Verse 84
And, We sent, to Midian their brother Shu‘ayb. He said, ‘O my people, worship God!, affirm His Oneness. You have no god other than He. And diminish not the measure or the weight. I see you in prosperity, [enjoying] a grace which precludes any need for stinting [people]; and I fear for you, should you not believe, the chastisement of a besetting day, [besetting] you, destroying you (the attribution of this term [‘besetting’] to ‘a day’ [as opposed to ‘the chastisement’] is figurative, for it [the chastisement] will take place thereupon).
Verse 85
O my people, give full measure and weight, fulfil [the due of] both of these, in justice, and do not defraud people in respect of their goods, do not diminish anything of their due, and do not be degenerate in the land, working corruption, by killing or otherwise ([lā ta‘thaū] derives from ‘athiya, meaning afsada, ‘he corrupted’; mufsidīn, ‘working corruption’, is a circumstantial qualifier reiterating the import of the term operating it, ta‘thaū, ‘[do not] be degenerate’).
Verse 86
The remainder [which is] from God, that provision of His which remains for you after you have given full measure and weight, is better for you, than fraud, if you are believers; and I am not a guardian over you’, a watcher, that I should requite you for your deeds: I was sent only as a warner.
Verse 87
They said, to him mockingly: ‘O Shu‘ayb, does your [way of] prayer command you, with the obligation [to make sure], that we should leave what our fathers [used to] worship, of idols, or, that we should cease, to do as we will with our goods?, meaning that such a command is an absurdity which no person calling to good would commend. You are indeed the forbearing, the right-guided’: they said this in mockery.
Verse 88
He said, ‘O my people, have you considered that I might be [acting] upon a clear proof from my Lord and that He has provided me with fair, wholesome, sustenance from Him?, should I then blemish it with what is unlawful, in the way of fraud or stinting? And I do not desire to be inconsistent, and then partake, in what I forbid you, thus committing the same. I desire only to set things right, in your case, by way of [enjoining] justice, so far as I am able. My success, my ability to do this [successfully] and [to enjoin] other acts of obedience, is only with God. In Him I trust and to Him I turn, I return, [repentant].
Verse 89
And, O my people, let not the breach with me, the dispute [you have] with me (shiqāqī, ‘the breach with me’, is the subject of the verb yajrimannakum, ‘make you deserve’, in which the [suffixed] pronoun [-kum, ‘you’] constitutes the first direct object, the second being [what follows]) make you deserve, earn you [as punishment], that there befall you the like of what befell the people of Noah, or the people of Hūd, or the people of Sālih, in the way of chastisement; and the people of Lot, that is, their dwelling-places or the era in which they were destroyed, are not far away from you, so take heed [of this].
Verse 90
And ask forgiveness of your Lord, then repent to Him. Truly my Lord is Merciful, to believers, Affectionate’, loving towards them.
Verse 91
They said, in proclamation of their lack of concern: ‘O Shu‘ayb, we do not understand much of what you say. Truly we see you are weak, abject, among us, and were it not for your clan, we would have stoned you; for you are not, too, powerful, [too] venerable, for us’, to stone, but it is your clan that is powerful.
Verse 92
He said, ‘O my people, is my clan more venerable in your sight than God?, such that you refrain from killing me because of them, instead of [your] protecting me for [being the Messenger of] God? And do you put Him, God, behind you, neglected?, rejected, behind your backs, not mindful of Him? Truly my Lord encompasses, in knowledge, what you do, and will requite you.
Verse 93
And, O my people, act according to your ability, your circumstances, lo! I [too] am acting, according to mine. You will soon know upon whom (man is the relative particle introducing the direct object of [the action of] ‘knowing’) will come the chastisement that will abase him, and who is a liar. And sit in watch, wait for the consequence of your affair: I too will be with you watching’, waiting.
