surah xii: joseph

nana used to tell me things before they happened. she'd have graphic dreams and tell me about her brother being in pain and how he was in trouble and she needed to call him, to get to him before the others did. just then, seconds before it happened, as she sat on a stool with wide green eyes, behind the cash register of the specialty clothing store she worked in and i lounged in, by the wall windows, watching the soho crowd, she said: my father needs to talk to me. a second later the phone rang. hi poppy, she said, talked about her brother with her father who also seemed to carry this clairvoyance. i never understood it. just accepted it as part of something that happened. it is, according to surah xii - "the tidings of the unseen which we inspire in thee" (xii: 102).

surah xii, may shed light on the hidden realm, may explain the powers that your ostracized aunty, crazy little brother, melancholy special other, may hold, may carry like a crystal ball that spins always in front of them. surah xii confirms dimensions beyond these 3 dimensions we walk in like paper cut-outs. surah xii reminds us that the unseen are as intertwined with the seen, in a seamless coexistence that is Love, that is ALLAH, if only you would humble yourself, if only you would take the path of silence, of quiet worship, as does joseph.

"joseph said to his father: o my father! lo! i saw in a dream eleven planets and the sun and the moon, i saw them prostrating themselves unto me" (xii: 4)  joseph saw. have you seen? have you had dreams that were more than the symbols explained in how to interpret your dream books at barnes and nobles, dreams that kept you in clouds in the day and up all night? have you known people who have? 

when i was in marakech, i was surprised by the bungalows of buildings jammed next to each other. they were distinct from western architecture, and so, occupied the position of interesting, but not more. not until i walked in. once the gates of these blase buildings were opened up - brilliance - sun moon and stars, a court yard with gardens, balconies with doors encrusted in royal detail. this style of architecture is called riyadhs. it follows in the teachings of surah xii, of behaving as joseph did, as there is a such thing as human frailty which if outside the limits that surah baqarah sets forth - ego, haterations, jealousy. 

joseph's father immediately warned joseph to keep his vision to himself, as his brothers, enflamed by jealousy, would plot against him. i can hear it now, that's their (joseph's brothers) problem. they need to change, not joseph. true. but jealousy is real. 

i can't explain jealousy. i could probably provide a sociological context for why people hate others making it, doing good, being happy, of hating immigrants who walk around in their traditional garb, work 32 hours in 24 and "steal jobs", why some kids i knew with accents thick as molasses insisted that kids of varying language persuasions speak english, we are in america, why worship that does not involve a cross and church is abomination, why before someone is excited about a friends success, they are grieved, upset, internally sucking their teeth - f them then.

i've felt the pangs of envy, i've felt it when after a hundred resumes and coverletters, i heard nothing and others i knew who i might've felt more qualified than, were landing jobs with ease. but it's a moment. it's my ego, my lack of faith in Essence, my faith in capital(ism) that creates this frequency of noise, which the lox detailed as "money, power, respect - the key to life"- the babylon frequency that most of us are tuned into, that we sing along and justify like the nihilistic materialism praised in this tune made sense.

i know jealousy exists. there is context. i just can't see how it's healthy. i can't see how it could grow anyone. but it exists and hence the riyads in morrocco, hence the qur'anic concept of the beauty within, of quietude, of hijab, of beard and long hair for men, of between you and your Maker. hence joseph's father telling his sons: inculcating in the generations to come:  "i expose my distress and anguish only unto ALLAH, and i know from ALLAH that which ye know not" (xii: 86). all praise is due

surah xii, tells us the fulfillment of joseph's dreams. unlike the surah's on jonah and hud and maryam, this surah is entirely focused on the story of joseph. 

although joseph maintains his dream in secrecy, he is duped by his brothers who feel that joseph is "dearer to our father than we are" (xii: 8). his brothers manage to carry him away and throw him into a pit, soon after, he is abducted and sold in egypt to a royal couple who intended to take joseph in as a son. finding joseph attractive, the wife, demands that he partake in an "evil act" (xii: 51) and when joseph refuses and attempts to run away, she tears his shirt. they are met by her husband at the door. he is able to discern joseph's innocence, but rumours abound in town and the wife attempts to use joseph to physically cut the hands of gossiping women. joseph refuses and prefers imprisonment. 

josephs' ability to see is soon discovered by the king. joseph is released and given a title over some land, where he comes across his brothers again. ultimately, through a process that pre-requires humility, and that replaces joseph's blind father into a central role, the brothers reconcile. we are reminded over and over in surah xii and the surahs preceding this that ALLAH is "forgiving, the Merciful" (xii: 98).

practice in the quietude of worship, of faith beyond the babylon frequency of show, of me me me, of business cards and flamboyance. practice and be quiet, and ALLAH, the Essence, the Oneness will act as your Guru, "will prefer thee, and will teach the interpretation of events" (xii: 6).