Rachel (wife of Yaqub)

Rachel (Rahil in Arabic Islamic tradition) was the most beloved wife of Prophet Yaqub AS (Jacob) and the mother of his two most beloved sons: Yusuf AS and Binyamin (Benjamin). Her story is part of the background of Surah Yusuf and is known more fully through Islamic historical tradition and the commentary of classical scholars including Ibn Kathir in al-Bidaya wal-Nihaya. When Yaqub AS fled from his brother Esau and traveled to his uncle Laban in Padan-Aram (Haran), he fell in love with Rachel, the younger and more beautiful daughter of Laban. He worked for his uncle for seven years in exchange for her hand. Laban deceived him on the wedding night by substituting his older daughter Leah (Liya in Arabic tradition). Yaqub had to work another seven years to marry Rachel as well — making fourteen years of labor for the wife he loved. Rachel bore Yaqub two sons: Yusuf AS, the most beloved, and Binyamin, her last son, during whose birth she died. The death of Rachel in childbirth left Yaqub AS in profound grief and intensified his love for her sons Yusuf and Binyamin. Yusuf's half-brothers' jealousy was fueled in part by the favoritism they perceived Yaqub showed toward Rachel's children. Rachel's death before the great events of the Yusuf story means she never witnessed her son's rise to power in Egypt or the family reunion. She is one of the most beloved figures of the Abrahamic tradition across Islam, Judaism, and Christianity.