وَقالَ الَّذِي اشتَراهُ مِن مِصرَ لِامرَأَتِهِ أَكرِمي مَثواهُ عَسىٰ أَن يَنفَعَنا أَو نَتَّخِذَهُ وَلَدًا ۚ وَكَذٰلِكَ مَكَّنّا لِيوسُفَ فِي الأَرضِ وَلِنُعَلِّمَهُ مِن تَأويلِ الأَحاديثِ ۚ وَاللَّهُ غالِبٌ عَلىٰ أَمرِهِ وَلٰكِنَّ أَكثَرَ النّاسِ لا يَعلَمونَ
The man from Egypt who had bought him said to his wife: ‘Give him an honourable place [in the household]. Maybe he will be useful to us, or we may adopt him as a son.’ Thus We established Joseph in the land and that We might teach him the interpretation of dreams. Allah has [full] command of His affairs, but most people do not know.
EXEGESIS
Miṣr (Egypt) can mean a city,[1] as can be found once in the Quran in the verse, Go down to any town (miṣran) (2:61), although the Quran more often uses it to refer to Egypt (verse 99 and 43:51). The word originally means the barrier that separates between two things.[2] It has been claimed that Egypt is called miṣr because it is filled with cities,[3] or because it was founded by Miṣr ibn Nūḥ.[4]
The word is originally from Aramaic or Hebrew.[5] In the Torah the word miṣrayim/mitsrayim is used to refer to Egypt.[6] Apparently, in Hebrew it originally has a similar meaning to Arabic, ‘a narrow path marking the boundary between fields’.[7]
Mathwā (place) means a place where one stays,[8] like in the verse, And you did not dwell (thāwiyan) among the people of Midian (28:45).[9]
Kadhālika (thus) could be understood to mean ‘as a result of what happened’, or it could be understood similar to its usage in other verses such as, That is how (kadhālika) Allah leads astray the faithless (40:74), and That is how (kadhālika) Allah draws comparisons (13:17), where it means ‘in this fashion and manner’.[10]
Makkannā (we established): the transitive verb makkana (from tamkīn) means to give someone power or capability. It is added here to the first person plural pronoun nā, which refers to God, and is similar to what is said about Dhū al-Qarnayn, who was apparently a regent, Indeed We had granted him power (makkannā) in the land (18:84). For more discussion on this, see the next section.
Ghālib (has command) is the active participle of the infinitive ghalabah, which means to overcome, like in the verse, Byzantium has been vanquished (ghulibat) (30:2).[11] In the case of God, this ghalabah does not necessarily occur through God forcefully changing the course of events, but rather as the story of Prophet Joseph (a) illustrates, He overcomes via the intricate ever-dominant plans that He puts in place as the course of events, which unfold based on God’s infinite knowledge, which account for all the plans and ploys of the evildoers as well.
Amr (affairs) means any event (shaʾn), or a command and order. It is a general word used for both action and speech.[12] Here it should mean the way God governs the affairs of creation.[13]
The phrase allāhu ghālibun ʿalā amrihī hence means that God will overcome any perceived obstacles to the completion of His plan and will order His creation as He wills.
EXPOSITION
In typically succinct Quranic storytelling, we are now taken to Egypt, where the caravan has arrived to sell Prophet Joseph (a). There he is bought by a wealthy Egyptian man who takes a liking to Prophet Joseph (a) and gives him a place of honour amongst his household.
The final half of the verse serves as the conclusion of the first act of the story, which ends with God reminding the audience how all that happened so far was always a part of His plan and a step in the path of establishing Prophet Joseph (a) in Egypt, which we know would eventually lead to the coming of his father and brothers, marking the beginning of the Children of Israel’s migration to Egypt, which would then eventually lead to the rise of Prophet Moses (a) and then their exodus, and so on. Thus looking at things in such a scale, we realise how God weaves the tapestry of His plan through the centuries and generations.
The man from Egypt who had bought him said to his wife: in Arabic this master is referred to as al-ʿazīz (verses 30 and 51), literally meaning ‘the mighty one’. The same title is used to address Prophet Joseph (a) as well (verses 78 and 88) after he is given a position by the king. However, we do not know specifically what administrative position he held. From the context of later verses it is clear that he was a quite a wealthy and powerful man of the court, very close to the king, who had multiple servants in his house (see verse 26), and was of importance in the city’s social circles (see verse 30).
