| This Surah (Revealed) Meccan, except for verses 1, 2, 3 and 7, which are Medinese; it consists of 111
verses, and was revealed after sūrat Hūd.(Yûsuf)
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| بِسْم ِ اللهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ | |
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Tafseer
Alif lām rāâ: God knows best what He means by these [letters]. Those, verses,
are the verses of the Book, the Qurâān (the genitive annexation carries the meaning of [partitive] min,
âfromâ) that makes plain, the one that manifests truth [distinguishing it] from what is falsehood.
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Tafseer
We have revealed it as an Arabic Qurâān, in the language of the Arabs, so that
you, O people of Mecca, might understand, comprehend its meaning.
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Tafseer
We will relate to you the best of narratives in what We have revealed, in Our
revealing, to you this Qurâān, though (wa-in: in is softened, in other words [understand it as] wa-innahu)
prior to it you were of the heedless.
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Tafseer
Mention, when Joseph said to his father, Jacob: âO my father (read yā abati to
indicate the omitted yāâ of genitive annexation [sc. of yā abī]; or read yā abata to indicate that an alif,
originally a yāâ, has been 242 omitted) I saw, in my sleep, eleven planets and the sun and the moon, I saw them
([repeated] for emphasis) prostrating themselves before meâ (sājidīn: this plural form is used
to describe [the act of] âprostrationâ, which is an attribute associated with rational beings).
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Tafseer
He said, âO my son, do not relate your vision to your brothers, lest they plot
against you some plot, [lest] they scheme to kill you, out of envy, knowing that the interpretation [of the
dream] is that they represent the [eleven] planets, your mother, the sun and your father, the moon. Truly
Satan is to man a manifest foe, [one] of evident enmity.
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Tafseer
Thus, in the way that you have seen, will your Lord prefer you, choose you, and
teach you the interpretation of events, the interpretation of visions, and perfect His grace upon you, with
prophethood, and upon the House of Jacob â [upon] his sons â as He perfected it, with prophethood,
formerly on your fathers Abraham and Isaac. Truly your Lord is Knower, of His creatures, Wiseâ, in what
He does with them.
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Tafseer
Verily in, the tale of, Joseph and his brethren â who were eleven â are signs,
lessons, for those who inquire, about their tale.
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Tafseer
Mention, when they, that is, [when] some of Josephâs brothers, said, to some of
the others: âSurely Joseph (la-Yūsufu is the subject) and his brother, his full brother Benjamin, are
dearer (ahabbu is the predicate) to our father than we are, though we be a [hardy] band, a group. Lo! our father is
in plain aberration, in manifest error, for preferring those two to us.
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Tafseer
Kill Joseph or cast him away into some land, that is, into some distant land, so
that your father might be solely concerned with you, so that he might turn [his attention] to you and not
be distracted by anyone else, and that thereafter, that is, after killing Joseph or casting him away, you
might be a righteous folkâ, by repenting.
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Tafseer
One of them, namely, Judah, said, âDo not kill Joseph, but cast him, throw him,
into the bottom of a well (ghayābat al-jubb is the darkest recess of a well; a variant reading has the
plural [ghayābāt]), so that some caravan might pick him up, if you are to do anythingâ, of what you desire, in
the way of separating [Joseph from us]: so content yourselves with this [solution].
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Tafseer
They said, âO father, what is wrong with you that you do not trust us with
Joseph? We are indeed his wellwishers, we are indeed only looking out for his best interests.
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Tafseer
Send him forth with us tomorrow, to the desert, to frolic and play (read [first
person plural] nartaâ wa-nalâab, âthat we might frolic and playâ, or [third person plural] yartaâ wa-yalâab,
âthat he might frolic and playâ), in other words, so that we might be spirited and roam freely. Surely we shall take
good care of himâ.
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Tafseer
243 He said, âLo! It grieves me that you should go with him, that is, your departure
[with him grieves me], because I would be separated from him, and I fear lest the wolf devour him
(al-dhiâb here represents the genus, for their land had many wolves in it), while you are heedless of himâ,
distracted [by something else].
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Tafseer
They said, âTruly if (la-in: the lām here is for oaths) the wolf were to devour
him, when we are [so hardy] a band, a group, then we indeed are losers!â, incapable [of anything]. Thus, he
sent him off with them.
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Tafseer
So when they went off with him, and agreed, resolved, to put him into the bottom
of the well (the response of lammā, âwhenâ, has been omitted, in other words [understand it as being]
faâalū dhālika, âthey did [just] thatâ) by taking off his shirt â after having beaten him, humiliated him and
desiring to kill him â and lowering him in a bucket [into the well]. When he reached half-way down the
well, they flung him [from the bucket] so that he would [fall and] die, but he fell into the water and took
refuge near a rock. They then called to him and he responded, thinking that they had [decided to have] mercy
on him. They then wanted to smash his head with a rock, but Judah prevented them. And We revealed to him,
in the well, through true revelation (wahy haqīqa) â he was 17 years of age or just under â in order to
reassure his heart: âTruly you shall inform them, after this day, of this affair, [this] deed, of theirs
when they are unawareâ, of [who] you [are] (wa-hum lā yashâurūna is a circumstantial qualifier referring to the
action of âinformingâ).
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Tafseer
And they came to their father in the evening, weeping.
