Yusuf · Makki · ayah 42 of 111

Yusuf 12:42

وَقَالَ لِلَّذِى ظَنَّ أَنَّهُۥ نَاجٍ مِّنْهُمَا ٱذْكُرْنِى عِندَ رَبِّكَ فَأَنسَىٰهُ ٱلشَّيْطَـٰنُ ذِكْرَ رَبِّهِۦ فَلَبِثَ فِى ٱلسِّجْنِ بِضْعَ سِنِينَ

“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.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Yusuf gives the freed man one request, mention me to your master, and the man walks out and forgets it for years.

A reflection

Was he punished for asking a man for help

Many of us have heard this ayah preached one way. Yusuf asked a human being for help instead of relying on Allah alone. So Allah kept him in prison for years more as a punishment.

The commentaries do record that reading. Some early authorities held it, and two major commentaries prefer it. But the words themselves are less certain than the sermon.

The sentence says Satan made him forget the mention of his lord. Which him? Which lord? The nearest man in the sentence is the cupbearer, and lord has just been used of the king. One commentary says plainly that the correct reading is the cupbearer forgot to mention Yusuf to the king. The concise commentaries all read it that way.

There is support three ayat later. When the king's dream comes, the freed man remembered after a long while (12:45). The one who remembers is the one who had forgotten.

And the narration usually quoted for the punishment reading is judged by the same commentary to be very weak. It runs: may Allah have mercy on Yusuf, had he not said that word. The other versions are sayings of later men, not reports with a sound chain.

A man asks an old colleague to pass his CV to the right person. At prayer that week, he wonders guiltily whether he has stopped trusting Allah. He has not. He did what a person does, and left the outcome where it belongs.

Both readings remain in the tradition. But the reader who has only heard one should know there are two.

The full entry has 6 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.