Yusuf · Makki · ayah 81 of 111

Yusuf 12:81

ٱرْجِعُوٓا۟ إِلَىٰٓ أَبِيكُمْ فَقُولُوا۟ يَـٰٓأَبَانَآ إِنَّ ٱبْنَكَ سَرَقَ وَمَا شَهِدْنَآ إِلَّا بِمَا عَلِمْنَا وَمَا كُنَّا لِلْغَيْبِ حَـٰفِظِينَ

“Return to your father and say, 'O our father, indeed your son has stolen, and we did not testify except to what we knew. And we were not witnesses of the unseen.[613]”

Saheeh International

Essence

The eldest sends his brothers home to say only what they saw, and to admit the guardians could not guard what was hidden.

A reflection

This time, only what they saw

Readers who remember the shirt with false blood tend to hear this ayah as the next excuse. The brothers are going home without a son, again, and they have a story ready, again.

But look at how carefully this report is built.

Your son stole. And then two limits, at once. We testify only to what we know. And we were not guardians of the unseen.

One classical commentary says that after deliberating, they concluded the right course. They would return and tell their father exactly what had happened, without any variation.

So this is the opposite of the first homecoming. Then, they invented a wolf and stained a shirt. Now they claim nothing they did not see. The cup came out of his bag; that much they witnessed. What lay behind it, they admit they cannot know.

The commentaries even record an early reading of the verb that makes it more careful still. Not your son stole, but your son has been accused of theft. One commentary praises that reading for how much it spares the boy.

A driver fills in an insurance claim after a collision at a junction. Under the question about the other car's speed she writes: I did not see it until the moment of impact. Her husband says she should have guessed; it would help the claim. She leaves it.

That is testimony disciplined by knowledge. Saying what you saw, and drawing a line where your sight ended.

The brothers once filled the gap in their knowledge with a lie. Now they leave the gap honestly empty.

It will not make their father believe them. But it is the first true report they have ever carried home.

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.