Tafseer of Joseph · Yusuf · 12:49
Then will come after that a year in which the people will be given rain and in which they will press [olives and grapes]."
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: ثُمَّ يَأْتِي مِنْ بَعْدِ ذَلِكَ عَامٌ فِيهِ يُغَاثُ النَّاسُ وَفِيهِ يَعْصِرُونَ (Then there will come after that a year in which the people will be given rain and in which they will press. — 12:49)
Abū Jaʿfar says: This is an announcement by Yūsuf, peace be upon him, to the people about something that did not appear in the dream of their king, but which is part of the knowledge of the unseen that Allah gave him as a proof of his prophethood and as an argument for his truthfulness, as in:
19377 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, he said: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, who said: Then Allah granted him knowledge of a year about which they had not asked him, and he said: (thumma yaʾtī min baʿdi dhālika ʿāmun fīhi yughāthu al-nāsu wa-fīhi yaʿṣirūn).
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By his word (fīhi yughāthu al-nāsu) he means: with rain and precipitation (al-ghayth).
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The people of interpretation spoke to the same effect.
Mention of who said this:
19378 — Bishr related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, regarding his word: (thumma yaʾtī min baʿdi dhālika ʿāmun fīhi yughāthu al-nāsu), he said: therein they are given relief with rain.
19379 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad related to us, he said: Muḥammad ibn Yazīd al-Wāsiṭī related to us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk: (fīhi yughāthu al-nāsu), he said: with rain.
19380 — Al-Qāsim related to us, he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, who said: Ibn ʿAbbās said: (thumma yaʾtī min baʿdi dhālika ʿāmun), he said: he told them something about which they had not asked him, and Allah had taught him that; (ʿāmun fīhi yughāthu al-nāsu): with rain.
19381 — Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, he said: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: (fīhi yughāthu al-nāsu): with rain.
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As for his word: (wa-fīhi yaʿṣirūn) — the people of interpretation differed over its explanation.
Some of them said: the meaning is: therein they press grapes, sesame, and the like.
Mention of who said this:
19382 — Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: ʿAbd Allāh related to us, he said: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: (wa-fīhi yaʿṣirūn), he said: the grapes and the oil.
19383 — Al-Qāsim related to us, he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, who said: Ibn ʿAbbās said: (wa-fīhi yaʿṣirūn): sesame into oil, grapes into wine, olives into olive oil.
19384 — Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, he said: my father related to me, he said: my uncle related to me, he said: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, regarding his word: (ʿāmun fīhi yughāthu al-nāsu wa-fīhi yaʿṣirūn): he says: rain reaches them, so that therein they press grapes, press olive oil, and press from all fruits.
19385 — Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, he said: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: (wa-fīhi yaʿṣirūn), he said: they press their grapes.
19386 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: ʿAmr ibn Muḥammad related to us, on the authority of Asbāṭ, on the authority of al-Suddī: (wa-fīhi yaʿṣirūn), he said: the grapes.
19387 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad related to us, he said: Muḥammad ibn Yazīd al-Wāsiṭī related to us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk: (wa-fīhi yaʿṣirūn), he said: the olive oil.
19388 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, he said: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: "wa-fīhi yaʿṣirūn", he said: they pressed the grapes and the fruits.
19389 — Bishr related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: (wa-fīhi yaʿṣirūn), he said: they press grapes, olives, and fruits because of the fertility. This is knowledge that Allah granted Yūsuf without his having been asked about it.
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Others said: the meaning of his word (wa-fīhi yaʿṣirūn) is: therein they milk.
Mention of who said this:
19390 — Al-Qāsim related to us, he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Fuḍāla related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: (wa-fīhi yaʿṣirūn), he said: therein they milk.
19391 — Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Isḥāq informed us, he said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Ḥammād related to us, he said: al-Faraj ibn Fuḍāla related to us, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, who said: Ibn ʿAbbās read: "wa-fīhi taʿṣirūn" with a tāʾ — with the meaning: they milk.
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The reciters differed over its reading.
Some reciters of Medina, Basra, and Kufa read it: (wa-fīhi yaʿṣirūn) with a yāʾ, with the meaning I have described: the pressing of grapes and oils.
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Most reciters of Kufa read: "wa-fīhi taʿṣirūn" with a tāʾ.
And some read: "wa-fīhi yuʿṣarūn", with the meaning: they are watered with rain. This is a reading that I do not approve of reciting, because it deviates from the reading current in the cities of Islam.
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Abū Jaʿfar says: The correct view concerning the reading is that the reciter has the choice to read it with either of the two other readings as he wishes: if he wishes, with a yāʾ, as a reference to the report about 'the people', with the meaning: therein the people are given relief with rain and therein they press their grapes and oils; and if he wishes, with a tāʾ, as a reference to his word: (illā qalīlan mimmā tuḥṣinūn), and as an address to those whom he addressed with his word: يَأْكُلْنَ مَا قَدَّمْتُمْ لَهُنَّ إِلا قَلِيلا مِمَّا تُحْصِنُونَ — for both are readings current in the cities of Islam, in agreement in meaning even though they differ in wording. And that is because the addressees, when they were given relief and pressed, the people around them were also given relief and pressed. And likewise: when the people around them were given relief and pressed, the addressees were also given relief and pressed. So both readings are identical in meaning, even though they differ in wording.
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Some who lack knowledge of the statements of the early scholars, from those who interpret the Qurʾān on the basis of their own judgment according to the method of Arabic linguistic knowledge, applied the meaning of his word (wa-fīhi yaʿṣirūn) to: therein they escape from the drought and famine through the rain — and claimed that it derives from "al-ʿaṣar" and "al-ʿuṣra" in the sense of deliverance; from the words of Abū Zubayd al-Ṭāʾī:
Ṣādiyān yastaghīthu ghayra mughāthin wa-laqad kāna ʿuṣrata al-manjūdi
That is to say: the oppressed. And from the words of Labīd:
Fa-bāta wa-asrā al-qawmu ākhira laylihim wa-mā kāna waqqāfan bi-ghayri muʿaṣṣari
That interpretation is sufficiently refuted by the fact that it contradicts the view of all the scholars among the Companions and the Successors.
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As for the opinion that al-Faraj ibn Fuḍāla transmitted via ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa — that is an opinion of no value, for it deviates from the known usage of the Arabic language, and deviates from what is known as the opinion of Ibn ʿAbbās.
