Tafseer of Joseph · Yusuf · 12:1
Alif, Lam, Ra. These are the verses of the clear Book.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The explanation of the words of the Exalted: الر تِلْكَ آيَاتُ الْكِتَابِ الْمُبِينِ ("Alif Lām Rāʾ. These are the verses of the clear Book") (12:1).
Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Jarīr [al-Ṭabarī] said: We have already mentioned the disagreement of the exegetes (ahl al-taʾwīl) concerning the explanation of His words: "Alif Lām Rāʾ, these are the verses of the Book", as well as the view that we prefer in the explanation thereof, in what has already passed, in a manner that makes it unnecessary to repeat it here. (16)
* * *
As for His words: "these are the verses of the clear Book" (al-kitāb al-mubīn) — concerning this the exegetes have differed.
Some of them said: its meaning is: "these are the verses of the clear Book", that is to say: the Book that makes clear its permitted (ḥalāl) and its forbidden (ḥarām), and its true guidance and its straight path (hudā).
Mention of who said that:
18768 — Saʿīd ibn ʿAmr al-Sakūnī related to me, he said: al-Walīd ibn Salama al-Filasṭīnī related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Wahhāb ibn Mujāhid informed me, on the authority of his father, concerning the words of Allah the Exalted: "Alif Lām Rāʾ, these are the verses of the clear Book", he said: it makes clear its permitted and its forbidden. (17)
18769 — Bishr related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His words: "Alif Lām Rāʾ, these are the verses of the clear Book", [he said:] yes, by Allah, it is indeed clear; Allah has made clear its guidance and its straight path. (18)
18770 — al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, he said: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His words: "Alif Lām Rāʾ, these are the verses of the clear Book", he said: Allah has made clear its straight path and its guidance.
* * *
And others said the following concerning it:
18771 — Saʿīd ibn ʿAmr al-Sakūnī related to me, he said: al-Walīd ibn Salama related to us, he said: Thawr ibn Yazīd related to us, on the authority of Khālid ibn Maʿdān, on the authority of Muʿādh, that he said concerning the words of Allah, mighty and exalted is He: "the clear Book": it makes clear the letters that have fallen away from the tongues of the non-Arabs (al-aʿājim), and these are six letters. (19)
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: And the correct view concerning it, in my opinion, is that one says: its meaning is: these are the verses of the clear Book, for whoever recites it and reflects upon what it contains of its permitted and its forbidden, its prohibition, and all the rest that it encompasses of the various kinds of its meanings; for Allah, exalted is His praise, has informed [us] that it is "clear" (mubīn), and He did not restrict its making-clear to a part of what it contains to the exclusion of the whole thereof, so that this applies to the whole of it, since the whole of it makes clear what it contains.
----------------------
The footnotes [of the editor]:
(1) See the explanation of "al-umma" in what has passed earlier, p. 353, note 4, and the references there.
(2) The report 18716 — "al-Ḥasan ibn Wāṣil": I have found no mention of him, and I fear that there is a scribal error in it, and that the correct reading would be: "al-Ḥasan, on the authority of Wāṣil", by which he apparently means: "Wāṣil ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān", "Abū Ḥurra", who transmits on the authority of al-Ḥasan, passed under the numbers: 6385, 11496, 12616.
(3) See the explanation of "al-jinn" in what has passed earlier, 1:502–508.
(4) See the explanation of "al-qaṣaṣ" in what has passed earlier, p. 470, note 2, and the references there.
(5) See the explanation of "al-nabaʾ" in what has passed earlier, from the linguistic indexes (nabaʾ).
(6) See the explanation of "al-tathbīt" in what has passed earlier, 5:354, 531 / 7:272, 237 / 8:529 / 13:427.
(7) See what has passed earlier concerning the rule of "kull", 6:210, and then the explanation of "kull" in what has passed earlier, p. 212, and the linguistic indexes under the lemma (kll).
(8) The addition between brackets, I hope that it is the correct one.
(9) See the explanation of "al-mawʿiẓa" in what has passed earlier, p. 104, note 1, and the references there.
(10) See the explanation of "al-makāna" in what has passed earlier, p. 463, note 1, and the references there.
(11) See the explanation of "al-ghayb" in what has passed earlier, 14:381, note 1, and the references there.
(12) See the explanation of "al-tawakkul" in what has passed earlier, p. 168, note 1, and the references there.
(13) See the explanation of "al-ghafla" in what has passed earlier, p. 198, note 2, and the references there.
(14) The report 18767 — the report has already passed in its entirety under number 13043, and via another route with a similar text, number 13042.
(15) In the manuscript there follows after this the following text: "Here follows the explanation of the surah in which Yūsuf is mentioned, and this is the end of the twelfth part. Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds, and may Allah bestow blessing and peace upon our master Muḥammad and his family and his companions."
(16) See what has passed earlier, pp. 9–12.
(17) The report 18768 — "al-Walīd ibn Salama al-Filasṭīnī al-Urdunnī", judge of Jordan, a liar, he fabricated traditions and ascribed them to the trustworthy transmitters. Biography in Ibn Abī Ḥātim 4/2/6, and Mīzān al-iʿtidāl 3:271, and Lisān al-mīzān 6:222. And "ʿAbd al-Wahhāb ibn Mujāhid ibn Jabr" is very weak; Sufyān said: a liar; Aḥmad said: he did not hear [directly] from his father, he is worth nothing. Passed under number 636.
(18) In the printed edition it reads "tarkībuhu", and in the manuscript "barlīh", and I have derived the correct reading from what follows it.
(19) The report 18771 — "al-Walīd ibn Salama al-Filasṭīnī", a liar, already passed under number 18768. And "Thawr ibn Yazīd al-Kalāʿī" is trustworthy, with sound transmission, passed under number 3196. And "Khālid ibn Maʿdān ibn Abī Karib al-Kalāʿī", a trustworthy tābiʿī, from whom the [six] collectors transmitted, passed under the numbers 2070, 9224. And this report has as its defect [the presence of] al-Walīd ibn Salama.
