Page 70 - The School of Yusuf (as)

THE SCHOOL OF YUSUF

a day’s worship, and the prison will be like a recluse’s cell. He
will be counted among the pious hermits of olden times who
retired to caves in order to devote themselves to worship. 19

In yet another instance, Bediuzzaman stated that his time spent
in the School of Yusuf was like having withdrawn to a retreat,
though that he hoped it would bring him even greater reward than
an actual retreat:
It bestowed on me “Schools of Joseph” and places of solitary

confinement where my time would not be wasted which were
far superior to the mountain caves of ascetics and recluses. It
gave both the benefits pertaining to the Hereafter of the cave,
and strenuous service of the truths of belief and the Qur’an… In
accordance with the verse, “But it is possible that you dislike a
thing which is good for you.” And the saying: “Good lies in
what Allah chooses,” out of compassion for my old age and in
order to make us work harder in the service of belief, duties
were given us outside our will and power in this third “School

of Joseph.” 20
As Bediuzzaman noted, retreat to a cave would be his capacity
in his old age and ill health, while under such a condition a prison
is more suited for retreat. Bediuzzaman was also punished with
solitary confinement during those years. Even the windows of his

cell were blacked out, in order to prevent him from seeing anyone.
Others would consider this situation as a cruelty, but
Bediuzzaman, as always, looked at it from the point of view of
faith, and recognized instead the good inherent in it Allah made
possible for him. Solitary confinement prevented him from seeing
anyone, and thereby enabled him to expand his knowledge of the
Qur’an, and to meditate without his attention being diverted. All

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