The Best Story

June 20, 2015 by goodword123 1 Comment

In chapter twelve, the Quran narrates a story, which it calls ‘the best of stories’. It is about the Prophet Joseph, who lived in Palestine with his father and stepbrothers. When Joseph was in his teens, his stepbrothers became jealous of him. They contrived to throw him into a dry well situated in a forest. But God came to his rescue—a caravan spotted him in the well and pulled him out. Later, they sold him as a slave in an Egyptian market. That was how he travelled from Palestine to Egypt.

Luckily his master was a courtier of the Egyptian King. As for his religion, the King was an idol worshipper, while Joseph, who belonged to the family of Abraham, was a believer in the oneness of God. After some years, when Joseph reached the age of maturity, he came in contact with the King. The King, greatly impressed by his personality and wisdom, offered him a high office in his government. In present terms, this was the equivalent of being the minister of agriculture. According to the Biblical narration, the Egyptian King said: “You shall be over my house, and all my people shall be ruled according to your word; only in regard to the throne will I be greater than you.” (Genesis 42:40)

Joseph accepted this offer and successfully managed the agricultural affairs of the land at a time when there was a severe drought in Egypt and the surrounding areas. People became so happy that they accepted him as their hero. After narrating this story, the Quran says: “God does not waste the reward of those who do good, who are righteous and steadfast.” (12:90)

What qualities did Joseph possess which elevated him to this high status? After reading his story, as given in the Quran, we can summarize these qualities:

1. Joseph’s stepbrothers hatched an evil plot against him which was intended to cause his death. But Joseph never developed any kind of hatred or feelings of revenge towards them. Instead, he forgave them and gave them a warm welcome in Egypt, as mentioned in the Quran.

2. The caravan of traders sold him as a slave in the Egyptian market but he never protested against the caravan. He never said that he was a human being and that they were using him as a marketable commodity.

3. When in Egypt, he never created any problems for his master or the king.

4. He remained patient with the culture of idol-worshippers that was prevalent in Egypt at that time. Following the principle of avoidance of conflict, he availed of the opportunity given to him by the Egyptian ruler.

These were the qualities mentioned both in the Quran and the Bible, that helped him to rise to such a high status.

The Prophet Moses was born in Egypt, where he lived for about thirty years. Then, for some reason he had to leave Egypt and after a long journey reached Midian (Syria). When he was resting under a tree on the outskirts of Midian, a very interesting incident took place which has been narrated as follows in the chapter Al-Qasas (The Story) of the Quran:

And when Moses arrived at the well of Midian, he found around it a group of men watering their flocks, and he saw two women standing apart from them, who were holding back their flocks, so he asked, ‘What is the matter with you?’ They replied, ‘We cannot draw water until the shepherds take away their sheep. Our father is a very old man.’ So Moses watered their flocks for them; and returned into the shade and prayed, ‘Lord, I am truly in need of whatever blessing You may send down for me.’ And then one of the two women came walking shyly up to him and said, ‘My father is asking you to come so that he may reward you for watering our flocks for us.’ When Moses came to their father and gave him an account of himself, he said: ‘Don’t be afraid! You have escaped from those wrong- doing people.’ One of the girls said, ‘Father, hire him! For the best man to hire is someone strong and trustworthy.’ (28:23-26)

According to this story, Moses lived with his Midian hosts for almost eight years. His host, Shuayb, married his daughter to Moses; then after eight years Moses left Midian and returned to his homeland, Egypt.

What the woman said when she asked her father to hire Moses is the best formula for success in this world. It is a two point formula—honesty and hard work. Honesty makes one a trustworthy member of society and hard work means that a man is ready to dedicate himself to his work.

Being strong and being honest are two desirable human qualities. ‘Strong’ refers to physical strength and ‘honest’ refers to spiritual strength: both are equally important. One who has these two qualities can be described as a well-equipped person. These two qualities make one a super-achiever in this world.

There is a saying: ‘God helps those who help themselves.’ What is self-help? Self-help means to prove that you have these two natural qualities—honesty and the ability to work hard.