Prophet Yaqub AS (Jacob): Family, Wives, 12 Sons & the Quran Story

Prophet Yaqub AS is one of the noble prophets of Islam. He is the son of Prophet Ishaq (A.S.), the grandson of Prophet Ibrahim (A.S.), and the father of Prophet Yusuf (A.S.). Muslims also know him as the father of the twelve tribes later called Bani Israel.

Many articles mix the Qur’an with later stories. This article does the opposite. First comes what the Qur’an states. Then comes what tafsir scholars say. Then come the family details found in history books. That way the reader can see the strength of each claim.

Prophet Yaqub AS was a messenger of tawhid. He called his household to worship Allah alone, to pray, and to live as people who submit to Allah.

The Qur’an places him in the blessed line of Ibrahim:

Allah also says He gave Ibrahim Ishaq, and after Ishaq, Yaqub:

So the birth of Prophet Yaqub AS was already part of the good news given to the household of Ibrahim.

The Qur’an praises him with Ishaq and Ibrahim as men of strength and insight:

It also says Allah made Ibrahim, Ishaq, and Yaqub leaders who guided by His command:

In short: Prophet Yaqub AS is not a side character. He is a prophet, a father of prophets, and the head of a family from which many later prophets of Bani Israel came.

According to the historians, the father of Prophet Yaqub AS was Ishaq (A.S.) and his mother was Rifqah. He had a twin brother named Al-Eis (Esau).

The Qur’an does not tell the twin-birth story. It does not name the mother of Prophet Yaqub AS. Those names come from tafsir and history. What the Qur’an does confirm is the line:

The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ described that line when he said Yusuf was the prophet of Allah, son of Yaqub the prophet of Allah, son of Ishaq the prophet of Allah, son of Ibrahim the Close Friend of Allah.

Reports say Prophet Yaqub AS grew up in Canaan, the land linked with Ibrahim and Ishaq. Later, according to the same reports, he spent years with his maternal uncle and then returned. The Qur’an itself does not narrate that journey. The Qur’an focuses on his faith, his patience, and the trial of Yusuf.

This point must be written with care.

The Qur’an does not say: “Yaqub, and We named him Israel.”

What the Qur’an does is use two names in two ways:

The link “Israel = Yaqub” is the reading of classical tafsir, not a one-line definition inside a verse.

Allah says:

What this verse shows:

What this verse does not say:

• It does not add the words “and Israel is Yaqub.”

The major mufassirun, including al-Tabari and Ibn Kathir, identify the man in this verse as Prophet Yaqub (A.S.). They explain the word Israel as “servant of Allah”: Isra meaning servant, Il meaning God.

Reports in tafsir say he forbade to himself a food he loved — often camel meat and its milk, or veins after an illness — as a vow. Those details are from tafsir reports, not from the wording of the verse itself.

Allah also says:

This verse places Israel next to Ibrahim as a father of a blessed line of prophets. Again, the verse names Israel. It does not write “Yaqub, who is Israel.” Tafsir reads Israel here as Yaqub, because Bani Israel are his descendants.

The Qur’an addresses that nation many times as Bani Israel:

The same address is repeated:

The Qur’an does not say “O children of Yaqub” in these addresses. It says Bani Israel. That is why Muslims say the nation takes its name from Israel, whom tafsir identifies as Yaqub.

When the Qur’an speaks of the prophet as a person in the family of Ibrahim, it uses Yaqub:

When death comes, the Qur’an again uses Yaqub, not Israel:

So the Qur’an uses Yaqub for the prophet’s own story, and Israel / Bani Israel for the name of the nation that comes from him.

The Qur’an uses the name Israel and the name Yaqub. It does not join them in one defining sentence. The scholars of tafsir join them, and that is why Muslims say Prophet Yaqub (A.S.) is Israel and his children are Bani Israel.

The Qur’an does not name the wives of Prophet Yaqub AS.

Historians and many books of qasas al-anbiya record four wives:

Lia and Rahil were sisters. Combining two sisters in marriage was reported as allowed in that earlier law. It is not allowed in the Shariah of Muhammad ﷺ. The article mentions this only so the old report is not judged by later Islamic marriage rules.

The usual historical story is that Prophet Yaqub AS went to his uncle Laban in Haran, served for years as a shepherd, married Lia first because the uncle’s custom was not to marry the younger daughter before the elder, then married Rahil after more years of service. The two servant women also became wives. He later returned to Canaan with his household.

Treat that wedding story as history-book material, not as a Qur’anic chapter.

The standard count in the histories is twelve sons and one daughter.

The Qur’an supports the number of sons in an indirect way. Surah Yusuf speaks of Yusuf and his brothers. Ten brothers travel to Egypt first. Binyamin stays with the father. That makes eleven brothers besides Yusuf — twelve sons in total. The Qur’an does not list the other names.

The names below are the names transmitted by historians.

These twelve sons are called the Asbat, the tribal fathers of Bani Israel. Later prophets such as Musa, Dawud, Sulaiman, and Isa came from that nation. Reports often place Musa in the line of Lawi.

The Qur’an groups “Yaqub and the Asbat” with those who received revelation (al-Baqarah 2:136; Aal Imran 3:84; al-Nisa 4:163). Scholars discuss the exact meaning of that phrase. What is certain is that Prophet Yaqub AS is a prophet, and that Yusuf from his sons is a prophet whose story Allah told in detail.

Among the children of Prophet Yaqub AS, the son whose prophethood is clear in the Qur’an and Hadith is Yusuf (A.S.).

Binyamin is honoured in Surah Yusuf as the full brother whom the father feared to send away. The Qur’an does not call Binyamin a prophet.

The other sons are the rest of the Asbat. The Qur’an shows their jealousy, their plot, their later regret, and their reunion. It does not give each of them a prophetic biography.

So a clean summary is:

The longest Qur’anic scene for Prophet Yaqub AS is Surah Yusuf. The surah is mainly the story of Yusuf, but the father’s patience is a second centre of the chapter.

The most important family verse about Prophet Yaqub AS is not about wives or place names. It is about tawhid.

The Qur’an confirms the move to Yusuf in Egypt in meaning, because the family is reunited there. It does not give the age or the exact grave.

This is another place where a careful article must slow down.

History books, following older People-of-the-Book reports, say Rahil died after the birth of Binyamin and that Yaqub buried her on the road in Canaan. Later Jewish, Christian, and some Muslim writers pointed to a site on the road between Jerusalem and Bayt Lahm (Bethlehem), known as Qabr Rahil.

That is a transmitted location, not a verse. Bethlehem as a famous town is also a later name for that area. A professional article should not tell readers that “the Qur’an says she is buried in Bethlehem.” It does not.

If the article is for readers and for search engines, the living lessons matter as much as the family list.

History books, following older People-of-the-Book reports, say Rahil died after the birth of Binyamin and that Yaqub buried her on the road in Canaan. Later Jewish, Christian, and some Muslim writers pointed to a site on the road between Jerusalem and Bayt Lahm (Bethlehem), known as Qabr Rahil.

That is a transmitted location, not a verse. Bethlehem as a famous town is also a later name for that area. A professional article should not tell readers that “the Qur’an says she is buried in Bethlehem.” It does not.