Yusuf · Makki · ayah 43 of 111

Yusuf 12:43

وَقَالَ ٱلْمَلِكُ إِنِّىٓ أَرَىٰ سَبْعَ بَقَرَٰتٍ سِمَانٍ يَأْكُلُهُنَّ سَبْعٌ عِجَافٌ وَسَبْعَ سُنۢبُلَـٰتٍ خُضْرٍ وَأُخَرَ يَابِسَـٰتٍ ۖ يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلْمَلَأُ أَفْتُونِى فِى رُءْيَـٰىَ إِن كُنتُمْ لِلرُّءْيَا تَعْبُرُونَ

“And [subsequently] the king said, "Indeed, I have seen [in a dream] seven fat cows being eaten by seven [that were] lean, and seven green spikes [of grain] and others [that were] dry. O eminent ones, explain to me my vision, if you should interpret visions."”

Saheeh International

Essence

Years after the cupbearer forgot, a king dreams of lean cows eating fat ones and staying lean, and his court cannot say why.

A reflection

Not a lucky break: a prepared one

It is natural to read this as the story's lucky break. Yusuf has been forgotten in prison for years. Then, by chance, the king has a strange dream, and the cupbearer remembers.

The commentaries refuse the word chance. One opens its discussion with a principle: when Allah wills a thing, He prepares its causes. As Yusuf's relief drew near, the king of Egypt saw this dream. Another says it was among what Allah decreed as the cause of Yusuf leaving prison honoured and respected.

The same commentary goes further. Allah not only sent the king the dream. He made the court's interpreters unable to read it. The question would then travel down, past every expert, to the one man who could answer it.

So the dream that seems to arrive out of nowhere was in fact the end of a long chain. A cupbearer imprisoned on suspicion. A dream in the prison. A forgotten request. Years. And now a king who cannot sleep.

A young woman misses her usual train, catches the later one, and sits beside a retired engineer who spends the journey asking about her work. He becomes her mentor for the next ten years. She calls it luck. Looking back, she can trace a dozen small turns that put her in that seat.

The Qur'an does not use the word luck for what happened to Yusuf. It tells the story so that we can see the threads. The forgetting had a purpose too. Yusuf would not leave as a forgotten prisoner remembered, but as the only man in Egypt who could answer the king.

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.