The Ocean of the Quran

A verse by verse explanation of The Ultimate Scripture

Yūsuf – Verse 92

قالَ لا تَثريبَ عَلَيكُمُ اليَومَ ۖ يَغفِرُ اللَّهُ لَكُم ۖ وَهُوَ أَرحَمُ الرّاحِمينَ

He said: ‘There shall be no reproach on you today. Allah will forgive you, and He is the most merciful of the merciful.

EXEGESIS

It is also possible to render the verse: There shall be no reproach on you. Today Allah will forgive you … although the translation we have offered is better.[1]

Tathrīb means reprimand, censure, or blame. It is used as tharaba, athraba, and tharraba (all denoting different levels of rebuke). According to Ibn al-ʿArabī, tathrīb signifies blame and corruption (ifsād), and holding someone accountable for sin. Thaʿlabī explains: tharaba (or athraba) fulān ʿalā fulān means to enumerate someone’s sins against them. Abū Muslim derives it from al-tharb (abdominal fat), metaphorically implying extreme censure, as if the reproach penetrates deeply, reaching the utmost severity.[2]

EXPOSITION

There shall be no reproach on you today: in this declaration, Prophet Joseph (a) shows he was not one to bear grudges but rather was magnanimous and forgiving. Without hesitation he declared that they had been forgiven and he did not seek reproach or reprisal.

Allah will forgive you: this statement can either be understood as translated here, in which case it intends that since Prophet Joseph (a) was the one they had wronged, God’s forgiveness would only be achieved if he forgave them, and now that he had forgiven them, they would be forgiven by God as well. Alternatively, yaghfir allāhu lakum can be understood as a supplication, ‘May God forgive you’.[3] The latter is more plausible,[4] since the brothers’ wrongdoing extended beyond Prophet Joseph (a) to Prophet Jacob (a), requiring his forgiveness as well. Moreover, divine forgiveness is not automatic upon being pardoned by the victim; it hinges on sincere repentance (tawbah), which entails remorse, abandonment of sin, and restitution (3:135-136). Thus, while Prophet Joseph’s (a) forgiveness is noble, God’s mercy remains contingent upon the brothers’ genuine return to righteousness, as divine grace operates through divine wisdom, not merely human magnanimity.

And He is the most merciful of the merciful: the brothers of Prophet Joseph (a) could be said to be both the most fortunate and unfortunate penitents in the Quran. They are the most unfortunate because even though they repented and even though Prophet Joseph (a) forgave them, their sin was to be mentioned in the Quran and preserved for all time for the believers to recite and remember (and take heed from). How unfortunate a humiliation that one’s sin should be recorded in this manner. This is an important reminder that even though repentance, if accepted, may erase the consequences of sin in the hereafter, it does not necessarily save one from worldly consequences. If one for example drinks alcohol and then repents, it may be that God forgives him, but his liver and brain will still be damaged, and so on.

How terrible it is to commit a sin against one’s own brother and to leave him in a well as a young boy. How much more terrible it is that the victim of that sin should be a beloved prophet of God and your sin should then be told to all in His holiest book. This is truly a reminder of the hadith of Imam Ali (a): ‘God has hidden His saints amongst His servants, so do not belittle any of His servants, for he may be His saint, whilst you are unaware.’[5]

On the other hand, they may be considered the most fortunate of penitents, because the ones whom they had wronged – Prophet Jacob (a) and Prophet Joseph (a) – were precisely saintly prophets and oceans of patience, forgiveness, and mercy. Many a lesser man would have held grudges, would not have forgiven, and then instead the brothers would have been losers both in this world and in the hereafter.

INSIGHTS FROM HADITH

  1. From Imam Ali (a): ‘When you overpower your enemy, forgive him as a token of gratitude [to God] that you were granted power over him.’[6]
  2. From Imam Ali (a): ‘Forgiveness is most deserving for the one who is most capable of taking vengeance.’[7]
  3. It is reported that on the day of the liberation of Mecca, the Prophet stood at the door of the Kaaba and said: ‘There is no god but God alone, He has no partner. He has fulfilled His promise, aided His servant, and has defeated the enemies on His own. To God belongs all praise and sovereignty; He has no partner.’ He then continued: ‘What do you think and what do you say?’ Suhayl ibn ʿAmr replied: ‘We think well of you and we say nothing but good. You are a noble brother, the son of a noble brother, and you have prevailed over us.’ The Prophet said: ‘I say to you what my brother Joseph said: There shall be no reproach on you today.’[8]
  4. In another report it is narrated that on the day of the conquest of Mecca, Imam Ali (a) advised Abū Sufyān ibn al-Ḥārith: ‘Approach the Messenger of God directly and say to him what the brothers of Joseph said to Joseph: By Allah, Allah has certainly preferred you over us, and we have indeed been erring [verse 91]. For he [the Prophet] would never be pleased to have anyone surpass him in good deeds or speech.’ When Abū Sufyān did this, the Messenger of God responded: ‘There shall be no reproach on you today. Allah will forgive you, and He is the most merciful of the merciful,’ and drew them close, after which they embraced Islam.[9]

INSIGHTS FROM OTHER TRADITIONS

  1. Joseph said to his brothers, ‘I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?’ But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed in his presence. Joseph said to his brothers, ‘Please come near to me,’ and they came near. Then he said, ‘I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. Now do not be upset or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. For these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. God sent me ahead of you to preserve you as a remnant on the earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.’[10]
[1] Tibyan, 6/191; Bidayah, 1/248.
[2] Tabrisi, 5/398.
[3] Tibyan, 6/191. See Zamakhshari, 2/503.
[4] Alusi, 7/49.
[5] Khisal, p. 209; Wasail, 1/116; Maani, 1/112; Nur, 2/309.
[6] Nahj, saying 11; Wasail, 12/171, h. 15990.
[7] Nahj, saying 52; Amali, p. 73; Maani, p. 196; Faqih, 4/396, h. 5840; Wasail, 12/171, h. 15991.
[8] Thalabi, 5/254; Razi, 18/506; Aḥmad ibn Abī Yaʿqūb al-Yaʿqūbī, Tārīkh al-Yaʿqūbī (Beirut: Dār Ṣādir, n.d.), 2/60; Shams al-Dīn al-Dhahabī, Tārīkh al-Islām (Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿArabī, 1987), 2/546. Qurṭubī adds that ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb said at that moment he began to sweat nervously, for when they had entered Mecca, he had told the Meccans: ‘Today we will take vengeance upon you,’ (Qurtubi, 9/258).
[9] Razi, 18/506; Abū al-Hasan ibn al-Athīr, al-Kāmil fī al-Taʾrīkh (Beirut: Dār Bayrūt, 1965), 2/243.
[10] Genesis 45:3-7.