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Lit., "with their bags".
Lit., "he brought it out".
The meaning of this story is now clear: it is a further illustration of the basic doctrine that "judgment [as to what is to happen] rests with none but God" (verse {67} above). Joseph had wanted to keep Benjamin with himself, but under the law of Egypt he could not do this without the consent of his half-brothers, who were the legal guardians of their minor brother; and they - bound as they were by the solemn promise given to their father - would certainly not have agreed to Benjamin's remaining behind. The only other alternative open to Joseph was to disclose his identity to them; but since he was not yet prepared to go so far, he was obliged to allow Benjamin to depart with his brothers. The accidental discovery of his gift, entirely unexpected by Joseph (see note [72] above), changed everything: for now Benjamin appeared to be guilty of theft, and under the law of the land Joseph was entitled to claim him as his slave, and thus to keep him in his house. The words, "In this way did We contrive (kidna) for Joseph [the attainment of his heart's desire]", referring to the incident of the cup, indicate that its final outcome was neither planned nor even foreseen by Joseph.
The pronoun "he" can only refer to Joseph. He may have been present all the time, or he may just have come up, as the supposed theft of the king's own cup (xii. 72 above) was a very serious and important affair, and the investigation required his personal supervision. All that his officers did by his orders was his own act. As the lawyers say: Qui facit per alium, facit per se (whoever does anything through another, does it himself).
The Arabic word here used is wi'aun, plural au'iya, which includes bags, lockers, boxes, or any receptacles in which things are stored. Notice the appropriateness of the words used. The cup was concealed in a saddle-bag (rahl), verse 70 above. When it comes to searching, they must search all the baggage of every description if the search was to be convincing and effective.
It refers to the drinking cup, the siqayat, which is a feminine noun: hence the feminine pronoun (ha) in Arabic.
Let no one suppose that it was a vulgar or wicked trick, such as we sometimes hear of in police courts, when property is planted on innocent men to get them into trouble. On the contrary it was a device or stratagem whose purpose was to show up wickedness in its true colours, to give it a chance of repentance, to bring about forgiveness and reconciliation, to give solace to the aged father who had suffered so much. Joseph was a Prophet of Allah, but he could not have carried out his plan or taken the first step, of detaining his brother, except with the will and permission of Allah, Whose Plan is universal and for all His creatures.
If we examine this world's affairs, there are all sorts of plans, and all degrees of folly and wisdom. The wicked ones plan; the foolish ones plan; the simple ones plan; then there are men who think themselves wise and are perhaps thought to be wise, but who are foolish, and they have their plans; and there are degrees of real and beneficent wisdom among men. Allah, is above all. Anything good in our wisdom is but a reflection of His wisdom, and His wisdom can even turn folly and wickedness to good.
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The reference is obviously to Benjamin's full brother, Joseph. In the absence of any indication that the latter had ever before been accused of theft, it is reasonable to assume that the brothers, unaware of the fact that they were standing before Joseph, simply wanted to vilify him in order to dissociate themselves more effectively from Benjamin, who now appeared to have been convicted of theft.
Lit., "Joseph concealed it within himself and did not reveal it to them; he said...", etc. According to almost all the commentators, the pronoun "it" refers to Joseph's subsequent "saying" or, rather, thought, indicated by the verb "he said" (i.e., within himself); hence my free rendering of this phrase.
Lit., "of what you attribute", i.e., to Joseph and Benjamin - sc., "since you yourselves have stolen Joseph from his father".
Joseph was falsely accused of theft when he was young.
He meant: I did not steal anything, nor did my brother ˹Benjamin˺. You are the real thieves; you stole me from my father and threw me into the well.
The hatred of the Ten for Joseph and Benjamin comes out again. They are not only ready to believe evil of Benjamin, but they carry their thoughts back to Joseph and call him a thief as well. They had injured Joseph; and by a false charge of this kind they salve their conscience. Little did they suspect that Joseph was before them under another guise, and their falsehood and treachery, would soon be exposed.
There were many secrets: (1) that he was Joseph himself; (2) that his brother Benjamin knew him; (3) that there was no guilt in Benjamin, but the whole practical joke was in furtherance of a great plan (see n. 1745, above); (4) that they were giving themselves away, and were unconsciously facilitating the plan, though their motives were not above-board.
