Yusuf (Joseph): (22) And when he reached his maturity...

Issues in the Verse:

It is stated that after God Almighty mentioned how his brothers wronged him, and how he patiently endured those hardships and trials, God then established him in the land. When he reached his maturity (ashuddih), God granted him judgment (hukm) and knowledge ('ilm).

The purpose is to show that all the blessings he attained were a reward for his patience during those tribulations.

Some scholars say that prophethood is a reward for good deeds. Others say that whoever strives, patiently endures God's trials, and is grateful for God's blessings, will attain the station of prophethood. They support this by noting that after mentioning Joseph's patience through those trials, God mentioned granting him prophethood and messengership.

Then God Almighty said: {And thus do We reward the doers of good} (Yusuf: 22). This indicates that whoever performs the good deeds that Joseph performed will be granted such high stations. However, this view is considered weak because scholars agree that prophethood is not something acquired through effort (muktasab).

Know that the view held by those who claim Joseph was never a prophet or messenger, but merely a righteous servant whom God rewarded well, is false by consensus. Al-Hasan said that he was a prophet from the time God said about him: {And We inspired to him, "You will surely tell them of this affair of theirs"} (Yusuf: 15), but he was not a messenger then. He became a messenger from the time mentioned here, i.e., {And when he reached his maturity, We gave him judgment and knowledge} (Yusuf: 22). Others say he became a messenger from the time he was thrown into the well.

Abu 'Ubaydah said that the Arabs use the phrase balagha ashuddah when someone reaches the peak of his youth and strength before beginning to decline. This term is used for both singular and plural: one says balagha ashuddah (he reached his maturity) and balaghu ashuddahum (they reached their maturity).

We have previously explained the meaning of al-ashudd in Surah Al-An'am regarding the verse: {until he reaches his maturity} (Al-An'am: 152).

As for the interpretation (of the age): Ibn Jarir narrated from Mujahid, from Ibn Abbas, that when he reached his maturity, he was thirty-three years old.

I argue that this narration strongly aligns with medical principles. Physicians state that a human being develops initially, increasing day by day until reaching the peak of perfection, after which decline and reduction begin until nothing remains. His state is thus similar to the moon: it appears as a weak crescent, continuously increasing until it becomes a full moon, then wanes until it reaches non-existence (the dark phase).

Knowing this, we say: The cycle of the moon is twenty-eight days and a fraction. If we divide this cycle into four parts, each part is seven days. Consequently, the states of the body are organized according to weeks. When a person is born, his constitution is weak and delicate until he completes seven years. In the second seven years, signs of comprehension, intelligence, and strength appear, and he continues to progress until he completes fourteen years. When he enters the fifteenth year, he enters the third week. At this point, the intellect is completed, he reaches the age of accountability (taklif), and sexual desire is stirred. He continues to progress in this state until he completes twenty-one years, completing the third week and entering the twenty-second year. This week is the last week of growth and development. When the twenty-eighth year is completed, the period of growth and development is finished, and the person transitions to the time of standing firm (wuquf), which is the time when a person reaches his maturity (ashuddah). With the completion of this fifth week, the person reaches thirty-five years.

These stages vary in increase and decrease. This fifth week, the week of strength and perfection, begins from the twenty-ninth year up to the thirty-third, and sometimes extends to the thirty-fifth. This is the rational path in this matter, and God knows the realities of things best.

There are several opinions on this:

The First Opinion: Hukm and Hikmah (wisdom) originate from restraining the soul from its desires and preventing it from what disgraces it. Thus, Hukm here means practical wisdom (al-Hikmah al-'Amaliyyah), and 'Ilm means theoretical wisdom (al-Hikmah al-Nathariyyah). Practical wisdom is mentioned before theoretical wisdom because practitioners of spiritual disciplines (riyadat) engage in practical wisdom first, then ascend to theoretical wisdom. As for those possessing intellectual contemplation and spiritual insights, they reach theoretical wisdom first, and then descend to practical wisdom. Joseph's path was the former: he endured affliction and tribulation, and God opened the doors of unveiling (mukashafat) to him. This is why it is said: {We gave him judgment and knowledge}.

The Second Opinion: Hukm is prophethood, because a prophet is a ruler over creation, and 'Ilm is the knowledge of religion.

The Third Opinion: It is possible that Hukm refers to the tranquil soul becoming dominant over the commanding soul (al-Nafs al-Ammarah bi al-Su'), overpowering and conquering it. When the appetitive and wrathful powers become subdued and weak, the sacred illuminations and divine lights flow from the realm of holiness onto the essence of the soul.

The definitive statement on this matter is that the essence of the rational soul (al-Nafs al-Natiqah) was created capable of receiving universal knowledge and intellectual lights. However, it is established for us through rational proofs and sublime unveilings that the essences of human spirits differ in their very nature (mahiyyat). Some are intelligent and others dull, some noble and others base, some inclined toward the spiritual realm and others strongly desiring the corporeal. These divisions are numerous, and each station is susceptible to greater or lesser degrees, perfection or imperfection.

If the essence of the rational soul happens to be a luminous, noble essence, strongly prepared to receive intellectual lights and divine manifestations, these qualities do not manifest in its childhood because the rational soul only gains strength for its actions through the use of bodily instruments. In childhood, these instruments are dominated by moistness. When a person grows up and the natural heat dominates the body, this moistness matures, lessens, and becomes balanced, making the bodily instruments suitable for the human soul to use. If the soul was noble in its original essence, upon the perfection of the bodily instruments, its knowledge is perfected, its lights strengthen, and the shining of the lights within it increases.

Therefore, {And when he reached his maturity} points to the balance of the bodily instruments, and {We gave him judgment and knowledge} points to the perfection of the soul in its practical and theoretical capacities. And God knows best.

7 < {And she, in whose house he was, sought to seduce him, and she locked the doors and said, "Come to me!" He said, "May God forbid! Indeed, my Lord has been good to me. Indeed, the wrongdoers will not succeed."} > 7 !