Qur'an and Tafsir, Surah 12
يوسف
Joseph
His brothers threw him down a well. Years later they stood before him, hungry.
111 ayat, Makkan, Draft written with AI help: awaiting scholar review
Makkah
Quraysh are opposing Muhammad ﷺ. They are his own tribe.
One report says he was tested with a question about an old family from Canaan.
The answer is the only story the Qur'an tells from start to finish in one go.
Journey map
Yūsuf 12:4It starts with a boy talking to his father.
إِذۡ قَالَ يُوسُفُ لِأَبِيهِ يَٰٓأَبَتِ إِنِّي رَأَيۡتُ أَحَدَ عَشَرَ كَوۡكَبࣱا وَٱلشَّمۡسَ وَٱلۡقَمَرَ رَأَيۡتُهُمۡ لِي سَٰجِدِينَ ٤
4 [Of these stories mention] when Joseph said to his father, "O my father, indeed I have seen [in a dream] eleven stars and the sun and the moon; I saw them prostrating to me."
What's happening
Yusuf's father Ya'qub (Jacob) understands the dream at once: eleven brothers and two parents will one day bow to this child. His advice: keep the dream from the brothers. The ending is now known. The story is how it gets there.
Ten older brothers
Yusuf's half-brothers feel passed over. One suggests killing him. Another says: the bottom of a well. They borrow their father's own fear for the cover story: a wolf.
Yūsuf 12:16Yusuf is in the well. His brothers go home.
وَجَآءُوٓ أَبَاهُمۡ عِشَآءࣱ يَبۡكُونَ ١٦
16 And they came to their father at night, weeping.
A closer look
The brothers bring Yusuf's shirt, soaked in an animal's blood. They forgot to tear it, the commentaries say. Their father is reported to have said: what a wise wolf, to eat him and leave the shirt whole.
Yūsuf 12:20A caravan's water carrier pulls Yusuf out of the well. Then:
وَشَرَوۡهُ بِثَمَنِۭ بَخۡسࣲ دَرَٰهِمَ مَعۡدُودَةࣲ وَكَانُواْ فِيهِ مِنَ ٱلزَّٰهِدِينَ ٢٠
20 And they sold him for a reduced price - a few dirhams - and they were, concerning him, of those content with little.
A closer look
Ibn Kathir reads that line as meant for Makkah too. Allah could have stopped Yusuf's brothers, he says, and did not. Allah also sees what Quraysh are doing to Muhammad ﷺ, and the ending will be the same.
A great house in Egypt
Yusuf grows up in the house of a high Egyptian officer. The officer's wife bolts the doors and says: come. He says: I seek refuge in Allah. He runs. She tears his shirt from behind.
Where scholars differ
The ayah says Yusuf saw 'the proof of his Lord'. His father's face, say the reports. Or an angel. Or writing on the ceiling. Al-Tabari's verdict: none is proven, so leave it as Allah left it.
A closer look
A witness from the wife's own family gives the test. A man who attacks is pushed off from the front. A man who runs is grabbed from behind. Yusuf's shirt is torn at the back.
Yūsuf 12:33The evidence clears Yusuf. He is still threatened with jail unless he gives in.
قَالَ رَبِّ ٱلسِّجۡنُ أَحَبُّ إِلَيَّ مِمَّا يَدۡعُونَنِيٓ إِلَيۡهِۖ وَإِلَّا تَصۡرِفۡ عَنِّي كَيۡدَهُنَّ أَصۡبُ إِلَيۡهِنَّ وَأَكُن مِّنَ ٱلۡجَٰهِلِينَ ٣٣
33 He said, "My Lord, prison is more to my liking than that to which they invite me. And if You do not avert from me their plan, I might incline toward them and [thus] be of the ignorant."
In the cell
Two of the king's servants ask Yusuf to read their dreams. First he tells them about the one God. Then the meanings: one will serve the king again, one will die. He asks the survivor to mention him.
Yūsuf 12:42Yusuf asks the freed prisoner for one favour.
