قالَ مَعاذَ اللَّهِ أَن نَأخُذَ إِلّا مَن وَجَدنا مَتاعَنا عِندَهُ إِنّا إِذًا لَظالِمونَ

He said: ‘God forbid that we should take anyone except him with whom we found our wares, for then we would indeed be wrongdoers.’

EXEGESIS

Maʿādh allāh (God forbid) derives from ʿawdh, meaning to seek refuge or attach oneself to another. In this context, it signifies ‘I seek refuge in God from what you are calling me to’.[1] The expression maʿādh allāh was used by Prophet Joseph (a) in verse 23, and it is only found in this surah.

EXPOSITION

He said: ‘God forbid that we should take anyone except him with whom we found our wares’: anyone who sits in the position of a judge should always try and exercise control over their emotions and never give in to nepotism or any other corruption seeking to sway him from his duty.[2] Here, Prophet Joseph (a) states that it is not possible that an innocent be taken in the stead of a guilty one.[3] This is allowed in no secular law, let alone the divine law of justice in which every soul is taken to task for its own actions and no one else’s.

The phrasing is also very carefully selected. Saying ‘God forbid that we should take anyone except the thief’ would have been shorter, yet ‘thief’ is replaced with the phrase him with whom we found our wares. This is done in order to avoid lying, as Benjamin had not in fact stolen anything.[4]

For then we would indeed be wrongdoers: the we that Prophet Joseph (a) is using here is the royal plural and is used by those in positions of authority. Its usage here is most appropriate, as it signals that the decision to punish the thief is not a personal and private matter, but something that is based on Prophet Joseph (a) being the governor and bound by the constraints and duties imposed on him because of that position.[5] To leave the matter or to bend the rules would be tantamount to heedlessness or favouritism, and far be it from someone like Prophet Joseph (a) to act in such a manner.

INSIGHTS FROM OTHER TRADITIONS

1. When Judah and his brothers came to Joseph’s house, he was still there; and they fell to the ground before him. Joseph said to them, ‘What deed is this that you have done? Did you not know that such a man as I can certainly practice divination?’ And Judah said, ‘What shall we say to my lord? What shall we speak? Or how shall we clear ourselves? God has found out the iniquity of your servants; behold, we are, my lord’s servants, both we and he also in whose possession the cup was found.’ But he said, ‘Far be it from me that I should do so. The man in whose possession the cup was found shall be my slave, but as for you, go up in peace to your father.’ Then Judah approached him and said, ‘O my lord, please let your servant speak a word in my lord’s ears, and do not be angry with your servant, for you are equal to Pharaoh. My lord asked his servants, saying, “Have you a father or a brother?” And we said to my lord, “We have a father, an old man, and a young brother, the child of his old age. His brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother, and his father loves him.”’[6]
2. ‘Now therefore when I come to your servant, my father, and the boy is not with us, as his life is bound up in the boy’s life, when he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die, and your servants will bring down the grey hairs of your servant, our father, with sorrow to the grave. For your servant became surety for the boy to my father, saying, “If I fail to bring him to you, then I shall bear the blame to my father forever.” 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?’[7]

[1] Tabrisi, 5/341; Tabari, 12/116.
[2] See Qaraati, 4/260.
[3] Tabrisi, 5/390.
[4] Alusi, 7/33. See also Nemuneh, 10/45.
[5] Alusi, 7/33.
[6] Genesis 44:14-20.
[7] Genesis 44:30-34.