Tafsir of Yusuf 12:15

{أن يجعلوه} (To place him): The object of the verb {أجمعوا} (they resolved), as in the phrase "He resolved the matter" (ajma‘a al-amr), and the verse {فأجمعوا أمركم} (So resolve upon your plan) [Yunus: 71].

{في غيابات الجب} (In the depths of the well): It is said to be a well in Jerusalem, or in the land of Jordan, or between Egypt and Midian, or three farsakhs from Jacob’s home.

The response to {لما} (When) is omitted. Its meaning is: They did to him what they did of harm. It is narrated that when they reached the wilderness, they showed him enmity, insulting and beating him. Whenever he sought help from one of them, he met only abuse and blows, until they nearly killed him. He cried out, "O my father, if you only knew what the sons of the bondwomen are doing to your son!" Judah said, "Did you not give me a solemn promise not to kill him?"

When they intended to throw him into the well, he clung to their clothes, but they tore them from his hands. He then clung to the wall of the well, so they bound his hands and stripped off his shirt. He said, "O my brothers, return my shirt to me so I may cover myself." They had stripped him only to stain it with blood to deceive their father. They said to him, "Call upon the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars to keep you company!" They lowered him into the well, and when he reached halfway, they dropped him to kill him. There was water in the well; he fell into it, then took refuge on a rock, standing upon it and weeping. They called out to him, and thinking they had felt mercy, he answered them. They intended to crush him with a rock to kill him, but Judah prevented them. Judah would later bring him food.

It is narrated that when Abraham (peace be upon him) was thrown into the fire and stripped of his clothes, Gabriel brought him a shirt of silk from Paradise and clothed him in it. Abraham passed it to Isaac, Isaac to Jacob, and Jacob placed it in an amulet he hung around Joseph’s neck. Gabriel came and took it out and clothed him in it.

{وأوحينا إليه} (And We inspired him): It is said he was inspired while young, just as John and Jesus were. Others say he had reached maturity; Al-Hasan said he was seventeen years old.

{لتنبئنهم بأمرهم هذا} (You will surely inform them of this affair of theirs): He was inspired to comfort him in the darkness and loneliness, and to give him glad tidings of his future. It means: You will surely be delivered from your current state, and you will tell your brothers what they did to you.

{وهم لا يشعرون} (While they do not perceive): That you are Joseph, due to your high status, your royal majesty, and the fact that your condition is far from their imagination, as well as the passage of time which alters appearances. When they entered to seek provisions, he recognized them while they did not recognize him. He called for the drinking cup, placed it in his hand, tapped it, and said, "This cup informs me that you had a brother from your father named Joseph, whom he favored over you. You took him, threw him into the depths of the well, told your father a wolf ate him, and sold him for a meager price."

It is also possible that {وهم لا يشعرون} relates to {وأوحينا} (We inspired him), meaning: We comforted him with revelation and removed the loneliness from his heart, while they were unaware of this, thinking he was distressed and alone. It is also read as {لننبئنهم} (We will surely inform them) with an 'n', as a threat to them. In this reading, {وهم لا يشعرون} relates only to {أوحينا}.

{وجاءوا أباهم عشاء يبكون * قالوا يا أبانا إنا ذهبنا نستبق وتركنا يوسف عند متاعنا فأكله الذئب وما أنت بمؤمن لنا ولو كنا صادقين} (And they came to their father at nightfall, weeping. They said, "O our father, indeed we went racing and left Joseph with our possessions, and the wolf ate him. But you would not believe us, even if we were truthful.")