Tafseer of Joseph · Yusuf · 12:19
And there came a company of travelers; then they sent their water drawer, and he let down his bucket. He said, "Good news! Here is a boy." And they concealed him, [taking him] as merchandise; and Allah was knowing of what they did.
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 Allah the Exalted: وَجَاءَتْ سَيَّارَةٌ فَأَرْسَلُوا وَارِدَهُمْ فَأَدْلَى دَلْوَهُ قَالَ يَا بُشْرَى هَذَا غُلامٌ وَأَسَرُّوهُ بِضَاعَةً وَاللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ بِمَا يَعْمَلُونَ (And there came travelers; they sent their water-drawer, and he let down his bucket. He said: "What good tidings — this is a boy!" And they concealed him as merchandise. And Allah is All-Knowing of what they do.) (verse 19)
Abū Jaʿfar says: Allah the Exalted says: There came passersby on the road — travelers — (and they sent their water-drawer): that is the one who goes to the water source and the halting-place; "his going to it" means: he reaches that spot and enters upon it. (And he let down his bucket) — that is to say: he lowered his bucket into the well.
One says: "adlaytu l-dalwa fī l-biʾr" when you lower it into it; when you draw water out, you say: "dalawtu adlū dalwan."
Something has been omitted in the text, the indication of which suffices to leave it out. That is: (And he let down his bucket) — whereupon Yūsuf clung to it and rose up — after which the bucket-lowerer said: (What good tidings — this is a boy!)
Thus it has been transmitted from the exegetes.
Mention of those who said this:
18880. Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: ʿAmr ibn Muḥammad related to us, on the authority of Asbāṭ, on the authority of al-Suddī: (And there came travelers; they sent their water-drawer, and he let down his bucket) — Yūsuf clung to the rope and climbed up. When the owner of the rope saw him, he called one of his companions named Bushrā: (What good tidings — this is a boy!)
18881. 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: (They sent their water-drawer and he let down his bucket) — the boy clung to the bucket; and when he came up, he said: (What good tidings — this is a boy!)
18882. Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: (they sent their water-drawer) — he says: they sent their messenger; and when he let down his bucket, the boy clung to it — (He said: "What good tidings — this is a boy!")
The exegetes differed concerning the meaning of His word: (What good tidings — this is a boy!)
Some said: this is the bucket-lowerer giving his companions the good tidings that he had found Yūsuf — a slave (ʿabd) whom he had taken as spoil.
Mention of those who said this:
18883. Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: (He said: "What good tidings — this is a boy!") — they rejoiced over him when they brought him up. It is a well in the land of Jerusalem, whose location is known.
18884. 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: (What good tidings — this is a boy!) — he said: the water-drawer gave them the good tidings when he found Yūsuf.
Others said: rather it is the name of a particular man among the travelers, whom the bucket-lowerer called when Yūsuf came out of the well clinging to the rope.
Mention of those who said this:
18885. Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: ʿAmr ibn Muḥammad related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: (What good tidings — this is a boy!) — he said: he called one of his companions named Bushrā, and said: (O Bushrā, this is a boy!)
18886. Al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad related to us, saying: Khalaf ibn Hishām related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Ādam related to us, on the authority of Qays ibn al-Rabīʿ, on the authority of al-Suddī, concerning His word: (What good tidings — this is a boy!) — he said: the name of his companion was Bushrā.
18887. Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Ḥammād related to us, saying: al-Ḥakam ibn Ẓahīr related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, concerning His word: (What good tidings — this is a boy!) — he said: the name of the boy was Bushrā; he said: "O Bushrā" — as one says: "O Zayd."
The Qurʾān-scholars differed over the reading of this verse:
Most of the scholars of Medina read it as: "yā bushrāyya" — retaining the possessive yāʾ — but with the alif contracted with the yāʾ to obtain the i-vowel that is obligatory before the first-person possessive yāʾ, as in "ghulāmī" and "jāriyatī" — this in all circumstances. This belongs to the dialect of Ṭayy, as Abū Dhuʾayb said:
"They went before me in my striving (hawāyya) and hastened to their desires — and they died, and every flank has its fall."
Most of the scholars of Kūfa read: (yā bushrā) — with a free-standing yāʾ and without possession.
When it is read thus, it admits of two interpretive possibilities:
The first: that which al-Suddī said — that it is the name of a man whom the water-drawer called by his name, as one says "O Zayd" and "O ʿAmr" — so that "bushrā" then stands in the nominative as the one called.
The second: that he wished to ascribe the good tidings (bushrā) to himself but omitted the possessive yāʾ while intending it — so that it stands as a singular but implies possession, as the Arabs do in the vocative when they say: "O soul, be patient!" or "O my soul, be patient!" and "O my little son, do not do that!" or "O my little son, do not do that!" — both as a singular in the nominative with implicit possession, and with the possession pronounced in the genitive, as one says: "O boy, come here!" or "O my boy, come here!"
