The Quran

101

Preface

۞ رَبِّ قَد آتَيتَني مِنَ المُلكِ وَعَلَّمتَني مِن تَأويلِ الأَحاديثِ ۚ فاطِرَ السَّماواتِ وَالأَرضِ أَنتَ وَلِيّي فِي الدُّنيا وَالآخِرَةِ ۖ تَوَفَّني مُسلِمًا وَأَلحِقني بِالصّالِحينَ

Yusuf Ali

“O my Lord! Thou hast indeed bestowed on me some power, and taught me something of the interpretation¹ of dreams and events,- O Thou Creator of the heavens² and the earth! Thou art my Protector in this world and in the Hereafter. Take Thou my soul (at death) as one submitting to Thy will (as a Muslim), and unite me with the righteous.”³

Then he turns to God in prayer, and again his modesty is predominant. He held supreme power under the king, but he calls it “some power” or authority. His reading of events and dreams had saved millions of lives in the great Eygptian famine; yet he refers to it as “something of the interpretation of dreams and events”. And he takes no credit to himself. “All this;” he says, “was Thy gift, O God! For such things can only come from the Creator of the heavens and the earth.”
Power in the doing of things as well as power in intelligent forecasts and plans?both must look to God: otherwise the deed and the plan would be futile.
Joseph’s prayer may be analysed thus: (1)I am nothing; all power and knowledge are Thine; (2) such things can only come from Thee, for Thou art the Creator of all; (3) none can protect me from danger and wrong, but only Thou; (4) Thy protection I need both in this world and the next; (5) may I till death remain constant to Thee; (6) may I yield up my soul to Thee in cheerful submission to Thy will; (7) in this moment of union with my family after many partings let me think of the final union with the great spiritual family of the righteous. How marvellously apt to the occasion! (Cf. 13:23).