Give him an honourable place: Prophet Joseph (a) was to be given a special position in his master’s household, one dissimilar to the rest of the servants and attendants. Some have claimed that this was done on the basis of firāsah,[14] the supposed art of knowing the quality of a person by looking at them. However, there is no clear indication in the verse as to when Prophet Joseph’s (a) master took a liking to him. It may have been as soon as he purchased him and certainly the phrasing of the verse is suggestive of that, since he says to his wife Give him an honourable place, which seems only to be an appropriate thing to say at the moment when Prophet Joseph (a) is brought into his household, not after he has already been staying with them for an extended period of time. Although it is not inconceivable that he said this later, after getting to know Prophet Joseph (a) better.[15] In any case, it is clear that he recognised the great potential in the young Prophet Joseph (a), and his intelligence and honesty and other great merits.
This recognition afforded to Prophet Joseph (a) is all the more significant considering who his new master was: a governor who undoubtedly commanded dozens of personal slaves and bought and sold hundreds of others for other various purposes, all from amongst the best slaves available at that time.[16] There should have been something very special indeed that he recognised in Prophet Joseph (a) that made him take such a strong liking to him.
Maybe he will be useful to us, or we may adopt him as a son: as Prophet Joseph’s (a) master recognised the great potential and intelligence that Prophet Joseph (a) displayed, he instructed his wife that Prophet Joseph (a) should not be treated like the other slaves in their household, but rather that she should treat him as if one day he would be his son and heir.[17]
Some have argued that this statement is also evidence that the governor who bought Prophet Joseph (a) did not have any children of his own,[18] but this is not a forgone conclusion, as it is entirely possible to wish to adopt even if one has children of their own.
We should also note the symbolic link that is alluded to here between Prophet Joseph (a) and his successor Prophet Moses (a), who was found by Pharaoh floating in the Nile and whose wife then declared, Do not kill him. Maybe he will benefit us, or we will adopt him as a son (28:9), which uses exactly the same phrasing in Arabic.
Thus We established Joseph in the land: as we said previously, tamkīn means to give someone power and authority. It may be surprising to be told that by having Prophet Joseph (a) being sold to slavery in a foreign country, God was establishing him in the land. However, we know that this was a step in the path of Prophet Joseph (a) being established in the future as one of the highest authorities in Egypt and is hence foretelling of what is to come later, That is how We established Joseph in the land that he may settle in it wherever he wished (verse 56). While it had not yet happened, it was a step in that path and thus part of his establishment.[19]
Still, even at that moment we may say that God’s boon was with Prophet Joseph (a), who could have been sold to work in hard labour, but instead was sold to a master who took a liking to him and granted a position of honour in that household, which relatively speaking is certainly a case of tamkīn.
It was also a great relative improvement to what his situation immediately prior to it was, as the slave of a travelling caravan, or stuck in the recess of a well.[20]
This establishment of Prophet Joseph (a) in the land went hand-in-hand as well with his spiritual establishment: and that We might teach him the interpretation of dreams. We discussed the meaning of taʾwīl al-aḥādīth (interpretation of dreams) at length in the commentary of verse 6. Unlike there, here the context is quite clear that it does not simply mean the interpretation of dreams, but rather a much more general understanding that was given to Prophet Joseph (a) about the meaning and outcome of events (which would also include the interpretation of dreams as well). The Arabic li-nuʿallimahu could also be translated as ‘in order that We might teach him’. In other words, what had happened to Prophet Joseph (a) so far, all occurred in order to establish him in the land and to teach him taʾwīl al-aḥādīth. It is not a very strong interpretation to say that such experiences would teach one interpretation of dreams; rather they serve as a vehicle for furthering one’s wisdom, patience, and insight.
Prophet Joseph’s (a) older brothers described themselves as a hardy group (verses 8 and 14) who relied on each other for their success. They thought that inter-reliance and banding together made them powerful, and because of this they were more deserving of their father’s favour, Surely Joseph and his brother are dearer to our father than [the rest of] us, though we are a hardy group (verse 8). God wished to remind Prophet Joseph (a) that one should not and cannot rely on anyone except God, a truth that Prophet Jacob (a) tries to teach his other sons as well, Sovereignty belongs only to Allah. In Him I have put my trust; and in Him let all the trusting put their trust (verse 67). Thus, each trial was a chance for growth which propelled him ever closer to the ultimate level of knowledge and wisdom.
Allah has [full] command of His affairs: whatever He wills should happen, will happen, and nothing can stop that.[21] This does not mean that evil actions are commanded by God. Rather it should be understood in the context of the surah’s main theme of the ‘divine plan’.[22] God’s plan will always be realised, and those who plot and scheme to do evil will never ultimately succeed to derail the divine plan, but in fact their schemes are accounted for in the divine plan and they become part of the process of the realisation of that plan. Hence, when Prophet Joseph’s (a) brothers wished for him to be removed from a station of honour in the eyes of their father, their scheme was only a step in the path that God had plotted out for Prophet Joseph’s (a) rise to honour.