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Tafseer
They said, âO father, we went competing, shooting, and left Joseph by our
things, our clothes, and the wolf ate him. But you would never believe us, even though we speak the truthâ, before
you, you would still have accused us [of lying] in this story, because of your adoration of Joseph, so how
much more so when you think ill of us?
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Tafseer
And they came with false blood on his shirt (âalā qamīsihi has the status of an
accusative [of the verb], because it is an adverbial qualifier, meaning fawqa [qamīsihi]): they
slaughtered a lamb and dabbed it [his shirt] with its blood â but they forgot to tear it [the shirt] â and they said
that it was his blood. He, Jacob, said, when he saw that it [the shirt] was undamaged and realised that they were
lying: âNay, but your souls have beguiled you into something, and so you did it to him. Yet comely
patience!, without any anxiety! (fasabrun jamīlun is the predicate of a missing subject such as amrī, âmy course]â). And
God is the One Whose succour is sought in that [predicament] which you describeâ, that which you
mention of Josephâs affair.
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Tafseer
And there came a caravan â travellers going from Midian to Egypt, who stopped
near to Josephâs well â and they sent their water-drawer, the one who goes down to the water [source] to
draw from it, and he let down his bucket, into the well and Joseph clung to it and he pulled him out, and
when he saw him: he said, âGood news!â (a variant reading [of yā bushrā] has yā bushrāya: this [vocative]
call is figurative, in other words [it is to be understood as] âCome [O good news], now is your time!â) âThis
is a young boyâ. His brothers became aware of this and came to him, and they hid him, that is, they
disguised his real status, claiming that he was, as [a piece of] merchandise, by saying, âThis is a slave
of ours: he is a runawayâ; but Joseph did not say anything, fearing that they might kill him. But God knew well
what they were doing.
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Tafseer
244 Then they sold him â they [the caravan] purchased him from them â for a very
low, a diminished, price, a handful of dirhams, 20 or 22; for they, that is, his brothers, set small store
by him. So the caravan brought him to Egypt, where the one who had bought him sold him for 20 dinars, two pairs
of sandals and two robes.
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Tafseer
And he of Egypt who purchased him, Potifar, the Court Officer (Qitfīr al-âazīz),
said to his wife, Zulaikha (Zulaykhā), âGive him an honourable place, [an honourable] residence with us.
Maybe he will be useful to us, or we may adopt him as a sonâ â for he was chaste. Thus, just as We delivered
him from being killed and from the well, and softened the Court Officerâs heart for him, We established
Joseph in the land, the land of Egypt, until he attained what [status] he attained, that We might teach him the
interpretation of events, the interpretation of visions (wa-li-nuâallimahu min taâwīliâl-ahādīth is a
supplement to an implied [missing part] connected to makkannā, âWe establishedâ, in other words, [an implied]
li-numallikahu, âso that We might give him kingshipâ; or else the wāw [of wa-li-nuâallimahu, âthat We might teach himâ]
is [to be understood as being] extra). Godâs way [always] prevails, exalted be He, nothing being beyond
Him, but most people â and they are the disbelievers â do not know, this.
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Tafseer
And when he reached his prime â which was at 30 or 33 years of age â We gave him
[power of] judgement, wisdom, and knowledge, understanding in [matters of] religion, before
his call to prophethood. Thus, just as We rewarded him, We reward those who are virtuous, to [the good]
of their souls.
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Tafseer
And she, in whose house he was â namely Zulaykhā â attempted to seduce him, that
is, she asked him to lie with her, and she closed the doors, of the house. And she said, to him:
âCome!â (hayta laka: the lām [of laka] is for clarification; a variant reading has hīta laka or haytu laka). âGod
forbid!â, I seek refuge with God from this, he said. âTruly he, who bought me, is my lord, my master, who has
given me an honourable place, [an honourable] residence, and so I cannot betray him with regard to his family.
Truly, evildoers, fornicators, never prosperâ.
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Tafseer
And she certainly desired him, she sought sexual intercourse with him, and he
would have desired her [too], he would have sought the same, had it not been that he saw the proof of his
Lord: Ibn âAbbās said, âJacob was made to appear before him, and he struck his [Josephâs] breast, whereupon
his [sexual] desire withdrew [from his body] through his fingernails (the response to lawlā, âhad it
not beenâ, has been omitted:
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| Ayah understood to be] la-jāmaâahā, âhe would have lain with herâ). So it was, that
We made him see the proof, that We might ward off from him evil, betrayal, and lewdness, [the act of]
fornication. Truly he was of Our devoted servants, in terms of obedience (mukhlisīn: a variant reading has
mukhlasīn, in other words, âchosen/purified [servants]â).
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Tafseer
And they raced to the door: Joseph making for it in order to escape, while she,
in order to grab hold of him, caught hold of his garment and pulled him towards her, and she tore his shirt
from behind, whereupon they encountered her master, her husband, at the door. She, composed herself and
then, said, âWhat is to be the requital of him who intends evil, [who intends] fornication, against your folk,
but that he should be imprisoned, locked up in a jail, or [suffer] a painful chastisement?â, by having
him beaten.
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Tafseer
He, Joseph, said, declaring himself innocent [of the charge]: âIt was she who
attempted to seduce meâ. And 245 a witness of her own folk testified, her paternal cousin â it is reported that
he was still [a child] in the cradle â and he said: âIf his shirt has been torn from the front, then she speaks the
truth, and he is of the liars;
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Tafseer
but if his shirt has been torn from behind, then she has lied, and he is of the
truthfulâ.
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