"Ah!" thought Joseph, "you think that Benjamin is safely out of the way, and that Joseph was got rid of long since! Would you be surprised to know that you have given yourselves away, that you are now in the power of Joseph, and that Joseph is the very instrument of your exposure and (let us hope) of your repentance?"
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I have translated the title of 'Aziz here as "the exalted one" when addressed to Joseph in order not to cause confusion with the other man, the 'Aziz the Courtier, who had bought Joseph on arrival in Egypt. See xii. 30 above, and notes 1677 and 1714.
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There is a little sparring now between the Ten and Joseph. They are afraid of meeting their father's wrath, and he holds them strictly to the bargain which they had themselves suggested.
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Lit., "know" - but since this expression denotes here remembrance rather than knowledge in the proper sense of the word, it can be suitably translated as above.
I.e., "enables me to win back my brother Benjamin".
Kabir may mean the eldest. But in xii. 78 above, Kabir is distinguished from Shaikh, and I have translated the one as "venerable" and the other as "aged". In xx. 71 Kabir obviously means "leader" or "chief", and has no reference to age. I therefore translate here by the word "leader", that brother among them who took the most active part in these transactions. His name is not given in the Qur-an. The eldest brother was Reuben. But according to the biblical story the brother who had taken the most active part in this transaction was Judah, one of the elder brothers, being the fourth son, after Reuben, Simeon, and Levi, and of the same mother as these. It was Judah who stood surety to Jacob for Benjamin (Gen. xliii. 9). It is therefore natural that Judah should, as here, offer to stay behind.
The pledge he had given was to his father, and in Allah's name. Therefore he was bound both to his father, and to Allah. He must await his father's orders and remain here as pledged, unless Allah opened out some other way. For example the Egyptian Wazir might relent; if so, he could go back with Benjamin to his father, and his pledge would be satisfied.
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I.e., the finding of the King's cup in Benjamin's bag (Baghawi and Zamakhshari).
Lit., "We were not guardians over that which was beyond the reach of [our] perception": i.e., "at the time when we gave you our pledge regarding Benjamin, we did not know that he would steal" (Zamakhshari).
We did not know when we gave you our solemn oath that our brother was going to steal.
'He stole in secret and without our knowledge. How could we in the circumstances prevent it? This may have been a good statement for the other nine brothers, but Judah was himself personally and specially pledged.
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To vouch for the truth of the story, the nine brothers are asked by Judah to appeal to their father to enquire at the place where they stayed and the caravan with which they came, and he would find that the facts were as they stated them. The nine brothers came back and told their father as they had been instructed by Judah.
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I.e., Benjamin and the eldest son (who had remained in Egypt) as well as Joseph, of whose alleged death Jacob was never fully convinced (cf. note [17]).
i.e., patience without complaining.
Jacob was absolutely stunned by the story. He knew his darling little Benjamin too well to believe that he had committed theft. He flatly refused to believe it, and called it a cock-and-bull story, which indeed it was, though not in the sense in which he reproached the nine brothers. With the eye of faith he saw clearly the innocence of Benjamin, though he did not see every detail of what had happened.
With the eye of faith he clung to even a larger hope. Perhaps all three of his lost sons would come back,-Joseph, Benjamin, and Judah. His faith in Allah was unswerving, although alas! the present facts altogether unnerved him.
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Lit., "white": i.e., dim with the tears that filled them (Razi). Although Jacob was now deprived of three of his sons, his grief for Joseph was the most acute because he was the only one of the three of whom Jacob did not know whether he was dead or alive.
Jacob (ﷺ) cried for so long that he became very weak-sighted. Some scholars suggest that he lost his sight completely. This does not contradict Jacob’s beautiful patience because he did not complain to anyone, but expressed his sorrow only to Allah.
The old father's grief is indescribable. Yet with what master-strokes it is described here! One sorrow brings up the memory of another and a greater one. 'Benjamin is now gone! Oh but Joseph! his pretty dream of boyhood! his greatness foretold! and now how dark was the world! If he could but weep! Tears might give relief, and his red and swollen eyes might yet regain their light!' But his grief was too deep for tears. His eyes lost their colour, and became a dull white. The light became a mere blur, a white glimmer. Darkness seemed to cover everything. So it was in the outside world. So was it in his mind. His grief was unshared, unexpressed, and uncomplaining. Who could share it? Who could understand it? He bore his sorrow in silence. Yet his faith was undimmed, and he trimmed the lamp of patience, that sovereign virtue for those who have faith.