Verse 94
And when Our command came, for their destruction, We delivered Shu‘ayb and those who believed with him by a mercy from Us; and the Cry seized those who were evildoers — Gabriel cried at them — and they ended up lying lifeless prostrate in their habitations, keeled over on their knees, dead,
Verse 95
as if (ka-an is softened, in other words [understand it as] ka-annahum) they had never dwelt there: ‘Lo! Away with Midian, just as Thamūd was done away with!’
Verse 96
And verily We sent Moses with Our signs and a clear warrant, a manifest and evident proof,
Verse 97
to Pharaoh and his council; but they followed Pharaoh’s command, and Pharaoh’s command was not right-guided, appropriate.
Verse 98
He will go before his people on the Day of Resurrection, and they will follow him, as they did in this world, and he will lead them, he will admit them, to the Fire — an evil place, it is, for those entering it!
Verse 99
And a curse was made to follow them in this [world], as well as, a curse, on the Day of Resurrection — evil is the assistance offered!, in their case.
Verse 100
That, which is mentioned (dhālika is the subject, the predicate of which [follows]), is [something] of the tidings of the towns, which We relate to you, O Muhammad (s). Some of them, that is, [of] the towns, are standing, only its inhabitants having been destroyed, and some, of them, have been cut down, destroyed together with its inhabitants, such that there are no vestiges thereof, much like crops harvested with sickles.
Verse 101
And We did not wrong them, destroying them for not having committed any sins, but they wronged themselves, through idolatry. Their gods did not avail, defend, them in any way (min shay’in: min is extra), those [gods] upon whom they called, [whom] they worshipped, besides God, that is, other than Him, when the command of your Lord, His chastisement, came; and they [their gods] — through their [the disbelievers’] worship of these [gods], did not increase them in anything but ruin, [but] loss.
Verse 102
Such, like that seizing, is the seizing of your Lord when He seizes the towns, meaning its inhabitants, while they are doing wrong, by way of sins: in other words, nothing can avail them in any way when He seizes them. Truly His seizing is painful, severe. The two Shaykhs [Bukhārī and Muslim] reported [by way of an isnād] from Abū Mūsā al-Ash‘arī that he said, ‘The Prophet (s) said, “God gives [extended] respite to the evildoer, but when He seizes him there is no escape for him”, whereupon the Prophet (s) recited the verse: Such is the seizing of your Lord [Q. 11:102, above]’.
Verse 103
There is indeed in that, which is mentioned of stories, a sign, a lesson, for him who fears the chastisement of the Hereafter: that, in other words, the Day of Resurrection, is a day to which, on which, mankind will be gathered, and that is a day witnessed, witnessed by all creatures.
Verse 104
And We do not defer it but to a term [already] reckoned, [but] to a time predetermined by God.
Verse 105
The day it, that day, comes, no soul shall speak (takallamu: one of the tā’ letters [of tatakallamu] has been omitted) except by His permission, exalted be He. Some of them, that is, [some] creatures, will be wretched, and [some], of them, joyous, each having been determined [to be thus] from pre-eternity.
Verse 106
As for those who are damned, according to God’s [prior] knowledge, they will be in the Fire; their lot therein will be wailing, which is a loud sound, and sighing, which is a faint sound;
Verse 107
abiding therein for as long as the heavens and the earth endure, that is, [for] the length of the duration of both in this world, except, other than, what your Lord may will, in the way of adding to the duration of these two, such that it [their abiding] becomes indefinite: meaning that they will abide therein forever. Truly your Lord is Doer of what He desires.
Verse 108
And as for those who are fortunate (read sa‘idū or su‘idū) they shall be in Paradise, abiding therein for as long as the heavens and the earth endure except, other than, what your Lord may will — as mentioned already [of increasing the duration], which in their case is indicated by His words, an endless bounty, [one not] to be cut off. The interpretation given above seems to be the clear and obvious one, devoid of affectation, but God knows best what it means.
Verse 109
So do not be, O Muhammad (s), in doubt, in uncertainty, concerning what these [folk] worship, of idols: We will indeed chastise them as We did those before them — this is intended as solace for the Prophet (s). They worship only as their fathers worshipped — that is, in the same way — before, and indeed We chastised them; and We shall surely pay them, like those [fathers of theirs], their whole due, their portion of the chastisement, undiminished, that is, in full.
Verse 110
And We verily gave Moses the Scripture, the Torah, but differences arose concerning it, some believing, others denying, just as [is the case] with the Qur’ān; and were it not for a word that went forth from your Lord, to defer the reckoning and the requital for creatures to the Day of Resurrection, the case would have been decided between them, in this world, regarding that over which they differed; and truly they, that is, those who deny it, are in grave doubt concerning it, [doubt] creating [great] uncertainty.
Verse 111
And assuredly (read wa-in or wa-inna) to each, that is, to all creatures, verily (la-mā: the mā is extra and the lām is in the place of an implied oath or a separator; a variant reading has lammā, with the sense of illā, ‘but’, making the [preceding] in for negation), your Lord will pay for his works, that is, the requital thereof, in full. Truly He is Aware of what they do, knowing the inner and outer aspects thereof.
Verse 112
So remain upright, acting in accordance with the commandment of your Lord and supplicating Him, as you have been commanded, and, let him also remain upright, he who repents, [who] believes, with you; and do not transgress, [do not] overstep the bounds of God. Truly He sees what you do, and will requite you for it.
Verse 113
And do not incline toward the evildoers, through affection or adulation, or [by showing] satisfaction with their actions, lest the Fire touch, smite, you, and you have, besides God, other than Him, no protectors (min awliyā’: min is extra), to guard you from Him; and then you will not be helped, you will [not] be protected from His chastisement.
Verse 114
And establish prayer at the two ends of the day, at first light and before sunset, that is, [pray] in the morning, at noon, and in the afternoon, and in some watches (zulafan is the plural of zulfa), a portion, of the night, that is, at sunset and late evening. Indeed good deeds, such as the five prayers, annul misdeeds, minor sins: this was revealed regarding one who kissed a female stranger and told the Prophet (s) about it, and then asked him, ‘Is this [verse true] for me?’ and the Prophet said to him, ‘It is [so] for every person of my community’, as reported by the two Shaykhs [Bukhārī and Muslim]. That is a remembrance for the mindful, an admonition for those who heed them.
Verse 115
And be patient, O Muhammad (s), in [enduring] the harm inflicted [upon you] by your people, or in [performing] prayer, for indeed God does not waste the wage of those who are virtuous, by patiently enduring through [acts of] obedience [to God].
Verse 116
If only there had been among the generations, past communities, before you men possessing a remnant [of good sense], men of religion and virtue, forbidding corruption in the earth (this [statement] is intended to be a negation, in other words, ‘there never were such [men] among them’), except, but, a few of those whom (mimman: min is explicative) We delivered from among them, did forbid [corruption] and were thus delivered. But those who did wrong, through corruption and neglecting to forbid, followed that by which they were made profligate, and were sinners.
Verse 117
Yet your Lord would never destroy the towns through injustice, on His part, against them, while their inhabitants were righteous, that is, believers.
Verse 118
Had your Lord willed, He would have made mankind one community, people of one religion, but they continue to differ, in religion,
Verse 119
except those on whom your Lord has mercy, [those] for whom He desires good, and so they do not differ in it — and that is why He created them, that is, [He created] those of difference for that [in other words, so that they should differ] and those deserving mercy for that [in other words, so that they should receive mercy]. And the Word of your Lord has been fulfilled, namely: ‘I will surely fill Hell with jinn and mankind together’.
Verse 120
And all that (kullān is in the accusative because [it is the direct object] of naqussu, ‘We relate’; and the nunation compensates for a [missing] genitive annexation), that is, all that is necessary, We relate to you of the accounts of the messengers, that (mā substitutes for kullan, ‘all that’) with which We might strengthen, reassure, your heart. And in these, accounts, or verses, there has come to you the Truth and an admonition and a reminder to the believers: they are specifically mentioned here because they are the ones to benefit from them, through their belief [in them], in contrast to [the case with] the disbelievers.
Verse 121
And say to those who do not believe: ‘Act according to your ability, [according] to your status, we are acting, according to our status — [this is] a threat for them.
Verse 122
And wait, for the consequence of your affair, we are also waiting’, for this.
Verse 123
And to God belongs the Unseen of the heavens and the earth, that is, the knowledge of what is concealed within them, and to Him all matters are returned (read active yarji‘u, meaning ‘return’, or passive yurja‘u, meaning ‘[are] returned’) and He will exact retribution from those who were disobedient. So worship Him, affirm His Oneness, and rely on Him, trust in Him, for He is sufficient for you, and your Lord is not heedless of what they do, but He defers [dealing with] them until their [appointed] time (a variant reading has ta‘malūn, ‘[what] you do’).
Verse 1
Alif lām rā’: God knows best what He means by these [letters]. Those, verses, are the verses of the Book, the Qur’ān (the genitive annexation carries the meaning of [partitive] min, ‘from’) that makes plain, the one that manifests truth [distinguishing it] from what is falsehood.
Verse 2
We have revealed it as an Arabic Qur’ān, in the language of the Arabs, so that you, O people of Mecca, might understand, comprehend its meaning.
Verse 3
We will relate to you the best of narratives in what We have revealed, in Our revealing, to you this Qur’ān, though (wa-in: in is softened, in other words [understand it as] wa-innahu) prior to it you were of the heedless.
Verse 4
Mention, when Joseph said to his father, Jacob: ‘O my father (read yā abati to indicate the omitted yā’ of genitive annexation [sc. of yā abī]; or read yā abata to indicate that an alif, originally a yā’, has been omitted) I saw, in my sleep, eleven planets and the sun and the moon, I saw them ([repeated] for emphasis) prostrating themselves before me’ (sājidīn: this plural form is used to describe [the act of] ‘prostration’, which is an attribute associated with rational beings).
Verse 5
He said, ‘O my son, do not relate your vision to your brothers, lest they plot against you some plot, [lest] they scheme to kill you, out of envy, knowing that the interpretation [of the dream] is that they represent the [eleven] planets, your mother, the sun and your father, the moon. Truly Satan is to man a manifest foe, [one] of evident enmity.
Verse 6
Thus, in the way that you have seen, will your Lord prefer you, choose you, and teach you the interpretation of events, the interpretation of visions, and perfect His grace upon you, with prophethood, and upon the House of Jacob — [upon] his sons — as He perfected it, with prophethood, formerly on your fathers Abraham and Isaac. Truly your Lord is Knower, of His creatures, Wise’, in what He does with them.
Verse 7
Verily in, the tale of, Joseph and his brethren — who were eleven — are signs, lessons, for those who inquire, about their tale.
Verse 8
Mention, when they, that is, [when] some of Joseph’s brothers, said, to some of the others: ‘Surely Joseph (la-Yūsufu is the subject) and his brother, his full brother Benjamin, are dearer (ahabbu is the predicate) to our father than we are, though we be a [hardy] band, a group. Lo! our father is in plain aberration, in manifest error, for preferring those two to us.
Verse 9
Kill Joseph or cast him away into some land, that is, into some distant land, so that your father might be solely concerned with you, so that he might turn [his attention] to you and not be distracted by anyone else, and that thereafter, that is, after killing Joseph or casting him away, you might be a righteous folk’, by repenting.
Verse 10
One of them, namely, Judah, said, ‘Do not kill Joseph, but cast him, throw him, into the bottom of a well (ghayābat al-jubb is the darkest recess of a well; a variant reading has the plural [ghayābāt]), so that some caravan might pick him up, if you are to do anything’, of what you desire, in the way of separating [Joseph from us]: so content yourselves with this [solution].
Verse 11
They said, ‘O father, what is wrong with you that you do not trust us with Joseph? We are indeed his well-wishers, we are indeed only looking out for his best interests.
Verse 12
Send him forth with us tomorrow, to the desert, to frolic and play (read [first person plural] narta‘ wa-nal‘ab, ‘that we might frolic and play’, or [third person plural] yarta‘ wa-yal‘ab, ‘that he might frolic and play’), in other words, so that we might be spirited and roam freely. Surely we shall take good care of him’.
Verse 13
He said, ‘Lo! It grieves me that you should go with him, that is, your departure [with him grieves me], because I would be separated from him, and I fear lest the wolf devour him (al-dhi’b here represents the genus, for their land had many wolves in it), while you are heedless of him’, distracted [by something else].
Verse 14
They said, ‘Truly if (la-in: the lām here is for oaths) the wolf were to devour him, when we are [so hardy] a band, a group, then we indeed are losers!’, incapable [of anything]. Thus, he sent him off with them.
Verse 15
So when they went off with him, and agreed, resolved, to put him into the bottom of the well (the response of lammā, ‘when’, has been omitted, in other words [understand it as being] fa‘alū dhālika, ‘they did [just] that’) by taking off his shirt — after having beaten him, humiliated him and desiring to kill him — and lowering him in a bucket [into the well]. When he reached half-way down the well, they flung him [from the bucket] so that he would [fall and] die, but he fell into the water and took refuge near a rock. They then called to him and he responded, thinking that they had [decided to have] mercy on him. They then wanted to smash his head with a rock, but Judah prevented them. And We revealed to him, in the well, through true revelation (wahy haqīqa) — he was 17 years of age or just under — in order to reassure his heart: ‘Truly you shall inform them, after this day, of this affair, [this] deed, of theirs when they are unaware’, of [who] you [are] (wa-hum lā yash‘urūna is a circumstantial qualifier referring to the action of ‘informing’).
Verse 16
And they came to their father in the evening, weeping.
Verse 17
They said, ‘O father, we went competing, shooting, and left Joseph by our things, our clothes, and the wolf ate him. But you would never believe us, even though we speak the truth’, before you, you would still have accused us [of lying] in this story, because of your adoration of Joseph, so how much more so when you think ill of us?
Verse 18
And they came with false blood on his shirt (‘alā qamīsihi has the status of an accusative [of the verb], because it is an adverbial qualifier, meaning fawqa [qamīsihi]): they slaughtered a lamb and dabbed it [his shirt] with its blood — but they forgot to tear it [the shirt] — and they said that it was his blood. He, Jacob, said, when he saw that it [the shirt] was undamaged and realised that they were lying: ‘Nay, but your souls have beguiled you into something, and so you did it to him. Yet comely patience!, without any anxiety! (fa-sabrun jamīlun is the predicate of a missing subject such as amrī, ‘my course]’). And God is the One Whose succour is sought in that [predicament] which you describe’, that which you mention of Joseph’s affair.
Verse 19
And there came a caravan — travellers going from Midian to Egypt, who stopped near to Joseph’s well — and they sent their water-drawer, the one who goes down to the water [source] to draw from it, and he let down his bucket, into the well and Joseph clung to it and he pulled him out, and when he saw him: he said, ‘Good news!’ (a variant reading [of yā bushrā] has yā bushrāya: this [vocative] call is figurative, in other words [it is to be understood as] ‘Come [O good news], now is your time!’) ‘This is a young boy’. His brothers became aware of this and came to him, and they hid him, that is, they disguised his real status, claiming that he was, as [a piece of] merchandise, by saying, ‘This is a slave of ours: he is a runaway’; but Joseph did not say anything, fearing that they might kill him. But God knew well what they were doing.
Verse 20
Then they sold him — they [the caravan] purchased him from them — for a very low, a diminished, price, a handful of dirhams, 20 or 22; for they, that is, his brothers, set small store by him. So the caravan brought him to Egypt, where the one who had bought him sold him for 20 dinars, two pairs of sandals and two robes.
Verse 21
And he of Egypt who purchased him, Potifar, the Court Officer (Qitfīr al-‘azīz), said to his wife, Zulaikha (Zulaykhā), ‘Give him an honourable place, [an honourable] residence with us. Maybe he will be useful to us, or we may adopt him as a son’ — for he was chaste. Thus, just as We delivered him from being killed and from the well, and softened the Court Officer’s heart for him, We established Joseph in the land, the land of Egypt, until he attained what [status] he attained, that We might teach him the interpretation of events, the interpretation of visions (wa-li-nu‘allimahu min ta’wīli’l-ahādīth is a supplement to an implied [missing part] connected to makkannā, ‘We established’, in other words, [an implied] li-numallikahu, ‘so that We might give him kingship’; or else the wāw [of wa-li-nu‘allimahu, ‘that We might teach him’] is [to be understood as being] extra). God’s way [always] prevails, exalted be He, nothing being beyond Him, but most people — and they are the disbelievers — do not know, this.
Verse 22
And when he reached his prime — which was at 30 or 33 years of age — We gave him [power of] judgement, wisdom, and knowledge, understanding in [matters of] religion, before his call to prophethood. Thus, just as We rewarded him, We reward those who are virtuous, to [the good] of their souls.
Verse 23
And she, in whose house he was — namely Zulaykhā — attempted to seduce him, that is, she asked him to lie with her, and she closed the doors, of the house. And she said, to him: ‘Come!’ (hayta laka: the lām [of laka] is for clarification; a variant reading has hīta laka or haytu laka). ‘God forbid!’, I seek refuge with God from this, he said. ‘Truly he, who bought me, is my lord, my master, who has given me an honourable place, [an honourable] residence, and so I cannot betray him with regard to his family. Truly, evildoers, fornicators, never prosper’.
Verse 24
And she certainly desired him, she sought sexual intercourse with him, and he would have desired her [too], he would have sought the same, had it not been that he saw the proof of his Lord: Ibn ‘Abbās said, ‘Jacob was made to appear before him, and he struck his [Joseph’s] breast, whereupon his [sexual] desire withdrew [from his body] through his fingernails (the response to lawlā, ‘had it not been’, has been omitted: [understood to be] la-jāma‘ahā, ‘he would have lain with her’). So it was, that We made him see the proof, that We might ward off from him evil, betrayal, and lewdness, [the act of] fornication. Truly he was of Our devoted servants, in terms of obedience (mukhlisīn: a variant reading has mukhlasīn, in other words, ‘chosen/purified [servants]’).
Verse 25
And they raced to the door: Joseph making for it in order to escape, while she, in order to grab hold of him, caught hold of his garment and pulled him towards her, and she tore his shirt from behind, whereupon they encountered her master, her husband, at the door. She, composed herself and then, said, ‘What is to be the requital of him who intends evil, [who intends] fornication, against your folk, but that he should be imprisoned, locked up in a jail, or [suffer] a painful chastisement?’, by having him beaten.
Verse 26
He, Joseph, said, declaring himself innocent [of the charge]: ‘It was she who attempted to seduce me’. And a witness of her own folk testified, her paternal cousin — it is reported that he was still [a child] in the cradle — and he said: ‘If his shirt has been torn from the front, then she speaks the truth, and he is of the liars;
Verse 27
but if his shirt has been torn from behind, then she has lied, and he is of the truthful’.
Verse 28
So when he, her husband, saw that his shirt was torn from behind, he said: ‘Indeed this — that is, your saying: ‘What is to be the requital of him who intends …’ to the end [of the verse, Q. 12:25] — is of the guile of you, O, women. Verily your guile is great.
Verse 29
Then he said: O, Joseph, ignore this, matter and do not mention it [to anyone], lest it be broadcast; and you, O Zulaykhā, ask forgiveness for your sin: surely you have been of the erring’, the sinful; but the tale was reported and became public.
Verse 30
And some of the women in the city, the city of Egypt, said, ‘The Court Officer’s wife has been seducing her boy, her servant. Indeed he has smitten her heart with love, (hubban is for specification, in other words, ‘[her] love of him has entered her heart’s pericardium (shaghāfa qalbihā), that is, its inner casing). Lo! we see her to be in plain aberration’, that is, in error evident, in her love of him.
Verse 31
And when she heard of their machinations, their backbiting of her, she sent for them and prepared for them a repast (muttaka’ is food that requires cutting with a knife, since one leans upon it (ittikā’): this [repast] was utruj, ‘citron’). She then gave each one of them a knife and said, to Joseph: ‘Come out before them!’ And when they saw him, they were in awe of, they exalted, him and cut their hands, with the knives, without feeling any pain, because their hearts were so engrossed by Joseph, and they exclaimed: ‘God preserve us! — in exaltation of him — This, namely, Joseph, is no human being: this is but a noble angel!’, on account of his all-encompassing beauty, which is [a characteristic] not usually found among humankind. In the Sahīh [of al-Bukhārī], it is [reported] that one half of all beauty was given to him.
Verse 32
She, the wife of the Court Officer, said, when she saw what happened to them, ‘This is he on whose account, for the love of whom, you blamed me (alladhī lumtunnanī fīhi is an explication of her excuse). Indeed I did attempt to seduce him, but he withheld himself, he refused. Yet if he does not do what I bid him, he verily shall be imprisoned, and verily shall be of those brought low’, those abased. The women said to him: ‘Obey your mistress!’.
Verse 33
He said, ‘My Lord, prison is dearer to me than that to which they are urging me. And if You do not fend off their wiles from me, then I shall tend, I shall incline, towards them and become of the ignorant, the sinful: this is intended as a supplication, which is why God, exalted be He, then says:
Verse 34
So his Lord answered him, his supplication, and He fended off their wiles from him. Truly He is the Hearer, of words, the Knower, of deeds.
Verse 35
Then it seemed, it appeared, [good] to them, after they had seen the signs, indicating Joseph’s innocence, that they should imprison him for a while, until such time as people ceased to talk of him. He was thus imprisoned.
Verse 36
And there entered the prison with him two youths, two young men [servants] of the king, one of whom was his cup-bearer, the other, his food-taster. They noticed that he interpreted dreams and so they said, ‘Let us try him’. One of them, the cup-bearer, said: ‘I dreamed that I was pressing wine’, that is, grapes. The other, the food-taster, said: ‘I dreamed that I was carrying on my head bread whereof the birds were eating. Tell us, inform us [of], its interpretation, for indeed we see you as being among the virtuous’.
Verse 37
He said, to them both, in order to inform [them] that he knew how to interpret dreams: ‘The food, with which you are provided, shall not come to you, while you are asleep, but I shall tell you the interpretation thereof, while you are conscious, before it, the interpretation thereof, comes to you. This is from that which my Lord has taught me — herein is an incitement for them to believe, which he reinforces with the following words: Lo! I have forsaken the creed, the religion, of a folk who do not believe in God and who moreover (hum, ‘they’ [is repeated] for emphasis) are disbelievers in the Hereafter.
Verse 38
And I follow the creed of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. It never was, right, for us to associate anything (min shay’in: min is extra) with God — on account of our [God-given] immunity [from error]. That, affirmation of [God’s] Oneness, is from God’s bounty to us and to mankind; but most people — and these are the disbelievers — do not give thanks, to God, and so they associate others with Him.
Verse 39
He [Joseph] then explicitly calls them to faith, saying: O my two fellow-prisoners!, inmates [of the prison]: Are several lords better, or, is, God, the One, the Almighty, better? (an interrogative meant as an affirmative).
Verse 40
You do not worship, apart from Him, that is, other than Him, anything but [mere] names that you have named, that you have named for idols, you and your fathers. God has not revealed any warrant, any definitive argument or proof, regarding them, regarding worship of them. Judgement, decree, belongs only to God, alone. He has commanded that you worship none but Him. That, affirmation of [God’s] Oneness, is the upright, the straight, religion, but most people — and these are the disbelievers — do not know, the punishment in which they shall end up, and so they ascribe partners [to God].
