Tafseer of Joseph · Yusuf · 12:81
Return to your father and say, "O our father, indeed your son has stolen, and we did not testify except to what we knew. And we were not witnesses of the unseen,
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 discourse on the explanation of the saying of Allah the Exalted: ارْجِعُوا إِلَى أَبِيكُمْ فَقُولُوا يَا أَبَانَا إِنَّ ابْنَكَ سَرَقَ وَمَا شَهِدْنَا إِلا بِمَا عَلِمْنَا وَمَا كُنَّا لِلْغَيْبِ حَافِظِينَ (Return to your father and say: O our father, your son has stolen, and we have testified only to what we knew, and we were not guardians of the unseen) (81)
Abū Jaʿfar said: Allah the Exalted says, giving report of the words of Rūbīl (Reuben) to his brothers, when Yūsuf seized his brother on account of the drinking-bowl (al-ṣawāʿ) that had been taken out of his pack: Return, my brothers, to your father Yaʿqūb, and say to him: O our father, your son Binyāmīn has stolen.
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The recitation of this saying is, with the majority of the readers, with an open sīn and rāʾ without doubling: (inna bna-ka saraqa) — your son has stolen.
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It has been transmitted from Ibn ʿAbbās: "inna bna-ka surriqa" — with a closed sīn and doubling of the rāʾ, in the manner of the unknown agent (the passive), with the meaning: he was made to steal / theft was attributed to him. (And we have testified only to what we knew.)
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The exegetes differed concerning the explanation of this.
Some said: the meaning is: we said that he stole only on the basis of what we could establish with our own eyes, namely that the king's drinking-bowl was found in his pack and not in that of another.
Mention of who said that:
19632 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq: (Return to your father) — for I will not return until his command reaches me — (and say: O our father, your son has stolen, and we have testified only to what we knew) — that is to say: the theft was found in his pack while we were looking on; we have no knowledge of the unseen — (and we were not guardians of the unseen).
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Others said: rather the meaning is: we testified before Yūsuf only that the thief is to be held on account of his theft, on the basis of what we knew.
Mention of who said that:
19633 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said: Yaʿqūb, peace be upon him, said to them: How does this man know that the thief is to be held on account of his theft, except through your word! They said: (We have testified only to what we knew) — we did not testify that the thief is to be held on account of his theft except on the basis of what we knew. — He said: The ruling among the prophets — Yaʿqūb and his sons — was that the thief, on account of his theft, would be taken as a slave into captivity.
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His saying: (and we were not guardians of the unseen) — means: we had no knowledge that your son would steal and that our affair would come to this; we had only said: وَنَحْفَظُ أَخَانَا (and we will guard our brother) to the extent that we had the means to do so.
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In accordance with what we have said concerning this, the exegetes spoke.
Mention of who said that:
19634 — Al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Ḥārith Abū ʿAmmār al-Marwazī related to us. He said: Al-Faḍl ibn Mūsā related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥusayn ibn Wāqid, on the authority of Yazīd, on the authority of ʿIkrima: (and we were not guardians of the unseen). He said: We did not know that your son would steal.
19635 — 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, concerning his saying: (and we were not guardians of the unseen) — we did not know that he would steal.
19636 — 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: (and we were not guardians of the unseen) — he said: we did not know that he would steal.
19637 — Al-Muthanná related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: (and we were not guardians of the unseen) — he said: we did not know that he would steal.
19638 — 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, and Abū Sufyān, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: (and we were not guardians of the unseen) — he said: we did not suppose and did not know that he would steal.
19639 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: (and we were not guardians of the unseen) — he said: we did not think that he would steal.
19640 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlá related to us. He said: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: (and we were not guardians of the unseen) — he said: we did not think that your son would steal.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: The most correct of the two explanations concerning his saying (and we have testified only to what we knew) is, in our view, the opinion of the one who said: we testified only that your son has stolen on the basis of what we knew from our observation of the drinking-bowl in his pack — because this directly follows upon his saying (your son has stolen); it is therefore more fitting that it be a report about their testimony concerning this, than a report about something unconnected to it.
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It is mentioned that "al-ghayb" (the unseen) in the language of the tribe of Ḥimyar denotes the night itself.
