Yusuf: ( 77 ) They said, "If he steals..."

(They said)—meaning the brothers—(If he steals)—intending Benjamin—(then a brother of his has stolen before)—desiring by this Yusuf, peace be upon him, and what happened to him regarding his paternal aunt. Ibn Ishaq, Ibn Jarir, and Ibn Abi Hatim narrated from Mujahid who said: The first of the trials that befell Yusuf, peace be upon him, according to what reached me, was that his aunt used to nurture him; she was the eldest of Ishaq’s children and she possessed her father’s belt, which they inherited by seniority. She loved no one as she loved him. When he grew up, Yaqub’s heart became attached to him, so he came to her and said, "O sister, hand over Yusuf to me, for by Allah, I cannot bear for him to be absent from me for an hour." She said, "By Allah, I will not part with him; leave him with me for a few days to look at him, perhaps that will console me." When Yaqub, peace be upon him, left her, she took that belt and strapped it onto Yusuf, peace be upon him, under his clothes, then said, "I have lost the belt of my father Ishaq, so look at who took it." It was searched for, then she said, "Search the people of the house." They searched them and found it with Yusuf, peace be upon him. She said, "By Allah, he is now mine; I will do with him what I wish." Yaqub came to her and she informed him of the matter, and he said to her, "That is between you and him; if he did [what you claim], then hold him." She held him, and he could not reach him until she died.

Ibn Marduyah narrated from Ibn Abbas from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, that he said regarding this verse: "Yusuf, peace be upon him, stole an idol of his mother’s father made of gold and silver, so he broke it and threw it on the road, and his brothers taunted him for that." Many have narrated from Zayd ibn Aslam, who said: Yusuf, peace be upon him, was a small boy with his mother at an uncle of his, playing with an-Nu'man. He entered a church of theirs and found a small statue of gold, so he took it; this is what they meant by his theft. Mujahid said: A beggar came to him one day, and he took an egg and handed it to him. Sufyan ibn 'Uyaynah said: He took a chicken and gave it to the beggar. Wahb said: He, peace be upon him, used to hide food from the table for the poor. It is said, and it is said... Ibn al-Munir mentioned that this is an affectation that is not permissible to attribute to the House of Prophethood, nor even to any of the noble-minded, so it is a duty to abandon it; Makki agreed with this. Some said: The meaning is, "If he steals, then a brother of his like him from the children of Adam has stolen," and he mentioned parallels in the Hadith. It is said: This is a statement worthy of acceptance.

You know that counting all that has been said in explaining the meaning of the brother’s theft is an affectation, for there is nothing wrong in attributing [to him] what is not unbecoming of the House of Prophethood—even if it is claimed that their attributing theft to Yusuf, peace be upon him, is something that does not befit them to be attributed [to them]—because that is a lie; for there was no theft in reality, and they are the people of the House of Prophethood who do not lie. The Hadith of the wolf eating him came [from them], and they were not infallible, first or last. What some have said—that it is a statement worthy of acceptance—is rejected by what follows, as is not hidden from one who has taste; furthermore, it is in itself weak in taste.

They used the word "If" (in) because they were not certain of his theft merely by the drinking cup coming out of his pack, for they had found their goods in their packs before and were not thieves. In some accounts, when they saw the drinking cup brought out of his pack, they were ashamed and said, "O son of Rachel, how did you steal this drinking cup?" He raised his hand to the sky and said, "By Allah, I did not do it." They said, "Then who put it in your pack?" He said, "The One who put the goods in your packs." If their saying "If he steals," etc., was after this resistance, then it is apparent that this is what prompted them. As for their saying "Your son has stolen," it is based on the apparent and what the people claimed, and their knowledge was based on that. It is said: They were certain of that "even if" it was merely a conditional clause, and perhaps that is more appropriate due to the apparent meaning of what will come—if Allah wills—to be investigated.

