Yusuf · Makki · ayah 73 of 111

Yusuf 12:73

قَالُوا۟ تَٱللَّهِ لَقَدْ عَلِمْتُم مَّا جِئْنَا لِنُفْسِدَ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ وَمَا كُنَّا سَـٰرِقِينَ

“They said, "By Allāh, you have certainly known that we did not come to cause corruption in the land, and we have not been thieves."”

Saheeh International

Essence

The brothers swear, astonished, that their accusers know their conduct and that they have never been thieves: true of the cup, shadowed by the well.

A reflection

Not liars protesting too much, but men with evidence

Readers who know these brothers tend to hear this oath with a raised eyebrow. These men lied for decades about a wolf. Now they swear their innocence. They protest too much.

But this time they are telling the truth, and they appeal to evidence.

You have certainly known, they say. Not: believe us. You know.

The commentaries explain what the Egyptians knew. When the brothers found their money returned in their sacks, they brought it all the way back to Egypt. One classical commentary calls this decisive: a thief does not carry money across a desert to return it.

And a report carried in several commentaries adds a striking detail. On their visits they muzzled their camels' mouths, so the animals could not graze on anyone's crops or touch any food in the market.

One commentary sums it up. They cited what had been established about their faith and honesty, on both visits and in their dealings with the king.

So the oath is not empty. It is backed by a record, and it is a record built in Egypt, in front of these very men.

That is a quiet sign of change. The men who once had nothing to show their father but a forged shirt now have a track record they can point to. Small, recent, but real.

The ayah does not let them off for the past. Their claim never to have been thieves will ring hollow against the well.

But it does show that they have, on this road at least, become the kind of men whose camels wear muzzles. People who take care not to touch what is not theirs.

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.