No Price for the Answer

Yūsuf (peace be upon him) now had a bargaining tool in his hand. He was in prison, and this man had come to ask him the interpretation of a dream. He could have said: I will not tell you the answer until you free me. But Yūsuf did not. He gave him the answer without asking for anything. And not only did he give the answer: he gave the interpretation, and his recommendations.

He said: for seven consecutive years you shall sow as usual. For seven years you will have an abundant harvest — these are the seven fat cows. You will have a great deal of rain; you will be blessed; you will have plenty. And then he said: fa-mā ḥaṣadtum fa-dharūhu fī sunbulihi illā qalīlan mimmā taʾkulūn — the harvest which you reap, leave it in its ears, all except a little of it which you may eat.

He told them: you need to ration. Even though you will have a great harvest, do not use it all. Save most of it and use only the minimum. Even in years of blessing, do not consume it; store it all, except what you need to eat. It is said in tafsīr that Yūsuf would live on half a meal a day. He ordered the government to ration in the same way, and he set the example for the people: he ate the minimum, even though there was abundance. Why? Because he wanted them to store the rest. And he told them to keep the grain in the ear.