Said in verse 84 was: وَتَوَلَّىٰ عَنْهُمْ وَقَالَ يَا أَسَفَىٰ عَلَىٰ يُوسُفَ وَابْيَضَّتْ عَيْنَاهُ مِنَ الْحُزْنِ فَهُوَ كَظِيمٌ :` And he turned away from them and said, "How sad I am about Yusuf' and his eyes turned white with sorrow and he was suppressing (his anger and grief).' It means that, after this second shock, Sayyidna Ya` qub (علیہ السلام) closed this chapter of talking to his sons about this matter, and turned to his Lord with his plaint before Him as to how sad he was about Yusuf. at happened was that this constant crying at his separation from Yusuf (علیہ السلام) caused his eyes to turn white from sorrow. The sense is that he lost his eyesight, or it became very weak. Tafsir authority, Muqatil has said that this state of Sayyidna Ya` qub (علیہ السلام) continued for six years when his eyesight had nearly gone. In the last sentence of the verse, it was said: فَهُوَ كَظِيمٌ which can be explained by saying that he became silent, speechless, unable to share his pain with anyone else. The word: كَظِيمٌ (kazim) has been derived from: کَظم (kazm) which means to be choked up or filled. Thus, the sense would be that his heart was all filled up with sorrow and his tongue was tied for he would not talk about his grief to anyone.

Therefore, the word: کَظم (kazm) is also taken in the sense of sup-pressing anger - in a way that anger, despite having one's heart filled with it, does not become the motivating factor of doing something, by word of mouth or movement of hand, as demanded by one's anger. It appears in Hadith:

وَ مَن یَّکظِمِ الغَیظَ یَاجُرہُ اللہُ

That is, ` whoever suppresses his anger (and does not act as it demands despite having the ability to do so), Allah will reward him.'

It is said in another Hadith that, on the day of Resurrection (Al-Hashr), Allah Ta` ala will bring such people before the whole multitude of people and would give them the option to take whichever of the blessings of Jannah (Paradise) they liked.

At this point, Imam Ibn Jarir has reported a Hadith according to which, at a time of distress, reciting or prompting to recite: إِنَّا لِلَّـهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَ‌اجِعُونَ (Inna lil-lahi wa inna ilaihi rajiun : To Allah we belong and to Him we are to return) is one of the distinguishing characteristics of this Ummah, and this Kalimah is highly effective in delivering one from the suffering of sorrow. We can understand why it has been called the distinguishing characteristic of the Ummah of the Holy Prophet ﷺ since Sayyidna Ya` qub (علیہ السلام) ، when choked with deadly sorrow and shock, did not say this Kalimah, instead, he said: (How sad I am about Yusuf). In his Shu` abul-'Iman, Al-Baihaqi has also reported this Hadith as based on a narration of Sayyidna Ibn ` Abbas ؓ .

Why Was Sayyidna Ya` qub (علیہ السلام) So Deeply Attached To

Sayyidna Yusuf (علیہ السلام) ?

At this stage, we notice that Sayyidna Ya` qub (علیہ السلام) had extraordinary love for Sayyidna Yusuf (علیہ السلام) . He was so affected by his disappearance that, during this whole period of his separation from him which has been reported to be forty years in some narrations while eighty in some others, he kept weeping continuously, so much so that he lost his eyesight. Apparently, this does not measure upto his spiritual majesty as a prophet that he would love his children so much and that much. On the other hand, the Holy Qur an says: إِنَّمَا أَمْوَالُكُمْ وَأَوْلَادُكُمْ فِتْنَةٌ:` Your wealth and your children are a fitnah (trial) - 64:15.' And, as for the spiritual majesty of the noble prophets, may peace be upon them all, the Holy Qur’ an has this to say: إِنَّا أَخْلَصْنَاهُم بِخَالِصَةٍ ذِكْرَ‌ى الدَّارِ‌: that is, We have made them special to specialize in the remembrance of the Home (of 'Akhirah) - 38:46.' Malik ibn Dinar (رح) explains its meaning by saying that: We have taken out the love of dunya from their hearts and, in its place, We have filled their hearts with nothing but the love of Akhirah. Their only criterion, in taking or leaving something, is Akhirah.

From the sum-total of what has been said here, there rises a difficulty before us as to how could Sayyidna Ya` qub (علیہ السلام) allow himself to be so consumed with his love for Sayyidna Yusuf (علیہ السلام) and how could that be explained as correct.

In his Tafsir (Mazhari), Qadi Thana'ullah Panipati (رح) has, with reference to this difficulty, reported a special research of Hadrat Mujaddid Alf Thani, the gist of which is that, no doubt, the love of dunya and its enjoyment is blameworthy. Categorical statements of the Qur’ an and Hadith prove that. But, the love of things of dunya which relate to 'Akhi-rah is, in reality, included under the love of 'Akhirah. The excellences of Sayyidna Yusuf (علیہ السلام) were not limited to his physical beauty alone. Also to be taken into account are his prophetic chastity and high morals. So, given an overall view, love for him was not the love of what wordly life has to offer. In fact and in reality, this was nothing but the love for rah itself.

In the comment quoted above, it is worth noticing that this love, though not the love of dunya really, yet it did have a certain worldly touch. For this reason, this love became the source of the trial and test of Sayyidna Ya` qub (علیہ السلام) ، for which he had to undergo the unbearable shock of a forty-year separation from him. Then, the chains of this event, from the beginning to the end, show that things kept taking shape as determined by Allah Ta’ ala which made this shock stretch longer and longer. Otherwise, at the very start of the event, it would have not been possible for a father who loved his son so intensely that he would simply listen to what his other sons told him and elect to keep sitting home and not do anything about it. In fact, if he had immediately visited the site of the incident and made necessary inquiries and investigations, he would have known the truth of the matter on the spot. But, things happened in a way as Allah would have them, so it just did not occur to him. After that, Sayyidna Yusuf (علیہ السلام) was stopped, through revelation, from sending to his father any news about himself - to the limit that he took no initiative in this direction even after his ascension to power in Egypt. Then, more trying were events which happened concerning the repeated visits of his brothers to Egypt. Even at that time, he said nothing to his brothers about himself, nor did he try to send some note of information to his father. Instead of doing all that, he detained yet another brother through a secret plan, thus inflicting yet another shock on his father. All these actions cannot possibly issue forth from a great prophet such as Sayyidna Yusuf unless and until he had not been prohibited from doing so through the medium of Wahy (revelation). Therefore, al-Qurtubi and other commentators have declared this entire range of actions taken by Sayyidna Yusuf (علیہ السلام) as directly prompted by Divine revelation. The Qur’ anic statement: كَذَٰلِكَ كِدْنَا لِيُوسُفَ (This is how We planned for Yusuf -76) also indicates in this directon. Allah knows best.