ﱁ ﱂ ﱃ ﱄ ﱅ ﱆ ﱇ ﱈ ﱉ ﱊ ﱋ ﱌ ﱍ ﱎ ﱏ ﱐ ﱑ ﱒ ﱓ ﱔ ﱕ ﱖ ﱗ ﱘ ﱙ ﱚ ﱛ ﱜ ﱝ ﱞ ﱟ ﱠ
And Joseph had already come to you before with clear proofs, but you remained in doubt of that which he brought to you, until when he died, you said, 'Never will Allah send a messenger after him.' Thus does Allah leave astray he who is a transgressor and skeptic."
Tafsir
Verse range: 40:34
"And Yusuf [son of Ya'qub, peace be upon them] certainly came to you beforehand," meaning before Musa, "with clear proofs," which are the manifest matters indicative of his truthfulness. "So you remained in doubt regarding what he brought you," of the religion, "until when he perished [by death], you said: 'Allah will never send a messenger after him.'" This is the terminus of the statement "You remained in doubt." By their saying "Allah will never send a messenger after him," they intended to deny his messengership and the messengership of anyone else; meaning, there is no messenger, so He would not send one. Thus, after the doubt, they progressed to this denial, and this represents a heightening of their state.
It is also possible that the doubt regarding his messengership remained as it was, and their act of denial was specifically regarding the messengership of anyone who came after him. It has been said: It is possible that they manifested doubt during his lifetime out of envy and stubbornness, and when he—peace be upon him—died, they acknowledged his messengership but denied that Allah the Exalted would send a messenger after him; yet this is contrary to the apparent meaning.
Regarding the coming of Yusuf son of Ya'qub—peace be upon them—to those being addressed with clear proofs, it is said: This is a case of attributing the affairs of the ancestors to the descendants, and likewise is the attribution of the subsequent actions to them. It is also permitted that some of those to whom Yusuf—peace be upon him—came were truly still alive, for some historical accounts state that the death of Yusuf—peace be upon him—occurred sixty-four years before the birth of Musa—peace be upon him—so it would be a case of attributing the state of a few to the whole.
It is suggested in al-Bahr that the Pharaoh of Yusuf—peace be upon him—is the Pharaoh of Musa—peace be upon him—and it is mentioned from Ashhab from Malik that it reached him that he lived for four hundred and forty years. However, what most historians have mentioned is that the Pharaoh of Musa is named al-Rayyan, and the Pharaoh of Yusuf is named al-Walid.
Al-Qurtubi mentioned that the first Pharaoh was from the Amalekites, while this one was a Copt, and the Pharaoh of Yusuf—peace be upon him—died during his time, and he chose the view that they were two different people. The matter of the "coming" and the actions associated with it are as you have heard.
It is also said: The Yusuf mentioned is Yusuf ibn Ibrahim ibn Yusuf al-Siddiq, whom Allah the Exalted sent as a prophet, and he stayed among them for twenty years, and their affair was what Allah the Almighty narrated.
Extremely strange is what al-Naqqash narrated and what was related: that the Yusuf mentioned in this Surah was from the Jinn, sent by Allah the Exalted as a messenger to them. Jalal al-Suyuti quoted this in al-Itqan, but anyone with the slightest proficiency would not accept it. Yes, the statement that the Jinn had a prophet from among them named Yusuf is something that might be accepted, as is not hidden.
It was read as "A-lan yab'atha" (Will He not send?), by introducing the interrogative hamza onto the negative particle, as if some of them were confirming to others the denial of the resurrection.
"Thus does Allah lead astray whoever is extravagant" in disobedience, "skeptical" in his religion, doubting what the clear proofs testify to due to the dominance of conjecture and immersion in blind imitation.
