Ramadan & remembering Yusuf the Prophet prisoner: Part 1

“Benjamin grew, looking very much like his brother.” Ayman Al-Atoum described – in his novel I am Joseph – the eerie void left in the heart and home of Prophet Ya’qub (Jacob) after his son Yusuf (Joseph) was disappeared. Al-Atoum, a former prisoner in Jordan, relayed the semi-autobiographical story of his imprisonment intertextually woven into the Qur’anic narrative of the Prophet-prisoner Yusuf. All that remained of Yusuf, in the home of Ya’qub, was the stench of false blood on his shirt and a Prophetic vision from Allah that promised his son triumph.

Ya’qub – like many families of the detained and disappeared – awaited years for his son’s return. He had no reason for resolute hope except for a Prophetic vision that foretold divine retribution. Ya’qub, the Prophet of God, became blinded by sadness despite certainty and steadfast belief in a vision foretold to his young son that one day he will be vindicated.

For Muslim prisoners, the story of Yusuf is one of their own. It is a story of betrayal, hardship, weakness, striving, and brokenness, but above all it is a divine promise, through visions, of retribution and freedom from the shackles of unjust prisons.

''For Egyptian prisoners, surah Yusuf foretold their own predicament. The Prophet was confined by the same land and in the same prisons they too now languish. For many, there was an overall sense that the Egyptian prisons existed outside time. The struggles and triumphs of Yusuf were a consistent source of strength and reflection.''

Ramadan is a month commonly associated with the depravation of food and drink – but it is also known as the month of the Qur’an, when Muslims spend weeks engaged in increased recitations of the holy book. Muslim prisoners, in particular, find they have the time to really reflect on its deeper meanings.

Surah Yusuf is a chapter that has been consistently cited by prisoners in our research into the ways that Muslim political prisoners under the custody of the US and Egypt interpret, struggle with, practice, and embody their faith. Over and over again, prisoners cite the Qur’anic narrative of the Prophet prisoner who endured the brunt of tyranny and confinement.

For Egyptian prisoners, surah Yusuf foretold their own predicament. The Prophet was confined by the same land and in the same prisons they too now languish. For many, there was an overall sense that the Egyptian prisons existed outside time. The struggles and triumphs of Yusuf were a consistent source of strength and reflection.

In October 2002, the Bosnian-Algerian Lakhdar Boumediene was still in his early days of being detained at Guantanamo Bay. He wanted to keep his mind busy and so began to undertake the task of memorising some of the chapters of the Qur’an. As he attempted to memorise verses from the Holy Book, his mind would constantly slip into thoughts of his family – he would think of his wife Abassia, and if there was enough food for his children. Regardless, the Qur’an became a source of comfort, strength, and solace:

“The first surah I memorised was ‘Yusuf,’ about a prophet who was unjustly imprisoned for years before he was found innocent and set free. I would repeat to myself over and over lines from ‘Yusuf’ about God’s mercy and ‘His subtle ways,’ about Yusuf’s dogged patience, his steadfast faith, his eventual victory over injustice, and his reunification with his family. They were a powerful source of inspiration and hope for me, and I was proud to know all in verses by heart, including the one containing the phrase ‘Witnesses of the Unseen.’” (Boumediene & Ait Idir, 2017)

Marwa was twenty-years-old when she was enforcedly disappeared in an Egyptian prison after the coup in 2013. She was alone and terrified. She was placed in an all-male prison facility. For days, she was blindfolded and interrogated. When she was sent to her cell in the evening after interrogation, she would pray two rak'ah (units of prayer) and would collapse in tears. She did this with the intention that if she was killed or somehow died, that she would have at least prayed something. On the sixth day, an officer took pity on her and asked her if she needed anything. She asked for some food and a copy of the Qur’an. He gave her yoghurt, a pack of crisps, and a copy of the Qur’an.

“I collapsed crying. I needed very badly to read Surah Yusuf. Afterwards every time they would send me back to the cell I would only read Surah Yusuf. I so very much needed to be found. With the story of Yusuf, there is this feeling. I don’t know. It is just that he goes back to his dad. His family finds him in the end. There was a point I was really upset... I thought, is really no one looking for me? I then thought why can’t baba and mama find me? I then thought of ‘Finding Nemo’. Do you know the animation? Nemo also thought that his dad stopped looking for him but really his dad was looking all over the ocean for him. These stories helped me a lot.”

The story of Yusuf begins with a vision, ‘O my father, surely I saw (i.e., in a dream) eleven planets and the sun and the moon; I saw them prostrating to me.’ and he replied, ‘My son, tell your brothers nothing of this dream, or they may plot to harm you––Satan is man’s sworn enemy ( Qur’an12:4-5). Much like the biblical version of events, Yusuf is betrayed by his brothers over the jealously they have for him. He is thrown into a well where a caravan of traders find him and sell him off as a slave in Egypt. He is eventually bought by the Potiphar and is kept as a young boy in the palace. The Potiphar’s wife attempts to seduce Yusuf, twice, and his refusal results in him being imprisoned under false charges. Yusuf’s cry is one that has been echoed by prisoners throughout the ages:

“Yusuf said, ‘My Lord! I would prefer prison to what these women are calling me to do. If You do not protect me from their treachery, I shall yield to them and do wrong.’” (Qur’an 12:33)

Yusuf languishes in prison for years and interprets the dreams of his cellmates. He is eventually absolved and rules over the lands of Egypt. He is reunited with his father and brother – Benjamin – and his vision is fulfilled. It is the promise of the fulfilment of a dream the has come to have so much salience in the lives of modern day prisoners, a phenomenon we will discuss in part 2.

Walaa Quisay is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the School of Divinity at the University of Edinburgh. There, she researches carceral theology and prison literature.

Dr Asim Qureshi is the Research Director of the advocacy group CAGE, and has authored a number of books detailing the impact of the global War on Terror.

Follow Asim on Twitter: @AsimCP

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