اذهَبوا بِقَميصي هٰذا فَأَلقوهُ عَلىٰ وَجهِ أَبي يَأتِ بَصيرًا وَأتوني بِأَهلِكُم أَجمَعينَ

Take this shirt of mine, and cast it upon my father’s face; he will regain his sight, and bring me all your folks.’

EXEGESIS

Yaʾti (regain) generally means ‘to arrive’ or ‘to come’. However, in this context it carries the sense of ṣāra (to become), ʿāda (to return), or rajaʿa (to go back). Thus, the phrase yaʾti baṣīran conveys the meaning ‘he will regain his sight’ or ‘he will become able to see once again’. This usage parallels the later expression fartadda baṣīran (and he regained his sight) (verse 96). Alternatively, it is suggested that it could mean ‘he will come to me whilst being able to see’,[1] however the former is more preferable. That is not to say that the dual meaning is unintended, as the term yaʾti certainly has a delightful interplay with the phrase iʾtūnī bi-ahlikum ajmaʿīn (bring me all your folks).

EXPOSITION

Presumably, the conversation between Prophet Joseph (a) and his brothers continued. They asked him how he had risen to such a high position and why he had not revealed his identity sooner. In turn, he inquired about Prophet Jacob (a), and they recounted how his grief over Prophet Joseph (a) had cost him his sight. Of course, Prophet Joseph (a) already knew all of this as his lengthy private conversations with Benjamin had left no room for new information.

At any rate, he told them not to worry and told them to Take this shirt of mine. This is the third time that a shirt of Prophet Joseph (a) has been mentioned. When the brothers lied that a wolf had eaten Prophet Joseph (a), they presented a shirt with false blood on it to try and prove they were not lying. When the governor’s wife accused Prophet Joseph (a) of trying to seduce him, his torn shirt proved that he was not lying. Now the shirt proved to the brothers once and for all that Joseph (a) indeed was chosen by God for prophethood, and that Prophet Jacob (a) had not been lying when he told them there was something special about Joseph (a). Looking at it in this way, we may consider the shirt to a be a symbol of veracity and honesty.

Cast it upon my father’s face; he will regain his sight: this was a miracle granted to Prophet Joseph (a) and a clear sign of his prophethood. The precise instruction, that his shirt should be cast over Prophet Jacob’s (a) face rather than simply handed to him, demonstrates that even miracles operate within a divinely ordained causal framework. When God wills a miracle to occur, He prepares and activates the means through which it unfolds. Just because we cannot fully comprehend or replicate these hidden causes does not mean they do not exist.

In fact, this cause-and-effect dynamic amplifies the miracle’s impact upon its witnesses, leaving them unable to deny the connection between the prophet and the extraordinary outcome. Consider, for example, how God commanded Prophet Moses (a) to strike the sea with his staff so that it would part (26:63), or to strike the rock so that twelve springs would gush forth (2:60, 7:160). God could have simply willed these events into being without any intermediary act, yet by directing Prophet Moses (a) to take these tangible steps, He ensured that the onlookers would witness the miracle unfolding through him, leaving no room for doubt about its divine origin.

In this case, it was undeniable that the shirt had miraculously – by the grace of God – caused Prophet Jacob (a) to regain his eyesight, rather than simply Prophet Jacob (a) recovering over time or because he felt better upon receiving news about Prophet Joseph (a), and suchlike.

And bring me all your folks: so that they should settle down to live in Egypt.[2] This then is the answer to the question raised in the beginning of the surah: how did the Children of Israel come to settle down in Egypt?

