The Brothers of Prophet Yusuf (Peace Be Upon Him)

When Hadrat Yusuf Peace Be Upon Him was 11 years old, he had a dream in which he saw 11 stars (along with the sun and the moon) lower themselves before him in sajda.

When he sought an interpretation of it from his father, Hadrat Yaqūb Peace Be Upon Him realized that his son would soon be honoured with the station of prophethood, and since his brothers already hated him due to the affection he was shown, the prophet lovingly called his son towards him and said,

“Don’t tell your brothers about this.”

Unable to conceal his love for him, Hadrat Yaqūb Peace Be Upon Him then began to display more affection for Hadrat Yusuf Peace Be Upon Him, leading his sons to call a meeting between them in the hope of finding a way to get their father to pay less attention to him.

Shaitaan himself attended this gathering and proposed the following solution: the brothers should kill Hadrat Yusuf Peace Be Upon Him and throw his body down a well!

This suggestion of his was accepted by the group, and the brothers then presented themselves to Hadrat Yaqūb Peace Be Upon Him and said,

“Father, why don’t you ever allow Yusuf to be with us? We’re his well-wishers! Let us take him for a walk. He’ll be in our protection until we return.”

Hadrat Yaqūb Peace Be Upon Him did not like this offer of theirs and replied,

“I have no trust in you. If you take him, I fear he could be eaten by a wolf.”

The brothers persisted,

“We’d be useless if a wolf could harm him while he was in our care. Don’t worry. Let him be with us for only a short while.”

So, on their insistence, Hadrat Yaqūb Peace Be Upon Him allowed Hadrat Yusuf to go with his brothers, but he first gave him the shirt of Hadrat Ibrahim Peace Be Upon Him which was given to him by Hadrat Jibrael Peace Be Upon Him after he was thrown in the fire. (This shirt was initially made in Jannah and was passed from Hadrat Ibrahim Peace Be Upon Him to his son, Hadrat Ishāq Alaihis
salam, who then gave it to his son, Hadrat Yaqūb Peace Be Upon Him, who finally made it into an amulet (تعويذ) and hung it around the neck of his son, Hadrat Yusuf Peace Be Upon Him).

The brothers then ‘lovingly’ carried Hadrat Yusuf Peace Be Upon Him on their shoulder and proceeded with him into the wilderness. It was there, when they were all alone with him, that the enmity in their hearts became apparent to him.

They violently pushed their little brother to the ground and began hitting him wherever he went. Even his dream was somehow known to them, so they mockingly repeated it to him, saying,

“This is the interpretation of your dream!”

In the end, as planned, the brothers proceeded to a large, deep well nearby and dropped their brother into it, thinking that they had finally and successfully carried out their plot to kill him.

– Holy Quran, Chapter 12, Ruku 12 & Khazaainul-Irfaan, Pg. 336

Lesson:

To be envious of another’s honour and success is not an Islamic quality, and it leads to nothing but misfortunate for the one who bears it.

We also learn that Hadrat Yaqūb Peace Be Upon Him knew that his son would grow up to be a Prophet, and even though he didn’t say it directly, he also knew that the brothers would try to get rid of Hadrat Yusuf Peace Be Upon Him and use a wolf as their excuse.

This is why he didn’t want him to spend any time with them.

Lastly, we learn that making amulets (ta’wīz) and hanging them around our necks is the practice of the Prophets.