وَقَالَ لِلَّذِي ظَنَّ أَنَّهُۥ نَاجࣲ مِّنۡهُمَا ٱذۡكُرۡنِي عِندَ رَبِّكَ فَأَنسَىٰهُ ٱلشَّيۡطَٰنُ ذِكۡرَ رَبِّهِۦ فَلَبِثَ فِي ٱلسِّجۡنِ بِضۡعَ سِنِينَ ٤٢
42 And he said to the one whom he knew would go free, "Mention me before your master." But Satan made him forget the mention [to] his master, and he [i.e., Joseph] remained in prison several years.
Years later
The king of Egypt has a dream nobody can read. The freed prisoner remembers Yusuf. From his cell, Yusuf gives the meaning and the plan: seven good harvests, seven years of famine. Store the grain in the ear.
The story behind it
The king sends for Yusuf. Yusuf will not come out until the women's case is reopened and his name is cleared. The Prophet ﷺ said: had I been in prison that long, I would have accepted the offer.
Yūsuf 12:58Yusuf now runs Egypt's grain stores. Famine reaches Canaan.
وَجَآءَ إِخۡوَةُ يُوسُفَ فَدَخَلُواْ عَلَيۡهِ فَعَرَفَهُمۡ وَهُمۡ لَهُۥ مُنكِرُونَ ٥٨
58 And the brothers of Joseph came [seeking food], and they entered upon him; and he recognized them, but he was to them unknown.
The second visit
Yusuf has the king's cup hidden in his younger brother Benyamin's bag. The other brothers name the penalty themselves, by their own family's law: the thief stays. Benyamin is kept in Egypt, safe with Yusuf.
Yūsuf 12:86Yusuf's father Ya'qub has now lost two sons, and his sight.
قَالَ إِنَّمَآ أَشۡكُواْ بَثِّي وَحُزۡنِيٓ إِلَى ٱللَّهِ وَأَعۡلَمُ مِنَ ٱللَّهِ مَا لَا تَعۡلَمُونَ ٨٦
86 He said, "I only complain of my suffering and my grief to Allāh, and I know from Allāh that which you do not know.
The word
The Arabic word Ya'qub uses is bathth. Al-Jalalayn explains it: grief too heavy to carry unless it is told to someone. Ya'qub has that kind of grief. He tells it only to Allah.
The third visit
The brothers return with nothing, begging for charity. The minister of Egypt asks: do you know what you did to Yusuf? They stare at him. Are you Yusuf? I am Yusuf, and this is my brother.
Yūsuf 12:92His brothers are in his power, and they admit they wronged him. Yusuf answers:
قَالَ لَا تَثۡرِيبَ عَلَيۡكُمُ ٱلۡيَوۡمَۖ يَغۡفِرُ ٱللَّهُ لَكُمۡۖ وَهُوَ أَرۡحَمُ ٱلرَّٰحِمِينَ ٩٢
92 He said, "No blame will there be upon you today. May Allāh forgive you; and He is the most merciful of the merciful.
A closer look
Thanking Allah, Yusuf says He took him out of the prison. He leaves out the well. That was deliberate, al-Jalalayn says, so that his brothers would not be shamed. Yusuf blames the rift on Satan.
How it is built
The word
Yusuf sums up his life with one name of Allah: Latif. It means both kind and subtle. A caravan lost its way. A shirt tore at the back. A servant forgot, then remembered. A king slept badly.
Yūsuf 12:103The story ends, and the surah turns to Muhammad [saw]. You were not there. And:
وَمَآ أَكۡثَرُ ٱلنَّاسِ وَلَوۡ حَرَصۡتَ بِمُؤۡمِنِينَ ١٠٣
103 And most of the people, although you strive [for it], are not believers.
What's happening
The surah closes by speaking to Muhammad ﷺ. Every messenger before him reached the point of despair, it tells him, and help came then. Yusuf's story is the worked example, told to a man rejected by his own people.
Reflect, just for you
Seen by lamplight. It gives more each time.
His brothers threw him down a well. Years later they stood before him, hungry.