"And he steals" (yasriqu) is to narrate the past state; the meaning is: if he stole, it is not a novelty, as a parallel had occurred from his brother. It is as if they intended by this to push the disgrace away from themselves and restrict it to the two brothers. The indefiniteness of "brother" is because those present had no knowledge of him. Ahmad ibn Jubayr al-Antaki, Ibn Abi Surayj from al-Kisa'i, al-Walid ibn Hassan, and others read "faqad suriqa" (he was accused of stealing) in the passive voice, meaning he was attributed to theft.

(But Yusuf concealed it)—the pronoun refers to what is understood from the speech and the context, meaning he concealed the resentment he felt, peace be upon him, from what they said. It is said: He concealed their statement or the attribution of theft to him, so he did not answer them regarding it. (Within his soul)—not that he concealed it from some of his companions, as in His saying, "Then I announced to them and I confided to them (asrarra) secretly." (And did not reveal it)—meaning he did not show it (to them)—neither in word nor deed, out of pardon and forbearance; this is an emphasis of what preceded. (He said)—meaning within his soul—and this is an inception built on a question arising from the mention of the concealment mentioned; it is as if it were said: "What did he say within his soul during that?" So it was said: (You are in a worse position)—meaning a lower rank regarding theft. The result is that you are more firmly characterized by this description and stronger in it, since you stole your brother from your father, then proceeded to fabricate lies against the innocent.

Sibawayh said: The concealment here is on the condition of explanation (tafsir), because "He said: You are..." is a substitute for the pronoun, and the meaning is: Yusuf concealed in his soul his statement: "You are in a worse position." The feminine [referring to 'position' or the statement] is because it is a sentence or a word. Abu Ali objected to this by saying that concealment on the condition of explanation is of two types: one is to be explained by a single word, like "He is a good man," and the other is to be explained by a sentence, like His saying, "Say: He is Allah, the One." The origin of this is that it occurs at the beginning, then the nullifiers (nawasikh) enter upon it... and the explanation of the concealed in both places is connected to the sentence before it containing that concealed element and is related to it, not detached from it. What Sibawayh mentioned is detached, so it is not concealment on the condition of explanation.

In Anwar al-Tanzil, it states that the explainer of a sentence can only be the "pronoun of the affair" (dhamir al-sha'n). This was objected to with denial. In al-Kashf, it states that this is not from the explanation of sentences in anything, so as to be objected to that it is of the properties of the "pronoun of the affair" that requires priority; rather, it is like "And Ibrahim instructed his sons and Yaqub: O my sons..." etc.

It was retorted that in that verse, there is the explanation of a sentence by a sentence, whereas this contains the explanation of a pronoun by a sentence. In al-Kashshaf, "You are in a worse position" is made the explainer, and there is obscurity in that because that is the spoken word. Some inferred from the verse the proof of the "psychological speech" (al-kalam al-nafsi) by making "He said..." etc., a substitute for "concealed." Perhaps the matter does not depend on that, due to what we pointed out that the meaning is "He said within his soul." Yes, Abu Hayyan said: The apparent meaning is that he, peace be upon him, addressed them and faced them with it after having concealed the hatred of their statement in his soul; his purpose was to rebuke and refute them. This is strengthened by the fact that they ceased to intercede for themselves and turned to intercession for him through his father. There is consideration in this. Abdullah and Ibn Abi 'Abla read "fa-asrahu" (he concealed it) with the masculine pronoun.

(And Allah is most knowing of what you describe) (Meaning:) Knowing with a knowledge reaching the furthest levels that the matter is not as you describe regarding the occurrence of theft from us. The form "af'al" (most knowing) is merely for exaggeration, not for favoring His, the Exalted’s, knowledge over theirs—how could it not be so, when they have no knowledge of that? Many have said this. Abu Hayyan said: The meaning is "I am more knowing of what you describe than you are," because He, glory be to Him, is knowing of the realities of affairs and how the theft of his brother—whom you attributed the theft to—was. Thus, "af'al" is then in its literal sense. It was objected that there was no knowledge among them, and preference requires participation. It was answered that participation according to their claim suffices, for they used to claim knowledge for themselves. Do you not see their saying, "Then a brother of his has stolen before," with certainty?