Yusuf · Makki · ayah 87 of 111

Yusuf 12:87

يَـٰبَنِىَّ ٱذْهَبُوا۟ فَتَحَسَّسُوا۟ مِن يُوسُفَ وَأَخِيهِ وَلَا تَا۟يْـَٔسُوا۟ مِن رَّوْحِ ٱللَّهِ ۖ إِنَّهُۥ لَا يَا۟يْـَٔسُ مِن رَّوْحِ ٱللَّهِ إِلَّا ٱلْقَوْمُ ٱلْكَـٰفِرُونَ

“O my sons, go and find out about Joseph and his brother and despair not of relief from Allāh. Indeed, no one despairs of relief from Allāh except the disbelieving people."”

Saheeh International

Essence

A half-blind father sends the sons who lost Yusuf out to search for him, and forbids them to despair of Allah's breath of relief.

A reflection

Not a mood, an errand

Most of us know the second half of this ayah better than the first. Do not despair of the mercy of Allah. It appears on cards and in captions. Heard that way, it becomes a mood to adopt: stay positive, keep your chin up.

That is not how the sentence is built. It opens with a command to move. Go. Search for Yusuf and his brother, with every sense you have. Only then: and do not despair. The hope is attached to an errand.

One narration-based commentary describes the scene in three verbs. He roused them, gave them good news, and commanded them not to cut off their hope. Another reads the forbidding of despair as part of a plan: go back to the place you came from, where you left your brothers.

And look at who is speaking. Not someone untouched by loss, handing out encouragement. The man whose eyes have whitened from weeping. Two ayat earlier he was told grief would kill him. He has not stopped grieving. He forbids despair, not sorrow.

The day after her son is sentenced, a mother is on the phone by nine in the morning. Which bus goes to the prison. What she is allowed to bring. How long before the first visit. Nobody would call her cheerful. She has simply refused to treat the door as shut.

That is the shape of hope in this ayah. It cries and it packs a bag. It is not a feeling that replaces grief. It is a direction given to grief, so that the grief walks somewhere instead of sitting.

The first hearers of the surah would have caught the surprise in it. The order to keep hoping comes from the one person with most reason to stop.

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.