قالوا يا أَيُّهَا العَزيزُ إِنَّ لَهُ أَبًا شَيخًا كَبيرًا فَخُذ أَحَدَنا مَكانَهُ ۖ إِنّا نَراكَ مِنَ المُحسِنينَ
They said: ‘O governor! Indeed he has a father, a very old man; so take one of us in his place. Indeed we see that you are a virtuous man.’
EXEGESIS
Shaykhan kabīran (a very old man): shaykh is used for a person who has reached advanced years in age. It is similarly used for anyone who is wise and knowledgeable, or who is experienced.[1] It is precisely this aspect of wisdom and position of respect which separates shaykh from other words used to describe old age, such as shayb, ʿajūz, musinn, and kahl.[2] Hence, in English it would be equivalent to ‘venerable’.
It could also mean ‘a very important man’,[3] but while that is linguistically valid, it does not make sense in this context.
It is said that a person is called a shaykh once he has passed fifty or fifty-one years in age.[4] Obviously, its usage in modern Arabic differs widely from one region and culture to another.
Min al-muḥsinīn literally means ‘one of the virtuous’.
EXPOSITION
Perhaps it only now dawned on the brothers that Benjamin would be kept in Egypt. Or perhaps Prophet Joseph’s (a) reminder of their brotherly duty found its mark and the brothers began to feel guilty. Either way, they remembered how they had been tasked with protecting their brother and had sworn heavy oaths that they would do so.
They said: ‘O governor! Indeed he has a father’: the brothers initiated their plea by addressing Prophet Joseph (a) with the honorific title, and since they were appealing on behalf of Benjamin, they referred to Prophet Jacob (a) as being Benjamin’s father (instead of ‘our father’), even though he was of course father to all of them.
A very old man: they pleaded with the governor, explaining how their old father was very much attached to Benjamin and dependent on him, appealing to Prophet Joseph’s (a) sense of mercy.
So take one of us in his place: as a slave,[5] per what they had earlier themselves agreed to.
Indeed we see that you are a virtuous man: they had been witnesses to Prophet Joseph’s (a) kind and magnanimous nature in both their visits, not least of which was having their payment returned to them the first time.[6] Others have understood this to mean ‘if you do this you will be a virtuous man’,[7] but that is not a very good understanding.
INSIGHTS FROM OTHER TRADITIONS
- Now therefore, please let your servant stay as a slave to my lord instead of the boy, and let the boy go up with his brothers. For how can I go up to my father if the boy is not with me, lest perhaps I see the evil that would find my father?[8]
[1] Raghib, p. 469, sh-y-kh.
[2] Tahqiq, 6/197, sh-y-kh.
[3] Suggested in Tibyan, 6/177; Zamakhshari, 2/493.
[4] Lisan, 3/31, sh-y-kh.
[5] Tibyan, 6/177.
[6] See Tibyan, 6/177; related in Baghawi, 2/507.
[7] Related from Ibn Isḥāq in Tabari, 13/22.
[8] Genesis 44:33-34.