Yusuf · Makki · ayah 101 of 111

Yusuf 12:101

۞ رَبِّ قَدْ ءَاتَيْتَنِى مِنَ ٱلْمُلْكِ وَعَلَّمْتَنِى مِن تَأْوِيلِ ٱلْأَحَادِيثِ ۚ فَاطِرَ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ أَنتَ وَلِىِّۦ فِى ٱلدُّنْيَا وَٱلْـَٔاخِرَةِ ۖ تَوَفَّنِى مُسْلِمًا وَأَلْحِقْنِى بِٱلصَّـٰلِحِينَ

“My Lord, You have given me [something] of sovereignty and taught me of the interpretation of dreams. Creator of the heavens and earth, You are my protector in this world and the Hereafter. Cause me to die a Muslim and join me with the righteous."”

Saheeh International

Essence

At his life's summit, Yusuf calls his power a portion and asks only to die in submission and catch up with those gone ahead.

A reflection

Some of the kingship

Yusuf now holds the grain of a starving region. Nations come to his counter. And when he turns to Allah, he describes his power with one small word: min. You have given me of the kingship, and taught me of the interpretation of events.

A linguistic commentary reads the word plainly as some. He was given only part of the world's rule, or part of Egypt's, and part of the knowledge of interpretation. A legal commentary agrees.

Then he names Allah: Fāṭir of the heavens and the earth. The lexicons record a famous moment around this word. A Companion said he did not know what Fāṭir meant until two Bedouins came to him, quarrelling over a well. One said: I began it, anā faṭartuhā, I was the first to dig it. The root is splitting open: a shoot breaking the soil, a tooth splitting the gum. To originate is to break something open into being where nothing was.

Put the two words side by side. The man with a portion of Egypt addresses the One who split the heavens and earth into being from nothing. Everything Yusuf has, he has been handed. Everything Allah has, He began.

This is where the ego has nowhere to stand. The most successful moment of a life is exactly the moment pride makes its claim. Yusuf answers it before it speaks: a portion, given.

Allah gains nothing from being called Originator. The name is a measuring stick for us. Held against it, every achievement shows its true size. That is not a humiliation. It is relief from having to be larger than we are.

The full entry has 6 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.