Yusuf (Joseph): (19-20) And a caravan came, so they sent...

Know that the Almighty explained how the path to Joseph's deliverance from that tribulation was facilitated, saying:

{And a caravan came} meaning a group traveling for a journey. Ibn Abbas said: A caravan came, meaning people traveling from Midian to Egypt, who missed the road and began wandering off the path. They descended upon a land containing a well where Joseph (peace be upon him) was. The well was in a desolate area far from settlement, used only by shepherds. It is also said that its water was salty, and it became bitter when Joseph (peace be upon him) was thrown into it. They sent a man, said to be Malik ibn Dhir al-Khuzai, to seek water for the group. The one who goes to the water to draw it for the people {cast down his bucket}. Al-Wahidi narrated from the majority of linguists that adla dalwahu (he cast down his bucket) means he sent it into the well, while dalāhu (he drew it up) means he pulled it out of the well. They say: Adlā, yudlī, idlā’an means to send down, and dalā, yadlū, dalwan means to pull up and bring out. The bucket (al-dalu) is well-known, and its plural is dilā’.

{O Adam! Good tidings! This is a boy!} There is an omission here. The meaning is: So Joseph appeared. The commentators said: When the drawer cast down his bucket, Joseph was in a part of the well's bottom, so he clung to the rope. The drawer looked at him, saw his beauty, and cried out, saying: "O good tidings!"

Regarding this, there are two issues:

'Asim, Hamzah, and Al-Kisā’ī recited {Bushrā} without the alif (long vowel) and with a quiescent yā’ (O Adam! Good tidings!). The rest recited {Yā Bushrāya} with the alif and an open yā’, indicating possession (My good tidings!).

There are two opinions regarding the utterance {Yā Bushrā}:

The First Opinion: It is a word used when announcing good news, similar to saying, "O wonder of such-and-such!"

Under this opinion, there are two interpretations for the call:

1. Al-Zajjāj said: The meaning of calling out to things that do not respond (like "O wonder!") is to alert the listeners and emphasize the story. If you say, "O wonder!" it is as if you are saying, "Be amazed!"
2. Abu Ali said: It is as if he is saying, "O Good Tidings! This moment is your time. If I were one who could be addressed, I would be addressed now and commanded to be present."

The reason for the good tidings was that they found a boy of extreme beauty, and they thought, "We can sell him for a great price, and this will lead to wealth."

The Second Opinion: Which Al-Suddī mentioned, is that the one who called out was calling his companion whose name was Bushrā, saying, "O Bushrā!" just as you would say, "O Zayd!" Al-A'mash narrated that he called a woman named Bushrā.

Regarding the grammatical status of {Yā Bushrā}: Abu Ali Al-Fārisī said: If we take Bushrā as the name for the good news (which is the preferred view), it can be in the nominative case (raf’) as in saying, "O man!" due to its specificity in being called. It can also be in the accusative case (nasb) under the assumption that this call has become common for the category of good tidings, not specific, like saying, "O man!" (referencing the verse: {O regret for the servants} [Yā-Sīn: 30]).

{And they concealed him as merchandise} Regarding this, there are two issues:

There are two opinions:

1. It refers to the drawer and his companions. They concealed from the caravan that they found him in the well. This is because if they told the caravan they picked him up, they would share the profit. If they said they bought him, they would demand partnership. Thus, the soundest approach was to say that the people of the well kept him as merchandise with them to sell to the caravan in Egypt.
2. It is narrated from Ibn Abbas that {And they concealed him} means Joseph's brothers concealed his affair. They hid the fact that he was their brother, claiming instead that he was a runaway slave of theirs. Joseph followed them in this because they threatened him with death in the Hebrew language.

The first opinion is stronger because the phrase {And they concealed him as merchandise} indicates that the concealment occurred at the moment they judged him to be merchandise, which fits the drawer, not Joseph's brothers.

Al-Bidā'ah is a portion of wealth set aside for trade, derived from bad'a al-lahm (cutting up flesh). Al-Zajjāj said that bidā'ah is in the accusative case (nasb) as a circumstantial adverb (hāl), as if saying: "And they concealed him while they treated him as merchandise."

