A women's joy is great and she becomes very happy when she gives birth to her first child especially when she has become old and was complaining of the bitterness of being deprived of children. Sarah, Abraham's wife welcomed her first child Isaac with big joy and unlimited happiness. Isaac's birth was not an ordinary event, but it had the mark of an outstanding event especially that the angels predicted it and mentioned at the same time his son Yacoob.
 

The outstanding feature of such an event lies in the fact that Sarah became pregnant after she reached old age and her hair became white.  Between dream and reality, pain and despair, the glad news are achieved and the miracle happens:  Isaac is born after several long years from the birth of his brother Ishmael, son of Hajar who was the slave girl of Sarah, Hajar whom Abraham married in order to comply with his wife's desire, Sarah.
 Isaac (Peace be with him) grows up in the gardens of prophecy under the supervision of his father Abraham.  "The faith of your father Abraham (is yours).  He hath named you Muslims of old time..."
 

hen Isaac reached manhood, so his father got him married to a woman who gave birth to several children, then she died.  Isaac married after her a woman who is related to him and gave birth to Yacoob (Peace be with him).  Abraham (Peace be with him) and his wife Sarah witness the life of their son in his childhood, his youth and his marriage and they live together in the same home and God confers upon them purity and serenity:  "The mercy of Allah and his blessings be upon you, O people of the house."
 

Years passed over and Isaac (Peace be with him) assumed the responsibility after Abraham's death and he was entrusted with the continuation of his father's mission.  So Isaac followed the way of his father and was among God's selected prophets, calling to the reality of faith in God and managing with justice, guiding people to the right course and filling his time with prayer and worship until he become old.  And when he felt tired unable to bear the burden of worries, he called his son Yacoob and said to him:  "God gave me a big gift when you were born, and he made you a person of good character and conferred upon you good qualities that constitute a strong evidence of his power:  Are not cleanliness and purity evidences of the existence of the Creator?  Moreover, God granted me a favor:  He made you intelligent and sociable"
 Then Isaac kept silent for a while, and he continued:
 "Such qualities, advantages and virtue were among the reasons of my unhappiness since your youth... do not be astonished my son, I am not like other fathers who are happy when they see their sons enjoy good qualities...Moreover your qualities were the origin of my fear and unhappiness."
 

Yacoob could no more bear what he is hearing, so he bowed to kiss his father's hand and bowed  on his father's chest to fill it with tears saying:
 "I am ready to sacrifice my life for you o tender father!  What sin did I commit so that I made your life uneasy and your mind worrying...  Forgive me, o my father!  And tell me about my wrong deed in order to avoid and make you happy." Isaac was upset to see his son suffer, so he pulled him towards his heart, holding his tears with his lips and tranquilizing him with gentle words saying to him:  "You are relieving my distress and discarding my worries when you are near me.  You are the tenderness that covers me and the hope that accompanies me...
 I did not weep for any of your deeds, but the cause lies in your elder brother who has bad intentions towards you and shows hostility to you...  He feels secure because he is strong and has parents who support him, but who will help you if he uses violence and treachery against you?  This is the reason of my suffering and it is still destroying me."
 "-But I did nothing to make him hate me."
 "-Yes, my son but it is covetousness that tempted him and jealousy which is about to kill him."
 "-In case my brother will do harm to me, I will extend to him the hand of brotherhood, a hand full of tenderness and affection."
 "-O my son!  You are a good brother, but your life is in danger and for this reason I called you to come to me so that I will give you my last will in this life."
 "-O my father!  I am at your order and you shall find me always obedient to you."
 "-Listen well to what I say to you"...
 Yacoob listened while looking with sadness to his father who said:
 " I have reached my last days and God made you a prophet; so I suggest that after my death, you go to Aramin Iraq; there you will find your uncle Laban, son of Betwil.  You can marry one of his daughters and remain at his home for a certain time, then return to this land to continue the mission of your fathers and grandfathers: Guiding people towards agreement, helping the oppressed, punishing the unjust, spreading the flags of justice."
  "I ask the Most High God to safeguard you...  I hope that you will lead a good life and have a pure posterity better than that of your brother."
 

This was Isaac's will as entrusted to his son Yacoob so that he will leave this life satisfied.
 As far as Yacoob is concerned, he was upset to realize the bad intentions of his brother against him and he was sad to learn that his father will leave this life in his last days...
 Days passed over while Yacoob was hesitating to remain in his land or to prepare himself for going away.  The father felt about the hesitation of his son, so he calls him and said:
 "-O my son!  It is the will of your father and I am sure you will respect such a will so why are you hesitating?  Decide to go with the dawn and God will help you, and the angels will accompany you"...
 "-But o my father!"
 "-I know what you want to say, my son...  Do not let me die deploring a hope that helped me to live."
 

When the sun rose the next day, Yacoob went away.  People came to see his father Isaac who was happy, satisfied, as though his soul, clinging to a hidden secret, went to swim in an unknown settlement.
 Such is the prophet's life, it is full with pains and perseverance until it reaches the time when the prophet has to go to heavens, then he disappears from this world and settles in light and radiance.

This information was extracted from:
 1.  Samih Atef El-Zein.  Isaac, Yacob, Yousef, Ayoub, Shouaib.  Published by Dar Al-Kitab Allubnani.  Beirut, Lebanon, 1983.