The Examples Set by
Two Prophets
Joseph was an Israelite prophet and Muhammad was an Ishmaelite prophet. Both are accepted among the Semitic religions and both were super-achievers.
The Prophet Joseph came to ancient Egypt around the seventeenth century BC. At that time the Hyksos Kings were the rulers of Egypt. A time came when a famine loomed large over Egypt, but Joseph devised a plan to save the country from starvation and at that point the then king of Egypt offered Joseph a high position in his government, that is, the administrator of storehouses of the land (khazain al-arz) (12:55). According to the Bible, the king said to Joseph:
‘You will be over my house, and all my people will obey your commands. Only with regard to the throne will I be greater than you.’
Joseph accepted the post offered by the king and perhaps continued in it till his death. The Quran refers to this story as ahsan al-qasas, or the best story. How did Joseph’s story become the best story? It was through the application of wisdom. With the sovereignty of the country still in the hands of the king, the Prophet Joseph adopted the formula of political adjustment.
In the above Quranic verse, ‘the best story’ implies the best method. The course of action followed by the Prophet Joseph was that he never tried to unseat the king but accepted the political status quo which existed at that time. The result was miraculous. Joseph was able to command all the affairs of ancient Egypt without his being on the throne. It was this method that made his story ‘the best story’. God has set this example through His Prophet so that the later generations may follow it and achieve success in the same way as the Prophet Joseph did.
The other story is that of the Prophet Muhammad. He started his mission in the first half of the seventh century in Arabia. At that time Arabia was a polytheistic region, and Makkah was the centre of this culture of idol worship.
When the Prophet Muhammad started his mission of tawhid, or monotheism, all the tribal leaders opposed him. They created all kinds of problems for him and his companions. Then in 628 AD at Hudaybiyyah, some ten miles from Makkah, the Prophet initiated negotiations to establish peace in Arabia. The tribal leaders were highly opposed to entering into any kind of peace agreement. The Prophet Muhammad, very wisely, accepted all the conditions presented by the opposite party and in return they finalized the Hudaybiyyah Agreement, which was a ten-year no-war pact.
After this peace agreement was concluded, normalcy was established in Arabia. Thereafter, the Prophet wasted no time and with wise planning set about spreading his mission in Arabia and its adjacent areas. The result was miraculous: in a few years, the whole of Arabia accepted his ideology. The Hudaybiyyah Agreement was an expression of the peaceful method, and by adopting this method the Prophet Muhammad emerged as the master of the situation in Arabia of that time.
The Prophet Joseph achieved success by accepting the king’s constitutional authority and in return the king gave him an opportunity to manage all the affairs of the country in the political field.
The same method was adopted by the Prophet Muhammad, although in a different way. He accepted the political authority of tribal chiefs and tried, by wise planning, to avail of the opportunity presented in non-political fields. Again, the result was miraculous: the Prophet Muhammad emerged as the leader of Arabia.
The essence of both the methods is to not adopt the way of confrontation in the political field and to avail of the opportunities in the non-political fields. One will then certainly emerge victorious.
The Prophet Joseph’s method is referred to in the Quran as the ‘best story’ (12:3). While the result of Prophet Muhammad’s planning is referred to as a ‘clear victory’ (48:1). The essence of both the methods is to not adopt the way of confrontation in the political field and to avail of the opportunities in the non-political fields. One will then certainly emerge victorious.
The method followed respectively by the Prophet Joseph and the Prophet Muhammad was relevant not only in the past, but is applicable at all times, even today. For those who are engaged in violent activism in the present times, this method is also workable. This principle is thus a universal principle—no other principle is going to work in similar situations.