As always, keep in mind that God’s will should be understood in two aspects. One aspect is the will of God whereby He desires that all people should be good and just (irādah tashrīʿiyyah), and one is His will whereby whatever He decrees will come to pass (irādah takwīniyyah). When people do evil, it is contrary to God’s irādah tashrīʿiyyah, but His irādah takwīniyyah has decreed that people should have free will to do so.
But most people do not know: most people either think themselves to be independent from the will of God and that they are in control of what transpires with them, or at the very least they behave in a way that is indicative of such a way of thinking. Most people do not understand the reality of how everything unfolds according to God’s plan as they are confused by the apparent and superficial causes that are around them, which veil them from the reality of affairs.[23] So when they see a person get cancer and die, they think ‘cancer killed him’ and think no further of it. Whereas the truth is that everything happens according to the divine decree and will. Cancer is only the superficial cause, whilst the true cause is that his death was an unfolding of the divine decree, No soul may die except by Allah’s leave, at an appointed time (3:145). Hence, such people think that if they control some aspect of these superficial causes, they can engineer events to manifest in results that they desire. But this is only true insomuch as God permits it. Such efforts cannot cause deviation in the divine decree and plan. As for the wicked, God permits them to carry out their evil actions because it is His decree that humans should have free will and He will then take them to account for what they did, Let the faithless not suppose that the respite that We grant them is good for their souls: We give them respite only that they may increase in sin, and there is a humiliating punishment for them (3:178).
REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE
Some have understood Thus We established Joseph in the land to be a reference to Prophet Joseph’s (a) new master taking a liking to him and giving him an honourable place in his household.[24] While this interpretation might seem appealing, it is somewhat unsavoury to consider that a boy being separated from his father and sold into slavery is given tamkīn because at least his new master was important and took a liking to him. Hence, what we said earlier is a better understanding. Ālūsī also criticises this interpretation, saying that the verse speaks of establishing Prophet Joseph (a) in the land, and limiting it just to the heart of his master is contrary to its apparent meaning.[25] Nevertheless, it could be argued that being the honoured servant of a man like the governor is a type of tamkīn, as with it no doubt came many social and material boons and relative authority, even if at the cost of personal freedom. That might be difficult to conceptualise for the modern reader, but in the social hierarchy of those times people surely had very different outlooks to such matters. In fact, throughout history many slaves enjoyed positions of great authority, the easiest example of which in Islamic history would be the Mamluks.
The Quran does not give the name of the man who purchased Prophet Joseph (a), as is typical of the Quran, which rarely supplies details or names. Later in the surah, the conspiring women refer to The governor’s wife (imraʾat al-ʿazīz) (verse 30), which is simply a reference to his title. Some early exegetes though, who are keen to supply details such as how many dirhams Prophet Joseph (a) was sold for and what was the name of the man who pulled him out of the well, also mention that the governor was called Qiṭfīr.[26] The name of the ruler of Egypt is also given as al-Rayyān ibn al-Walīd ibn Thirwān ibn Arāmah ibn Fāwūn ibn ʿAmr ibn ʿImlāq ibn Lāwūd ibn Sām ibn Nūḥ.[27] None of these claims are to be believed as no evidence is supplied for any of them, and with the case of the latter it is obviously false, as Egypt certainly did not have a ruler with an Arab name and ancestors at that time, and in general all genealogies that claim to trace back to Prophet Noah (a) are unreliable.
Other details about Prophet Joseph’s (a) Egyptian master are also mentioned in the exegetical works, such as him being in charge of Egypt’s grain stores (khāzin firʿawn), and the king’s successor (khalīfah), and the commander of Egypt’s armies,[28] but without any evidence they should simply be treated as speculation.
It has also been mentioned that he was not interested in women,[29] or that he could not sire children,[30] or that he was impotent.[31] Again there is no evidence for this, but it is probably based on speculation as to why his wife was unfaithful to him, or why he wished to adopt Prophet Joseph (a) as a son, but such needless speculation should be avoided.
Another claim is that the man who purchased Prophet Joseph (a) was actually the king of Egypt.[32] This is again contradictory to the Quranic narrative, which clearly distinguishes between the ʿazīz (governor) and the malik (king) in verse 51: [The king] said: ‘What was your business, women, when you solicited Joseph?’ They said: ‘Heaven be praised! We know of no evil in him.’ The governor’s wife said: ‘Now the truth has come to light!’
