Tafseer of Joseph · Yusuf · 12:10
Said a speaker among them, "Do not kill Joseph but throw him into the bottom of the well; some travelers will pick him up - if you would do [something]."
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 word of Allah, the Exalted: قَالَ قَائِلٌ مِنْهُمْ لا تَقْتُلُوا يُوسُفَ وَأَلْقُوهُ فِي غَيَابَةِ الْجُبِّ يَلْتَقِطْهُ بَعْضُ السَّيَّارَةِ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ فَاعِلِينَ (10)
Abū Jaʿfar said: the Exalted says: one of the brothers of Yūsuf said: لا تقتلوا يوسف (do not kill Yūsuf).
It has been said that the one who said this was Rūbīl, who was a son of the maternal aunt of Yūsuf.
*Mention of who said that:*
18799 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: لا تقتلوا يوسف — it has been conveyed to us that he was Rūbīl, the eldest of the company, who was a son of the maternal aunt of Yūsuf; he forbade them from killing him.
18800 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq: اقتلوا يوسف up to His word: إن كنتم فاعلين — he said: it has been conveyed to me — and Allah knows best — that the one who said this among them was Rūbīl, the eldest of the sons of Yaʿqūb, and he had the most moderate judgment concerning his affair.
18801 — al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: لا تقتلوا يوسف — he said: he was the eldest of his brothers and a son of the maternal aunt of Yūsuf; he forbade them from killing him.
It has been said that the one who said this among them was Shamʿūn.
*Mention of who said that:*
18802 — al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word: قال قائل منهم لا تقتلوا يوسف — he said: it was Shamʿūn.
As for His word: وألقوه في غيابة الجب — He says: and cast him into the depth of the well (al-jubb), where no news of him is heard.
The Qurʾān reciters differed concerning its reading.
Most of the reciters of Medina read it as: "ghiyābāt al-jubb" — in the plural.
Most of the reciters of the other cities read it as: غَيابَةِ الجُبِّ — in the singular.
Abū Jaʿfar said: the singular reading is my preference.
"Al-jubb" is a water well (biʾr).
It has been said that it is the name of a well in Jerusalem (Bayt al-Maqdis).
*Mention of who said that:*
18803 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning غيابة الجب — he said: a well in Jerusalem.
18804 — al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: غيابة الجب — he said: a well in Jerusalem.
Al-ghiyāba is everything that conceals something, that is then its "ghiyāba." And al-jubb is a well that is not lined with stones.
In a sense similar to what we have said concerning this, the exegetes spoke.
*Mention of who said that:*
18805 — al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning غيابة الجب — in one of its sides; at its bottom.
18806 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: وألقوه في غيابة الجب — he says: in one of its sides.
18807 — al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Wahhāb related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Qatāda, likewise.
18807 — al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, who said: Ibn ʿAbbās said concerning وألقوه في غيابة الجب — he said: the eldest of them who remained behind said it. He said: al-jubb is a well in Syria.
18809 — Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: وألقوه في غيابة الجب — he means: the water well (al-rakiyya).
18810 — it was related to me from al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Farj, who said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say, he said: ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān related to us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say: "al-jubb" is the well (al-biʾr).
As for His word: يلتقطه بعض السيارة — He says: a part of the travelers on the road picks him up, إن كنتم فاعلين — He says: if you do what I tell you. It is mentioned that a group of the bedouin picked him up.
18811 — al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, who said: Ibn ʿAbbās said concerning يلتقطه بعض السيارة — he said: people of the bedouin picked him up.
It is mentioned that al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī read: "talṭaqiṭhu baʿḍ al-sayyāra" — with a tāʾ.
18812 — Aḥmad ibn Yūsuf related this to me, saying: al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Hārūn, on the authority of Maṭar al-Warrāq, on the authority of al-Ḥasan.
Al-Ḥasan, with his use of the feminine form for "baʿḍ al-sayyāra," meant that the action of a part of it is the action of the whole. The Arabs do this in the predicate concerning a noun that is in a genitive construction (genitive annexation) with a feminine noun — where the predicate concerning a part of them is the same as the predicate concerning the whole — as the poet said:
"I see how the passing of the years has plundered me, just as the dark night plunders the crescent moon."
He said: "they plundered me" (akhkadhna), although he began the predicate concerning "the passing" (al-marr), because the predicate concerning "the passing" is the same as the predicate concerning "the years." And as another poet said:
"When a leader of them dies, a leader arises, and the inhabitants of cities and churches bowed before him."
He said "they bowed" (dānat), while the predicate is about the people of the cities, because the predicate concerning them is the same as that concerning the cities. Whoever says this does not say: "she bowed before him, the maidservant of Hind," because "the maidservant" — if she were dropped from the sentence — would not be indicated by "Hind," in contrast to the predicate concerning "the city," which points to its inhabitants. For if it were said: "the cities bowed before him," it would be known that this is a predicate concerning their inhabitants. Likewise applies "baʿḍ al-sayyāra": if one dropped "baʿḍ" and said "talṭaqiṭhu al-sayyāra," it would be known that this is a predicate concerning a part or the whole, and the predicate concerning "al-sayyāra" points to that.
