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

‘My Lord! You have granted me a share in the kingdom, and taught me the interpretation of dreams. Originator of the heavens and earth! You are my guardian in this world and the hereafter! Let my death be in submission [to You], and unite me with the righteous.’

EXEGESIS

Taʾwīl al-aḥādīth (interpretation of dreams) was discussed under verse 6.

Fāṭir (originator) is an active participle derived from the verb faṭara, and carries the meaning of ‘originator’ or ‘creator’. Ibn Abbas famously recounted that he struggled to grasp the full significance of fāṭir al-samāwāt wa al-arḍ (Originator of the heavens and earth) until he overheard two Bedouins disputing a well, with one declaring, anā faṭartuh (I dug it first).[1] This linguistic insight reveals that faṭara fundamentally denotes splitting something open to manifest what lies within, suggesting that God as al-fāṭir is the one who brings the heavens and earth into existence, cleaving the veil of nothingness to unveil their hidden potentials and contents.[2] In this sense, creation is not merely a formation ex nihilo, but a divine act of disclosure, where God ‘opens’ the cosmos to reveal the marvels it contains – celestial bodies, life, and all creatures. An alternative interpretation emphasises the cosmic scale of this ‘splitting’ whereby God divided the primordial void (as in 21:30, Have the unbelievers not seen that the heavens and earth were a joined entity, then We split them apart?), extracting creation from the unseen.[3] Thus, fāṭir merges the concepts of initiation, revelation, and differentiation, portraying God as both the author of existence and the expounder of its hidden realities.

Grammatically, the term fāṭir appears in the accusative case (manṣūb) due to an implied vocative construction. This indicates an elided vocative particle yā,[4] effectively rendering it as yā fāṭir … (O Originator!). This grammatical feature reflects the Quran’s tendency for eloquent brevity and creates a more intimate, direct address to God.

Walī (guardian) has different meanings depending on the context. Here it can have the meaning of supporter (nāṣir).[5]

The word min in both min taʾwīl al-aḥādīth and in min al-mulk is to indicate partiality, because Prophet Joseph (a) was only taught some of the knowledge of the taʾwīl of things, and he was only given a portion of kingdom and authority.[6]

EXPOSITION

My Lord! You have granted me a share in the kingdom: Prophet Joseph (a) turned his attention towards God, supplicating Him. He thanked God for giving him the opportunity to attend to and manage the affairs of God’s creation and in that way help them, recounting how God had planned that Prophet Joseph (a) should be promoted by the Egyptian king to be the one in charge of the kingdom’s granaries so that he may help them survive the years of drought. This is the way of the pious individuals, who will turn to God in all moments, including the moments of greatest joy and sorrow. They will also not attribute their worldly success to anyone but God, knowing that He is the one who provides it and may take it away if He so decrees.

And taught me the interpretation of dreams (taʾwīl al-aḥādīth): we discussed in verse 6 how taʾwīl al-aḥādīth need not and should not be limited to only dreams, but means an understanding of the true meaning and significance of events gifted to those pious servants of God possessed of wisdom and understanding. Hence taʾwīl al-aḥādīth should be understood as referring to different aspects of knowledge and understanding.[7]

If the sign of a believer is to attribute worldly success to God, an even greater sign of a true believer is the one who attributes his own virtues to God. Prophet Joseph (a) did not take pride in his wisdom and intellect, but realised that this is something that God had gifted him with.

Originator of the heavens and earth: this divine epithet, al-fāṭir, encapsulates God’s absolute guardianship (wilāyah) over creation, affirming Him as both the primal source of all existence and the sustaining force upon which every being depends. This divine name was wielded by the messengers of God as an unanswerable argument against disbelief, proclaiming, Is there any doubt about Allah, the originator of the heavens and the earth?! (14:10), and was invoked by pious believers in supplication recognising in this name the profound truth that the One who first brought creation into being remains ever-capable of transforming their circumstances.[8]

You are my guardian: wisdom is to understand that success is not gained in this life or the hereafter except with the help of God. This and the previous statement should be inspected in the light of the surah’s main theme.[9] God is not only the originator of creation, but He is also the one who looks after it. He has a plan for His creation, and He manages the affairs of His righteous servants, ensuring that they are able to achieve that which they are meant to achieve. This guardianship of God fills the believer with certitude and allows him to face any challenge fearlessly and full of hope, because of his reliance on God.

In this world and the hereafter: the guardianship of God in the hereafter may only be earned in this life. Those who exchange the guardianship of God for that of Satan and the ṭāghūt, will condemn themselves to be deprived of God’s guardianship in both worlds.

Let my death be in submission [to You]: allow me to die whilst in a state of submission to You,[10] in a state in which I have submitted to You in all things and delegated all my affairs to You.[11] This is an affirmation of what both Prophet Abraham (a) and Prophet Jacob (a) exhorted their progeny to do: My children! Allah has indeed chosen this religion for you; so never die except as muslims (2:132).[12] In effect, Prophet Joseph (a) is asking that God would make him remain firmly in submission to Him up to and including the moment of death.[13]

All of the blessings that Prophet Joseph (a) enumerates so far in the verse were the result of submission to God. He did not achieve kingdom or knowledge except through entering into the guardianship of God, and he did not enter into that except through submission to Him.

Note also how Prophet Joseph (a) is not expressing any worry for the worldly position he has been granted. Many who are given some small portion of this world fret and worry over it, fearing they will lose it, yearning to keep it and increase it. For Prophet Joseph (a), his only concern was that he should not some day stray from the path of submission that God had set him upon.

