Yūsuf

وَكَذلِكَ مَكَّنَّا لِيُوسُفَ فِي الأَرْضِ يَتَبَوَّاُ مِنْهَا حَيْثُ يَشَآءُ نُصِيبُ بِرَحْمَتِنَا مَن نَّشَآءُ وَلاَ نُضِيعُ أَجْرَ الْمُـحْسِنِينَ

وَلأَجْرُ الأَخِرَةِ خَيْرٌ لِلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا وَكَانُوا يَتَّقُونَ

56. “And thus did We give power to Yusuf in the land, to make his dwelling there wherever he wished. We reach with Our mercy on whomsoever We please, and We do not waste the reward of the righteous.”
57. “And certainly the reward of the Hereafter is (much) better for those who believe and are constant in keeping from evil.”

In the above two verses, Yusuf (as) has been described as a righteous, pious and true believer. Throughout this Surah the Divine Will is constantly juxtaposed against the will of man, the latter which, when it goes contrary to the Divine will, always fails in achieving its objective, for example, Yusuf’s brothers had decided to humiliate him by throwing him into the well and getting him enslaved, however, the ‘Aziz recommended that he be held in high esteem.

The wife of the ‘Aziz intended to seduce him and make him commit sins, but Allah, on the contrary, kept him pure and unblemished. The aristocracy sought to break and destroy him, but Allah granted him a high position in the government of Egypt. It is for this reason that the Qur’an says:

“And thus did We give power to Yusuf in the land, to make his dwelling there wherever he wished. We reach with Our mercy on whomsoever We please, and We do not waste the reward of the righteous.”

Even if it might seem a long time, Allah will ultimately reward the righteous for He does not disregard any decent act nor allow it to slip into oblivion. However, besides the reward of this world, the righteous will enjoy some better rewards in Hereafter. The verse says:

“And certainly the reward of the Hereafter is (much) better for those who believe and are constant in keeping from evil.”