قالوا تَاللَّهِ تَفتَأُ تَذكُرُ يوسُفَ حَتّىٰ تَكونَ حَرَضًا أَو تَكونَ مِنَ الهالِكينَ

They said: ‘By Allah! You will go on remembering Joseph until you wreck your health or perish.’

EXEGESIS

Ḥaraḍ (wreck your health): ḥāriḍ is one who is on the verge of death. It is also said: he is one who is neither dead (to be forgotten) nor alive (to be hoped for).[1] According to Ṭūsī, it signifies physical or functional decline caused by overwhelming grief or consuming love.[2] The term applies equally to masculine and feminine subjects, as well as to singular and plural forms. Here it means that Prophet Jacob (a) will become permanently ill and demented,[3] or be struck with a severe sickness that is just short of being terminal.[4]

EXPOSITION

The tone of this statement, spoken by the sons of Prophet Jacob (a), is ambiguous, leaving its interpretation open. If spoken in impatience,[5] it reflects shocking callousness, especially given Prophet Jacob’s (a) recent blindness. Yet if uttered in concerned tenderness,[6] it could be a plea to avoid self-destruction through grief. However, the usual phrase yā abānā (O our father!) which the sons said in other interactions when they were trying to be nice to their father, is missing and is replaced instead with tallāhi (By Allah), suggesting that indeed this was said in a tone of impatience. On the other hand, their father’s reply in verse 87 is suggestive that the atmosphere in which this exchange occurred was not one of tension but shared grief. It is also possible that this was said with the appearance of sympathy and kindness, while it hid feelings of jealousy.[7]

Whatever the case may be, this is also a reminder that in such emotional interactions it is often easy to be misunderstood, and words of comfort that are intended in kindness can sometimes be misinterpreted.

By Allah! You will go on remembering Joseph: it has been so many years since he is gone, and you still have not let go,[8] until you wreck your health or perish, and die of sorrow.

Note the usage of consonance (the repeating of the letter tāʾ) in the words tallāhi – taftaʾu – tadhkuru – ḥattā – takūna (repeated), which adds to the reprimanding tone.

REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE

Rāzī argues that the speakers in this verse were not Prophet Jacob’s (a) sons but rather his grandchildren or servants. His reasoning stems from an attempt to avoid attributing what he deems a problematic oath – that Prophet Jacob (a) would perish from grief – to his sons, as he finds it morally incongruent.[9] However, there is no theological necessity to reject this attribution, given that Prophet Jacob’s (a) sons were not infallible and thus capable of such harsh speech. Moreover, verse 87 explicitly confirms that this exchange took place between Prophet Jacob (a) and his sons, leaving no textual basis for Rāzī’s alternative interpretation.

[1] Mizan, 11/233.
[2] Tibyan, 6/183.
[3] This opinion is attributed to Ibn Abbas (Tabrisi, 5/394).
[4] Thalabi, 5/248. Thaʿlabī reports many other opinions as well about the meaning of the word to which the reader may refer.
[5] Nemuneh, 10/54; Qutb, 4/2025.
[6] Tabrisi, 5/394; Mizan, 11/233.
[7] See Furqan, 15/183.
[8] Mizan, 11/233.
[9] Razi, 18/500.