Abū Jaʿfar says: The reading most appealing to me is the reading with a free-standing yāʾ bearing sukūn. For if it is the name of a particular man, he was known among them — as al-Suddī said — and then that is the correct reading about which there is no doubt. And if it is from the meaning "good tidings," it admits of that with this reading, as I have explained. As for the doubling and the possession in the yāʾ — that is an anomalous reading which I do not consider the correct reading, even though it is a recognized dialect, on account of the consensus of the authoritative scholars who read it otherwise.
Concerning His word: (And they concealed him as merchandise) — the exegetes differed concerning its explanation.
Some said: the water-drawer and his companions concealed him from the merchants who were with them, and said to them: "He is merchandise which some of the people of Egypt entrusted to us" — because they feared that if the others knew that they had bought him for the price they paid, they would demand a share.
Mention of those who said this:
18888. Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: (And they concealed him as merchandise) — he said: the owner of the bucket and his companions said to their company: "We only received him as merchandise [to convey]" — out of fear that those others would claim them as partners if they came to know the purchase price. His brothers followed them and said to the bucket-lowerer and his companions: "Take good care that he does not run away!" — until they presented him in Egypt; he said: "Who will buy me, and who will be rewarded?" Then the king bought him — and the king was a Muslim.
18889. Al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad related to us, saying: Shabāba related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, with like import — but he said: out of fear that they would claim them as partners if they knew; and his brothers followed them and said to the bucket-lowerer and his companions: "Take good care of him so that he does not run away!" — until they presented him in Egypt; and the rest of the report as the report of Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr.
18890. Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shubl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid.
18891. He said: 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, with like import — but he said: out of fear that they would claim them as partners if they knew the purchase price.
18892. 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, with like import — but he said: out of fear that they would claim them as partners if they knew the purchase price. He also said: until they presented him in Egypt.
18893. Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: ʿAmr ibn Muḥammad related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: (And they concealed him as merchandise) — he said: When the two men bought him, they were afraid of the traveling company, that it would say: "You have bought him" — and then demand a share. They said: If we are asked what this is, we say: it is merchandise which the people of the well entrusted to us. That is the meaning of His word: (And they concealed him as merchandise) — among themselves.
Others said: rather the meaning is that the merchants concealed him from one another among themselves.
Mention of those who said this:
18894. Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of a man, on the authority of Mujāhid: (And they concealed him as merchandise) — he said: the merchants concealed him from one another among themselves.
18895. Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Nuʿaym al-Faḍl related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Mujāhid: (And they concealed him as merchandise) — he said: the merchants concealed him from one another among themselves.
Others said: the meaning is: they concealed his sale.
Mention of those who said this:
18896. Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda: (And they concealed him as merchandise) — he said: they concealed his sale.
18897. Al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz related to us, saying: Qays related to us, on the authority of Jābir, on the authority of Mujāhid: (And they concealed him as merchandise) — he said: they said to the people of the well: "He is merely merchandise."
Others said: the intent of His word (And they concealed him as merchandise) is the brothers of Yūsuf — that they concealed his identity as their brother and said: "He is our slave."
Mention of those who said this:
18898. Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: his father related to him, saying: his uncle related to me, saying: his father related to him, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: (And they concealed him as merchandise) — he means: the brothers of Yūsuf concealed his identity and kept secret that he was their brother. Yūsuf too kept his identity secret, out of fear that his brothers would kill him, and he chose to be sold. His brothers made him known to the water-drawer of the company; he called his companions: "What good tidings — this is a boy for sale!" And his brothers sold him.
Abū Jaʿfar says: The correct view is that of those who said: "The water-drawer who had let down his bucket, together with his companions, concealed from his traveling company the matter of Yūsuf — that they had bought him — out of fear that those partners would make a claim, and they said: He is merchandise which the people of the well entrusted to us." This is the most fitting explanation, because the report connects with him, and it is more likely that the report which follows is also about him than that it is about someone else not connected to the preceding report.
Concerning His word: (And Allah is All-Knowing of what they do) — Allah the Exalted says: Allah is All-Knowing of what the sellers and buyers of Yūsuf do with regard to his affair; none of that is hidden from Him. But He left it be so that His decree, decreed long beforehand concerning him and them, would be carried into effect, and so that He might show the brothers of Yūsuf, Yūsuf himself, and his father His power over him.
This story, although it is a report from Allah the Exalted about His prophet Yūsuf ﷺ, is at the same time a reminder from Allah to His prophet Muḥammad ﷺ and a consolation to him on account of the harm he endured from his kinsmen and tribesmen among the polytheists (mushrikīn). It says: Be patient, O Muḥammad, over what has befallen you for the sake of Allah; for I am able to change what these polytheists do to you, just as I was able to change what Yūsuf underwent from his brothers during the time that they did that to him — and My leaving it be was not out of contempt for Yūsuf, but because of My foreordained knowledge concerning him and his brothers. Likewise, My refraining from changing what these polytheists do to you is not out of contempt for you, but because of My foreordained knowledge concerning you and them — and then your affair and their affair will come out to your exaltation above them and their subjection to you, just as the affair of the brothers of Yūsuf came out to their submission to Yūsuf through his dominion over them and his exaltation above them.
