12:79 Yusuf (Joseph)

فـ { قَالَ } يوسف { مَعَاذَ اللَّهِ أَنْ نَأْخُذَ إِلَّا مَنْ وَجَدْنَا مَتَاعَنَا عِنْدَهُ } أي: هذا ظلم منا، لو أخذنا البريء بذنب من وجدنا متاعنا عنده، ولم يقل \"من سرق\" كل هذا تحرز من الكذب، { إِنَّا إِذًا } أي: إن أخذنا غير من وجد في رحله { لَظَالِمُونَ } حيث وضعنا العقوبة في غير موضعها.

"قال معاذ الله أن نأخذ إلا من وجدنا متاعنا عنده" أي كما قلتم واعترفتم " أنا إذا لظالمون " أي إن أخذنا بريئا بسقيم.

Yusuf's Brothers offer taking One of Them instead of Binyamin as a Slave, Yusuf rejects the Offer

When it was decided that Benyamin was to be taken and kept with Yusuf according to the law they adhered by, Yusuf's brothers started requesting clemency and raising compassion in his heart for them,

قَالُواْ يأَيُّهَا الْعَزِيزُ إِنَّ لَهُ أَبًا شَيْخًا كَبِيرًا

(They said, "O `Aziz! Verily, he has an old father...") who loves him very much and is comfor- ted by his presence from the son that he lost,

فَخُذْ أَحَدَنَا مَكَانَهُ

(so take one of us in his place.), instead of Binyamin to remain with you,

إِنَّا نَرَاكَ مِنَ الْمُحْسِنِينَ

(Indeed we think that you are one of the doers of good.), the good doers, just, and accepting fairness,

قَالَ مَعَاذَ اللَّهِ أَن نَّأْخُذَ إِلاَّ مَن وَجَدْنَا مَتَـعَنَا عِندَهُ

(He said: "Allah forbid, that we should take anyone but him with whom we found our property..."), `according to the judgement that you gave for his punishment,

إِنَّـآ إِذًا لَّظَـلِمُونَ

(Indeed, we should be wrongdoers.), if we take an innocent man instead of the guilty man. '

He said ‘God forbid ma‘ādha’Llāhi lit. ‘refuge is with God’ is in the accusative because it is a verbal noun the verb having been omitted and placed in a genitive annexation with its direct object in other words understand it as na‘ūdhu bi’Llāhi ‘we seek refuge with God’ that we should take anyone save him with whom we found our property — he did not say ‘save him who stole our property’ being careful not to lie; for then truly — if we were to take anyone other than him — we would be evildoers’.

The response of Sayyidna Yusuf (علیہ السلام) appears in verse 79 قَالَ مَعَاذَ اللَّـهِ أَن نَّأْخُذَ إِلَّا مَن وَجَدْنَا مَتَاعَنَا عِندَهُ إِنَّا إِذًا لَّظَالِمُونَ that is, he gave his reply to their request according to the regulations followed in his country by telling them that they were not authorized to detain anyone they wished. In fact, if they were to arrest someone other than the person from whose possession the lost property has been recovered, then, according to their own fatwa and ruling, they would be accused of being unjust.

The reason he gave was that they had themselves said that ` he, in whose baggage the stolen property is found, shall himself be the punishment.'