Prophet Yaqub (Jacob)

Yaqub ibn Ishaq ibn Ibrahim (Jacob, peace be upon him), also known by the title Israel, is a prophet of Allah and one of the greatest of the Israelite patriarchs. Born to Ishaq and his wife Rifqa in Canaan as the second of twin sons, he carried forward the pure monotheistic legacy of his grandfather Ibrahim and father Ishaq. Through his twelve sons the twelve tribes of the Children of Israel were established. The title Israel, given to him by divine favor, became the name by which his descendants were collectively known for millennia.

The Quran's most extensive account of Yaqub comes through the story of his beloved son Yusuf. When Yusuf told his father of a dream in which eleven stars, the sun, and the moon prostrated to him, Yaqub immediately recognized its prophetic significance and warned Yusuf: Surah Yusuf (12:5): "He said, 'O my son, do not relate your vision to your brothers or they will contrive against you a plan. Indeed Satan, to man, is a manifest enemy.'" Despite this caution, the brothers conspired, threw Yusuf into a well, and brought his shirt stained with false blood. Yaqub, a prophet, did not believe their story. He said: Surah Yusuf (12:18): "Rather, your souls have enticed you to something, so patience is most fitting. And Allah is the one sought for help against that which you describe."

Yaqub's grief for Yusuf was so profound and sustained that he eventually lost his eyesight from weeping. Yet he never despaired, saying: Surah Yusuf (12:87): "Do not despair of relief from Allah. Indeed, no one despairs of relief from Allah except the disbelieving people." This declaration of steadfast hope, spoken from the depths of parental grief and blindness, is one of the most powerful statements of prophetic trust in the Quran.

When Yusuf was eventually found alive and powerful in Egypt after years of separation, Yusuf's shirt was placed over Yaqub's face and his sight was restored. The entire family prostrated before Yusuf in Egypt, fulfilling Yusuf's childhood dream. On his deathbed, Yaqub gathered his twelve sons and asked them a final question preserved in Surah Al-Baqarah (2:133): "Or were you witnesses when death approached Jacob, when he said to his sons, 'What will you worship after me?' They said, 'We will worship your God and the God of your fathers, Ibrahim and Ismail and Ishaq — one God. And we are Muslims [in submission] to Him.'" This deathbed scene represents the unbroken chain of monotheism passing through the prophetic family.

Yaqub's story is a model of patient trust in Allah through the longest and most painful of trials. He endured the apparent loss of his most beloved son for years, then the apparent loss of his second-most-beloved son Benjamin, yet never lost faith or certainty in divine wisdom and mercy. His name Israel became the name of a people, a covenant, and a prophetic legacy spanning over a thousand years of revelation.