So, when they went away with him and were determined to put him in the bottom of a pit, (they did accordingly). And we revealed to him (Yusuf), “You will (one day) remind them of this deed of theirs, and they will not recognize (you).”
TAFSEER
“So when they took him away…”
Allah does not finish this portion. The missing sentence is: ‘and they did what they did.’ The sentence in Arabic is not finished. This is of the balagha or eloquence of the Arabic language that many times details are not mentioned, and the Qur’an is full of such ellipses (missing phrases or missing words). This is one of the problems of translation: when we translate the ellipses of Arabic goes completely blank. How do you translate this?
The point here is that Allah did not mention the details because:
It is understood that they did what they did and harmed him. These details are very painful, and Allah does not mention these painful details.
Then Allah says, “They all agreed to put him into the
This shows us that there was not one merciful heart amongst them because Allah uses the verb ajma‘u. There was not one heart of pity or mercy amongst them. Their hearts had become so hard that there was unanimity that they were going to throw him into the well.
This is amazing for us to think about: they are his blood brothers and the children of a prophet, but their hearts became so hard because of jealousy and greed of something that was halal. Imagine jealousy and greed for something that was haram?
They wanted something that was halal, but their hearts became blind. They completely rejected the begging, pleading, and crying of a little boy who is their brother and the heart of their father and the apple of his eye.
We cannot even imagine how this little boy who was abandoned, tortured, mocked, ridiculed, and harmed by his own brothers would have felt. He was so young that he was not baaligh yet.
He doesn’t understand why this is happening. He thought they were going to have a fun time, and he was an excited kid going out to have fun with his older brothers and thought they were going to race, but instead they do this to him.
One point that is really powerful about this whole story, and this is a point that we need to think about and shows the beauty of the Qur’an.
The evil actions of the brothers are never described in detail, and nor does Allah ever explicitly criticize them directly despite the fact that this is such a cruel thing that they did.
When we think about it, and we are not even a fraction of the level of the sons of these prophets eventually, our hearts shudder and our souls tremble thinking ‘how could you have done this?’
Yet Allah does not choose one negative adjective in the whole surah describing them as fasiqoon or dhalimoon or any type of adjective at all.
One wonders what is the reason for this? Surely they are worthy of criticism and surely they are worthy that these pitiful details should have been mentioned that would make our hearts cry that Yusuf begged and pleaded.
Allah ‘azza wa jall is silent. Why? What is the wisdom behind this?
It is not as though the Qur’an does not criticize other people. The mushrikoon are criticized. The Yahud and Nasarah are criticized. Why aren’t these people criticized when they are doing such a dastardly and evil deed?
Firstly, of the reasons why Allah ‘azza wa jall does not mention this, and this is generally a Qur’anic message, it is not appropriate to mention any type of evil in detail whether it is lewdness and fahishah or even something that is not respectful.
For example, Allah says in the Qur’an, “If one of you comes from the restroom…” Allah does not say ‘if one of you urinates or excretes…’ Allah says in the Qur’an,
“If you touch women…” Allah does not say ‘if you are intimate with women…’ Why? Because there is no need to mention these details in the language of the Qur’an.
This is a general rule: we don’t mention evil in detail. We learn this from so many other instances. It is not of the etiquettes of the Muslims to go into detail about fahishah or about evil or about a sin that occurred. The wordings of the Qur’an are extremely noble.
This shows us the difference between an Islamic model and the model that we live in of the world today. In the world today, any crime, vulgarity, murder, or rape, the news reports it in the most extreme, vivid detail.
Hollywood movies are made out of it and best-selling books are done. What happens? Mankind is desensitized. The fitrah of man becomes used to listening to this evil. One of the reasons – and we say this clearly – why crime spreads is because the news of crime spreads.
In a very good Islamic environment, you would not hear of these details. Let the police take care of it. There is no fa’idah to spread it amongst the people. Human nature becomes accustomed to listening to it and spreading it, and when it becomes accustomed to listening and thinking and spreading, this is the stepping-stone to actually doing it. Therefore, the first reason why Allah does not mention this is because it is not befitting of the Majesty of Allah ‘azza wa jall.
The second reason is perhaps the key point in the surah. Allah ‘azza wa jall accepted the repentance of the brothers of Yusuf. They repented and acknowledged their sin.
Notice that in the Qur’an, the only time their sin is mentioned is from their tongues. “And they go to Yusuf and they say, ‘Forgive us, oh Yusuf. We have done wrong.’ And they go to their father and say, ‘Oh our father, ask Allah to forgive us. We have done wrong.’” This is so powerful of a message.
Why? When Allah has forgiven them, why mention their faults? This is the perfection of Allah’s maghfirah. When Allah has forgiven them, why should Allah go into detail about what they did? Leave it. This shows us the Majesty of Allah ‘azza wa jall that we should learn from.
True forgiveness and true turning the other cheek means that we don’t go reminding people of what they have done. We don’t go mentioning the faults even if they have done it.
