12:17 Yusuf (Joseph)

فقالوا - متعذرين بعذر كاذب - { يَا أَبَانَا إِنَّا ذَهَبْنَا نَسْتَبِقُ } إما على الأقدام، أو بالرمي والنضال، { وَتَرَكْنَا يُوسُفَ عِنْدَ مَتَاعِنَا } توفيرا له وراحة. { فَأَكَلَهُ الذِّئْبُ } في حال غيبتنا عنه في استباقنا { وَمَا أَنْتَ بِمُؤْمِنٍ لَنَا وَلَوْ كُنَّا صَادِقِينَ } أي: تعذرنا بهذا العذر، والظاهر أنك لا تصدقنا لما في قلبك من الحزن على يوسف، والرقة الشديدة عليه.

" إنا ذهبنا نستبق " أي نترامى " وتركنا يوسف عند متاعنا " أي ثيابنا وأمتعنا " فأكله الذئب " وهو الذي كان قد جزع منه وحذر عليه وقوله " وما أنت بمؤمن لنا ولو كنا صادقين " تلطف عظيم في تقرير ما يحاولونه يقولون ونحن نعلم أنك لا تصدقنا والحالة هذه لو كنا عندك صادقين فكيف وأنت تتهمنا في ذلك لأنك خشيت أن يأكله الذئب فأكله الذئب فأنت معذور في تكذيبك لنا لغرابة ما وقع وعجيب ما اتفق لنا في أمرنا هذا.

Yusuf's Brothers try to deceive Their Father

Allah narrates to us the deceit that Yusuf's brothers resorted to, after they threw him to the bottom of the well. They went back to their father, during the darkness of the night, crying and showing sorrow and grief for losing Yusuf. They started giving excuses to their father for what happened to Yusuf, falsely claiming that,

إِنَّا ذَهَبْنَا نَسْتَبِقُ

(We went racing with one another), or had a shooting competition,

وَتَرَكْنَا يُوسُفَ عِندَ مَتَـعِنَا

(and left Yusuf by our belongings), guarding our clothes and luggage,

فَأَكَلَهُ الذِّئْبُ

(and a wolf devoured him), which is exactly what their father told them he feared for Yusuf and warned against. They said next,

وَمَآ أَنتَ بِمُؤْمِنٍ لَّنَا وَلَوْ كُنَّا صَـدِقِينَ

(but you will never believe us even when we speak the truth.) They tried to lessen the impact of the grave news they were delivering. They said, `We know that you will not believe this news, even if you consider us truthful. So what about when you suspect that we are not truthful, especially since you feared that the wolf might devour Yusuf and that is what happened' Therefore, they said, `You have reason not to believe us because of the strange coincidence and the amazing occurrence that happened to us. '

وَجَآءُوا عَلَى قَمِيصِهِ بِدَمٍ كَذِبٍ

(And they brought his shirt stained with false blood.) on it, to help prove plot that they all agreed on. They slaughtered a sheep, according to Mujahid, As-Suddi and several other scholars, and stained Yusuf's shirt with its blood. They claimed that this was the shirt Yusuf was wearing when the wolf devoured him, being stained with his blood. But, they forgot to tear the shirt, and this is why Allah's Prophet Ya`qub did not believe them. Rather, he told them what he felt about what they said to him, thus refusing their false claim,

بَلْ سَوَّلَتْ لَكُمْ أَنفُسُكُمْ أَمْرًا فَصَبْرٌ جَمِيلٌ

(Nay, but your ownselves have made up a tale. So (for me) patience is most fitting.) Ya`qub said, `I will firmly observe patience for this plot on which you agreed, until Allah relieves the distress with His aid and compassion,

وَاللَّهُ الْمُسْتَعَانُ عَلَى مَا تَصِفُونَ

(And it is Allah (alone) Whose help can be sought against that which you describe.), against the lies and unbelievable incident that you said had occurred.'

They said ‘O 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 truth’ 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?

The brothers, then, said:

يَا أَبَانَا إِنَّا ذَهَبْنَا نَسْتَبِقُ وَتَرَ‌كْنَا يُوسُفَ عِندَ مَتَاعِنَا فَأَكَلَهُ الذِّئْبُ ۖ وَمَا أَنتَ بِمُؤْمِنٍ لَّنَا وَلَوْ كُنَّا صَادِقِينَ

Father, we went running races and left Yusuf with our belongings and the wolf ate him up. And you will never believe us, even though we are telling the truth.

Some rules about racing

In Ahkam al-Qur'an, Ibn al-'Arabi has said: Running races against each other is legitimate in the Shari'ah. It is a good habit which comes handy in Jihad. Therefore, the Holy Prophet ﷺ ، as proved by authentic Ahadith, has personally participated in such running of races. Also proved is making horses run against each other (not to be confused with institutionalized horse-racing with bets, as clarified later). Out of the noble Companions, Sayyidna Salamah ibn al-Akwa` ran a one-on-one race against a person and won it.

That the racing of horses as such is permissible stands proved from the verse under reference and from Hadith reports cited above. In addition to the racing of horses, mutual competition in racing and archery and in other fields is also permissible, and equally permissible is the giving of awards from a third party to the winner in this mutual competi-tion. But, fixing an amount of money in a bilateral agreement that the loser will pay it to the winner is gambling or Qimar which has been declared Haram or unlawful by the Holy Qur'an. Today, none of the prevailing forms of horse racing is free from gambling and Qimar. Therefore, all of them are Haram, impermissible and unlawful.

Mentioned in the previous verses was that the brothers of Sayyidna Yusuf (علیہ السلام) ، after talking to each other back and forth, finally put him down in a desolate well and returned to their father telling him that he has been eaten up by a wolf. From verse 18, the story onwards has been taken up in the following words: