Tafsir of Surah Yusuf - Verse 103

This Story is a Revelation from Allah

Allah narrated to Muhammad ﷺ, the story of Yusuf and his brothers and how Allah raised him over them, giving him the better end, triumph, the sovereignty and wisdom (i.e., prophethood), even though they tried to harm and kill him. Allah said, `This and similar stories are part of the unseen incidents of the past, O Muhammad,

نُوحِيهِ إِلَيْكَ

(which We reveal to you.) and inform you of, O Muhammad, because it carries a lesson, for you to draw from and a reminder to those who defy you.' Allah said next,

وَمَا كُنتَ لَدَيْهِمْ

`(You were not (present) with them), you did not witness their conference nor saw them,

إِذْ أَجْمَعُواْ أَمْرَهُمْ

(when they arranged their plan together,) to throw Yusuf into the well,

وَهُمْ يَمْكُرُونَ

(and (while) they were plotting) against him. We taught you all this through Our Revelation which We sent down to you.' Allah said in other Ayat,

وَمَا كُنتَ لَدَيْهِمْ إِذْ يُلْقُون أَقْلَـمَهُمْ

(You were not with them, when they cast lots with their pens..) and,

وَمَا كُنتَ بِجَانِبِ الْغَرْبِىِّ إِذْ قَضَيْنَآ إِلَى مُوسَى الاٌّمْرَ

(And you were not on the western side, when We made clear to Musa the commandment...) 28:44 until,

وَمَا كُنْتَ بِجَانِبِ الطُّورِ إِذْ نَادَيْنَا

(And you were not at the side of the Tur when We did call.)28:46 Allah also said,

وَمَا كُنتَ ثَاوِياً فِى أَهْلِ مَدْيَنَ تَتْلُو عَلَيْهِمْ ءَايَـتِنَا

(And you were not a dweller among the people of Madyan, reciting Our verses to them.) 28:45 Allah states that Muhammad is His Messenger and that He has taught him the news of what occurred in the past, which carry lessons for people to draw from, so that they acquire their safety in their religious affairs as well as their worldly affairs. Yet, most people did not and will not believe, so Allah said,

وَمَآ أَكْثَرُ النَّاسِ وَلَوْ حَرَصْتَ بِمُؤْمِنِينَ

(And most of mankind will not believe even if you desire it eagerly.) Allah said in similar Ayat,

وَإِن تُطِعْ أَكْثَرَ مَن فِى الاٌّرْضِ يُضِلُّوكَ عَن سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ

(And if you obey most of those on the earth, they will mislead you far away from Allah's path) 6:116, and,

إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ لأَيَةً وَمَا كَانَ أَكْثَرُهُمْ مُّؤْمِنِينَ

(Verily, in this is an Ayah, yet most of them are not believers.) 26:8 Allah said next,

وَمَا تَسْأَلُهُمْ عَلَيْهِ مِنْ أَجْرٍ

(And no reward you ask of them for it;) Allah says, `You, O Muhammad, do not ask them in return for this advice and your call to all that is good and righteous, for any price or compensation for delivering it. Rather, you do so seeking Allah's Face and to deliver good and sincere advice to His creatures,

إِنْ هُوَ إِلاَّ ذِكْرٌ لِّلْعَـلَمِينَ

(it (the Qur'an) is no less than a Reminder unto the `Alamin (men and Jinn)) with which they remember, receive guidance and save themselves in this life and the Hereafter.'

Commentary
After a full description of the story of Sayyidna Yusuf (علیہ السلام) ، first to come in the verses cited above is an address to the Holy Prophet ﷺ : ذَٰلِكَ مِنْ أَنبَاءِ الْغَيْبِ نُوحِيهِ إِلَيْكَ (That is a part of the reports of the unseen We reveal to you), and that ` you were not there with the brothers of Yusuf (علیہ السلام) when they had decided to throw Sayyidna Yusuf (علیہ السلام) into the well and were making plans for it.
The purpose of choosing to say this is that the very act of the Holy Prophet ﷺ in describing this story of Sayyidna Yusuf (علیہ السلام) correctly and in full details is a clear proof of his being a prophet and recipient of revelation. The reason is that this story dates back to thousands of years before his time. Neither was he present there on the scene to have described it as an eye witness, nor was he ever taught by anyone to have consulted books of history, or heard it from a teacher and described it. Therefore, there is no way he could have known it in the manner he did except that it be Divine revelation itself.
At this place, the Holy Quran has considered it sufficient to say that ` you were not there1. It has not deemed it necessary to mention that this information did not come to him through another person or book because the whole Arabia knew that the Holy Prophet ﷺ was an Ummiyy - that is, he did not learn to read and write from anyone. And also known to everyone was that he had lived his whole life in Makkah al-Mu` azzamah. He did make one of his trips to Syria with his uncle Abu Talib, a trip in which he came back home while still enroute. The second trip he made was for business. He finished his work there and returned in a few days. In this trip too, there was no chance of his meeting some scholar or going to an educational institution. Therefore, at this place, it was not considered necessary to mention it. And at another occasion in the Holy Quran this too was further clarified by saying: مَا كُنتَ تَعْلَمُهَا أَنتَ وَلَا قَوْمُكَ مِن قَبْلِ هَـٰذَا ، that is, ` you did not know them (events) before this (the revelation of the Quran), neither you nor your people -11:49"
Imam Al-Baghawi has said that the Jews and the Quraysh had joined hands to test the veracity of the Holy Prophet ﷺ . For this purpose, they had asked the Holy Prophet ﷺ to tell them everything about Sayyidna Yusuf (علیہ السلام) as it had happened to him, if he was true in his claim of prophethood. When he told them what he had learnt through Divine revelation, they still remained sticking to their disbelief and denial. This shocked the Holy Prophet ﷺ . Thereupon, said in the next verse was: And most of the people are not going to believe - even though, the proofs of his being a prophet were clear, and even if he himself longed for it, or tried his best. The sense of the statement is: ` Your duty is to spread the call and seek the betterment of people. That you succeed in it is not in your control nor is this your responsibility nor should you grieve over it.


