Appearance
Verses 1–3
Introduction
The goal of this chapter is to expound God’s guardianship over the servant who has sincerely dedicated his faith to Him and become so filled by His love that he seeks no substitute and never turns to anything besides God. God takes charge of his affairs, nurtures him with utmost care, brings him near, quenches his spiritual thirst from His nearmost source, chooses him exclusively for Himself, divinely grants him life even when all apparent causes appear to have resolved upon his destruction, elevates him even when circumstances seem to belittle him, and empowers him even when the vicissitudes of time seem to diminish his stature.
This is illustrated by God in this chapter through the narrative of Joseph. No other chapter in the entirety of the Qur’an provides a detailed account of any story from its beginning to its end like it does for the story of Joseph. Moreover, this chapter is exclusively dedicated to the story of Joseph, without any other narrative being included alongside it.
Joseph was a servant who was sincere and devoted in his worship, so God chose him exclusively and honored him with His might. Though circumstances conspired to degrade and belittle him, every time he was cast into peril, God saved him using the very means that seemed to drive him towards ruin: His brothers’ jealousy led them to throw him into a pit, then they sold him for a meagre price which took him to Egypt, where he was brought into a house of power and prestige. The lady of the house attempted to seduce him, and when unsuccessful, falsely accused him of impropriety before her husband. However, it wasn’t long before she confessed his innocence in front of the women of the city. Nevertheless, she had accused him, which led to his imprisonment. This became the reason for his eventual proximity to the king. The blood-stained shirt his brothers brought to his father Jacob on the first day was the very reason for the loss of Jacob’s eyesight. Yet, that same shirt, sent with his brothers from Egypt to Jacob at the end, was the reason for the restoration of his vision. And so on and so forth.
In sum, whenever any adverse circumstances befell Joseph or obstructed his path to perfection, God made that very obstacle the means of guiding him rightly and rendering him successful in his endeavours. God continuously transitioned him from one state to another until He granted him governance and kingship, made him one of the elect, taught him the interpretation of events, and completed His grace upon him, just as his father had promised him would be the case.
God begins the story of Joseph by mentioning the dream he saw in his early years while he was still in the care of his father. Dreams are often a sign of glad tidings, and God made real the blessings indicated in his dream by bestowing upon him a divine upbringing. This is God’s way with His devoted ones, as He has said: Look! The friends of Allah will indeed have no fear nor will they grieve. Those who have faith, and are Godwary. For them is good news in the life of this world and in the Hereafter. There is no altering the words of Allah. That is the great success ().
In God’s statement after mentioning Joseph’s dream and its interpretation by his father, In Joseph and his brothers there are certainly signs for the seekers, it hints that there were people who had asked the Prophet about this story. This supports the account that a group of Jews instructed the idolaters of Mecca to question the Prophet about the reason the children of Israel moved to Egypt when Jacob had been residing in the land of the Levant. Thus, this chapter was revealed.
Given this, the purpose is to detail the story of Joseph and the narrative of the family of Jacob. Through providing these details, however, God achieved a higher purpose still, namely illustrating His guardianship over His devoted servants, as evident from the beginning and the end of the chapter. The chapter is Meccan, as indicated by the context of its verses. Some narrations from Ibn ʿAbbās state that four of its verses are Medinan; three at the beginning and the verse, In Joseph and his brothers there are certainly signs for the seekers, which aligns with the context presented.
Commentary
الر ۚ تِلْكَ آيَاتُ الْكِتَابِ الْمُبِينِ ١
(12:1) Alif, Lam, Ra. Those (tilka) are the signs of the Manifest Book (al-kitāb al-mubīn).
This verse employs the demonstrative pronoun tilka (‘those’), which is usually used to refer to something far away, for emphasis and exaltation. It appears that the Manifest Book referred to is the Qur’an that people recite, which is clear in itself and elucidates other matters, encompassing divine knowledge and truths about the origin and the return to God.
The Book is described in this verse as mubīn (‘manifest’), unlike in the beginning of the chapter of Yunus, where it is called ḥakīm (‘wise’), because this chapter is revealed concerning the story of the family of Jacob and its explanation. It is possible that the Manifest Book might also refer to the Guarded Tablet (al-lawḥ al-maḥfūẓ).
