12:8 Yusuf (Joseph)

{ إِذْ قَالُوا ْ} فيما بينهم: { لَيُوسُفُ وَأَخُوهُ ْ} بنيامين، أي: شقيقه، وإلا فكلهم إخوة. { أَحَبُّ إِلَى أَبِينَا مِنَّا وَنَحْنُ عُصْبَةٌْ} أي: جماعة، فكيف يفضلهما علينا بالمحبة والشفقة، { إِنَّ أَبَانَا لَفِي ضَلَالٍ مُبِينٍ ْ} أي: لفي خطأ بيِّن، حيث فضلهما علينا من غير موجب نراه، ولا أمر نشاهده.

يقول تعالى لقد كان في قصة يوسف وخبره مع إخوته آيات أي عبرة ومواعظ للسائلين عن ذلك المستخبرين عنه فإنه خبر عجيب يستحق أن يخر عنه " إذ قالوا ليوسف وأخوه أحب إلى أبينا منا" أي حلفوا فيما يظنون والله ليوسف وأخوه يعنون بنيامين وكان شقيقه لأمه "أحب إلى أبينا منا ونحن عصبة " أي جماعة فكيف أحب ذينك الاثنين أكثر من الجماعة " إن أبانا لفي ضلال مبين " يعنون في تقديمها علينا ومحبته إياهما أكثر منا. واعلم أنه لم يقم دليل على نبوة أخوه يوسف وظاهر هذا السياق يدل على خلاف ذلك ومن الناس من يزعم أنه أوحي إليهم بعد ذلك وفي هذا نظر ويحتاج مدعي ذلك إلى دليل ولم يذكروا سوى قوله تعالى " قولوا آمنا بالله وما أنزل إلينا وما أنزل إلى إبراهيم وإسماعيل وإسحاق ويعقوب والأسباط " وهذا فيه احتمال لأن بطون بني إسرائيل يقال لهم الأسباط كما يقال للعرب قبائل وللعجم شعوب يذكر تعالى أنه أوحى إلى الأنبياء من أسباط بني إسرائيل فذكرهم إجمالا لأنهم كثيرون ولكن كل سبط من نسل رجل من اخوة يوسف ولم يقم دليل علي أعيان هؤلاء أنهم أوحى إليهم والله أعلم.

There are Lessons to draw from the Story of Yusuf

Allah says that there are Ayat, lessons and wisdom to learn from the story of Yusuf and his brothers, for those who ask about their story and seek its knowledge. Surely, their story is unique and is worthy of being narrated.

إِذْ قَالُواْ لَيُوسُفُ وَأَخُوهُ أَحَبُّ إِلَى أَبِينَا مِنَّا

(When they said: "Truly, Yusuf and his brother are dearer to our father than we...") They swore, according to their false thoughts, that Yusuf and his brother Binyamin (Benjamin), Yusuf's full brother,

أَحَبُّ إِلَى أَبِينَا مِنَّا وَنَحْنُ عُصْبَةٌ

(dearer to our father than we, while we are `Usbah.) meaning, a group. Therefore, they thought, how can he love these two more than the group,

إِنَّ أَبَانَا لَفِى ضَلَلٍ مُّبِينٍ

(Really, our father is in a plain error.) because he preferred them and loved them more than us.

اقْتُلُواْ يُوسُفَ أَوِ اطْرَحُوهُ أَرْضًا يَخْلُ لَكُمْ وَجْهُ أَبِيكُمْ

(Kill Yusuf or cast him out to some (other) land, so that the favor of your father may be given to you alone,) They said, `Remove Yusuf, who competes with you for your father's love, from in front of your father's face so that his favor is yours alone. Either kill Yusuf or banish him to a distant land so that you are rid of his trouble and you alone enjoy the love of your father. '

وَتَكُونُواْ مِن بَعْدِهِ قَوْمًا صَـلِحِينَ

(and after that you will be righteous folk.), thus intending repentance before committing the sin,

