Sūrat Yūsuf

Classification: Meccan (except for verses 1, 2, 3, and 7, which are Medinan). Length: 111 verses. Chronology: Revealed after Sūrat Hūd.

{These} is a demonstrative pronoun referring to the verses of the Surah.

{The Clear Book} refers to the Surah itself. It means: these verses, which have been revealed to you in this Surah, are the verses of a Book whose status is manifest in its miraculous nature to the Arabs and its ability to silence them.

Alternatively, it means:

• Verses that make it clear to those who contemplate them that they are from God, not from humans.
• Verses that are clear, whose meanings are not ambiguous to the Arabs because they were revealed in their own language.
• Verses in which I have clarified what the Jews asked about regarding the story of Yusuf. It is narrated that the Jewish scholars said to the leaders of the polytheists: "Ask Muhammad why the family of Ya'qub moved from the Levant to Egypt?"

{We have revealed it}: We have revealed this Book, which contains the story of Yusuf, in the state of it being {an Arabic Qur'an}. Some of the Qur'an is called "Qur'an" because "Qur'an" is a generic noun that applies to the whole and the part.

{That you might understand}: The intent is that you may comprehend it, grasp its meanings, and that it may not be confused for you—as in the verse: "Had We made it a non-Arabic Qur'an, they would have said: 'Why were its verses not explained in detail?'" (Fussilat: 44).

{The stories}: This word has two aspects:

1. It is a verbal noun (masdar) meaning "the act of narrating." You say: qassa al-hadith yaqussuhu qasasan (he narrated the story), just as you say shallahu yashulluhu shallan (he drove him away).
2. It is a noun (fa'l) in the meaning of a passive participle (maf'ul), like nafd (what is shaken) or hasb (what is counted). Similar to this are naba' (news) and khabar (report), meaning "that which is reported." It is also possible that it is a case of naming the object by the verbal noun, like khalq (creation) and sayd (hunting).

If the verbal noun is intended, the meaning is: "We narrate to you the best of narrations {by what We have revealed to you of this Qur'an}." Here, "the best" (ahsana) is in the accusative case as a verbal noun, and the object of the narration is omitted because the phrase "by what We have revealed to you of this Qur'an" makes it unnecessary. It is also permissible for "this Qur'an" to be in the accusative case governed by "narrate" (naqussu), as if it were said: "We narrate to you the best of narrations—this Qur'an—by our revelation to you."

The "best of narrations" means it is narrated in the most creative way and the most wondrous style. Do you not see that this story is narrated in the books of the ancients and in history books, and do you not see that its narration in any of them is nowhere near its narration in the Qur'an?

If the object (al-maqsus) is intended by the word "stories," the meaning is: "We narrate to you the best of what is narrated of stories." It is the best because it contains lessons, subtle points, wisdom, and wonders not found elsewhere. It is apparent that it is the best of what is narrated in its category, just as one says of a man: "He is the most knowledgeable and best of people," meaning in his field.

If you ask: What is the derivation of qasas? I say: It is from qassa atharahu (he followed his tracks), because the one who narrates a story follows what he has memorized, piece by piece. Just as it is said: tala al-Qur'an (he recited the Qur'an), because he follows (yatlu)—meaning he follows what he has memorized, verse by verse.

{And you were}: The in is the lightened form of the heavy inna. The lam is the one that distinguishes it from the negative in. The pronoun in {before it} refers back to "what We have revealed." The meaning is: The matter and the story were such that, before Our revelation to you, you were among those unaware of it—meaning, among those ignorant of it; you had no knowledge of it at all, nor had any part of it reached your ears.