The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 3) — Page 230
CH. 12 YUSUF PT. 12 ثُمَّ بَدَا لَهُمْ مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا رَاَوُا الأيتِ Then it occurred to them. 36 بَدَالَهُمْ لَيَسْجُنُنَّهُ حَتَّى حِينٍ (the men) after they had seen the signs of his innocence that to preserve their good name they should imprison him for a time. 1539 R. 5. وَدَخَلَ مَعَهُ السِّجْنُ فَتَيْنِ قَالَ And with him there entered. 37 اَحَدُهُمَا اِنّى اَرنِى أَعْصِرُ خَمْرًا وَقَالَ الْآخَرُ إِنِّي أَرِينِي أَحْمِلُ فَوْقَ رَأْسِي خُبْزًا تَأْكُلُ الطَّيْرُ مِنْهُ نَبِثْنَا بِتَأْوِيلِهِ ۚ إِنَّا نَرِيكَ مِنَ الْمُحْسِنِينَ the prison two young men. One of them said, 'I see myself in a dream pressing wine. ' And the other said, 'I see myself in a dream carrying upon my head bread of which the birds are eating. Inform us of the interpretation thereof; for we see thee to be of the righteous. '1540 other strengthened his heart. This is how Joseph's prayer was accepted. 1539. Commentary: The imprisonment of Joseph, as is generally understood, was not the result of the acceptance of his prayer mentioned in the preceding verse. The acceptance of the prayer resulted in the guiles of the women being defeated. The idea of imprisoning Joseph was an afterthought. It had nothing to do with his prayer. It appears that as the ill fame of Potiphar's wife spread in wider circles, her people thought that the best way to put a stop to this scandal- mongering was to imprison Joseph so that public opinion might come to regard him as the offender and the blame might be shifted from that guilty woman to this innocent man. 1438 The seeing of "signs" seems to refer to the incident of the garment and to the fact that the name of Potiphar's wife began increasingly to come into greater disgrace. 1540. Commentary: The expression are (with him) does not necessarily mean that the two youths were sent to prison with Joseph at the same time. It only means that they were kept in the same prison with him. The dreams of the butler and the baker are given in detail in Genesis (chap. 40), but their substance is the same as given in the Quran. The fact that they asked Joseph the interpretation of their dreams shows that he was held in very high esteem in the prison for his piety; for it is only from highly spiritual and pious