Yusuf · Makki · ayah 80 of 111

Yusuf 12:80

فَلَمَّا ٱسْتَيْـَٔسُوا۟ مِنْهُ خَلَصُوا۟ نَجِيًّا ۖ قَالَ كَبِيرُهُمْ أَلَمْ تَعْلَمُوٓا۟ أَنَّ أَبَاكُمْ قَدْ أَخَذَ عَلَيْكُم مَّوْثِقًا مِّنَ ٱللَّهِ وَمِن قَبْلُ مَا فَرَّطتُمْ فِى يُوسُفَ ۖ فَلَنْ أَبْرَحَ ٱلْأَرْضَ حَتَّىٰ يَأْذَنَ لِىٓ أَبِىٓ أَوْ يَحْكُمَ ٱللَّهُ لِى ۖ وَهُوَ خَيْرُ ٱلْحَـٰكِمِينَ

“So when they had despaired of him, they secluded themselves in private consultation. The eldest of them said, "Do you not know that your father has taken upon you an oath by Allāh and [that] before you failed in [your duty to] Joseph? So I will never leave [this] land until my father permits me or Allāh decides for me,[612] and He is the best of judges.”

Saheeh International

Essence

In despair the brothers confer apart; the eldest names their old failure with Yusuf, and will not leave until his father or Allah decides.

A reflection

The same huddle as the well, with the opposite purpose

It is easy to picture this as another of the brothers' huddles. Ten men conferring in private, as they did before the well, working out what story to tell.

The resemblance is real, and the surah wants us to feel it. But the purpose has turned completely round.

The first time they conferred, near the start of the surah, the plan was: kill Yusuf, or cast him out to some land. Then your father's face will be for you alone. And one voice among them said: do not kill Yusuf; throw him into the depths of the well.

Now they confer again. And one commentary identifies the speaker as the same man: the eldest, who once argued for the well instead of murder.

This time he does not offer a lesser crime. He says: do you not know that your father took a pledge from you before Allah? And before this, you failed concerning Yusuf.

That is the first time in the entire surah that any brother names the old wrong aloud. Decades of silence, broken in a private conference outside a foreign court.

The commentaries call it what it was. One says: your falling short in Yusuf, and your betrayal of him. Another: before this you sent ahead a great crime in Yusuf's case.

So the same men, in the same kind of private circle, now use it to tell the truth instead of to plan a lie.

Anyone who has sat with family in a hospital corridor, deciding what to say, knows how such huddles can go either way. This ayah shows one going the right way at last.

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.