He raised them both upon the throne—that is, he seated them beside him on his couch. “And they all fell down before him in prostration,” meaning that his parents and the eleven brothers bowed to him in reverence and honor. Such prostration was lawful for them and remained permissible in the earlier dispensations until it was forbidden in our own.

“And he said, ‘My father, this is the interpretation of my former dream.’” In other words: this is the real‐life fulfillment of what I related to you when I saw eleven stars, the sun, and the moon prostrating to me. You told me then to keep it secret and promised me what you promised.

“My Lord has made it come true and has been gracious to me when He brought me out of the prison”—after anxiety and confinement, He made me a ruler whose command is accepted throughout the land of Egypt, wherever I wish—

“and He brought you here from the desert,” that is, from the wilderness where you had been living in the Araba region near Hebron—

“after Satan had stirred up discord between me and my brothers,” namely, in the affair they committed against me that has already been mentioned.

He then said, “Truly my Lord is Subtle in whatever He wills,” meaning that when He wills a matter He prepares its means, facilitates and eases them in ways the servants could never conceive; He decrees and smooths the way by the subtlety of His craftsmanship and the greatness of His power. “Indeed He is the All-Knowing, the All-Wise”—all-knowing of every matter, wise in His creation, His law, and His decree.

According to the People of the Book, Joseph sold to the Egyptians—and to others—the grain under his control for all their wealth: gold, silver, land, furnishings, everything they possessed, until he even bought their very selves and they became slaves. Then he restored their land to them and set them free on condition that they work it and that one-fifth of the yield of their crops and fruit belong to the king. This, they say, became the custom in Egypt after him.

Al-Thaʿlabī reports that during those years Joseph never ate to satiety, lest he forget the hungry; he would take only one meal in the middle of the day, and the kings after him followed his example. I add: in like manner the Commander of the Believers, ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb—may Allah be pleased with him—never filled his stomach during the Year of Ashes until the drought lifted and abundance returned. Al-Shāfiʿī relates that a Bedouin said to ʿUmar after the Year of Ashes had ended, “The hardship has lifted from you, and indeed you are the son of a noble woman.”

When Joseph—peace be upon him—saw that his blessing had reached perfection and his family was reunited, he realized that this world affords no permanence, that everything in it and upon it is destined to perish, and that after completion comes only decline. He therefore praised his Lord as He deserves, acknowledged His immense kindness and favor, and asked Him—the best of those who are asked—to cause him to die—i.e., whenever death should come to him—in a state of Islam and to join him with His righteous servants. Thus it is said in supplication: “O Allah, let us live as Muslims and cause us to die….”