Prophet Joseph (a) instructs his brothers that his shirt would miraculously return their father’s eyesight, but it was not actually Prophet Jacob (a) who was blind, but the brothers, for they were the ones blinded by the darkness lurking in their hearts and the veils upon their eyes. Witnessing the miracle of God would return the sight of understanding to them and lift the veils, allowing them to see the truth clearly so that they would declare, Father! Plead [with Allah] for forgiveness of our sins! We have indeed been erring (verse 97). Those who witness God’s signs on their journey and are humbled by them and accept the truth before returning to Him will gain insight and will return to Him imbued with understanding. The ones who turn away heedlessly from God’s signs will remain blind and return to God in a state of blindness, and whoever has been blind in this [world], will be blind in the hereafter (17:72). Such a person will plead with God: ‘My Lord! Why have You raised me blind, though I used to see?’ He will say: ‘So it is. Our signs came to you, but you forgot them, and thus you will be forgotten today’ (20:125-126). Such people will be removed from the mercy of God and be unable to look at His majesty and splendour. When they finally arrive for the moment of meeting God (liqāʾ allāh), to stand before God’s judgement, God shall call on His servants to humble themselves before Him, but the faithless will be unable to do so because they have refused to submit to Him in this life, they are summoned to prostrate themselves, they will not be able (68:42). The brothers of Prophet Joseph (a) were only able to show true humility before God and His prophets after witnessing the miracle and gaining insight, which is when they fulfilled Prophet Joseph’s (a) vision and prostrated in humility before him.

REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE

Thaʿlabī claims that Prophet Joseph (a) did not know that Prophet Jacob (a) would regain his sight but said this simply as a supplication.[3] This is not acceptable though, as the certainty with which Prophet Joseph (a) declares that his father’s sight would return is not the vernacular of a supplicant.

Rāzī agrees that the scholarly opinion is that Prophet Joseph (a) knew through revelation that his father would regain his sight, however he then toys with the notion that perhaps Prophet Joseph (a) did not know it through revelation, but rather he knew that his father’s sorrow was the cause of his blindness, and by being given the shirt he would become happy, and the worry which had caused his blindness would be lifted. He says that those who understand medical matters would comprehend the soundness of such reasoning.[4] If this were true, the simple news that Prophet Joseph (a) is alive should have achieved the same outcome and there would have been no need to give him the shirt, not to mention to specify that the shirt be thrown on his father’s face.

It has been claimed that the shirt Prophet Joseph (a) sent to his father was the same one given to Prophet Abraham (a) by Gabriel when he was cast into the fire – a divine garment meant to protect him from the flames. The shirt was supposedly made from the silk of paradise. The shirt was then passed on to Prophet Isaac (a), Prophet Jacob (a), and finally Prophet Joseph (a), and that anyone who was sick would be healed by it. They claim his father had put this shirt in a silver container and hung it around Prophet Joseph’s (a) neck when he was thrown in the well.[5] While some versions of these claims have been attributed to Prophet Muhammad (s) or Imam al-Ṣādiq (a), it is safer to say that they are the opinions of the early generation of exegetes.

Subḥānī has a detailed discussion regarding tabarruk (seeking blessings from certain holy items) with reference to the shirt of Prophet Joseph (a) at the end of his commentary on this surah, to which the interested reader may refer.[6]

[1] For both see Zamakhshari, 2/503.
[2] Qurtubi, 9/259.
[3] Thalabi, 5/254.
[4] Baghawi, 18/507.
[5] See for example what has been related in Thalabi, 5/254; Zamakhshari, 2/503; Baghawi, 2/513; Qurtubi, 9/258-259; Muhit, 6/322; Alusi, 7/50. This opinion is attributed to Ibn Abbas and Mujāhid ibn Jabr. It is also reported in a broken chain of narration from the Prophet through Anas ibn Mālik (Tabrisi, 5/402; Qurtubi, 9/259; see also Suyuti, 4/35). See also a somewhat similar report that is supposedly told by Ibn Abbas from the Prophet (Suyuti, 4/34) and by Mufaḍḍal ibn ʿUmar from Imam al-Ṣādiq (a) (Qummi, 1/354-355; Ayyashi, 2/193-194).
[6] Munyah, 14/227-238.