“Then after that will come a year in which the people will be granted rain, and in which they will press (their grapes, olives, and the like).” (Yūsuf 49)

This was among the factors that led to Joseph’s—peace be upon him—leaving prison with honor and esteem. The king of Egypt, Rayyān ibn al-Walīd ibn Tharwān ibn Arāsha ibn Fārān ibn ʿAmr ibn ʿImlāq ibn Lāwidh ibn Sām ibn Noah, had seen this dream.

The People of the Scripture relate that he saw himself standing on the bank of a river from which seven fat cows emerged and began to graze in a meadow there. Then seven gaunt, weak cows came out of the same river, grazed with them, turned on them, and devoured them. He awoke in alarm, fell asleep again, and saw seven green ears of grain on a single stalk; then seven other thin, dry ears appeared and consumed them. Again he awoke, frightened.

When he told the dream to his courtiers and his people, none of them could interpret it. Instead they said, “A jumble of nightmares”—a confused mixture of nocturnal fancies that probably carries no interpretation—and, in any case, “We have no knowledge of interpreting dreams.”

At that moment the one of the two who had been spared—whom Joseph had charged to mention him to his lord but who had forgotten until that time, by Allah’s decree, for He is All-Wise—remembered Joseph when he heard the king’s dream and saw the people’s inability to explain it. Hence Allah says: “The one who had been saved of the two remembered after a time,” meaning after a span of several years.

Some, as reported from Ibn ʿAbbās, ʿIkrimah, and al-Ḍaḥḥāk, read it: “remembered after oblivion,” while Mujāhid read it “after umh,” with the mīm silent, which likewise signifies forgetfulness. They say: a man amih, yamahu amhan or amahan when he forgets. The poet said:

I have grown forgetful, though I once forgot no tale;
Thus does the passage of time lay minds low. (1)

He therefore said to his companions and to the king, “I will inform you of its interpretation, so send me forth”—that is, send me to Joseph. He came to him and said, “Joseph, man of truth, explain to us about seven fat cows that seven lean ones devour, and seven green ears of grain and others dry, that I may return to the people so that they may know.”

The People of the Scripture claim that once the cup-bearer mentioned Joseph, the king summoned him into his presence, related the dream, and Joseph interpreted it for him. This is mistaken; the correct account is what Allah has narrated in His Book, not the tale by which those ignorant cattle—whether scribes or rabbis—have been deceived. (2)

Joseph, peace be upon him, then freely offered the knowledge he possessed, without hesitation, without setting any conditions, and without even requesting a quick release. (3) Rather, he answered what they asked and interpreted the king’s dream, indicating that seven years of abundance would be followed by seven years of drought.

“Then after that will come a year in which the people will be granted relief”—that is, rainfall, plenty, and well-being will return to them.