Tafseer of Joseph · Yusuf · 12:7
Certainly were there in Joseph and his brothers signs for those who ask,
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: لَقَدْ كَانَ فِي يُوسُفَ وَإِخْوَتِهِ آيَاتٌ لِلسَّائِلِينَ (7)
Abū Jaʿfar said: Allah the Exalted says: "In Yūsuf and his eleven brothers there were signs (āyāt)" — that is to say: lessons and admonitions — "for those who ask" — that is to say: for those who ask about their reports and stories. By that Allah the Exalted meant His prophet Muḥammad ﷺ.
For it is said that Allah — blessed and exalted is He — revealed this sūrah to His prophet in order to instruct him therein about what Yūsuf endured from his close kin and his brothers in the way of envy, while Allah at the same time honored him earlier. This was as a consolation for what he suffered from the envy of his close kin and his tribal kinsmen among the polytheists (mushrikīn) of Quraysh. Thus Ibn Isḥāq used to say it as well:
19794 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, who said: Allah — blessed and exalted is He — recounted to Muḥammad ﷺ the report of Yūsuf and the wrong that his brothers did to him and their envy toward him, when he mentioned his dream, after the Messenger of Allah ﷺ had observed the wrong of his own people and their envy when Allah — Mighty and Majestic is He — had honored him with His prophethood, so that he might console himself thereby.
The Qurʾān reciters (qurrāʾ) differed over the reading of the word: آيَاتٌ لِلسَّائِلِينَ . The majority of the reciters of the great cities read it as "āyātun" (plural). It is related from Mujāhid and Ibn Kathīr that they read it in the singular.
The reading that is most correct is the reading of the one who reads it in the plural, because of the consensus (ijmāʿ) of the authoritative reciters concerning that.
Notes: the explanation of "āya" (sign) has been dealt with earlier in the linguistic sections. — The mention in the printed edition "of his brothers and his torments because of the envy" is an error; the manuscript version has "of his close kin and his brothers because of the envy," which is correct and means "the nearest people" (adānīhi). — In the printed edition it reads "of his torments and his kin," but what we have adopted is correct.
