Page 14 - The School of Yusuf (as)

THE SCHOOL OF YUSUF

his innocence. Yusuf (as) was chastised for teaching Allah’s reli-
gion. Throughout the period of his confinement, he remained
aware that everything that had happened to him was for some ulti-
mate good. Despite this adversity, he continued to teach Islam to
fellow prisoners, telling them of the existence of Allah and proper

morality. For not having complained at any time during his term,
he is a role model for all Muslims.
In addition to Yusuf (as), Imam A‘zam, Imam Ahmad Ibn
Hanbal, and more recently Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, Suleyman
Hilmi Tunahan and Mehmet Efendi of Gonen, known to be devout
Muslims, all who strove to propagate the morality of the Qur’an,
were similarly chastised by those who deny Allah and His religion,

failing to appreciate the sincerity of these Muslims.
These courageous men were vilified, wrongly accused through
fabricated evidence, and punished with imprisonment. These
Islamic leaders, like Yusuf (as) before them, knew hardship to be an
opportunity to earn rewards in the Hereafter, and therefore faced
them in submission. They regarded the difficulties of prison life as
a form of education, as well as an opportunity to retreat. In other
words, they recognized themselves to be in the School of Yusuf,
rather than prison.

Bediuzzaman spent a great part of his life in the School of
Yusuf, and this book therefore contains many excerpts from his
published reflections. He states, in his “Fruits of Belief,” written
while in the Denizli prison, that he regarded prison as the School of
Yusuf. He wrote:

… [A]lthough I could never stand the slightest insult or to be
dominated, I swear that the light and strength of belief in the
Hereafter afforded me the patience, endurance, solace, and

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