Yusuf · Makki · ayah 49 of 111

Yusuf 12:49

ثُمَّ يَأْتِى مِنۢ بَعْدِ ذَٰلِكَ عَامٌ فِيهِ يُغَاثُ ٱلنَّاسُ وَفِيهِ يَعْصِرُونَ

“Then will come after that a year in which the people will be given rain and in which they will press [olives and grapes]."”

Saheeh International

Essence

The dream stopped at the famine; Yusuf did not, adding a year nobody asked about, when rain returns and the presses run again.

A reflection

This year was not in the dream

Most of us remember Yusuf's interpretation as seven and seven. Seven fat cows, seven fat years. Seven lean cows, seven hard years. Neat, symmetrical, complete.

But there is a fifteenth year, and nothing in the king's dream points to it. The dream had seven fat cows and seven lean, seven green ears and seven dry. It said nothing about what came after.

The commentaries are united on this. One calls it news from Yusuf of something that was not in the king's dream at all. It was knowledge of the unseen that Allah gave him. An early authority says: Allah gave him knowledge of a year they had not asked about. Another early report: he told them something they did not ask, which Allah had taught him.

So the answer ended past the question. The king asked about fourteen years. He was told about fifteen, and the fifteenth was rain.

A consultant explains a hard diagnosis and the treatment that will follow. It will be a difficult year. Then, unprompted, she adds: and by next spring you should be back on your bike. The patient had not dared to ask.

That sentence is not part of the diagnosis. It is mercy added to it.

Yusuf could have stopped at the famine. The interpretation would have been complete. Instead he did what the Qur'an does again and again: he did not leave the listener in the hardship. He carried them through it and set them down on the other side.

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.