4. When Yusuf (Joseph) said to his father "O my father, surely I saw eleven stars and the sun and the moon, I saw them prostrating to me."
5. He said, “O my son, do not narrate your dream onto your brothers, for if you do then they will plan a plan against you. Surely Shaitan is to man a clear enemy”.
THE STORY OF YUSUF BEGINS WITH A DREAM AND ENDS WITH THE FULFILLMENT OF THAT DREAM
As we will find out at the end of the story, the sun represents Yaqoob AS (Jacob), the moon is the mother of Yusuf (AS), and the stars are his brothers. If we notice in the dream Yusuf (AS) mentioned the eleven stars first. The scholars say that this is because in the course of events the eleven brothers make prostration to Yusuf (AS) before their parents do. We have to remind ourselves that this was only a prostration of respect and it was not a prostration of worship in any way. This dream means that eventually, Yusuf will outshine the sun and the moon and the stars. Yusuf will become more famous and will rise to higher ranks and reach a level of nobility that even his mother, father, and brothers did not reach.
According to certain reports in the Old Testament, the Prophet Ya‘qub (alayhi salaam) had two wives and two maidservants. From these four, he had twelve sons. Yusuf and Binyamin (Benjamin) were from his wife, Rachel who was extremely beautiful. Ibn Abbas RA said that Rachel died while giving birth to Binyamin. Ya‘qub then married Rachel’s sister and she took care of Yusuf and Binyamin.
LESSONS:
1. You should never tell your dreams to a person who is not a well-wisher, or a person who is not an expert in interpretation of dreams. The knowledge of dream interpretation is from Allah and this type of knowledge a person cannot learn from schools, books or from experience. Allah blesses this knowledge to whomever He wills.
2. Interpretation of the dreams may take longer than it seems, as it took forty years for the dream of Yusuf (AS) to actualize.
3. You should always be concerned about the well being of your family and should try your best to protect them on a physical and spiritual level. Our children are a trust that has been given to us and their physical well being, and their spiritual well being is something that we will be questioned about.
4. Hide your blessings for every blessed one is envied. The Prophet (PBUH) said, "To make your objectives succeed, seek help from keeping them secret because every holder of blessing is envied in this world". Do not flaunt or show off your religious or worldly blessings as it shows lack of humility and can lead to problematic issues.
5. It is permissible to disclose the evil trait or intention of a person who is about to cause harm to others.
6. The jealousy and envy can lead you to destroy other people's lives and make you commit the most unspeakable of acts. The Prophet (PBUH) said, “I warn you against having jealousy. Jealousy eats up your good deeds like a fire eats up twigs.” Being jealous of other people's blessings means a person is accusing Allah (a’oodhubillah) of being unjust.
7. When you criticize others for something they did wrong, it is the perfection of Islamic etiquette to say that ‘Shaitan caused you to do it, and I know it is not your fault’. This opens the door for them to repent and come closer to Allah. However, when criticizing and blaming the self, do not use the Shaitan as an excuse rather blame yourself and admit your fault.
8. Be aware of the mentality and the thinking of those around you, especially those who are close to you, and especially those who are close to your children.
9. Shaitan is our enemy, and one of the ways he attacks us is that he tries to create animosity between our family and us and between us and our Muslim brothers and sisters. To counter this attack, we have to always be seeking to improve our relationship with our family and with our fellow Muslims. We should not fight with them for any reason. Even if a fight or a misunderstanding is about to happen, we have to forgive them and try to make amends. We have to try our best to prevent any ill feelings or malice to exist between us. We have to always remember that if they have done something wrong against us then Allah (swt) can deal with them much better than we can.