Tafsir of Yusuf 12:90

"Are you indeed Yusuf?" (أئنك لأنت يوسف): It is read as an interrogative (A-innaka). It is also read as an affirmation (Innaka). In the reading of Ubayy, it is: (A-innaka aw anta Yusuf), meaning: "Are you Yusuf, or is it you, Yusuf?" The first is omitted because the second implies it. This is the speech of one astonished and bewildered by what he hears, so he repeats the verification.

If you ask: How did they recognize him? I say: They saw in his demeanor and character, when he spoke to them, that which made them perceive it was him. They knew that such speech could only come from a Hanif (monotheist) Muslim of the lineage of Abraham, not from the nobles of Egypt. It is said: He smiled at that moment, and they recognized him by his front teeth, which were like strung pearls. It is also said: They did not recognize him until he lifted the crown from his head, and they looked at a mark on his forehead that Jacob and Sarah also possessed, resembling a white mole.

If you ask: They asked him about himself, so why did he answer regarding himself and his brother? I say: Because in mentioning his brother, there was an explanation for what they asked him about: "Whoever fears God"—who fears God and His punishment—"and is patient"—abstaining from sins and enduring acts of obedience—"then God does not waste" the reward of the doers of good. He placed "the doers of good" in the position of the pronoun because it encompasses the God-fearing and the patient.

"God has certainly preferred you over us" (لقد آثرك الله علينا): Meaning: He favored you over us through piety, patience, and the conduct of the doers of good. Our state and condition were that we were sinners, intentionally committing transgression; we were neither pious nor patient. It is inevitable that God has honored you with kingship and humiliated us by our neediness before you.

"No reproach on you this day" (لا تثريب عليكم): Meaning: No blame or rebuke upon you. The root of tathrib is tharb, which is the fat covering the stomach. Its meaning is "the removal of the tharb," just as tajlid (flogging) and taqri' (scolding) mean the removal of skin or the striking of the head. When it is gone, it is the ultimate state of emaciation and weakness, beyond which there is nothing. Thus, it is used as a metaphor for the scolding that tears apart reputations and strips away one's dignity.

If you ask: To what does "this day" (al-yawm) attach? I say: To "reproach," or to the implied meaning of "stability" in "upon you" ('alaykum), or to "He will forgive" (yaghfir). The meaning is: "There is no reproach upon you today." This is the day that is the expected time for reproach, so what do you think of other days? Then he began a new sentence, saying: "May God forgive you," invoking forgiveness for what they had committed. It is said: Ghafara Allahu laka (God forgave you) and Yaghfiru Allahu laka (God forgives you), using both past and present tenses. From this is the saying of one who blesses a sneezer: "May God guide you and set your affairs right." "This day may God forgive you" is a glad tiding of immediate divine forgiveness, due to their repentance and remorse for their sin on that day.

It is narrated: That the Messenger of God (peace be upon him) took hold of the two doorposts of the Kaaba on the day of the Conquest and said to the Quraysh: "What do you think I am going to do to you?" They said: "We think well; a noble brother and the son of a noble brother; and you have power." He said: "I say as my brother Yusuf said: 'No reproach on you this day.'"

It is narrated: That when Abu Sufyan came to accept Islam, Al-Abbas said to him: "When you come to the Messenger, recite to him: 'No reproach on you this day.'" He did so, and the Messenger of God (peace be upon him) said: "May God forgive you and the one who taught you."

It is narrated: That when his brothers recognized him and sent word to him: "You invite us to your food morning and evening, and we are ashamed before you because of what we did to you," Yusuf said: "The people of Egypt, even if I rule over them, look at me with the first eye (of my past), saying: 'Glory to Him who raised a slave sold for twenty dirhams to what he has reached.' But I have now been honored by you and magnified in their eyes, as people know you are my brothers and that I am of the descendants of Abraham."

"Take this shirt of mine" (اذهبوا بقميصي هذا): It is said this was the inherited shirt that was in Yusuf’s amulet, and it was from Paradise. Gabriel (peace be upon him) commanded him to send it, for it contained the scent of Paradise; it would not touch an afflicted or sick person but that they would be healed.

"It will bring back sight" (يأت بصيرا): Meaning: He will become sighted (basiran). Like saying: "The building came out sturdy," meaning it became so. This is supported by: "He became sighted" (Yusuf: 96), or it means "He will come to me while he is sighted." This is supported by: "And bring me your family all together." Meaning: My father will come to me, and his family will come to me all together. It is said: Judah was the one who carried it. He said: "I saddened him by bringing the shirt stained with blood to him, so I will gladden him just as I saddened him." It is said he carried it barefoot and bareheaded from Egypt to Canaan, a distance of eighty farsakhs.