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ʾidh qāla yūsufu li-ʾabīhi yā-ʾabati ʾinnī raʾaytu ʾaḥada ʿashara kawkaban wa-sh-shamsa wa-l-qamara raʾaytuhum lī sājidīna
When Joseph said to his father, ‘Father! I saw eleven planets, and the sun and the moon: I saw them prostrating themselves before me,’
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah Yusuf - Verse 4
4. “When, Yusuf said to his father: ‘O my father! Verily I did see (dreamt) eleven stars and the sun and the moon: I saw them prostrating themselves unto me’.”
A Wonderful Dream and Difficulties Lead to Victory
This Holy Surah cites the profound and guiding role of extraordinary and meaningful Yusuf’s dream which herald the beginning of worldly difficulties and the inevitability of his eventual victory. The Qur’an starts the story of Yusuf with an extraordinary and meaningful dream. This dream is, in fact the first in a number of important episodes that had far reaching effects in the epic life of Hadrat Yusuf. One early morning when he was still very young, Yusuf excitedly went to his father to tell him about an experience, which, although on the surface did not seem very important, nevertheless seemed too vivid and extraordinary to keep to himself.
Yusuf told his father that he had had a dream where eleven stars descended from the sky, followed by the sun and the moon and all lay prostrate before him. The verse says:
“When, Yusuf said to his father: ‘O my father! Verily I did see (dreamt) eleven stars and the sun and the moon: I saw them prostrating themselves unto me’.”
According to Ibn Abbas, the famous Islamic commentator, Yusuf had this dream the night before Friday which coincides with (Laylat-ul-Qadr) the night when destinies are determined. It is evident, of course, that the objective meaning of ‘prostration’ here is ‘humility and modesty’, else, prostration of people in the ordinary form unto sun and moon and stars is meaningless. According to the Late ‘Allamah Tabataba’i in Al-Mizan, his commentary of the Qur’an, the story of Yusuf begins with a dream which brings him good tidings and gives him hope about the future, thus enabling him to pursue a divine course with patience and perseverance.
Yusuf is the eleventh child of Hadrat Ya‘qub born after Benjamin. With the exception of Benjamin, his other brothers were born from a different mother. Hadrat Ya‘qub was the son of ’Is-haq who was the son of ’Ibrahim. The Prophet (S) has been narrated who said: “Al-karim ibn-il-karim-ibn-il-karim, Yusuf ibn Ya‘qub-ibn-’Ishaq-ibn-’Ibrahim.” This is:
‘A noble man, the son of a noble man; Yusuf the son of Ya‘qub, the son of ’Is-haq, the son of ’Ibrahim.’
The dreams of the men of Allah are of different types. Sometimes they require interpretation, like that of Hadrat Yusuf, and at other times they require no interpretation being identical with reality, like the dream of Hadrat ’Ibrahim who was ordered to sacrifice ’Isma‘il. The sublime Prophet (S) says about dreams and dreaming:
“Dreams are of three types: They are either tidings from Allah or they are sorrows from Satan, or they are composed of the daily concerns that man dreams about.”
The Late ‘Allamah in his Tafsir Al-Mizan says that there are three worlds: The natural or physical world, the world of symbols or ideas, and the intellectual world. The human spirit, because of its subjective and non material nature, can communicate with the two other worlds in the dream and, according to the level of its capacity and potentiality, it may perceive some facts. If the spirit is perfected, it comprehends reality in a pure and translucent context. If it has not reached the final stages of perfection, the reality would present itself to soul’s consciousness clothed in different forms.
For example a lion would come to symbolize courage, a fox would mean fraudulence and a mountain could mean exaltedness in our dreams, knowledge would be presented as a light, marriage in the form of clothing and ignorance as darkness. Those who see things in their dream are divided into three groups: The first group comprises those who possess perfected souls which are completely detached from the material world and, after their physical senses go to sleep, they enter a relationship with the world of the intellect where they apprehend realities which they perceive from the other world.
(A somewhat relevant example is like that of a television whose antennae receive broadcast signals from far distant places from atop mountains and hills). Such dreams are received directly and are not clothed in symbolism, thus they require no interpretation. The second group are those who are in an intermediate spiritual state, their dreams also depict reality, but they are accompanied by imagined accumulations and resemblances which require a commentator to explain and clarify the subject of the dream.
The dreams of the third group are the dreams of those whose souls are so upset and unstable that their dreams make no sense. Such dreams cannot be interpreted, for they have no relationship with reality. In the Qur’an, such dreams are regarded as /adqau ’ahlam/ ‘confused dreams’. The Qur’an has named some dreams as those which have proven to be true and became fulfilled; as follow: A- The dream of Hadrat Yusuf (as) regarding the prostration of eleven stars, the sun and the moon which was interpreted as his rise to power and the reverence with which his brothers and his parents would treat him.
B- The dream of the two prisoners who were companion inmates with Yusuf, that later one of whom was freed and the other was executed. C- The dream of the Egyptian king of a fat cow being eaten by a thin one which was interpreted as the occurrence of famine and drought after affluence. D- The dream of the Prophet of Islam (S) about the small number of pagans in the Battle of Badr which was interpreted as the defeat of the pagans at the hands of the Islamic army.
The Qur’an in this regard says:
“(Remember) when Allah showed them to you as few in your dream...” 5
E- The dream of the Prophet of Islam (S) about the entry of the Muslims into the Masjid ul Haram with shaved heads, which was interpreted as the conquest of Mecca by the Muslims and their pilgrimage to the House of Allah. Concerning it, the Qur’an says:
“Certainly Allah had shown to his Apostle the dream with truth;…” 6
F- The dream of the mother of Hadrat Moses who had placed her infant in a box and cast it into the water. The Qur’an says:
“When We revealed to your mother what was revealed;”
“Saying: ‘put him into a chest, then cast it into the river…” 7
The Islamic quotations confirm the view that the word ‘revelation’ in this verse signifies “dream”. G- Hadrat ’Ibrahim’s dream of sacrificing of his son ’Isma‘il8 which says:
“…he said: ‘O my son! Verily I have seen in a dream that I should sacrifice you...”
So, as was mentioned earlier, the Qur’an begins the story of Yusuf by narrating his extraordinary and meaningful dream, for this wonderful dream is considered the first highlight of his adventurous life.
Footnotes