The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 3) — Page 254
CH. 12 YUSUF PT. 13 اِرْجِعُوا إِلَى أَبِيْكُمْ فَقُولُوا يَا بَنَا إِنَّ Return ye to your father. 82 E ابْنَكَ سَرَقَ وَمَا شَهِدُنَا إِلَّا بِمَا عَلِمْنَا has stolen and we have stated وَمَا كُنَّا لِلْغَيْبِ حَفِظِينَ and say, 'O our father, thy son only what we know and we could not be guardians over the unseen. 1581 وَسْثَلِ الْقَرْيَةَ الَّتِي كُنَّا فِيهَا وَالْعِيرَ الَّتِي And inquire of the people. 83 of the city wherein we were, and complacently assume the Bible to be right, as if it is altogether free from anachronism and misstatements, while the fact is that it has been shown even by Christian writers themselves to occupy a very low place among reliable books of history. To doubt the authenticity of an historical fact related by the Quran merely on the basis that it does not agree with the Bible is, to say the least, simply capricious. But even assuming the present Biblical account to be correct, the Quranic account cannot be found fault with. The word which the Quran has used with respect to the brother who refused to go is which means, "big" or "elder" and not ✓ which means "the eldest. " Judah, being the fourth son of Jacob, was indeed one of the big or elder brothers of Joseph. Again, does not always mean "big" or "elder" but, as shown under Important Words, it also means "leader" and "great in estimation, rank or dignity," and it is in this sense that the word has been used here and applies to Judah and not to Reuben. For, according to the Bible, the misconduct of Judah's three elder brothers had resulted in his taking 1462 precedence over them (Gen. 49:3-8). Of him Jacob said, "Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise. . . thy father's children shall bow down before thee. " (Gen. 49:8). That Judah was greater than Reuben in the eyes of Jacob is also apparent from the fact that, when Reuben offered his two sons as hostages for Benjamin, Jacob send Benjamin (Gen. 42:37, 38), but when Judah said, "I will be surety for him," Jacob gave his consent (Gen. 43:9-10). refused to Jacob's prediction of Judah's superiority started the long feud which later separated Judah and Israel. 1581. Commentary: This and the following verses are in continuation of what Judah said to his brothers in the previous verse. The words, we could not be guardians over the unseen, may mean, we have related what we saw but we do not know what is the reality of the matter concerning the charge of stealing against Benjamin. Or they may mean, we had given thee our plighted word that we would bring Benjamin back with us but we did not know that matters would come to such a pass. We had given thee our pledge quite honestly.