Prophet Yousef’s palace is neglected and Zoulikha pool is now buried under the ground!
Manf, currently Al-Badrasheen, a place where Prophet Yousef resided in Egypt, the palace, the jail and the grain was stored, an area where prayers are answered, is no longer visited due to neglect. Many secrets and tales are unfolded in Al-Azizia village at Al-Badrashin AKA Land of Prophets, the place where the world’s first civilization has emerged. It is the sacred land where the prophets Ibrahim, Ishaq, Yaqub and Yousef lived, where Hagar the mother of Arabs was born, an area that symbolizes the history of belief and faith lived. Despite its many important monuments and remains, the inhabitants of Al-Azizia have only one dream that the palace of Prophet Yousef, will be free from debris and dust and that the road linking it to the Pyramid of Djoser, which is located at Saqqara area, will be paved so that the tourists can reach this area, which was the first unified capital in the history of Egypt and the world.
The History of Al-Azizia
Al-Azizia is one of four villages Abu Sir, Saqqara and Mit Raheenah villages located at Al-Badrasheen district. These villages were in the past the city of Manf or Memphis, the world’s oldest city capital founded about 3400 BCE by Menes, who united the two kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt.
It was named after the prime minister of Egypt at the time named Al-Aziz, whose story with the Prophet Yousef is mentioned in full detail in the Holy Quran. Manf was also the place where Prophet Yaqub (Israel) and his children moved to and joined Prophet Yousef in Egypt. Prophet Ibrahim also came to the old city Manf where he married Hagar, the mother of Prophet Ismail and the grandmother of the last of prophets and messengers Muhammad (May Allah’s Peace and Blessings be Upon them).
The palace of Al-Aziz, Tal Al-Aziz or Al-Koum as inhabitants of Al- Azizia call it, is located at the entrance of the village. Al-Tal area is currently a large plateau of vast piles of dust and stones, and is now a deserted place full of garbage and wastewater and a café was built on a large area of it. The inhabitants of the village confirm that this archaeological site has been looted and robbed.
Zoulikha’s Pool
The village is divided into many pools, most importantly Zoulikha’s Pool. Zoulikha was the wife of Al-Aziz of Egypt. Zoulikha’s pool was used by Aziz’s wife to bathe with wives of high-ranking princes and nobels back then. They were women who spread rumors of her infatuation with Prophet Yousef as mentioned in the Holy Koran. The pool is now an agricultural area located at the entrance of the village and it is said that the pool is buried under this land.
The Prison of Prophet Yousef
Busir or Abu Sir is one of the villages built on the ruins of the ancient city Manf and is one of Egypt’s most ancient villages. It is named after the sufi sheik Sharaf El-Din Abdullah Mohamed Bin Said Al-Busiri who is the poet Al-Burda poem and whose famous shrine is located in Alexandria.
It is also called “Busir Al-Seder” because there are a lot of buckthorn trees planted there. In the past, this area used to be the headquarters of the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth Dynasties of ancient Egypt and it was part of the old ancient city Manf. Moreover, a large number of the Pharaonic tombs as well as the Serapeum tomb were built there.
The fascinating thing about this village is that the prison where Prophet Yousef spent years of his life “Zawera Prison” still exists in the village today. The roof of the prison is known as a place where prayers are answered. The prison covers an area of more than 35 meters underground and it has a green-painted room at the top. In the past, the inhabitants of the village used to visit the prison of the Prophet Yousef on 14th Jumada Al-Awwal. However, it was completely neglected by the Ministry of Antiquities and has not been developed since the era of Khedive Ismail who instructed to remove the dust from its roof. The inhabitants of the village have used a lot of the prison’s stones in constructing their buildings, facilities and houses. The place that should have been an international tourist destination as it was declared as heritage by the UNESCO is now buried under piles of garbage and surrounded by the underground water.
The Grain Warehouses
A member of Al-Azizia’s Board of Trustees asserted that the inhabitants are expanding their territory at the expense of the archaeological hill area where grain warehouses were located in the Era of Al-Aziz, not to mention that they have also levelled these warehouses and their livestock have been all over the place.
World-renowned archaeologist Dr. Zahi Hawass said in a press statement that the importance of Manf ancient city lies in the fact that it is the first capital and city in the history of mankind, thus it enjoys a special position in the Egyptian heritage since King Mena, who united the two kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt; he has chosen it to be the capital of Egypt. Despite its significant importance and rare monuments, it needs to be continuously restored and developed.
Moreover, Dr. Abdel Halim Nour El-Din, an Egyptology professor at Cairo University, said that Manf is the first capital in history and it has been destructed by foreign occupation forces that invaded Egypt in the Pharaonic Age in order to destroy the Egyptian cultural character and the nature of the Egyptian civilization in the era of the king Piye, who was an ancient Kushite king in ancient Sudan. In his era, the Ashurians have occupied and looted the city. Afterwards, the Persian Cambyses II and his forces swept through the city and killed the God of priests Petah and Apis.
He pointed out that the city was re-established in the Ptolemaic and early Roman eras, however, the Byzantine emperor Theodosius has instructed to destruct all its temples and statues of the gods, and the city has been transformed into a quarry whose stones are taken to construct other buildings.
Story of Yousef
Jacob (Israel) son of Ishaq (Isaac) son of Ibrahim (Abraham) had a total of 12 sons, his favourite son was Yousef (Joseph). But Yousef’s brothers envied him, and treated him poorly. One day, they decided to get rid of Yousef and decided to cast him into a dry pit. Latter, A caravan heading towards Egypt, searching for water in the pit got Yousef in return, they sold him to Al-Aziz of Egypt, (Prime Minister of Egypt at the time). In his house, Yousef grew-up into a smart handsome man that Al-Aziz’s wife started having lustful thoughts about him, and tried many times to seduce him, But he could only refuse, for he was righteous. The woman finally accused Yousef of trying to rape her, and Yousef was cast into prison latter. One day, the Pharoah’s butler and cook were cast into prison. They had nightmares in prison that they didn’t understand. So Yousef interpreted them, and came to the conclusion that the cook will be executed, but the butler will be restored. Yousef’s interpretations came true. Years later, the Pharaoh of Egypt had a dream that he didn’t know how to interpret, “there were 7 huge fat cows on the river, that were eaten by 7 anorexic cows”. He summoned all of the magicians of Egypt to interpret his dream, but no one could. The Butler was suddenly reminded about Yousef and told the Pharaoh that there is someone in prison who can interpret the dream perfectly. Yousef interpreted the dream, saying that the 7 fat cows are 7 years of prosperous harvest, and the 7 anorexic cows are 7 years of famine. Joseph then suggested an economic solution, where they’d store half of their grain harvest in warehouses for 7 years and use them wisely along the famine years that followed. The Pharaoh was so impressed by Yousef and pulled him out of prison, and made him in charge of Egypt’s economic plan. During the years of famine, God granted Yousef the opportunity to avenge what his brothers did to him and invited all his family to move to Egypt, a place were history was written.
