Time to reflect myself.
About two weeks ago, my aunt asked me if I wanted to come to a family seminar called “Half-Deen Series” with her. It is a well-known series that almost all followers of our beloved teacher, Ustaz Muhammad Nuzul Dzikri, have been waiting for. By God’s will, my aunt got two free invitations by Si.Se.Sa., one of the sponsors. Without any further ado, I said yes.
Actually, this is not my first time attending the series. It is my second time and both have big impact in my point of view of marriage. The first time attending theme, “Rumah Tangga yang Sebenarnya”, was about finding the real purpose of getting married according to Islamic rules, a.k.a The Holy Quran and Hadith. Our teacher comprehensively explained the meaning of jargon “I love you because of Allah”. While the second attending theme, “Berawal dari Mimpi”, was about obedience and patience of Prophet Yaqub (AS) as the father and Prophet Yusuf (AS) as the son.
The series began with the story of the little Prophet Yusuf (AS) who had a dream, as it is said in The Holy Quran (12:4):
‘Remember’ when Joseph said to his father, “O my dear father! Indeed I dreamt of eleven stars, and the sun, and the moon — I saw them prostrating to me!”
In this ayah, Ustaz highlighted the father’s role of Prophet Yaqub (AS), especially the relationship between the father and the son. In modern life, it is quite rare that a son would talk about his dream to his father right away, said Ustaz. Some may choose to keep it to himself. Even though our teacher did not say it bluntly, but I could recognize that it is also about “fatherless phenomenon” which happened in our country lately, according to some research.
To keep in mind, I would not re-interpret the Surah in this writing because I have no authority and knowledge to do that. This is purely my kind of report of the series that the wisdom I wish would not forget.
Regardless, Ustaz showed a video of short experiment of fathers and sons/daughters. Fathers were asked about their children’s favorite of things, such as their favorite food, toys, memories, friends, and activities. None of the fathers could answer the questions correctly even though those are fairly simple questions. While Prophet Yaqub (AS) still knew Prophet Yusuf (AS)’s body smell in spite of the fact that they had been separated for 80 years.
I guess some of us know about the separation cause; the jealous siblings. Prophet Yusuf (AS) was thrown into a well by them and things gone far after that incident. Father surely knew what his children did, but he chose to be silent and said, “فَصَبْرٌۭ جَمِيلٌۭ”, which means “˹I can only endure with beautiful patience!” (QS 12:18). Call to mind that the father deeply loves his son and extremely griefs about the disappearance of him.
Ustaz said that it is narrated why Prophet Yaqub (AS) just did nothing while his son disappeared. It is because of Allah’s command to be passive about it. In a similar way to what Prophet Ibrahim (AS) did to Prophet Ismail (AS). It is a test of love — how much they love Allah (SWT). Prophet Yaqub (AS) had passed the test by doing Allah’s command. You know, that blind eyes because of cried so much due to grief, such patience to be obedience and believe to Allah’s will.
Long story short, Prophet Yaqub (AS) and Prophet Yusuf (AS) reunited after 80 years. You read it right, 80 years. For me, and you maybe, as an ordinary human, it’s such an extremely long time to eventually understand the wisdom of Allah’s command. However, it is about love. A lover is a fighter, they said. This makes me question myself so much about how true it is when I say I love Him.
Last but foremost, Prophet Yusuf (AS)’s dream mentioned above came true. The sun is the father, the moon is the mother, and the eleven stars are the siblings — you might like to know there is a wisdom behind these metaphors too. All of them are prostrating to Prophet Yusuf (AS) 80 years later. It is said that it is the best story in The Holy Quran. I could not agree more.
