12. Yusuf

As for his statement, As for one of you, he shall serve his lord wine to drink, this is a designation of the task of the first [youth], after being judiciously guided to avoid idolatrous association, [the designation] being the granting the love of pleasures mastery over the spirit; and as for the other, he will be crucified so that the birds will eat from his head, an illustration of what the outcome of the affair of the second one will be: his crucifixion represents the preventing of him from the acts of his own soul, the curbing of him from his own exigencies, making him firm and establishing him in the stem of the vegetative natural faculty such that the imaginal faculty has no power of disposal on him nor he on it or on any of the other animal faculties. That is the mortification of vain desire, so that after this mortification and crucifixion the birds of the faculties of the soul eat from his head by the command of the Truth, this being the halting with the dues; decided is the matter regarding which you sought opinion', in other words, your matter stands firm and established in this way [shown]. That is the moment of his arrival and his [attainment of] propinquity to God and the time when the station of sanctity (walāya) through annihilation in God becomes manifest. If the two faculties are empowered with regard to the matter he has designated for each of them, followed by His command for the arrival at the station of the presential vision of the Essence and his solitariness comes to an end, then the length of the period of imprisonment will constitute the duration of his wayfaring to God. Once he is able to complete the annihilation, the status of the two faculties would then be proper, since they would then be [functioning] through God and not through themselves, whereupon the period of solitariness would end with the incipience of the period of subsistence through the existence bestowed from the Truth; but this had not yet been completed because of the existence of a remnant, the one alluded to in his words:

'Mention me to your lord', in other words, seek existence at the station of the spirit through love and settlement therein, for when love intoxicates the spirit with the wine of divine love, the spirit rises to the station of [inclusive] unity and the heart to the station of the spirit: at that station the spirit is referred to as being 'hidden' (khafiyy) and the heart as being a 'mystery' (sirr), but none of that is annihilation because both of them would in that instance be in existence and engulfed by the light of the Truth. Such a halting at this station gives rise to insolence and I-ness, which is why He says: But Satan caused him to forget to remember his Lord, in other words, the Satan of estimation causes Joseph the heart to forget to remember God, exalted be He, by being annihilated in Him, [and this was] because of that lingering presence of the remnant and the seeking of the station of the spirit - for otherwise, he would have been distracted from remembering [both] his soul and his existence. It was because of his being veiled at this station and because of this remnant that he tarried, in prison for some years. To this the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, alluded when he said, 'May God have mercy upon my brother Joseph. Had he not said, �mention me to your lord�, he would not have stayed in prison for some years'.Or [it could also be interpreted as] that the vanquished Satan of estimation, forbidden and veiled from the Side of the Truth caused the Messenger of love brought near after the raising of his degree, his mastery and the prevailing of his authority as well as his bewilderment in the divine beauty and the overwhelming intoxication, to forget to mention Joseph the heart in the presence of presential vision, because the lover who witnesses the [divine] beauty is bewildered and oblivious to all creatures, including the differentiations of his existence, nay, his very soul, immersed as he would be in the source of the union until his annihilation is complete and his intoxication comes to an end, whereafter he returns to wakeful consciousness (ṣaḥw) and remembers the differentiation. Moreover, when his annihilation comes to an end at his immersion in the sea of Ipseity and obliteration in the Essence of [exclusive] Unity and the period of imprisonment is concluded, God, exalted be He, will give him life through His life and will endow him with an existence from His Essence and His attributes.

The king said, " I see seven fat cows that seven lean ones are eating. " The beginning of Joseph's trial was the dream concerning which he said, " I saw eleven stars " [12:4]. The cause of his deliverance was also a dream, that seen by the king of Egypt, who said, " I see seven fat cows. " This is so that you will know that things are done by the predetermination and governance of God and that He is one in driving things and taking care of things. Even though the causes are apparent, remaining with the causes is an error. The Pir of the Tariqah said, " Not seeing the cause is ignorance, but staying with the cause is associationism. Pass beyond the cause and reach the Causer. Do not close the door of causes lest you not reach yourself. " The recognizer's eyes are not on the Tablet, nor on the Pen. He is not bound to Eve, nor in prison to Adam. He has a constant thirst, even though he has a cup again and again. O most gener- ous Guardian, O most merciful Fount of Bounty! Take back the cup once so that this poor wretch may breathe! " It has been said that Joseph was perfect in two things: one was beauty of created nature, the other knowledge and astuteness. The beauty of created nature is the perfection of form, and knowl- edge and astuteness are the perfection of meaning. The Exalted Lord predetermined that his beauty would be the cause of trial and his knowledge the cause of deliverance. Thus the world's folk may know that beautiful knowledge is better than beautiful form. As the proverb says, " Knowledge bestows, though it be slow. " Since Joseph's knowledge of visions was the cause of his kingdom in this world, why is it surprising that knowledge of the Patron's attributes is the cause of the recog- nizer's kingdom in the afterworld? God says, " When thou seest it, thou wilt see bliss and a great kingdom " [76:20].

As for the courtiers who said, 'A jumble of dreams!, those were the noble faculties, such as the intellect, the reflection that is veiled by estimation, and estimation itself that is veiled from the mystery of spiritual discipline and from [that of] change, as in the case of those who are veiled by these [faculties] and who have halted with them, whom you find reckoning the states of folk who practice spiritual discipline to be [mere] fairytales. As for the messenger of love who 'remembered after a time', he only remembered by means of the manifestation of the angel of the Holy Spirit and the latter's inspiration to him and causing him to see the differentiations of his existence by returning to the multiplicity after the unity - otherwise he would be in the state of annihilation, consumed by the source of the union, seeing therein neither the existence of the heart nor anything else: how then would he be able to rememberḍ He would only remember as a result of his becoming manifested by the light of the Truth after his non-existence.

As for the year, in which the people will be granted relief, and in which they will press [fruit], that is the moment of his giving of enjoyment to his soul during complete reassurance and universal security.