Kids Korner by Mai Noor

We continue the story of prophet Yusuf (PBUH) that we started last month. ProphetYakub (PBUH) had 12 children who were all boys. One of his son was named Yusuf. Yusuf was
very handsome and his father loved him dearly. Yusuf’s brothers knew Yusuf was the apple of their father’s eye. Jealousy blinds the heart. It blinded them so much that they decided to get rid of Yusuf. So one day they took him out with themto play and threw him down a well. They then tried to cover up what they had done by killing an animal and staining Yusuf’s shirt with the blood of this animal. They then ran to their father Yakub crying and lied telling him that a wolf had eaten Yusuf. Yakub knew that this wasn’t true and became very sad and knew that he could only be patient and that Allah (SWT) alone would help bring out the truth. (This incidence was related in detail in the last month’s Ambition.)

Yusuf remained in the dark well all alone until a caravan of travelers came by and wanted to get water from the well. They were surprised to find a handsome boy in the well. They took Yusuf out of the well and decided to sell him as a slave to a rich man in Egypt. The man who bought Yusuf was Al-Aziz of Egypt. The title of Al-Aziz is considered the second most important position after the king. So Yusuf grew up in the house of Al-Aziz of Egypt. When he attained manhood, Allah blessed him with wisdom and knowledge. The wife of Al-Aziz was very attracted to Yusuf because of his beauty. She wanted to have Yusuf all to herself. So one day, she allured the unsuspecting Yusuf into her room, closed the doors and tried to seduce him (to do an evil act). Yusuf was a pious man of strong character. He refused to have anything to do with her and ran out of the room but Al-Aziz’s wife grabbed him by his shirt. He tried to set himself free and in the struggle, his shirt ripped from the back. As Yusuf ran away, they found Al-Aziz of Egypt at the door. Al-Aziz’s wife, embarrassed as she was, and now caught red handed, wanted to punish Yusuf for rejecting her. So she lied saying that Yusuf was the one who wanted to assault her. Poor Yusuf tried to defend himself but he had no witness.

Since Yusuf was innocent and a pure soul, Allah helped him in a strange way. One of the relatives of Al-Aziz’s wife came forward to solve this problem, to see who was at fault. He said that if the front of Yusuf’s shirt was torn then Al-Aziz’s wife is truthful since it would mean that she tried to run away from him and she tore his shirt. But if the back of Yusuf’s shirt was torn then Yusuf was truthful as it would means that Yusuf was trying to run away from Al- Aziz’s wife. Yusuf’s shirt, thus, was examined and it was noticed that the shirt was torn from the back. In this way, his innocence was established. The news spread of what had happened and that Al-Aziz’s wife was in love with her slave. It was a matter of shame for her.

The wife of Al-Aziz invited the women who were gossiping about her. She wanted to show them that Yusuf was indeed so handsome that she was justified to lose control of herself. She then gave each one of them a knife and a fruit. Just at the time that they were ready to cut the fruit, she ordered Yusuf to walk in front of them. They looked at him and gasped. Their hearts missed a beat and they forgot about the knife and the fruit. They were so absorbed looking at Yusuf’s beauty that the accidentally cut through their hands with the knives they were holding. The women commented that Yusuf couldn’t be a human since he was so beautiful; He must be an angel.

Yusuf was then put in jail because of the scandal that had spread even though he was innocent and had never tried to seduce Al-Aziz’s wife. What happened to poor Yusuf? Would he remain in jail? Would he ever get to see his father? Find answers next month.

Copyright © 2009 The Ambition
ISSN 1496-3175 (Print), ISSN 1496-3183 (Online)

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