Envy, Upbringing and Principle

The second. SubḥānAllāh, one of the first matters — the reason Yūsuf (peace be upon him) is thrown into the well and not killed, for he was to have been killed and was then merely thrown into the well, and survives — is ḥasad, which is envy and jealousy. And we learn from this that those closest to a man — those closest to him — may be envious of him. Those closest may be envious of him. His father told him not to speak of the dream; but being a young child, he may have spoken of it. So a man should be careful; and ḥasad is a truly grievous thing.

The third. What is understood from the story of Yūsuf (peace be upon him) is that he is a young boy when he is taken. How does he survive? How does he survive the suffering just described — how does he survive all of it? That must have come from a tarbiyah. But then it will be said: his brothers must have had a tarbiyah from their parents too; Yaʿqūb (peace be upon him) was there, the father of all of them — how did they go wrong? Which gives us to understand that a tarbiyah sometimes works with one and not with another. They were sorry afterwards, of course, and made amends afterwards — when, plainly, they were in a position of disadvantage. But, mā shāʾ Allāh, with Yūsuf (peace be upon him) at least it worked very well: from an early age it gave him the forbearance and the fortitude, and the way of dealing with such matters, and kept him from breaking and becoming something else. So this too is understood: that good parenting matters — good parenting, with much love in it, matters greatly.

And what we learn from that is what comes of holding to one's principles. For it is plain that Yūsuf (peace be upon him) was a man of principle, from a number of the encounters: his refusing to come out of the prison — anyone else would think, let me get out of this prison however I may — but he did not wish to run out. He wished to be exonerated. He did not wish to be seen as released by favour, or freed out of compassion, merely because he had given the right interpretation. He wished it done properly. So it is plain that he is a man of principle. And when a man is of such principle, and has the akhlāq to show, then in the end he will come to be honoured; Allah (swt) will give him the honour that is right.