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A speech full of jealousy, taunting malice, and lack of understanding,-one that would have driven mad any one less endowed with patience and wisdom than was Jacob, the Prophet of Allah. It shows that the sons were still unregenerate, though the time of their repentance and reclamation was drawing nigh. The cruel heartlessness of their words is particularly out of place, as Jacob bore his sorrow in silence and complained to no mortal, but poured out his distraction and grief only to Allah, as stated in the next verse.
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Namely, that "judgment as to what is to happen rests with none but God", and that "all who have trust [in His existence] must place their trust in Him alone" (verse {67}): the twin ideas which underlie the whole of this surah, and which Jacob now seeks to impress upon his sons. In addition to this, his remembrance of Joseph's prophetic dream (verse {4}) and his own conviction at the time that his beloved son would be elected by God for His special grace (verse {6}), fills Jacob with renewed hope that Joseph is still alive (Razi and Ibn Kathir): and this explains the directives which he gives his sons in the next sentence.
Jacob's plaint to Allah is about himself, not about Allah's doings. He bewails the distraction of his mind and his occasional breaking out of those bounds of patience which he had set for himself.
He knew of Allah's merciful and beneficent dealings with man in a way his shallow sons did not. And his perfect faith in Allah also told him that all would be well. He never gave up hope for Joseph, as his directions in the next verse show. They may be supposed to have been spoken after a little silence of grief and thought. That silence I have indicated in punctuation by three dots.
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According to most of the commentators, especially Ibn 'Abbas (as quoted by Tabari and others), the term rawh is here synonymous with rahmah ("grace" or "mercy"). Since it is linguistically related to the noun ruh ("breath of life" or "spirit"), and has also the metonymic significance of "rest" (rahah) from grief and sadness (Taj al-'Arus), the most appropriate rendering would seem to be "life-giving mercy".
The word is rauh, not ruh as some translators have mistakenly construed it. Rauh includes the idea of a Mercy that stills or calms our distracted state, and is particularly appropriate here in the mouth of Jacob.
Jacob ignores and forgives the sting and malice in the speech of his sons, and like a true Prophet of Allah, still wishes them well, gives them sound advice, and sends them on an errand which is to open their eyes to the wonderful ways of Providence as much as it will bring consolation to his own distressed soul. He asks them to go again in search of Joseph and Benjamin. Perhaps by now he had an idea that they might be together in Egypt. In any case their stock of grain is again low, and they must seek its replenishment in Egypt.
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I.e., goods which they intended to barter for grain (see note [60] above).
The nine brothers come back to Egypt according to their father's direction. Their first care is to see the Wazir. They must tell him of all their father's distress and excite his pity, if perchance he might release Benjamin. They would describe the father's special mental distress as well as the distress which was the common lot of all in famine time. They had spent a great part of their capital and stock-in-trade. They would appeal to his charity. It might please so great a man, the absolute governor of a wealthy state. And they did so. Perhaps they mentioned their father's touching faith, and that brought Joseph out of his shell, as in the next verse.
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Lit., "know" (see note [81]).
By coupling his own name with that of Benjamin he possibly hinted at his brothers' early envy and hatred of the two sons of Rachel (cf. verse {8} of this surah and the corresponding note [12]); alternatively, the mention of Benjamin may have been due to the readiness with which they accepted the "evidence" of the latter's guilt (verse {77}).
Joseph now wants to reveal himself and touch their conscience. He had but to remind them of the true facts as to their treatment of their brother Joseph, whom they pretended to have lost. He had by now also learnt from Benjamin what slights and injustice he too had suffered at their hands after Joseph's protection had been removed from him in their home. Had not Jospeh himself seen them but too prone to believe the worst of Benjamin and to say the worst of Joseph? But Joseph would be charitable,-not only in the sense which they meant when they asked for a charitable grant of grain, but in a far higher sense. He would forgive them and put the most charitable construction on what they did,-that they knew not what they were doing!
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Lit., "whoever is...", etc.
Their father's words, the way events were shaping themselves. Joseph's questionings, perhaps Benjamin's manner now, not a slave kept in subjection but one in perfect love and understanding with this great Wazir,-perhaps also a recollection of Joseph's boyish dream,-all these things had prepared their minds and they ask the direct question, "Art thou Joseph?" They get the direct reply, "Yes, I am Joseph; and if you have still any doubt of my identity, here is Benjamin: ask him. We have suffered much, but patience and right conduct are at last rewarded by Allah!"
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