Surah Yusuf 12:84
ﲭ ﲮ ﲯ ﲰ ﲱ ﲲ ﲳ ﲴ ﲵ ﲶ ﲷ ﲸ
And he turned away from them and said, "Oh, my sorrow over Joseph," and his eyes became white from grief, for he was [of that] a suppressor.
Tafsir of Yusuf 12:84
Tafsir
Al-Kashshaf
Verse range: 12:84
{ وتولى عنهم } He turned away from them, averting his face out of dislike for what they had brought.
{ يا أسفى } He attributed *al-asaf*—which is the most intense form of grief and sorrow—to his own self. The *alif* is a substitute for the *ya* of possession. The phonetic harmony between the words *al-asaf* and *Yusuf* is a natural, unforced occurrence that adds beauty and eloquence. Similar examples include: * { اثاقلتم إلى الارض أرضيتم } (9:38) * { وهم ينهون عنه وينأون عنه } (6:26) * { يحسبون أنهم يحسنون } (18:104) * { من سبإ بنبإ } (27:22)
It is narrated from the Prophet (ﷺ): "No nation was given 'We belong to Allah and to Him we shall return' at the time of calamity except the nation of Muhammad (ﷺ). Do you not see that when Jacob was struck by what he was struck with, he did not say istirja' (the formula of returning to Allah), but rather said, 'Oh, my sorrow for Yusuf'?"
If you ask: How could he grieve for Yusuf and not for his brother or the third one, given that the most recent calamity is usually more intense and leaves a clearer mark? I say: It is evidence of the persistence of his grief for Yusuf, that no subsequent loss ever occupied the same place in his heart, and that the tragedy of Yusuf remained fresh and vivid to him despite the passage of time. Furthermore, the tragedy of Yusuf was the foundation of all his calamities, upon which the subsequent tragedies of his children were built; thus, grieving for him was grieving for all who followed.
{ وابيضت عيناه } When weeping becomes excessive, the tears consume the black of the eye and turn it into a cloudy white. It is said he became blind; others say his vision was merely weakened. It is recited: *min al-huzn* (from grief). Grief was the cause of the weeping that resulted in the whiteness, so it is as if it occurred *because* of the grief. It is said that Jacob’s eyes did not dry from the time of his separation from Yusuf until their reunion—a period of eighty years—and there was no one on the face of the earth more honored by Allah than Jacob.
It is narrated from the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) that he asked Gabriel (AS): "What did Jacob’s longing for Yusuf reach?" He replied: "The longing of seventy bereaved mothers." He asked: "And what was his reward?" He replied: "The reward of a hundred martyrs, and he never once harbored a bad thought about Allah."
If you ask: How was it permissible for a Prophet of Allah to reach such a level of distress (jaza’)? I say: Man is naturally fashioned such that he cannot control his heart from grief during calamities. This is why his patience was praised—for restraining himself so as not to descend into what is improper. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) wept for his son Ibrahim and said: "The heart grieves, the eye sheds tears, and we do not say anything that displeases the Lord; and we are indeed saddened by your departure, O Ibrahim." The blameworthy distress is that which comes from the ignorant: wailing, lamenting, slapping chests and faces, and tearing clothes.
The Prophet (ﷺ) wept for the child of one of his daughters as the child was passing away. It was said: "O Messenger of Allah, you weep, yet you forbade us from weeping?" He replied: "I did not forbid you from weeping; I only forbade you from two foolish sounds: a sound during joy and a sound during grief." Al-Hasan once wept for a child or someone else, and when asked about it, he said: "I have not seen that Allah made grief a shame for Jacob."