S 12 (53) Yusuf

1 Alif lam ra. Those are signs of the clear book. 2 We have sent it down as an Arabic quran; perhaps you will comprehend. 3 We tell you the best story what we have inspired you with, this Quran, although you were before it of the unmindful. 4 When Yusuf said to his father: Father! I saw eleven planets and the sun and the moon. I saw them doing sujud to me. 5 He said: My son, do not relate your vision to your brothers lest they scheme a scheme against you. The Devil is an obvious enemy to man. 6 And thus does your lord choose you and teach you of the interpretation of the ahadith and complete his grace upon you and upon Ya’qub’s family as he completed it upon your two fathers before, Ibrahim and Ishaq. Your lord is learned, wise. 7 There were in Yusuf and his brothers signs for those who ask. 8 When they said: Yusuf and his brother is more beloved to our father than we, and we are a band. Our father is in obvious error. 9 Kill Yusuf or chuck him onto land, your father’s face may pass away for you and you may be after that a righteous people. 10 A speaker among them said: Do not kill Yusuf but throw him into the bottom of the cistern; let some caravan pick him up, if you are doers. 11 They said: Our father, what is wrong with you? You do not feel safe with us with Yusuf. And we are advisers to him. 12 Send him with us to carouse and play. And we are keepers for him. 13 He said: I, it grieves me that you should go with him and I fear that a wolf should eat him when you are heedless of him. 14 They said: If a wolf eats him when we are a band, we are then losers. 15 So when they went with him and unanimously agreed to put him in the bottom of the cistern. And we inspired him: You shall inform them of this their affair when they do not perceive. 16 And their father came early at night weeping. 17 They said: Our father, we went racing and left Yusuf with our goods and a wolf ate him. And you are not going to believe us even if we were truthful. 18 And they came upon his shirt with false blood. He said: Rather, your souls have enticed you in a matter so patience is beautiful. And Allah is the one asked for help against what you describe. 19 And a caravan came and they sent their drawer and he let down his bucket. He said: Good news, this is a boy. And they disguised him as a piece of meat. And Allah knows what they do. 20 And they bought him at a cheap price, counted dirhams, and they were of the abstemious regarding him. 21 And the one who bought him from Egypt said to his woman: Honour his abode. Perhaps he will benefit us or we shall take him as a child. And thus we gave power to Yusuf in the land and that we might teach him of the interpretation of ahadith. And Allah is victor over his affair but most people do not know. 22 And when he had reached his maturity we gave him judgment and knowledge. And thus do we recompense the good-doers. 23 And enticed him did the one in whose house he was from himself. And she closed the doors and said: Come, you! He said: Refuge of Allah! He is my lord, he has done my shelter good. The wrongdoers do not succeed. 24 And she desired him and he would have desired her had he not seen his lord’s proof. Thus that we might avert from him the evil and the fahisha. He is of our sincere slaves. 25 And they raced to the door and she cut out his shirt from the backside. And her lord found them at the door. She said: What is the penalty for one who wanted evil with your family but that he be imprisoned or painful torture? 26 He said: She enticed me from myself. And a witness from her family bore witness: If his shirt was cut out before then she has told the truth and he is of the liars. 27 And if his shirt was cut out from the backside then she has lied and he is of the truthful. 28 So when he saw his shirt cut out from the backside he said: It is of your trick. Your trick is great. 29 Yusuf, turn away from this. And ask for forgiveness for your sin. You were of the sinners. 30 And women in the city said: Al-Aziz’s woman entices her slave boy from himself. He has impasssioned her with love. We see her in obvious error. 31 So when she heard of their deceiving she sent to them and prepared for them a reclining and gave each one of them a knife and said: Come out before them. And when they saw him they admired him and cut their hands and said: Far be it from Lah! This is not a human being. This is nothing if not a noble angel. 32 She said: And that is the one you blamed me concerning. And I seduced him from himself but he defended himself and if he does not do what I command him he shall be imprisoned and be of the abject. 33 He said: Lord, prison is more agreeable to me than what they call me to. And except you turn their scheme away from me I might incline towards them and be of the ignorant. 34 So his lord responded to him and turned their scheme from him. He is the hearer, the learned. 35 Then it appeared to them after what they had seen the signs they would imprison him until a time. 36 And two youths entered the prison with him. One of them said: I see me pressing wine. And the other said: I see me carrying bread above my head, the bird eating of it. Inform us of its interpretation. We see you of the good-doers. 37 He said: Food you are provided with does not come to you but I have informed you of its interpretation before it comes to you. That is of what my lord has taught me. I have left the cult of a people who do not believe in Allah and they in the hereafter, they are kafirun. 