Tafsir of Yusuf 12:83

He said: (that is, their father, peace be upon him. This is a continuation based on a question arising from the preceding context, as if it were said: "What was the reaction to what that speaker said to the brothers?" So it was said: Their father said, when they returned to him and said what they said): "Nay, but your own selves have made up a matter for you."

The mention of the previous conversation is omitted to signal that their haste in accepting the words of that speaker and returning to their father with them is a settled matter that needs no explanation; what is required is his response. It is narrated that when they resolved to return to their father, Joseph, peace be upon him, said to them: "When you come to your father, convey my peace to him and say: 'The King of Egypt prays for you that you may not die until you see your son Joseph, so that he may know that there are two righteous ones like him in the land of Egypt.'" They traveled until they reached him and informed him of everything that had occurred, whereupon he wept and said what he said.

"Nay" (bal) is for turning away (idrab), and it is—as has been said—a turning away not from their explicit words, for they were truthful in that, but rather from what those words implied: a claim of innocence regarding the cause of what befell them, as if no word or deed had issued from them that led to it. It is as if he said: "It was not as you described, but your souls have embellished and facilitated a matter for you, and you have carried it out." He intended by this their giving a legal opinion (fatwa) to seize the thief for his theft, and that was not the law of the King.

Abu Hayyan said that there is a deleted phrase here from which the turning away occurs, and the estimation is: "It is not the truth as you have reported, but your souls have embellished..." This is also the view of Ibn Atiyya, who claimed it is the apparent meaning, similar to what was said in the story of Joseph, peace be upon him, regarding the suspicion against his brothers. However, he confirmed his suspicion there, whereas he did not confirm it here.

Ibn al-Munir mentioned, in explaining this statement in this context—despite them not having intended evil toward Benjamin and having informed their father only of the reality as it appeared, and them having left him in Egypt only because they were overwhelmed and unable to keep him—that they were, in the view of their father, peace be upon him, at that time accused, and they were worthy of being accused due to their past behavior regarding Joseph, peace be upon him. A circumstantial proof had arisen for him that confirmed the suspicion and strengthened it: the King's seizing of him for theft, which was not according to his law, nor the law of others. So he suspected that they were the ones who gave him a legal opinion to do that after the theft they mentioned had occurred, doing so intentionally to leave him behind, and accusing someone who is in such a position that suspicion falls upon him is a disparagement, especially when it concerns a father and his son.

Then he said: It is possible that the aspect which justified this statement regarding them is that they relied on the mere presence of the measuring cup in the saddlebag of whoever had the stolen item, without referring the judgment to the proof of him being a thief through any known means. In our law, this does not establish theft against one accused of it; if it were also the same in their law, then the lack of precise legal justification is an indication that they were keen on taking him, and that is part of the "embellishment" (taswil). If it were permissible in their law, then the primary reliance is on the first response.

The tanwin in "a matter" (amran) is for glorification, meaning: a grave matter.

"So patience is beautiful" (fasabrun jamilun): meaning, my affair is patience, or a beautiful patience that is most becoming. The full discussion of this has preceded, so reflect upon it.

"It may be that Allah will bring them all unto me": Joseph and his brother Benjamin, and the one detained in Egypt. "Indeed, He is the All-Knowing": of my condition and theirs, "the Wise" who tests and removes the trial according to consummate wisdom. It is said that he, peace be upon him, hoped for this because of the vision Joseph had seen; he was waiting for it and thinking well of Allah the Exalted, especially after the hardship had reached its peak—for it is His, the Exalted’s, established practice that when distress reaches its extremity, He places great relief behind it. To this was added what he was informed of regarding the King of Egypt praying that he would not die until he saw his son.