Then when they entered unto Yusuf, he lodged his parents with him and said: ‘Enter Egypt, Allah willing, (all) in security’.
The verse says:
“Then when they entered unto Yusuf, he lodged his parents with him…”
When they arrived at his palace, and Yusuf embraced his parents, this was the sweetest moment in Ya‘qub’s life.
It was a meeting that had come about after many years of separation.
Every moment of this meeting and embracing Ya‘qub and Yusuf was so exciting that only Allah knows what happened and none else.
In these sweet moments of reunion, then, only Allah knows the intensity of the bliss shared between the father and his beloved son.
Yusuf told every one to enter the land of Egypt and assured them that they would be safe and secure there.
The verse continues saying:
“…and said: ‘Enter Egypt, Allah willing, (all) in security’.”
One can conclude from this statement that Yusuf had come out of the gates of the town to welcome his parents.
Perhaps the sentence ‘they entered unto Yusuf’ means that he had ordered tents to be erected there to receive and entertain preliminarily his parents before they entered the town.
He said, ‘Enter into Egypt. With the permission of Allāh, all of you will be safe.’”
The meaning of ‘inshā’Allāh’ here is ‘in the Name of Allāh, you shall be safe.’
This is difficult to translate into English.
Our Prophet (ṣallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said, “When you make du‘ā’, don’t say ‘inshā’Allāh’ at the end” because you don’t make du‘ā’ by assigning it to Allāh.
You have to beg and plead because you need Allāh’s forgiveness. You say, “O Allāh, I need your forgiveness, forgive me.”
You say, “O Allāh, I need this.” The Prophet (ṣallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said, “When you make a du‘ā’, be firm in your request.”
Don’t be wishy washy and add the inshā’Allāh because Allāh will not change the decree because of your inshā’Allāh. Allāh will give you if He wants, inshā’Allāh.
The reason of this is because some people may ask why Yūsuf made a du‘ā’ and said “inshā’Allāh.”
The response is, to put it simply, that this “inshā’Allāh” is not that “inshā’Allāh.”
This “inshā’Allāh” is “with the blessings of Allāh” and “in the Name of Allāh.”
Yūsuf promised them safety, and they were safe, but their descendants were not safe, and that is what happens centuries later when Fir‘awn comes and starts persecuting the children of Israel, which is a story taken up later in the Qur’ān. Now he says, “You will be safe.”
Lesson
- Treat our parents with honor and respect. We know this for a fact. No human being is more worthy of your veneration other than your parents. In terms of natural love and dedication, there is no second to them.
- Respect your parents.
- Look for
good in bad situations.
If Yusuf was not in prison and if he didn’t meet those two prisoners, a drought would have happened regardless, but there would never have been someone to give the suggestions that Yusuf gave.
Many people would have starved to death if Yusuf didn’t go through what he went through.
This also included the survival of his own family too; his brothers and father would have starved to death too.
There was a greater good that needed to be accomplished. And by the way, he was able to sponsor all his family to move to Egypt.
All of this begins with the trials of Yusuf. If that didn’t happen, none of this would have happened.