• Among the lessons is that justice is required in every matter, great or small—whether in the ruler’s dealings with his subjects, the parents’ dealings with their children, the fulfillment of wives’ rights, and so forth, in love, preference, and the like. When justice is upheld in these areas, affairs—minor and major—fall into place and the servant attains what he desires; but when justice is neglected, conditions deteriorate and the servant finds himself confronted with what he loathes from where he never expected. It was for this reason that, when Jacob—peace be upon him—favored Joseph in his affection and turned his face toward him, the unpleasant consequences that befell their father and brother unfolded as they did.
• Another lesson is the need to beware the ominous effects of sin: how often does a single sin drag along many others, and how frequently does the evil founded on that first sin keep spreading! Look at the crime of Joseph’s brothers: when they sought to separate him from his father—one of the gravest of offenses—they resorted to several stratagems, lied time after time, forged evidence before their father with the shirt and the blood on it, and feigned a state of sorrow when they came home at night weeping. The conversation about this affair must inevitably have continued and branched out—indeed, it may have gone on even when they were with Joseph himself. Each time the matter was discussed it was built upon lies and fabrications, while the calamity’s effect persisted on Jacob, and even on Joseph. Let the servant, then, beware of sins—especially those that set off a chain-reaction! Conversely, a single act of obedience may yield cascading benefit and blessing, drawing further acts of obedience from the doer and from others as well—one of the greatest signs of Allah’s blessing upon a servant in both knowledge and action.
• Among the lessons, too, is that what truly counts for a servant is the state of perfected conclusion, not the deficiency of the beginning; for the sons of Jacob—peace be upon him—committed at the outset a variety of crimes