Tafseer of Joseph · Yusuf · 12:94
And when the caravan departed [from Egypt], their father said, "Indeed, I find the smell of Joseph [and would say that he was alive] if you did not think me weakened in mind."
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 statement concerning the explanation of the saying of Allah the Exalted: وَلَمَّا فَصَلَتِ الْعِيرُ قَالَ أَبُوهُمْ إِنِّي لأَجِدُ رِيحَ يُوسُفَ لَوْلا أَنْ تُفَنِّدُونِ (And when the caravan departed, their father said: Indeed I find the scent of Yūsuf — if you would not accuse me of senility) (94)
Abū Jaʿfar said: Allah the Exalted says: When the caravan of the sons of Yaʿqūb departed from Yūsuf on the way to Yaʿqūb, their father Yaʿqūb said: (Indeed I find the scent of Yūsuf). It is mentioned that the wind sought leave from its Lord to bring Yaʿqūb the scent of Yūsuf before the bearer of glad tidings reached him, and that its Lord granted it leave to do so, and so the wind brought him that scent.
Mention of those who said that:
19801 - Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Abū Shurayḥ related to me, from Abū Ayyūb al-Hawzanī, who told him: The wind sought leave to bring Yaʿqūb the scent of Yūsuf when the shirt was sent to his father, before the arrival of the bearer of glad tidings. And so it did. Yaʿqūb said: (Indeed I find the scent of Yūsuf — if you would not accuse me of senility.)
19802 - Abū Kurayb related to us, he said: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Isrāʾīl, on the authority of Abū Sinān, on the authority of Ibn Abī al-Hudhayl, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning his saying: (And when the caravan departed, their father said: Indeed I find the scent of Yūsuf — if you would not accuse me of senility) — he said: A wind arose that brought the scent of Yūsuf from a distance of eight nights' journey. And he said: (Indeed I find the scent of Yūsuf — if you would not accuse me of senility.)
19803 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: My father related to us, on the authority of Isrāʾīl, on the authority of Abū Sinān, on the authority of Ibn Abī al-Hudhayl, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: (And when the caravan departed) — he said: When the caravan departed, a wind arose that brought the scent of the shirt of Yūsuf to Yaʿqūb from a distance of eight nights' journey.
19804 - Abū al-Sāʾib related to me, he said: Ibn Fuḍayl related to us, on the authority of Ḍarār, on the authority of Ibn Abī al-Hudhayl, who said: I heard Ibn ʿAbbās say: Yaʿqūb smelled the scent of Yūsuf while he was at a distance of eight nights' journey from him.
19805 - Ibn Wakīʿ and al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad related to us, they said: Sufyān ibn ʿUyayna related to us, on the authority of Abū Sinān, on the authority of Ibn Abī al-Hudhayl, who said: I was beside Ibn ʿAbbās, and he was asked: From how far a distance did Yaʿqūb smell the scent of the shirt? He said: From a distance of seven or eight nights' journey.
19806 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Abū Sinān, on the authority of Ibn Abī al-Hudhayl, who said: My companions said to me: You go to Ibn ʿAbbās, ask him for us. He said: I ask him nothing, but I go and sit behind the couch, and the people of Kufa come and ask about their needs and my need. I heard him say: Yaʿqūb smelled the scent of the shirt of Yūsuf from a distance of eight nights' journey. Ibn Abī al-Hudhayl said: That is like the distance from Basra to Kufa.
19807 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad related to us, he said: ʿAlī ibn ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of Ḍarār ibn Murra, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī al-Hudhayl, who said: I heard Ibn ʿAbbās say: Yaʿqūb smelled the scent of the shirt of Yūsuf from a distance of eight nights' journey. He said: I thought to myself: That is like the distance from Basra to Kufa.
19808-19812 - [similar narrations through various chains on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās] — he smelled the scent of the shirt of Yūsuf from a distance of eight nights' journey, that is like the distance from Basra to Kufa.
19813 - Bishr related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of al-Ḥasan: It has been related to us that the distance between them on that day was eighty farsakh — Yūsuf in the land of Egypt and Yaʿqūb in the land of Canaan — and a long time had passed.
19814 - Al-Qāsim related to us, he said: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, concerning his saying: (Indeed I find the scent of Yūsuf) — it has been related to us that the distance between them on that day was eighty farsakh. And he said: (Indeed I find the scent of Yūsuf) while he had not seen him for seventy-seven years before.
19815-19817 - [similar narrations] — he smelled the scent of the shirt of Yūsuf from a distance of eight days' journey.
* * *
His saying: (if you would not accuse me of senility (an tufannidūni)) — he means: if you would not reproach me, accuse me of weakness, rebuke me, and accuse me of lying.
To this belongs the saying of the poet: "O my two reproachers, leave off the reproach and the accusation of senility; for what has passed of my affair cannot be brought back."
And one says: "afnada fulānan al-dahr" — that is: time has corrupted him. To this belongs the saying of Ibn Muqbil:
"Let time do what it wills; for when it is occupied with corrupting people, it corrupts."
* * *
The exegetes differed concerning the meaning of this.
Some said: the meaning is: if you would not accuse me of foolishness.
Mention of those who said that:
19818 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: Ibn ʿUyayna related to us, on the authority of Abū Sinān, on the authority of Ibn Abī al-Hudhayl, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: (if you would not accuse me of senility) — he said: you accuse me of foolishness.
19819 - Abū Kurayb related to us, he said: Wakīʿ related to us; and Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: My father related to us, on the authority of Isrāʾīl, on the authority of Abū Sinān, on the authority of Ibn Abī al-Hudhayl, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās — similarly.
19820 - [isnād of the previous, continued] — he said: My father related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Khaṣīf, on the authority of Mujāhid: (if you would not accuse me of senility) — he said: you accuse me of foolishness.
19821 - Al-Muthannā and ʿAlī ibn Dāwūd related to me, they said: ʿAbd Allāh related to us, he said: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning his saying: (if you would not accuse me of senility) — he says: you count me among the ignorant.
19822 - Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq related to us, he said: Abū Aḥmad related to us, he said: Isrāʾīl related to us, on the authority of Abū Sinān, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī al-Hudhayl, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: if you would not accuse me of foolishness.
19823 - [similar narration through various chains on the authority of Mujāhid] — if you would not accuse me of foolishness.
19824 - Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Al-Ḥimmānī related to us, he said: Sharīk related to us, on the authority of Abū Sinān, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr and Sālim, on the authority of Saʿīd: one of them said: you accuse me of foolishness. And the other said: you accuse me of lying.
19825 - Yaʿqūb related to me, he said: Hushaym related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Abī Sulaymān informed us, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ: if you would not accuse me of lying, if you would not accuse me of foolishness.
19826-19828 - [similar narrations on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ and Qatāda] — you accuse me of foolishness.
19829 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, he said: Isrāʾīl informed us, on the authority of Abū Sinān, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī al-Hudhayl: I heard Ibn ʿAbbās say: you accuse me of foolishness.
19830 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad related to us, he said: Shabāba related to us, he said: Warqāʾ related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning his saying: (if you would not accuse me of senility) — he said: his mind has gone!
19831-19834 - [similar narrations on the authority of Mujāhid] — if you would not say: his mind has gone!
19835 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq: if you would not accuse me of weakness.
19836 - Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Ibn Zayd said concerning his saying: al-mufannid is the one who has no mind; he says: he does not understand it.
* * *
Others said: the meaning is: if you would not accuse me of lying.
Mention of those who said that:
19837 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: Suwayd ibn ʿAmr al-Kalbī related to us, on the authority of Sharīk, on the authority of Sālim, on the authority of Saʿīd: you accuse me of lying.
19838 - [isnād of the previous] — he said: ʿAmr related to us, on the authority of Asbāṭ, on the authority of al-Suddī: if you would not accuse me of the feebleness of old age and of lying.
19839 - [isnād of the previous] — he said: Muḥammad ibn Bakr related to us, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj: It was related to me from Mujāhid that he said: you accuse me of lying.
19840-19841 - [narrations on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk] — if you would not accuse me of lying.
19842 - Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: ʿAmr related to us, he said: Hushaym informed us, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Malik, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ concerning his saying: you accuse me of foolishness or lying.
19843 - 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, concerning his saying: you accuse me of lying.
* * *
Others said: the meaning is: if you would not accuse me of the feebleness of old age.
Mention of those who said that:
19844-19845 - [narrations on the authority of Mujāhid] — if you would not accuse me of the feebleness of old age.
19846-19848 - [narrations on the authority of al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī] — you accuse me of the feebleness of old age.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: We have set forth that the root meaning of "al-tafnīd" is corruption. When that is so, weakness, the feebleness of old age, lying, the disappearance of the mind, and all the meanings of corruption fall under "al-tafnīd"; for the origin of all of these is corruption — and the corruption of the body is: the feebleness of old age, the disappearance of the mind, and weakness; and in conduct it is: lying and reproaching with what is not true. Therefore Jarīr ibn ʿAṭiyya said:
"O my reproachers, leave off the reproach and have done with it; the love has lasted long and you have persisted long in the accusation of senility."
— he means: the reproach. Thus it is clear, given what we have described, that the sayings of those whose view we have mentioned concerning his saying (if you would not accuse me of senility), despite the different formulations of their explanation, are close to one another in meaning; the apparent reading of the revealed text bears all these interpretations, since there is in the verse no indication that one of those meanings is specifically intended over the others.
