Yusuf · Makki · ayah 79 of 111

Yusuf 12:79

قَالَ مَعَاذَ ٱللَّهِ أَن نَّأْخُذَ إِلَّا مَن وَجَدْنَا مَتَـٰعَنَا عِندَهُۥٓ إِنَّآ إِذًا لَّظَـٰلِمُونَ

“He said, "[I seek] the refuge of Allāh [to prevent] that we take except him with whom we found our possession. Indeed, we would then be unjust."”

Saheeh International

Essence

Yusuf refuses to take an innocent man in another's place, seeking refuge in Allah with the words he once used in a locked room.

A reflection

Not a cold refusal, but a refusal to punish the innocent

On a first reading Yusuf can sound hard here. Ten men beg him, invoke their old father, offer one of themselves. And he says no.

But look at what he is refusing. Not mercy. Injustice.

The brothers asked him to take an innocent man in place of the one judged guilty. Yusuf answers: Allah's refuge that we should take anyone but the one with whom we found our goods. Then we would be wrongdoers.

One modern commentary spells out the principle: to wrong an innocent for another's crime, to hold one who did nothing and release the one charged. Another early commentator glosses it: we would be doing what is not ours to do, and oppressing people.

The Qur'an repeats in several surahs that no bearer of burdens bears another's burden. Yusuf, in a foreign court, holds to exactly that.

One classical commentary notes that his answer had two faces. Outwardly: by your own ruling, taking anyone else would be injustice, so why ask for what you know is wrong? Inwardly: Allah had directed him to keep this brother, for reasons only He knew. To take another would be to act against that direction.

So the refusal is not coldness. It is fairness, and obedience.

The brothers do not know that the one they want to save is safe, honoured and at home with his own brother. From where they stand, Yusuf is refusing mercy.

From where we stand, he is refusing to put an innocent man in chains so that the story would feel kinder.

It is a hard kind of goodness. It will not let the guilty and innocent trade places, even when the innocent volunteer.

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.