قالَ لا يَأتيكُما طَعامٌ تُرزَقانِهِ إِلّا نَبَّأتُكُما بِتَأويلِهِ قَبلَ أَن يَأتِيَكُما ۚ ذٰلِكُما مِمّا عَلَّمَني رَبّي ۚ إِنّي تَرَكتُ مِلَّةَ قَومٍ لا يُؤمِنونَ بِاللَّهِ وَهُم بِالآخِرَةِ هُم كافِرونَ
He said: ‘Before the meals you are served come to you, I will inform you of its interpretation. That is among things my Lord has taught me. Indeed, I renounce the creed of the people who have no faith in Allah and who [also] disbelieve in the hereafter.
EXEGESIS
Turzaqānihi (you are served) is the dual passive present tense of the verb razaqa. Its verbal noun, rizq, denotes a continuous blessing and benefit bestowed upon a person whether in material or spiritual form. The suffix hi is referring to the meals (ṭaʿām, lit. food) that the prisoners were served in the prison.
Taraktu (renounced) is the first person past tense of the verb taraka, meaning to leave or to abandon. However, ‘leaving’ in this context does not imply Prophet Joseph (a) had ever been a polytheist who abandoned idolatry – an impossible scenario for a prophet raised by Prophet Jacob (a) in pure monotheism. Rather, tark here signifies conscious distancing from something, regardless of prior association. This phrasing may alternatively represent Prophet Joseph’s (a) invitation to the youths to renounce polytheism themselves.
Millah (creed) refers to a complete religious tradition, encompassing its creed (ʿaqīdah), practices (ʿibādāt), and legal-moral framework (sharīʿah). It is often tied to a specific prophet’s teachings – most notably millatu ibrāhīm which the Quran upholds as the model of pure monotheism (2:130). Unlike dīn (religion as a broad concept) or sharīʿah (juridical rules), millah emphasises the holistic, historical manifestation of a faith, including its communal identity.
EXPOSITION
Prophet Joseph (a) began his reply to the two youths. Before the meals you are served come to you, I will inform you of its interpretation: in other words, ‘I will soon tell you what your dreams meant, and you shall not have to wait longer than the next mealtime’.
This statement was meant to assuage any sense of urgency they may have had in getting their answer, because Prophet Joseph (a) planned to use the opportunity to first preach the divine message to them, as we shall read in the next three verses. By prefacing his preaching with this statement, he was pre-empting any objections or doubts in their minds that he cannot answer them and is stalling, insisting that he would soon inform them of that which they had asked him about.
As they had recognised his good character and praised him for it, it was only natural that Prophet Joseph (a) should take the opportunity to call them to faith, which was the basis of his good character. It is also only natural that he should begin first with his call to Islam and faith and only then inform them of the interpretation of their dreams, because if he would attempt to do it in the reverse order, their minds would only be preoccupied with considering the implication of their dreams.
It is also possible that Prophet Joseph (a) delayed in giving his answer regarding the interpretation of the dreams because he understood that one of those dreams was a premonition of impending death, so he did not wish to immediately jump to it.
That is among things my Lord has taught me: he wished to emphasise that this knowledge that he was about to share with them was not something acquired in lessons and books, or similar to what soothsayers or priests would claim to know, but a sign of his prophethood and a mercy from God. The expression mimmā (among things) emphasises that the knowledge of interpreting dreams was only a small part of the knowledge given to Prophet Joseph (a).
Indeed, I renounce the creed of the people who have no faith in Allah and who [also] disbelieve in the hereafter: this is a clarification that such knowledge is not taught to just anyone, but only those who submit to God and associate no one with Him.
The God that taught Prophet Joseph (a) this knowledge was not the god or gods being worshipped by the Egyptians, but the one God who is the originator and to whom all must return. The two most important pillars of faith that all prophets have come to instil in the hearts of people is the belief in one God and life after death. We find this being emphasised throughout the Quran.
We know that the Ancient Egyptians had quite an intricate view of the life after death and it played a very important part in their faith and lives. However, kufr or disbelief in something does not only mean to deny its existence. A kāfir in God does not simply mean an atheist, but it can be anyone who denies the reality of what God is, They are certainly faithless who say: ‘Allah is the third [person] of a trinity’ (5:73). Or for example kufr can be to deny the station of God by refusing His commandments, they prostrated, but not Iblis: he refused and acted arrogantly, and he was one of the faithless (2:34). The kufr of the Egyptians at that time was not to deny life after death, but to deny what it really was and instead believe in a mythological fantasy that their imaginations had weaved.
