Tafseer Ibn Kathir of YUSUF [99]

99. Then, when they came in before Yusuf, he took his parents to himself and said: ”Enter Egypt, if Allah wills, in security.'' 100. And he raised his parents to the `Arsh and they fell down before him prostrate. And he said: ”O my father! This is the interpretation of my dream aforetime! My Lord has made it come true! He was indeed good to me, when He took me out of the prison, and brought you (all here) out of the bedouin life, after Shaytan had sown enmity between me and my brothers. Certainly, my Lord is the Most Courteous and Kind unto whom He wills. Truly, He! Only He is the All-Knowing, the All-Wise. Allah states that Ya`qub went to Yusuf in Egypt. Yusuf had asked his brothers to bring all of their family, and they all departed their area and left Kana`an to Egypt. When Yusuf received news of their approach to Egypt, he went out to receive them. The king ordered the princes and notable people to go out in the receiving party with Yusuf to meet Allah's Prophet Ya`qub, peace be upon him. It is said that the king also went out with them to meet Ya`qub. Yusuf said to his family, after they entered unto him and he took them to himself,

(and said: ”Enter Egypt, if Allah wills, in security.'') He said to them, `enter Egypt', meaning, `reside in Egypt', and added, `if Allah wills, in security', in reference to the hardship and famine that they suffered. Allah said next,

(and he took his parents to himself) As-Suddi and `Abdur-Rahman bin Zayd bin Aslam said that his parents were his father and maternal aunt, as his mother had died long ago. Muhammad bin Ishaq and Ibn Jarir At-Tabari said, ”His father and mother were both alive.'' Ibn Jarir added, ”There is no evidence that his mother had died before then. Rather, the apparent words of the Qur'an testify that she was alive.'' This opinion has the apparent and suitable meaning that this story testifies to. Allah said next,

(And he raised his parents to Al-'Arsh) he raised them to his bedstead where he sat, according to Ibn `Abbas, Mujahid and several others. Allah said,

(and they fell down before him prostrate.) Yusuf's parents and brothers prostrated before him, and they were eleven men,

(And he said: ”O my father! This is the Ta'wil (interpretation) of my dream aforetime...''), in reference to the dream that he narrated to his father before,

(I saw (in a dream) eleven stars...) In the laws of these and previous Prophets, it was allowed for the people to prostrate before the men of authority, when they met them. This practice was allowed in the law of Adam until the law of `Isa, peace be upon them, but was later prohibited in our law. Islam made prostration exclusively for Allah Alone, the Exalted and Most Honored. The implication of this statement was collected from Qatadah and other scholars. When Mu`adh bin Jabal visited the Sham area, he found them prostrating before their priests. When he returned (to Al-Madinah), he prostrated before the Messenger of Allah , who asked him,

(What is this, O, Mu`adh) Mu`adh said, ”I saw that they prostrate before their priests. However, you, O Messenger of Allah, deserve more to be prostrated before.'' The Messenger said,

(If I were to order anyone to prostrate before anyone else (among the creation), I would have ordered the wife to prostrate before her husband because of the enormity of his right on her.) Therefore, this practice was allowed in previous laws, as we stated. This is why they (Ya`qub and his wife and eleven sons) prostrated before Yusuf, who said at that time,

(O my father! This is the Ta'wil of my dream aforetime! My Lord has made it come true!) using the word, `Ta'wil', to describe what became of the matter, later on. Allah said in another Ayah,

(Await they just for its Ta'wil On the Day the event is finally fulfilled...), meaning, on the Day of Judgement what they were promised of good or evil will surely come to them. Yusuf said,

(My Lord has made it come true!) mentioning that Allah blessed him by making his dream come true,

(He was indeed good to me, when He took me out of the prison, and brought you (all here) out of the bedouin life,) out of the desert, for they lived a bedouin life and raised cattle, according to Ibn Jurayj and others. He also said that they used to live in the Arava, Ghur area of Palestine, in Greater Syria. Yusuf said next,

(after Shaytan had sown enmity between me and my brothers. Certainly, my Lord is the Most Courteous and Kind unto whom He wills.) for when Allah wills something, He brings forth its reasons and elements of existence, then wills it into existence and makes it easy to attain,

(Truly, He! Only He is the All-Knowing.) what benefits His servants,

(the All-Wise.) in His statements, actions, decrees, preordain- ment and what He chooses and wills.