إِنَّا أَنْزَلْنَاهُ قُرْآنًا عَرَبِيًّا لَعَلَّكُمْ تَعْقِلُونَ ٢
(12:2) Indeed We have sent it down as an Arabic Qur’an so that you may apply reason (laʿalla-kum taʿqilūn).
The pronoun ‘it’ in ‘Indeed We have sent it’ refers to the Book since it encompasses divine signs and true knowledge. Its being sent down as as ‘an Arabic Qur’an’ indicates that it was presented in the medium of the Arabic language during its revelation. It is made into words that are recited, aligning with the Arabic language as it is commonly understood by the Arabs. As God stated elsewhere: We have made it an Arabic Qur’an so that you may apply reason, and indeed it is with Us in the Mother Book surely sublime and wise ().
The phrase laʿalla-kum taʿqilūn (‘so that you may apply reason’) aims to broaden and generalize the address. The chapter begins by addressing the Prophet : Those are the signs of the Manifest Book …, This theme continues, as evident in the third verse: We will recount to you the best of narratives in what We have revealed to you of this Qur’an, and indeed prior to it you were among those who are unaware.
Therefore, the meaning of the verse is that We have clothed this Book, which contains the signs of God, in the garb of the Arabic language during its descent. It is adorned in its linguistic beauty so it can be readily understood by you and your people or nation. Had its revelation not been conveyed in familiar terms or had it not been made clear in Arabic, your people would not have grasped the secrets within its verses. Instead, its understanding would have been exclusive to you due to the specificity of its revelation and teaching to you.
This indicates that the exact words of the Qur’an, in terms of their revelation and their being in Arabic, play a role in revealing the secrets of its verses and the realities of knowledge. If God had revealed its meaning to the Prophet in his own words, as in the case of sacred narrations, or if it had been translated into another language, some of its clear secrets would have been concealed from people’s minds and would not have been able to grasp these with their own understanding.
The special attention God gave to what He revealed of His Book in a clear language leaves no room for doubt for those who reflect upon His words. How can it be otherwise when He has classified its verses into clear verses and allegorical ones, with the clear ones being the foundation of the Book to which the allegorical ones refer? God says, “ It is He who has sent down to you the Book. Parts of it are definitive verses, which are the mother of the Book, while others are metaphorical. (). God also said, We certainly know that they say, ‘It is only a human that instructs him.’ The language of him to whom they refer is non-Arabic, while this is a clear Arabic language ().
نَحْنُ نَقُصُّ عَلَيْكَ أَحْسَنَ الْقَصَصِ بِمَا أَوْحَيْنَا إِلَيْكَ هَٰذَا الْقُرْآنَ وَإِنْ كُنْتَ مِنْ قَبْلِهِ لَمِنَ الْغَافِلِينَ ٣
(12:3) We will recount to you the best of narratives in what We have revealed to you of this Qur’an, and indeed prior to it you were among those who are unaware.
In his al-Mufradrāt, al-Rāghib writes:
‘Qaṣaṣ means to trace back or follow a track. For example, one might say, “I traced his footsteps” (qaṣaṣtu athara-hu), “They retraced their steps” (fa-rtaddā ʿalā āthārihimā qaṣaṣan), or “He told his sister to follow him” (qāla li-ukhti-hi qaṣṣī-hi). Hence, qaṣaṣ refers to consecutive accounts or narratives. As God said, This is indeed the true account (); There is certainly a moral in their accounts (); So when he came to him and recounted the story to him () and We will recount to you the best of narratives ().’
Therefore, qiṣṣa means a story, and aḥsan al-qaṣaṣ refers to the best narrative or account. It might sometimes be said that qiṣaṣ is a verbal noun whose meaning is ‘retribution’ (iqtiṣāṣ).
Therefore, if qiṣaṣ is a noun, then the story of Joseph is the best of narratives because it depicts the sincerity of monotheism in worship and expounds God’s guardianship over His servant. It illustrates how God nurtures the servant, guiding him on the path of love, elevating him from the depths of humiliation to the pinnacle of honor, and moving him from the shadows of the well’s confinement, the shackles of slavery, and the prison of retribution and revenge, to the throne of glory and the seat of kingship.
And if it is a verbal noun, then recounting his story in the manner that God did is the best of recounting, because it recounts a tale of love and passion in the most chaste and subtle manner possible.
Therefore, the meaning of the verse is: ‘We recount to you the best of tales due to our revelation of this Qur’an to you, and prior to our recounting this story to you, you were surely unaware of it.’