Tafsir of Yusuf 12:56

{ وَكَذَٰلِكَ } And just as that manifest empowerment was, { مَكَّنَّا لِيُوسُفَ } We empowered Joseph in the land of Egypt. It is narrated that it was forty farsakhs by forty farsakhs.

{ يَتَبَوَّأُ مِنْهَا حَيْثُ يَشَاءُ } It is read with both the nun (we) and the ya (he). It means: any place he wished to take as a residence or a dwelling, he was not prevented from it, due to his mastery over all of it and its submission to his dominion and authority.

[The King’s Grant] It is narrated that the King turned to him, sealed him with his signet ring, and girded him with his sword. He placed for him a throne of gold, studded with pearls and rubies. It is said he told him: "As for the throne, I strengthen your kingdom with it; as for the ring, I manage your affairs with it; and as for the crown, it is neither my attire nor the attire of my forefathers." Joseph replied: "I have placed it there out of reverence for you and acknowledgment of your merit."

[Governance and Personal Life] He sat upon the throne, and kings submitted to him. The King delegated his affairs to him and dismissed Qitfir. When Qitfir later died, the King married Joseph to his wife, Zuleikha. When he entered upon her, he said: "Is this not better than what you sought?" He found her a virgin, and she bore him two sons: Ephraim and Mesha. He established justice in Egypt, and both men and women loved him. The King and many of the people embraced Islam at his hands.

[The Years of Famine] During the years of drought, he sold food to the people of Egypt in the first year for gold and silver coins until they had nothing left. Then he sold it for jewelry and gems, then for livestock, then for estates and real estate, and finally for their own persons until he enslaved them all. They said: "By God, we have never seen a king more majestic or greater than him." The King asked Joseph: "How have you seen what I have entrusted to you? What is your opinion?" Joseph replied: "The opinion is yours." The King said: "I call God to witness, and I call you to witness, that I have freed the people of Egypt, every last one of them, and returned their properties to them." He would not sell to any of those seeking provisions more than a camel-load, to distribute it fairly among the people.

[The Arrival of his Family] The land of Canaan and the Levant were struck by the same fate as the land of Egypt, so Jacob sent his sons to seek provisions, and Joseph detained Benjamin.

{ بِرَحْمَتِنَا } By Our mercy—that is, by Our gift in this world of kingship, wealth, and other blessings.

{ مَن نَّشَاءُ } Whomever We will—those for whom wisdom dictates that We should will it for them.

{ وَلَا نُضِيعُ أَجْرَ الْمُحْسِنِينَ } We do not let the reward of the doers of good go to waste, for We reward them in this world.

{ وَلَأَجْرُ الْآخِرَةِ خَيْرٌ لِّلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَكَانُوا يَتَّقُونَ }