The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 3) — Page 261
PT. 13 R. 11. YUSUF CH. 12 وَلَمَّا فَصَلَتِ الْعِيْرُ قَالَ أَبُوهُمْ إِنِّي 95. And when the caravan departed, their father said, لَا جِدُ رِيحَ يُوْسُفَ لَوْلَا أَن تُفَنْدُونِ Surely, I feel the scent of قَالُوا تَاللهِ اِنَّكَ لَفِي ضَلِلِكَ الْقَدِيمِ Joseph, even though you take me to be a dotard. '1594 96. "They replied, 'By Allah, thou art assuredly in thy old error. '1595 lay before their father, so that the sight of it might please him, as the sight of the first shirt had grieved him, and he might be induced to pray for his brothers and extend to them his pardon. The words, he will come to know, mean that formerly Jacob had known only by Divine revelation that Joseph was alive and his knowledge was then only a matter of belief. Now, by actually seeing the shirt the belief would become converted into factual knowledge. 1594. Important Words: take me to be a dotard) is) تفندون derived from (fannada) which is derived from (fanada) which means, he uttered a falsehood; he committed mistakes in extreme old age; he became weak in judgement by reason of extreme old age. means, he became weak in intellect or he doted. (fannada-hu) means, he pronounced him to be an utterer of falsehood; he blamed him; he pronounced his judgement to be weak; (mufannad) is one who is weak in judgement or unsound in mind by reason of extreme old age or "12:9. 1469 disease; one who confounds things in his speech (Lane). Commentary: The verse shows that even before the caravan reached home, Jacob told his people that in spite of all appearances to the contrary he hoped to meet Joseph soon; and in order to lend emphasis to his conviction, he added the words "even though you take me to be a dotard" meaning thereby, "you consider this meeting to be an impossibility, being not more than the wishful thinking of an old man, but I know it as a fact and a certainty. " 1595. Important Words: is derived ضلال (thy error) ضلالك from which means, he erred or he lost his way; he was or became confounded or perplexed and was unable to see his right course; he forgot. Je means, error; losing or missing the right course. The Arabs i. e. he persevered in تمادى في اضاليل الهوى say the errors of love (Lane). Commentary: The verse brings out the marked