I want you to think about this point: how cruel have they been, yet how Merciful is Allah in describing their cruelty? It is amazing! Allah does not even finish the sentence. “When they went with him…”
This is the perfection of Allah’s maghfirah. Allah forgave them. Why should then Allah criticize and mention this? This really shows us that when we forgive, we can never forget, but we should try our best to overlook. Allah says, “Forgive and overlook.” Wasfahu means turn another page and ignore what happened in the past. We learn from this, this type of methodology.
Allah (subhanahu wata’ala) says after this that they threw him into the well.
“…and We inspired him, ‘Of a surety you will inform them of this very deed they have done, and they will have no idea that you will be telling them.’”
It is possible that Yusuf got this ilham before actually becoming a prophet. In any case, it is quite clear that this is coming to Yusuf. As soon as the darkness of the well overtook him, Allah’s noor and Allah’s wahy came down immediately to console him.
What was his consolation?
“Surely, you will inform them of this very deed while they have no clue who you are.”
Once again there is tawkeed (emphasis). There is double emphasis here with the laam and nun in latunabbi’annahum. This simple pronunciation of a statement of fact of the future prediction tells us many benefits.
- The first benefit: “Oh Yusuf, you are not going to die in this well. You are not going to be left alone and die a miserable death. You will live.”
- “Oh Yusuf, you will go and be reunited with your family. Yes, they left you and turned their backs to you, but eventually you will be reunited with your family.”
- “You will tell them when they do not know who you are. Right now they have the upper hand and you have the lower hand, but the time will come when you will be saved from this well and will meet them again and will remind them of what they did and because you are unknown to them, you will have the upper hand.” This simple phrase has in it powerful messages of optimism.
From this, we can also gain a little bit of optimism ourselves. Remember this surah was revealed to cheer our Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) up. It was revealed to make him feel the consolation and comfort.
Allah ‘azza wa jall is reminding him through the story of Yusuf that: “Just like your family abandoned you, Allah ‘azza wa jall will cause you to go back to them, and you will have the upper hand.” Allah ‘azza wa jall says in the Qur’an, “This city that you are leaving, you will go back to it. You will be given back to it, and you will be sent back to it.” This is exactly the message of Yusuf (‘alayhi salaam).
- Knowing the ultimate end of anything brings about some comfort. Yusuf is told of the ultimate end in this world. Only a prophet can be told this. For us believers, the ultimate end of the akhirah can be known to us, meaning that the continuing belief that if I am righteous and if I am pious, then the ultimate end will be for the righteous.
No matter what is happening in this world, and no matter how tough life is, and no matter the difficulty we are suffering from problems, always remind ourselves of the end.
The end result will be for the righteous. Yusuf is calmed down by the end result in this duniyah. In this duniyah, only the prophets are told the end results. In the akhirah we know that the righteous shall be saved. We continue to hope, and any time a museebah happens, we console ourselves and think “Insha’Allah the akhirah.
LESSON
Remain Pious whether humiliated or in a very high position
The evil actions of the brothers are never described in detail in the Qur’an, and nor does Allah ever explicitly criticize them . Because it is not appropriate to mention any type of evil in detail whether it is lewdness and fahishah or about evil or about a sin that occurred. Human nature becomes accustomed to listening to it and spreading it, and when it becomes accustomed to listening and thinking and spreading, this is the stepping-stone to actually doing it.
The lesson and the benefit that we can take from this part of the ayah is to realize that if we are sincere worshippers and servants of Allah (swt) then He (swt) would take care of us and look after us during times of need and hardship.
At that moment of difficulty when all of the world seems to have turned against us, then Insha Allah we will find Allah (swt) with us. Allah (swt) will console us and He (swt) will give us strength in order that we may overcome our grief and sadness, as well as our anxiety and fear.
If we are sincere to Allah (swt) and if we try our best to serve Him (swt), then Insha Allah He (swt) will take care of our children even when we are not there for them.
How do you say your good-byes? Yusuf went out from his father’s door that morning, for but a day absence. We can picture the parting. Little Binyamin and his father was anxious, worried and sad hoping that Yusuf would be home again by the evening. No one dreamed that for more than forty years, that bright happy face would not be seen, that some of them would never see him again.
Yaqub and Yusuf and the other members of that family had known that morning, that for more than forty years they would not meet again, would not their parting have been very tender?
Yet life is quite as uncertain for us and our households, as it was for Yaqub’s family. Any hurried good-bye maybe for years, and perhaps final; surely then it should be loving. We should never separate in an angry or impatient mood, with unforgiveness, bitterness, or misunderstanding. We should not say our good-byes coldly, carelessly—but always with thoughtful love and gentle feeling.
Suppose that the one who goes out—should be brought home dead; or should return to find the one dead—whom he left at the door. If the parting were with harsh word or look or thought—how must the surviving one grieve, when sitting by the deceased, to remember the last word or look!
The regret then will not atone for the coldness of the parting on the doorstep, nor will they take the pang out of the bereft heart. We should make every parting with home loved ones, every briefest good-bye, sweet enough, kindly enough, for a last farewell, should it prove to be the last, as it may well be.