Yusuf 12:4 - Linguistic Miracle

When Yusuf said to his father, ' Beloved father, indeed - I saw eleven stars, the sun and the moon. I saw them, to me, prostrating."

Allah mentions the stories in the best manner and in a way that they change us. One of these stories is when Yusuf said to his father.............

Throughout this story, you will notice that Allah will not once call Yusuf's father by his name. Yusuf's father - Yaqub - is a major prophet also know by the name Israi'l but in this story, Allah will only call him "their father." Allah presents his experience not as a prophet but as a father who went through grief because of his children.

Yusuf's dream is quite special and it bears meaning for us even today. Firstly, the word he uses for his father is unique. When you want to simply call your father in Arabic, you say Ya Abi - يا أبي ; but when you address your father and also express your love for him, you say Ya Abati - يا أبتي; and this is what Yusuf says to his father. The reason is clear. As we will see In sha Allah, Yusuf already knew what this vision meant. The dream shows that his father will be prostrating to him. Yusuf was afraid of what his father might say to him when he tells him this dream as we would all be if we were in his place. Also, one can also easily get conceited and call himself superior to his father. Yusuf made sure to express his love to his father before narrating the dream to express his love and respect to him. Yusuf is telling his father that this is what I saw in my vision; and I am not telling you this to belittle you or to hurt your feelings and this dream does not change my love, admiration and respect for you in any shape or form; but I need to tell you what I saw in my vision.

Yusuf uses the word إن - translated as indeed. The question arises why emphasize this statement? We already mentioned in verse two that this style of speech is used when the listener is either skeptical or is in doubt regarding your statement. The word إن here does not simply mean one word, rather it signifies a whole chain of events. Yusuf came to his father and expressed his love, admiration and respect for him with the words Ya Abati. This led his father to believe that something might have happened or that something is disturbing him and he needs his help in it. His father then asked him about what happened to which Yusuf replied with the word إن (indeed). His father was skeptical and had questions. When you address such a person, the word إن is used.

So Yusuf tells him that he saw a dream. This dream only contains goodness in it but there is something in it that might cause discomfort for his father. You will see later that the manner in which Yusuf speaks shows he was quite hesitant and unsure how to say it.

Eleven stars mean his brothers, the sun means his father and the moon means his mother. He saw them prostrating to him which has a literal meaning - His father, mother and brothers will one day prostrate to him, which means that Yusuf will gain a position or respect, authority and power higher than his family which this family will recognize by prostrating to him.

Next, why does eleven stars mean his brothers, the sun his father and the moon his mother? The family is likened to the solar system in this dream. We start with the eleven stars. Yusuf had eleven brothers which was the first hint he needed to understand the eleven stars mean his eleven brothers due to the similarity in their number. What confirmed this was the stars, the sun and the moon prostrating to him which is an action that living beings do. He saw them prostrating to him in the manner human beings prostrate which confirmed that eleven stars do not mean stars but rather his eleven brothers. The father is the head of the family and in this dream since the sun is the head of the solar system, it means the father. The moon reflects the light of the sun onto the planets. The mother reflects the teachings and disciplines of the father onto the children.

If the light of the sun is brighter so will the planets and the moon be brighter. During the night, when the sun is not around, the moon reflects the sun's light. The sun's light never disappears. It is always there either directly during the day or via the moon during the night. This shows the central role of the father. The state of the family will be in accordance with the state of the father. If he is good, so will the family be and vice versa.

The moon reflects the sun's light during the night after the sun has set. Bread winning roles fall on the father due to which the father is not always around the family in which case it is the mother's duty to take over the duties of caretaking the children; but just as the moon can only reflect the light of the sun it receives, the mother can also only upbring her children according to the amount of love and respect that she receives from her husband. When she truly admires her husband, she will desire her children to be like him as well. The father plays the central role. A mother reflects the teachings of her husband onto the children, she implements the instructions of the father - if they are correct - with regards to the them.

We mentioned above that Yusuf was hesitant and unsure on how to tell his father his dream. This is shown by his words, "I saw them, to me, prostrating."

First, he repeats the words "I saw" twice. First he when said, "Beloved Father, Indeed - I saw eleven stars....."

and second when he said "I saw them, to me prostrating." It is as if he started saying his words - Beloved father, I saw eleven stars, the sun and the moon - and then cut his speech of because he got nervous. Then he resumes from he left of - I saw them, to me, prostrating.

Next, even when he resumes after cutting his speech off in nervousness, he delays the word prostrating to the very end. Even in English this is unusual. Normally it should have been said as " I saw them prostrating to me." To tell his father that he, his wife and his other children would be prostrating to him, made him so nervous and uncomfortable, he could not bring himself to say it but ultimately, he had to. Because of his nervousness and the discomfort he felt, he kept delaying this word until he just couldn't.

Next, the pronoun "them" in the sentence "I saw them, to me, prostrating" is the masculine plural pronoun هم in Arabic. This pronoun is used for living beings. Stars, sun and moon are not animate objects. For such inanimate objects, the feminine singular pronoun ها should have been used as is the rule. In short, the pronoun Yusuf uses to refer to the sun, the moon and eleven stars is used for animate objects, not inanimate ones. Why? Because Yusuf already knew that eleven stars meant his brothers, the sun his father and the moon his mother. By using the pronoun هم instead of ها, the Quran so eloquently with just one letter tells us that Yusuf already knew what his dream meant.