A little bit of background information is required here for us to understand the context of the advice. Yusof a.s. and his full brother Binyamin (Benjamin), had 10 older brothers from a different mother. Their father, prophet Ya'kub a.s. loved them all, but Yusof a.s. was the apple of his eye. The other ten brothers were very jealous because of this and in their flawed logic often plotted to harm or get rid of Yusof a.s. in the hope that their father would then forget Yusof a.s. and love them more instead. The father of course knew of their ill intent, and would guard and cherish Yusof a.s. dearly, but not by being unfavourable towards his other children. When Yusof a.s. had the dream however, the father knew that it was a prophecy from Allah that the child would become a prophet, just like himself, and his forefathers Ishaq(Isaac)a.s. and Ibrahim(Abraham)a.s.. The father however knew that if his other ten children heard of this dream, they would be even more jealous of Yusof a.s., and would certainly seek to finish him off. So the father says to Yusof a.s.:
Observe how the father moves the blame away from the brothers towards Syaitan. Although Ya'kub a.s. does tell Yusof a.s. not to relate the dream to his brothers lest they plot an evil plan against him, he adds that the real enemy is not them, but Syaitan who forever inspires men to do evil. How beautiful is this advice? Ya'kub a.s. does not want Yusof a.s. to hate his own brothers, but instead wants their brotherhood to be preserved, and so shifts the blame to the main culprit, Syaitan. There is so much for us to learn from this, for often when we fall into dispute, we are quick to judge others and lay the blame on them, sometimes to the extent of assassinating their very character. And onlookers to the problem too often add fuel to the fire by affirming the 'evil' of such persons, with whom they may have had rifts in the past. I am guilty of this myself!
How wise it would be then for us to take a step back, and make excuses for those with whom we had a misunderstanding, instead of quickly passing judgment upon them. In fact, how unfair is it for us to be so unforgiving towards others, when all that has happened between us and them, is just a misunderstanding, not even a crime like what the brothers of Yusof a.s. wanted to do (and finally did) to him?? The brothers of Yusof had an evil intent, and would go on to carry out their plot, which their father knew would happen, and yet he still did not want Yusof a.s.to hate his brothers, and so placed the blame on Syaitan instead.
Let us be of those who think before we blame the world at large for our problems. Let us practice empathy by putting ourselves in the other person's shoe, to look at the problem from their perspective, before we pass judgment. Lets us not be lawyers for our own flaws, but judges for the flaws of others. And if we have indeed been wronged, then let us follow the advice of Ya'kub a.s., by making excuses for the other party or transpose the blame onto Syaitan so we can preserve the ties we have with our family and friends. Ultimately, we all want and most definitely need the forgiveness of Allah the Oft Forgiving. One way to attain that forgiveness is to be forgiving ourselves, and that is more easily done when we shift the blame away from those who have wronged us, unto Syaitan. May Allah help us to heed the advice of His great Prophet Ya'kub a.s..
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