Surah Yusuf Verses 43-44

Surah Yusuf Verses 43-44

• The King said, I saw in a dream seven fat cows being eaten by seven thin ones and seven green ears of corn and seven others that were dry. O chiefs, explain to me my dream if you can interpret dreams _{verse 43}

• They said, these are confused dreams and we do not know the interpretation of dreams. _{verse 44}

Open Ended

why would the King be concerned about his dream?

Open Ended

The chiefs don’t seem afraid of giving their opinion to the King. What type of relationship do they have with the King?

Tafsir

• Sura Yusuf has talked about four dreams so far;

• the dream of Nabi Yusuf

• the two dreams of the prisoners

• the dream of the King

• Each dream played a role in the life of Nabi Yusuf.

Nabi Yusuf spent many years in prison, waiting for his name to be cleared.

He used his time to talk the prisoners.

He comforted them, looked after those who were sick, and told them about belief in the Merciful God.

He made the most of his time although he was eager to be freed.

Until one day something happened that changed things completely. It changed things not just for him, but for the future of the people of Egypt. The King of Egypt whose name is recorded as Walid bin Rayan (and whose vizier was the Aziz of Egypt who had taken in Nabi Yusuf) saw a dream. He saw seven thin cows eating up seven fat cows, and he saw seven ears of corn which were fresh and green and another seven that were dry and withered.

He was worried about what he saw and he called the people in his court in the morning to ask them what they thought about his dream. Some people say it is possible he saw the dream more than once and so he was worried. The people of his court said it was a strange dream and they could not interpret it. They describe it as ‘azghasu ahlam’ meaning dreams that are mixed up, confused, scary . . .

Their message to the King was that some dreams make sense and are good dreams, while others are like nightmares.

It is also possible that they understood that the dream was predicting something that would not be very good. But they were afraid to tell the King.

They only told him things that would please him and make him happy. They were afraid to displease him by telling him of an interpretation that he would not like

Although most chiefs are very respectful to the King, these people seemed to dismiss the dream he saw as a confused nightmare. Perhaps it was because they saw the King was concerned and they wanted to calm him. They tried to laugh it off so he would not think more of it. But the matter worried the King. The dream did not sound good for his kingdom.

Would it be attacked and ‘eaten up’ by another King?

Would he lose his Kingdom?

These thoughts bothered the King.

The dream of the King was the plan of God to remove Nabi Yusuf from the prison. It would clear his name and free him from prison. It would give him a respectable position in Egypt and eventually unite him with his family. It was also to save the people of Egypt from a drought that could have destroyed them. Such is the plan of God. It has far reaching effects and what He wills always happens. But it takes time and many people lose hope instead of trusting the plan of God for themselves.

Important Lessons

1) Kings and leaders are always worried about losing their power.

2) Seeking advice from others, especially experts those with more knowledge is a wise action. The King seeks advice of his chiefs and asks their opinion. Consulting others is recommended in Islam.

3) If you do not know something, do not be afraid to say it. The chiefs could not interpret the dreams. Only the expert in dream interpretation– Nabi Yusuf – could.

4) Trust in the plan of God for yourself.