The Sun, the Moon and Eleven Stars
One day Yusuf (a.s) had an unusual dream. In the dream eleven stars and the sun and the moon all bowed down to him. When he woke up, he hurried to tell his father about this strange dream. Yaqub (a.s) understood right away that great things lay in store for his young and best-loved son. This had been make plain in the dream. Sensing that his half brothers might become jealous of him and try to harm him, Yaqub (a.s) warned Yusuf (a.s) not to tell them about it:
“My little son, do not tell your brothers about your dream lest they hatch a plot against you, for Satan is the open enemy of man.”
Yaqub (a.s) cautioned his son. “The Lord has chosen you, Yusuf (a.s), for a higher purpose. He will teach you to interpret dreams, and will perfect His blessings upon you.”
He told Yusuf (a.s) that Allah would bless him and their family in just the way He had blessed his grandfather Ishaq(a.s) and his great grandfather Ibrahim(a.s).
The ten half-brothers were aware of their father’s great love for Yusuf (a.s). They would go off to look after the family’s flocks grumbling and muttering, and saying: “Surely our father is clearly wrong.” They were so jealous of Yusuf (a.s) that they would band together and fume a plot against him. But they did not dare tease him or hurt him openly, because their father was always nearby and would have been very angry. The young Yusuf (a.s) was innocent and did not even suspect his brother’s guile and hatred. The ten brothers not only hated their innocent younger half-brothers, Yusuf (a.s) and Binyamin, but they were disrespectful to their father, treating him as an ignorant old fool.
Yaqub(a.s) of course, was nothing of the sort. Like his father Ishaq(a.s) and grandfather Ibrahim(a.s), Yaqub(a.s) was a wise and noble man, a prophet who had been commanded by Allah to pass on the knowledge of the One God to the tribe and to the family. Some took heed of what they said and some did not; overall the family benefited from having such ancestors. But when Yaqub(a.s) tried to teach his own older sons anything, they would not listen to his words of wisdom.
The Meaning of Dreams
According to the Holy Prophet ﷺ you can have three kinds of dreams: you can dream about something from your heart, you can have a frightening dream from Shaitaan, and you can have a dream that contains good news from Allah. The dream of a prophet is always a prophecy from Allah, which may be direct or symbolic.
The prophet Yusuf’ (a.s) dream of eleven stars and the sun and the moon was a clear prophecy. One day he would be so much higher in rank that, when his brothers saw him, they would not even recognize him. And perhaps one day they would stand in need of him, and he would be in a position to help them, putting them to shame for their present plotting and betrayal.
But it is not always easy to interpret a dream, to tell what it means. The ordinary person could only guess, and as we shall see later in our story, even the wisest men of Egypt couldn’t begin to fathom a strange dream the king had.
Only Yusuf(a.s) had that insight. He explained that his ability to interpret dreams was one of the gifts he was given by Allah.
Humble Request: We would like to hear from you. We would like to know how you are enjoying your time reading the stories to your kids. Please leave comments below.
It was very interesting and truth story .i really like prophet story.it make us how prophet had been suffer to give us islam…it shows that we should not be jealosy to our closers one …i always shows us something….
And if we should take a revenge or said something we should do it or said it openly….
Also when a person talk even if he is old ..we shoupd listen to him…and also if you do bad dream you should do wudu before going to sleep it my computer’s teacher that had said to me….
So happy for you my dear Mugon.
You are very lucky to have such a computer teacher.
Indeed staying in wudu has great benefits, whether during the night or during the day.
Send my kind regards to your teacher.
I’m a Roman Catholic and do not like the tension that many of my fellow Catholics feel toward Islam. Yet it is interesting how closely we are related, in our bible this is the story of Joseph I noted the similarities. It’s interesting how different we tell them as Catholics and Islamic.
The story of Joseph has always been interesting to me because he is one of the most honorable characters in the bible. Forgive me if I’m wrong about the similarities but I enjoyed this story just as much. I hope your site will show others that their understanding of the islamic world is not all black and white. Best of luck to you!
Dear Mr Jose, thank you for your comments. We are happy that you enjoyed the story.
It’s a great encouragement for us to move forward.
This offers an interesting perspective on the dreamworld. I am fairly new to Islam. The story is indeed beautiful and the words are easy to absorb. Thank you for creating such interesting content regarding Islam as I for one am not familiar with it.
You are Welcome Mr Kevin and we are happy that you enjoyed the time you spent on our website.
You are Welcome JoeAnne.
Thank you so much for sharing your version of one of my favorite stories in scripture. Your portrayal of his character have given me a new view on how tp approach presenting my altruism as a niche.
Your presentation confirm that regardless of who presents the story, the nature and character remains the same.
Thanks
JoeAnne
I find it interesting that you write about Islam. There need to be more of you around because it seems as if Islam and Muslims by extension are misrepresented by media and on the internet as well.
I’m a catholic but I grew up in a community and city with many Muslims, and I feel badly for how they are misrepresented. I believe you are doing good in giving people a better view of your religion.
Your adherence to your faith is inspiring. I hope that you are able to further defeat this negative portrayal by sharing more about the actual religion and not just news bites.
As-Salaam-Alaikum friend.
Thank you Mr Paulo for the appreciation of our work. We are working very hard to give a true picture of authentic Islam, according to the Quran and Sunnah of our beloved Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).