Verse 41
O fellow-prisoners! As for one of you, that is, the cup-bearer, he will depart after three [days] and, he shall serve his lord, his master, wine to drink, as usual; and as for the other, he will depart after three [days] and, he will be crucified so that the birds will eat from his head: this is the interpretation of both your dreams. They said, ‘We never dreamed a thing!’; he said, decided, concluded, is the matter regarding which you sought opinion’, about which you enquired, whether you spoke truthfully or were lying.
Verse 42
Then he said to the one whom he deemed, [whom] he was certain, would be saved of the two — and this was the cup-bearer: ‘Mention me to your lord’, your master, and say to him, ‘There is a young man in jail who has been wrongly imprisoned’. So he [the cup-bearer] departed, but Satan caused him, that is, the cup-bearer, to forget the mention, of Joseph, before his master, so that he, Joseph, stayed, he remained, in prison for some years: it is said [that he remained] for seven years, or for twelve.
Verse 43
And the king, the king of Egypt — al-Rayyān b. al-Walīd — said, ‘I saw in [a dream] seven fat kine being devoured, being swallowed up, by seven lean ones, of kine (‘ijāf is the plural of ‘ajfā’), and seven green ears of corn and others, that is seven [other] ears of corn, dry, that had wound themselves around the green ones and risen above them. O courtiers! Give me [your] opinion about my vision: expound for me its interpretation, if you can interpret visions’, then interpret it for me.
Verse 44
They said, this is, ‘A jumble, a mixture, of dreams! And we are not knowledgeable in the interpretation of dreams’.
Verse 45
And he of the two who was released, that is, of the two young men, namely, the cup-bearer, remembering (iddakara: the original tā’ [of tadhakkara] has been changed to a dāl and assimilated with the dhāl), after a time, [after] a period of time, the predicament of Joseph, said, ‘I will inform you of its interpretation; so send me forth’, so they sent him forth and he came to Joseph, and said:
Verse 46
‘O, Joseph, O truthful one, one given to truth, give us your opinion concerning seven fat kine that are devoured by seven lean ones, and [concerning] seven green ears of corn and [seven] others dry, that I may return to the people, that is, to the king and his courtiers, so that they might know’, its interpretation.
Verse 47
He said, ‘You shall sow — that is, [go ahead and] sow — seven years consecutively — and this was the interpretation of the seven fat ones — but that which you reap, leave it in the ear, lest it spoil, except for a little which you eat: thresh it.
Verse 48
Then after that, in other words, after the seven fertile [years], there shall come seven hard, barren and unyielding, years — the interpretation of the seven lean ones — which shall devour what you set aside for them, of grain sown during the fertile years, in other words, you shall eat [all] this during these [seven hard years], all except a little which you have preserved, stored.
Verse 49
Then after that, in other words, after the seven barren years, there shall come a year in which the people will be granted relief, through rain, and in which they will press [fruit], grapes, and other [seeds], because of its [that year’s] fertility.
Verse 50
And the king, after the messenger had come to him and informed him of its [the dream’s] interpretation, said: ‘Bring him to me!’, that is, the one who interpreted it. And when the messenger came to him, that is, [to] Joseph, and summoned him in order to depart [from the prison], he said — with the intention of manifesting his innocence — ‘Return to your lord and ask him, to inquire: “What of, [what was] the case with, the women who cut their hands?” Surely my lord, my master, has knowledge of their guile’; he [the messenger] thus returned and informed the king, who then summoned them [the women].
Verse 51
He said, ‘What was your business, women, when you solicited Joseph?’, did you find on his part any inclination towards you?: ‘God preserve us!’ they said. ‘We know of no evil in him.’ The Court Officer’s wife said, ‘Now the truth is out, [now] it has become clear; it was I who attempted to seduce him and he is indeed of the truthful’, in his saying, It was she who attempted to seduce me [Q. 12:26]. Joseph was then informed of this and he said:
Verse 52
‘That, plea of innocence, is so that he, the Court officer, may know I did not betray him, with regard to his family, in his absence (bi’l-ghayb is a circumstantial qualifier), and that truly God does not guide [to success] the guile of the treacherous; he [Joseph] then humbled himself before God and said: