The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 3) — Page 217
CH. 12 PT. 12 YUSUF 15. They said, 'Surely, if the wolf devour him while we are a قَالُوا لَبِنْ أَكَلَهُ الذِّئْبُ وَنَحْنُ عُصْبَةٌ إِنَّا إِذًا نَّخْسِرُونَ strong party, then we shall indeed be great losers. ' فَلَمَّا ذَهَبُوا بِهِ وَاجْمَعُوا اَنْ يَجْعَلُوهُ فِي So, when they took him. 16 غَيْبَتِ الْجُبِّ وَأَوْحَيْنَا إِلَيْهِ لَتُنَبِّئَنَّهُمْ ,into the bottom of a deep well بِأَمْرِهِمْ هُذَا وَهُمْ لَا يَشْعُرُونَ away, and agreed to put him they had their malicious design carried out, and We sent a revelation to him, saying, 'Thou shalt surely one day tell them of this affair of theirs and they shall not know. '1519 17. And they came to their father وَجَاءِ وَ آبَاهُمْ عِشَاءَ يَبْكُونَ in the evening, weeping. 1520 no occasion for Jacob to fear his Prophet along with the Muslims in being devoured by a wolf. It also (the low-lying depressed appears from this verse that Jacob had already been informed by God in a general way of the plot of Joseph's brothers to kill him. So, as if pre- arraigning them, Jacob used the same words which they were to use later in extenuation of their heinous crime. 1519. Commentary: The words, they shall not know, hint that so helpless was Joseph's condition at that time that his brothers could not even imagine that he would ever rise to any greatness afterwards. This verse points to two more resemblances between Joseph and the Holy Prophet. Joseph was cast into a deep well by his brothers and the Holy Prophet had to take shelter in a cave (which is like a well) from the persecution of his brethren, the Quraish. The confinement of the Holy valley which belonged to the tribe of Abū Ṭālib), in consequence of the boycott compact agreed upon by the people of Mecca, also provides a point of resemblance with Joseph's having been cast into a well. Secondly, just as this verse tells us that Joseph was informed through revelation that there would come a time when God would bestow upon him power and glory and he would then inform his brothers of the bad treatment they had meted out to him, similarly the Holy Prophet was informed by revelation that though his enemies would compel him to flee from Mecca, yet he would return home victorious (28:86). 1425 1520. Important Words: (' isha) عشاء (in the evening) عشاء means, the time of nightfall or the first