Yousuf Part 1: Yousuf Betrayed by His Brothers

The story of the prophet Yusuf (as) is the most detailed and fascinating story in the Quran.

The Dream of Prophet Yusuf (as)

Prophet Yusuf (as) was the son of Prophet Yaqub (as) and Rahel. He had a younger brother named
Benyamin from his mother

Yaqub (as) had twelve sons in total. Prophet Yaqub (as) loved Yusuf (as) and Benyamin more than his other children.

This made the other brothers very angry.

One night Yusuf (as) had a wonderful dream! He saw eleven stars in the sky, and the sun and the moon, they were all bowing down before him!

The young prophet was quite amazed by this dream! He wondered why stars bowed before him.

He didn’t understand the meaning, so he went to his father, and told him about his dream

“Father, I saw eleven stars, the sun, and the moon in a dream!”

He told his father.

“I saw all of them bowing down to me!”

Yaqub (as) was a prophet and he understood the meaning of his dream, and he was very happy!

“Allah (SWT) has blessed you, Yusuf,” The old prophet told his son.

This dream means that you will be given knowledge and prophecy!”

Yaqub (as) was a wise and old man, so he knew that his other sons would not be happy to hear about Yusuf’s dream. So he warned him

“My son, do not tell any of your brothers about your dream. They will be jealous of you, and they will become your enemies.”

“No father, I will not tell them” replied little Yousuf.

Envy of Brothers

But the young and innocent boy went and told his brothers about the dream.

When the brothers heard about this, they got really angry.

“Why does our father love Yusuf more than us?” asked one of the brothers

“Maybe it’s because he is so beautiful” replied another brother

“Our father has gone astray,” said another

“Why don’t we kill Yusuf, and get rid of him?” asked another brother

“Where would we kill him?” asked the other.

“We should send him away to a distant land,” said another brother

Then one of the brothers said

“There is no need to kill him to get rid of him. Look here, let us throw him into a well beside the road. He will be picked up by the travelers, and they will take him as a slave to a distant land. He will disappear from our father’s eyes, and that will serve our purpose as well.”

Then the ten brothers went to their father and requested him to send Yusuf(as) along with them.

But Yaqub (as) was very afraid for Yusuf(as). He knew that the brothers were jealous of him and that they did not love him.

He refused at first.

“Yusuf is our dear little brother,” said one of them. We are the sons of the same father, so what are you afraid of?”

“Please send him with us,” said another brother

“We will watch over him”

“I fear the wolf may take him while you are playing,” said Yaqub (as)

“Never” replied a brother. “How can the wolf eat him when we are there, we are strong and we can save him, father”

After a lot of compulsion from the brothers, the prophet gave them permission to take Yusuf(as) along with them.

Into the forest

The next day, the brothers took Yusuf (as) with them to the forest.

They were very excited as they could finally get rid of him! They walked through the forest and went directly to the well, as they had planned

They leaned over the well on the pretext of drinking water.

It was then that one of the brothers put his arms around Yusuf (as) and held him tightly. Startled by this unusual behavior, Yusuf(as) struggled to free himself!

Then all the brothers joined and held him so that he couldn’t move.

Then one of them removed his shirt. Together they lifted Yusuf (as) and threw him into the deep well!!

Yusuf (as) cried for help, and he begged his brothers to save him. But the brothers shook their heads and paid no heed to the pleas of their brother.

Yousuf(As) in the Well

Yusuf (as) was all alone in the deep dark well. He was very scared and he wept. It was then that Allah(SWT) told him

“Do not be sad, do not be afraid. Allah is with you. Something great is going to happen to you. Your brothers will come before you and you will remind them of what they did.”

Yusuf (as) was saved by the shallow water.

He then clung to a rock ledge and climbed on top of it.

The brothers then got together and said

“what shall we tell our father?”

Then one of them said

“We will tell him, You were right father, a wolf did eat him!”

“Yes,” the brothers agreed.

“We will tell our father that the wolf ate him”

The brothers then caught a ram and killed it. Then they took Yusuf (as)’s shirt and dipped it in the blood.

“Now our father will believe us,” they said.

Yaqub(As) Heard Yousuf’s Death News

The brothers came weeping to their father.

“Father,” they said “We went running races and left Yusuf with our bags. But by the time we returned, a wolf ate our little brother!”

“Yes father,” said another “Look at his shirt”

But Yaqub (as) knew that they were lying. He was a prophet and a very wise man. He knew that when a wolf eats someone, it rips his clothes.

But the shirt of Yusuf (as) was whole, and it had been only dipped in blood. That’s how the prophet knew that the story of the wolf was made up!

“This is a story that you have made up,” he said to them.

“I am a patient man and I will wait for my son” Yaqub (as) couldn’t sleep that night and kept thinking about his son.

The Travellers Picked Up Yousuf(As)

It was a terrible time for Yusuf (as), in that deep well, out in the wilderness, hidden in darkness. It was a difficult time for both the father and the son.

A group of people was traveling to Egypt through that wilderness. They were thirsty and looking for water. When they saw the well, they sent a man to bring them some water.

The man came to the well and let down a bucket.

Yusuf (as) was happy when he saw the bucket coming down, and he grabbed hold of it.

As the man began to haul, he felt the load was unusually heavy! When he peeped into the well, he was shocked to see a young man clinging to the rope!

He held the rope tightly and shouted to his friends

“Better give me hand fellows, looks like I found a real treasure in the well!”

His companions rushed to the well, to pull the stranger holding onto the rope!

The men were startled when they saw the handsome youth, beaming with an angelic smile!

They knew that they would get a handsome price for this young man, and money was all that
mattered to them.

They immediately chained Yusuf (as), and took him to Egypt, far away from his home.

So what happened to Yousuf then, read here!