Interestingly, the preposition hum (‘they’, untranslated) is repeated twice in the end of the verse, both before and after the word bil-ākhirati. It is said this is for emphasis (‘they really disbelieve in the hereafter’), perhaps because their disbelief regarding the hereafter was even more severe than their disbelief regarding God. Considering the huge role that their complex view on life after death played in Ancient Egyptian society and how much it influenced their affairs and endeavours, this understanding does not seem unreasonable.
It is also possible that people here is referring to the Canaanites amongst whom Prophet Joseph (a) had grown up, but it is far less likely.
REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE
The literal translation of the verse would be: No food will come to you two, which you are given as sustenance (rizq), except that I will have informed the two of you regarding its interpretation, before it has been brought to you. As such, there is disagreement regarding the pronoun its in its interpretation, whether it refers to the food or to the dream.
If the term refers to food – as some have suggested – it would mean that Prophet Joseph (a) could inform them of their usual provisions: what they had been given to eat, when they ate it, and how much they had eaten. This would be similar to what Prophet Jesus (a) did, as mentioned in verse 3:49, which is why Joseph then adds, That is among things my Lord has taught me.
However, this interpretation does not align well with the phrase min qabli an yaʾtiyakumā (‘before it is brought to you’). It would only make sense if Prophet Joseph (a) was telling them that he could reveal what their future meals would be. Recognising this difficulty, Zamakhsharī adjusts the explanation slightly, proposing that Prophet Joseph (a) informed them of what food they would be served before it was brought to them – thereby demonstrating his prophethood.
Another related claim is that the king would provide prisoners condemned to death with a final meal, and that Prophet Joseph (a) was referring to this last meal in the verse. Yet this interpretation is also problematic, as it seems unlikely that taʾwīl (interpretation) would be used to describe the type of food that someone eats in prison.
Rāzī prefers the interpretation that tark in this verse means that as Prophet Joseph (a) was a slave he had to adopt dissimulation (taqiyyah), and so when he says that he has abandoned the creed of the people who have no faith in Allah, he means he will no longer adopt dissimulation. This view is theologically untenable though, as we cannot assume that prophets would perform this type of dissimulation regarding the issue of the unity of God and idol worship, for the same reason that they must be infallible. Because they are meant to be exemplars for people and the people must obey their commands, it would be impossible for the people to know what has been done in dissimulation and what has not. They cannot abandon the call to God because of fearing for their lives (taqiyyah khawfiyyah). They are those who deliver the messages of Allah and fear Him, and fear no one except Allah, and Allah suffices as reckoner (33:39). One cannot imagine that a prophet would engage in idol worship for the sake of dissimulation. As the next verse of this surah declares: It is not for us to ascribe any partner to Allah (verse 38), for any reason or circumstance.
It is quite possible that Prophet Joseph (a) did not openly preach to people whilst a slave in the governor’s palace, however that cannot be deemed taqiyyah, nor would it have any relevance to the verse we are discussing.
[1] Raghib, p. 351, r-z-q.
[2] See also Razi, 18/456; Muhit, 6/277; Alusi, 6/432.
[3] Muhit, 6/277.
[4] Lisan, 11/631.
[5] Nemuneh, 9/407.
[6] See also Mizan, 11/171. Some have said that this was the first time Prophet Joseph (a) called people to faith, because earlier he felt that they would not listen to him. Since these two youths had now declared their recognition of his good character, he decided to preach to them (see for example Tabrisi, 5/357). This is a hasty assumption though and there is no reason to assume that Prophet Joseph (a) did not call people to faith in other situations that we have simply not been informed about.
[7] See Sharawi, pp. 6956-6957.
[8] Tabrisi, 5/356. The same opinion is related in Tabari, 12/129.
[9] Mizan, 11/172.
[10] Tantawi, 7/360.
[11] Nemuneh, 9/408.
[12] Razi, 18/455.
[13] Related in Tabrisi, 5/356-357; Thalabi, 5/223.
[14] Nemuneh, 9/408.
[15] Zamakhshari, 2/470. See also Mizan, 11/172.
[16] Related in Tibyan, 6/139; Tabari, 12/129.
[17] Related in Munyah, 14/175-176.
[18] Razi, 18/456.