Rules and Guidance
The Difference between the News of the Unseen and the Knowledge of the Unseen
1\. The statement: ذَٰلِكَ مِنْ أَنبَاءِ الْغَيْبِ نُوحِيهِ إِلَيْكَ (That is a part of the reports of the unseen We reveal to you - 102) has appeared in the same words in verse 44 of Surah Al-` Imran in the context of the story of Sayyidah Mar-yam, that is: ذَٰلِكَ مِنْ أَنبَاءِ الْغَيْبِ نُوحِيهِ إِلَيْكَ (That is a part of the reports of the unseen We reveal to you - 3:44). Then, with a slight change, the same state-ment appears in verse 49 of Surah Hud where it is related to the story of Sayyidna Nuh (علیہ السلام) : تِلْكَ مِنْ أَنبَاءِ الْغَيْبِ نُوحِيهَا إِلَيْكَ (These are reports from the unseen [ events ] which We reveal to you - 11:49).
From these verses we learn that Allah Ta` ala communicates to his prophets many a news of the unseen through Wahy (revelation). He has particularly blessed our Rasul ", known as the Head of all the messengers, with a special portion of the news from the unseen, which is more than that which has been given to all past prophets. This is the reason why the Holy Prophet has informed the Muslim Ummah of many events due to happen right through the day of Qiyamah, either briefly, or in details. All Al-Hadith given in the Kitab al-Fitan of Hadith books are full of them.
Since common people take the Knowledge of the Unseen (i1m al-Ghayb) only in the sense that a person somehow gets to become aware of the news of the unseen, and this quality is found at its best in the Holy Prophet ﷺ ، therefore, they think that the Holy Prophet ﷺ was ` Alim al-Ghayb (knower of the Unseen). But, the Holy Qur’ an has declared in very clear words that: لَّا يَعْلَمُ مَن فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْ‌ضِ الْغَيْبَ إِلَّا اللَّـهُ (No one in the heavens, or on the Earth, knows the unseen except Allah - 27:65) which proves that no one, other than Allah Ta` ala, can be called the ` Alim al-Ghayb or the Knower of the Unseen. The ` Jim of al-Ghayb (the knowledge of the unseen) is the unique attribute of Allah Ta` ala. Taking an apostle, messenger, prophet or angel as a sharer in this attribute amounts to equating him with Allah, and is what the Christians do, who declare a Messenger to be the son of God, and a partner in Godhead. The verses of the Holy Qur’ an quoted here make the truth of the matter very clear. It stands settled that the ilm of al-Ghayb (the knowledge of the unseen) is an exclusive attribute of Allah Ta` ala and the only ` Alim al-Ghayb (the Knower of the Unseen) is Allah jalla thanauh Himself. However, there are many news of the unseen which Allah Ta` ala does give to his messengers through the medium of Wahy (revelation). This, in the terminology of the Holy Quran, is not known as the ilm of al-Ghayb (the knowledge of the unseen). Since common people do not understand this fine difference, they tend to take the news of the unseen as the knowledge of the unseen. This is why when one adheres to the terminology of the Qur’ an and asserts that no one, other than Allah, can claim to know what is unseen, they would prefer to differ, rather than accept truth as it is.

The story of Joseph is in itself a proof of the Quran being the revelation of God and not the discourse of a human being. This incident occurred about two and half thousand years prior to the advent of the Prophet Muhammad. He had neither witnessed this train of events himself, nor was it recorded in history books so that he could have read about it, nor could he have heard it from others. It was found only on the pages of the Torah, and before the age of the printing press, the Torah was a book which was known only to a few Jewish scholars at Jewish centres and not to anybody else. Moreover, the events pertaining to Joseph’s life have been described in the Quran in such a way that, in spite of their tallying basically with the descriptions in the Torah, they differ in respect of details. This difference is in itself a proof of the Quran being the revelation of God, because throughout the Quran its description appears to be very rational and natural. The descriptions given in the Quran are clearly consistent with Jacob’s and Joseph’s prophetic character, while the descriptions given in the Torah are not. Similarly, many very important aspects, for instance, Joseph’s speech in the prison ( 5: 37-40 ), which is mentioned in the Quran, find no place in the Bible or in the Talmud: even certain historical errors that are found in the Bible are not repeated in the Quran. For example, the Bible says that the king of Egypt in Joseph’s period was Pharaoh. In actual fact, the dynasty which assumed the title of Pharaoh became the rulers of Egypt only five hundred years after Joseph. During the period of Joseph, Egypt was ruled by an Arab dynasty, the Hyksos, known as the shepherd kings. (See Bible, chapter ‘Genesis’). The refusal to accept the Truth here is due to an apparent lack of reason. But as soon as a convincing argument is presented to an individual, he should immediately accept it. Most often the real reason for denial of the Truth is stubbornness. People do not accept the Truth because they do not want to do so. Acceptance of the Truth generally involves humbling oneself and this is a very difficult task for a human being. This is one reason why arrogant people never change their ways, in spite of valid arguments or reasoning being used to convince them. They will tolerate the downgrading of the truth, but they are not ready to humble themselves; they forget that those who keep a low profile in this world will be glorified in the Hereafter, whereas one who does not do so will be forever reduced to insignificance in the next world.