38 And I have followed the cult of my fathers, Ibrahim and Ishaq and Ya’qub. It was not for us to associate anything with Allah. That is of Allah’s favour upon us and upon people but most people are not grateful. 39 My two prison companions, are diverse lords better or is Allah, the one, the oppressing? 40 You worship nothing instead of him but names that you have named, you and your fathers. Allah has not sent down any authority for it. The judgment is nothing but Lah’s. He has commanded that you do not worship but him. That is the worthy religion but most people do not know. 41 My two prison companions, as for one of you, he will give his lord wine to drink; and as for the other, he will be crucified and the bird will eat from his head. The matter about which you enquire has been decided. 42 And he said to the one he thought would be saved of them: Mention me to your lord. But the Devil made him forget his lord’s mention and remained in the prison a bid’ of years. 43 And the king said: I see seven fat cows which seven lean eat and seven green ears and others dry. Chiefs, give me an advisory opinion on my vision if you used to interpret a vision. 44 They said: Fagots of dreams and we are not learned in the interpretation of dreams. 45 And the one who survived of them and remembered after a period: I shall inform you of its interpretation so send me. 46 Yusuf, truthful one. Explain to us about seven fat cows that eat seven lean and seven green ears and others dry; perhaps I shall return to the people; perhaps they will know. 47 He said: You sow for seven years right now and what you have harvested, leave it in its ears except a little of what you eat. 48 Then come after that seven difficult ones that consume what you have presented for them except a little of what you guard. 49 Then comes after that a year in which the people are given rain and in which they press. 50 And the king said: Bring him to me. And when the messenger came to him he said: Return to your lord and ask him what the mind of the women who cut their hands was. My lord is learned in their scheme. 51 He said: What is your case when you enticed Yusuf from himself? They said: Far be it from Lah! We did not know any evil about him. Al-Aziz’s woman said: Now the truth hasasa. I enticed him from himself and he is of the truthful. 52 That is that he may know that I did not betray him in the ghayb and that Allah does not guide the scheme of the betrayers. 53 And I do not absolve myself. The soul is a gesture for evil except what my lord has shown mercy. My lord is a forgiver, merciful. 54 The king said: Bring him to me. I shall choose him for myself. Then when he had spoken to him he said: You are today a favoured man, trustworthy, with us. 55 He said: Appoint me over the treasuries of the land. I am a knowing keeper. 56 And thus we enabled Yusuf in the land to settle from it where he wills. We hit with our mercy whom we will. And we do not waste the wage of the good-doers. 57 And the wage of the hereafter is better for those who have believed and were fearing. 58 And Yusuf’s brothers came and entered upon him and he recognised them and they were denying him. 59 And when he had furnished them with their materials he said: Bring me a brother of yours from your father. Do you not see that I surpass the measure and that I am the best of hosts? 60 But if you do not bring him to me there is no measure for you with me and you do not approach me. 61 They said: We shall entice his father from him and we are doers. 62 And he said to his slave boys: Put their piece of meat in their saddles; perhaps they will recognise it when they have turned to their family; perhaps they will return. 63 So when they had returned to their father they said: Our father, the measure has been repelled from us so send our brother with us to get the measure. And we are keepers for him. 64 He said: Shall I trust you with him but as I trusted you with his brother before? But Allah is a better keeper and he is the most merciful of the merciful. 65 And when they opened their property they found their piece of meat returned to them. They said: Our father, what shall we seek? This is our piece of meat returned to us. And we provide for our family and keep our brother and increase a camel’s measure. That is an easy measure. 66 He said: I shall not send him with you until you give me an agreement from Allah you will bring him to me except that you be surrounded. And when they had given him their agreement he said: Allah is an agent over what we say. 67 And he said: My sons, do not enter from one gate and enter from different gates. And I do not avail you against Allah at all. Judgment is none but Lah’s. In him I have put my trust and in him let those who trust put their trust. 68 And when they had entered from where their father had commanded them it did not avail them against Allah at all but a need in Ya’qub’s soul that he had executed. And he is a possessor of knowledge because we had taught him but most people do not know. 69 And when they entered upon Yusuf he received his brother hospitably to him. He said: I am your brother so do not be distressed because of what they used to do. 70 So when he had furnished them with their equipment he put the drinking cup in his brother’s camel saddle. Then a caller called: Caravan, you are thieves! 71 They said and turned to them: What are you missing? 72 They said: We are missing the king’s goblet. And for him who has brought it is a camel’s load and I am a leader of it. 73 They said: By Allah, you knew we did not come to corrupt in the land and we were not thieves. 74 They said: So what is its recompense if you are lying? 