Tafsir of Surah Yusuf - Verse 78

Yusuf's Brothers offer taking One of Them instead of Binyamin as a Slave, Yusuf rejects the Offer

When it was decided that Benyamin was to be taken and kept with Yusuf according to the law they adhered by, Yusuf's brothers started requesting clemency and raising compassion in his heart for them,

قَالُواْ يأَيُّهَا الْعَزِيزُ إِنَّ لَهُ أَبًا شَيْخًا كَبِيرًا

(They said, "O `Aziz! Verily, he has an old father...") who loves him very much and is comfor- ted by his presence from the son that he lost,

فَخُذْ أَحَدَنَا مَكَانَهُ

(so take one of us in his place.), instead of Binyamin to remain with you,

إِنَّا نَرَاكَ مِنَ الْمُحْسِنِينَ

(Indeed we think that you are one of the doers of good.), the good doers, just, and accepting fairness,

قَالَ مَعَاذَ اللَّهِ أَن نَّأْخُذَ إِلاَّ مَن وَجَدْنَا مَتَـعَنَا عِندَهُ

(He said: "Allah forbid, that we should take anyone but him with whom we found our property..."), `according to the judgement that you gave for his punishment,

إِنَّـآ إِذًا لَّظَـلِمُونَ

(Indeed, we should be wrongdoers.), if we take an innocent man instead of the guilty man. '

In verse 78, it was said: قَالُوا يَا أَيُّهَا الْعَزِيزُ إِنَّ لَهُ أَبًا شَيْخًا كَبِيرً‌ا فَخُذْ أَحَدَنَا مَكَانَهُ ۖ إِنَّا نَرَ‌اكَ مِنَ الْمُحْسِنِين . It means when the brothers of Sayyidna Yusuf (علیہ السلام) realized that nothing seems to be working here and they have no option left but to leave Benyamin behind, they started flattering the ` Aziz of Misr. They told him that Benyamin's father was very old and weak (his separation will be unbearable for him). Therefore, they requested him that he should detain anyone from among them, in lieu of him. They also told him that they were making that request to him in the hope that he, as they feel, appears to be a very generous person - or, he has been gener-ous to them earlier too.

According to commentators of the Quran, in his childhood Joseph quietly removed an idol from his grandmother’s house and broke it. This showed his antipathy for polytheism. But because it was a parallel to Benjamin’s act, his brothers gave it the colour of theft, and making this an excuse to blacken Benjamin’s name, they said, ‘A brother of his had [also] committed theft before him.’ Joseph’s brothers showed great humility to Joseph, who occupied a very high position in Egypt, addressing him as ‘O exalted one’, etc. But the Joseph of Canaan, who was in their eyes only a village boy, was being wrongly alleged to be a thief. Joseph knew very well that due to the drinking cup placed by him in Benjamin’s pack, his brother was unnecessarily being accused of being a thief. But for timely reasons, he kept quiet and allowed matters (i.e. what was going on between his brothers and the royal officers) to take their own course. When he was obliged to say something, he did not refer to Benjamin as ‘one who has stolen something belonging to us,’ but ‘the person on whom we found our property.’