“And, when they entered unto Yusuf, he lodged his (own) brother (Benyamin) with himself, saying: ‘I am your brother; so do not grieve at what they were doing’.”
TAFSEER
According to the narrations, when Ya‘qub’s (as) sons arrived in Egypt, Yusuf hosted them and ordered a table full of various foods for every couple of them.
Benjamin remained seated alone, so Yusuf seated him near himself, then he allocated every two persons for one room and made Benjamin his roommate.
While together, Benjamin talked about the infidelities of the brothers and the crimes which they had committed the years before against their brother, Yusuf.
At this moment Yusuf, who had become impatient, exclaimed:
“Stop worrying! I am that very Yusuf!”
He uttered these words so emphatically “Indeed, I am your brother!” that it left no possibility of doubt in the truth of his words.
He said, ‘I am your brother…’”
There is a double emphasis: inni ana, meaning “I am your only brother.
I am the one that you know.” Binyamin was probably three or four years old, and he has never met Yusuf in a sense to remember him, or if he has, he has some very vague memories of Yusuf, but he knows, of course, the story.
He knows that he has an older brother who went missing, and he knows that something happened and most likely his brothers did it.
The scholars say that the other ten were mistreating Binyamin, and the reference to this is in the next verse when Yusuf says
, “So do not feel sad at the actions that they do.”
From this phrase ‘don’t be sad at what they are doing to you,’
we get the interpretation that the other ten were mistreating Binyamin, but they couldn’t do to Binyamin what they did to Yusuf because they have already done one crime, so how many crimes are they going to do?
They couldn’t get rid of Binyamin, and they couldn’t throw him into a well, but for his entire life,
Binyamin is being ridiculed and treated in a harsh manner and treated very crudely by all of the elder brothers.
He is the youngest of them, and he is the full brother of Yusuf, so Yusuf is saying, “Now your days of tyranny are over.
Don’t worry about what they do to you, you have now come to me.
I am your brother, and I will take care of you.”
He informs his brother of the plot.
He informs his brother of what he is going to do, and again, we get the question over and over again: Why is Yusuf doing this?
We don’t have a response other than Allah would have told him to do so. We don’t know why he is going to do this plot.
He is telling his brother, “Don’t worry about what they have done, and don’t be worried about what is going to happen. Put your trust in me. I will arrange a plan for you to stay here.”
Why would he want Binyamin to stay and deprive Ya‘qub of the second favorite son?
All we can say is Allah knows best.
Most likely Allah had a plot and a plan, and Allah gave him wahy, or another interpretation is that Binyamin was under some type of threat,
,maybe not a mortal or fatal threat, but the threat of always being persecuted and ridiculed and being treated harshly.
Binyamin is now safe in the palace of Yusuf, and he is not going to be harmed by the brothers.
*Reflection*
‣ Yusuf takes care of them as he usually does, but when he has time and see his brother alone, he reveals his identity
‣ The first person to realize that the minister of finance in Egypt is prophet Yusuf is Ben Yamin
‣ Yusuf says don’t grieve for what they used to do
• Some scholars said “don’t grieve for what they did to me. I’m okay.”
• Others said “don’t grieve for what they did to you. It’s not
going to happen anymore.”
• Others said “don’t grieve what’s going to happen right now.”
– So if you see something strange happening, just stay calm and don’t overreact
‣ This is about thirty years since they have already passed
• So now people have families and there are grandchildren to prophet Ya‘qub as well
‣ Yusuf wants to keep Ben Yamin in Egypt
*Explanations*
1. The brothers who boasted of their power the previous day, claiming that they were a powerful group, had to undergo a significant amount of humiliation in order to secure their food supplies.
They practically had to kiss Yusuf’s threshold in a humiliating manner.
2. When a blessing is obtain, the concerning former afflictions should be renounced
(Yusuf and Benjamin had a face to face meeting then they forgot their past sorrows.)
3. Before the execution of any plan and project, the innocent must be spiritually ready and must clearly know the justification for the action. Benjamin was told that he would be kept in Egypt under the pretext of being discovered as a thief to which he agreed
*Lesson*
1. Sometimes deception is needed to achieve good and to protect yourself from an enemy.
This whole scenario of hiding the drinking cup in Binyamin’s bag and then accusing him of theft was deception.
But as we see from the ayah it was needed in order to keep Binyamin in Egypt.
It was needed in order to achieve the good of taking Binyamin away from the brothers who were oppressing him, and also for the greater good of bringing the children of Israil to Egypt.
Remember that all of this was eventually a part of Allah’s plan.
*Point of Guidance *
A question Aries here that Yusuf made efforts to call his younger brother, even insisted on it.
And when he came , he even disclosed his identity before him.
But , he neither thought of calling his father,
Nor took any steps to inform him about his well- being while in Egypt.
There is no doubt that he did have many opportunities during those forty yrs when he could have sent a message to his father about him self.
But, whatever happened in this matter was Divine decree communicated through the medium of Wahy (revelation ) .
Allah would have not give him the permission to tell his father about himself.
Because he was yet to be tested once again through his separation from his son,Benyamin .
It was to complete this divine arrangement that all these situation were created.