Prophet Yūsuf: Part 2 — The Storehouses and the King’s Cup
Section 27 of 29 · Lives of the Prophets
The Shepherd Who Cried Wolf
ٱرْجِعُوٓا۟ إِلَىٰٓ أَبِيكُمْ فَقُولُوا۟ يَـٰٓأَبَانَآ إِنَّ ٱبْنَكَ سَرَقَ وَمَا شَهِدْنَآ إِلَّا بِمَا عَلِمْنَا وَمَا كُنَّا لِلْغَيْبِ حَـٰفِظِينَ وَسْـَٔلِ ٱلْقَرْيَةَ ٱلَّتِى كُنَّا فِيهَا وَٱلْعِيرَ ٱلَّتِىٓ أَقْبَلْنَا فِيهَا ۖ وَإِنَّا لَصَـٰدِقُونَ
“Go back to your father and say, ‘Our father, your son has committed theft, and we do not testify except what we know, and we could not guard against the unseen. Ask (the people of) the town in which we have been, and the caravan with which we have come, and undoubtedly we are truthful.”” (12:81–82)
So they went back and told their father what had happened. Their father did not believe it: how could this happen? Before, you betrayed Yūsuf and came and lied — and now you have betrayed your other brother? This time they were telling the truth. They said: ask the people in Egypt, and ask the caravan; all of them are witnesses that we are telling the truth.
قَالَ بَلْ سَوَّلَتْ لَكُمْ أَنفُسُكُمْ أَمْرًا ۖ فَصَبْرٌ جَمِيلٌ ۖ عَسَى ٱللَّهُ أَن يَأْتِيَنِى بِهِمْ جَمِيعًا ۚ إِنَّهُۥ هُوَ ٱلْعَلِيمُ ٱلْحَكِيمُ
“He (Ya‘qūb) said, “Rather, your inner desires have seduced you to something. So, patience is best. Hopefully, Allah may bring them all together. Surely, He is the All-Knowing, All-Wise.”” (12:83)
He said: no — but your own selves have beguiled you into something.
It is like the story they tell of a shepherd. Once he began shouting: the wolf is attacking, the wolf is attacking! So everyone came to help him, and they found there was no wolf; he was lying. The next day he shouted: the wolf is attacking, the wolf is attacking! — and again they all came to help him. On the third day the wolf really did appear, and he began shouting: the wolf is attacking, the wolf is attacking! — and nobody came to help him, because they thought he was lying.
So the brothers of Yūsuf, who had lied before — they had lied about Yūsuf — were now telling the truth, but their father could not believe it. They were trying to convince him, telling him to ask the witnesses, but he said: no, you have made up a plot. Fa-ṣabrun jamīl — I will have patience.
And then he said: may Allah bring them all back to me. He did not lose hope. He said: may Allah bring them all back to me — Yūsuf and his brother. He did not even lose hope in Yūsuf, because he remembered the dream of Yūsuf and knew that one day Yūsuf would be victorious. He knew.