Then the Almighty said: {And Allah is All-Knowing of what they do}. This means that when Joseph (peace be upon him) saw the stars, the sun, and the moon prostrating to him in his dream, and he mentioned it, his brothers envied him and plotted to nullify that outcome, casting him into severe tribulation so that he would not achieve that intended goal. However, the Almighty made his falling into that tribulation the very means by which he reached Egypt. Then his events continued, leading him to become the King of Egypt, thus achieving what he saw in the dream. The action the enemies took to prevent him from achieving that goal was made by Allah the means for achieving that goal. For this reason, He said: {And Allah is All-Knowing of what they do}.

Then the Almighty said: {And they sold him for a meager price, a handful of counted dirhams}. Regarding {And they sold him} (wa sharawhu), there are two opinions:

The First Opinion: The meaning of shirā’ (buying) here is bay’ (selling). Under this interpretation, there are two opinions regarding the seller:

1. Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) said: When Joseph's brothers threw him into the well and returned, they came back after three days to check on him. When they did not find him in the well and saw traces of the caravan, they sought them out. When they saw Joseph, they said, "This is our slave who ran away from us." They said to the caravan people, "Sell him to us," and they sold him to them. The meaning of {And they sold him} is that they sold him. It is said, sharaytu al-shay’ if you sold something. This buying must be interpreted as selling because the pronoun in {And they sold him} and the pronoun in {And they had no desire for him} refer to the same entity. Since the pronoun in {And they had no desire for him} refers to the brothers, the pronoun in {And they sold him} must also refer to the brothers. If so, they sold him, necessitating that this shirā’ be interpreted as selling.

2. The second opinion is that the sellers of Joseph were those who drew him out of the well. Muhammad ibn Ishaq said: Your Lord knows best whether his brothers sold him or the caravan did.

There is another view: It is possible that shirā’ means the actual act of buying. The meaning is that the people bought him and had no desire for him, because they knew from the situation that Joseph's brothers were liars in claiming he was their slave, and perhaps they even knew he was the son of Jacob. They disliked buying him out of fear of God and fear that the truth might emerge. Nevertheless, they bought him in the end, but for a small price, while showing they had no desire for him. Their goal was to use this pretense to lower the price. It is also possible that when the brothers claimed he was a runaway slave, the buyer became indifferent to him. Mujahid said: They used to say, "Make sure he is secured so he does not run away again."

Know that the Almighty described that price with three attributes:

Ibn Abbas said: It means unlawful (harām), because the price of a free person is unlawful. He said: Every bakhs in the Book of Allah means deficiency, except this one, which means unlawful. Al-Wahidi said: Unlawful things are called bakhs because they lack blessing. Qatadah said: Bakhs means oppression (ẓulm), and oppression is deficiency. They say ẓalamahu (he oppressed him), meaning he diminished him. 'Ikrimah and Al-Sha'bi said: Little. It is also said: Deficient from the true value by an obvious deficiency. Or, the dirhams were counterfeit, deficient in weight. Al-Wahidi (may Allah have mercy on him) said: In all opinions, al-bakhs is a verbal noun (maṣdar) used in place of a noun, meaning "with a diminished price."

It is said they were counted one by one and not weighed, because they used to weigh only when the amount reached an ūqiyyah (ounce), which is forty units; they counted what was less than that. Thus, the small amount was called "counted" because large amounts are too numerous to count. Ibn Abbas narrated that it was twenty dirhams, and Al-Suddī said twenty-two dirhams. They said the brothers were eleven, so each took two dirhams, except Judah, who took nothing.

The meaning of zuhd (lack of desire) is little inclination. It is said, zahada fulān fī kadhā (so-and-so abstained from such-and-such), meaning he did not desire it. Its root is scarcity. A man is called zahīd if he is little in greed. There are several interpretations for this:

1. That Joseph's brothers sold him because they had no desire for him.
2. That the caravan members who bought him had no desire for him, because they found him (as a stray), and one who finds something is careless about it and does not care what price he sells it for, or perhaps they feared the rightful owner would appear and take him from their hands, so they sold him for the lowest price.
3. That those who bought him had no desire for him, which we previously explained.

The pronoun in {in him} (fīhi) could refer to Joseph (peace be upon him), or it could refer to the meager price. And Allah knows best.

{7 < {And the one who bought him from Egypt said to his wife, "Make his stay comfortable. Perhaps he will benefit us, or we may adopt him as a son." Thus did We establish Joseph in the land, and that We might teach him the interpretation of events. And Allah is ever dominant over His affair, but most of the people do not know.} > 7 !}