
who will save me from such troubles? Then said Joseph: God inspired to
me that I will take care of the matter in these fertile coming years and
I will keep food stored in the granaries for the years of famine, by the
will of God.
Next: Getting Out From The Jail
to The King of Egypt