75 They said: Its recompense is, the one in whose camel saddle it has been found is its recompense. Thus do we recompense the wrongdoers. 76 So he began with their vessels before his brother’s vessel then brought it out from his brother’s vessel. Thus did we scheme for Yusuf. He would not take his brother in the king’s law but that Allah wills. We raise in degrees whom we will and learned above every possessor of knowledge. 77 They said: If he steals then a brother of his has stolen before. But Yusuf kept it secret in himself and did not disclose it to them. He said: You are evil in position and Allah is a knower of what you attribute. 78 They said: Aziz, he has a very old father so take one of us in his place. We see you of the good-doers. 79 He said: Allah’s asylum that we should take but him whom we have found our property with! We then would be wrongdoers. 80 So when they had given up hope of him they came to a private conversation. The eldest of them said: Did you not know that your father took an agreement from Allah upon you and before what you relinquished concerning Yusuf? So I will not leave the land until my father permits me or Allah judges for me and he is the best of judges. 81 Return to your father and say: Our father, your son has stolen and we have not borne witness except to what we have known. And we were not keepers of the ghayb. 82 And ask the village that we were in and the caravan that we embarked in. And we are truthful. 83 He said: Rather, your souls have enticed you with a matter. So patience is beautiful. Perhaps Allah will bring them all to me. He is the learned, the wise. 84 And he turned away from them and said: My sorrow over Yusuf! And his eyes became white from grief and he was provoked. 85 They said: By Allah, you will cease remembering Yusuf until you are decayed or are of the perishing. 86 He said: I only complain of my anguish and my grief to Allah and am a knower from Allah what you do not know. 87 My sons, go and enquire about Yusuf and his brother and do not despair of Allah’s refreshment. None despairs of Allah’s refreshment but the kafirun people. 88 So when they had entered upon him they said: Aziz, harm has touched us and our family and we have come with mixed amounts. So cause the measure to be full for us and give alms to us. Allah recompenses the charitable. 89 He said: Did you know what you did with Yusuf and his brother when you were ignorant? 90 They said: Are you Yusuf? He said: I am Yusuf and this is my brother. Allah has been benevolent towards us. He who fears and is patient, Allah does not waste the wage of the good-doers. 91 They said: By Allah, Allah has preferred you over us and indeed we were sinners. 92 He said: There is no blame upon you today. Allah forgives you and he is the most merciful of the merciful. 93 Go with this shirt of mine and throw it over my father’s face. He comes as a seer. And bring me all your family. 94 And when the caravan had left their father said: I find Yusuf’s smell, except you prove me wrong. 95 They said: By Allah, you are in your old error. 96 And when the bearer of good news came he threw it over his face and sight returned. He said: Did I not say to you I know from Allah what you do not know? 97 They said: Our father, forgive us our sins. We were sinners. 98 He said: I shall ask my lord to forgive you. He is the forgiver, the merciful. 99 And when they entered upon Yusuf he put his parents up and said: Enter Egypt, if Allah wills, secure. 100 And he raised his parents upon the throne and they fell down to him doing sujud. And he said: My father, this is the interpretation of my dream before. My lord has made it true. And he did good to me when he took me out of the prison and brought you from the Bedouin life after the Devil had incited between me and my brothers. My lord is nice to what he wills. He is the knower, the wise. 101 My lord, you have given me of the dominion and taught me of the interpretation of ahadith. The splitter of the skies and the Earth, you are my protector, in the dunya and the hereafter. Cause me to die a Muslim and attach me to the righteous. 102 That is from the news of the ghayb which we inspire you with. And you were not with them when they agreed upon their matter and they were deceiving. 103 And not most people even though you desired to be believers. 104 And you do not ask for any wage for it. It is nothing but a dhikr for the ‘alamin. 105 And how many a sign in the skies and the Earth do they pass by while they turn away from them! 106 And most of them do not believe in Allah except while they are mushrikun. 107 So have they felt secure that distress of Allah’s torture is coming to them or the Hour is coming to them suddenly while they do not perceive? 108 Say: This is my way. I call to Allah upon acuity. I and he who has followed me. And praise be to Allah and I am not of the mushrikun. 109 And we did not send before you but men. We inspire them from the people of the villages. So have you not travelled in the Earth and seen how the result of those before them was? And the home of the hereafter is best for those who have feared. So do you not comprehend? 110 Until when the messengers gave up hope and thought that they had been lied to our victory came to them and he whom we will was saved. And our horribleness is not returned from the criminal people. 111 There was a lesson in their narrative for the possessors of albab. It was not a hadith fabricated but a confirmation of that which is in front of him and a detailed statement of everything and guidance and mercy for people who believe.