“And ask at the town in which we were and the caravan with which we travelled hither, and verily we are indeed truthful.”
Tafseer
In the next ayah, Allah radically shifts to a totally new scene. Now the setting is different, and the characters are different as well.
Allah ended the previous ayah with the eldest brother speaking to his younger siblings.
Now in the next ayah, Allah shows us the scene of these brothers speaking to their father.
He (swt) has seamlessly changed the setting from Egypt to Philistine.
Everything that happened in between these two scenes has been left out.
Here they are telling their father to inquire about the matter of Binyamin stealing, from the town they were just in.
In other words, if Yaqoob (AS) went to the town in Egypt where Binyamin was taken, then he would find out the truth of what they are saying.
The brothers also tell their father to inquire of the caravan with whom they returned.
Just like the people of the town, the people of the caravan also knew what happened.
They could also verify the truth of what the brothers were saying.
Notice also that time was different from last time. This time the brothers actually were telling the truth.
To prove to their father that what they are bringing is the truth this time they come with much stronger evidences than last time.
Last time all that they brought was the blood-stained shirt.
This time however they bring the testimony of both the people of the town and the people of the caravan.
All that Yaqoob (AS) had to do was to go and ask either of these people, and they would all verify all that the brothers had said.
They all knew how Binyamin was taken as a slave by the people of Egypt.
They all saw the cup being pulled out of Binyamin’s bag.
If Yaqoob (AS) were to study the reality closely, then he would discover the truth of what these brothers were saying.
Finally, these brothers say to their father,
“and surely we are of the truthful”.
This time they were indeed telling the truth in what they said. They want their father to consider them among that select group of people who are of the truthful.
But do you think that their father believed them?
Do you think that their father considered them to be among the truthful?
Truthfulness in our Deen is a trust that has to be earned.
It is something that can never be broken. When a person ever tells you even one lie, then this trust that you have with him is broken.
Then he has taken himself out of this select group of people who are the truthful.
These brothers of Yusuf (AS) had already lied to their father. So how could he ever consider them to be among the truthful now?
Reflection
- Ya‘qub doesn’t believe them and they say if you don’t believe us, ask the people in Egypt
- He can’t travel because he’s old
- Or ask the people of the caravan with us because it was a huge group •
- Not all are going to be lying
- This time, they said “we are truthful” not “you wouldn’t believe us even if we were truthful” like before
- They’ve cried wolf too many times
- Ya‘qub has lost his three most beloved sons, and only 9 sons came back
- When is the suffering going to end?
- These are the best of people
Lesson
1) This verse proves that
Human transactions and contracts are based on apparently known circumstances. They do not cover things which no one knows.
2) Study the reality of matters closely before reaching a conclusion.
This was actually a praiseworthy act on their part because they were presenting this evidence to establish the truth.
Allah is showing us that we also need to establish an idea or thought that we adopt based on its evidence.
Thus our Lord is once again teaching us to use the senses that He (swt) has given us.
For any situation, for any scenario, we have to use our senses to study the reality of that situation deeply before we draw a conclusion on it.
One problem with us today is that we look at things superficially and then we draw conclusions and come to judgments based on this superficial observation.
This is wrong.
This has often lead to mistakes and wrong judgments.
Allah has given us eyes, ears and a mind for a reason. The Prophet (PBUH) has told us that Allah has obligated excellence in all matters.
So is not excellence required when we seek to find the truth.