Yaqub

Yaqub AS (عَلَيْهِ السَّلَام) is the son of Ishaq AS (عَلَيْهِ السَّلَام), the grandson of Ibrahim AS (عَلَيْهِ السَّلَام). He is also known as Israil. His twelve sons became the twelve tribes of Bani Israil. He is the father of Yusuf AS (عَلَيْهِ السَّلَام), and most of what the Qur'an tells us about him sits inside Surah Yusuf, the surah Allah calls the most beautiful of stories (Qur'an 12:3).

Yaqub AS is the prophet of sabr jameel, beautiful patience. He named the phrase. He used it twice in the surah, once when he lost Yusuf AS and again when he lost his second son, Binyamin.

Allah groups him in tight company with his father and grandfather. Our servants Ibrahim and Ishaq and Yaqub, possessors of strength and vision (Qur'an 38:45). The grandfather was the khalil, the friend. The father was the promised child. Yaqub AS carried both, and added a quality of his own. He was the patient parent who held onto Allah while his heart broke twice.

The first loss

Yaqub AS had twelve sons. He noticed something in the youngest two, Yusuf and Binyamin, that he did not see in the others. Scholars say it was the early light of prophethood in Yusuf AS. The other brothers noticed too and grew jealous.

Yusuf AS, as a child, saw a dream of eleven stars and the sun and the moon prostrating to him (Qur'an 12:4). Yaqub AS knew the language of prophetic dreams and told him not to tell his brothers.

O my son, do not relate your vision to your brothers, lest they plot against you. (Qur'an 12:5)

He saw the trouble coming. He could not stop it. The brothers took Yusuf AS into the wilderness, threw him into a well, and brought back his shirt smeared in false blood, saying a wolf had eaten him.

Yaqub AS did not believe them.

Rather, your souls have led you to do something. So beautiful patience. (Qur'an 12:18)

Sabr jameel. Patience without complaint. He did not curse them, chase them, or collapse. Scholars say sabr jameel means patience without complaint to other people. Complaint to Allah, like Yaqub AS's own I complain of my grief and sorrow only to Allah (Qur'an 12:86), is part of the patience, not a break from it.

The years of weeping

Yusuf AS was gone. Yaqub AS did not know if he was alive or dead. He kept Binyamin close. Years passed. His eyes wept until the white of them showed only white.

And he turned away from them and said, "O my grief for Yusuf," and his eyes turned white from sorrow, and he was suppressing it. (Qur'an 12:84)

He suppressed it in front of others. Kazeem, the Qur'an says, one who suppresses. He did not stop loving Yusuf AS. He stopped letting the grief drive the household. A father can break inside and not break the people around him.

Famine then took the region. The brothers went down to Egypt to buy grain. They went a second time, with Binyamin. The minister of Egypt, who was Yusuf AS though they did not know it, kept Binyamin behind on a pretext. The brothers came home without him.

The old wound opened. Yaqub AS turned to Allah again.

So beautiful patience. Perhaps Allah will bring them all to me together. (Qur'an 12:83)

Two sons gone. He prayed for both back at once.

The line that built the surah

Yaqub AS then said the line that classical commentators say is the spine of patience for every Muslim in trial.

And do not despair of the mercy of Allah. Indeed, no one despairs of the mercy of Allah except the disbelieving people. (Qur'an 12:87)

He told his sons to go back and search for Yusuf and Binyamin. He believed they could be alive. Scholars treat yas, despair of Allah's mercy, as a sin in itself. To give up on Allah is to forget who He is.

The reunion

Yusuf AS revealed himself to his brothers in Egypt, forgave them, and sent his shirt back to be cast over their father's face. Yaqub AS, far away in Canaan, smelt the scent of Yusuf AS before the shirt arrived. I find the scent of Yusuf, if you do not think me senile (Qur'an 12:94). The shirt was laid on his face. His sight returned.

So when the bearer of good news arrived, he cast it over his face, and he returned with sight. (Qur'an 12:96)

The family travelled to Egypt. The eleven brothers, the parents, all of them came before Yusuf AS on his throne. The dream of eleven stars and the sun and the moon prostrating to him was fulfilled. Yaqub AS had outlived the grief. Allah brought them all to him together, as he had asked.

The mercy lens

The mercy is the long answer. He did not get Yusuf AS back the next week or the next year. He got him back when his eyes had wept themselves to white and his hair was old and the famine had reached his door. Allah keeps the door open even when the wait is decades long. The believer's job is to stand at the door. Yaqub AS stood. He said perhaps Allah will bring them all to me together. And Allah did. This long-arc mercy is the mercy thesis at the heart of this site, and it sits alongside Yusuf's patience in the well.

The justice counterweight

The justice is in the test itself. Yaqub AS was a prophet from the chosen line. None of that exempted him from a test that took most of his life to resolve. Allah's chosen are tested most.

The justice is also in his sons. They committed a real sin. Allah did not erase what they did. Yusuf AS forgave them after they came humbly, but the record stands. Sin is named for what it is, even when it is forgiven.

What this teaches the reader

Two small things.

One. Sabr jameel is patience without bitter speech to people. It does not mean not crying. Yaqub AS wept until his eyes turned white. It means not turning your grief into a weapon against the people around you. Cry to Allah. Hold the household together.

Two. Do not despair of Allah's mercy. If you have lost something or someone, and you do not see how it could come back, look at Yaqub AS. He waited longer than most lives. He never let go of perhaps Allah will bring them all to me together. And He did.