قَالَ قَآئِلٌ مِّنْهُمْ

(One from among them said...) Qatadah and Muhammad bin Ishaq said that he was the oldest among them and his name was Rubil (Reuben). As-Suddi said that his name was Yahudha (Judah). Mujahid said that it was Sham`un (Simeon) who said,

لاَ تَقْتُلُواْ يُوسُفَ

(Kill not Yusuf,), do not let your enmity and hatred towards him reach this level, of murder. However, their plot to kill Yusuf would not have succeeded, because Allah the Exalted willed that Yusuf fulfill a mission that must be fulfilled and complete; he would receive Allah's revelation and become His Prophet. Allah willed Yusuf to be a powerful man in Egypt and govern it. Consequently, Allah did not allow them to persist in their intent against Yusuf, through Rubil's words and his advice to them that if they must do something, they should throw him down to the bottom of a well,

يَلْتَقِطْهُ بَعْضُ السَّيَّارَةِ

(he will be picked up by some caravan) of travelers passing by. This way, he said, you will rid yourselves of this bother without having to kill him,

إِن كُنتُمْ فَـعِلِينَ

(if you must do something,) meaning, if you still insist on getting rid of him. Muhammad bin Ishaq bin Yasar said, "They agreed to a particularly vicious crime that involved cutting the relation of the womb, undutiful treatment of parents, and harshness towards the young, helpless and sinless. It was also harsh towards the old and weak who have the rights of being respected, honored and appreciated, as well as, being honored with Allah and having parental rights on their offspring. They sought to separate the beloved father, who had reached old age and his bones became weak, yet had a high status with Allah, from his beloved young son, in spite of his weakness, tender age and his need of his father's compassion and kindness. May Allah forgive them, and indeed, He is the Most Merciful among those who have mercy, for they intended to carry out a "grave error." Ibn Abi Hatim collected this state- ment, from the route of Salamah bin Al-Fadl from Muhammad bin Ishaq.

Mention when they that is when some of Joseph’s brothers said to some of the others ‘Surely 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.

From the second verse (8), begins the story of Sayyidna Yusuf (علیہ السلام) which tells that the brothers of Sayyidna Yusuf (علیہ السلام) saw that their father, Sayyidna Ya` qub (علیہ السلام) loved Sayyidna Yusuf (علیہ السلام) unusually more than them who were older than him. Therefore, this made them envy him. And it is also possible that they had somehow found out about the dream of Sayyidna Yusuf (علیہ السلام) which may have led them to become uncomfortable at the prospect of his coming rise in status, and which may have made them envious of him. They talked about it among themselves: We see that our father loves Yusuf and his brother Benyamin much more than us, although we are ten of us and older than them. We have the ability and group strength to manage the affairs of the family while they both are small children who cannot do much. Our father should have noticed this and we are the ones he should have been loving more. But, what he is doing is open injustice. Therefore, you should either kill Yusuf, or throw him away into some far out spot of land from where he could not come back.

In this verse, these brothers have referred to themselves as: عُصبَۃً (` usbah). This word is used in the Arabic for a group from five to ten. As for their remark about their father: إِنَّ أَبَانَا لَفِي ضَلَالٍ مُّبِينٍ (Surely, our father is in clear error), the word: ضَلَال (dalal) appearing here lexically means the error of straying. But, at this place, dalal ضَلَال or error does not mean religious error. If so, such a connotation would have made all of them Kafirs (disbelievers) - because, Sayyidna Ya` qub (علیہ السلام) is an exalted prophet of Allah Ta` ala and such a thought in his case is an absolute Kufr.

And about the brothers of Sayyidna Yusuf (علیہ السلام) ، it has been mentioned in the Qur'an itself that they, later on, admitted their crime and requested their father to pray for their forgiveness which he accepted to do. This makes it obvious that their mistake was forgiven. Now, this can become possible only when all of them are believers - otherwise, the prayer for the forgiveness of a disbeliever is not permissible. This is the reason why there is no difference of opinion about their being believers, although ` Ulama' do differ about these brothers being prophets. This tells us that the word: ضَلَال (dalal: error) has been uttered at this place in the sense that he does not treat brothers equally in the matter of their rights.