قالَ إِنّي لَيَحزُنُني أَن تَذهَبوا بِهِ وَأَخافُ أَن يَأكُلَهُ الذِّئبُ وَأَنتُم عَنهُ غافِلونَ
He said: ‘It really upsets me that you should take him away, and I fear the wolf may eat him while you are oblivious of him.’
EXPOSITION
He said: ‘It really upsets me that you should take him away’: notice that Prophet Jacob (a) does not blame the other sons in any way, but rather shifts the blame to himself: it is he who cannot bear to be away from Prophet Joseph (a).[1] His love for the young Joseph (a) was not something he tries to hide here and readily admits that his sons are correct, he indeed has not let Joseph (a) out of his sight much. As we mentioned earlier, it is normal for parents to show more affection and care to younger children than to those who are older and more independent.
And I fear the wolf may eat him while you are oblivious of him: some have claimed that the sons of Prophet Jacob (a) did not know that wolves could eat humans, and by telling them this, it gave the sons the idea of blaming it on a wolf.[2] In this regard they report a hadith from the Prophet: ‘Do not give others ideas on how to formulate [false] arguments, for they will then lie. Indeed, the sons of Jacob did not know that a wolf would eat a human until their father gave them such an idea. Then they lied and said the wolf ate him [verse 17].’[3] While that may be sound advice,[4] it is strange to assume that Prophet Jacob’s (a) sons did not know that wolves can attack children. In any case, he was certainly not attempting to give them bad ideas, but rather the reality was that wolves were present in that area and presented a real danger to a young boy who might be left unattended.[5] This is why in the next verse the sons did not reply with surprise or by laughing it off, but rather insisted that they would certainly protect the boy.
REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE
As to why Prophet Jacob (a) said I fear the wolf may eat him, it is attributed to Ibn Abbas that he was of the opinion that Prophet Jacob (a) was referring to the sons as wolves in a figurative way.[6] This is very farfetched and it is unlikely that Ibn Abbas actually held such an opinion.
It is attributed to Kalbī that he claimed Prophet Jacob (a) had seen a dream where a wolf threatened Prophet Joseph (a).[7] A more detailed description claims that he saw ten wolves surrounding Prophet Joseph (a) and one of them came to guard him and then the earth was cleft open and he entered into it and stayed there for three days.[8] The source of such claims is unknown. This is an unfortunate pattern throughout the tafsīr of Sūrat Yūsuf and indeed many other Quranic stories. To claim that Prophet Jacob (a) had a specific dream should be based on a hadith from the Prophet or Imams or some kind of historic evidence, yet when no such report or evidence is supplied by the exegete it confirms that such a claim is baseless and simply something that people have come up with in order to explain the verse. We have often refrained from relating such opinions and did so here simply to illustrate a point.
INSIGHTS FROM OTHER TRADITIONS
- Now his brothers went to feed their father’s flock in Shechem. Israel[9] said to Joseph, ‘Are not your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem? Come, and I will send you to them.’ He answered, ‘Here I am.’ Israel said to him, ‘Please go and see if it is well with your brothers and well with the flocks, and bring back word to me.’ So he sent him out of the Valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem. A certain man found him wandering in the field. The man asked him, ‘What are you looking for?’ And he said, ‘I am looking for my brothers. Please tell me where they are feeding their flocks.’ The man said, ‘They have departed from here. I heard them say, “Let us go to Dothan.”’ So Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothan.[10]
Note: The Biblical account claims that Jacob (a) was the one who proposed to Joseph (a) to go with his brothers. It also alleges that his brothers came up with the plot to kill him only once Joseph (a) came to them in Dothan (Genesis 37:18).
[1] Mizan, 11/98.
[2] Muhit, 6/246; related in Tabrisi, 5/331.
[3] Suyuti, 4/9. See also Tabrisi, 5/331; Nemuneh, 9/338.
[4] If one intends to exhort people not to commit some evil act, they should not go into details about how such an act is done and through that give people ideas or make them curious about it. So, for example, if one wishes to advise people about the dangers of narcotics, they should not do that in a way as to teach them how to procure narcotics or to produce them or make them curious about trying it (Nemuneh, 9/339).
[5] Munyah, 14/154.
[6] Related in Tabrisi, 5/331; Qurtubi, 9/140.
[7] Thalabi, 5/201; Zamakhshari, 2/479; Qurtubi, 9/140.
[8] Tabrisi, 5/334; related in Qurtubi, 9/140.
[9] Jacob (a).
[10] Genesis 37:12-17.