Tafseer of Joseph · Yusuf · 12:100
And he raised his parents upon the throne, and they bowed to him in prostration. And he said, "O my father, this is the explanation of my vision of before. My Lord has made it reality. And He was certainly good to me when He took me out of prison and brought you [here] from bedouin life after Satan had induced [estrangement] between me and my brothers. Indeed, my Lord is Subtle in what He wills. Indeed, it is He who is the Knowing, the Wise.
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.
As for His word: ورفع أبويه على العرش — He means: upon the throne (al-sarīr, the raised seat of authority), as in:
19883 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: ʿAmr related to us, on the authority of Asbāṭ, on the authority of al-Suddī: ورفع أبويه على العرش — he said: the throne is the seat (al-sarīr).
19884 — al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Yazīd al-Wāsiṭī related to us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, who said: "al-ʿarsh" is the seat (al-sarīr).
19885 — he said: Shabāba related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word: ورفع أبويه على العرش — he said: the seat.
19886 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to us, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, likewise.
19887 — al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa informed us, saying: Shbl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid.
19888 — and al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh related to us, on the authority of Warqāʾ, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, likewise.
19889 — al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid, likewise.
19890 — al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa informed us, saying: Shbl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid.
19891 — and al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh related to us, on the authority of Warqāʾ, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, likewise.
19892 — al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid, likewise.
19893 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: ورفع أبويه على العرش — he said: his seat.
19894 — 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: على العرش — he said: upon the seat.
19895 — 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: ورفع أبويه على العرش — he says: he raised his parents upon the seat.
19896 — Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq related to us, saying: Abū Aḥmad related to us, saying: Sufyān said: ورفع أبويه على العرش — he said: upon the seat.
19897 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word: ورفع أبويه على العرش — he said: his sitting-place (majlis).
19898 — Ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥīm al-Barqī related to me, saying: ʿAmr ibn Abī Salama related to us, saying: I asked Zayd ibn Aslam about the word of Allah, the Exalted: ورفع أبويه على العرش , and said: has it reached you that it was his maternal aunt? He said: some of the scholars say this — they say that his mother had died earlier and that this was his maternal aunt.
As for His word: وخرّوا له سجدًا — He says: Yaʿqūb and his children and his mother fell down before Yūsuf in prostration (sujūd).
19899 — 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: وخرُّوا له سجدًا — he says: he raised his parents upon the seat, and the two of them cast themselves down before him, and his brothers cast themselves down before him.
19900 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, who said: Yaʿqūb set out with his household until they reached Yūsuf. When they assembled before Yūsuf, they entered upon him, and as soon as they saw him, they fell down before him in prostration (sujūd). That was the greeting of the kings in that time: his father and his mother and his brothers.
19901 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: وخروا له سجدًا — "that was the greeting of those before you; people greeted one another with it. But Allah granted this community the salutation of peace (al-salām), the greeting of the people of Paradise, as a favor from Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, which He bestowed upon them in advance, and as a kindness from Him."
19902 — 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: وخروا له سجدًا — he said: the greeting of the people in that time was that they would prostrate before one another.
19903 — Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq related to us, saying: Abū Isḥāq related to us, saying: Sufyān said: وخرّوا له سجدًا — he said: it was a greeting among them.
19904 — al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj: وخروا له سجدًا — his parents and his brothers; that was their greeting, as people do today.
19905 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: al-Muḥāribī related to us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk: وخروا له سجدًا — he said: a greeting among them.
19906 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word: وخرُّوا له سجدًا — he said: that prostration was on account of his rank, just as the angels prostrated before Ādam on account of his rank; it was not a prostration of worship.
Whoever among these said that it was "the greeting among them" meant thereby that this was a custom among them, not as worship of one for another. The proof that this existed of old among people before Islam, without its being worship of one for another, is the saying of al-Aʿshā of Banū Thaʿlaba:
"When he came to us late in the night, we cast ourselves down before him and raised up the ʿimāra."
As for His word: يا أبت هذا تأويل رؤياي من قبل قد جعلها ربي حقًّا — the Exalted says — relating what Yūsuf said to his father: "O father, this prostration in which you and my mother and my brothers have cast yourselves down before me — تأويل رؤياي من قبل — that is to say: the outcome of my earlier dream which I had seen — and that was the dream he had seen before what his brothers did to him: that eleven stars and the sun and the moon prostrated before him — قد جعلها ربي حقًّا — He says: my Lord has made it come true, in that its outcome came to pass exactly."
The scholars differed concerning the length of the period between Yūsuf's dream and its fulfillment.
Some said: that period was forty years.
*Mention of who said that:*
19907 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to me, saying: al-Muʿtamir related to us, on the authority of his father, who said: Abū ʿUthmān related to us, on the authority of Salmān al-Fārisī, who said: "Between Yūsuf's dream and the moment he saw its fulfillment were forty years."
19908 — Yaʿqūb ibn Burhān and Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, they said: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, saying: Sulaymān al-Taymī related to us, on the authority of Abū ʿUthmān al-Nahdī, who said: ʿUthmān said: "Between Yūsuf's dream and the moment he saw its fulfillment" — he mentioned: forty years.
19909 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of al-Taymī, on the authority of Abū ʿUthmān, on the authority of Salmān, who said: "Between Yūsuf's dream and its fulfillment were forty years."
19910 — al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Nuʿaym related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Abū Sinān, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Shaddād, who said: "He saw the fulfillment of his dream after forty years."
19911 — he said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Sulaymān al-Taymī, on the authority of Abū ʿUthmān, on the authority of Salmān, likewise.
19912 — Abū al-Sāʾib related to me, saying: Ibn Fuḍayl related to us, on the authority of Ḍirār, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Shaddād, that he heard people disputing about a dream which one of them had during the prayer. When he had finished, he asked them about it, but they concealed it from him. He said: "Know then: the outcome of Yūsuf's dream reached him after forty years."
19913 — Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us — and Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us — on the authority of Isrāʾīl, on the authority of Ḍirār ibn Murra Abū Sinān, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Shaddād, who said: "Between Yūsuf's dream and its fulfillment were forty years."
19914 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Ibn Fuḍayl and Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Abū Sinān, who said: he heard ʿAbd Allāh ibn Shaddād hearing people dispute about a dream — he mentioned something similar to the report of Abū al-Sāʾib via Ibn Fuḍayl.
19915 — Aḥmad related to us, saying: Abū Aḥmad related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Sulaymān al-Taymī, on the authority of Abū ʿUthmān, on the authority of Salmān, who said: "He saw the fulfillment of his dream after forty years."
19916 — al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad related to us, saying: Ibn ʿUyayna informed us, on the authority of Abū Sinān, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Shaddād, who said: "Yūsuf's dream came to fulfillment after forty years; to that reaches the utmost limit of a dream."
19917 — he said: Muʿādh ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Sulaymān al-Taymī related to us, on the authority of Abū ʿUthmān, on the authority of Salmān, who said: "Between Yūsuf's dream and the moment he saw its fulfillment were forty years."
19918 — he said: ʿAbd al-Wahhāb ibn ʿAṭāʾ related to us, on the authority of Sulaymān al-Taymī, on the authority of Abū ʿUthmān, on the authority of Salmān, who said: "Between Yūsuf's dream and its interpretation were forty years."
19919 — he said: Saʿīd ibn Sulaymān related to us, saying: Hushaym related to us, on the authority of Sulaymān al-Taymī, on the authority of Abū ʿUthmān, on the authority of Salmān, who said: "Between Yūsuf's dream and the moment he saw its fulfillment were forty years."
19920 — he said: Saʿīd ibn Sulaymān related to us, saying: Hushaym related to us, on the authority of Sulaymān al-Taymī, on the authority of Abū ʿUthmān, on the authority of Salmān, who said: "Between Yūsuf's dream and the moment he saw its fulfillment were forty years."
19921 — he said: ʿAmr ibn Muḥammad al-ʿAnqazī related to us, saying: Isrāʾīl related to us, on the authority of Abū Sinān, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Shaddād, who said: "Between Yūsuf's dream and its interpretation were forty years."
Others said: that period was eighty years.
*Mention of who said that:*
19922 — ʿAmr ibn ʿAlī related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Thaqafī related to us, saying: Hishām related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, who said: "From the separation of Yūsuf and Yaʿqūb until their reunion was eighty years; sorrow never left his heart and his tears flowed down his cheeks. There was at that time no servant on the earth more beloved to Allah than Yaʿqūb."
19923 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Abū Jaʿfar Jasr ibn Farqad, who said: "Between the time when Yaʿqūb lost Yūsuf and the day he regained him was eighty years."
19924 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī related to us, on the authority of Fuḍayl ibn ʿIyāḍ, who said: "I have heard that between the separation of Yūsuf from the lap of Yaʿqūb and their reunion was eighty years."
19925 — al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad related to us, saying: Dāwūd ibn Mahrān related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Wāḥid ibn Ziyād related to us, on the authority of Yūnus, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, who said: "Yūsuf was thrown into the well when he was seventeen years old; between that moment and his reunion with Yaʿqūb was eighty years; thereafter he lived twenty-three more years and died at the age of one hundred and twenty years."
19926 — he said: Saʿīd ibn Sulaymān related to us, saying: Hushaym related to us, on the authority of Yūnus, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, similarly — except that he said: eighty-three years.
19927 — he said: Dāwūd ibn Mahrān related to us, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Yūnus, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, who said: "Yūsuf was thrown into the well when he was seventeen years old; he spent eighty years in slavery (al-ʿubūdiyya), in prison, and in kingship; thereafter Allah ﷺ reunited his family once more; thereafter he lived twenty-three more years."
19928 — al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz related to us, saying: Mubārak ibn Faḍāla related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, who said: "Yūsuf was thrown into the well when he was seventeen years old; he was separated from his father for eighty years; thereafter, after Allah had reunited his family and he had seen the fulfillment of his dream, he lived twenty-three more years; he died at the age of one hundred and twenty years."
19929 — Mujāhid related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Hushaym informed us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, who said: "Yūsuf was separated from his father in the well and in the prison until they were reunited, for eighty years; the eyes of Yaʿqūb never dried, and there was on the earth none more noble before Allah than Yaʿqūb."
Others said: that period was eighteen years.
*Mention of who said that:*
19930 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, who said: "It has been conveyed to me — and Allah knows best — that the absence of Yūsuf from Yaʿqūb was eighteen years. And the People of the Book claim that it was forty years or thereabouts, and that Yaʿqūb stayed with Yūsuf for seventeen years after he had come to him in Egypt; thereafter Allah took him to Himself."
As for His word: وقد أحسن بي إذ أخرجني من السجن وجاء بكم من البدو — the Exalted says — relating what Yūsuf said: "Allah has indeed been gracious to me by delivering me from the prison in which I was confined, and by bringing you from the land of the bedouins (al-badw)." For the dwelling-place of Yaʿqūb and his children was — as has been mentioned — in the wilderness of Palestine.
19931 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, who said: "The dwelling-place of Yaʿqūb and his children was — as has been conveyed to me by some of the scholars — in al-ʿArabāt, the borderland of Palestine in the direction of Syria. And some say: in al-Awlāj in the direction of the mountain pass; he was an owner of wilderness territory with camels and sheep."
19932 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: an elder transmitter informed us that Yaʿqūb was in the wilderness of Palestine.
19933 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: وقد أحسن بي إذ أخرجني من السجن وجاء بكم من البدو — "Yaʿqūb and his sons were in the land of Canaan, people of livestock and wilderness."
19934 — al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj: وجاء بكم من البدو — he said: they were people of the wilderness and of livestock.
"Al-badw" is a noun derived from the expression "badā fulān" — when someone sojourns in the wilderness (al-bādiya) — "yabdū badwan."
It has been mentioned that Yaʿqūb entered Egypt, he and those with him of his children and their households and offspring, on the day they entered, being fewer than one hundred persons. And they left it on the day they left it numbering more than six hundred thousand.
*Mention of the report concerning that:*
19935 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Zayd ibn al-Ḥubbāb and ʿAmr ibn Muḥammad related to us, on the authority of Mūsā ibn ʿUbayda, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb al-Qaraẓī, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Shaddād, who said: "The lineage of Yaʿqūb gathered before Yūsuf in Egypt; they were eighty-six people, small and great, male and female. They left Egypt on the day the Pharaoh expelled them numbering six hundred thousand and some."
19936 — he said: ʿAmr related to us, on the authority of Isrāʾīl, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of Abū ʿUbayda, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh, who said: "The household of Yūsuf left Egypt numbering six hundred and seventy thousand; and the Pharaoh said: إِنَّ هَؤُلاءِ لَشِرْذِمَةٌ قَلِيلُونَ (these are but a small band) [Sūrat al-Shuʿarāʾ: 54]."
19937 — al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Isrāʾīl and al-Masʿūdī, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of Abū ʿUbayda, on the authority of Ibn Masʿūd, who said: "The Banū Isrāʾīl entered Egypt numbering sixty-three people and left it numbering six hundred thousand" — Isrāʾīl said in his report: six hundred and seventy thousand.
19938 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: ʿAmr related to us, on the authority of Isrāʾīl, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of Masrūq, who said: "The household of Yūsuf entered Egypt numbering three hundred and ninety, men and women together."
As for His word: من بعد أن نزغ الشيطان بيني وبين إخوتي — that is to say: after he had sown discord between me and them, and some of us had wronged the others.
One says: "nazagha al-Shayṭān bayna fulān wa-fulān, yanzigu nazghan wa-nuzūghan."
As for His word: إن ربي لطيف لما يشاء — He says: my Lord is gentle and skillful in what He wills; and part of His gentleness and skill is that He delivered me from the prison and brought my family from the wilderness, after the distance that was between me and them and after my state of slavery (al-ʿubūda), bondage (al-riqq), and imprisonment — as in:
19939 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: إن ربي لطيف لما يشاء — "He was gentle toward Yūsuf and acted on his behalf until He delivered him from the prison and brought his family from the wilderness, and removed what the satan had sown between him and his brothers and his incitement."
As for His word: إنه هو العليم — of the interests of His creatures and other matters; from Him is hidden neither the beginning nor the end of affairs; الحكيم — in His governance.
