طفلٌ ألقاه إخوته في بئر. ثم بيع كما تُباع البضاعة. ثم دخل السجن وهو بريء. ولو رأيتَه في أيّ لحظة من هذه اللحظات لقلتَ: انتهى أمره. ومع ذلك انتهت القصة بأن صار على خزائن مصر — ثم سامَح.
يوسف عليه السلام ابن يعقوب عليه السلام، وكان أحبّ أولاده إليه. ورأى يوسف وهو صغير رؤيا فحكاها لأبيه: ﴿إِنِّي رَأَيْتُ أَحَدَ عَشَرَ كَوْكَبًا وَالشَّمْسَ وَالْقَمَرَ رَأَيْتُهُمْ لِي سَاجِدِينَ﴾. فقال له أبوه: ﴿يَا بُنَيَّ لَا تَقْصُصْ رُؤْيَاكَ عَلَىٰ إِخْوَتِكَ فَيَكِيدُوا لَكَ كَيْدًا﴾ — أي لا تحكِ نعمتك لمن قد يحسدك عليها. لكنّ الحسد كان قد سبق الرؤيا.
أخذه إخوته وألقوه في الجُبّ، ثم جاءوا أباهم عشاءً يبكون. فالتقطته قافلة مارّة فباعته في مصر ﴿بِثَمَنٍ بَخْسٍ دَرَاهِمَ مَعْدُودَةٍ﴾. فنشأ في بيت عزيز مصر، ثم دُعي إلى الحرام وأُغلقت الأبواب، فقال: ﴿مَعَاذَ اللَّهِ﴾، وفرّ إلى الباب. فسُجن وهو بريء، وقال: ﴿رَبِّ السِّجْنُ أَحَبُّ إِلَيَّ مِمَّا يَدْعُونَنِي إِلَيْهِ﴾. وفي السجن لم يجلس ينتظر؛ صار ينفع من معه، ويفسّر رؤاهم، ويدعوهم إلى الله. ثم رأى الملك رؤيا عجز الناس عن تفسيرها، فذُكر يوسف، فخرج.
واللحظة التي تدور عليها القصة ليست خروجه من السجن، ولا أن صار على خزائن مصر. هي حين وقف إخوته أمامه وهو العزيز، وهم لا يملكون شيئًا، وقد صار في يده أن يفعل بهم ما شاء بعد كل ما فعلوه. فقالوا: ﴿تَاللَّهِ لَقَدْ آثَرَكَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْنَا وَإِن كُنَّا لَخَاطِئِينَ﴾. فماذا قال؟ ﴿لَا تَثْرِيبَ عَلَيْكُمُ الْيَوْمَ يَغْفِرُ اللَّهُ لَكُمْ وَهُوَ أَرْحَمُ الرَّاحِمِينَ﴾ — لا لوم عليكم اليوم. كلمةٌ واحدة أنهت سنين طويلة.
ثم أرسل قميصه ليُلقى على وجه أبيه فارتدّ بصيرًا، وجاء بأهله كلهم إلى مصر. ﴿وَرَفَعَ أَبَوَيْهِ عَلَى الْعَرْشِ وَخَرُّوا لَهُ سُجَّدًا وَقَالَ يَا أَبَتِ هَٰذَا تَأْوِيلُ رُؤْيَايَ مِن قَبْلُ قَدْ جَعَلَهَا رَبِّي حَقًّا﴾. الرؤيا التي رآها طفلًا تحقّقت بعد كل هذا الطريق الطويل. ثم دعا ربه فماذا سأل؟ ﴿تَوَفَّنِي مُسْلِمًا وَأَلْحِقْنِي بِالصَّالِحِينَ﴾. بلغ أعلى مكان في مصر، فسأل الله أن يموت مسلمًا.
سمى الله هذه القصة بأجمل اسم وقال: {نَحْنُ نَقُصُّ عَلَيْكَ أَحْسَنَ الْقَصَصِ بِمَا أَوْحَيْنَا إِلَيْكَ هَٰذَا الْقُرْآنَ}.
ما يبدو لك نهايةَ الطريق قد يكون أوّله؛ والله يدبّر من حيث لا ترى.
سامح يوسفُ إخوته في اللحظة التي كان يقدر فيها عليهم تمامًا. هل سامحتَ أحدًا وأنت قادر على أن تردّ له إساءته؟ بماذا شعرتَ بعدها؟
سامِح اليوم شخصًا تحمل في قلبك شيئًا عليه، ولو لم تقل له شيئًا ولم يعرف.
القرآن الكريم، سورة يوسف كاملة
القصة كاملة في سورة واحدة من أولها إلى آخرها، وهي أتمّ قصة في القرآن.
A boy thrown into a well by his brothers. Then sold like goods. Then put in prison though he was innocent. At any one of those moments you would have said: that is the end of him. And yet the story ends with him over the treasuries of Egypt — and then forgiving.
Yusuf, peace be upon him, was the son of Yaqub, and the most beloved of his children to him. As a boy Yusuf had a dream and told his father: {Indeed, I have seen eleven stars and the sun and the moon; I saw them prostrating to me.} His father said: {O my son, do not relate your vision to your brothers, or they will contrive against you a plan} — do not tell your blessing to those who might envy you for it. But the envy was already there before the dream.
His brothers took him and threw him into the well, then came to their father at night weeping. A passing caravan picked him up and sold him in Egypt {for a reduced price — a few dirhams}. He grew up in the house of Egypt's minister, and then was called to what is forbidden behind closed doors, and said: {I seek the refuge of Allah}, and ran for the door. He was imprisoned though innocent, and said: {My Lord, prison is more to my liking than that to which they invite me.} And in prison he did not sit and wait: he made himself useful to those with him, interpreted their dreams, and called them to Allah. Then the king had a dream no one could interpret, and Yusuf was remembered, and he came out.
The moment the story turns on is not his release from prison, nor his being put over the treasuries of Egypt. It is when his brothers stood before him, and he was the minister and they had nothing, and it was entirely in his hands to do to them whatever he wished after everything they had done. They said: {By Allah, certainly has Allah preferred you over us, and indeed, we have been sinners.} And what did he say? {No blame will there be upon you today. Allah will forgive you; and He is the most merciful of the merciful.} One sentence ended long years.
Then he sent his shirt to be cast over his father's face, and his sight returned, and he brought his whole family to Egypt. {And he raised his parents upon the throne, and they bowed to him in prostration. And he said, O my father, this is the explanation of my vision of before; my Lord has made it reality.} The dream he saw as a boy came true after all that long road. Then he prayed — and what did he ask for? {Cause me to die a Muslim and join me with the righteous.} He reached the highest place in Egypt, and asked Allah to let him die a Muslim.
What looks to you like the end of the road may be its beginning; Allah arranges things from where you cannot see.
Yusuf forgave his brothers at the exact moment he had complete power over them. Have you ever forgiven someone when you could have paid them back? How did you feel afterwards?
Forgive someone today that you are carrying something against — even silently, without telling them.
The Quran, the whole of Surah Yusuf
The account runs whole through a single surah from beginning to end — the most complete narrative in the Quran.