THE PROPHETS OF ISLAM Al-Huda Foundation
PROPHET
YA’QUB
Ya'qub
was one of the twin sons of Ishaq. He was
appointed prophet towards his people after the death of his father.
His popular name was Israil, and his progeny is called Banu Israil (the
children of Israil).
He
had twelve sons and one daughter. The
twelve tribes of the children of Israil are named after his twelve sons.
Yusuf was one of his sons. He
was extremely handsome and was dearly loved by his father.
His brothers were jealous of him and they always looked for an excuse to
get him away from their father. Finally
they took him away at the pretext of hunting and threw him in a well.
Ya'qub cried so much at the separation of his beloved son that he lost
his eye sight.
As
will be seen in the narrative on the life of Yusuf, Allah rescued Yusuf from the
well and made him the king of Egypt. There
was famine in the land of Kin'an, and his brothers came to get grain from the
king. Yusuf recognized them, for
they were the same fellows who had thrown him in the well.
He forgave them and had them move, along with his father, to Egypt.
The
children of Israil remained in Egypt for about four hundred and thirty years
until Musa ultimately rescued them from the ill treatment rendered by King
Rameses III.
References:al Qur'an: Sura Baqara, Anam, Ale Imran, Yusuf,
Anmbiya', Jinn, Momen.