INSIGHTS FROM OTHER TRADITIONS
- Now Joseph was brought down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there (…) Joseph found favour in his sight and served him. So he made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put under his charge. From the time that he had made him overseer in his house and over all that he had, the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house on account of Joseph. So the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had in the house and in the field. So he left all that he had in Joseph’s charge, and he had no concerns regarding anything except the food he ate.[33]
Note: The specification in this passage that Joseph (a) was made the overseer of the governor’s house can be considered a suitable explanation for the verse, Give him an honourable place (verse 21).
[1] Raghib, p. 769, m-ṣ-r; Lisan, 5/176, m-ṣ-r.
[2] Lisan, 5/175-176, m-ṣ-r.
[3] Bahrayn, 3/482, m-ṣ-r.
[4] Bahrayn, 3/482, m-ṣ-r. Ibn Manẓūr rejects this (Lisan, 5/176, m-ṣ-r). He is mentioned as being the son of Ham in the Torah, ‘The sons of Ham were Cush, Egypt (miṣrayim), Put, and Canaan’ (Genesis 10:6). The Torah lists Ham as one of the sons of Noah (a).
[5] Tahqiq, 11/130, m-ṣ-r. Jeffries only mentions the latter. See Arthur Jeffries, Foreign Vocabulary of the Quran (Leiden: Brill, 2007), p. 266.
[6] For example: ‘Lot lifted up his eyes, and looked at all the valley of the Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt (miṣrayim) as you go to Zoar. This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.’ (Genesis 13:10) Muṣṭafawī writes that as im is the plural marker in Hebrew, miṣrayim should mean ‘those areas which together constitute miṣr’ (Tahqiq, 11/131).
[7] Marcus Jastrow, Jastrow’s Dictionary, accessed at:
https://www.sefaria.org/Jastrow%2C_%D7%9E%D6%B5%D7%A6%D6%B7%D7%A8?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en.
[8] Baghawi, 2/482.
[9] Tantawi, 7/335.
[10] Mizan, 11/111.
[11] Raghib, p. 611, gh-l-b.
[12] Raghib, p. 88.
[13] Mizan, 11/111.
[14] Related in Tibyan, 6/116; Tabari, 12/104.
[15] It is purely speculative, but we may imagine a scenario where the master was travelling to another city, bought Prophet Joseph (a) from the caravan there, got to know him on the way back to his home city, and then said what followed to his wife upon his return home.
[16] See Mizan, 11/108-109.
[17] See also Nemuneh, 9/358.
[18] Nemuneh, 9/358; Tantawi, 7/335.
[19] A similar opinion is adopted in Nemuneh, 9/358.
[20] See Nemuneh, 9/358.
[21] Tibyan, 6/111; Tantawi, 7/336.
[22] See the Introduction.
[23] See also Mizan, 11/112.
[24] Razi, 18/435; Qurtubi, 9/160.
[25] Alusi, 6/399.
[26] Tabrisi, 5/338; Tabari, 12/104; Thalabi, 5/205; Muhit, 6/254. Or alternatively Iṭfīr, or Ṭafīr, or Aẓfīr. Some sources add Ibn Rawajīt, or Ibn Rūḥīb. Abū Layth al-Samarqandī gives his name as Qūṭīfar (see his Tafsīr al-Samarqandī (Beirut: Dār al-Fikr, n.d.), 2/186), which is of course very reminiscent of the Biblical Potiphar. This may help us understand the origin of Qiṭfīr and then the various derivatives of that.
[27] Thalabi, 5/205. Obviously, there are many reported variations of this name. See for example Baghawi, 2/482; Muhit, 6/254.
[28] Tabrisi, 5/338; Tabari, 12/104.
[29] Kāna lā yaʾtī al-nisāʾ, which could alternatively be understood to mean he was unable to have relations with them. Tabrisi, 5/338; Tabari, 12/104. It seems to be based on the Jewish tradition that claims Potiphar was a homosexual. See Daat Zkenim on Genesis 39:12, accessed at: https://www.sefaria.org/Genesis.39.12?lang=bi&aliyot=0&p2=Daat_Zkenim_on_Genesis.39.12.1&lang2=bi.
[30] Zamakhshari, 2/454; Razi, 18/435; Munyah, 14/160; Sharawi, p. 6898.
[31] Razi, 18/435.
[32] Tabrisi, 5/338; related in Muhit, 6/254. Ṭabrisī seems to adopt this view and asserts that it is also reported from Imam al-Sajjād (a) and Ibn Abbas.
[33] Genesis 39:1-6.