Tafsir of Yusuf 12:80

{فَلَمَّا اسْتَيْأَسُوا مِنْهُ} They despaired. The addition of the sin and ta denotes intensification, similar to what has passed regarding ista‘ṣama (to seek protection).

{نَجِيًّا} This carries two meanings:

1. It can mean "the one who confers privately" (al-munājī), similar to al-‘ashīr (companion) and al-samīr (night-time conversationalist), meaning al-mu‘āshir (the one who associates) and al-musāmir (the one who converses at night). From this is His saying, the Exalted: "And We brought him near, a confidant (najiyyā)" (Maryam: 52).
2. It can mean the verbal noun (maṣdar) which is "private conversation" (al-tanājī), just as al-najwā is used for the same meaning. From this, it is said: "a group of najī" (confiding), just as it is said: "And when they are in private (najwā)" (al-Isrā’: 47), treating the verbal noun as an adjective. It is permissible to say: "They are najī," just as it is said: "They are ṣadīq (friends)," because it follows the pattern of verbal nouns and its plural is anjiyah. A poet said: “Indeed, when the people are his confidants (anjiyahu)...”

{خَلَصُوا نَجِيًّا} They withdrew and separated themselves from the people, being pure, with no one else mixing with them. Najiyyā means: possessing private counsel, or a group in private, meaning they were conferring privately with one another. Better than this is that they were entirely devoted to private counsel, due to their gathering for it and pouring themselves into it with seriousness and concern, as if they were, in themselves, the very image and reality of private counsel. Their private counsel was regarding the management of their affair: in what manner should they depart? And what should they say to their father regarding their brother? They were like people overwhelmed by a calamity that had befallen them, necessitating consultation.

{كَبِيرُهُمْ} The eldest in age, who is Reuben. It is also said: their leader, who is Simeon. It is also said: the greatest of them in intellect and judgment, who is Judah.

{مَا فَرَّطْتُمْ فِي يُوسُفَ} There are several interpretations:

1. That mā is a redundant particle (ṣilah), meaning: "And before this, you were negligent regarding Yusuf and did not keep the covenant of your father."
2. That it is a verbal noun (maṣdariyyah), where the place of the verbal noun is in the nominative as an ibtida’ (subject), and its predicate is the adverbial phrase min qabl (from before). Its meaning: "And your negligence regarding Yusuf occurred before."
3. That it is in the accusative, as a conjunction to the object of alam ta‘lamū (do you not know), which is anna abākum (that your father). It is as if it were said: "Do you not know of your father taking a pledge from you, and your negligence regarding Yusuf before?"
4. That it is a relative pronoun (mawṣūlah), meaning: "And before this, that which you neglected regarding Yusuf," meaning: the great crime you committed against him. Its place is in the nominative or accusative, based on the two aforementioned interpretations.

{فَلَنْ أَبْرَحَ الْأَرْضَ} I will not depart from the land of Egypt.

{حَتَّى يَأْذَنَ لِي أَبِي} To return to him.

{أَوْ يَحْكُمَ اللَّهُ لِي} By my departure from it, or by obtaining justice from the one who took my brother, or by his release from his hand through some means.

{وَهُوَ خَيْرُ الْحَاكِمِينَ} Because He never judges except with justice and truth.

{ارْجِعُوا إِلَى أَبِيكُمْ فَقُولُوا يَا أَبَانَا إِنَّ ابْنَكَ سَرَقَ وَمَا شَهِدْنَا إِلَّا بِمَا عَلِمْنَا وَمَا كُنَّا لِلْغَيْبِ حَافِظِينَ}