And unite me with the righteous: the righteous individuals who had passed away before him, like his righteous forefathers. We understand from this that the rank of the righteous is a very high one, and those who attain it will be gathered with the prophets.

This is the end of the story of Prophet Joseph (a) in the Quran. He is not mentioned anywhere else in the Quran except for being briefly named in verse 6:84. In Sūrat al-Baqarah we are told a bit about the events following this surah, when Prophet Jacob (a) gathered his sons at his deathbed: Were you witnesses when death approached Jacob, when he said to his children: ‘What will you worship after me?’ They said: ‘We will worship your God, and the God of your fathers, Abraham, Ishmael, and Isaac, the one God, and to Him do we submit’ (2:133).

Aside from that, the Quran does not inform us any more about their story; while Prophet Jacob (a) is mentioned many other times in the Quran, it is mainly in context of simply praising him or how he was a blessing granted to Prophet Abraham (a).

REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE

It is claimed that when Prophet Joseph (a) said Let my death be in submission [to You], he prayed that God would grant him death and that he was the only prophet to ever do so. Various reasons have been asserted for this, such as:

1. When his dream was fulfilled and he was granted worldly authority and enjoyment, he realised that would not last and so he wished for death so that he could enter the eternal pleasure of paradise.
2. He had ordered the affairs of his kingdom and so wished to go to his Lord.
3. After God had united him with his family, he wished that he should be united with his forefathers in paradise.[14]

This understanding is wrong though, as he simply wished that when death should come it should not be except in a state of submission to God.[15] This does not mean that pious individuals would find death distasteful and would not welcome it, rather the believers of the highest rank yearn to elevate themselves from the constraints and difficulties of this world and hasten towards the high stations of the hereafter. However, to supplicate that God take one’s life is not a virtuous act and could be considered ungratefulness for the blessings one has been given. Furthermore, the pious individuals understand that the time they have been given in this world is a valuable opportunity to strengthen their faith and increase in good actions and thereby elevate their rank in the hereafter.

In this regard, Qurṭubī quotes a hadith of the Prophet: ‘None of you should wish for death due to some harm that has befallen him. But if one must wish for death, then let him say: “O God, keep me alive so long as life is good for me, and cause me to die when death is good for me.”’ He then says: ‘Given the establishment of this prohibition, how can it be claimed that Prophet Joseph (a) wished for death and departure from this world, ceasing his good deeds? This is far from correct!’[16]

Interestingly, the Torah claims that it was Jacob (a) who said: ‘Now let me die, since I have seen your face, because you are still alive,’[17] after he had been reunited with Joseph (a).

There are conflicting reports about how many years after Prophet Jacob (a) did Prophet Joseph (a) live and where he was buried, whether in Egypt or if he was taken back to Jerusalem.[18] Ibn Isḥāq reports that Prophet Jacob (a) lived in Egypt for twenty-four years before he died. Saՙīd ibn Jubayr reports that when Prophet Jacob (a) died his body was taken back to Jerusalem in a casket made of ivory, and that he died on the same day as his brother Esau, and so they were buried together in the same grave after they had lived for 174 years.[19] It has been pointed out that Prophet Jacob (a) and Esau were twins who shared the womb and then shared the grave as well.[20]

Regarding Prophet Joseph (a), some accounts relate that he lived after his father for twenty-three years,[21] and when he died his body was interred in a marble casket within Egypt. Such was the reverence for his sanctity that every community desired to have him buried in their vicinity to partake of his blessings. To resolve this, it was decided to place his casket beneath the Nile’s waters, allowing its currents to distribute his spiritual blessings (barakah) equitably across the land.[22] It is claimed that later Prophet Moses (a) exhumed his casket and moved his body to be buried next to Prophet Jacob (a).[23]

Mālik ibn Anas has narrated: ‘When death approached Joseph (a), he said: “I never took personal vengeance for anything done to me; this is my only provision from this world today. Indeed, my deeds do not equal those of my forefathers, so place my grave near theirs.”’[24]

[1] Razi, 18/515.
[2] Tibyan, 6/199.
[3] Razi, 18/515.
[4] Tibyan, 6/200; Tabari, 13/47; Baghawi, 2/516.
[5] Tibyan, 6/200.
[6] Tibyan, 6/200; Razi, 18/514; Muhit, 6/329; Munyah, 14/218.
[7] See also Tibyan, 6/199.
[8] Mizan, 11/248.
[9] See the Introduction.
[10] Tibyan, 6/200; Tabari, 13/48; Razi, 18/516.
[11] Tustari, 1/83.
[12] Nemuneh, 10/85.
[13] Mizan, 11/250.
[14] As related in Tabrisi, 5/407-408; Tabari, 13/48; Thalabi, 5/259-260; Razi, 18/514; Qurtubi, 9/269. This opinion is attributed to Ibn Abbas.
[15] Muhit, 6/329; Alusi, 7/60; Mizan, 11/250; Nemuneh, 10/85.
[16] Qurtubi, 9/269.
[17] Genesis 46:30.
[18] See Tabrisi, 5/407. Different numbers are mentioned such as twenty-three (Tabrisi, 5/407; Tabari, 13/46),
[19] Related in Tabrisi, 5/407; Thalabi, 5/260.
[20] See Qurtubi, 9/268.
[21] Razi, 18/514.
[22] Related in Tabrisi, 5/408; Baghawi, 2/516; Thalabi, 5/261.
[23] Related in Alusi, 7/60.
[24] Ahkam, 3/1103.