(Lessons 25'32)
The intriguing story of Yusuf (AS) has been described as 'the best of stories' (12:3) by Allah in the Quran. Born in Canaan (Palestine), he was descended from a line of prophets: his father was Yaqub (AS) (also known as Israel), and his grandfather was Ishaq (AS), the younger son of Ibrahim (AS).
As a young boy, Yusuf’s (AS) righteous conduct earned him the special love of his father which caused his halfbrothers to become extremely jealous. They cast Yusuf (AS) in a well from where a group of travellers picked him up and sold him as a slave to a minister (Aziz) in Egypt. As Yusuf (AS) grew to become an extremely handsome young man, the wife of Aziz ' and later, other influential women in the city ' sought to seduce him, which led to his subsequent imprisonment despite resisting all their advances.
Allah granted wisdom and prophethood to Yusuf (AS), and taught him the interpretation of dreams. After remaining imprisoned for several years, Yusuf (AS) interpreted a dream for the King of Egypt which saved the country from famine and poverty, and led to the appointment of Yusuf (AS) as the minister responsible for the storehouses, thereby giving him great prestige.
Sometime later, a famine in Canaan forced the brothers of Yusuf (AS) to approach him for trade on lenient terms, not realizing that the powerful Egyptian minister was actually their brother. After several visits to Egypt, when their financial woes finally forced the brothers to approach Yusuf (AS) for charity, he revealed his identity to them. The brothers became remorseful and regretted their crime against Yusuf (AS) which he then forgave. Yusuf (AS) asked his brothers to migrate to Egypt along with their families, where he welcomed them and experienced the joy of being reunited with his parents.